The Acadiana Advocate 04-11-2026 by The Advocate

SPLASHDOWN

BY MARCIA DUNN

AP aerospace writer

HOUSTON Artemis II’sastronauts returnedfromthe moon with adramatic splashdown in the Paciﬁc on Friday to close out humanity’s ﬁrst lunar voyage in more than ahalf-century

It was atriumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar ﬂyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’sfar side —never seen before by human eyes —but atotal solar eclipse. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Vic-

tor Glover,Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 —or33times the speed of sound —ablistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity,madethe plunge on automatic pilot.

Thetension in MissionControl mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hotplasma during peak heating andentereda planned communication blackout.

All eyes were on thecapsule’slifeprotectingheat shield that had to with-

U.S. SENATE

Cassidyurges Democrats to reregister forprimary

Newelectionrules wouldlimit votes

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, is making aconcerted push to get Democrats to switch their party registration so they can vote for him in next month’sRepublican primary

That’sprompted criticismfrom those who say it provides more

evidence that he’snot atrue conservative —especially since neither of Cassidy’stwo Republican opponents, state Treasurer John Fleming and Baton Rouge U.S. Rep.Julia Letlow,are making a similar effort.

Central to Cassidy’smove to encourage party switches is a decision by Gov.Jeff Landry and Republican lawmakersin2024to end Louisiana’sunusual jungle primary forfederal races beginning

ä See CASSIDY, page 5A

stand thousands of degreesduring reentry.Onthe spacecraft’sonly other test flight —in2022, with no one on board—the shield’s charred exterior cameback looking as pockmarked as themoon.

Like so many others, lead ﬂight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear thatis humannature,” especially during the six-minuteblackout that preceded the openingofthe parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited

ä See SPLASHDOWN, page 4A

Legislation targets homeless people

Billwould make sleeping on street acrime,create ‘homelessnesscourts’

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Over the past several years, Lashauna Williamssays, she has struggled to afford permanent housing while trying to get treated forpost-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Williams, whosaid she grew up in foster care, describedbouncing between shipping containers, rented apartments and friends’ houses. She spent several months at aNew Orleans shelter where,she said, she was often treated harshly Sometimes, she would leave the shelter early in themorningtocatch afew extra hours of sleep in the park, abrief escape before she began her day,she said. Now, aproposal in the Louisiana Legislature would makecamping in unauthorized public spaces acrime.Supporters of the idea, which would also allowlocal jurisdictions to establish “homelessness courts,” say it will give law enforcement atool to steer homeless people toward services and help draw downfunds from President Donald Trump’sadministration.

HouseBill 211, sponsoredbystate Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner,ispart of Gov.Jeff Landry’slegislative agenda. The bill lays

Manconvicted of shooting

2Lafayette police officers

2023 incident left one disabled,toddler dead

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

ALafayette man has been convicted of theattempted ﬁrst-degree murderof threepolice ofﬁcers in an Aug. 5, 2023, shootout that left 24-year-old officer Hali Bradford permanently disabled and 19-month-old Kaci Cyprian dead.

A12-person jury on Thursday evening unanimously votedtoconvictJohnNicholas, 33, of three counts of attempted ﬁrstdegree murder andone count of aconvicted felon in possession of aﬁrearm

Fifteenth JudicialDistrictJudge Angie Wagar,who took office March 2after Judge Kristian Earles retired, did not immediately set asentencing date. Nicholas was also charged in the second-degree murderofKaci andthe attempted first-degreemurderofher brother and Nicholas’ aunt, who were injuredin the shootout. Assistant DistrictAttorney Alan Haney decided not to try Nicholason those charges this week. Haney and Assistant District Attorney Kaitlyn Mistretta presented testimony and evidence to support the argument that Nicholas intendedtokillthe threepolice officers whoresponded to adomestic

ä See CONVICTED, page 4A

STAFF FILE PHOTOByJAVIER GALLEGOS

Gov. Jeff Landryand state Rep.Debbie Villio,R-Kenner,are backing aproposal that wouldmakesleepingonthe street a crime and allowjurisdictions to establish specialty‘homelessness courts.’

ä See HOMELESS, page 5A

PHOTO PROVIDED By NASA

TheArtemis II splashes down in the PacificOcean off the coast of California on Friday

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Tourist boat capsizes in northern India, kills 10 LUCKNOW, India An overcrowded tourist boat capsized in the Yamuna river in northern India on Friday leaving at least 10 people dead, ofﬁcials said

The accident occurred near the temple town of Vrindavan, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttar Pradesh state.

Officials said the privately operated boat, which had a capacity of about 15 passengers, was carrying around 25 people when it overturned midstream.

Preliminary ﬁndings indicated strong winds caused the vessel to sway before it struck a pontoon bridge and capsized.

Senior administrative ofﬁcer Chandraprakash Singh said 15 people were rescued, four of them in critical condition. The dead were all from India and included six women, he said

Officials said most passengers were not wearing life jackets and that the boat appeared poorly maintained. The operator ﬂed the scene after the accident, they said.

FAA investigates close call on LAX taxiway

A Frontier Airlines jet nearly collided with two trucks that crossed in front of it earlier this week at Los Angeles International Airport, but unlike last month’s deadly crash in New York while a plane was landing, this incident happened on a taxiway while the plane was moving slowly

The Frontier pilot was alarmed and used an expletive as he told the tower he had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision late Wednesday “It was real close. The closest I have ever seen,” he said in audio posted by ATC.com.

No one was hurt in the incident that is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency said several vehicles on a service road crossed in front of the plane around 11:25 p.m. Wednesday

The incident in Los Angeles appears to have happened in an area of the airport where the planes are communicating with air trafﬁc controllers about their movements, but ground vehicles are simply supposed to yield to any planes which are typically moving only about 15 mph. Airport ofﬁcials didn’t respond immediately to questions about what happened and what procedures are in place to prevent collisions.

Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, who was a longtime United Airlines pilot, said these kind of incidents happen daily on taxiways across the country, but don’t normally get any attention because the collision is avoided. The issue will undoubtedly get more attention now “Multiple incidents, accidents happening, just in March alone, I think it’s time to put some serious eyes on what’s going on on the ramp,” Arroyo said.

Texas overturns sentence of death row inmate

Texas’ highest criminal court has overturned the death sentence of a Harris County man who was on death row for nearly half a century

Clarence Curtis Jordan, 70, was ﬁrst convicted in 1978 of murdering Joe L. Williams, a 40-year-old Houston grocer Jordan, who is intellectually disabled, was then found in subsequent years to be incompetent and therefore could not be executed. But for almost four decades, he did not have an attorney to advocate for him and was seemingly forgotten on death row Jordan was finally appointed a new attorney in 2024 as news emerged that there were numerous delayed criminal appeals in Harris County, some of which were lost for more than a decade.

The revelation came amid an effort by the county to reduce the backlog in its criminal courts. Following new legal advocacy, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Jordan’s death sentence in a Thursday ruling The panel also sent the case back to Harris County for a new punishment proceeding.

The Harris County District

Attorney’s Ofﬁce said Thursday that the overturning of Jordan’s death sentence is “what justice looks like,” while adding that his conviction stands.

Gaza marks 6 months since ceasefire began

Residents in limbo as war in Iran causes confusion

BY WAFAA SHURAFA and CARA ANNA Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Friday marks six months since Gaza’s ceasefire deal took effect, a milestone largely lost in the confusion over the new and even more fragile ceaseﬁre in the Iran war

The ravaged Palestinian territory of 2 million people has seen the most intense ﬁghting stop between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants. But most of the ceaseﬁre work remains to be done, from disarming Hamas and ending its two-decade rule to deploying an international stabilization force and beginning vast reconstruction. Gaza residents are in limbo, with limited aid entering through a single, Israelicontrolled border post.

Focusing on a deal’s details is crucial. Already the Iran war’s two-week ceasefire has created deadly confusion over Lebanon as Israel insists

the deal doesn’t apply there and continues to attack the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, while Iran insists it does and threatens to upend the agreement. Israel made a surprise announcement Thursday authorizing direct negotiations with Lebanon, despite the lack of diplomatic ties.

Not long ago, the U.S.created and Trump-led Board of Peace kicked off with $7 billion in pledges and sweeping intentions of resolving not only Gaza but other conﬂicts that emerge around the world.

Nine days after the board’s initial meeting, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

The Board of Peace has not met again, and it’s still waiting for Hamas to respond to its proposal on disarming, a major concession and perhaps the hardest step. Hamas’ charter calls for destroying Israel.

A U.S. official said Hamas has not been giv-

en a deﬁnite deadline to respond to the proposal but added that “patience is not unlimited.” The ofﬁcial was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

The lack of a deadline can weaken pressure to act. Meanwhile, diplomacy is busy putting out different ﬂames.

Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov told the U.N Security Council last month that the world should not lose sight of Gaza as a new war ﬂared. The choice in Gaza is between “a renewed war, or a new beginning; the status quo, or a better future,” he added. “There is no third option.”

Palestinians might suggest a third option: neglect.

Six months into the Gaza ceaseﬁre that took effect on Oct. 10, little beyond the largely silenced explosions has changed.

Vast tent camps house most of the territory’s population. Other resi-

Immigration board denies Mahmoud Khalil’s appeal

Activist one step closer to deportation

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK An immigration appeals board has denied Mahmoud Khalil’s latest bid to dismiss his deportation case, a largely expected ruling that brings the former Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist one step closer to re-arrest and possible expulsion.

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued the ﬁnal order of removal on Thursday, according to Khalil’s lawyers. The board’s rulings are not public, and an inquiry to the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately returned.

Khalil said he was not surprised by the ruling, which he called “biased and politically motivated.” His attorneys said he cannot be lawfully detained or deported as he pursues a separate case in the federal court system.

“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” Khalil said in a statement

The Board of Immigration Appeals sets precedent in the byzantine immigration court system, which is controlled by the Department of Justice — and increasingly under the inﬂuence of the Trump administration.

Khalil, a 31-year-old legal permanent resident, was the ﬁrst person whose arrest became publicly known during the federal crackdown on noncitizens who publicly criticized Israel and its actions in Gaza.

The government has claimed that

Khalil’s efforts as a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia were “aligned to Hamas.” They have not presented evidence of any connection to the terrorist group, and Khalil has adamantly denied allegations of antisemitism.

After his arrest last March, Khalil spent 104 days in an immigration jail, missing the birth of his ﬁrst child, before he was ordered released by a federal judge in New Jersey

Khalil suffered a signiﬁcant setback in his federal case earlier this year with a U.S. appeals panel ruling the judge in New Jersey overstepped his authority by releasing him. In a 2-1 decision, the panel found that law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts before Khalil can challenge the decision in federal court.

Khalil’s lawyers are requesting the full appeals panel reconsider the decision. Earlier this month, they asked one of the appellate panel’s judges to step aside because of his previous role as a top Justice Department ofﬁcial involved in investigating student protesters.

Prince Harry sued by charity

African group claims defamation

BY BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press

LONDON A charity co-founded by Prince Harry in Africa to honor his late mother, Princess Diana, has sued him for defamation after he stepped down as a patron last year

Sentebale, which supports young people living with HIV in Botswana and Lesotho, ﬁled suit last month in London’s High Court, according to court records viewed Friday Online ﬁlings show Harry and his friend, Mark Dyer, a former trustee at the charity, are being sued for either libel or slander No documents were available.

dents shelter in damaged apartment buildings. Health workers and other humanitarian workers say there has been little progress in the expected surge of medical supplies and other aid.

The U.S. 20-point ceaseﬁre plan for Gaza is largely failing on the humanitarian front, five international aid groups said in a scorecard released Thursday They said conditions have deteriorated further in Gaza since the Iran war began.

“During the first two weeks of March 2026, trucks entering Gaza declined by 80%, and the price of basic goods increased dramatically,” they said. Medical evacuations have stalled.

Palestinians expressed fading hopes for any immediate improvement in their lives.

“There is pollution and disease. It’s as if there’s no ceaseﬁre at all,” said Maysa Abu Jedian, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya.

“The charity seeks the court’s intervention, protection, and restitution following a coordinated adverse media campaign conducted since 25 March 2025 that has caused operational disruption and reputational harm to the charity its leadership, and its strategic partners,” Sentebale said Friday in a statement on its website.

A spokesperson for Harry and Dyer said the pair “categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims.”

The lawsuit puts the Duke of Sussex in an unaccustomed position as a defendant in the High Court Over the past three years, he has repeatedly been on the other side of litigation as the leading claimant in invasion of privacy suits against Britain’s most prominent tabloids over allegations of phone hacking and unlawful snooping by journalists and the private eyes they hired.

Harry co-founded Sentebale, which means “forget me not” in the language of Lesotho, about 20 years ago in memory of his mother, who was a prominent advocate for treatment of HIV and AIDS and helped reduce stigma around the disease. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho was the co-founder Disagreements at the charity surfaced in 2023 over a new fundraising strategy and the two founders stepped down as patrons in March 2025 in support of trustees who had quit.

Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COMor337-234-0800

News Tips /Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM

Obituaries: 225-388-0289• Mon-Fri9-5; Sat10-5; ClosedSun

Advertising Sales: 337-234-0174•Mon-Fri 8-5

Classiﬁed Advertising: 225-383-0111 •Mon-Fri 8-5

Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe

E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABDEL KAREEM HANA

Palestinian youth look on as they stand in an area next to tents at a makeshift camp for displaced people at sunset in Khan younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT ROURKE

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil’s latest bid to have his deportation case dismissed was denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

U.S., Iran prepare for peace talks in Pakistan

Ceasefire shaky as Israel, Hezbollah trade fire

BY JON GAMBRELL, SAM MEDNICK and

MUNIR

AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD With the ceasefire in Iran still shaky, U.S. Vice President JD Vance headed Friday to Pakistan for high-level talks with Iranian officials, as Israel and Hezbollah militants traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Many issues could derail the truce and the negotiations aimed at making a broader deal to stop the fighting permanently Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, claimed that the talks set for Saturday would not happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform that Iran has no leverage except to restrict ship traffic in the strait, through which 20% of the world’s traded oil once passed. Kuwait, meanwhile, said it was targeted by seven drone attacks since Thursday that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region. Though the Guard denied launching any assault, it has carried out attacks across the Mideast in the past that it did not claim.

Preparations for the talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be moving forward, with Vance boarding Air Force Two for the long ﬂight to Islamabad.

Elsewhere, negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were expected to begin Tuesday in the U.S. capital, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said Friday Beirut is keen to hold direct talks to end the war between

A resident checks damage to buildings on Friday as she walks near charred cars at the site of Wednesday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon.

ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets — have yet to be implemented

“These two matters must be fulﬁlled before negotiations begin,” he wrote.

Direct negotiations

Israel’s insistence that the ceaseﬁre in Iran does not include a pause in its ﬁghting with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the war in support of its backer, Iran.

The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb 28. Trump said Thursday that he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial back the strikes. Then on Friday Israeli warplanes struck near a state security office in the southern town of Nabatieh, killing 13 officers, according to the Lebanese president’s office. Israeli forces said they also hit about 10 rocket launchers in Lebanon that had fired toward northern Israel.

A day earlier, Netanyahu

“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced.”

Strait a sticking point

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driven stocks down and roiled the world economy Tehran’s control over the waterway has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war

The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $97 Friday, up more than 30% since the war started.

Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the strait each day many carrying oil to Asia. With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded passing through.

Trump said Iran has little clout in the negotiations.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” Trump posted Friday. “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”

Questions linger

Questions also remain over the fate of Iran’s mis

Kamala Harris, former vice president and 2024 presidential candidate, speaks with Rev.Al Sharpton during the National Action Network Convention in New york on Friday. ASSOCIATED

Kamala Harris considering another presidential bid

BY STEVE PEOPLES and MATT BROWN Associated Press

NEW YORK After chants of “run again!” ﬁlled the room, former Vice President Kamala Harris told African American activists on Friday that she’s actively considering another presidential bid.

“I might I am thinking about it,” Harris told Rev Al Sharpton after he asked directly whether she was going to run for president in 2028.

Harris’ comments came during the National Action Network’s annual convention, where more than a half-dozen potential candidates appeared this week, hoping to make inroads among Black voters — who comprise one of Democrats’ most powerful blocs.

The Democrats’ next presidential primary season won’t begin in earnest until after November’s midterm elections, but this week’s conference showcased a collection of Democrats already jockeying for position in what promises to be a crowded competition.

For now, at least, there is no clear early favorite. But there did appear to be a favorite at Sharpton’s conference.

Harris, the nation’s ﬁrst

Black female vice president and the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2024, earned the only standing ovation and the largest crowd of any other 2028 prospect this week.

Sharpton noted that Harris earned more votes in her losing 2024 campaign than even former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

“Whatever she decides to do she made a point in history,” Sharpton said.

Harris has raised the possibility of another presidential bid before in the 15 months since she left ofﬁce.

She also recently launched a political action committee and began to travel across the United States to support Democrats, especially across the South.

Still, some in the party have shifted their focus to a new generation of Democratic leaders given Harris’ struggle in the last presidential contest.

The convention lineup this week featured Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, Maryland Gov Wes Moore, Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear Rep. Ro Khanna of California, and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.

Buttigieg, speaking shortly after Harris left the stage, received soft applause from a room that was about halfempty Some cheered when he mentioned supporting federal workers and minority businesses, but many attendees had streamed out of the packed auditorium after Harris’ speech in an effort to grab a selﬁe with the former vice president.

Buttigieg, like many other 2028 prospects this week, laughed off a question about whether he would seek the presidency again.

Harris was more explicit. Three times she repeated, “I’m thinking about it,” when Sharpton asked her about a 2028 White House run

“I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. I spent countless hours in my West Wing office footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office and the situation room I know what the job is, and I know what it requires,” Harris said. She continued: “I am thinking about it in the context of who and where and how can the best job be done for the American people. That’s how I’m thinking about it. I’ll keep you posted.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EMILIO MORENATTI

the crew’s arrival off the San Diego coast, alongwith asquadron of military planes and helicopters.

The astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’sviewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emergedfromits communication blackout and again at splashdown.

The last time NASA andthe Defense Department teamed upfor a lunar crew’sreentry was Apollo 17 in 1972.Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feetper second —or 24,661mph just shy of the record before slowing to a19mph splashdown.

“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown,” reported Mission Control’s Rob Navias.

ArtemisII’srecord flyby

Launched fromFlorida on April 1, the astronautsracked upone win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing asustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn’tland on the moon or even orbitit. But it broke Apollo 13’sdistance recordand marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles. Then in the mission’smost heart-tugging scene, thetearyastronauts asked permissiontoname apair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman’slate wife, Carroll.

During Monday’srecordbreaking ﬂyby,they documented scenes of the moon’sfar side never seen before by the human eye along with atotal solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular,“just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of themoon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8’sfirst lunar explorers with Earthset,showing ourBlue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’sfamous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“It just makes you want to continue to go back,” Radigan said on the eve of splashdown. It’s the first of many trips, andwe just need to continue on because

CONVICTED

Continued frompage1A

dispute callwhen he retrieved arifle from under his bed, enteredahallway and ﬁred 26 times.

Theyshowedthe jury body camera video from officers John Ford and Alan Cortez, the ﬁrst to respond to the domestic disturbance call in the early morningof Aug. 5, 2023. Bradford’sbody camera was destroyed in the wake of the shooting when it was run over by apolice vehicle.

The jury also heard a 15-minute 911 call made by Diamond Lee, Nicholas’ then-girlfriend of two years who never spoketothe operator but left the line open and placed the phoneinher pocket.

Attorney Francis Benezech, representing Nicholas, conceded hisclient was guilty of the charge of possession of aﬁrearmby aconvicted felon. Nicholas previously was convicted of aggravatedcriminal damage to property,afelony,and served time in jail Benezech tried to paint Nicholas as aman who was too intoxicated to understandhis actions and who didn’tunderstand it was police ofﬁcers kicking his door in and approaching him in the dark house.

The jury reached averdict ofguilty on all charges about an hour after starting deliberations. But Wagar sentjurors back for more deliberation afterreviewing post-verdict formsthatdid not matchthe unanimous verdict reported.

About 15 minutes into the second roundofdeliberations, the jury reported one juror refused to speak with the others. Wagar called them back into the courtroomand read them jury instructionsthat say it is their duty to discuss the case with other jurors.

Less than 10 minutes later, the jury returned aunanimous verdict on all charges that matchedtheir post-ver-

there’ssomuch” more to learn aboutthe moon Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power,earning props fromPresident Donald Trump; CanadianPrime Minister Mark Carney; Britain’sKing Charles III; RyanGosling, starof the latest space ﬂick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself,William Shatner of TV’soriginal“Star Trek.”

dictforms The incident that led to Thursday’sconviction started on Friday,Aug. 4, 2023, with Nicholas, Lee, andothers drinking heavily.Around 2 a.m. Aug. 5, outside 106 Gen. MarshallSt., where Nicholas lived withhis aunt, thesituation turned violent Leetestified Thursday that she was “clowning around,” pretendingtodamage Nicholas’ new shoes, when hissister, Jowanna Washington, mother of the Cyprianchildren, said Nicholas was goingtobeangry The exchange,she said, set off Nicholas, who struck Washington then Lee when she tried to intervene.

Washington testified for the prosecution that it wasn’tthe first time Nicholas had struck her.She said she called 911 because “I neededhim outofmysight He neededtosit in jail a while.” Nicholas, she testified, grabbed herbythe shirtand forced her into the house. He’scaptured on the 911 call saying he wanted to beat her in private Ford’sbody camera video shows he andBradfordoutside the door of the house. Ford banged on the door at least fivetimes over five minutes, announcing they were Lafayette Police and orderingsomeonetoopen the door.Henever received aresponse. Bradford said she heard Nicholas beating Lee. Video from Cortez’s body camera captured awoman inside thehousesaying, “Stop. No Please.”

Awoman approached the officers, yelling that there were three babies inside. Ford saidhewas going to kick thedoor in. Nicholas reportedly replied that he would start shooting in response. It took Ford three kicks to break the door fromits hinges. He entered thehouse ﬁrst,seeingtothe children the door fell on.Bradford and Cortez entered the totally dark house past Ford, weapons drawn. Their intent, they testified,was to

Test forfuturemoonmissions

Despite its rich scientiﬁc yield, the nearly 10-day ﬂight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’sdrinking water and propellantsystems were hit with valveproblems.Inperhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, butthe astronauts shruggeditall off.

“Wecan’texploredeeper unless we are doing afew things that are

getanyone in the house to safety.

Bradfordholstered her gun and took out her nonlethal Taser,waving at an olderwoman walkingdown thehall to leave. Cortez was in another position.His body camera videoshows Nicholas round adoorway and lift ariﬂe, pointing it at Bradford.

When she saw therifle, Bradfordsaid,itfeltlike it was in her face. As Nicholas started ﬁring, Bradford said she duckedand turned her body.Abullethit her in the abdomenand shefell down paralyzed.

Cortezreturned fire and was shotasheretreated from thehouse while Nicholascontinuedtoshoot. Cortez was shot in theleft foot and left buttocks and had to crawl to safety Bradford testiﬁed that she knewifshe didn’tget out, she was going to die. Unable to walk,she dragged herself out of the house.

Nicholas, injured by Cortez, retreated to abedroom and got in the bedwith the rifle next to him,Officer RickyFontenot testiﬁed. He tried to convince an injured Nicholas to crawl to thedoor unarmed, but Nicholas is recorded saying thepolice would shoot him if he did.

Fontenot andanother ofﬁcer removed an airconditioning unit from thewindow in the bedroom andsent in apolice dog who detained Nicholas until SWAT officers took over andarrested him,hesaid.

“All this startedasa joke,” Lee told Nicholas in ajail phone call days after the shooting. “All this could have been avoided. You didn’thave to start shooting.”

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making afew sacriﬁces, unless we’re taking afew risks, and those things are all worth it.”

AddedHansen: “You do alot of testing on theground, but your ﬁnal test is when youget this hardware to space, and it’s adoozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program,nextyear’sArtemisIII willsee astronauts practice dockingtheir capsulewithalunar lander or two in orbit around Earth.

Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts’ allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we couldfor just foramomenthave the world pause and remember thatthis is abeautiful planet and avery special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByGREGORy BULL People look up at the sky during awatch partyfor the returnofNASA’sArtemis II

Coronado, Calif., on Friday.

this year

As a result, only Republicans and those registered “no party” can vote for Cassidy, Letlow, Fleming and a fourth candidate, Mark Spencer, in the May 16 semiclosed Republican primary

Similarly, only Democrats and no party candidates can vote on May 16 for any of the three Democratic candidates: Jamie Davis, Nick Albares and Gary Crockett

Cassidy has said in interviews that he’s simply trying to prevent conservative-leaning Democrats from being disenfranchised.

“If you’re a Democrat who has been voting Republican for a while, you’re not going to be able to vote unless you change to no party or Republican,” he said on March 23 on KEEL, a Shreveport radio station. “Otherwise, you’re not going to be able to vote.”

Critics paint a darker picture.

“Bill Cassidy wants to be the Democrats’ favorite Republican. That’s ﬁne,” Scott McKay, the publisher of The Hayride, a conservative website, told talk show host Moon Griffon in a radio interview last month. “The problem is that Republicans don’t like you as a result of that. So you’re probably not going to win the primary.”

Meanwhile, Letlow’s campaign on Friday seized on a Substack post on Cassidy’s efforts by liberal commentator Bob Mann, a historian and former LSU mass communications

HOMELESS

Continued from page 1A

out a mechanism for homeless people to avoid prison time by pleading guilty, going on probation for at least a year, and completing a treatment program. Someone who successfully completes the program could have their conviction tossed

HB211 “prioritizes and balances accountability, compassion, ﬁscal responsibility and the long-term wellbeing of individuals, families and neighborhoods,” Villio told the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol on Thursday “This legislation calls for a coordinated strategy that integrates criminal justice, housing, health care and homelessness response systems into a continuum of care.”

But to Williams, HB211 would create a “cycle of shame.” She and other advocates opposed to the bill came out in force to testify at the committee hearing, saying the bill would “criminalize” homelessness — and could make it more difficult for homeless people to get jobs and housing by giving them arrest records Opponents also argued HB211 would place more pressure on already overcrowded jails.

“Becoming unhoused due to falling on hard times, facing financial insecurity or being housing insecure because you’ve been discriminated against is not a crime,” said Monique Blossom, policy director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center “We’re extremely concerned that this bill will push people experienc-

professor who previously worked as a staffer to Democratic elected ofﬁcials, to question the senator’s conservative credentials.

Cassidy noted that voters can easily change their registration through the Secretary of State’s GeauxVote app. They can also do it online through geauxvote.com.

That deadline is April 25.

For voters who want to change their registration in person or through the mail, the deadline is April 15.

About five weeks before the primary, each of the three Republican candidates has a legitimate case to make for finishing first or second in the primary and thus advancing to the June 27 party runoff. Each campaign has released polls showing its candidate running first or a close second.

Bolstered by far with the biggest campaign war chest, Cassidy has been campaigning aggressively and telling voters that he is a conservative who has delivered billions of dollars to reduce traffic congestion, prevent flooding, provide safer drinking water and create jobs

A super PAC supporting him has spent heavily to broadcast TV ads that bash Letlow for her stock market trades and that paint her as an untrustworthy steward of taxpayer money. The super PAC is also highlighting her calls in 2020 for expanding diversity, equity and inclusion programs a no-no for conservatives.

Letlow has been emphasizing her endorsement by President Donald Trump, saying it shows she is the

ing homelessness who have nowhere to go into a cycle of incarceration and repeated homelessness.”

HB211 cleared the Judiciary Committee in a 12-4 vote. It needs to pass the House before advancing to the Senate. A similar measure failed to pass the Legislature last year

What HB211 does HB211 would make “unauthorized camping on public property” a crime, punishable by up to six months in prison for a ﬁrst offense and at least one year in prison for a subsequent offense, along with fines of up to $1,000.

The legislation deﬁnes unauthorized camping as “the intentional use of any tent, shelter, or bedding constructed or arranged for the purpose of or in such a way to permit overnight use on public property that is not a designated camp ground.”

Ofﬁcials could use the offense as grounds to admit defendants to “homelessness courts,” though homeless people accused of other crimes would also be eligible.

Some critics of the proposal noted state statute already allows judges to establish specialty drug courts and mental health courts, which offer similar services. Louisiana has 31 adult drug courts and three mental health courts, according to the Law Library of Louisiana.

In an interview James Lee, policy director for the governor, said the homelessness courts would be more ﬂexible, and could connect individuals with services even when they don’t have mental health or substance

use issues.

true conservative in the race. She has counterattacked Cassidy, saying his vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges (of inciting the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021) means he can’t be trusted to back the president

Letlow also says that Cassidy voted for legislation that promoted DEI, an accusation he dismisses. Letlow notes she has voted against DEI measures during her ﬁve years in Congress, including a 2023 vote that her campaign said “prohibits biological males from competing in women’s sports at schools receiving federal funding.”

Fleming presents himself as the most conservative of the three, touting his 96% scorecard rating from the American Conservative Union during his eight years in the House representing northwest Louisiana and his four years working for Trump during his ﬁrst administration.

After watching Cassidy and Letlow attack each other, Fleming was hit in recent days by a pro-Letlow super PAC associated with Landry, which said he didn’t support a secure border Another group aired an attack that said he had voted for bills promoting carbon capture sequestration.

Fleming said both lines of attack were lies and released the video that was the source of the border attack ad to show it had been edited deceptively

Besides promoting party switches in public appearances, Cassidy’s campaign has sent text messages to urge Democrats to change their party registration.

“It’s really something to allow every individual situation to be treated differently,” he said.

Passing HB211 also would help Louisiana draw down federal funding, Lee said.

In July, Trump issued an executive order directing the attorney general to “prioritize available funding to support the expansion of drug courts and mental health courts.” It also directs the government to attempt to favor states that enforce prohibitions on public camping and loitering when giving grants.

But Angela Owczarek, client services director for the Orleans Parish Public Defender’s Ofﬁce, said that by threatening them with jail time, HB211 would coerce people into receiving medical treatments they may not want, simply for sleeping outside.

The bill is “rife” with ways to fail people out of treatment programs, she said, noting that probation could be revoked for those who do not “constructively engage” with their programs.

“We don’t identify every person in Louisiana with substance use and mental health conditions and force them to participate in ambiguously deﬁned treatment processes,” Owczarek said. “It isn’t appropriate, or fair or a true carriage of justice to force acceptance of that treatment onto unhoused people.”

In the United States in 2024, about 2 in 10 homeless adults had serious mental health disorders, while about 18% had substance use disorders, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy re-

A Feb. 13 text said: “Check your voter registration. Ensure your voice is heard this election

Check this off your to-do list and get it done TODAY!”

The text included a link to “update your voter registration here.”

Since Feb. 1, there are 7,740 fewer Democrats, 4,819 more no party voters and 3,829 more Republicans.

How much credit Cassidy can claim is unclear The number of Democrats in Louisiana has been declining for years to the point where Republicans are projected to have the most voters in the state, perhaps as early as this year

For comparison’s sake, about 1.5 million people voted for Cassidy and another Republican in the 2020 Senate primary, when it was open to all voters.

Susan Tudor a retired health care executive in Alexandria, said she switched from Democrat to no party.

“I disagree with Cassidy on a lot of things, but I believe he is the best candidate,” Tudor said. “He’s more conservative than I am on some things, but I respect him as a physician. I think he made a political calculus on the Robert Kennedy (confirmation) vote (to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services), but he’s at least challenged him. He’s worked on both sides of the aisle. I thought he made a courageous vote on impeachment. I do think, in the system we have, like it or not, seniority matters.”

Cassidy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, giving him a power-

search institute. There was some overlap between those two populations.

Other bills

HB211 is one of two bills rankling people who work to address homelessness.

House Bill 616, by state Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, would penalize homeless service providers if they fail to hand over information requested by the Louisiana legislative auditor The proposal aims to make sure the state can properly assess whether providers receiving public funds are doing their jobs, Knox told legislators during an April 8 meeting of the House Health

& Welfare Committee.

ful voice on changing the country’s health care system. Nathan Chapman, a historic preservationist in New Orleans, said he, too, switched from Democrat to no party

“I did appreciate he voted for the impeachment,”Chapmansaid.“That took real courage. I don’t want to see him punished for that. I wish he had done more against Robert Kennedy A lot of people look to him for leadership on that issue. I think he’s in a difﬁcult position. On the whole, I think he’s a good man and is trying to maneuver as best as he can.” That maneuvering is ultimately too clever Bob Mann wrote in a Substack post Thursday He said Cassidy called him Monday night to explain why Democrats should switch to vote for him. Mann wrote that the call and Cassidy’s record left him with ambivalent feelings, in part because of the senator’s decision to incessantly label Letlow as a “liberal,” even though she has a strong conservative voting record. Mann wrote: “He’s essentially telling people like me in private conversations: I’m really not as crazy and MAGA-like as I’ve had to sound over the past year and a half. And, by the way,Iknowyou’reangryaboutRFK, but look at all the bipartisan legislation I’ve supported that proves I’m really a sensible moderate. As I say, all that’s probably true. Deep down, Cassidy isn’t as conservative

Opponents argue that providers are already thoroughly audited at the local and federal level, and that additional audits would take up valuable staff time. They also warn the law could risk exposing sensitive health information about their clients.

Amanda Stapleton, deputy executive director at UNITY of Greater New Orleans, said the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development requires providers to redact personal identifying information when they submit data for audits.

UNITY leads a group of organizations that provide

housing and other services to homeless people.

Another proposal from Knox, House Bill 457, appears less controversial. It would direct the Louisiana Department of Health and the state ﬁre marshal to set and enforce minimum standards of living at group homes, halfway houses, emergency shelters and community facilities Some worry the regulations could make it too expensive to offer housing to those in need. Both bills cleared the House Committee on Health and Welfare on Wednesday They now require a vote from the full chamber

We had somescattered showers move across partsofAcadiana yesterday, butthere’sonly aslight chance of that today. For the most part, Saturdayislooking like abeautifullysunnyday with high temperatures and alight breeze. Temperatures will be warmer than yesterdaywithhighs in the lowtomid-80s.Windswill be east-southeasterlyat10to15mph and the UV Index will be “very high,”soprotect your skin. For the ULLvsSouthern Miss game, it’ll be sunnyand warm, so bringyour sunscreen and stayhydrated.

Zelenskyy: Ukraineshotdown

Shahed

drones in Middle East

Operationpartof

effort to help partners

BY VOLODYMYR YURCHUK

and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press

KYIV,Ukraine Ukrainian military personnel have shot down Iraniandesigned Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war,President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of abroader effort to help partners counter the same weaponsusedbyRussiainUkraine Zelenskyy made his ﬁrstpublic acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed untilFriday.Hesaid Ukrainian forces took part in active operationsabroad using domesticallyproduced interceptor drones proven in counteringIranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine.

“This was not about atraining mission or exercises, but about support in building amodernair defense system that can actually work,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine tookpart in thedefensive operations before the tentative ceaseﬁre in the Middle East was reached among Iran, theUnited States and Israel this week Zelenskyy did not identify the countries involved but said Ukrainian personnel operated across several nations, helping strengthen their air defense systems. He previously said that 228 Ukrainianexperts were deployed in the region. In exchange, Ukraine is receiving weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases,ﬁnancial arrangements, he said.

The Ukrainian leader said the agreements would bolster Ukraine’senergy stability and described the partnerships as something that would “be marketed” as Kyiv seeks to formalizeand expand its defense exportrole.

“Weare helping strengthen their security in exchange for contributions to our country’s resilience,” he said. “This is far more thansim-

plyreceivingmoney.”

The disclosurecomes amidconcerns that conﬂict in the Middle East coulddivert Western military support from Ukraine, particularly air defensesupplies

But Zelenskyy saidthat partners were continuing to supply missiles forPatriot systems, adding that a new batch had arrived in recent days and that Ukraine was working with all partners to ensure its air defense remained in place.

He warned that thecoming spring and summer would be difﬁcultfor Ukraine, with growing political and battleﬁeld pressure as theUnited States turns to domestic politics andelections.

Zelenskyy said he hadurged U.S envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushnertovisit Kyiv and proposed atrilateral format with Moscow.It remains unclear whether they will come or if talks will instead take placeinathird country.

U.S.-led talks have made no progress on key issues, as Washington’s attention shifts to theMiddle East conﬂict while Russian and Ukrainianforces remainlocked in ﬁghting along the roughly 800-mile front line.

Separately,Zelenskyy said he expects Westernallies to restore full sanctionsonRussian oil, warning that anyeasing could allow Moscow to sustain its war effort andofﬂoad keyenergy assets.Russia has been profiting from asurge in global energy prices, brought on by dam-

ASting interceptor drone flies during drills at the yatagan School for Unmanned Aerial Systems in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, on March 19.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy

age to oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf andIran’sblockingofthe Strait of Hormuz, avital sea route for global oil supplies.

Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian energy sites to cut oil revenuesasprices rose and U.S. sanctions eased. Zelenskyysaid partners had urgedKyiv to scale backattacks during Iran’sdisruptionofthe Strait of Hormuz, but he argued Russian oil has alimited impact on global markets.

“I won’tsay who asked us to do this.But partners did ask —it’sa fact. They askedatdifferent levels, from political to military leadership.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saidUkraine is ready to mirror any ceaseﬁrestepsafter RussianPresident Vladimir Putin announcedatemporary Easter truce.

“Weproposed aceaseﬁre during theEasterholidays thisyear and will act accordingly,”Zelenskyy said Friday on X. “People need an Easter free from threats and real movementtoward peace, and Russiahas achance not to return to strikes after Easter as well.”

Putin on Thursday declared a32hour ceaseﬁre over theOrthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4p.m.Saturdayuntil theend of Sunday Previous ceaseﬁre attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Federalcourt hearsnew case againstTrump’s latest global tariffs

BY MAE ANDERSON and PAUL WISEMAN AP business writers

NEW YORK The centerpiece of President Donald Trump’seconomic policy—sweeping taxes on global imports —isunder legal assault again.

TheU.S. CourtofInternational Trade, aspecialized court in New York, heard oral arguments Fridayinanattempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck downhis preferred choice —even bigger, even more sweeping tariffs.

In his ﬁrst attempt to impose global tariffs,the president last year invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), using the lawtodeclare America’slongstanding trade deﬁcit anational emergency and to impose double-digit worldwide taxes on imports to combat it. He interpreted the law broadly to justify tariffs of whatever size he wanted, whenever he wanted to impose them, on whatever country he wanted to target.

The Supreme Court struck those tariffs down on Feb. 20, saying IEEPAdid notauthorize theuse of tariffs to counternational emergencies.

ButTrumphad alternatives to IEEPA. The quickest option was Section 122 of theTrade Actof 1974, whichallows the president to impose global tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, after which congressional approval is needed to extend them.After his defeat at the SupremeCourt, Trump quickly announced 10% Section 122 tariffs. He said he’d raise them to the maximum 15% but hasn’tyet done so. The tariffs are scheduled to expire July 24.

Twodozen states andsome businesses quickly challenged thenew tariffs in court. Friday’s hearing lasted more than three hours as athree-judge panel tried to assess aprovision that

had never been used before to impose tariffs and to analyze congressionaldecisionmaking from morethan ahalf century ago.

The judges intensely questioned lawyers forboththe plaintiffs and the government about what certain termsmean including what precisely the term “balance-of-payments deﬁcits” meantwhen it was used in the Trade Act of 1974 and what it means today.

“I think the judgesasked toughquestions of allsides and were genuinely trying to find out what Congress meant when it passedsection122,”saidJeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and director of litigation for Liberty Justice Center,which represents some of the plaintiffs.

“I would be stunned if thechallengers prevail,” said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, apartner at King &Spalding law ﬁrm and a former U.S. trade ofﬁcial. The trade court’sjudges, he said,are likely to defertothe president andallowthe Section 122 tariffs to stay,considering that they will expire in three and ahalf months anyway.“I just don’tsee them sticking their neck outonthis one, givenhow temporarily it’sinplace and how much discretionthese courts give to the president,” he said.

Section 122 is aimed at what it calls “fundamental international payments problems.” At issue is whether that wording coverstrade deﬁcits, the gapbetween whatthe U.S. sells other countriesand whatitbuys from them.

The provision arose fromthe financial crises that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s when the U.S. dollar was tied to gold. Other countries were dumping dollars in exchange for gold at a setrate, risking acollapse of the U.S. currency and chaos in ﬁnancial markets. But the dollar is no longerlinkedtogold, so critics saySection122 is obsolete.

‘Judge shopping’ bill fails to advance

It would allow criminal cases to be randomly reassigned

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

A bill that would allow prosecutors to have criminal cases reassigned to new judges when defendants waive jury trials failed to make it out of the Louisiana House on Wednesday after some Republicans joined Democrats to oppose the measure.

But House Bill 310 could get another chance to pass later in the leg-

‘Our brightest young people’

Middle schoolers bring big science to state fair at LSU

BY JAN RISHER Staff writer

At her home in Baton Rouge, Bliss Barnes crochets stuffed animals. But when the eighth grader at Sherwood Middle School decided to enter the science fair, she turned her hobby into a hypothesis: What is the best type of yarn for Louisiana weather?

She crocheted sleeves of wool, cotton, and acrylic — keeping hook size and yarn weight identical across all three then wrapped each around glass and plastic cups ﬁlled with water heated to roughly 125 degrees Fahrenheit and recorded the temperature every two minutes until each reached room temperature.

Her hypothesis was that acrylic, being synthetic, would insulate least and therefore stay coolest

She was wrong Cotton was the least insulating, because its ﬁbers are more tightly wound, leaving fewer air pockets to trap heat “It proved my hypothesis wrong,” she said, without distress. “After further research, I realized it was because of the air pockets in cotton ﬁbers.” Her father, Stephen Barnes, stood nearby When asked how many hours she had put into the project, Bliss said, “Maybe 24?” Her father quietly revised the estimate upward.

“Closer to 40, I think,” he said That kind of scene — a kid underselling work and a parent ﬁlling in the gap played out across the LSU Student Union ballroom on Wednesday, where 220 students from across Louisiana competed in the 72nd annual Louisiana State Science and Engineering Fair, junior division.

These were not students who had simply signed up to compete Each had already won or placed at their school fair, then advanced through one of 10 regional competitions across the state Wednesday was the state-level competition.

The room was abuzz with folded tri-panel boards and middle school energy. Projects ranged from what kind of nail polish lasts longest to whether dogs have preferences for speciﬁc treats to whether apple slices can be kept from browning And then, a few tables over there were eighth graders who had spent months building a device designed to address global warming.

“We’ve been hosting this fair since the 1950s,” said Lisa Verma, senior director for professional development and community programs at LSU Online and Continuing Education, the department that organizes the event.

“These are our brightest young people — in math and science and engineering and arts,” Verma said. Earlier in the day, volunteer judges — engineers, scientists, retired industry professionals, LSU faculty and graduate students,

islative session after the tight vote.

Its sponsor state Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, garnered 50 votes in favor of the measure, just shy of the 53 needed to send it to the Senate.

Forty-nine legislators voted against the bill, and six were absent. Even though the vote landed in Carlson’s favor, HB310 did not win the majority of the full 105-member chamber needed to move forward Carlson said he plans to bring it up for another vote.

Under the proposal, a criminal defendant who opts to have a bench trial would have his case randomly reassigned to a new judge, as long as the court has at least three judges. The district attorney could intervene to stop the reassignment.

Supporters, including Attorney General Liz Murrill, argue the measure would keep defendants from “shopping” for favorable judges.

But critics — who note that criminal cases are randomly assigned to judges in the ﬁrst place — contend it would simply allow district attorneys to do that instead.

On the House ﬂoor, Carlson said a defendant should not be able to get rid of a jury’s input just to keep his case in front of a judge he believes will give him a more lenient sentence. His bill would “protect the integrity, in reality and perception,

of our criminal justice system,” Carlson said.

He said he brought the bill because he believes some judges in Louisiana acquit defendants even when the evidence shows they are guilty.

Democrats grilled Carlson about the bill ahead of the vote — but so did state Rep. Brian Glorioso, a Republican from Slidell, who said he did not believe Louisiana judges were regularly violating their oath

Lafayette.

REDESIGN EyED

for Bertrand Drive

Pedestrian crosswalk, lower speed limits among changes

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

Lafayette Consolidated Government unveiled the working renderings of a new Bertrand Drive that places pedestrian and cyclist safety at the forefront.

The city recently hosted a groundbreaking to bury communication lines on a cut-through street that connects University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Cajun Field to Moncus Park.

The new design emphasizes foot trafﬁc and slower driving speeds, while reworking connections to South College and notoriously treacherous pedestrian crosswalks along Johnston Street one of the city’s busiest corridors.

“Bertrand Drive is a critical

corridor for Lafayette as it connects people, places, and some of our strongest community assets,” said MayorPresident Monique Boulet. “These designs reflect what we heard from the community and what our families need every day: more reliable infrastructure, safer access for pedestrians and cyclists, better traffic flow and a more resilient streetscape.”

Locals rescue 27 dogs on Breaux Bridge road

Many were injured, giving birth or nursing puppies, officials say

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Twenty-seven dogs, including several nursing mothers and puppies, were found abandoned on a roadside in Breaux Bridge, according to Acadiana Animal Aid, drawing attention to the ongoing issue of animal abandonment. Some of the dogs were actively

giving birth in the open and exposed to harsh weather without shelter or care, organizers said.

“This is the reality we face far too often, and cases like this require immediate, intensive care,” the organization said in a statement. Found several weeks ago, rescuers said 16 of the 27 animals were newborn puppies, estimated to be between 1 and 10 days old, most in fragile condition. Many showed signs of hair loss and ringworm, while nearly every adult dog

page 2B

ä See JUDGE, page 2B ä See REDESIGN, page 2B

St. Landry Parish welfare check ﬁnds man dead CRIME BLOTTER Advocate staff reports

A welfare check requested by concerned family members has led to a homicide investigation in the Washington area, according to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce.

Family members contacted deputies after they were unable to reach 64-year-old Henry J. Durio at his home on Pile Ridge Road When deputies responded on Monday to do a welfare check, they discovered

evidence indicating that shots had been ﬁred at the residence the previous night. Investigators found cartridge casings on the property where Durio lived. Durio was found deceased at the residence with multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said. Investigators also reported that Durio’s 2009 red Chevrolet Silverado was stolen from the property His death is being investigated as a homicide. In addition to the official

See BLOTTER, page 2B

Stantec’s Josh Creek displays possible design features.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE

Stantec’s Jeff Grob is introduced as elements of the Bertrand Drive Revitalization are revealed on Wednesday at Russo Park in

The new Bertrand Drive would include removing its central turning lane to allow for pockets of on-street parkingand green spaces, coinciding with aspeed limit reduction to 30 miles per hour from its current 45. The road would also feature several raised pedestrian crossings ﬁxed with lighting. Raised crosswalks act as asort of speed bump that would force drivers to slow down before approaching. Additionally,several driveways along the roadway are expected to be consolidated to limit interactions between drivers and pedestrians

One side of the roadway will have a12-foot walking path with a6-foot sidewalk on the other

Designs are not ﬁnalized, with Thursday night’s unveiling serving partly as a feedback session for resi-

dentsofthe nearby Holden Heights neighborhood and frequentcommuters. Likely themost anticipated andcontentiousmoment in the meeting was the Bertrandand Johnston Street connection

The new design would create acentral pedestrian crosswalk that bisects the intersection rather than traditional corner crossings. Pedestrians would cross from the corner of theintersection into an islandbefore crossing the major thoroughfare. The goal wastoeliminate the risk that pedestrians would be struck by turningvehicles whilecrossing, said WarrenAbadie, LCG’sdirector of trafﬁc, roads and bridges

Drivers wouldnolonger be able to drive straight into the South College shopping center from Bertrand. Leftandright-turninglanes at the intersection would be separated by amedian on the Bertrandside.

Utilities and communication upgrades areexpected to begininJune andwill last around six months, said Martin Poirrier,LCG’sdirector of capital improvements

Roadwork is expected to begin in theﬁrstquarter of 2027 and be completed toward the end of 2028. The project is anticipated to cost between $11 million and $13 million

The next partofthe project, from acommunity perspective, is choosing what design elementsand artwork should adorn the street

Forfull project details, updates, and opportunitiesfor ongoing input,visit lafayettela.gov/bertrand.

“Bertrand is astrong showcase of what’spossible in the heart of our city,” Boulet added. “When we engage stakeholders and plan withpurpose, we can turn communityinput into real progress andkeep moving Lafayette forward.”

RESCUE

Continued from page1B

tested positive for heartworm disease. Eight of the dogs also suffered deep puncture wounds believed to have been caused by a wild animal, likely aferal hog.

The animals were first discovered by agroup of local residents who refused to leave them behind.

“Myself and agroup of friends are the onesthat found these dogs and helped bring them in,” Nariah Gotch wrote in apublic comment. “I had all of them at my house at some point because Irefused to leave them out there.”

Gotch described the animals as some of the sweetest rescue dogs she has encountered, despite what they had possibly endured.

“Theystill manage to be so

BLOTTER

Continued from page1B

investigation, family members have taken to social media to express grief and share information aboutrecent losses in thefamily,including the recent death of Durio’s brother The Sheriff’s Ofﬁce Criminal Investigations Division is leading the investigation andisworkingincoordination with arealaw enforcement agencies and other resources as the case develops.

Man arrested, accused of child exploitation

Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arresteda Lake Charles manona city of Rayne warrant in achild exploitation investigation, authorities said.

Rylekwun Poullard, 29, of Greenwood Way, was arrested at 10:54 a.m.Thursday

Poullard is charged with ﬁve counts of indecent behavior with ajuvenile and five counts of computeraided solicitation of aminor

Ofﬁcials said city of Rayne policeand Calcasieu Parish

incredibly sweet andpatient with us. The mommas let me handle their newborns to getthemtosafety,” Gotch wrote. “Whenthey were severelyinjured by hogs,they let me carry them to the truck withoutafuss.”

AccordingtoAcadiana Animal Aid, severaldogsrequiredurgentmedical treatment forinjuries consistent with wild animal attacks.

Followingthe initial rescue, the organization took in all 27 dogs, beginning a monthslong recovery effort The cost of care for the abandoned dogs is estimated at more than$6,000, including intake, spay and neuter procedures, wound treatment, medications and heartworm therapy.A breakdown provided by the organization lists $2,600 for intakeand spay-neuter surgeries, $2,000 forwound care and painmedication, $1,000 forheartworm treatment and $500 for ringworm treatment.

deputies executed asearch warrant at Poullard’sresidenceonGreenwoodWay as part of theongoing investigation. Evidencewas collected during thesearch. Poullard willbe transferred to the Acadia Parish Jail. He is being held on a $100,000 bail, according to authorities.

TheRaynePoliceDepartment said it remains committed to protecting childrenand will continue workingwith partner agencies to investigate and prosecute those whoexploitminors.

Police arrest 3men in separate cases

Youngsville policearrested three men this week in connectionwith separate cases involving inappropriate behavior with ajuvenile.

On Tuesday,officers arrested Shawn Copelandof Youngsville on multiple felony charges,including computer-aidedsolicitation of aminor and possession of child sexual abuse material. In asecondarrest, on Thursday,officers took Drake Lawrence Bergeron, 28, of Lafayette, into custody Bergeron was charged

JUDGE

Continuedfrom page 1B

of office by making decisions likethe ones Carlson described.

Glorioso said HB310 went “a bridge too far” and infringed upon the “limited rights” of defendants.

State Rep. JeremyLaCombe, R-Livonia, aformer prosecutor,joined Glorioso in speaking against the bill. He said defendants often waivetheir jury trial rights because they want to speed up the court process and spend less time in jail —not because of favorable judges. HB310 comes amid apush

SCIENCE

Continuedfrom page 1B

representativesfromcompanies including Turner Industries, Entergy and Dow —moved through the aisles, stopping at each display.Studentsstraightened their boardsand started their explanations over each time anew judge approached.

Eric Crawfordand Knox Grover from Edgar Martin MiddleSchool in Lafayette had coordinated their outfits —both in black which led nearlyeveryone watching them near thephoto boothtoobserve they looked like the“Men in Black.”

Thetwo eighth graders lived up to the comparison. They carried themselves withacertain seriousness of purpose. Their project challenged awidely held assumption. Thetwo arguedthatthe primary driver of global warming is not carbon dioxide but rather theloss of transpiration —the process by which plantsrelease water vapor —from earth’s systems. They built adevice designed to reintroduce water into those systems.

to give theLegislature more oversight of judges. Senate Bill 123 by state Rep. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, wouldallow legislators to removejudges for“malfeasance,gross misconduct, or incompetence.” That bill passedthe Senateand now sits beforethe Houseand Governmental Affairs Committee.

It is unclear whether judges can currently be impeached under Louisiana law Carlson’sproposal also is one of several pieces of legislation that have upset defense advocates, who say they would stack the decks in favor of prosecutors.

SenateBill 97, also by Morris, would allow Louisianans

to vote on aconstitutional amendment that would requirea prosecutor’sapproval for adefendanttoopt out of ajury trial. The Senate passed that measure last month, and it nowneedsapprovalfrom the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. AndHouse Bill 52, by state Rep.Debbie Villio, would amendLouisiana lawso that defendants accused of misdemeanors would only be entitled to jury trials if the crime’spossible penalty exceeded a$2,500 ﬁne or 6 months imprisonment. Currently,the threshold penalty is a$1,000 ﬁne or six months imprisonment

TheHouse is scheduled for debateHB52 on Monday

commitment and walked away,but Crawford and Grover did not.

“They are twotruly miraculous children,” she said.

A‘6-7’ andasmall whoop

The awardsceremonyat

ing protein kinasestoslow down viral infection.”

Rescue leaders say cases like this arenot uncommonand continue to strain already limited resources across theregion.

When thepuppies reach 8weeks old, they will be placed for adoption, along withseveral adult dogs,as their recovery continues.

“So many tears have been shedthroughout this whole ordeal,”Gotch wrote. “We hope the next ones can be happy tears as we watch them prance offtotheir new lives.”

Rescue officials saythe casehighlights theimportance of responsible pet ownership, including spaying and neutering, as well as theneed for continued communitysupport

Thoseinterested in adopting or contributing to the dogs’carecan learnmore by visiting acadianaanimalaid.org/adopt or donate at acadianaanimalaid.org/give.

withindecent behavior with ajuvenile, possession of child sexualabuse material, and computer-aidedsolicitation of aminor.Hewas booked into the Lafayette ParishCorrectional Center In athird arrest,officers also arrested 36-year-old Edis Guevara. He was charged with carnal knowledge of ajuvenile,along with multiple traffic-related offenses.Hewas booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center.Due to his immigration status, Homeland Security Investigations hasbeen notifiedand is assisting with the followup investigation. All threecases remain active and under investigation. Additional arrests are possible,according to the Youngsville Police Department.

LOTTERY THURSDAY,APRIL 9, 2026

PICK 3: 4-2-1

PICK 4: 4-5-7-3

“Many people think CO2 is the main reason for global warming and temperatures,” Crawford said. “But we found that the main reason for the heating of the world is because of the lack of transpiration.”

They hadstarted abasic versionofthe project the yearbefore, reﬁned it over two and ahalf months leadinguptothiscompetition, and worked almost entirely after school.

Neitherset of parents works in science —Crawford’smother manages airport operations. His father is abudget analyst. Grover’smother is aspeech therapist. His father works in IT.So, the parents were unable to offer theirsons technical assistance.

Rachel Brower,Edgar Martin’sinstructional leader and science fair sponsor noted this was EdgarMartin’s ﬁrst serious year running afair —voluntary,not curriculum-mandated. At an informational meeting, manystudentssized up the

1:30 p.m. Wednesday ﬁlled the Union ballroom beyond its available chair capacity Dozens of student competitors sat on the ﬂoor in front of the rowsofseats so their parentsand grandparents could have places to sit. Small circlesformed by school, students leaning together,waiting forfamiliar names. When anamewas called, the student made the walk to the stage. They adjusted their skirts. They buttoned theirjackets.Theywaited foreachother at thetop of the stairs.

Adults applauded politely Somewhere in theroom,at leastone “6-7”escaped from acluster of middleschoolers whocould not quite contain themselveswhen a classmate’sname was announced.

Knox Grover and Eric Crawford placed fourth in their category.Bliss Barnes placed third in Materials Science.

Ananya Chintala of SherwoodMiddle School in Baton Rouge wasthe day’sbig winner. She took ﬁrst place overall after also winning in Cellular and Molecular Biology.Her project was called“Mitochondrialrespiration.”

Joash Cheriyan of Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge placed second overallfor hismicrobiology project called “Block-

Glasgow Middle took the top school award. When event director Kelsa Henderson announced that Niyati Attlurihad won first place in Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics, asound came from somewhereinthe audience —unguarded, involuntary, the kindthatbypassesa person’sbetter judgment about decorum in aballroom.Attluri’sfather,Seetharam Attluri, couldn’tcontainhis excitement.Hewas beaming as he watchedhis daughter crossed the stage to accept her award. Up to sevenjunior divisionstudentswill be nominatedtorepresent Louisiana at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix later this year.LSU Online and Continuing Educationcoversthe full cost —airfare, lodging, food, registration fees —for the students to make the trip. “Socioeconomic background, what money your family has—noneofthat matters,” Vermasaid. “We take care of everything.”

Last year,two Louisiana students, both high schoolers, won their categories outright at the international competition. This is the 72nd annual fairthatLSU hashosted. Wednesday’scompetitors will be followed Thursday by the senior division, ninth through 12th grade. The science, presumably will get harder.The parents, presumably,will not get any calmer Email Jan Risheratjan. risher@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO By ACADIANA ANIMAL AID

One of the 27 chocolate-colored dogs that were found on the sideofthe road in Breaux Bridge

STAFFPHOTO By JANRISHER

EricCrawford and Knox Grover, of Edgar MartinMiddle School in Lafayette, share alaugh.

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Chinese automakers’ overseas push pays off HONG KONG China’s exports of passenger cars accelerated in March, an industry association said Friday as Chinese automakers stepped up their push to grow overseas markets Passenger car exports jumped 82.4% year-on-year last month to around 748,000 vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, up from the 586,000 vehicles exported in February Exports of new energy passenger vehicles — including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids surged more than 140% in March from a year ago to 363,000 units. That’s also up 31% from about 276,000 units of such vehicles exported in February

The biggest Chinese automakers, including BYD and Geely Auto, have been increasing their efforts in boosting sales abroad, including expanding production facilities outside China There have also been growing expectations that the global energy shock and higher fuel prices due to the Iran war could prompt more drivers to want to switch to EVs. Chinese car brands have made inroads over the past months in regions such as Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Protesters clog roads in Ireland over gas prices

LONDON — Protests over high fuel prices in Ireland entered a fourth day on Friday, sparking concerns about fuel shortages and emergency services as demonstrators clogged roads and blocked access to reﬁning and distribution sites around the country

The Irish government was set to meet with farmers, truckers and agricultural contractors on Friday to discuss the crisis, triggered by rising gasoline and diesel costs as the conﬂict in the Middle East restricts oil exports from the region. Protests began on Tuesday as slow-moving convoys restricted access to some of the busiest streets in Dublin, the capital, and blocked fuel depots that supply half the country Some protesters slept in their vehicles overnight, demanding that the government speak with them.

Over 100 service stations have now run out of fuel, national broadcaster RTE reported, citing the industry organization Fuels for Ireland.

The government on Thursday asked the army to remove vehicles from blocked roads amid concern that the protests could impede police, ﬁreﬁghters and ambulances responding to emergencies.

Restraining order on Nexstar-Tegna extended

A federal judge on Friday extended an emergency restraining order on a $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna for one week. Eight state attorneys general and DirecTV sued to block the merger between the local television giants, arguing that it would raise consumer prices and harm local journalism

They asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Troy L. Nunley in Sacramento, California, to halt the merger until their antitrust lawsuit is resolved. Nunley extended the temporary restraining order until April 17, saying the extension would give him time to prepare a ruling on whether a longer preliminary injunction is needed.

The deal, announced last year and approved by the Federal Communications Commission, would create a company that owns 265 television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia. When the judge issued the original temporary restraining order, he said the merger could give Nexstar the power to demand higher fees from multichannel video programming distributors like DirecTV, because if the distributors refuse to pay the increases they could risk subscribers losing access to things like NFL football games.

Stocks drift lower, oil prices ease

BY DAMIAN TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP business writers

Stocks drifted mostly lower on Wall Street and oil prices slipped Friday ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks following a shaky ceaseﬁre agreement.

The major indexes posted modest losses for the week, despite having mostly notched gains this month amid optimism that the war with Iran could be heading toward a resolution. High-level talks between negotiators from Iran and the U.S. are planned for Saturday in Pakistan.

The benchmark S&P 500 has erased most of its losses from March and is just 2.3% short of its all-time high set in January The

market is still prone to big swings on developments around the war Oil prices have been behind many of the stock market’s sharp movements. They’ve risen sharply as shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz essentially stalled since the war began. Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.

The situation leading into the peace talks over the weekend remains uncertain. Iran’s semiofﬁcial Tasnim news agency claimed that talks wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon.

The conﬂict is behind the surging inﬂation in the U.S. in March. The

government reported the biggest spike in inﬂation in four years as prices at the gas pump jumped. The inﬂation increase was just short of what economists expected. Bond yields rose a bit following the latest inflation update. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.32% from 4.29% late Thursday

Inflation has been a lingering concern for economists. Prices on a range of consumer goods and services are already stubbornly high, in part from the impact of extensive global tariffs. Higher gas prices are immediately felt by drivers at the pump, but they could eventually raise prices on everything from food to airfare as companies pass along higher costs for shipping and fuel. Analysts are warning that there might be a drawn-out impact from the oil supply shock in the months ahead. “While I’m glad to see the effects to be less than expected in March, the effects in April are now more likely to be worse,” Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, wrote in a research note. Most companies in the S&P 500 lost ground Friday, with health care and ﬁnancial company stocks driving much of the decline. Eli Lilly and Co. fell 1.6% and Charles Schwab closed 2.5% lower Technology stocks with hefty values helped offset losses elsewhere. Nvidia rose 2.6% and Broadcom rose 4.7%.

War in Iran sends inﬂation soaring and consumers’ moods plunging

Gas prices have largest monthly jump in six decades

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation last month, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening already substantial political hurdles for the White House.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

It’s the ﬁrst read on inﬂation to capture the effects of the Iran war The surge in gas prices will stretch the budgets of lower- and middle-income households as it erodes their incomes, making it harder to afford other necessities such as food and rent.

Excluding volatile food and energy, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier up from 2.5% in February And last month core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting that rising gas prices haven’t yet spread to many other categories.

A big question for now is how long the oil and gas price shock lasts and whether it will lead to a broader, long-lasting inﬂation boost, similar to what occurred in the spring of 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. For now, economists say that it is unlikely the U.S. will see a widespread increase similar to a few years ago, when inﬂation topped 9%.

Still, how the war and its impact on inﬂation will play out in the coming months remains highly uncertain. Despite a tenuous ceaseﬁre, little has changed in the Strait of Hormuz, a bottle neck where millions of barrels of oil typically pass daily

“It’s painful in the near term,” said Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “It’s going to get more painful in April,” when further gas price increases will lift inﬂation higher

But Pearce said the impact may be shorterlived than after the pandemic: “I think the conditions are much more like a short, sharp shock than what we saw in 2022.”

Fuel-related increases now, later

Industries that depend on oil and gas are paying more, particularly airlines, which have passed on those higher costs to travelers. Fares jumped 2.7% just last month and are 14.9% higher than a year ago. Many delivery services, including UPS and FedEx, have already announced fuel surcharges that have raised shipping costs for businesses and households

Grocery prices slipped 0.2% last month and are up just 1.9% from a year earlier yet

economists believe they will move higher in the coming months as diesel fuel prices surge. Most food is shipped by truck. More expensive fuel is “contributing to rising production costs across the food supply chain and could put upward pressure on grocery prices going forward,” said Andy Harig, a vice president at the grocery trade group FMI-The Food Industry Association. “As energy prices increase, the costs associated with producing and delivering food also rise.”

Clothing costs rose 1% in March from the previous month and are up 3.4% from a year earlier Used car prices, however, fell 0.4% last month and down 3.2% from a year earlier

The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months. Many Fed officials will look past the increase in headline inflation, however, and focus on core prices, which are likely to rise more slowly If Americans cut back on spending elsewhere in response to more expensive gas, the economy could slow and unemployment may rise.

Consumer sentiment hits record low Consumer sentiment plunged to a record low in April, according to a survey released Friday by the University of Michigan, largely because of the Iran war and concerns over higher gas prices. Their Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 47.6, from 53.3 in March.

“Many consumers blame the Iran conﬂict

for unfavorable changes to the economy,” said Joanne Hsu, the university’s director of consumer surveys.

High prices had angered American voters before the war and the spike in prices for oil and everything that entails, from the pump to the grocery store, could make it more difﬁcult for the president’s party to hold on to seats in both the House and the Senate in this year’s midterms.

Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last month found that about 6 in 10 Republicans are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months.

Kyle LaFond, the founder of American Provenance, a small manufacturer of personal care products near Madison, Wisconsin, said his shipping costs have already risen between 30% and 40%.

The increases follow tariffs that were also a signiﬁcant expense, because the company imports coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and other ingredients.

LaFond said he absorbed tariff costs for months, but ﬁnally threw in the towel last September and raised prices by 20% to 30% across the board, the ﬁrst price hike from the company since 2021.

Now, LaFond feels like it’s a repeat of the tariff experience. He is trying to avoid raising prices again, but it depends on how long the fuel price spike lasts. If it continues until early summer, he may have to raise prices again.

“I’d really hate to do that because that would be two years of consecutive price increases, which for us, we’ve never done that before,” he said “But for the business to survive, then that might be necessary.”

BY RICHARD N. VELOTTA

Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS)

A new University of Nevada-Las Vegas report on artificial intelligence in the gambling industry says 1 in 5 companies have a dedicated AI governance role, and most organizations have no established governance practices. In what is targeted to be an annually updated report, the UNLV International Gaming Institute published its first research on the use of artificial intelligence and says while most companies have no governance practices,

others are in the early stages of development. The UNLV International Gaming Institute’s AI Research Hub in collaboration with U.S.-based audit, tax and ﬁnancial advisory ﬁrm KPMG LLP, on Thursday released the 113-page “State of AI in Gaming 2026,” an annual global benchmarking series tracking how AI is shaping the global gambling industry Authored by Kasra Ghaharian, director of research for the UNLV International Gaming Institute, the report examines AI adoption across four dimensions: industry maturity, regulatory

landscape, innovation pipeline, and responsible use by drawing on original survey research from 83 gambling companies and 113 regulators worldwide.

“Society is at an inﬂection point with AI, and until now there has been no rigorous, independent baseline for understanding where the gambling industry stands,” Ghaharian said. “’The State of AI in Gaming’ is designed to ﬁll that gap, serving as an essential resource for operators, regulators, researchers and every stakeholder navigating the adoption, return on investment and responsible

integration of AI within the gambling industry.”

“What the data show is a clear gap between ambition and execution,” said Rick Arpin, the report’s executive editor and KPMG U.S Gaming lead. “Governance is where that gap is most visible With governance scoring just 30 out of 100 and most organizations lacking dedicated AI oversight, many companies are moving faster on AI adoption than on the controls needed to manage it. Those that address this now will be better positioned to realize value and avoid unnecessary risk.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARTA LAVANDIER

A customer pays for gasoline at a Mobil gas station April 1 in Miami, Fla.

OPINION

ANOTHERVIEW

Will independent candidates ever breakthe two-partylock?

To paraphrase Mark Twain: Everybody complains about political parties, but nobody does anything about them. Given the failures of America’stwo-partyduopoly —on vivid display during the TSA shutdown—you’d thinkmore independents and third-party candidates would be running for ofﬁce.

Independents are uniquely positioned to challenge abroken status quo. With each party tightly focused on defeating —and destroying —the other,shouldn’tthereberoom for nonpartisan alternatives? Polling showsthere is.

More Americans presently identifyasindependent than with either major party. AJanuary Gallup poll found that 45% of theelectorate calls themselves independents. Among younger voters, it’s56% of GenZand 54% of Millennials.

Ron Faucheux

Yetindependents rarely prevail in elections or mount serious campaigns. Since the year 2000, independents have wononly eight out of more than 400 U.S. Senate elections.During this period, three senatorsbecame independents after getting electedonmajor-party tickets:Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and James Jeffords of Vermont. One, Dean Barkley of Minnesota, was appointed. Even these senators generally caucus with one of the two political parties that controlcommitteeassignments. Incumbent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, both independents,caucus with Democrats. Winning aU.S. House seat as an independent is evenmore of ararity.Currently,onlyone member is an independent, U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley from California.Hewas twice elected as aRepublican and is nowseeking athird term as an independent.

In Louisiana, the last independent to draw substantial statewide support was aformer governor, John McKeithen, who won 23% of the vote in the 1972 U.S.Senate race, ﬁnishing behind Democrat J. Bennett Johnston and ahead of Republican Ben C. Toledano

Why is it that so few independents run or win? Money is abarrier.Parties and allied groups controlfundraising networks in asystem awash with cash. Independents must build war chests from scratch, unlessthey’repersonally wealthy

Established political parties also have well-oiled get-outthe-vote operations, which independents lack. Moreover, election laws and campaign ﬁnance rulesare often biased, intentionally or not, in favor of major-party candidates. One common misconception is that independent means centrist,ideologically somewhere between Democratson theleft and Republicans on theright. While that’soften the case, independent voters represent awide range of beliefs, which can be aweakness because it makes it harder to rally them behind asingle candidate.

In this year’selection, liberals in Idaho, Montana and South Dakotaare running for the Senate as independents, believing that label gives them abettershotthan running as Democrats —atoxic brand in those redstates. That’sdriving Democrats crazy,ofcourse, because it’ssplitting the anti-Republican vote.

One state that might elect an independent senator this November is Nebraska; there, plenty of Democrats are working for independent Dan Osborn, who is mounting astrong bid to take down Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts Osborn is aU.S. Navy veteran, formerunion leader and industrial mechanic. Twoyears ago, he ranasanindependent forthe state’sother Senate seat, capturing 47% of thevote —animpressive showing.

There is no major Democrat in the Nebraska race, at least not yet, and that’sthanks to Democratic leaderswho have worked to clear the ﬁeld to helpOsborn. They believe, even if they don’tadmit it, that an independent has abetter chance to defeat Ricketts than aDemocrat who’d have to carry the baggage of anational party considerablytothe left of the state’svoters. Republicans have won Nebraskain every presidential election except one since1940. Osborn’spositions mix centrist and libertarianthemes: pro-farmer,pro-consumer,pro-worker.Hebacks raising theminimum wage and cutting small-businesstaxes. He defends gun rights, says he’spersonally pro-lifewhile supporting Roe v. Wade and opposing late-termabortions.He supports “defensive purpose only” funding forIsrael,opposed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” supportedbyRicketts andcriticizes tax breaks forthe wealthypaidfor by the working class. Three polls over the last year have had Ricketts ahead by just one point; one had Osbornahead by one. If Osborn wins, his victorycouldbecome amodel forother blue and red states whereDemocratic and Republicanparty brands are toxic in statewide elections Any chance Louisiana could become one of them?

Ron Faucheuxisanonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana

Make sure juvenile offenders getchancefor rehabilitation

My heart breaks each time anew law is written that hinders therehabilitation of achild who has madea poor choice tocommit anonviolent crime.

Clearly,those who choose to commit crimes should have suitable consequences; however,children should be given theopportunity to receive their consequences but also to change and learn from their mistakes

House Bill 140 would increase the incarceration time before trial for youth. Most people will admit that longer time in detention centers without any rehab servicesdolittle to coach achild intomaking better

choices. Most of us have had the beneﬁt,asa child, of making bad choices and being given another chance with proper correction, mentoring and parenting. Ihappen to believe children are our future, even those whohave mademistakes and are ready and willing to do the worktochange their lives. It’smyhope that legislatorswill consider whether this law has abetter chance of allowing a child to change his lifeand become an asset to society or re-offend and becomealifelong liability of the state.

DEDRA MAJOR Chalmette

Thequiet disenfranchisement of EBRvoters

Attorney General Liz Murrill’srecent motion to force the recusal of three Black judges in Baton Rouge

—Chief Judge Donald R. Johnson, Judge Ronald R. Johnson and Judge Gail Horne Ray —isadirect assault on the voters who put them on the bench.

By attempting to strip these judges of nearly 100 cases, the attorney general is trying to nullify our elections. This isn’taprocedural formality;itisa tactical strike. These judges are being targeted because they dared to challenge ajudicial redistricting law.Since when does defending theconstitutional rights of your constituents disqualify you from doing your job?

The stakes are life and death. These three judges oversee all deathrow cases from East Baton Rouge. Notably,every person on

deathrow from our parish is Black. By removingthese judges, the state is clearing “roadblocks” to executionsbyremoving the very oversight that understands the systemic biases of our legal system Furthermore, District Attorney Hillar Moore’sdecision to allow this hand-off to theAG, rather than defending his own ofﬁce and the voters who elected him,isastaggering abdication of duty

As acommunity advocate and former NAACP political action chair, Iknow that when the state tries to hand-pick which judges are “allowed” to hear cases, we no longer have afair judiciary.Wehave apolitical tool. We must stand with the judges we elected anddemand that our votes be respected.

TIA FIELDS Baker

Don’tbeblind to theagendaofTrump’s followers

Here are two meanings of the word “minions:” Aservile dependent,follower or underling. The fallen angels, demons or spiritual powers that blindly follow,serve and carry out theevil bidding of Satan.

In my opinion, awhole slew of politicians are minionstothe “one” they are afraid of.

Please, wakeupand stop drinking theKool-Aid, or else our country will become The United States of Trump. Don’tlaugh, look around. His nameispopping up everywhere. Just lately,minions wantto nameaMississippi River bridge after Trump.

REBECCA WILLIAMS Metairie

Allbusinesses, nonprofits need to payfairshare of property taxes

Iwould like to see on the spring 2027 ballot aproposition to amend the state constitution to require every citizen, every company,every college or university,nonproﬁt or not to pay their share of property tax. Just because you support jobs in the community does not mean you have free access to city services like sewerage and water All of your employees pay for the city services they use in their homes. Youshould pay your share, too. City and state elected ofﬁcials are too scared to do anything. Baton Rouge needs to craft aconstitutional amendment to give the voters the responsibility to decide whether to tax all citizens equally Let the voters makethe call. Louisiana is apoor state because ordinary citizens bear the burden of taxation forthe whole state. This is not fair.Welive in America. All men are created equal. There are no kings in our great country ANNE EASSON NewOrleans

Let’shearmoreabout Democratic candidates

We have had many, manyarticles about the Republican candidates running forthe U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana. As an afterthought, these articles mention that there are three Democratic candidates running in the primary If we are lucky,the articles mention their names, but lumpthem all in the “not well-known” category It seemsthat the obligation of a free and unbiased press is to give them the chance to be knownby writing an article with the same depth given to Sen. Bill Cassidy, Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming. Someinformation about each candidate and their viewswould be extremely welcome. Otherwise, the category “not wellknown” becomes aself-fulﬁlling prophecy Thank you foryour consideration.

KATHLEEN GRUMICH NewOrleans

SPORTS

Landry talksSuper Bowl LXV, LSUchanges

Governor ‘betting’big game in NewOrleans in 2031

Editor’snote: This is part 2of2ofGov.Jeff Landry’s interview. The ﬁrst part ran in Friday’sedition.

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

Gov.Jeff Landry conducted an exclusive 25-minute phone interview Thursday with Times-Picayune columnist Jeff Duncan in

which Landry touchedon avariety of sports-related topics.

Here’sthe secondpart of their conversation:

In January, you went with (SaintsPelicans owner) GayleBenson to meet with (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell and(NBA commissioner) Adam Silver.One of the things that came out of that wasNew Orleans’ bid fora future Super Bowl.What are our chances of getting the 2031 game? Well, I’m betting on it.

‘Hate’

and

Why?What makes you so confident? Well, because No.1,when you go around andyou ask NFL fans what is the best place you’ve ever enjoyed aSuper Bowl, timeand time again, it comes back to New Orleans. Imean, it just is. The city’sbuilt for entertaining. Youknow what Imean? Andwhen we recognize that, and when we utilize that, and when we leverage that, then the city is prosperous. Ithink that the thingsthat we’ve done by making the city safer,byworking to bring

that fuels

AUGUSTA, Ga. If you play golf, youhavea little Tyrrell Hatton inside of you.

Golf is such ahard, unforgivinggame that we takerelish not in ourgreat shots —rare as they may be— but recounting to our friends our bad ones.

McIlroy cooking in bidto repeat

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP

writer

AUGUSTA,Ga. RoryMcIlroy delivered adynamic ﬁnish to the Masters on Friday,looking everybit like someone who hasdonethis before. Six birdies over the last seven holes gave him a7-under65and asix-shotlead that set aMasters record through 36 holes. The ﬁnal hour of afascinating day started to look like avictory lap.

McIlroy,who madethree straight birdies early in his round, found himself locked in a duel with old nemesis Patrick Reed, the 2018 champion whobirdied the par-3 12th to tie for the lead. McIlroy was coming off afew loose swings when he reached the heart of Amen Corner “Standing on the 12th tee, Ididn’timagine being six shots ahead,” McIlroy said. Before long, he was all alone. His teeshotoverRae’sCreek on the dangerous12th hole landed 7feet behind the ﬂag. He birdied both par5safter havingto lay up from the trees. He took advantage of the lowerpin at the par-316thfor what amounted to atap-in birdie.

Andthenhereallysent thegalleryinto a frenzy when he chippedinfrom30yards on the 17th. McIlroy couldn’tsee the hole over the crestofthe hill on the green, but he knew it was good because “I could see everyone in the grandstand start to stand up.” “That’sabonus,” he said. And there was one more to go —another perfect approach that came downthe slope

ä See REPEAT, page 3C

Scott Rabalais

“You should have seen meon17Saturday.Ihit my drive sideways and it went cleanthrough my cart.Nearly nailed Bob in the shins.”

Hatton seems to takethe golfer’smasochistic streak and raises it to an art

form. Take Friday’s round for instance. He hit every green in regulation —just the thirdMasters competitor to pull that off since 1997 —but almost sounded pleased with thefact that he three-putted the 18thhole for his only bogey to end up with avery ﬁne 6-under 66. “Walking up 18, Iwas pretty conﬁdent that Icouldn’tmess it up enough that Iwouldn’tshoot my best score here,”

t theseason,coach Kim ssedcautiousoptimism that men’s basketballteam would ost of itskey contributors for w it’dbeeasier said than done, nﬁdent she could fend off the l as recently as April 2, when upher exit interviews with ldWAFB-TV in an interview cted to lose only oneeligible e open market. understand the value of havga em come back,”Mulkey said.

“That’s how you build it.That’show you get over the humpofanElite Eight.” Then things changed. LSUsince has lost twoguards to the portal in apair of moves that were as signiﬁcant as they weresurprising. Freshman Bella Hinesannounced Tuesday that she was leaving the Tigers, andsophomorepoint guard Jada Richard, an Opelousas native, decided to followher out of the door two days later Now LSUneedsanother post playeror two, and the Tigers also must pursue someone who can assume their ballhandling responsibilities. Richard was supposed to shouldermostofthatloadfor thenexttwo years, but she chose to test the transfer market instead,leaving the Tigers withonly

the second round of the Masters tournament on Friday at the Augusta National GolfClubinAugusta, Ga.

tworeturning guards: Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley LSU signed nine ESPN top-100 high school recruits from 2023-25, but six of them have entered the transfer portal. Four of the six left after their freshman years. The three whoare still on board areWilliams,ZaKiyah Johnson and Grace

But

rounds out the roster,and that process now will take morework than expected. It

ä See TRANSFER, page 3C

TH EM AS TE RS •1 P. M. SA TU RD AY •C BS

Landry Benson

PROVIDED PHOTO By THOMAS LOVELOCK/AUGUSTANATIONAL GOLF CLUB

Tyrrell Hatton tees off on the 12thhole during thesecond round of the Masters tournament on Fridayatthe Augusta National GolfClub in Augusta, Ga

By DAVID J. PHILLIP RoryMcIlroyhitshis tee shot on the 16th holeduring

Astros place righty Javier and outfielder Meyers on IL

SEATTLE The Houston Astros placed right-hander Cristian Javier on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain and outﬁelder Jake Meyers on the 10-day IL with an oblique strain on Friday Houston selected the contracts of right-hander J.P France and outﬁelder Taylor Trammell from Triple-A Sugar Land. Houston also transferred right-hander Ronel Blanco to the 60-day IL. Meyers left with lower back tightness in the middle of an at-bat in the second inning of Wednesday’s 9-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Javier was removed from the game with shoulder tightness.

Javier is 0-1 with a 12.54 ERA in three starts this season. Meyers is batting .243 with one homer and four RBIs.

Curiel powering up for LSU

Recent grand slam illustrates his talent

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Derek Curiel knew where he wanted the pitch and what to do with it.

The bases were loaded for the sophomore LSU cleanup hitter with two outs. With the Tigers trailing by three runs to Tennessee in the eighth inning on April 3, it was crucial for Curiel to pull through for his team.

The moment didn’t faze the LSU star. It was just another showcase of why Curiel is one of the best LSU hitters under coach Jay Johnson

“I bet my life on him with a bat in his hand in a key situation and he’s playing it at his caliber right now, (and is) maybe even better than ever,” Johnson said. “I’m excited because that changes our team when he’s that caliber of player.”

The reliever Curiel was facing, Tennessee right-hander Bo Rhudy, had a fastball with a lot of ride, meaning the pitch would carry up in the zone. It was the trait that allowed former LSU pitcher Ty Floyd to strike out 17 Florida hitters in Game 1 of the College World Series in 2023.

Curiel knew exactly what to do with a pitcher like Rhudy

“With ride guys, you want to start the ball a little bit down maybe three balls down,” Curiel said. “So I wanted to see the ball at my knees or middle thigh.”

After taking Rhudy’s ﬁrst pitch for a ball, Curiel got a fastball that started at his thigh. He knew it was the perfect pitch to swing at, because he ﬁgured the ball would

ä The LSU at Ole Miss game ended after this edition went to press. FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE GO TO THEADVOCATE.COM.

end up just above his waist by the time he swung. “If it starts at your waist, you don’t want to swing at it because then it’ll be at your chest,” Curiel said. “But it started at the perfect spot, especially with the ride guy, and then it rode onto my barrel.“

Curiel executed his plan to perfection, taking Rhudy’s fastball the opposite way to left ﬁeld for a grand slam that gave LSU a 5-4 lead, which eventually became a 7-5 victory

Rarely is Curiel aiming to hit a home run, but the circumstances

called for it.

“I’m always trying to hit a line drive,” Curiel said, “a low line drive, but with a guy with a ride heater — especially at a smaller ballpark like this I was actually trying to hit a ﬂy ball because I knew his fastball was probably going to get a little bit above my barrel, and that’s kind of what I wanted.

“I wanted to see the ball deep. I didn’t want to be out in front of it. And I wanted to hit a backside homer, and that’s what I did.”

Curiel’s blast against Tennessee was the continuation of a hot streak that carried through the rest of that series. Against Tennessee, he went 7 for 14 with a triple to go along with the grand slam. That blast was his second grand

slam in as many games. Since LSU’s win over Louisiana Tech, a nine-game stretch, Curiel is 19 for 40 with three home runs and 18 RBIs. The surge lifted his on-base plus slugging percentage and batting average past last season’s marks, despite a slow start to the season.

“The guy’s trending again to be one of the best players in the country,” Johnson said. “And it may not feel like that. And I don’t think that’s as much to do with Derek (as it does with the fact that) he was so good last year.”

Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/ lsunewsletter

Archie to miss Manning Award event

Ex-Saints quarterback recovering from back surgery

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

It takes something serious to keep Archie Manning away from the Manning Award ceremony The annual event, which honors the top quarterback in college football, is a highlight of the year for Manning. And it’s particularly enticing this year, as one of his favorite quarterbacks, Fernando Mendoza of Indiana, is being recognized.

Alas, Manning’s health won’t allow him to attend the event Saturday night at Manning’s Sports Bar and Grill in downtown New Orleans. Only weeks removed from major back surgery, Manning is in the early stages of what he calls “a long road” to recovery.

“I’m very, very disappointed I can’t be there,” Manning said, “mainly because I’m so crazy about Fernando.” Mendoza has been one of Manning’s favorites since he attended the 2024 Manning Passing Academy after his sophomore season at the University of California. Manning followed Mendoza with keen interest last season, after he transferred to Indiana and led the Hoosiers to an unbeaten national championship and Heisman Trophy honors.

Mendoza led the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in passing touchdowns (41) and led the Power Four in touchdowns responsible for

(passing and rushing, 48). He was also the only FBS quarterback with six games of four-plus touchdown passes and zero interceptions.

Later this month, Mendoza is expected to become the ninth Manning Award winner to be selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft, joining Cam Ward Bryce Young Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Jameis Winston, Cam Newton and JaMarcus Russell.

“He’s just a great quarterback — and great people he and his whole family,” Manning said. “Fernando just bubbles over with personality

Our whole (MPA) staff was crazy about him.”

In the elder Manning’s absence, his oldest son, Cooper, will handle

the Q&A session with Mendoza at the ceremony WDSU-TV sports director Fletcher Mackel will serve as the emcee.

It’s only the second time Archie Manning has missed the ceremony since the Sugar Bowl named the award after his family and started presenting it in 2004. Manning said he texted Mendoza and his family to express his apologies for missing the festivities.

“This one is tough for me because of how much I think of Fernando,” Manning said.

Manning is optimistic the recent procedure on his back will allow him to get back on his feet soon. Dr Ronald Lehman, a spine specialist at New York Presbyterian

Hospital, performed the procedure, which required seven hours to realign and stabilize Manning’s spinal column.

It’s the sixth back surgery Manning has undergone in the last two decades. He said the problems began after an auto wreck roughly 20 years ago and have been exacerbated by the years of wear and tear from his 13-year NFL playing career with the Saints, Oilers and Vikings.

“I was in constant pain,” Manning said. “It had gotten to the point where I couldn’t stand more than 10 minutes. The doctor told me I was a year away from being in a wheelchair.”

The recovery process required Manning to spend six days in the hospital and 12 more in a rehab center in New Jersey not far from youngest son Eli’s home. The proximity provided Manning’s wife, Olivia, a convenient place to stay while he recovered.

“My wife is ﬁrst-team All-Pro,” Manning said. “She’s stronger than new rope.”

Manning, 76, returned to New Orleans on April 3 and is undergoing physical therapy to aid his recovery

He said the pain in his back and lower extremities has dissipated since the procedure. The challenge now is to regain his strength and mobility

“The great news is the pain is gone in my lower back and legs, but I’ve got a long road ahead of me to get over the surgery,” he said. “I have to start with just getting out. I’m going to get there. But I’m not going to be running any high hurdles anytime soon.”

Athletics put OF Rooker on IL with oblique strain

NEW YORK Brent Rooker was placed on the 10-day injured list by the Athletics on Friday because of an oblique strain, ending a streak of 214 consecutive games played for the outﬁelder and designated hitter Zack Gelof was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to ﬁll the roster spot prior to the Athletics’ series opener at the New York Mets.

Manager Mark Kotsay didn’t provide a timeline for the AllStar slugger, who will miss his ﬁrst game Friday since Aug. 15, 2024, the last time the Athletics were at Citi Field.

Rooker was injured while fouling off a changeup in the ﬁrst inning of Thursday’s 1-0 victory at the New York Yankees.

Heat waives Rozier after federal gambling charges

MIAMI Terry Rozier, who is facing federal charges related to a gambling operation, was waived by the Miami Heat on Friday in an expected and procedural move that allows the team to sign another player to its roster before the postseason. Rozier was with the Heat for one game this season — the opener at Orlando on Oct. 22, a contest in which he did not play He was arrested by federal ofﬁcials at the team hotel the following morning on charges that he offered information to help people win bets on his stat totals in a 2023 game when was with the Charlotte Hornets. Miami has until Sunday to sign another player It’ll open play in the play-in tournament either Tuesday or Wednesday

Bowman cleared to return after missing four races

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Alex Bowman has been cleared to return to the NASCAR race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway after missing four races with vertigo. Hendrick Motorsports announced Thursday that Bowman will drive the No. 48 Chevrolet on Sunday at the Tennessee track.

“It’s been tough being out of the car, but we all wanted to make sure I was 100% ready before returning,” Bowman said. “I feel really good, and I’m excited about being at the track with my team and getting back to racing.” Bowman had to exit his car during the March 1 race at Circuit of the Americas because of the symptoms of vertigo. He was replaced by Myatt Snider that day

Former Jets QB Nagle, 57, dies following cancer battle

NEWYORK Former Jets quarterback Browning Nagle has died following a battle with colon cancer He was 57.

“We are saddened by the passing of Browning Nagle, former Fiesta Bowl MVP quarterback and Louisville great,” Louisville’s football account said in a statement on X. “His leadership on the ﬁeld and passion for the game left a lasting mark on our program.

“Our thoughts are with his loved ones and teammates during this difﬁcult time.”

Gang Green selected Nagle in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft, 34th overall, one spot after the Falcons drafted future Hall of Famer Brett Favre. Nagle passed for 4,653 yards, 32 touchdowns and 21

PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

LSU hitter Derek Curiel is congratulated by teammates after hitting a grand slam in the third inning against Southern University earlier this season at Alex Box Stadium.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Archie Manning holds the Louisiana Legacy award that honors him and his family during the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans Louisiana Legacy event at the NOW Pavilion on Feb 5, 2025.

LANDRY

Roger (Goodell) talked to me about when we were there. He said, Jeff, it’s hard for us to really point to a whole lot of things to critique (New Orleans) about, (but) the Super Bowl (LIX) we just put on, he said there is an issue with ramp space in the airport, and they’d like to see us ﬁx that. That’s an easy ﬁx, and I think we’re doing that. Certainly, he mentioned the high-end hotels. The Omni is really the anchor to proving that we can do that. When you bring the Omni hotel in, it will only enhance the events that we’re already bringing in like the rodeo, LIV Golf and all the other things.

I’d love to see the Final Four back in the Superdome. The Superdome was built in the late ’60s and ’70s. That stadium has endured and continues to be a go-back-to stadium, more than any other in the entire country When the NFL went through all these big stadium buildups (and constructions) in recent years, the Superdome just kept rocking along. We did a big upgrade to it for the Super Bowl. And guess what, it shined. That building is a magniﬁcent place to entertain people.

Along those lines, another big economic development plan was unveiled recently around the dome — the major renovation of the Smoothie King Center and the surrounding campus.Where do you stand on that project? I think that Gayle Benson is one of the best female philanthropists and businesswomen in that city, and she cares deeply about that city She’s completely loyal to that city and the laws in Louisiana, as well. We are working through, in a partnership way, to make some of those things happen. I certainly would like to see it happen. We just have to make sure that it’s good for the state and the taxpayers, and it’s good for the Pelicans and the Saints. And we’re gonna get there.

She’s said that she wants you and her to hammer out the deal.

We absolutely are. In fact, we’re going to Mass with her soon. Sharon and I go to the cathedral with her in New Orleans once a month, or once every couple of months or so. We’ll be back over there on Sunday

Let’s talk LSU What are your thoughts on Will Wade coming back as men’s basketball coach?

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C

Hatton said. “I mean, naturally I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing. But I would have taken 6 under before I went out.

Who wouldn’t? Six-under 66 was one of the two best scores of the Masters’ second round, a round in which there was somehow just a little less fire in the Augusta National Golf Course than there was Thursday Did the Lords of Augusta take pity on the field for a stroke average of nearly 75 in the first round? Perhaps. Hatton probably would have preferred they installed windmills and flamethrowers.

Hatton already has a history of grumbling that Augusta National is a tricked-up track. When he ﬁnished last among the players who made the cut in 2022 at 17 over par, Hatton was caught on audio telling his caddie, “I hate this place.” He was caught on video mimicking the motion of ﬁring a gun at the famous 13th hole. During the 2024 Masters, Hatton talked of his hate-hate relationship with the par-5 15th hole. “That hole lives rent-free in my head,” Hatton said back then. “I hate it. I absolutely hate it. And I think it hates me with the scores I end up producing on it.”

For all that vitriol, Hatton is still well ensconced on the Masters leaderboard halfway through this year’s tournament. His 66 took

TRANSFER

Continued from page 1C

started Friday when Florida guard Laila Reynolds arrived in Baton Rouge for a visit, according to a source. Reynolds, a 6-1 guard, is a rising senior and former McDonald’s AllAmerican. She started 97 games across the three years she spent with the Gators. Last season, she averaged 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 43% from the field LSU will have to look elsewhere if it wants to find a cleaner fit for

I love it. I love it. Like I said (in a social-media post), where there’s a will, there’s a Wade! Look, right now, LSU is probably holding the best group of coaches in the country We have got the biggest powerhouse from Kim Mulkey to Will Wade Our track and ﬁeld and gymnastics coaches (Dennis Shaver and Jay Clark). (Baseball coach) Jay Johnson. I mean, the list just goes on and on. And we’re gonna build championship teams with that group of coaches.

How involved were you in trying to get Wade back?

Well, let me just say, I helped wherever I could Will and I are very close. I was sad that we didn’t pick him up last year (in 2025). It was something that irritated me. LSU missed an opportunity It’s why there was a big change in leadership over there (in the athletic department). Think about this, Will Wade left LSU, went to McNeese and took them to the NCAA Tournament. He left McNeese, and his old team at McNeese made the tournament and his new team at NC State made the tournament. And LSU, I mean, they couldn’t even ﬁnd the tournament.

Why is the success of the LSU athletic program so important to you as governor?

Because when the LSU athletic program is successful, it is like a high tide that raises all the boats. I think it improves the university athletic programs throughout all of Louisiana’s universities. I care about all of those universities. We’re working hard at a time when a university a week is closing in this country And colleges and universities are going through a huge transition. But what I do know is that having an unbelievable athletic program at the ﬂagship (LSU) is something that beneﬁts all of the athletic programs around the state.

In a recent social-media post, you praised President Trump’s signing of an executive order to ﬁx what you called “the broken college sports system.”Why do you think it’s broken?

A: Listen, that’s not just my opinion. That’s, like, 90% of college fans’ opinion. Let’s just talk about college football. College football fans are frustrated. The amount of money that’s being thrown around is so unsustainable that it’s breaking athletic programs around the country Those are all facts. It’s destroying other Division I sports and women’s sports and Olympic sports. And there

him from 2 over after the ﬁrst round to 4 under, putting him in a tie for seventh. One would say a deﬁnite contender though he ended up light years behind fellow UK royal subject Rory McIlroy after the reigning Masters champion made the jump to light speed on the second nine Friday diving to 12 under with a tournamentbest round of 65.

McIlroy alone will determine whether anyone is a contender or not on this Masters weekend. That includes former LSU All-American Sam Burns and former University High golfer Patrick Reed, both tied for second but a distant six strokes behind the Northern Irishman.

are no guardrails. These agents don’t have any caps, but the NFL agents have caps. We don’t have any guardrails for (players) transferring in the portal. And if you look at the number of kids that are going into the portal and the number of kids that aren’t being accepted, every one of those kids that go in and are not accepted means they’re losing their scholarships. They’re out. College athletics was supposed to be a supporter, a gateway to get you an education so that you can go back and become a very productive citizen in this country

You wrote that op-ed piece on RealClearPolicy.org in December addressing the issue and saying let’s ﬁx college sports. One of the things you said in there was,“Don’t hate the player, hate the game.We did what we had to do.”What did you mean by that?

Listen, it certainly was not fun. To have to go out there and poach a coach before he had an opportunity to coach a group of kids that he brought over there, who I know absolutely loved him and loved the program over at Ole Miss, and not allow him to finish the season out. You know what? Those are the kind of guardrails we need. It doesn’t happen in the NFL because of exactly that. Right now, the only focus in college sports is a loyalty to Benjamin Franklin on $100 bills, rather than the loyalty to the teammates and to the coaches and to the programs. But I didn’t get to write those rules I had to play by those particular rules. And the only way to get Lane Kiffin was to do what we did. I didn’t like it. I don’t think it was fair to his players. It wasn’t fair to him, but again, Congress needs to get off their tail and fix this thing.

What are your thoughts about Lane Kifﬁn so far, the excitement he’s created in Baton Rouge? Oh, I love it. Listen, I tell you, Lane and I trade texts when we can. I know he’s in the middle of spring training. I do not bother him. When the portal class had opened up, I do not bother him. Look, I want them all to go out there and do their jobs and get those kids in tip-top shape so we can go win some championships.

And you were even available to entertain one of their top recruits (left tackle Jordan Seaton) at the Governor’s Mansion, right? That’s right. If Lane Kifﬁn or Jay Johnson or Will Wade or Kim Mulkey call me and I can do anything to help them, you can better believe I will.

wound up in a tie for 15th place.

If it was Hatton in McIlroy’s position, he deﬁnitely would remind himself.

“That hole lives rent-free in my head. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. And I think it hates me with the scores

I end up producing on it.”

TyRRELL HATTON on the 15th hole at Augusta National

Burns was tied for the lead with McIlroy after 67s in the ﬁrst round, then scrapped his way to a 1-under 71 on Friday Reed has sailed consistently along with a pair of 3-under 69s in pursuit of a second green jacket to go with the one he captured in 2018.

McIlroy looked invincible as he sizzled to a second-nine 31, closing with four straight birdies, including one on a lengthy pitch shot after driving in the trees left of 17 and having to punch out right of the green. But no doubt he will remind himself of the time he shot an 80 in the ﬁnal round here in 2011, when he started Sunday with a four-stroke lead and

the role left behind by Richard — a true point guard who proved last season that she can be a disruptive defender, an efﬁcient shooter and a willing playmaker

“She’s our little engine out there,” Mulkey said March 21 in between LSU’s ﬁrst- and secondround NCAA Tournament games.

“She’s a true point guard, but she has a tremendous shot She didn’t like sitting the bench last year, and she took it upon herself in the summer to get the work in that she needed knowing the system better now.” Richard shot 45% from the ﬁeld and 41% from 3-point range as a sophomore She also ﬁnished with

CHNI, Hewitt blank STM baseball team

BY MIKE COPPAGE Contributing writer

Catholic High of New Iberia pitcher Luke Hewitt accomplished something no one had this season. The junior left-hander shut out St. Thomas More in a 1-0 win in the Cougars’ final game of the regular season Thursday

“We know that every time Luke goes out, he’s going to compete and give ourselves a chance to win a ballgame,” Panthers coach Jason Sullivan said. “He did a good job tonight. He was able to mix all three pitches, especially the curveball and changeup in certain counts.

“You see the results.”

Hewitt threw a complete-game four-hitter with one walk and four strikeouts for Catholic (20-9), which moved up a couple of spots to No 6 in the Division III select power ratings with the win over Division I No. 5 St. Thomas More.

“I’d say it’s my best outing of the season,” Hewitt said. “I’ve had some good outings. We’ve played a lot of good teams. I’m glad to come out with the win today.”

The Cougars (21-9) got a runner on base in the ﬁrst inning with one out, but catcher Cohen Evans caught Brennan LeBlanc trying to steal second base. St Thomas More also had singles in the second, third and ﬁfth innings.

“It’s great getting a win against a team like STM,” Hewitt said. “I know a lot of guys on that team. I have a lot of friends on that team. Kudos to my defense. They played well all night.”

Jackson Watts also pitched well for STM. The right-hander

walked Maddox Nacol, and Owen Morris followed with a single in the ﬁrst inning, but the Cougars got three outs with no runs scored. STM turned a double play after Cole Davis opened the second inning with a bunt single.

“Justin (Robichaux) does a good job with these guys,” Sullivan said of the Cougars. “They’re well-coached They play hard, know the game and do a good job. It was a quality win for us.”

Nacol, a sophomore shortstop who has an excellent glove, led off the sixth inning with a single. Cleanup hitter Joseph Trappey ripped a double to deep left ﬁeld to score Nacol with the only run.

“We told Joseph to get up to the plate and look for a fastball,” Sullivan said. “If it’s in the middle, drive it where it’s pitched and let it take care of itself.”

First baseman Jacob Minvielle had a single for the Panthers, who ﬁnished with ﬁve hits.

“It’s a momentum booster, because these guys are really good,” Sullivan said of the win “That’s why we schedule these guys at the end of the year, so that we challenge ourselves going into the playoffs. STM is always a good opponent to keep the iron sharp.”

The Panthers have won nine of 11 games, including consecutive wins over Class 4A schools STM and Breaux Bridge (20-10) with regular-season games remaining against Rayne and New Iberia.

“It’s going to give us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs,” Trappey said of Thursday’s game. “I think we’ll have another shot at bringing it back. I really do.”

One thing to say for Hatton: He’s the only player from the 10man LIV Golf contingent in this year’s ﬁeld who is even remotely in contention. Talk about LIV or let die. Hatton wound up the only one of the 10 who is under par as the Masters makes the turn for the weekend. The next best was 2020 Masters winner Dustin Johnson, tied for 24th place at even par Other LIV former Masters winners — Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm and Charl Schwartzel — all just made it through at T45, T47 and T47, respectively Bryson DeChambeau, in the ﬁnal group on Sunday with McIlroy last year, had a chance to join them but made a 7 on the 18th hole to fall into a tie for 60th.

Lest you think Hatton is just some sideshow, think again. He’s been ranked as high as ﬁfth in the world — he’s now at No. 33 because his world ranking has atrophied while on the LIV Tour, which doesn’t get full ranking points. But as Friday’s round can attest, he can golf his ball.

That no one on the planet is playing golf as well as McIlroy through the ﬁrst two rounds isn’t the fault of Hatton or anyone else.

a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Reynolds is a career 20% 3-point shooter who averaged more turnovers than assists during her junior season. Her 97 giveaways were the eighth-most among SEC players. But LSU has just begun the process of recruiting players in the transfer portal, which will be open until April 20. Mulkey and her staff initially thought this cycle would be a quiet one. Things changed rather quickly, and their priorities shifted as a result.

Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

REPEAT

Continued from page 1C

to 6 feet for one last birdie.

That put him at 12-under 132, six shots clear of Reed (69) and Sam Burns (71). The previous record for the largest 36-hole lead at Augusta National was five shots by Jordan Spieth (2015), Raymond Floyd (1976), Jack Nicklaus (1975), Herman Keiser (1946) and Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper (1936). All but Cooper went on to win. If McIlroy holds on, he would become the fourth player to win back-to-back at the Masters, joining Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. He had a two-shot lead after 36 holes in 2011 and stretched it to four shots going into the final round before he famously imploded with an 80. That was the start of his Masters heartache that lasted until a year ago, when he triumphed in a playoff to finally prove he could win at Augusta National.

“I know what can happen around here, good and bad,” McIlroy said with a smile. “You don’t have to remind me not to get ahead of myself. There’s a long way to go. I got off to an amazing start.” Augusta allowed for that. It was warmer, brighter and drier The wind wasn’t quite as strong and the gusts didn’t swirl as much. And there was much better scor-

ing in part because of more generous pin positions, including on 16 and 18, where cleanly struck shots could feed toward the hole. The scores were nearly two shots lower than Thursday That didn’t help everyone, least of all Bryson DeChambeau. He fought back from an opening 76 and was one shot below the cut line when it took him two shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the 18th, the second shot rolling off the false front back down to the fairway He made triple bogey and missed the cut. Reed was bogey-free until failing to save par on the final hole That also cost him a spot in the final group Saturday with McIlroy They were paired together in the last group in 2018, with seemingly all of Augusta on McIlroy’s side, only for Reed to win handily Burns, the former LSU star, birdied his last two holes to salvage a 71 and will be paired with McIlroy Justin Rose, the playoff loser to McIlroy a year ago, had a rough day with the putter and still shot 69 to be part of the group at 5-under 139 — now seven shots behind along with Shane Lowry (69) and Tommy Fleetwood, who had two eagles in his round of 68. Scottie Scheffler the world’s No. 1 player, is now 12 shots behind. Scheffler twice hit into the water on the par 5s on the back nine, made bogey on both, and shot 74 for his first round over par at the Masters in three years.

Former LSU golfer Sam Burns watches his tee shot on the 12th hole during the second round of the Masters tournament on Friday in Augusta, Ga.

PHOTO By ERIC GAy

PHOTO By MIKE COPPAGE

Catholic High of New Iberia celebrates its win over St.Thomas More on Thursday.

TerryRobinson

FAITH MATTERS

‘Retired’ Pastor Tommy French,95, hasn’t lost love of teaching

The Sunday school teacher in Room209 at JeffersonBaptist Church in BatonRouge is a familiar and beloved presence. At 95 years old and nearly two decadesafter retiring as senior pastor,the Rev.Tommy French continues to faithfully share his wisdom, insight and deep knowledge of Scripture.

“It’sagrace of God that he has left me here so long andlet me have good health so Ican teach,” French said. “Everything is by his grace and by my faith in him, and I’m just tickled to be able to doit.” French said he still enjoys teaching the “catch-all” coed class each Sunday morning. From young to old, anyoneis welcome to attend. The fellowship and connection with the students make the class ajoy, French added. He says it’san honor to teach every Sunday About with COVID afew years ago forced French to discontinue preaching regularly, but his calling for teaching hasn’tfaded.

“I’m going to keep teaching as long as the Lord lets me— until he tells me to stop,” he said. French, aMichigannative who grew up in Texas, founded Jefferson Baptist Church in 1958 as amission of FirstBaptist Church of Baton Rouge. He shepherded the congregation for 50 years before retiringin 2007.

“I felt like Icompleted the mission that God called me to do,” he said. “I didn’thaveany problems, and God took care of me. Iwas able to stay and get it ready for the next pastor.”

That next pastor was the Rev.David Goza, who took over in 2008.

“Brother French has been amentor to me since Icame to town 18 years ago,” Goza said. “He’s been acounselor,he’sbeen a friend, and he’sabeliever in Jesus Christ. He’snever faltered. He always consistent and stands on the word.” French, who holds the title of pastor emeritus and still attends the weekly staff meeting, commended Goza for his faithful preaching and focus on missions.

“The church has grown and he’sgoing well,” French said “He’sevangelistic. He tells the staff to not only go out intothe worldbut also the congregation to witness to people.” Goza said he doesn’thesitate to call on French for his steady guidance, adding that he’sa “faithful adviser.” Gozanoted that French’sinﬂuence extends beyond Jefferson.

“He means alot to the community as well,” Goza said.

“He’sprayedwith governors all the way back to the ’70s. He’sbeen aﬁxture for all these years.” French graduatedfrom Baylor University beforeearning amaster’sdegree in religious education from Southwestern Seminary in 1957. He sought a full-time pastor position in Texas butended up moving to Baton Rouge with his wife, Mary,

ALegacy everlasting

‘Interview with theVampire’reshapedNew Orleans historyand culture. Nowit’s50years old.

BY RIENFERTEL

Contributing writer

At times it feels like I’ve read almost every novelset in New Orleans, except, until recently,what might rank as the city’sbestselling book of all: Anne Rice’s“Interview withthe Vampire.”

Like“Uncle Tom’sCabin,” which helped sparkthe deadliestconﬂict in the nation’shistory,and “A Confederacy of Dunces,” asurprisingly persistent hit worldwide, Rice’sdebut, originally published 50 years agoonApril 12, is not just abook but aphenomenon that has shifted the trajectory of New Orleans’ history and culture. It’sa book that still feels fresh, and it’s well worth aﬁrst or repeat read.

For thosewho haven’tsunk their teeth intothe scattered Anne Rice universe, “Interview with theVampire” tells thestoryofLouis and Lestat. In asingle,continuous monologue,dulyrecorded by amostly silent interviewer known only as the “boy,” Louis recounts his life story —a bloodybildungsroman

that begins in late 18th-century Louisiana.

BornLouis de Pointe du Lac, he’s the25-year-old master of an indigo plantation outside New Orleans, amopey loner mourning the recentdeath of his belovedyounger brother Enter LestatdeLioncourt, an

alluring jerk who also happens to be avampire. With one bite, he becomes theIlyatoLouis’ Shane —blood-suckingsoulmates and, as the decades andcenturiesroll by,heated rivals. On their first day as immortalcompanions, they sharethe cozy confines of Lestat’scoffin, face-to-face, Louis on top. Despite finding Lestat “handsome and intriguing,” the sleeping arrangement fills the new vampire with dread.

“Couldn’tI,” he begs, “stay in the closet?”

Lestat teaches Louis howtokill, to feed,tolive,tolove, to accepthis undying fate.

“Evil is apoint of view,” the teacher tells the student in one of his manydeliciously droll monologues. “Weare immortal. And what we have before us arethe richfeasts that consciencecannot appreciate and mortal men cannot

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

French

Goza Rice

STAFFFILE PHOTOByCHRIS GRANGER

Thevampires were out in the daylight at the second-lineparade honoring the late author Anne Rice whodied in December2021. Hundredsofpeople gathered in the Garden District of NewOrleans on Oct.30, 2022.

Trytoignoreneighbor’smonetarybragging

Dear Miss Manners: Ihave aneighbor who makes it apoint to tell me that she and her husbandhave an investment portfolio worth $1 million-plus Imanage asmile and a “That’swonderful!,” but Iwas brought up to not mention such things. And yes, there is an air of superiority and self-satisﬁed smugness about her comment that does, Iadmit, rub me the wrong way Perhaps this is because Iam25years younger,soIhave notyet been able to amass near that amount. Iamalsosingle, and perhaps not as smart, capable or ambitious as herbrainy husband. She, conversely,has

RELIGION BRIEFS

FROM STAFFREPORTS

National Autism Month celebration

never worked outsidethe home— again,how luckyfor her.

Gentle reader: Whew.Feel better? Yes, her behavior is rude, but asyou point out,itmay be all she has.While you still have 25 more years to catch up

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Dear Miss Manners: When Iwas swimming laps at the local pool, all the lanes were doubled up due to crowding.The person swimminginthe lane next to mine was doing the breaststroke andhit me with her leg, under the lanerope, on two consecutive laps. Iignored theﬁrst hit,but tried to gether attention at theend of thesecondlap to ask her to please

be morecareful. She didn’tstop or acknowledge me, just did her turn at the wall and continued on. Is there apolite way to ask her to address this, short of shouting or splashing? Or do Ijust have to put up withafoot hitting me in theribs on each pass?

Gentlereader: Do you ever see her in the locker room afterward? If so, Miss Manners recommends you makesmall talk abouthow crowded the pool can get and that sometimes you do not even realize that what you are kicking is another person and not awall.

Dear Miss Manners: Ihave a 12-year-old niece, thechild of my late brother.She has been adopted by my mother,soIasked my niece if she preferred me to

introduce her as my niece or my sister She responded with the preference of being introduced as my sister.Ihave no concerns and will do that, but Iamcurious if there is aprotocol or etiquette forthis situation. Iamthe youngest of three brothers, andgenuinely excited to have asister,even with the unfortunate circumstances that created the situation. Even so, I am in my mid-40s, and Isee some interesting expressions from people when Iintroduce my 12-yearold sister

St. James BaptistChurch, 1105 N. 44th St., Baton Rouge, will celebrate National Autism Month at 8a.m. April 26

The guest speaker will beNeimanColbert, a14-year-old from Houston, Texas, who was recognized by Texas as the 2025–26 StudentofCharacter andhonored by U.S. Rep. Charles Cunningham with aCertificate of Merit.

All are invited to hear his message and personalexperience.

MATTERS

Continued from page5C

to stay with his parents (Mary passedin2008 and French has since remarried.)

“I tried to ﬁnd achurch all over Texas, and God just would not give me one,” French said While serving at First Baptist Church under the Rev.John Norris Palmer and working for the freight line, French sought ways to expand his ministerial calling.

“I went one night to drive around Drusilla,” he said. “Itold my wife, ‘I wonder if Dr.Palmer would like me to start aBible study on amission property.’” French made acallto Palmer, who asked Frenchto meetthat week. He offered for French to take the mission church.

“He said the Lord had already talked to him,” French recalled “(Palmer) said, ‘Keep your job at the freight lines, and we’ll pay you $200 amonth to start the mission.’” French launched the mission that would become Jefferson Baptist. His legacy in ministry has enduredfor 70 years, and his message remains unwavering.

One scripture that has anchoredFrench’sfaithisfrom God’spromise to Abrahamin Genesis 15:1: “I am your shield and thy exceedinglygreat reward.”

“God is my shield,” French said. “He protects me. He takes care of me.”

Another scripture that motivates French is John 14:6: “I am the way,the truth, and the life.”

“That’sthe modiﬁer,the,” French said. “That means if you want to get to heaven, you’ve got to go through Jesus.Just trust Jesus.”

Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com.

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday April 11, the 101st day of 2026. There are 264 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On April 11, 1945, during World WarII, U.S. Army troopsliberated the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp near Weimar,Germany Also on this date: In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.) In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White

‘INTERVIEW’

Continued from page5C

know withoutregret. God kills, andsoshall we; indiscriminately.”

The interviewer recountsthe early days, saying,“It sounds as if it was like being in love.”

“That’scorrect,” Louis conﬁrms. “It is like love.”

Thoughthere are nosex scenes, per se, but Rice’snovel remains not only unquestionablysexybut defiantly homoerotic,especially foraheteronormative married woman writing in the mid-1970s. (Years later, shewould describe herselfasa“genderless soul.”)

But love is ﬂeeting, even for the everlastingundead. Lestat derides hiscompanion’s love for literature and other “mortal nonsense.” (In adisplay of Rice’ssubtle humor, Lestat only haslove for Macbeth. Who but avampire could best understand Shakespeare’simmortal “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” soliloquy?) Louis, who stubbornly subsists on the blood of ratsand cats, is meanwhile disgusted by his partner’sthirst for human ﬂesh —his vengeful delight in taking life, twoorthreeyoung souls anight. In one of the novel’smost horrific moments, Lestat convinces

TODAYINHISTORY

House, saying, “Wemeet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness ofheart.” (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver; he woulddie four days later after being shot by John Wilkes Booth.)

In 1961, former Nazi SS ofﬁcer AdolfEichmann went on trial in Israel, charged with crimes against humanity for his role in the Holocaust (Eichmannwas later convictedand executed.)

In 1968,President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which includedthe Indian Civil Rights Actand the Fair Housing Act,one week afterthe assassinationof Martin LutherKing Jr In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published

Gentlereader: Youasked your sister what would please her and she told you. Now you both can be amused by others’ reactions as they scramble to do the math. Miss Manners assures you that you owe them no further explanation.

Dear Miss Manners: When Iinvite guests to my homefor dinner, mostofthem very kindly bring ahostess gift. However,I rarely receive athank-you note. Do people these days think a hostess gift(which Ireally don’t care to receive) is areplacement forathoughtful, handwritten thank-you note?

Gentle reader: Yes, they do. They also think it is areplacement for reciprocating the invitation.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com.

Louis to head off apotential uprising and slaughter the enslaved humanswho work his plantation. It’s adamning commentary on local history and humanity’sworst tendencies —the brutalsubjugation of ourfellowkind —shotthrough theprism of vampiric lore.

“That’s how vampires increase,” Lestat grimly informs, “through slavery.”

As in many toxic relationships, thecouple tragically decides to add athird to their familial unit.

“I want achild tonight,”Lestat tells Louis while leadinghim by the hand throughthe streets of twilit NewOrleans after another unsatisfying killing spree. “I am like amother Iwant achild!”

Untothem achild is born —or bitten —a 5-year-oldgirlthey nameClaudia. She’sa “magnificent doll”ofachild, Rice writes, “a magic doll” who will never grow old. Thechild is astand-in for Rice’sown young daughter, Michele, who died of leukemia at the ageof5 in 1972. Living in aluxurious RoyalStreet ﬂatﬁlledwith antiques, onefather teaches her to “see the beauty around us, the creation of mortals everywhere.”

The other bestows his bloodlust.

Here liesthe dark butloving heart of Rice’snovel, astory of howtocare andprovide forthose little monsters thatparentscall

guidelines saying sexual harassment in the workplace amounted tounlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil RightsAct of 1964. In 2012, George Zimmerman,the Floridaneighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder (Hewas acquitted at trial.)

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Joel Grey is 94. Actor Louise Lasser is 87. Actor Peter Riegert is 79. Actor Bill Irwin is 76. Former MLB catcher Jason Varitek is 54. Actor Jennifer Esposito is 53. Rapper David Banner is 52. Model Alessandra Ambrosio is 45. Singer Joss Stone is 39. Singer Summer Walker is 30. Rapper Ken Carson is 26.

their children, demonic angels who might turn out —for better or worse —just like their mothers and fathers.

Likeall good children, Claudia eventually —ittakes seven decades, an eye-blink in vampire years —rebels. She, and only she, sees them forwhattheyare: “Snatching me from mortal hands like two grim monsters in anightmarefairy tale, you idle, blind parents! Fathers!”

AfterconvincingLouis to help her kill Lestat, the pair fleesto Eastern Europe to hang out with someold-school vamps —asort of “Finding Your Roots” Nosferatuedition —but those bloodsuckers turn out to be amindless drag. Gay Paree is more Louis’ style; there, he falls in with the Théâtre des Vampires, acoven led by Armand, theoldest, andarguably hunkiest, vampire in the world. This Paris section showcases Rice at her baroquebest: dreamy,Catholic and deeply weird Not to spoil ahalf-century-old novel, but Lestat lives. Many vampires die.And Louis, despite having achoice of companions at book’send, is left“utterly alone.”

“Interview with theVampire” wasanimmediateand enormous success, andAnne Rice couldn’t help but continue the saga of Louis, Lestatand Armand, alongside

CLOSURES

Continuedfrom page5C

deathofits owner,NaQuellar Martin-Thompson. Veganish Vibesserved plant-based comfort and soul food such as redbeans andrice, gumbo, burgers, jackfruit ribs, beignets and bread pudding.

AsianSeafood House

At the intersection of Florida Boulevard and South Sherwood Forest, this seafood buffet closed on March 3after opening in July 2021.

The owner,Yuki Chen, said she may open the restaurant back up if she can ﬁnd enough people to work in the kitchenorifshe can find abusiness partner to takeover theﬁnances.

Chen alsoowns theAsian Supermarket with her husband, located in the same

ahostofnew characters, in what would become abaker’s dozenof novels called “The Vampire Chronicles.”

The series has spawned an annual Vampire Ball (which celebrated its30th anniversary last Halloween), apair of ﬁlms (one campy fun,the other nu-metal nonsense) and numerous attempts to launch atelevision adaptation. “Interviewwiththe Vampire” finally premiered in October 2022, the lead seriesinAMC’svampire-and witch-focusedfranchise,a year following theauthor’sdeath. The third season airs in June.

Recently,Rice’sson andestate manager,Christopher,anovelist himself,announced plans for an anniversaryeditionofhis mother’sdebut novel, featuring neverbefore-seen pages from her original manuscript, set for release this October

Until then, this recent Anne Rice convert will be stalking the shelves of used bookstores, hunting fora mass market paperback copy of the next titlein“The Vampire Chronicles,” feverishly waiting, achingfor ataste of fresh vintage ink.

RienFertel is theauthor of four books. This is his 50th book review forThe Times-Picayune | The Advoate. He can be reached at rienfertel@gmail.com.

parking lot. The chain has a location in Lafayette and will soon open athird spotonSiegenLaneinside theformer Big Lots. This new location will have afood court serving someofthe samedishes as the restaurant, she said.

Kabobs

At 16569 George O’Neal Road,thisGreek andLebanese restaurant closed in January after almost 13 years of operation. Thebusiness posted theclosure on Instagram, saying thehead chef had to retire duetohealth issues.

It served Mediterranean disheslike chickenshawarma, hummus,gyrosandwiches, salad, seafood, lamb shank, stuffedbell peppers and kabobs.

Solera

At 4205 Perkins Road, this tapas restaurant opened in 2019 and closed on Feb 1. OwnerBrianDykessaid

he wanted to give Solera a change. The closure gives rise to a newrestaurant, Southdowns Grille, designedbythe same team behind Solera andlocated in the same building. It’s aiming to open in mid-April, andthe name is inspiredby Southdowns Lounge, aneighborhood pub that opened in the1960s and closed in 2008.

BeignetBaton Rouge

At 7673 Perkins Road, this beignet, coffee and food spot closed in Marchafter operating forabout twoyears. It served avariety of traditional and stuffed beignets, acoffee menu andafood menuwith breakfast tacos, sandwiches, shrimp and grits, pastas and more. This was the business’ second location, so withthe closure, it’sback to one location. Theopen location is at 14241 Coursey Blvd., near the neighborhood Walmart.

STAFFFILE PHOTOByCHRIS GRANGER

Onered rose in ahorse-drawn hearse honors the late author Anne Riceduring asecond-line paradeinNew Orleans on Oct.30, 2022.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Fire up the engine, and make your way forward. Put your energy where it counts and maximize your time and effort. A change in how you earn or use your money will encourage you to make a move.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Control your emotions, and keep your thoughts to yourself. Work diligently behind the scenes to ensure you achieve the most with the least amount of interference.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Change matters. Sitting idle will leave you in a state of stress. Change is ideal, and research, talking to experts and exploring possibilities will guide you forward.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Look at the big picture, but don't take on too much. Refuse to let what others do interfere with your plans. Follow your heart and explore the possibilities.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Filter through information before making a change. You have plenty to gain if you are observant, thorough and don't overspend or overdo. Be careful not to buy into beauty scams that promise the world and offer few returns.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Do your best to show up, do your thing and have a positive impact on others. Let intelligence lead the way, and others will follow. Participation is the best way to bring about change.

LIBRA (Sept 23-Oct 23) Distance yourself from anyone who doesn't coincide with your plans. Refuse to let anyone

talk you into overloading your schedule or spending more than you can afford.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Take advantage of any opportunity to mix business with pleasure. Travel and communication are on the rise. A change will lead to romance, adventure or a new beginning.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Act instinctively. Put your heart and soul into whatever you pursue, and pioneer your way forward. Managing your finances and implementing a healthy, less stressful lifestyle is within reach.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take the high road, keep your thoughts to yourself and avoid discord, interference and temptation. Pay attention to and nurture relationships dear to your heart.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Review your financial position and consider how to make it better. Read the fine print, and put in place a thrifty plan and discipline that helps you cut your costs and alleviate stress.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Knowing when to start and stop is essential if you want to avoid waste, debt or unnecessary interference. Say no to excessive behavior, and recognize when someone offers an inflated point of view.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

TODAy'S CLUE: B EQUALS L

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placingpuzzle based on a9x9 grid with severalgiven numbers. Theobjectistoplace the numbers1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column andeach 3x3 box containsthe same number onlyonce. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’sPuzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

Bridge

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Alfred North Whitehead, an English mathematician andphilosopher who died in 1947, said, “It requires avery unusual mind to make an analysis of the obvious.” What somepeople see as obvious, others findunusual. Take,for example, today’sdeal.LookattheNorthhand.Your partneropensoneheart,yourespondone no-trump,and he rebids twoclubs.What would you do now?

It looks obvious to raise to three clubs, game-invitational.Butyouwoulddothat with aweaker hand.For example, take twoofthe low clubs and make them low diamonds.You would still raise to three clubs.This hand, though, is more powerful.Infact, if you had had king-queenjack-sixthofclubsandthediamondking, you probably would have responded twoclubs,not one no-trump, planning to rebidthree clubs. How can you show a very good three-club raise?

By rebiddingtwo spades. This cannot be natural, becauseyou would have responded one spade, not one no-trump, with length in that suit.And it says nothing about your holding in spades.(The samecall can be used if opener rebids two diamonds and you have excellent support forthat suit.)

Inthisinstance,South,withthosewonderful aces,should continue with three spades to describe his distribution, and

leavethreeno-trumpasanoptionshould North have strong diamonds.Here, Northwouldprobablybidfourclubsand South would raise to game. As you can see, five clubs needs either the heartfinesse or the club finesse to work. But three no-trump has no chance with the club finesse failing.

McMeel

Syndication

Each Wuzzleisaword riddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previousanswers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words mustbeoffour or more letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by theaddition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additionalwords madebyadding a“d” or an “s”may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slangwords, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed.

toDAY’s WoRD WEREWoLVEs: WARE-wulvz: Peoplecapable of assuminga wolf’s form

Averagemark33words

Time limit 60 minutes

Canyou find 49 or more words in WEREWOLVES?

YEstERDAY’s WoRD —REFusAL