The Acadiana Advocate 04-15-2026

ACADIANAACADIANAACADIANA

deficiencies were consid

3 Thirty-four instances ofnoncompliance that were material to the financial statementsofthe School Board, which would be required to be reported in accordance with GovernmentAuditing in he dit.

LAFAYETTEPARISH

School system, auditor clashover findings

Auditor flags77issues, questionsrecords

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

An independent auditor for theLafayette Parish school system listed 77 findings after testingthe district’s financialinternal controls andcompliance, 31 of which itsaid were material weaknesses.

“Wehave submitted responses and objections that include corrective actions, many of whichare already in place.”

FRANCIS TOUCHET

JR.,Lafayette Parish school superintendent

Kolder,Slaven andCo.,which was hired and paid by theschool system to conduct the district’s2024-25 audit, also said in its report that it was“unable to obtain sufficientappropriate evidencetoprovide abasisfor an audit opinion” because of “concerns about thereliability of the accounting records andfinancialreporting provided by management.” Thedistrict objected to virtually allofthe findings. In most cases, the district argued that afinding was not from the 2024-25 auditperiod. In at least three instances, the school system’s response to afinding included that the districtfeltithad been included to cast the system in an “unfavorable light” andtwice argued that the finding highlighted the auditor’s“apparentlack of objectivity.”

District objectstovirtually allofthe issues raised

The Lafayette Parish school system objected to virtually all of the findings of an audit for 2024-25.

Key findings of the Lafayette school systemaudit. PAGE 4A

Superintendent Francis Touchet

Jr.said in astatementthat some of thefindings should have been consolidated and other issues should have beenraised earlier by theauditor,who has worked withthe district for more than 30 years.

“Wehave submitted responses and

objectionsthatinclude corrective actions, many of which are already in place,” he said in astatement. “We are now focused on moving forward and have engaged awell-respected firm to review theaudit andensure any valid issues arefully addressed.”

Some of the findings also related to the timeliness of submitting the

See FINDINGS, page 4A

Universities in La.may seek new accreditor

of higher ed bureaucracy

BY HALEYMILLER Staff writer

As higher education bureaucracy comes under scrutiny nationally,Louisiana’spublic universities might soon be allowed to seek alternatives to the accreditor that has evaluated institutions in the state forover acentury

The potentialchange comes as some conservative leaders like President Donald Trump and Gov.Jeff Landry criticize excess spending in highereducation and diversity,equity andinclusion initiatives. Some administrators say, however, that the problemswith accreditation lie less with DEIand more with the inefficiency of ageography-based system Senate Bill 304 would permit public universities to break with theirlongstanding accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACS.The bill follows the recommendations of atask force Landry createdlastyeartoreview accreditationinthe

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON— Twomembers of Congress resigned Tuesday,creating moreheadaches for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scaliseastheystarted to move a sheaf of “must-pass” legislation through aCongress.

Right off the bat, Johnson, RBenton, and Scalise, R-Jefferson, want to reauthorize government surveillance power in abill with which agroup of Republicans have serious problems. That authorizationexpires April 20. Also expected to popupthis week or next are

ä See AGENDA, page 3A

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL and JERRYDICOLO Staff writers

Amazon is acquiring Louisiana satellitecommunicationscompany Globalstar in anearly$12 billion deal that will allow thee-commerce giant to expand its spacebased mobile phone services.

In anews release Tuesday,Amazon said it planned to useGlobalstar’ssatellite networkand technology as part of Amazon Leo, a project that will enable smartphone users toconnect directly to anetwork of thousands of satellites for voice and data service Amazon also announced adeal with Apple to bring theserviceto iPhones starting in 2028. Globalstar currently powersthe emergency SOS feature on Apple’s iPhones. Globalstar shareholderswillreceive $90a shareorcomparable

Amazon shares for atotal purchase price of around $11.6billion. In thepast month, the company’s stockprice hasincreasednearly 35%. The deal is expected to close in 2027, pending regulatory approval. It’s not clear howthe deal will impact Globalstar’snearly 400 employees worldwide or its headquarters in Covington,where roughly half of the workforce is based. Globalstar Chair Jay Monroe, who bought thecompanyin

Tech giantwould be better able to competewithStarlink Globalstar officials and visitors tour the company’s satellitecontrol center in Covington in 2025.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

Democrats seek to overturn new loan rules

WASHINGTON Democrats in Congress are trying to overturn the Trump administration’s changes to a popular student loan forgiveness program, with lawmakers saying the changes are political and could leave some borrowers without the relief they were pledged.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program cancels loans for qualified public service workers after they’ve made a decade’s worth of payments. It has long been open to those who go to work for the government, public schools, fire and police departments, public hospitals and nonprofits But last fall, President Donald Trump’s administration wrote a new rule that will empower Education Secretary Linda McMahon to kick employers out of the program if she decides their work has a “substantial illegal purpose.”

Set to take effect in July the vaguely phrased rule is targeted at employers who support undocumented immigrants or transgender youth, potentially affecting borrowers who work at schools, public hospitals and legal aid groups.

On Tuesday Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced a resolution to overturn the rule. A similar measure was brought forward in the House by another trio of Democrats: Joe Courtney of Connecticut, Alma Adams of North Carolina and Scott Peters of California. The lawmakers called the rule “a clear attempt to intimidate and punish certain organizations.”

While the Democrats’ measure may get a vote, it’s unlikely to pass.

Fla. doctor faces manslaughter charge

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. — A grand jury indicted a Florida doctor on a manslaughter charge for allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen during a 2024 surgery.

The prosecutor for the First Judicial Circuit on Monday announced the charge of seconddegree manslaughter against Dr Thomas Shaknovsky Prosecutors said that during an Aug. 21, 2024, surgery, which was scheduled to be a laparoscopic splenectomy, Shaknovsky removed the victim’s liver instead of his spleen. That resulted in “catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table,” law enforcement officials wrote in a press release, The patient was a 70-year-old man from Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Fl orida s usp ended Shaknovsky’s medical license after the surgery Records show he voluntarily surrendered his medical license in Alabama after regulators moved to revoke his license

Haiti mayor appeals for help after gang attack

PORT-AU-PRINCE,Haiti The mayor of a commune in southern Haiti appealed for central government help on Tuesday after a gang attack left seven people dead.

A police station in Seguin, in the commune of Marigot, was also set on fire in the incident overnight on Monday as armed men expand their reach into new territory

Marigot Mayor René Danneau criticized the authorities for not responding quickly enough.

“We are asking the prime minister to take all necessary measures,” he told Radiotélévision Caraïbes.

Danneau said the victims were young men who worked alongside police and gathered information for them to help protect the population.

Gang violence has largely been centered in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in rural territory north of it. It was not immediately clear which gang was responsible for the attack on the community of Seguin.

More than 5,500 people were reported killed across Haiti between March 2025 and January this year, with more than 2,600 injured, according to the latest U.N. statistics. Gang violence also has displaced more than 1.4 million people in a country of nearly 12 million.

Super Typhoon pounds U.S. islands

Sinlaku batters Tinian, Saipan in Pacific Ocean

BY JOHN SEEWER, KATHY MCCORMACK and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press

A super typhoon steadily battered a pair of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean with ferocious winds and relentless rains, shredding tin roofs and forcing residents to take cover from flying tree limbs.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku pounded the Northern Mariana Islands for hours before daybreak Wednesday slowing just to inflict more damage across the islands of Tinian and Saipan, home to nearly 50,000 people.

“I’m guessing anything that was made of wood and tin did not survive this,” said Glen Hunter, who grew up on Saipan and watched at least three tin roofs fly past his yard.

Hunter, who has weathered numerous typhoons, told The Associated Press this felt like the strongest yet. Rain was seeping into every crevice of his concrete home, he said.

“It was a losing battle because the rain was coming through everywhere,” he said early Wednesday. “Every house is just flooded

PROVIDED By GLEN HUNTER

High winds reached 150 mph during a super typhoon on Tuesday in the island of Saipan. Super Typhoon Sinlaku battered the remote Northern Mariana Islands before slowing over the islands of Tinian and Saipan.

with water, no matter what type of structure you’re in.”

The tropical typhoon — the strongest on Earth this year was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph when it made landfall on the islands, the National Weather Service said.

Tropical force winds and torrential rainfall also led to flash flooding on Guam, a U.S. territory to the south with several U.S. military installations and about 170,000 residents, the weather service said.

While wind gusts did slow a bit on the Mariana Islands early Wednesday and the storm started

tracking to the north, the conditions did not improve right away, the weather service reported.

As the sun came up, the amount of damage remained unclear because conditions remained unsafe outside, said Ed Propst, a former lawmaker in Saipan who works in the governor’s office.

He said he heard “banging and clanging through the night.”

“We haven’t heard of any knock on wood — deaths so far,” he said, attributing that to residents heeding warnings to take shelter if they weren’t in a concrete home. The monster storm slowed to a

Irish government survives confidence vote 92-78

Coalition was criticized for handling of fuel protests

BY BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press

LONDON — The Irish government survived a confidence vote Tuesday over how it handled a week of disruptive fuel protests that blocked access to oil supplies, caused gas pumps to run dry and created massive traffic jams.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin defended his coalition government by saying it had acted to end the “destructive blockade which threatened to cause much deeper damage.”

The 92-78 vote in support of the government preserved his leadership. If the confidence vote failed, his government would have been forced to resign and Parliament would have either elected a new prime minister or called a general election.

Protests began April 7 with slow-moving convoys clogging roadways. They grew as word spread on social media as truckers, farmers and taxi and bus operators blocked key infrastructure and the main thoroughfare in the capital, Dublin.

Demonstrators called for price caps or tax cuts to alleviate soaring fuel costs they said would drive people out of business.

After the vote, a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Dáil, the parliament building in Dublin, chanted “sell out” and “get them out.”

Opposition politicians blasted Martin for failing to respond sooner to the protests, criticized the aid package he offered as insufficient and said the government was failing to tackle the broader cost-of-living crisis in Ireland.

Sinn Fein Leader Mary Lou McDon-

ald said it was brazen of the coalition to bring the confidence vote after abandoning struggling, hardworking people.

“Beyond your bubble people see a government out of touch,” McDonald said.

“It is your own arrogance, your lack of judgment, your lack of any empathy that has left people with no conclusion other than this: Your time is up.”

Social Democrats, Labour, People Before Profit, Aontu, The Green Party and Independent Ireland supported the vote against the government.

The protests reflect the deep concern voters around the world have about liv-

ing expenses since the inflation spikes that followed the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war in Iran has exacerbated fears after gas and diesel prices have risen steeply Cost of living was the top issue for Irish voters in 2024 that put Martin and Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris back into a power-sharing government shored up with help of several independents.

Martin defended the tax cuts the government was offering as the largest in Europe to help cope with fuel prices that have soared after the U.S.-Israel war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for the world’s oil.

“The basic core claim that we are doing nothing and are falling behind other countries is simply untrue,” Martin said. Martin led a motion to support his coalition made up mainly of the centerright Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties ahead of a no-confidence vote brought by Sinn Fein, the largest opposition party.

One of Martin’s junior ministers, Michael Healy-Rae, an independent from Kerry surprised his peers by saying he would vote against the government and resign because it had let down the people.

“I’ve always looked at myself as a gauge of the people of rural Ireland,” he said. “When I met tractor men, lorry men, farmers and when they were telling me how unhappy they were the leader of the country should have listened.”

Martin said the government can learn from the protests, but defended the response by police and military to clear roadblocks at the country’s sole oil refinery at Whitegate in County Cork and at several depots. They caused more than a third of gas pumps to run dry

“We had to clear Whitegate and the ports because we export about 90% of everything we make in this country,” Martin said. “The ports are the lifeblood of economy and if the ports were blockaded for any length of time, people would have lost jobs, part-time production would have ceased, and it would have been very, very serious.”

The demonstrations were tolerated until the weekend, when police used pepper spray in clashes with some protesters and an army truck knocked down a log barricade at the Galway port. Some protesters said they achieved their goal in getting the government to compromise.

crawl as it approached the islands.

“This is not going to be an easy night for anyone across Tinian or Saipan. This is going to be a loud night,” said Landon Aydlett, a meteorologist with the weather service. Many people “will wake up to a different island,” he said during a Facebook video broadcast.

Saipan is the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands as well as its capital, known for its resorts, snorkeling and golf.

Mayor Ramon “RB” Jose Blas Camacho said late Tuesday that the heavy rain and wind around Saipan made it tough to reach people needing to be rescued.

“Objects are just flying left and right,” he said.

The worst of the storm hit during darkness and was expected to continue until at least sunrise Wednesday, the weather service said. While it’s expected to weaken slightly over the next few days, Sinlaku was crossing the islands as a Category 4 typhoon.

President Donald Trump approved emergency disaster declarations ahead of the latest storm for Guam and the Mariana Islands. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was coordinating support across multiple agencies, dispatching nearly 100 FEMA staff as well as other personnel.

Justice Department files to vacate convictions of extremist groups leaders

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in the White House over five years ago.

Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

The request by the Justice Department would go

a step further and erase the convictions for the extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the government can permanently dismiss the indictments.

“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETER MORRISON

Cyclists ride past tractors blocking O’Connell Street on the fifth day of the National Fuel Protest in Dublin, Ireland, on April 11.

PHOTO

UNIVERSITIES

Continued from page1A

state and consider membership in the newly founded Commission for Public Higher Education.

At the time he created thetask force, Landry saidCPHE could be “an alternative to the out-of-touch accreditation system” andthat “this task force will ensureLouisiana’spublic universitiesmove away from DEI-driven mandates and toward asystem rooted in merit-based achievement.”

That alarmed some faculty and higher education advocates, who feared it would impose apolitical agenda on the accreditation process.

Now,asthe Legislatureconsiders SB304, supporters aretalking less about political motives.Instead, they say the currentsystem of regional accreditors is obsolete —and that accreditors need tofocus more on how universities can operate efficiently

Cameron Howell, senior adviser at the newly founded commission, urgedthe public to review itseducational standards, whichhe says

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bills addressing an end to the“military action” against Iran.Plus, the WarPowersAct requires Congress to step in after 60 days ofconflict to decide whether to continue military action. That deadlineisatthe end of the month.

Congress also needs to fundDepartment of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdownthathit its 60thday Wednesday Each of those votes are going to require aunified GOP vote if Republican positions are to prevail.

U.S. Reps.Eric Swalwell,D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales,R-Texas, submitted their resignations, ef-

GLOBALSTAR

Continued from page1A

the1990s, moved the company to Covington from Californiain2010.

GNO Inc. President and CEO Michael Hecht said there is reason to thinkthe company will remain based on thenorthshore.

“According to Jay (Monroe), Globalstar is going to be awholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, which means they are going to continue to operate as they do today,” Hecht said. “So there shouldbenochange in the near term in terms of employment and location, which are the two questions on anybody’s mind when something like this happens.”

Globalstar and Monroedid not respond to arequest for comment.

Thedeal represents a crowning achievement for the company,which got its start as aprovider of satellite communicationsbut faced ups and downs as it sought to invest the billions of dollars in satellite launchesand other technology needed to keep it competitive. While its control of portions of wireless spectrum was longseen as avaluable

are in linewith common higher education practices.

“I think what you’ll see is a small-C conservative approach to achieve efficiencies, to lower costs andto make foraprocess that is less burdensome,” he said.

“That, Idon’tthink,isabout politics,” he added.

Some state and federal leaders say it might no longer makesense to have regionalaccreditors.Instead, they argue the organizations should be focused on the type of institution —inthis case, public universities.

“Wemoved from geography,everybodybeing SACS, to having a broader ability if they are recognized by theU.S. Departmentof Education,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed

Whydoesaccreditation matter?

Accreditation is theprocess of evaluating schools to ensure they meet acceptable education standards. Universities that are not accredited byanapproved organization cannot receive federal financial aiddollars.

The Southern Association of

fectiveimmediately,asthe House reconvened Tuesday afternoon after two weeksoff for Easter and Passover. Colleagues from both partiesthreatenedboth representatives with expulsion votes this week over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Both denied theallegations.

As the toptwo officials in the U.S. House, Johnson and Scalisecan lose no more than onetothree Republican members, depending on attendance, for the GOPmajority to win aparty-linevote.

Republicans hold 217 seats, plus an independent who votes with them, while Democrats sit in 214. Three of the positions are vacant. Johnson was set Tuesday night to swearinRepublican Clayton Fuller,who was elected last week to replaceGeorgiaRep.Marjorie

asset, in recent years, as Elon Musk’sStarlink satellite service expandedrapidly,Globalstar re-emerged as apotential partner for tech giantslookingtocompetein thespace Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobssaid in astatementthat theacquisition comes after decades of work building a companyfocusedoninnovation andoperational excellence.

“Wehavelongbelieved low Earth orbit satelliteconstellations offer themost effective path to truly connect users and devices anywhere and anytime,” said Jacobs, a longtimeSilicon Valley tech leader who took the helm of Globalstar in 2023. “For more than 30 years, Globalstar has executed on thisvision.”

Globalstar became atarget for Amazon as thetech giant looked to build asatellite communications business that can competewith Starlink and its network of 10,000 satellites.

Amazonhas about3,000 satellites in orbit, while Globalstarwillgiveit an additional 180 or so.

Though there’sstill along wayfor Amazon to goin closing the gap with Starlink, Globalstar has theinfrastructure and know-how the company needs, said Tulane University professor

Colleges accredits 41 institutions in Louisianaand hundreds more throughout the South, according to February 2026 organizational data. LSU hasheldcontinuous accreditation from the organization since 1913. The association did not respond to arequest for comment. Though the bill underconsideration in the Legislature does notmention theCommissionfor Public Higher Education specifically,itcomes up frequently when thebill is discussed. Landry’stask force also recommended Louisianajoinand gain aboard seat on the organization.

The commission was launched in 2025 by institutions in six Southern states:the StateUniversitySystem of Florida,the University System of Georgia, theUniversityofNorth Carolina System, theUniversityof SouthCarolinaSystem,the Texas A&M University Systemand the UniversityofTennesseeSystem.

Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis heralded the commission when it was unveiled in June last year as “an alternative that will break theideological stronghold” and end “the activist-controlled accreditation monopoly.”

Taylor Greene, who quit after runinswithPresident Donald Trump. By Friday —the day after Democrat Analilia Mejia is expected to win the special election to replace Mikie Sherrill, who was elected governor of New Jersey —the numbersgoback to the 217 plus 1 to 214. The likely topoflist is the reauthorization of international surveillance powers in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires next week.

SomeRepublicans want to add restrictions on thesurveillance techniques. Others want to tack on other legislative ideas. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna,R-Fla., forinstance, wants to include theSAVEAct, which would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. These ideas, if included,could

Peter Ricchiuti, who follows thecompany “IfAmazon is serious aboutgoing after Starklink, it’salot easier for them to buyGlobalstarthantostart from scratch,” Ricchiuti said.

The deal comes as the raceamong commercial aerospace companies has taken on anew intensity under President Donald Trump, with companies moving fast to partner, increaseits ability to launch intospace and look for new opportunities.

Globalstar has been in the sector since the1990s, when semiconductor manufacturer Qualcommand defense contractor Loralpartnered to create asatellite communicationsservicethatwent bankrupt afew years later

In 2004, Denver-based private equity firm Thermo Capital Partnerspurchased Globalstar’sassets. Afew years later,Monroe, Thermo’smanaging partnerat thetime and aTulane graduate, moved its headquarters to Covington to take advantage of lower operating costs and Louisiana’sdigital interactivemediaincentives and tax credits.

The movewas celebrated as amajor economic development win for the state.

Monroe has served as Globalstar’s chair since 2004

Theorganization itself doesnot claim apolitical ideology.Howell said its standards adhere to conventional normsinthe higher education sector

He said the commission’sgoal is to saveuniversitiesmoney in the accreditation processand maximize efficiency,which he argued the commission can achieve by specializing in working with public institutions.

“Having aregional approach to something made sense operationally and economically,” Howell said. “Wework in aworld now where travel and communication are easier to bridge over long distances and where we can go about devising accreditation on the basis of public mission.”

Higher educationstandards

Trumpmade overhauling higher education bureaucracy afocusof hisEducation Department, issuing an executive orderinApril 2025 that urged increased competition in the accreditation sphere, prioritization of intellectual diversity among faculty and lower costs for students.

create enough opponents to kill theeffort. Johnson wants only the “clean”FISAreauthorizationin thebill.

TheHouse RulesCommitteewas scheduledtomeetTuesdaynight to markupthe bill. Should Johnson’s backers on the committee succeed in sidelining amendments, the bill could come up for avote by the end of the week.

Similarly,House and Senate leadership wantonly the U.S. Department of Homeland Security included in funding bill.

Democrats refusedtofund Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigrationand CustomsEnforcement, and Customs and Border Protection until stricter standards are placed on federal agents when rounding up illegal immigrants.

TheSenate approved abill that

andwas CEO from 2005 un-

til 2020.

In 2022, Globalstar caught the attention of the larger tech, telecommunications and aerospace industries when it partneredwithAppleonthe emergency SOS

deal.

Louisiana’saccreditation reform will align withboth Trump and Landry’sinterests, Reed said. SB304 “was aresult of the governor’sexecutive order saying we want to support the Trumpadministration’s interest in broadening competition around accreditors,” Reed said. Though sometimes juxtaposed politically,SACS and CPHE do not containreferences to politicsin their accreditation standards (in CPHE’scase, draft accreditation standards, as the commissionis not yet formally recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Theyshare criteriaoninstitutional integrity,sound finances anda commitment to “continuousimprovement.”Bothinclude references to academic freedom, though CPHE goes astep further to include astandard for“intellectual diversity.”

The proposed law mandates that universities must be accredited through an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, so Louisiana’s institutions would need to maintain theirSACS accreditation for the time being even if it passes.

would temporarily fund other Homeland Security agencies, such as Transportation Security Administration and the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency but not ICEand CPB.

The House is holding off on that vote until they see the Senate’sreconciliation bill that would include funding ICE andCPB forthree years. Using the reconciliation procedureswould allow theappropriations to pass on by simple majority, meaningthe Republicans could approve without any Democratic support.

“Republicanshavebeen forced to do this thehardway,” said Senate Majority Leader JohnThune, R-S.D Senate Republicans were briefed on the strategy during alunch meeting Tuesday

“I have to hand it to Jay Monroe,” Ricchiuti said. “He really stuck with the company and never wavered in his vision.”

The deal comes as Louisiana officials are trying to

makethe state, which has alonghistory of aerospace activity,attractive to anew generation of companies that build, launchand service rockets and the payloads like satellites that they carry into space.

Lafayette school system audit flags weaknesses

77 findings noted related to district’s internal controls over financial reporting

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

An independent auditor who reviewed the Lafayette Parish school system’s finances for the 2024-25 fiscal year noted 77 findings related to the district’s internal controls over financial reporting

Kolder Slaven and Co., who was hired by the school system to conduct the audit and has worked with the district for more than 30 years, said there were 31 material weaknesses, which are major deficien-

FINDINGS

Continued from page 1A

audit to the appropriate agencies.

The auditor said the timing was delayed because of the availability of financial information and supporting documents. Touchet previously blamed Kolder, Slaven and Co. and pointed to the fact that the board voted to use a different auditor for its next audit.

The 2024-25 audit has not yet been reviewed and posted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office. It was submitted last week to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, which posts information about federal grant audits.

Typically, the school system has fewer than 20 findings on its annual audit and some are issues that carry over from year to year if they aren’t resolved when the issue was first noted. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, there were 19 findings; for 2022-23, there were eight findings, and for 2023-24, there were 13 findings. For the 2024-25 fiscal year, Kolder, Slaven and Co. noted 77 findings. Of those, 31 were material weaknesses, four of which were related to internal control over major federal award programs. A material weakness is a major deficiency or flaw in internal con-

cies or flaws in internal controls

The district objected to nearly every finding and, in most cases, argued that the finding wasn’t related to the 2024-25 fiscal year Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr said in a statement that some of the findings should have been consolidated and other issues should have been raised earlier by the auditor

The 2024-25 audit has not yet been reviewed and posted by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office. It was submitted last week to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse, which posts information about federal grant audits.

Of the 77 findings, six were related to working with vendors and another six related to purchase orders and purchasing cards. Eleven findings were repeated from previ-

ous fiscal years. Some of the findings included:

n Vendor-funded meals and alcohol provided at events hosted at a board member’s business: The auditor found that a board member used his business as the venue for functions attended by board members and district management and vendors with current or potential contractual relationships with the district paid for the food alcohol and related hospitality costs. The district argued the board member held customer appreciation nights at his bar that were publicly advertised and open to the public

n Management’s improper relationships with vendors: The auditor found that there were instances in which members of management accepted trips or travel opportuni-

ties provided by vendors, creating the appearance of a conflict of interest or favoritism. The district argued the auditor did not provide specific details about the finding and the finding was based upon the auditor’s “misunderstanding of the law.”

n Lack of required written contract for public works project over $5,000: The auditor found that the district did not execute written contracts for 127 public works projects that exceeded the state requirement for a written contract if a project is over $5,000. The district argued that the auditor didn’t provide sufficient details about the issue It also said deviation from procurement policy or procedure would be documented, justified and subject to review but that “no corrective action is deemed nec-

trols where there is a “reasonable possibility” that a misstatement of an agency’s financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.

The bulk of the material weaknesses related to the district’s maintenance and construction department, and with employee use of purchasing cards

The auditor flagged the creation of fraudulent vendor quotes and the destruction of public records. Former maintenance and construction director Robert Gautreaux has been charged in con-

nection with possibly forged construction bids and is awaiting trial.

The district argued that as soon as it became aware of the possibly forged documents, it conducted an investigation and alerted law enforcement. It also said it has since established a procedure to guarantee original quotes are obtained from external vendors.

The auditor also said that during a review of maintenance purchase order transactions, they found unauthorized purchases were made. The district claimed the auditor did not provide enough details

about the findings and that some of the conditions, criteria and causes were misrepresented. It said no corrective action was necessary because “this finding does not accurately reflect the situation that exists.”

The auditor claimed the school system issued purchasing cards to employees who had not completed the required paperwork and that some employees exceeded purchasing card spending limits. The district denied that employees with cards didn’t complete the proper paperwork, but said it

essary as this finding does not accurately reflect the situation that exists or (the district’s) current practice.”

The annual financial report comes a year after auditors said the system skirted public bid law Following those findings, the school system sought a new auditor to replace Kolder, Slaven & Co., which had audited the school system for many years. Over the past five years, the school system has paid the firm about $2.1 million for its services. In January, Lafayette schools awarded the contract to EisnerAmper, which, in its bid, said it could offer its services at or under $200,000 annually

Contact Ashley White at ashley white@theadvocate.com.

would have them resubmit the paperwork. It said that some spending limits were outdated and hadn’t kept pace with current prices and inflation, but it had since changed those limits.

The auditor claimed the school system hadn’t complied with the Louisiana Public Bid Law, which initially occurred in 2024, according to the audit. The auditor said that when it reviewed procurement and public works contracts, there were instances when materials and supplies were purchased without conducting required competitive bidding.

The district argued that the auditor didn’t provide sufficient details about the issue. It also said deviation from procurement policy or procedure would be documented, justified and subject to review but that “no corrective action is deemed necessary as this finding does not accurately reflect the situation that exists or (the district’s) current practice.”

The auditor also raised concerns about possible ethics violations with vendors, including vendorfunded meals and alcohol being provided at events hosted at a School Board member’s business. The district argued the auditor failed to provide sufficient details about the finding and that it was based on the auditor’s “misunderstanding of the law.”

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

The Lafayette Parish School Board voted to use a different auditor for its next audit.

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Diplomats try to arrange a second round of U.S.-Iran talks

American blockade of Iranian ports enacted

BY MUNIR AHMED and SAM METZ Associated Press

ISLAMABAD Diplomats worked through back channels on Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran threatened to retaliate by striking targets across the warweary region.

U.S. President Donald Trump said a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days,” telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres concurred, saying it’s “highly probable” that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan’s deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar Meanwhile in Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. concluded on a productive note, according to the U.S. State Department.

Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries are “on the same side of the equation” in “liberating Lebanon” from the militant Hezbollah group. Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Since March, that war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

First round failed to end conflict

Last weekend in Pakistan, an initial round of talks aimed at permanently ending the U.S.-Iran conflict failed to produce an agreement. The White House said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point.

A U.S. official said Tuesday that fresh talks with Iran were still under discussion and that nothing

has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s finance minister told The Associated Press that “our leadership is not giving up” on efforts to help the U.S. and Iran end the conflict

“We’ll keep at it,” Aurangzeb said Tuesday

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Tankers turned around

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began on Feb. 28. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash flow that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.

U.S. Central Command said Tuesday no ships made it past the blockade in the first 24 hours, while six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.

Tankers approaching the strait on Monday turned around shortly after the blockade took effect, though one reversed course again and transited the waterway

The tanker Rich Starry had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping data firm Lloyd’s List, which cited data from the energy cargotracking firm Vortexa. It was not immediately clear whether the tanker had earlier docked in Iran. Yet it was listed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as linked to Iranian shipping.

U.S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Chinese tankers will not be allowed passage through the strait. “So they’re not going to be able to get their oil,” he told reporters Tuesday In rare public criticism seemingly directed at Trump Chinese President Xi Jinping said nations should “oppose the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.” Xi said nations should work to “jointly safeguard genuine multilateralism.”

Israel, Lebanon conclude talks

The Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington were “productive,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement, adding that “all sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who facilitated the talks, had downplayed expectations for any immediate agreement.

Leiter the Israeli ambassador to the U.S, said after the talks that both countries saw eye-to-eye in several areas.

Sheinbaum pushes back over migrant deaths, Cuba

Mexican president taking a firmer stance

BY MEGAN JANETSKY and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

MEXICO CITY The Mexican government on Tuesday protested the deaths of its citizens in U.S. immigration custody as President Claudia Sheinbaum pushes back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies on multiple fronts.

The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting U.S. requests to crack down on criminal cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and U.S. military action against the gangs. But in the wake of mounting deaths of Mexican citizens in custody of immigration officials and the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba a key Mexican ally Sheinbaum has taken a harder line.

Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily

She said her government would raise the deaths in detention centers to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was considering appealing to the United Nations. Her government already said it would support lawsuits in the U.S. filed by detainees over poor conditions.

“We are going to defend Mexicans at every level,” Sheinbaum said, adding that “there are many Mexicans whose only crime is not having papers.”

The moves by Sheinbaum’s government come on top of mounting disapproval in the U.S. of Trump’s immigration enforcement About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents into American cities, according to a February AP-NORC poll.

Divide over Cuba

Shifting geopolitics in the region, and the mounting deaths in ICE facilities, have also opened the door for Sheinbaum to take a firmer stance.

“We’ve seen the president raise her tone,” said Palmira Tapia, an analyst for Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “There’s been a shift, and we’ve seen Sheinbaum be more vocal than before.”

Deaths in ICE custody

Sheinbaum’s latest rebuke came on Tuesday, a day after 49-year-old Mexican citizen Alejandro Cabrera Clemente died in a detention center in Louisiana of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, the fifteenth death of a Mexican citizen in U.S. custody in little over a year

Mexico’s government quickly called the deaths “unacceptable” and the ICE detention centers “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.”

During a Tuesday news briefing Sheinbaum added she requested investigations into the deaths of the 15 migrants, and instructed

The main point of contention between the two governments has been Cuba. Solidarity with the U.S. adversary has been a cornerstone of Mexico’s political ethos since the Cuban revolution, which Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara and a group of exiles famously planned while in Mexico City It’s a particular sticking point with her progressive Morena party, whose founder ushered Sheinbaum into office.

The relationship hit a hurdle in late January, when Trump announced he would slap tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. The move directly impacted Mexico, which for years has shipped oil to Cuba.

While Sheinbaum reluctantly paused oil shipments to Cuba, she has continued to challenge the Trump administration’s push for regime change.

“Mexico has every right to send fuel, whether for humanitarian or commercial reasons,” Sheinbaum said earlier this week.

Sheinbaum

TheUVindex is at the “extreme” level, so if you’re working outside, remember to use

and

Ville Platte mayor calls charges ‘meritless’ Williams accused

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

The arrest of five public officials last week sent shock waves throughout Evangeline and St. Landry parishes. The list included names like Ville Platte Mayor Ryan Williams and Mamou Police Chief Charles “Pat” Hall. Williams is now speaking out on

Bill on domestic violence sentencing pared back

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Long-simmering frustrations with how Louisiana courts treat women convicted of harming their abusers boiled over Tuesday after a Senate committee watered down a proposal to give more lenient sentences in such cases

“We all know this isn’t far enough,” state Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, said of her own measure, Senate Bill 91, after she removed a provision to let judges resentence some victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

But that idea has run into opposition from critics who say it could overwhelm courts with meritless claims from offenders trying to take advantage of resentencing opportunities.

In its original form, SB91 also would have lowered the maximum prison sentences allowed in cases where abuse played a “substantial contributing factor in causing the defendant to commit the offense.” Mizell who has tried to pass similar legislation during previous legislative sessions knew the proposal would not pass the

ä See VIOLENCE, page 4B

of malfeasance in office

the charges being levied against him, becoming the first of the five defendants to do so. A statement issued by his attorney, Todd Clemons of Lake Charles, called the accusations “baseless” and “meritless.”

Williams was arrested by Louisiana State Police on a charge of malfeasance in office. Each of the other four defendants was addition-

ally charged with trespass against state computers, with claims that they shared confidential information on an ongoing court case with another defendant. Evidence supporting the charges has not yet been released to the public Clemons stated that “once the true facts come to light, it will be clear for all to see that he is factually innocent of this meritless accusation.”

All five defendants, including Williams, bailed out of jail shortly following their arrest. Clemons expressed optimism that charges could be dropped following the completion of the investigation, writing, “Ryan is optimistic that the prosecuting authorities will take a very fair and objective look at the evidence in this matter and the applicable law If that is done, then no criminal charges should ever be filed.”

Williams was elected mayor of

The statement released by Clemons highlighted Williams’ public service, including his tenure on the Evangeline Parish Police Jury and positively framed his mayoral tenure.

In bloom

Advocate staff reports

A former elementary school teacher in St. Martin Parish has been arrested following an investigation into an inappropriate relationship with a former student. Marisa Noel, 31, was arrested on four counts of indecent behavior with juveniles and four counts of computer-aided solicitation of a minor According to Sheriff Becket Breaux, the Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation on Jan. 28, after receiving a complaint that Noel, a former fifth grade teacher, was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a former student. Authorities said Noel was employed at Teche Elementary School at the time of the alleged offense. With assistance from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, detectives developed probable cause to make an arrest.

ä See BLOTTER, page 4B

GoFundMe launched for Lao fest victim

Grandmother was critically injured in crash

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched for a victim critically injured during the Lao New Year Festival in Iberia Parish. The fundraiser was created for Panouphanh “Tee” Soundara, who organizers say was among a dozen who were injured when a vehicle crashed into the annual New Year parade. According to the campaign, what began as a celebration of the Lao New Year quickly turned into a

devastating tragedy for Soundara.

“Tee was critically injured when a vehicle drove through the festival parade route, changing her life and the lives of those who love her forever,” the fundraiser states.

Authorities said the crash happened around 2:30 p.m. April 4 along the parade route in Iberia Parish, near Broussard. The driver Todd Landry, 57, of Jeanerette, was arrested and booked on charges including driving while impaired, first-degree negligent injuring, careless operation and open container Louisiana State Police said at least 18 people were injured when the vehicle entered the parade route during the festival. Soundara was airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries

and has undergone multiple emergency surgeries, according to the campaign. Her condition remains serious, and organizers say she faces a long and uncertain recovery with additional procedures ahead.

Although Soundara lives in Tennessee, she is expected to remain in Lafayette for specialized medical care for the foreseeable future. The fundraiser states this has created significant emotional and financial strain on her family, including mounting medical expenses and the eventual cost of transporting her home.

They said she remains determined to recover and return home to be with her family

“Tee lights up the room and al-

ways has a smile on her face,” the campaign states. “She is a proud grandmother and she is determined to be present for her grandchildren.”

The fundraiser emphasizes that any donations will help offset medical costs and ongoing care needs, while also asking the community for their continued support and prayers for her recovery

“Any donation, no matter the size, will make a meaningful difference,” the page states. “If you’re unable to give, please consider sharing this fundraiser and keeping Tee and her family in your thoughts.”

As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe has raised more than $4,500 toward its $20,000 goal.

Ville Platte in 2022, receiving 54% of the vote against incumbent Mayor Jennifer Vidrine His term expires at the end of this year, and he remains eligible to run for reelection.

ABOVE: A wide variety of strikingly colorful Louisiana irises are on display LEFT: Daisy Kerne and Michael Campbell sell their medicinal mushrooms and extracts.

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

Volunteers Karen Sellers, from left, Gail Magee-Evans and Louise Prejean sell native plants and give advice from the Acadiana Native Plant Project booth on Saturday during the Festival des Fleurs de Louisiane at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette

ä See VILLE PLATTE, page 4B

OPINION

OUR VIEWS

Legislature shouldn’tstop duly elected courtclerk from taking office

Last fall, voters in OrleansParish elected a new clerk of Criminal District Court. By a68%-32% margin, Calvin Duncan beat incumbent DarrenLombard for ajob that oversees not just criminal case records but alsovotingmachines. It wasanundeniable show of public support for aone-timejailhouse lawyerwho had been exonerated after spending28yearsat the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Yetwhile the votersofOrleans Parish spoke clearly,the Louisiana Legislature is rapidly moving to overrule them.

That is the immediate effect of Senate Bill 256 by stateSen. Jay Morris, aWest MonroeRepublican, that would merge thecriminalcourt clerk’sjob into the office now runbythe city’s Civil DistrictCourt clerk. Because it would take effect immediately upon thegovernor’s signature, the bill would eliminatethe officetowhich Duncan wasdulyelected before he is setto be sworn in on May 4.

That’sjust one of several seriousconcernswe have over this legislation,whichwas approved last week by the state Senate 25-11,with allRepublicans present supportingand all Democrats opposed, and now heads to the House.

Another is that, while Morris talks of efficiency,there’snofiscal note specifying savings. Under thelegislation, theunifiedclerk’s office would not only continue to do all the work both clerksdonow,but wouldhavetocombine operations, which could be costly and confusingon such short notice.

Yetsenators rejected aproposed amendment by state Sen. Royce Duplessis, aNew Orleans Democrat, that woulddelay implementation, allowing for Duncan to servethe termtowhich he’s been elected and for the careful, well-organized transition such amerger would require We should say herethat we are not opposed to common-sense consolidation of unnecessary offices in New Orleans, where the Legislature long ago set up several systems thatare different from those in the state’sother parishes.We have supported reasonable effortsinthe past, when local officials were involved in thediscussions. But this divisive current drive, whichalso includes separate bills to reduce the number of judgeships in the city,was undertakenbylawmakers whose own districts are far fromNew Orleans without even apretense of consultation with the city’sleaders.Indeed, thedataupon which supporters are relyingtoclaim waste and duplicationamong judgesisdisputed by Orleans officials.

It’snoteworthy that SB256 has drawn harsh criticism even from New Orleansleaderswho backed Duncan’sopponent, such as U.S. Rep. Troy Carter and Mayor HelenaMoreno.

The Legislature has every right —and indeed, aresponsibility —toidentify efficiencies, even if that means eliminatingpublic offices once those elected to them have served outtheir terms.

But it has no business pushingthrough a rushed bill that would thwart thewill of the city’svoters.

Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND USA LETTER, SCANHERE

Honest debate can’tinvolve misrepresentingfoe’s views

Richard Carter’sApril 9letter helpfully clarifies that he did not call the entire No Kings crowd hypocrites and baby-killers; he merely said we travel aroad paved by them (“paved with ghouls who poison and mutilategender-confused children” and “butchers who yank 6-month-old babies from the safety of their mothers’ wombs…”). Thank you for thedistinction. He ends by asking whether we should be able to expect from anewspaper “at leastaneffort to get the facts straight.” Onthat, we agree. So let us get thefacts straight Democrats do not believe in “ripping babies”from anywhere (except maybe unsafe places). We believe women and theirdoctors, not thegovernment, should make medical decisions in difficult pregnancies.People may debate abortion law and morality,but they should first describe the opposing view truthfully Likewise, no Democrat believes in poisoning or mutilating children (or anyone else). We do not believe that is what medical care for gender-related

conditions amounts to.How should we treat people bornwith disorders commonly lumped under the “intersex” umbrella —people born with ambiguous genitalia or Klinefelter syndrome (XXY)?

We believe humanbeings are complex, that some medical realitiesare poorly understood by the public and that fear-driven misinformation can deny people living with these biological realities essentialhealth care. Reasonable people can debate abortion,sex, gender,medicine and law Honestdebate, however, requires honest representation. In Louisiana, my elected representatives and their allies do not merely rejectviews like mine; they caricature them for public use. As avoting, taxpayingconstituent, Iam not simply disagreedwith; Iamfalsely represented So theissue, as Carter points out, is not disagreement. It is misrepresentation andwhether or not we are really willing to debate the issueshonestly SUMMERDOUCET Baton Rouge

Endingemail addressesofalumniviolatespromise

Iearned my bachelor of science in civil engineering at the University of LouisianaatLafayette andmymaster’s and Ph.D. as aBoard of Regents’ Dean’s Fellow at LSU.

My research describes how oxygen and nitrogen behave in surface water, natural and constructed wetlands and biofilters for raising fish. This has economic importance to the people of Louisiana, who funded my research and are entitled to request my papers and ask questions.

When LSUgave me an alumni.lsu.edu account, it stated it would be permanent —available for life.

My email has been passed between people in Louisianaand throughout the world.

Iregularly receive requests from scientists, engineers and aquaculturists for my master’sthesis, Ph.D. dissertation and peer-reviewed papers. Terminating my email will mean that future requests and questions will not reach me. Other alumni report not having received the March email stating, “May 31, 2026, []will be the final datetoaccess your account[.] “Canceling email

addresses used by alumni over many years could have deleteriousconsequences for professional networking, which will become increasingly importantasthe AI roll-outaccelerates and disruptscareers forthousands of college graduates. LSUstaff workfor the people of Louisiana when assessing the budget and making recommendations. If thepolitical will exists, LSU’s administrators can task those responsible withfinding savings sufficient to remedyany shortfallwithout canceling alumni email. If LSU followsthrough on this termination, its alumni and the people of Louisiana could ask whythey should support aflagship institution that regards its former students as low priority.

Because terminating alumni email reflectsLSU’spriorities forfunds allocated by thepeople of Louisiana, anyone who wants to be heard should contact their elected state representatives and thegovernor by letter,phone or email form, using contact information from theinternet

WILLIAMGOLZ Baton Rouge

N.O. owes its officers and repeatedly chose nottopay

In arecent op-ed, Mayor Helena Moreno called the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System a“bully.” That claim is wrong —and it distracts from the city’s own decisions and from the law In January 2026, the city paid $8 million in recruitment and retention incentives —payments it initially resisted before relenting. Those payments are pensionable, and corresponding retirement contributions are required. It was aunilateral decision not to remit retirement contributions tied to officers’ earned compensation. The city previously treated similar payments as pensionable and remitted the required contributions; officers have already retired on those benefits. Discussions had progressed to proposed terms before the current administration reversed course and declined to comply with the law

Delay does not eliminate the obligations. It increases them Amounts owed will include contributions, interest, actuarial costs, and collection expenses. The city has recently borrowed below 6%, yet continued nonpayment triggers penalties and costs that can exceed 25%. The mathisstraightforward. This approach increases taxpayers’ liability while officers bear the consequences.

State law requires the state treasurer —who serves as atrustee of MPERS and chairs the State Bond Commission —towithhold certain funds from the city’sstate distributions to satisfythese obligations.

Moreno expresses sympathy for small towns. So does MPERS. But sympathy does not replace compliance. In somecases, municipalities failed to enroll officers as required by law,including officers later killed in the line of duty

Enforcing the law is not bullying; it is afiduciary duty MPERS has no discretion to waive.

CHAD KING chairman of the Board of Trustees, Municipal PoliceEmployees’ Retirement System

Data centersmeetthe opposition

It appears that folks livinginthe gently rolling farmland of southwestern Ohio don’twant a2-million-squarefoot data center plopped down the road from their front porches. What’swrong with them?Are they snotty not-in-my-backyard liberals?

Not quite. Wilmington, Ohio, is avery Republican region marked by modest incomes. Such demographics may have made the locals, and other rural Americans, look like an easy sale to the tech companies hunting for places to plop their massive data centers.

picky about “economic development.”

Froma Harrop

Amazon WebServices,whichis proposing this nine-buildingdata center on about 500 acres of aformer farm, has its boosters hard at work

The project would create upto100 full-time jobs, they say.Itcould also pay for up to $35 million inimproving public infrastructure (much of which may not be needed in the absence of a massive data center).

The JobsOhio website crows that data centers “create positive economic momentum” by generating jobs and attracting talented people —people the locals may never have noticed weremissing. Touting “100 jobs” could also be read as “only 100 jobs?”

The controversies in southwestern Ohio are being repeated in rural communities acrossthe country.Their land is cheap, incomes are not great and their local officialsseem not too

In addition,some states like Ohio are waving big taxincentives at Big Tech. It seems that many rural Americans regard modestincomes as the “price” they willingly pay to live in “God’scountry.” Some families have been there for generations, and many want to keep it peaceful for future generations. No doubt artificial intelligence is taking over.Americans can’t stop it and shouldn’twant to. It will be essential for national security andeconomic survival. AI needs these data centersfor power Butitdoes not follow that the human beings living in their pathshould have no say on howthis all develops.

Wisconsin voters have been presented with four local ballot measures designedtorein in data center projects. Onethat already passed gives the public more control over incentives officials may offer developers. Maine is the first state to pass alaw halting bigdata-center construction for over ayear

I’m not afan of class warfare. But, there is something unfair about the superrich dumping things they don’t wanttobenearoneconomically strugglingcommunities without giving alot back.

Amazon zillionaire Jeff Bezos keeps hismain mansion on Indian Creek Island,near Miami Beach.This exclusive paradise limits building heights to

two stories, lot coverage to25%. Residentsmay have only two accessory buildings for those essential cabanas, boat houses and such. Alittle bridge connects Indian Creek Island to Miami’sbarrier island. People using that bridge are screened.

Bezos cleverly threw out adistraction from Amazon’sbuilding plans by suggesting that data centers be put in outer space. That is in afar and, perhaps, never-gonna-happen future. For now,Ohio farm country is the plan. As for Donald Trump, he’sall for building “colossal datacenters” and fast. His administration has moved to speed permitsfor the centers themselves and the infrastructure they need. As for quality-of-life concerns, Trumplimits them to within his own environment.

In pre-presidential days, Trump called for moving the Palm Beach airport because he didn’tlike the jet noise over Mar-a-Lago.

Somedata center foes make cost-ofliving arguments against them. The centers’ ravenous energy needs could raise local electricityrates. However, that could be countered by thetax revenues thecenters would generate. Decisions on placing them should be based on more than the locals’ cost of living.

There are other values.

Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHar-

rop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com.

SanFrancisco’s

San Francisco, acitylongassociated with exotic ideas, has beenexperimenting with aradical notion —cracking down on car thieves.

Unlike some of the city’sother adventures, this one is actually working out. Car break-insare down 85% from 2023, and are down 50% the first three months of 2026, compared to the first three months of 2025.

latest radicalexperiment

into committing thecrimeinview of cops, usingpublic securitycameras to identify getaway carsand deploying dronestotrackthem after thefts,and targetedsting operations against crews of thieves

This is good news for residents and tourists, and badnews for auto repair shops that did a brisk business in new carwindows. Smash-and-grab break-ins were such an ingrained part of SanFrancisco life that an argot grew up around them: Breaking into cars is knownas“bipping,” and the shards of glass left behind are called “San Francisco diamonds.”

Lowry

Residents were putting up signs warning tourists of frequent break-ins —the equivalent of the “no radio”signs that New Yorkers once put in their cars to deter thieves in the bad old days of the 1980s and 1990s.

The success in fightingthis scourge is asign that urban disorderisn’t inevitable and needn’tbetolerated even in afamously left-wingjurisdiction. A broader decline in crime in SanFrancisco shows that the city,ifnothing else, still has an instinct for basic selfpreservation. In 2023, the city began acounteroffensive against the break-in artists that included setting baitcars to lure them

SanFrancisco voters aided the effort by passing so-called Proposition EinMarch 2024, empoweringthe police to employ new crime-fighting technology

The upshot is that increasing arrests takes repeat offenders off thestreetsand creates adeterrent against other offenders, leading to less crime. This is along-established, intuitive dynamic, butthe City by the Bay turned its backonitand paid the price. One of the wealthiest cities in the world put up withsurging property crimes,as well as levels of homelessness and publicdruguse that made it feel at times like Calcutta. The first step towarda return to rationality came when San Francisco voters in 2022 recalled the city’ssofton-crime ideologue masquerading as a districtattorney,Chesa Boudin. Then, in 2024,Mayor London Breed lost her reelection bid to reformer Daniel Lurie, whoeffectivelyattacked her record on disorder.

Lurie is hardly Rudy Giuliani, but sayssensiblethings about crime and appointed agood police chief. Meanwhile,new DA Brooke Jenkins isn’tas allergic to jailing people as Boudin. Since the pandemic, various catego-

riesofcrimehave been plummeting and hit two-decade lows.They’ve continued to fall this year.Inpart, San Francisco is riding anationwide trend of declining crime, but clearly tougherminded policies have had an effect. The city has alsocleared out homeless encampments and pulled back on its outlandishly permissive approach to public drug use thatwas terrible for addicts and corrosive of civic life.

All of this is to the good, but San Francisco is still operating within the limits of an overwhelmingly progressive context. If the city’sleadership hasbecome moreresponsible, judgesstill tend to be reflexively opposed toimposing serious consequences on offenders, and at the state level, California laws remain absurdly lenient.

The exception to the favorable trends in the cityismurder.Lastyear,San Francisco had its lowestnumber of homicides since 1954. This year is trending higher,although violent crime has never been the city’smain problem and the numbers are relatively low (28 murders in 2025) Ultimately,reality is the mostimportant factor in theaffairs of men, and San Francisco ignored it for too long, believing it was compassionatetoaccommodate aberrant behavior. Eventually,itbecame too much even for the cityofHarvey Milk and Nancy Pelosi. That means theremust be hope for everyjurisdiction in America. RichLowry is on X, @RichLowry

Watchthe Republican ‘fireball in thenight’

Warisagreat engine of change, sweeping aside assumptions, toppling established power relationships, driving new forces into play,rearranging long-held theories and challenging orthodoxies. That happened in six years of fighting in World War II, in the seven days of the 1967 Middle East War and, we are discovering in recent days, in seven weeks of conflict in Iran.

With aceasefire in the Iran war and with the parties to the fragile agreement failing to agree about its sweep and its meaning, some clarity about the conflict, and about the new global order it may have created, nonetheless, is setting in.

The reach, and the limits, of American military and technology superiority have been glimpsed. The power of asymmetrical warfare has been reaffirmed. China and Pakistan have assumed unfamiliar new roles in global diplomacy.The power of American domestic politics to affect American foreign policy has been reinforced. The Strait of Hormuz has joined the English Channel, the Suez and Panama Canals, the Dardanelles, the Malacca Strait and, ominously,the Taiwan Strait among the world’smost vital waterways —and its possible flashpoints forconflict.

As the ancient Chinese military theorist and philosopher Sun Tzu may or may not have said —no one knowsfor sure, but no one doubts the force of the observation: The nature of warisconstant change. This war —perhaps over,perhaps merely interrupted foraspell —isnodifferent.

The Iran wartaught that there are limits to what bombs might achieve in military engagements, but that there also are limits to the power of bombastic rhetoric.

The American assault from the air,and the technological firepower of its new-wave weapons, wreaked amazing destruction in Iran, essentially negating or at least limiting its opponent’sdrone and missile arsenal, its navy,and its anti-aircraft capabilities. It brought Iran to the bargaining table, but it also took the United States there.

Hardly anyone —except sharp-thinking counterintelligence analysts whounderstood Iran’scapacity forisolated terror attacks on American soil that comprised aconstant but little-acknowledged and, fortunately,unrealized threat —took seriously Iran’sboasts of retaliation. Hardly anyone believed Donald Trumpactually would persist in ordering an attack so comprehensive that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

The Trumpremarks spurred afurious backlash. It came not only from the Vatican, which can be counted on to deplore wanton wartimedestruction, but also from theranks of MAGA’sonce-mostprominent voices.

PopeLeo’scritique of the threat (“truly unacceptable”) may have had unusual sting because of his American identity,but it wasrelatively mild compared to reactions from the commentator Tucker Carlson (“vileonevery level”) andformer Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (“evil and madness”). It wasironic Greene’scomments came as Georgians voted to select Greene’sreplacement in the House —apoignant reminder of what Americans learned in conflicts from the Warof1812 to the Mexican Wartothe Vietnam War: how the separation between domestic and foreign policy can shrink during wartime. In this case, Republican Clay Fuller,who had the president’sendorsement, prevailed in ahard-fought contest but did so with a victory margin of about 12 percentage points in a district Trumpwon by 37 points in 2004.

That 25-point shiftiswhat Thomas Jefferson would describe as a“fireball in the night” forRepublicans hoping to retain power on Capitol Hill in this fall’smidterm congressional elections.

It also stands as areminder of how democracies, even those undersiege, are ill-equippedtosustain long-term military engagements with little or vaguely expressed consequences for the people at home. It’s alesson the U.S. learned in Vietnam, then in Afghanistan andnow in this conflict, when prices on gas-station signs across the country exerted a power fargreater than Iranian anti-aircraftguns. For all his determination, Trumpispossessed of ashort attention span, as attested to the various activities he engaged in beyond conducting the war; calling foranoverhaul of college athletics is hardly apressing issue while Americans are engaged in combat. He’snot alone. Gloria Mark, an attention researcher at the University of California, Irvine, has identified dramatic decreases in public attention spans in the past twodecades, finding that internet users whoonce remained on atopic for about two-and-a-half minutes now were switching screens after about 47 seconds. At the sametime, even opponents of the Iran conflict must have been astonished by Americans’ reluctance to makewartime sacrifices and their impatience with gas prices that soared beyond the psychological barrier of $4 agallon.

Email DavidShribman at dshribman@postgazette.com.

David Shribman

Rich

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

California HighwayPatrol officers conduct aroutine trafficstop in the Tenderloin neighborhood of SanFrancisco, where they have been deployedtoassist in crimeenforcement.

State to seek death penalty for Gad Black

Man accused of fatally ramming

BRPD officer

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Gad Black, the 42-yearold man charged with murder for allegedly ramming Baton Rouge police Sgt. Caleb Eisworth with his pickup in June, according to a notice filed in court Tuesday Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore filed the motion Tuesday morning, making the court aware his office will seek execu-

tion for Black, who faces a charge of first-degree murder.

Moore told The Advocate in October he intended to seek the death penalty, but had to wait for the court to certify that Black was mentally fit enough to stand trial

That determination was made in December, with Baton Rouge clinical psychologist Brandon Romano and New Orleans psychiatrist Dr Jose Artecona ruling Black was fit for trial.

But Black’s sanity was again questioned by his attorneys Monday, after he made multiple outbursts in the courtroom and requested to represent himself at trial.

Both defense attorneys and pros-

LSU player’s parents

Claim agency falsified evidence against son

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

The parents of LSU wide receiv-

er Kyren Lacy are suing Louisiana State Police for allegedly falsifying evidence in the fatal crash investigation Lacy was implicated in, the fallout of which they say caused the 24-year-old’s suicide.

The wrongful death suit filed in Baton Rouge last Friday by Kenneth Lacy and Kandace Washington targets both State Police and specific troopers who investigated the fatal crash that Kyren Lacy was allegedly the cause of.

Lacy’s parents are seeking damages for his death, as well as for public humiliation, and the loss of professional football opportunities caused by his arrest.

In addition to maintaining Lacy’s innocence in the fatal accident, the lawsuit also accuses State Police and its troopers of making false statements in the original crash report, coaching a witness and failing to consider evidence that pointed to other drivers’ culpability

VILLE PLATTE

Continued from page 1B

“Since taking office, Mayor Williams has remained committed to transparency and serving the best interests of the people of Ville Platte,” Clemons’ statement reads. “He has been fully cooperative with the investigation. Mayor Williams will, with the assistance of counsel, fight those charges with every fiber of his being. His good name must be preserved.”

Following the arrest of Williams, a report from KADN stated that anonymous sources had provided that the recipient of the classified information was a local political activist known for speaking out on police matters This information has not been officially confirmed. The nature of the confidential information claimed to have been leaked by the defendants was not disclosed.

Each of the five defendants, including Williams, is expected to appear before the court in May once the investigation is completed.

ecutors motioned for his statements to be suppressed from the court’s minutes.

Attorneys have maintained that Black has mental illness diagnoses and was not taking a prescribed medication at the time of the attack.

Attorney General Liz Murrill backed Moore’s decision to seek Black’s execution, saying her office was ready to assist in the effort. “I fully support District Attorney Hillar Moore’s decision to seek the death penalty for Gad Black,” Murrill said in a statement. “The killing of BRPD Sergeant Caleb Eisworth, a 23-year veteran of the department who also received the Medal of Valor, was a horrific and

deliberate act of violence against a law enforcement officer who served his community with honor Gad Black must be held fully accountable.”

Eisworth was on Joor Road, on his way to an escort assignment, when he was run over June 16.

Black drove behind Eisworth’s motorcycle a short distance before ramming him.

A Facebook account believed by police to be associated with Black posted “Check Him Out On Joor Rd. Stretched One” minutes after the crash.

Black’s girlfriend was also arrested the day of the attack, but a grand jury did not indict her on any criminal charges.

sue Louisiana State Police

“The extreme emotional distress inflicted by Defendants’ intentional and reckless misconduct was the direct and proximate cause of Mr Lacy’s decision to take his own life,” the lawsuit states. “But for Defendant’s fabricated investigation, false arrest, and malicious prosecution, Mr. Lacy would be alive today.”

On April 12, 2025, Lacy died by suicide in Houston, Texas, only one day after the publication of a Lafourche Parish district attorney’s report that found errors in State Police’s crash investigation.

Conflicting crash narratives

A narrative of the Dec. 17, 2024, wreck, which resulted in the death of 78-year-old Herman Hall, is laid out in the lawsuit. It closely matches the series of events given by Matt Ory, one of Lacy’s attorneys, to a Houma television show in October 2025.

In all accounts, Lacy was driving a Dodge Charger south on La. 20 near Perez Lane in Lafourche Parish the morning of the accident.

Just before the accident Lacy passed several vehicles, including a semitruck, by pulling into the oncoming lane. He then pulled back

VIOLENCE

Continued from page 1B

Senate’s Judiciary C Committee given the opposition she faced last year, she said during Tuesday’s hearing before the panel.

Instead, Mizell amended her bill so that it would make abuse victims who receive life sentences eligible for clemency immediately; normally, lifers must serve 15 years before they can apply, according to Mizell’s amendment.

The clemency process allows offenders to have their sentences commuted with the approval of the governor and the Board of Pardons and Parole.

While some victims’ advocates appreciated the clemency provision, they said it fell far short of what was needed to help victims wronged by the criminal justice system. Critics accused the state of failing to protect women from systemic violence and human trafficking and then punishing them for actions that were a direct result of that abuse.

“The truth of the matter is there are domestic violence victims who will die in prison in Louisiana because they had the audacity to defend themselves against somebody who was terrorizing

into the correct lane, just over 70 yards from the actual crash site.

Ahead of him, a Kia Cadenza was traveling behind a gold pickup, both heading north.

The Cadenza then crossed the center line, striking a southbound Kia Sorrento, which had Herman Hall in the passenger seat. Hall was taken to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.

State Police’s statements following the crash said the gold pickup was forced to emergency brake as the driver saw Lacy’s oncoming Charger Friday’s lawsuit instead contends that the driver of the Kia Cadenza was traveling too closely behind the gold pickup, being forced to swerve into the southbound lane when the truck slowed down.

“Video evidence and independent analysis confirmed that the gold pickup truck proceeded at an average speed of 28.2 mph with no evidence of emergency braking or sudden deceleration that would indicate an immediate collision with Mr Lacy’s vehicle,” the suit states. Witness coaching

The suit also claims that, dur-

them,” Mariah Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, told the Judiciary C Committee.

The bill would also require courts to consider an offender’s status as a victim when determining whether to suspend sentences or grant probation And it would direct courts to order presentence investigations for offenses committed against abusers.

Carlotta Lepingwell, director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Tulane University, who noted she was not speaking on behalf of the school, worried that provision could do more harm than good.

The court would have to weigh statements obtained through the presentence investigation from the abuser or the abuser’s family, she said, in which case the abuser would be deemed a victim.

Zach Daniels, who directs the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, challenged Lepingwell’s characterization of presentence investigations and said requiring judges to consider whether crimes were connected to the offender’s victimization was a step forward.

“I think it’s unfair for one side simply to say unless we get everything we want, we want nothing to pass, and I believe that’s the tenor of the discussion here,” he said.

ing the crash investigation, a State Police trooper named in the suit attempted to coach the gold pickup’s driver, allegedly instructing the driver that he “slammed on the brakes,” and writing in his report that the pickup “slowed abruptly and came to a stop.”

In body camera footage from the interview cited in the lawsuit, the pickup driver allegedly told the trooper that “I didn’t skid,” “I wasn’t going that fast,” and “that lady behind me she caused that wreck.”

The driver then refused to sign a written statement drafted by the trooper, which the trooper marked as the witness having “refused” to speak entirely, according to the lawsuit.

The same trooper also issued a traffic ticket to the driver of the Kia Cadenza for “following too closely,” before allegedly altering the citation to be for “crossing left of center.”

State Police has maintained its series of events since Lacy’s arrest, which was for a count each of negligent homicide, felony hitand-run and reckless operation of a vehicle.

Mary Kate Andrepont, who directs the governor’s Office of Human Trafficking Prevention, said the Governor’s Office approved of Mizell’s amended SB91 as an appropriate compromise Andrepont said the state has been tracking prosecutions brought under human trafficking statutes over the last two years.

In 2024, there were 46 human trafficking arrests and two convictions, she said. In 2025, there were 69 such arrests, according to Andrepont, who said she did not yet have conviction data but believed prosecution rates had jumped significantly

Last year, Louisiana service providers reported serving about 2,900 human trafficking victims, she said, adding that some victims may have been counted more than once, especially if they interacted with multiple service providers.

Senate President Pro Tempore Regina Barrow, a Democrat from Baton Rouge who along with Mizell has worked on women’s protection issues, expressed dismay after hearing those numbers.

“I’ve heard the stories. I’ve listened to them, and many of them are serving their time because they were protecting themselves, because they decided ‘no more,’” she said. “I think we are really far behind.”

Continued from page 1B

Noel was booked into the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center on April 13. Authorities say bail has not yet been set. This investigation remains ongoing.

School bus, city truck collide in Opelousas

The Opelousas Police Department responded to a traffic crash Monday involving a school bus and a city of Opelousas vehicle.

At the time of the crash, there were five students on the school bus. No injuries were reported at the scene, but one student was later transported to a hospital as a precaution after being shaken up by the incident, officials said.

The crash occurred at the intersection of Interstate 49 South Service Road and Laurent Street, according to officials.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a Ford truck owned by the city was traveling eastbound on Laurent Street and failed to yield while attempting to enter the Service Road to travel northbound, officials said. As the vehicle entered the roadway, it hit the passenger side of a school bus that was traveling southbound on the I-49 South Service Road.

The Opelousas Police Department said the investigation is ongoing.

Chief Graig LeBlanc and the Opelousas Police Department said they are thankful that no serious injuries were reported and reminded all motorists to use caution and remain alert when approaching intersections, especially when school buses are present.

$575K phishing scam hits St. Martin business

Two out-of-state men are facing charges after a local business lost more than $575,000 in a phishing email scam, according to the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office. Danny Cody 63 of Cleveland, Texas, and John Karmelich, 66, of Westminster, California, were each booked into the St. Martin Parish jail on charges of theft over $25,000 and illegal transmission of monetary funds.

Sheriff Becket Breaux said detectives began investigating Aug. 27 after a business reported the loss.

Investigators identified Cody and Karmelich as suspects, and arrest warrants were obtained for both men, Breaux said.

Cody was arrested in Texas and transported to St. Martin Parish, while Karmelich turned himself in to authorities.

The Sheriff’s Office credited the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service for assisting with the investigation.

Officials urged residents and business owners to remain vigilant against phishing scams and to verify financial requests before taking action. Anyone who believes they may have been targeted is encouraged to contact the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office.

‘Assess and learn’

Pelicans executive Dumars discusses his first year, future of Zion, Borrego

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Joe Dumars spoke to the media Tuesday morning for the first time since November Dumars, who just completed his first season as the executive vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, fielded questions for about 50 minutes on a wide range of topics.

Here is a look at the seven most important things Dumars said.

Season assessment

The Pelicans finished 26-56 in the first year of the Dumars’ era. It’s the third-worst record in franchise history and came on the heels of last year’s 21-win season that led to the firing of David Griffin, whom Dumars replaced.

Dumars: “A really interesting year this was for me to assess and learn who we are and where we need to go. We had some moments that were very promising. Certain nights we looked like the team we strive to be go-

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

For the first time in a long time, the New Orleans Saints linebacker room is in a little bit of flux as the 2026 NFL Draft approaches. Demario Davis was not only one of the primary leaders of the defense but he also was the type of player you never had to worry about for anything. He was always on the field, he was always playing at a high level, and he was always where he was supposed to be. The Saints benefited from his steady presence for eight seasons, but no longer after Davis signed a free agent contract with the New York Jets. This does not mean the cupboard is bare in New Orleans. Pete Werner has held down a starting job next to Davis for five seasons and is coming off one of his better campaigns, having set career highs in pass breakups (five), fumble recoveries (three) and sacks (two). That was while he shared snaps with last year’s third-round pick, Danny Stutsman, who impressed in limited action.

of basketball operations.

ing forward. Some nights it was rough, and we just didn’t look like the team we needed to be. We just weren’t consistent enough.”

What’s missing?

The obvious answer is more rebounding, better 3-point shooter and a go-to guy in crunch time. Dumars points more to the mentality that is needed.

NFL draft. 7 P.M.APRIL 23. ABC,ESPN,NFL NETWORK

Shortly after Davis signed with the Jets, the Saints brought back a familiar face in Kaden Elliss, who blossomed as a full-time player during his three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. Elliss averaged 127 tackles and four sacks per season for Atlanta, and he could add some juice as a rusher in obvious passing situations — evidenced by his seven-sack season with the Saints in 2022. Behind those top three, the Saints have 2024 fifth-rounder Jaylan Ford and former undrafted free agent Isaiah Stalbird. Both have played big special-teams roles, and Stalbird added some value as a pass-rush specialist on passing downs. Would the Saints add to the room in next week’s draft?

Dumars: “I would add more toughness to this team. We have to be able to compete every night. We cannot get banged around, pushed around. We have to be physical and compete every night. There were some nights we did it, but too many nights we didn’t compete at a high enough level for me. You can’t get past that in this league. We have talent. But if you think you’re just going to roll talent out on an NBA court and that’s all you need to do to win, that’s not going to happen.”

Coaching search

Dumars fired Willie Green just 12 games into the season. James Borrego filled in as the interim coach for the last 70 games.

Dumars: “What you don’t do is put a timeline on it. You get the best coach as soon as you can, but you’ve got to go through the process. This is another step that you can’t skip. My timeline is to get it right. I’m not putting a clock on it.”

Unexpected splurge

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

The window was about to slam shut.

Husan Longstreet had a small opening to throw it to JC Anderson. The freshman tight end was running a deep crossing route to Longstreet’s left, but multiple defenders were starting to close in on the 6-foot-6 target.

The level of difficulty was high, but that didn’t stop Longstreet — the Southern Cal transfer and former five-star quarterback from letting it rip. His throw to Anderson was on the money, layering the ball over a leaping defender and perfectly placing it in his arms.

“He had a really poor decision Saturday, but he has played today (and) on Saturday within the scrimmaging of practice really well,” coach Lane Kiffin said of Longstreet.“He’s playing his best (now) by far in the practices since we’ve been here. So that’s been obviously really good to see.”

This spring hasn’t been flawless for Longstreet He’s thrown interceptions and, at times, the game has looked fast for him during the scrimmage periods that have been open to the media. He’s also split first-team reps with Elon transfer Landen Clark, with Clark earning

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin didn’t have much to say on Monday when she was asked about her decision to trade LSU star Flau’jae Johnson.

OHIO STATE LB SONNY STYLES, 6-FOOT5, 244 POUNDS: Styles widely was regarded as the top linebacker in this class, and then he blew up at the combine. There just aren’t many people at his size who max out the metrics the way Styles did with a 4.46-second 40-yard dash, a 43.5-inch vertical leap and an 11-2 broad jump. His physical traits showed up on the field with the Buckeyes. After playing safety his first two years,

Despite the loss of Davis, which will hurt, the Saints probably feel comfortable with their starting options. But it would still be fair to call this group good but not great without a true impact player of Davis’ caliber. Let’s take a look at what the Saints might do at the position in the draft.

Styles switched to linebacker and recorded 182 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and seven sacks in his final two seasons. He was also a team captain, an honor the Saints value in prospects. Styles would be a surprise pick for the Saints in the first round for a lot of reasons, including history The franchise never has used a top-10 pick on a linebacker and has used a top-50 pick on one only twice in the last 20 years. But, depending on how the first seven picks fall, Styles may have to be considered.

The Valkyries, an expansion team beginning its second season in the WNBA, selected Johnson with the eighth overall pick of Monday’s WNBA draft, then flipped her to the Seattle Storm for a 2028 secondround choice and the right to take Marta Suarez of TCU with the 16th pick.

Nyanin told ESPN Monday night that the two teams had agreed to the trade before either of the picks was made. “I want to be super clear about the draft,” Nyanin said. “This had nothing to do with Flau’jae or any specific athlete selection.” In the statement she gave to ESPN, Nyanin offered

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JULIO CORTEZ Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, a former college quarterback, had 128 tackles, four interceptions and seven forced fumbles last season.

Joe Dumars fielded questions on Tuesday after completing his first season as the Pelicans executive vice president

STAFF FILE PHOTOS By DAVID GRUNFELD

Pelicans forward Zion Williamson is defended by Dallas Mavericks guard Max Christie on March 16 in the Smoothie King Center Joe Dumars, the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, said Tuesday he has no intention of trading Williamson.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU quarterback Husan Longstreet throws during practice on March 26.

Closing the NCAA, MLB gap

More money, technology in college good development for pro coaches

BY DAVID BRANDT

AP Baseball writer

PHOENIX There was a time in the

not-so-distant past that many Major League Baseball teams looked at their college baseball counterparts with a degree of skepticism There were the metal bats, the shorter schedule and a sense that nothing could replace the seasoning that came with years of grinding through professional baseball’s minor leagues.

Not anymore. Thanks to a variety of factors especially money and technology — the MLB and NCAA versions of baseball have never been more similar There’s also been more movement between the two versions of the sport in recent years.

It’s part of the reason Tony Vitello is now the manager of the San Francisco Giants despite never working or playing for a professional organization before he was hired — a first in MLB history It’s also a factor in why Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2025 barely one year after finishing a decorated college career at Wake Forest.

“The college game has definitely taken a bigger step toward the pro game — mainly because of the almighty dollar,” said Arizona State coach Willie Bloomquist, who played 14 big league seasons.

“Essentially what’s happened, the Power Four Conferences are basically the minor leagues.”

Athletics general manager David Forst — who selected Kurtz with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 draft — said the first baseman’s quick rise through the minors made him realize how good college baseball had become. Kurtz needed just 210 plate appearances in the minors before dominating MLB pitching, batting .290 with 36 homers and 86 RBIs over 117 games in 2025.

“There’s no doubt that top-level college baseball is High-A or Double-A now It’s really close,” Forst said. “I never would have imagined a player like Nick Kurtz coming to the big leagues for us 11 months after he was drafted.

“That was unthinkable when I first started doing this. The timeline is squashed because these guys are coming out of college so ready, so physically advanced. Some of them — frankly — don’t need the minor league at-bats they used to need.”

One reason the college game has improved so much is an influx of cash. Coaching salaries have exploded over the past few decades: LSU’s Jay Johnson is at the top of the scale at more than $3 million per year while Mississippi State coach Brian O’Connor is second at $2.9 million.

Those are outliers, but it’s not uncommon for power conference coaches to make more than $1 million

The highest paid MLB managers make around $8 million per season, but top assistants like pitching and hitting coaches usually make six figures.

The advent of NIL money has also made playing college baseball more lucrative, even if payouts lag well behind their football and basketball counterparts. There’s also the fact that top-level NCAA programs are investing in technology

“We have one of the better pitching labs on the West Coast,” Bloomquist said. “I think it would rival a lot of professional organizations. From a data standpoint, it’s all trickled down to the college level.”

After retiring as a player, Bloomquist worked in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office before getting hired by the Sun Devils. His pitching coach Jeremy Accardo spent 18 years in professional baseball as a player and coach.

Bloomquist said that MLB teams have become more comfortable trusting NCAA programs to develop professional talent instead

of taking the risk of drafting an unproven 18-year-old straight out of high school. He added that it’s probably one of the reasons that MLB felt comfortable cutting 40 minor league affiliates back in 2020.

In the 2025 MLB draft, 56 college players were selected in the top 90 picks.

“These guys trust (college) programs,” Bloomquist said. “They say, ‘We’ll just watch them in college in three years at a Power 4 program, see how they development and then we’ll go get them.’”

Georgia baseball coach Wes Johnson is another coach who has bounced between MLB and NCAA with success at both levels. He was hired as the pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins and had a strong 3 ½-year run between 2019 and 2022 before going back to the college game. He helped develop 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes as LSU’s pitching coach before landing the head job with the Bulldogs.

Johnson said there’s little doubt that the college and pro games have never been more similar, but added that there are still real differences for players and coaches.

The biggest is the schedule.

In college, the condensed schedule makes all 56 regular-season games feel huge. A three-game losing streak is the end of the world. In professional baseball, it’s just a small bump in the road.

“With the Twins, we played 33 spring games, then played 162 in the season and then made the

playoffs,” Johnson said. “It’s every day there. That’s the hardest challenge you have when you go from college to the big leagues. We won 101 games in 2019 (in the regular season) That means we only lost 61 games.

“But that’s the most I’ve ever lost in my life in one year.”

Bloomquist agreed that the schedule is much different. He said age is a factor as well.

“There’s a different style in college than there is in professional baseball — to an extent that’s accurate,” Bloomquist said. “There’s an intensity in college, motivating 18 to 20 year olds, as opposed to guys who are making $20 million. Can you relate to those guys in pro ball?”

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman played in college at Cal State Fullerton before becoming a five-time Gold Glove winner the big leagues. Even though there are some differences like many more native Spanish speakers in professional baseball — he wasn’t worried about Vitello’s transition.

“Winning baseball looks the same,” Chapman said. “It’s pitching and defense, knowing how to run the bases and then managing personalities. He has a lot of experience with that.

“There will be a learning curve in some areas. You just can’t fully know how to run a Major League clubhouse unless you’ve been in one. But it’s not foreign to him. He’s a baseball guy.”

Notre Dame finishes strong by beating VC

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

Notre Dame promises to be a tough out in the baseball playoffs.

The Pioneers, the No. 10 seed in the Division III select bracket, polished off their eighth straight win by scoring four runs in the seventh inning of an 8-5 win at reigning Division IV select champion Vermilion Catholic on Monday at Sellers Field in Abbeville.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this group,” Pioneers coach Luke Montz said. “As a first-year head coach, the noise at first was how many years is it going to take to rebuild this program?

“You get to learn these guys. There is no rebuilding. It’s right now You have a group of guys who want to play baseball. Was there a lot to be learned? Absolutely Nobody knows the brotherhood of baseball when you come out to practice every day and do what’s between the fine lines.” Notre Dame (24-10) got hits from eight players with four recording two hits apiece. Griffin Doucet had a single to lead off the seventh, which saw the Pioneers score on an RBI groundout, a passed ball and a two-run error

“A little bit of adversity, right?” Montz said of the come-from-be-

hind win. “You tell me we’re going to go through the whole cakewalk of trying to go to Sulphur be a state champion, and never have to go through that?

“I believe in these guys. You saw some character and some guys compete in the batter’s box.”

Shortstop Drew LeJeune, the ace of the pitching staff and an LSUEunice infielder commitment, hit a solo homer on a 3-0 count to put the Pioneers ahead 4-3 in the top of the sixth inning.

“Drew is a kid who shows you he can leave the yard pretty easily,” Montz said. “On a 3-0 count, are you comfortable? Are you ready to hit? He didn’t miss that pitch. It got us right back into the lead.” The Pioneers used four pitchers with senior Maddox Andrepont getting the win. Mike Zaunbrecher, the starter, went three innings as he builds stamina while returning from a minor injury Left-hander Drake Bertrand bounced back from a rough fourth inning to re-

Ex-Michigan coach Moore gets 18 months probation

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore was placed on probation Tuesday for 18 months for a confrontation with his executive assistant soon after he was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with her Moore was facing a possible sentence of up to six months in jail after pleading no contest to trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device. But Judge J. Cedric Simpson ordered no time in custody He said jail wasn’t warranted, though he warned Moore that “all bets are off” if he violates probation. Simpson, too, said his decision was greatly influenced by the ex-coach’s wife, Kelli.

Moore, 40, was fired on Dec. 10 after leading the Wolverines for two seasons, following Jim Harbaugh’s move to the NFL’s LA Chargers.

Iowa football on probation for 1 year, to pay $25K fine

IOWA CITY, Iowa Iowa has been placed on probation for one year, will pay a self-imposed $25,000 fine and vacate four wins in 2023 as part of the resolution to an NCAA infractions case stemming from the recruitment of former quarterback Cade McNamara, the NCAA announced Tuesday

The NCAA found tampering violations occurred in 2022 when coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant Jon Budmayr had impermissible contacts with McNamara when he was enrolled at Michigan and had not entered the transfer portal. Budmayr also communicated with McNamara’s father before he entered the portal.

Iowa suspended Ferentz and Budmayr from the team’s 2024 opener against Illinois State.

Brewers OF Yelich likely to miss at least 1 month MILWAUKEE Milwaukee Brewers outfielder/designated hitter Christian Yelich is expected to miss at least a month with an adductor strain.

Yelich left in the fifth inning of the Brewers’ 8-6 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday with what the team described as tightness in his left hamstring. The Brewers placed him on the injured list Tuesday, retroactive to Monday, and said he had a seconddegree adductor strain.

The Brewers estimated he would return in mid-to-late May though Yelich said he didn’t want to put a timeline on it.

The Brewers also are playing without starting pitcher Quinn Priester (thoracic outlet) and reliever Jared Koenig (elbow).

Lakers’ Doncic, Reaves out to start series vs. Rockets

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves will not return from injury in time to begin the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets, leaving Los Angeles without its top two scorers.

Doncic strained a hamstring and Reaves strained an oblique during the Lakers’ loss to the Thunder on April 2 in Oklahoma City, and neither returned during the regular season. The Lakers host the Rockets in Game 1 on Saturday night.

tire the side in the fifth.

Noah Hoffpauir, Brayden Frey, LeJeune and Doucet each collected two hits. LeJeune was impressive at shortstop. He showed off his range and fielded a grounder that ended the game with a double play

“It’s time to get hot for the playoffs,” said LeJeune, who has four homers on the season and was intentionally walked in the seventh inning. “Just carrying this into the playoffs, it’s a big momentum swing. Hopefully we can remain hot.”

Zach Mixon also pitched for the Pioneers, who will use a bullpenby-committee approach that includes sophomore Maddox Morgan.

“We have a bunch of pitchers we can call on,” Montz said. “We need guys to come in if our starter gets tired. Somebody has to want the baseball and come in and slam the door.”

Vermilion Catholic (15-10) enters the postseason as No. 8 in Division IV select.

James Bradley and Jacob Dubois each had two hits for Vermilion Catholic, which got five solid innings from starting pitcher Cruz Hebert. The Eagles have been without 6-foot-5 Cole Albert, a star pitcher as a freshman who is now injured.

Doncic will return to Los Angeles on Friday after traveling to Spain last week for treatment on his hamstring.

Doncic and Reaves combined to average 56.8 points, 13.8 assists and 12.4 rebounds per game when healthy this season.

Garcia apologizes for Masters tantrum during final round

Sergio Garcia apologized Tuesday for his tantrum during the final round of the Masters when he tore up the turf after a bad drive on the second hole and then broke his driver against a bench.

Geoff Yang, chairman of the Masters competitions committee, issued a code-of-conduct warning to the Garcia on the fourth tee. The conduct policy was new to the Masters this year “I want to apologize for my actions Sunday at The Masters tournament,” Garcia said in a social media post. “I respect and value everything that The Masters and Augusta National Golf Club is to golf.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

Oakland Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz reacts after hitting a solo home run during the third inning against the New york Mets on Sunday in New york.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Vermilion Catholic right fielder James Bradley, right, slides safely into second while Notre Dame shortstop Brayden Frey, left, looks for the ball during the PIos’ win Monday.

Athletic reporter resignsoverphotosofher with Vrabel

BY ROBMAADDI

AP pro football writer

NFL reporter Dianna Russini has resignedfrom TheAthletic less than aweek after published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort prompted aninternal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet The New York Post last week published the photos of Vrabeland Russini at the Sedona hotel and said they were taken before the NFL owners meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29. “I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication

throughout my career,and Istand behind every story Ihaveever published. Whenthe Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally,expressedconfidenceinmywork and pride in my journalism.For that Iamgrateful. In thedays that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feedingspeculation that is simply unmoored fromthe facts,” Russinisaid in aletter sent Tuesday to The Athletic executiveeditor Steven Ginsberg and obtained byThe Associated Press. “Moreover,this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The

Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and Ihave no interest in submittingtoapublic inquiry that hasalready caused far more damage than Iamwilling to accept. Rather than allowing this to continue, Ihave decided to step aside now —before my current contract expiresonJune 30. Idoso not because Iaccept the narrative thathas been constructed around this episode, butbecause Irefuse to lenditfurther oxygen or to let it define me or my career.” Russini joined The Athletic in 2023 after nearlya decadeat ESPN, where she held various roles,including “SportsCenter” an-

PELICANS

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Borrego’schances

Borregowent 24-46 in the70 games he coachedafter replacing Green. The Pels showed their most promise during astretch after the All-Star break when they went 10-5. When theteamwas fully healthy,they were competitive. Dumars made it clear that Borrego is aviable candidate forthe job. Here’swhy

Dumars: “What makes hima viable candidate is his ability to communicate with the team every day and to do it in apositive way every day What James did well this year was never let the building completely collapse. He always triedtokeep the team up and positive. That’s exactly what you want to see, especially in asituation where he took over and it could have slid.”

Othercandidates

Despite severalreports that say Dumars is zeroing in on Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, former UConn coach Kevin Ollie and current Orlando Magic coach

LONGSTREET

Continued from page 1C

the majority of reps withthe starters on Tuesday,LSU’s10thspring practice under Kiffin.

But Longstreet’sthrow toAnderson was exactlywhy LSU brought him in from the portalin the first place. He and Clark have experienced growing pains as they adjust to taking reps against apotential top-tier SEC defense. Saturday’spracticewas particularly frustrating for Kiffin, as the offense made mistakes and failed to produce explosive plays.

“You go play against reallygood people, all of asudden it’sharder, and thewindows aresmaller,and you underthrow alittle bit, and it gets picked off,” Kiffin said. “When you move up, like (Clark) has, there is some challenges right away.” Both quarterbacks areearning first-team reps as Arizona State transferand presumed starter Sam Leavitt sits out the rest of spring practices as he recovers from afoot injury.His absence has created acompetitiontosee whom the primary backup will be heading into fall.

“Wedon’tjust make adepth chart and you stay there,” Kiffin said. “A lot of peopledothat. When you get outplayed,wemove the depth chart.”

Weeksbackon field

LSU senior linebacker Whit Weeks returned to practice on Tuesday and participated in individual drills. Weeks didnot take

Jamahl Mosley,Dumarssaidto take thosereports witha grain of salt.

Dumars: “Someofthe stuff you wake up and see in this seat is so far-fetched and not even remotely close to beingtrue. Isaw alot of that this year, if I’mbeing honest. I saw names pop up in trades. Isaw coaches lists. We don’tevenhave alistlike that right now.Wehave gotnames that we’ve been talking about.Sometimes I’mjust thinking, ‘Where is that coming from?’ It’samazing. We aregoing to go through this process the right way We are going to figure outwhat’s best forNew Orleans.”

Plansfor Zion

It comes up every year around this time. Shouldthe Pelicanskeep theirstarforward or try to trade him away? With Zion Williamson playing in 62 games this season (the second most in his career), Dumars knows he’ll getplentyof calls this offseason of Williamson’s availability Dumars:“We have no intentions of (trading Williamson). We are going intothe offseason looking forwardtoZion coming back next year and playing great again next year.”

Messagetofans

Pelicansfans are frustrated after back-to-back seasons withless than 30 wins. With no first-round draft pick this season, thefrustration hasgrown. What is Dumars’ message to thefans?

Dumars: “Weare going to build. We are going to win. We don’tbelieveweare that farawayfrom winning. We had atremendous amount of very closegames that we should have won. When you have thatmany games where you are rightthere to winand you don’tknowyet howtoclose out games, that’sdifferent thangetting blown out by 20 every night Whenyou getblown outby20everynight,I’ve gottolook around the room with staff and scouts and say, ‘Weare notgood enough, we arenot talented enough anddon’t have enough depth to win here.’ I don’tfeel that. Ifeel that we are close enough. But it takes some work.Tothe fans, I’dsay Iunderstand being discouraged. But I firmly believe we aregoing to win, andIdon’t think this is some long rehaul process.”

Email RodWalker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

part in the team drills, but Tuesday was the first time he’d done anything on the field thisspring. Weeks has been recovering from an ankle injury that forced him to missa chunkoflast season.

“I was pretty messed up,” Weeks said March 27.“…Itwas definitely agrind to get out there at theend of last season.”

Defensiveplayers on offense

TheLSU offensegot creative Tuesday duringa team drill that wasdedicated to short-yardage situations.

Kiffinand offensive coordinator Charlie Weis turnedtotwo players on defense to helpout theoffense in its jumbo packages, using freshmandefensive tackle Deuce Geralds and redshirt freshman line-

backer Zach Weeks as fullbacks.

“We’re just looking at alot of differentthings,” Kiffin said. “It’s thattime of year to do that. We run aprogramthat’sabout creating a newbox,not just being outsideof it.”

Jersey number tradition

Kiffin was asked about whether he’d continue with two LSUtraditions —handing out the No. 7jersey to the topplaymaker and giving the No. 18 jersey to the player who best embodies the traits of leadership and being agood teammate. His response was short and sweet:“Yeah, of course.”

Email Koki Rileyatkoki.riley@ theadvocate.com.

chor,NFL analyst and insider.She hosted apodcast for The Athletic andmadeappearances on their video platform. Vrabel andRussini,who areboth married, releasedstatements to the Post after publication of the photos downplaying what the photos depict. Russini said they“don’trepresent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day.”

Vrabel told the newspaper: “Those photos show acompletely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable.”

Vrabel didn’tattend New England’s pre-draftnewsconference on Monday TheNew York Times reported

JOHNSON

Continued from page1C

her post-draftnewsconference. She told reporters then that she would “take abeat” before she discussed thetrade andthat she didn’t“have alot of detail to share” about the move.

“One, because I’m exhausted,” Nyanin said.“Two, becauseI want to be very thoughtful when I’mtalking aboutother humans and their basketball abilities and howthey would or would not show up forour squad.

“And what Ican say is, even through allofthis exhaustion, I’m extremely excited about all of the athletes that we’ve signed or are about to sign.”

Nyanin wasreferring to the breakneck speed at which the league readied forits 2026 season. Because the WNBA and its players association didn’tcome to terms on anew collective bargaining agreement (CBA) until March 18, the league had to squeeze its entire offseason into three weeks so it could tip off the regular season as scheduled.

TheWNBA held its expansion draft on April 3. Free agency began threedayslater, then spilled into therookie draft, which started at 6p.m. Monday

The Valkyries had the eighth, 23rdand 38th picks. Nyanin turned the first of those choices into Suarez and afuture secondround pick, then declinedtoanswer any questions aboutthe “strategy” she used when she and her frontofficemade those decisions.

“When I’m ready to kind of speak more aboutwhat the strategy is behind it,” Nyanin said, “I’ll speak on it. I’ll also say Idon’t really speak about my strategy ever publicly,because allother

SAINTS

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Day2or3options

TEXAS TECH LB JACOB RODRIGUEZ,6-2, 231: There aren’tmany,ifany defensiveplayers in this draft classwho have abetter nose for the ball thanRodriguez. The former college quarterback racked up more than 125 tackles in each of his final two seasons, andasa senior,heamassed four interceptionsand sevenforced fumbles. His productivity earned him alot of postseason hardware:hewas named an All-American, finished fifth in Heisman Trophyvoting, andwon the Bronko Nagurski Trophy,the Lombardi Award, the Butkus Award, theChuckBednarik Awardand theBig 12 Defensive Player of the Year He is not the biggest player,but he’sa good enough athlete and is one of the more instinctuallinebackers in this class. He likely will hear hisnamecalledbefore theend of thesecond round.

OREGON LB BRYCEBOETTCHER, 6-1,

231: Before he became alegitimate football prospect, Boettcher followed his first love of baseball. He played center field for the Ducks before walking on to the football programand deciding to pursue afutureinfootball rather than playing professional

Saturday that the digital outlet was investigating Russini’sconduct. That decision came after Ginsberg previously told the Post that the photos “lacked essential context” and laudedher workwith The Athletic Ginsberg said the review of Russini’swork will continue.

Vrabel, whowon three Super Bowls as aplayer with New England, is preparing forhis second season as coach of the Patriots. He wasthe AP NFLCoach of the Year after leading the team to a14-3 finish last season, which ended with a SuperBowllosstoSeattle.Vrabel previously wonthe AP NFLCoach of the Year award with Tennessee in 2021.

teams are watching to see what our strategy is.”

One of those teams was the Storm,which was hoping to find away to trade up in the draftand land athird first-round pick. General manager Talisa Rhea said she didn’tthink Johnson would fall to theeighthselection and that the opportunity to trade for herwas “exciting andincredible” forthe franchise.

“Flau’jaeisa really dynamic, talented young player who’sgonna just impact on both ends of the court,” Rhea said. “She can score in multiple ways. She’sagreat defender. Getsdeflections, steals. She’sgonna be out in transition with our group, so really excited how she aligns.”

The Storm, which lost in the first round of theplayoffs last season,also selected Spain forward AwaFam Thiamwith the third overall pick, Duke guard TainaMair with the14th overall pick and Michigan State forward Grace VanSlooten with the 39th overall pick.

The Valkyries madethe playoffs in 2025, too, becoming the first-ever WNBA expansion franchise to earn apostseason berth in its inaugural season. They left Monday’sdraftwithSuarez, Duke’s AshlonJackson—the guard whosebuzzer-beating 3 ended LSU’sseason —and Japan guard Kokoro Tanaka.

Interestingly, the Storm will open its season at home vs. the Valkyries on May 8, which meansthat Johnson will debut in the WNBA against the team that traded her away on draftnight. Johnsonsaidbefore she learned about the trade that she was“very excited” to begin her professional career “I’m officially adrafted pro,” Johnson said, “so it means alot to me, andIjust want to go and makeanimpact.”

baseball (hewas a13th-round selectionbythe Houston Astros in 2024). He’sundersized, which may be aknock for some teams (the Saints specifically being one), and his testing numbers didn’tmatch his play on the field. But he’saninstinctive player with agood feel for space and a plus ability in pass coverage.

MICHIGAN LB JIMMY ROLDER, 6-2, 238: It took four years for Rolder to crack the Wolverines’ rotation, but he produced in his lone season as astarter,earning second-team All-Big Tenhonorsafter making 73 tackleswithseven tacklesfor loss. Where some of theother linebackers listed above are at their best in coverage, Rolder is aweapon against the run with some limitations against the pass.

BYU LB JACK KELLY, 6-2, 239: The Saints just brought Elliss back, andKelly feelslike ayounger version of him.The BYU defensive captain racked up 15 sacks in his twoseasons with the Cougars (hebegan hiscareer at Weber State), including 10 of them in 2025. He’s toosmall to be atrue edge, but he will need someseasoning to learnthe finerpoints of off-ball linebacker play.Kelly wasa standoutatthe Senior Bowl and put up big testing numbers at the combine, but at least early on in his NFLcareer,his role probably will be limited to specific situations.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By DAVIDGRUNFELD

Pelicans interim coach James Borregoscreams out aplayagainst the Raptors on March 11 at theSmoothie King Center.The Pelicans went 24-46 in the 70 games Borregocoached after replacing the fired Willie Green

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

LSU linebackerWhit Weeks takesa water breakafter adrill during spring practiceonTuesdayatthe LSUpractice facility

ACM Awards selections dominated by women

BY MARIA SHERMAN

AP musicwriter

NEW YORK Megan Moroney leads the 2026 Academy of CountryMusic Awards with nine nominations.

That includes afirst-time nomination for the top prize of thenight, entertainer of the year,aswell as director and artist-songwriter of the year.She’s also received her third consecutive nominations for female artistand visual media of the year

Womenappear to dominate the nods: Moroneyisfollowed by MirandaLambert, the most-decorated artist in ACM Awards history,with eight,aswell as Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson with seven. Then it is Chris Stapleton with six, Zach Topwith five and Cody Johnson with four The nominations for the 61st annual ACM Awards were announced Thursday.The awards ceremony willtake placeMay 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, leaving theFord Center at The Star in Frisco,Texas,just northof Dallas, after three consecutive years.

Performers will include Lambert, Wilson, Johnson, Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town, Riley Green and more.

In addition to Moroney,those competing for entertainer of the year will be Wilson, Johnson, Stapleton, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and Morgan Wallen. In 2025,Wilson took home the top prize —for asecond year in arow

In the album of the year category, Wallen’s“I’m the Problem” faces off against Top’s“Ain’tIn It For My Health,” Riley Green’s “Don’tMind If IDo,” Parker McCollum’s “Parker McCollum” and first-time nominee Carter Faith’s “Cherry Valley.” Other first-timenominees

ä See AWARDS, page 6C

TBY IAN McNULTY

he restauranthas no sign

—not after acar crashed through it acouple years ago —and itsaddress doesn’tappear on Google Maps. But around Abbeville, everyone seemstoknow theway to Cajun Claws just thesame.

People drop by thissmall, plainlooking restaurant starting an hour before its 5p.m. opening to add their namestothe list fortables. They’re comingfor crawfish of unusualsize

Cajun Claws, 1928 Charity St., Abbeville, hasbeen an institutioninthis small Cajun town for 30 years. It opens only during crawfish season, andeven thenonlyonnights when owner Donni Choatejudges the supply to be up to his standard, which is to say,very large.

“I’ve got too much pride for anything less,” Choate said while overseeing the boil room. From pond to plate,

The take-out windowat the drivethruseafood stand Jo Mama’s Crawfish stays busy in Abbeville.

In thedining room, a5-pound order landed at the table with atray on top steaming with an air of suspense. Lifting the lid revealed abouquetof humo ngous crawfish, with tails the size of aman’sthumb.

Thewaiter broughtmetal seafood crackers, the type usedfor lobsters as the clawsonthese crawfish were big enough to call for them.

One particularly burly mudbug fromthis batch measured nearly 8inches long. The tail wasplump,the juice hada compelling spice, and the claws were like eating crab fingers at acocktail party

ä See CRAWFISH, page 6C

Lambert

Moroney Langley

This was extraordinary crawfish, and it was also just another night in the crawfish heartland

We had come from New Orleans to Acadiana for a taste of crawfish close to the source, in the region that produces so much of Louisiana’s prodigious harvest. Behind the trip was a goal to answer one nagging question: Do the biggest crawfish even make it out of Acadiana, or do the Cajuns keep them for themselves?

A crawfish road trip

Crawfish afficionados know that as any season progresses, crawfish go from being pricey and small to cheaper and larger Around New Orleans at this point in the season, any given boil may include crawfish of noteworthy size. They’re often held up like trophies, and some restaurants will brag about their biggest finds on social media.

But that’s just it these are finds, like discovering a pearl in an oyster What if these coveted giants were just the house standard? How does that happen, and what would such a feast be like? I hit the road with a party of avid Louisiana food lovers to find out.

Discussions about crawfish differences between Acadiana and other hot markets for it typically center on preparation. While a long soak is the way many boilers add spice, a typical Acadiana method sees more spice added to the exterior, over the shell, to steam into the crawfish. Opinions on the best method are entrenched.

But another fundamental difference becomes swiftly evident when eating around Acadiana. The baseline size of crawfish is just bigger. On our road trip, the evidence piled up from well-known restaurants to next-generation pop-ups

The reason revolves around tightknit supply chains, sometimes running through blood relations, and a cultural expectation from customers.

Home of the ‘hammers’

There was a time when grading crawfish by size was not commonplace That changed in 1987, according to the LSU AgCenter, when a blight on Europe’s crawfish harvest opened an overseas export opportunity for Louisiana growers, particularly to Sweden. The Swedes wanted big crawfish, and Louisiana producers began grading them to meet that demand.

Now, the smallest crawfish of a harvest are dubbed peelers, bound for processing plants to be packaged and used in recipes. A size up is the field run, usually a mix of medium-sized crawfish with a smattering of larger ones. Selects are the biggest a producer is harvesting. Still, there’s no uniform measurement for what differentiates them; instead, it’s a relative com-

parison of size as the season goes on and crawfish get bigger

There’s a different name for the biggest mudbugs at Jo Mama’s Crawfish, 1902 W Summers Drive, Abbeville, the drive-thru stand that Luke Schultz opened outside of downtown Abbeville two seasons ago.

“These are hammers,” said Schultz, beaming as he handled a few Hammers, or “hammas” in his parlance, are crawfish so big they feel like a carpentry tool in the hands (on online videos, Schultz extols their virtues to what he calls his “hamma mafia” of regulars).

Schultz, 21, a standout offensive tackle in his days at Crowley’s Notre Dame High School, is a big man with catcher’s mitts for hands. The hammers still looked impressive as he casually moved them from palm to palm beside his trailer-mounted boiling rig.

He serves a mix of more normalsized mudbugs with the largest he can find. This is an intentional blend so that any given order has a good volume of crawfish and a strong representation of hammers.

Schultz has a direct line of supply for the best: his own family Sourcing selects

In the countryside around Eunice, his father, Patrick Schultz, continues a long family heritage of

determines size and yield. It’s just like an aquarium. If you put too many fish in, they stay small; if it’s just a few, they get big.”

The mesh sacks gradually filled, and eventually these joined the day’s collected harvest from a network of other ponds back at the Schultz homestead.

In a metal shed, workers poured the sacks onto the jittering conveyor belt of a mechanical grader With water spraying over them, they moved across a series of rollers fitted with differently sized gaps. The peelers drop out first, then the field run, then, by the end, the selects. The Schultzes sell their crawfish to distributors from Texas to the Gulf Coast. The selects are available to anyone willing to pay the premium price, and that is most consistently buyers in Acadiana.

“People here are just spoiled,” said Luke Schultz. “We grew up with this.”

amples that might’ve evaded the first grading.

“We charge more for it than others, but people are willing to wait in line for what we got,” he said.

Hawk’s next flight

Tailgating is part of the experience at Hawk’s Crawfish Restaurant, another seafood destination open only in crawfish season, far off the country highway in Robert’s Cove, a dot on the map surrounded by crawfish ponds. People come early to line up before the 5 p.m. opening, and they turn the parking lot into an ad hoc party

Hawk’s is famous for big crawfish and also for pioneering a purging technique using aerated water to clean the mudbugs before the boil.

Meg Arceneaux, granddaughter of founder Hawk Arceneaux, grew up in the restaurant and has taken her family heritage on the road with her own new business.

farming, alternating between rice and crawfish in their complementary seasons. He invited us to ride along on a harvest.

This rural stretch off Interstate 10 is a patchwork of rice fields, flooded to become crawfish ponds, framed by roads that switch from paved to dirt. Lone crawfish that have fled the pond march down these roads here and there, claws up in truculent defiance of passing vehicles.

On one of the Schultz ponds, a crawfish boat maneuvered rows of traps with a bright sky reflected on placid water bristling with the remnants of rice stalks. A crawfish boat is a uniquely Louisiana contraption, like a miniature paddle wheeler crossed with a pickup truck. It’s designed to glide along shallow water while also being able to climb over dry berms and roll down the road.

As this one clanged and chugged nosily along, a worker collected one wire trap after the next. Tipping them over onto a collection table, just three or four crawfish spilled from each. But they were all hammers. This pond was stocked leaner before the season, and the crawfish were left to grow bigger

“It’s about space and nutrition,” explained the elder Schultz. “That

Picky with claws

At Cajun Claws, Choate is known among crawfish suppliers as a tough customer He was a crawfish broker himself, working around Forked Island, an area southwest of Abbeville renowned for producing quality crawfish. In 1995, he and his wife Jodi started their restaurant (there are other restaurants in the region with Cajun Claws in their names, but these are not affiliated with the Abbeville original).

From the start, Choate decided that to stand out in a crowded market, he would only accept crawfish a step above the normally impressive local standard. He gets it by paying top dollar, and the prices at the restaurant reflect it, at about $10 a pound by late March, twice what some takeout shops were offering at the time.

“It’s a relationship with your fishermen; they know what I want and we pay them extremely well to get what we want, and that works out pretty good,” said Choate.

At his own processing shop, he adds the step of hand-sorting his crawfish discarding inferior ex-

Today, she runs Bon Temps Boilers, a pop-up and caterer, along with Luke Venable and Anne Venable, two siblings with their own third-generation family roots in crawfish farming.

Hawk’s supplies the crawfish for Bon Temps Boilers, which has a homebase this season cooking outside of The Yard Goat, 116 Bertrand Drive, Lafayette, a patio bar and an offshoot of the Wrong Iron bar in New Orleans. Bon Temps Boilers has been traveling for popups and private events in New Orleans, as well.

Their crawfish are juicy, with a sweet and buttery-creamy flavor, and seasoned both in the soak and augmented on the surface of the shell. And, one after the next, they have that eye-popping size with fat tails and claws worth cracking open.

To Arceneaux, the mobile boiling gigs are just a new vehicle for the time-tested principles she learned at the family restaurant.

“You’ve got to know your farmers and pay them,” she said. “They you grade them and purge them and sort them, and you can put out the best, biggest crawfish. It costs more and takes more work, but it’s just what people expect here.”

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, April 15, the 105th day of 2026. There are 260 days left in the year

Today in history: On April 15, 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland just over two and a half hours after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage. More than 1,500 people died while 710 survived. Also on this date:

In 1865, Abraham Lincoln died after being shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater the previous evening; Andrew Johnson was sworn in as the 17th president hours later

In 1947, Jackie Robinson baseball’s first Black major league player of the modern era, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. (The Dodg-

ers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.)

In 1955, Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. In 1974, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army robbed a branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco; a member of the group was SLA kidnap victim Patricia Hearst, seen wielding a rifle. (Hearst later said she had been forced to participate in the robbery.) In 2013, two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260. (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the bombing; his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a gunbattle days after the bombing). In 2019, fire swept across

the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during renovation work on the landmark structure; the blaze collapsed the cathedral’s spire and spread to one of its iconic rectangular towers. (The cathedral was restored and reopened to the public in December 2024.) Today’s birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Cooper is 70. Olympic track & field gold medalist Evelyn Ashford is 69. Actor-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 67. Singer Samantha Fox is 60. Olympic swimming gold medalist Dara Torres is 59. Singer Luis Fonsi is 48. Country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton is 48. Actor Luke Evans is 47. Actorwriter Seth Rogen is 44.

Actor Alice Braga is 43. Singer-songwriter Margo Price is 43. Actor Samira Wiley is 39. Actor Emma Watson is 36. Actor Maisie Williams is 29.

Bar snacks

n The Yard Goat, 116 Bertrand Drive, Lafayette I love a good beer garden, and The Yard Goat in Lafayette is one of those great

AWARDS

Continued from page 5C the snow crab and cream cheese, the freshness from the cucumbers and jalapeños, the crunch from the crispy onions and the heat from the siracha. The waiter told me it’s one of their most popular rolls. I see why — Maddie Scott, features writer

include 49 Winchester, Avery Anna Mackenzie Carpenter, Hudson Westbrook,

gathering spots where good nights happen. Located on Bertrand Drive in midtown Lafayette, this spot is close to the University of Louisiana campus and Cajunfield, Moncus Park and several shopping areas. It’s also just up the road from

Stephen Wilson Jr and more. And in the single of the year category, Lambert and Stapleton’s “A Song to Sing” will go head-to-head with Moroney’s “Am I Okay?,” Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” Top’s “I Never Lie” and Wil-

and I can’t wait to enjoy more leisurely evenings, cool drinks and easy shareables

son’s “Somewhere Over Laredo.”

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN Nachos with

pulled pork from The yard Goat in Lafayette

More spice is added to the hot crawfish in the boiling room at Cajun Claws seafood restaurant.

STAFF PHOTOS By DAVID GRUNFELD

Anne Venable, with Bon Temps Boilers, delivers trays of crawfish during a pop-up at The yard Goat bar in Lafayette on March 27.

Donni Choate works in the boil room at his Cajun Claws restaurant in Abbveille.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Refuse to let anyone talk you into something you don't want or need. Put your energy into positive change, better money management and loving yourself.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Broaden your circle of friends, interests and skills. Question information that sounds too good to be true Gather the facts and costs of whatever you are considering prior to signing up for something.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Make a move before someone else makes it for you. Action, common sense and thoughtful maneuvers will encourage positive results. A personal change will offer a unique perspective regarding your plans.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Focus on finishing what you start without going over budget or losing sight of what's important. Stick to the rules and regulations and move forward with a minimalist attitude.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Listen, absorb and put all the information you gather to good use. Traveling, networking and engaging in educational pursuits are in your best interest and will encourage you to align yourself with influential people.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Get physical and fit. Join a gym or sign up for an activity that will get you moving. Invest more time and money into what makes you happy. Ask for what you want.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) You'll gain insight into how to take advantage of a situation that offers financial stability A relationship with someone special will offer long-term benefits.

sCoRPIo (oct. 24-Nov. 22) Engage in events that give you a platform to show your attributes. Stepping out, speaking up and physically taking control of whatever situation you face will pay off.

sAGIttARIus (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Pull in the reins when it comes to spending money on others. Invest your cash in something that will add to your comfort or enhance your skills.

CAPRICoRN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Stop, look, listen and be hesitant to buy into something you know little about. Rely on yourself, not on others, and adjust as you go to further your plans.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Embrace change; put your energy toward meeting new people, changing your surroundings and setting up a routine. Let the journey begin.

PIsCEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Be secretive regarding any changes you want to implement. Put everything in place before you share or demonstrate your plans.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon

bIG

Sudoku

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

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

FarrahFawcettsaid,“Godgavewomen intuition and femininity. Usedproperly, thecombinationeasilyjumblesthebrain of any manI’ve ever met.”

Today’s trumpcombination might jumble declarer’sbrain,especially if he remembers yesterday’sdeal.South is in fivediamonds.West leads alow spade. East takes two tricks in the suit,then shifts to aclub to North’s queen. How shoulddeclarer continue?

On the second roundofthe auction,if North-South use support doubles, South has aperfect hand withexactly threecard heart support.But if North-South do not employ this gadget, South should raise to two hearts.

North’s two-spade cue-bidisanartificialgame-force,askingSouthtodosomething intelligent. Here, Southcannot do more thanrebidhis diamond suit.Then North might jump to four hearts, but let’s suppose he settleshis partner into five diamonds. South must draw trumps withoutloss. In yesterday’s deal, he could afford one loser, so cashed the ace first.Here,though,heshouldstartwitha diamond to his queen. When West’s jack drops, declarerreturnstothe dummy with aclub (or aheart) and plays adiamondtohis10.ThenhedrawsEast’slast trumpand claims.

Note that four hearts can be made. If East starts with three rounds of spades, North does besttodiscard adiamond fromhis hand, but here he could ruff. Then declarer, afterdrawing trumps, makes the same play in the diamond suit.

©2026 by NEA,Inc., dist. By

Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

INstRuCtIoNs: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed

toDAy’s WoRD CRoNyIsM: KRO-nee-iz-im: The practice of favoring one’s close friends, especially in political appointments

Average mark23words

Timelimit 35 minutes

Can you find 28 or morewords in CRONYISM?

yEstERDAy’s WoRD —QuARRIEs

wuzzles

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato

mallard fillmore

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Walt Disney Co. begins layoffs of 1,000

NEW YORK — The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday began layoffs expected to lead to 1,000 job cuts across the company

Josh D’Amaro, who in February succeeded Bob Iger as chief executive, announced broader layoffs following a move in January to consolidate Disney’s marketing division. The cuts are expected to fall across the Burbank Californiabased company’s traditional television businesses, including ESPN, as well as its movie studio. Employees in product and technology and in certain corporate functions will also be affected

“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” D’Amaro said in a memo to employees obtained by The Associated Press. “Given the fastmoving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.” Disney last went through a round of layoffs soon after Iger returned for a second spell as chief executive office in 2022. The company cut around 8,000 jobs then. As of late 2025, Disney had about 230,000 employees.

D’Amaro, who previously oversaw Disney’s lucrative parks division, has been at the company since 1998.

Hundreds of 7-Elevens expected to close NEW YORK Convenience chain

7-Eleven expects to close hundreds of its locations this year

According to earnings filings published last week, 7-Eleven’s North American operator plans to close 645 stores in the 2026 fiscal year — outpacing the 205 locations it forecasts it will open during that same time.

Seven & i Holdings Co., the Japan-based parent of the convenience chain, noted that these closures “include the conversion to wholesale fuel stores.” Financial documents show that 7-Eleven Inc. has steadily opened new wholesale fuel stores in North America over recent years, which accounted for more than 900 locations as of December 2025.

The company did not immediately explain the closures or specify which locations could be impacted.

Pittsburgh paper says it has a buyer NEW YORK Barely two weeks before it was due to shut down, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Tuesday it had found a last-minute buyer a successful nonprofit journalism operation that has agreed to keep the struggling newspaper open.

The resolution to a monthslong worry in western Pennsylvania about the paper’s shutdown comes at a difficult moment for the American newspaper industry, which has shed jobs, resources and sometimes entire companies due to the upending of the traditional revenue model by the internet at the beginning of this century

The Post-Gazette dates its ancestry to 1786, the first newspaper to open west of the Allegheny Mountains, and its closure would have left Pittsburgh as the nation’s largest community without a city-based paper

The Post-Gazette’s owners, Block Communications, said the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which publishes the digital Baltimore Banner, had agreed to buy its assets. Financial terms were not disclosed. The Post-Gazette said the new owners would continue to print the newspaper on two days, Thursday and Sunday, and would operate a website on the other days.

The newspaper had been due to close on May 3.

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rallied to the edge of an all-time high Tuesday, and oil prices eased as hopes climbed that the United States and Iran may try again on talks to end their war and avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy

The S&P 500 added 1.2% to its leap from the day before, and the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts is just 0.2% below its record set in January

The Dow Jones Industrial Aver-

age rose 317 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2%. They followed gains for stock markets worldwide as diplomats worked through back channels to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran. If talks succeed and the war ends up being only a temporary setback for the global economy, rather than a new normal of very high oil prices and inflation, investors can turn their attention back to what matters most for stock prices: How much money are companies making?

Positive trends there had stock markets worldwide doing well before the war began, and analysts see continued growth ahead, for

now at least. Lower oil prices help bring down costs for all kinds of businesses, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June fell 4.6% to settle at $94.79 Tuesday While that’s still above its roughly $70 price from before the war began in late February, it’s well below the $119 peak it has hit when worries about the war have been at their heights. To be sure, hope has often swung quickly into doubt since the war began, which has caused extreme and sudden reversals in financial markets. Much of the stress has been due to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that’s the main avenue for crude oil produced in

the Persian Gulf area to reach customers worldwide. Blockages there have kept oil off the global market, which has in turn driven up its price. The IMF on Tuesday also downgraded its forecast for global economic growth to 3.1% this year from

Despite the significant rebound in China’s export growth in January and February external demand is likely to weaken due to the war’s energy shock, Bank of America economists led by Helen Qiao wrote in a recent research note.

over the past months, with China stepping up its exports to other regions including Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Analysts are also closely watching Trump’s planned visit to Beijing in May to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping following a delay due to the Iran war

BY CHAN HO-HIM AP business writer

HONG KONG China’s exports grew 2.5% in March from a year ago, significantly slowing from the previous two months as uncertainties rose from the Iran war and its impact on energy prices and global demand.

The March export data released by China’s customs agency Tuesday missed analysts’ estimates and was sharply down from the 21.8% export growth recorded for January and February

Imports last month surged 27.8%, up from the 19.8% year-on-year increase in the first two months of this year

Technology-related exports including a jump in shipments of semiconductors from China on the global artificial intelligence boom have powered its robust exports in early 2026, but economists say impacts from the prolonged Iran war could affect overall global demand for Chinese exports this year

“China’s exports have decelerated as the Iran war starts to affect global demand and supply chains,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis.

BY KEN SWEET AP business writer

NEW YORK

The nation’s biggest banks posted another quarter of strong profits, helped by a resilient economy and a flurry of dealmaking for their investment banking units.

But the strong profits were clouded by the bank’s outlook for 2026, as bank executives warned how high oil prices were starting to negatively impact the consumer and further geopolitical uncertainty could hamper economic growth as the year progresses.

“There is an increasingly complex set of risks,” Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement, referencing to wars, energy prices and trade wars as some of the current risks in the global economy In response, the bank slightly lowered its full-year profit forecast.

The risks will “arise from a persistent global slowdown in overall demand if the conflict lasts longer than currently expected,” they wrote.

But economists, including those from Bank of America, also noted that the energy supply disruptions could further strengthen global demand for China’s renewable energy technologies such as solar cells, wind turbines and electric vehicles, while enduring semiconductor demand on the AI frenzy is expected to help export momentum.

“Despite the energy price shock, exports should stay solid in the coming quarters, thanks to strong demand for semiconductors and green technologies,” wrote Zichun Huang, a China economist at Capital Economics in a note Tuesday

The late timing of the Lunar New Year which fell in mid-February, probably also negatively impacted China’s export data last month with some holiday-related disruptions spilling over, Huang added.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s elevated tariffs on Chinese exports and tensions between Washington and Beijing have also been straining China’s shipments to the U.S.

China’s exports to the U.S. fell 26.5% yearon-year in March, widening from a 11% drop in January and February, while those to the European Union and Southeast Asia rose 8.6% and 6.9%, respectively

Chinese leaders have set an annual economic growth target for 2026 of 4.5% to 5%, the lowest since 1991. China met its “around 5%” economic growth target for 2025 on strong exports with a record high $1.2 trillion trade surplus — and analysts say exports likely will continue to be a key driver for maintaining economic expansion this year as a prolonged property sector slump in China weighed on domestic demand and investments.

Some economists believe China has so far been relatively well-positioned in shielding itself from the impacts from the Iran war, which has sent fuel prices surging and is threatening worsening global inflation. China’s vast oil reserves and diversified energy sources mean it’s less affected by the fallout from the war, including shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transport, they said.

Dimon further called these tensions as “significant and they reinforce why we prepare the firm for a wide range of environments.”

This quarter, it was the investment banks at all of the major banks that drove revenue to Wall Street during the first three months of the year JPMorgan reported a 30% jump in investment banking fees, while Citigroup reported a 12% rise in advisory fees. The rise in markets and investment banking fees was not a surprise. Markets have been intensely volatile in the first three months of the year, and those swings of volatility are great for the professional trading desks stationed at all the major banks. Further, many companies are pursuing mergers, acquisitions or going public, which has provided another stream of revenue for Wall Street. However, bank executives warned that the extreme swings could have downstream impacts to the U.S. economy, particular-

ly energy prices. In a call with reporters, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said the bank was seeing customers was spending 30% to 40% more toward gas on their debit cards, while cutting back on discretionary purchases. CEO Charlie Scharf added to those comments in a call with investors, saying higher energy prices were putting pressure on some of its lower income customers. While Dimon described the economy was “resilient” he also said, “the impact of higher oil prices will likely take some time to materialize” in the economy if it lingers. The American consumer also continues to spend more on their credit cards as well as add to their balances on those accounts. JPMorgan said credit card loans were up 7% from a year ago, while Citigroup also saw its credit card loans rise by a lesser 2%. JPMorgan posted a profit of $16.49 billion, up 13% from a year earlier On a per-share basis,

DanGill’s

guidetoenvironmentally supportivegardening

2026 SP RI NG GA RDE NI NG GUID E

Consideringthe environmentalimpact of ourgardening practices is agrowingtrend. Itreminds me of the 1970s,when environmental concerns became an important considerationinfluencing howwegarden. That waswhenthe concepts of organic gardening and organicpestcontrol eventually became common practice.

Atthe time, theseconcepts were considered“fringe”and out of mainstreamgardening. But over time, organic gardening concepts have cometopermeate howwegardenand are definitely notfringe anymore.

Likethe environmental awakening of the 1970s,gardening trends in the 2000s have seen anincreasing focus onenvironmental issues likeplanting natives,pollinatorgardening, reducingpesticides and sustainable practices likecomposting and mulching. And while the averageweekendwarriorsmay not be focusing on theseideas, theyare increasingly influencing howwegardentoday.

When it comes to gardening, it could be argued thatsome of the thingswedo—including thecommonuse of gas-poweredequipment, over applying fertilizersorthe careless use of pesticides —are not environmentally responsible. Thereare,however, things gardenerscan do to maketheir gardening efforts moresustainableand have amorepositive environmental impact

Choose nativeplants

I’mabig advocate forusing nativeplantsinthe landscape. Having said that, howyou view theterm “nativeplants” canvary

Igenerally takearegional approachtonativeplants. Iuse the term to indicate plants that are native to theGulf CoastalSoutheastern US –hardinesszones 8and 9running from the Texas gulf coast to theFloridapanhandleand the northern partofthe peninsula.The climateand native faunaand floraare similar across this region.

While natives cannot satisfactorily replaceall the manytypes of plants we useinour landscapes (I have no problemrecommending non-nativeplantsfor landscapes), utilizing nativeplantswhen andwherewecan is agood thing.

One reason is that it givesour landscapesasense of place. Using plants nativetoour region linksour landscapes to natural areas andthe plantstheycontain. It makes the gardens hereinthe GulfCoastal South look distinctively differentfromgardens in other partsofthe country.

Also, nativeplantscan play an importantrole inproviding food fornativewildlifeand habitatrestoration.Wildlifewill often feed on nonnativeplants. But native birds and insects have coexisted with nativeplantsfor manythousands of years, andare especially adapted to feeding on native foliage, nectar,fruit andseeds

2026 SP RI NG GA RDE NI NG GU ID E

CONTINUED:Choose nativeplants

Nativeplantsare well adapted to the climate (temperatures and rainfall) of their nativeregion and aregenerally tolerantofcommon pestproblems.Theyhavecoexisted with nativeinsects and diseases foralongtime, and, if attacked, theycan recoverwithout the useofpesticides

Finally,thereissimply asenseofsatisfactionthatmany of us getbyusing nativeplants,and we enjoythe unique beautytheyprovide.

Many peoplewould liketouse natives, but theydonot know which nativeplantswould be good forlandscaping. Referencebookscan helptremendously with this, such as “The BigEasyNativePlant Guide” by Susan Norris-Davis and Amelia Wiygul or “NativeGardening in the South” by WilliamFontenot.Alsocheck out the websites of organizations suchasthe Louisiana Native Plant Society,Native PlantInitiativeofGreaterNew Orleans,Capital Area NativePlant Society and Acadiana Native Plant Project

Oneofthe frustrating aspects of wanting to usenative plants in the landscape is availability. As importantasnatives aretosome gardeners, most people who shop at nurseries do not put natives at ahighpriority. If the demand is notthere, nurseries arelesslikelyto focus on nativeplants

That’swheregardenersinterested in using natives can make adifference. Unlesswelet the retailnurseries we shop at know thatwewanta betterselection of natives, theywill be lesslikely to carry them.

As youthink about adding trees, shrubs,vinesand flowers to your landscape, always look to seeifthere aresomesuitable nativeoptions.And whenanon-nativeand anative plantare equally suitable— go native.

Support pollinator

The wellbeing of pollinators is something thatg should takeintoconsideration when planting their scapes.The populations of manypollinators ha the decline in the past couple of decades.Pollina area aremostly insects,suchasflies,beetles,w moths and butterflies.Hummingbirds also help pollination.

The reasons fordeclining pollinator populations and complex,involving habitatloss, lossoffood eases and parasites and the useofinsecticides.B aresteps home gardenersinurban and suburba takethatcan help maintain, and even encourag tions of honeybees,nativebees,wasps moths andhummingbirds

CONTINUED:Supportpollinators

2026 SP RI NG GA RD EN IN GG UI DE Reduce pesticideuse

Dealing with pests is part of gardening –but we need to do it responsibly.The major pests we deal with areinsects, weeds and fungal diseases.Apesticideisa product,whether organic or chemical, used to kill the targetpest. Insecticides areused forinsect control; herbicides areusedin weed control; and fungicides controlfungalorganisms

Minimizing the useofpesticides,whether theyare chemical or organic,isalwaysa good idea.The overuseand unnecessary application of insecticidescan kill beneficial insect predators thathelp keep insect pest populationsdown. And insecticides cannegatively impactpollinatorinsects likebutterflies and bees

It is importanttoremember thatthe use of pesticides is only one methodfor controlling pests.Thereare other techniques gardenersshoulduse thatcan helpprevent the severe infestations thatmakethe use of pesticides necessary.For insects,this might includebiological controls,beneficialinsects,handpickingorvacuuming, barriersand traps.Minimizediseases by spacing plants properlyand avoid wetting the foliage when youwater. Usemulches to minimizeweed issues

Trytoraise your tolerancetoinsectand diseasedamage. Trees and shrubs are resilientplants. Insectand disease prob-

lemsoften come and go without causing a substantial or life-threatening amountof damage. Do not,however, raiseyourtoleranceofweeds.Alwaysaddressweed issues promptly.

Many of the techniquesweshould utilize to reduce pestproblems areproactive Make it apointtoinspect your landscape frequently fordevelopingproblems.Weed controlisaprime examplewhereearly intervention is fareasierand more effectivethan lettinga situationget out of hand beforeacting.

Plantselection is important. Choosefrom the manytrees,shrubs,ground covers and vines that rarely have major insector diseaseproblems.Plantsthatare prone to damaging insectordiseaseproblems canbeavoided. Whenchoosing plants,do some research, check with your parish LSU AgCenter extensionhorticulturist and staff at the nursery.Considerremovingproblem plants and replacing themwith plants that youhavefound to be morecarefree.

Keeping lawns healthyand vigorous with proper care will help minimizethe need for herbicides in the lawn (mowing regularly at the correct heightisimportant). If you feel asituationwarrants using alawnweed killer,try limiting the applicationjust to the areas of the lawn wherethe weed is an issueand notthe entire lawn.

2026 SP RI NG GA RD EN IN GG UI DE Fertilize moderately

We need to be careful about howmuch we apply fertilizerstothe plants in our landscapes

The overuseoffertilizers, especially highly soluble chemical fertilizers, cancontribute significantly to the pollution of lakes,ponds and streams

The regular useoffertilizersismost important forplants growing in containers. Their roots areconfined to asmall volume of soil and frequentwatering leaches outnutrients rapidly.A slow-releasefertilizer is thebest waytofertilize container plants

Vegetables and flowers areexpected to perform at avery high level, so adequate nutrients areimportanttogood results.But even here, moderate fertilizer applications aregenerally allthatisneeded. Followrecommendations

And organic matter,likecompostsand manures,can provide some of thesenutrients while recycling agricultural byproducts.

Lawns arecommonly fertilized, but maximum fertilization is not critical foracceptable

performance. Fertilizecentipede onceinlate March, St.Augustine and zoysia in late March and again in July and bermuda in late March, June and August.The moreyou fertilize, the more often youneed to mow.

If treesand shrubs aregrowing vigorously and blooming well, fertilization is generally optional. Aspring application of fertilizer to shrubs is generally plenty.While young trees intheirfirst15yearsafter planting will grow faster withannual fertilization, it is not needed formaturetrees unlessindicatedbylow vigor

Your plants will not“starve” if youfertilize morejudiciously.Fertilizersare not food. The terms “plantfood” and “feeding”are misleading. Using theseterms makes gardenersthink thatfertilizing plants is morecritical than it usually is.Plants maketheir ownfoodthrough photosynthesis,aprocessthatutilizes the energy of thesun to create sugar from carbon dioxide and water. Theyare solar powered.

2026 SP RI NI NG GUID E

Planting guide

TREES

•*ParsleyHawthorn, Crataegusmarshallii

•*Redbud, Cercis canadensis

•*FringeTree, Chionanthusvirginicus

•*Silver Bell, Halesia diptera

• *American Holly,Ilexopaca

•*Deciduous Holly,Ilexdecidua

•*Dahoon Holly,Ilexcassine

• *YauponHolly,Ilexvomitoria

•Swamp RedMaple, Acer rubrum

•var.drummondii

•Southern SugarMaple, Acer barbatum

• LiveOak, Quercus virginiana

•Nuttall Oak, Quercus nuttallii

• ShumardOak, Quercus shumardii

• WillowOak, Quercus phellos

• *Southern Magnolia,Magnolia grandiflora

• *Sweet BayMagnolia,Magnolia virginiana

•*Cherry Laurel, Prunus caroliniana

• American elm, Ulmus americana

• WaxMyrtle, Morells cerifera

• Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum

• Eastern RedCedar,Juniperusvirginiana

•*Devil’sWalkingStick, Aralia spinosa

VINES

•*CoralHoneysuckle, Lonicerasempervirens

• *CrossVine, Bignoniacapreolata

•*YellowJessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens

•*NativeWisteria,Wisteria frutescens

Plants,vinesand perennials thatthriveinour climate

SHRUBS

•*Starbush, Florida Anise, Illicium floridanum

•*RedBuckeye,Aesculuspavia

• *Honeysuckle Azalea,Rhododendron

•canescens

•*Flame Azalea,Rhododendron austrinum

•*Oakleaf Hydrangea,Hydrangea quercifolia

• *Dwarf YauponHolly,Ilexvomitoria

•*Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis

•*SouthernArrowwood, Viburnum dentatum

• *Beautyberry,Callicarpa americana

HARDYPERENNIALS

•*Louisiana Phlox, Phloxdivaricata

•*DownyPhlox, Phloxpilosa

•*Indian Pink, Spigelia marilandica

•*Mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos

•*TexasStar Hibiscus,Hibiscus coccineus

• *Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis

•*Mexicanprimrose, Oenotheraspeciosa

•*Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida

•*Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea

•*Louisiana irises,Iris species and hybrids

•*Goldenrod, Solidagospecies

•*Stokes Aster,Stokesia laevis

•Muhly Grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris

•Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum

•Rush, Juncusspecies

*good forpollinator gardens

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