The Acadiana Advocate 05-07-2026

Comeaux High closure can continue

Court case against Lafayette School Board dismissed

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Gotch-Garrett ordered the School Board

ly

in attorney fees and court costs the plaintiffs accrued.

Suzanne LaJaunie, the parent of a Comeaux High student and lead plaintiff, acknowledged the appeal court decision was not the outcome she wanted.

“We need to stay vigilant,” she said. “We need to stay awake.”

Parent Beth Haegele agreed.

La.’s historically Black colleges at risk of losing millions

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

As President Donald Trump’s administration moves to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at U.S. universities, Louisiana’s higher education board is cutting an incentive that encouraged universities to graduate more minority students

The change means the state’s historically Black colleges and universities stand to lose millions of dollars.

“I’m not going to lie, because the numbers are out there,” interim Southern University system President Orlando McMeans said. “It will put us in the red as it relates to funding for 2026-27.”

The Louisiana Board of Regents doles out money from

the Legislature to the state’s public colleges and universities based on a complex formula. For the new fiscal year that starts July 1, that formula

will no longer include an “underrepresented minority completer” metric, which rewarded institutions for graduating students of races with lower

graduation rates than the rest of the population. Kim Hunter Reed,

“Today wasn’t a win, but it wasn’t a loss,” Haegele said, encouraging residents to vote, to watch board meetings and be cognizant of how the board’s decisions affect them.

The school system’s communications director, Tracy Wirtz, in response to a request for comment Wednesday about what is next for Comeaux High School, wrote,

Senate expands death penalty eligibility

Change prompted by mall shooting

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

The Senate altered a bill Wednesday night to expand who can be charged with first-degree murder in Louisiana, citing April’s mass shooting at the Mall of Louisiana as the reason for the change.

With little debate and no opposition, the chamber approved an amendment to House Bill 102 that revises the definition of first-degree murder, an offense that can carry the death penalty, to include killings carried out in public places where at least three people were at risk of great harm.

It would further add killings committed with illegally possessed firearms and those committed by defendants out on bail, probation or parole. Louisiana has few restrictions on who can carry guns, but it is generally illegal for people with felony convictions to do so. In a statement, Gov Jeff Landry, who successfully pushed to resume executions in Louisiana after a 15year hiatus, called the amendment to HB102 “absolutely necessary” and said it would bring the state’s

walk to class at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

Police announce arrest in Okla. party shooting

Police said an 18-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a mass shooting that left one woman dead and 22 other people wounded during a nighttime party beside an Oklahoma lake.

Police in Edmond announced that Jaylan A. Davis was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon in the wake of Sunday night’s shooting, which erupted after an argument broke out amid a large crowd gathered at Arcadia Lake in that north Oklahoma City suburb Edmond Police Chief J.D Younger said at a news conference that the charge against Davis was in the process of being upgraded to felony murder following the death of an 18-yearold woman from her shooting injuries. Police identified the deceased woman as Avianna Smith-Gray, a high school senior.

Davis was being held in the Edmond jail on a $1 million bond and listed in jail records as an Oklahoma City resident.

Detectives believe the incident began with an argument between two women attending the gathering and escalated into an altercation between rival gang members, the police chief said. Younger also said police think there is at least one more suspect.

In addition to the 18-year-old woman killed, others suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as dozens of shots were fired at the popular boating, fishing and swimming lake about 20 miles north of downtown Oklahoma City Six of the victims are juveniles, some as young as 15, Younger said.

Man charged in Texas shootings that killed 2 CARROLLTON, Texas A man who police said shot five people, killing two, in back-to-back shootings at a shopping center and an apartment building in suburban Dallas has been charged with two counts of capital murder police said Wednesday Seung Ho Han, 69, has also been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon following Tuesday’s shootings in the Koreatown neighborhood of Carrollton, police said.

Police said Han acknowledged he was the shooter in an interview with detectives and said he was angry at the people he shot because of financial disagreements over their business dealings. They declined to release the names of the victims and said they were still investigating the motive.

The first shooting happened just before 10 a.m. Tuesday at a shopping center, police said. When police arrived, they found four adults who had been shot including a man who died While they were investigating, another shooting was reported at an apartment complex roughly 4 miles away Responding officers found a dead man inside one of the apartments.

Investigators determined that Han carried out both of the shootings, police said. He was arrested at a nearby grocery store after a short chase on foot 2 shot, killed in Mich. in dispute at soccer game

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A young man who was turned away from an informal soccer game in Michigan fatally shot a 15-yearold boy and killed a woman who tried to help the victim, all in the presence of other kids, police said. The suspect fled but was caught and arrested, police said.

“There was at least seven or eight kids that are out here, juveniles, older juveniles that witnessed this, which is just horrific for anybody to witness, let alone juveniles,” said Joe Trigg, interim police chief in Grand Rapids. Trigg said kids were playing soccer Tuesday when an 18-year-old asked to be included.

“For whatever reason, he was turned away,” Trigg said “Did not like the fact that he was turned away so a verbal altercation started, which led to the suspect pulling out a firearm and shooting that juvenile. The adult female had came to the aid, verbally, of the juvenile victim so then she was targeted.”

CNN founder Ted Turner dies

He built entertainment empire, turned to philanthropy

BY DAVID BAUDER AP media writer

NEW YORK Ted Turner, a brash

television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching CNN and introducing the 24-hour cable news cycle, died Wednesday He was 87.

Turner died surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, the company that oversees his vast business interests.

Turner owned professional sports teams in Atlanta, defended the America’s Cup in yachting in 1977 and donated a stunning $1 billion to United Nations charities. He married three women — most famously

Jane Fonda and earned the nicknames “Captain Outrageous” and “The Mouth of the South.”

He once bragged: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”

He was slowed in later years by Lewy body dementia. Long out of the television business, he concentrated on philanthropy

His garrulous personality sometimes overshadowed a risk-taking business acumen By the time he sold his Turner Broadcasting System to Time Warner Inc in 1996, Turner had turned his late father’s billboard company into a global conglomerate that included seven major cable networks, three professional sports teams and a pair of hit movie studios.

President Donald Trump, reacting to Turner’s death, called him “one of the Greats of All Time.”

The creation of CNN

Turner’s signature achievement was creating the Cable News Network, the first 24-hour all-news television network in 1980. In part, Turner’s own frustration with television news was the instigator He often worked past 8 p.m., after the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts had already gone off the air CNN’s breakthrough moment came during the Gulf War with Iraq in 1991. Most television journalists had fled Baghdad but CNN stayed, capturing arresting images of a war’s outbreak.

Turner was promised a continued role in CNN after his company’s sale to Time Warner but was gradually pushed out, much to his regret. “The mistake I made was losing control of the company,” he later said.

Building TBS SuperStation

Robert Edward Turner III was born Nov 19, 1938, in Cincinnati. When he was 9, his family moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he

grew up. After being expelled from Brown University, Turner came to Atlanta to work for his domineering father’s billboard company Turner Advertising.

After his father’s 1963 suicide, Turner took over the company. In 1970, he bought an independent UHF station with a weak signal that didn’t even cover Atlanta. On Dec. 17, 1976, he began transmitting the station to cable systems across the country via satellite. It became the TBS SuperStation. TBS’ motley collection of old movies and sitcom reruns was augmented by Turner’s acquisition of baseball’s Atlanta Braves. Perennial doormats, the Braves slowly attracted fans nationwide through their superstation exposure. In the 1980s, Turner went deeply into debt to buy MGM, a move again greeted with skepticism. But the acquisition gave his company a library of vintage movies that eventually were parlayed into the TNT and Turner Classic Movies networks.

He revealed his ambitions as a younger man: “I used to tell people I wanted to become the world’s greatest sailor, businessman and lover all at the same time.” Acquiring sports teams and land

For much of his life a partying roustabout who wooed beautiful women, the lean, mustachioed sportsman married three times He was married to Fonda from 1991 to 2001. She tired of his philandering and divorced him, although they remained friends. Perhaps Turner’s greatest love was for the land. He acquired millions of acres in ranches complete with roaming buffalo and was Nebraska’s largest private landholder Researchers at Texas A&M University credited his donation of a few bulls in 2005 with helping increase the genetic diversity of the last herd of southern Plains bison. An atheist since his only sister died of lupus at age 17, he called Christians “losers” and “Jesus freaks,” later apologizing for both remarks.

Dedication to various causes

Turner, the father of five children, grabbed a leadership role in American philanthropy with his Sept. 18, 1997, pledge to give $1 billion to United Nations charities. He promoted a range of humanitarian causes. Turner joined former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn to start the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to reducing the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

As he poured millions into nonprofits on a global scale, Turner was also fond of spreading his wealth in small ways. He once gave $500 to a volunteer fire department that helped extinguish a blaze on one of his ranches. Bauder, a longtime media writer, retired from The Associated Press in 2026.

Lutnick’s Epstein testimony draws praise, derision

BY STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared Wednesday before a House committee investigating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, trying to explain to lawmakers his contact with the financier after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

The Cabinet member was the latest powerful political figure to appear before the House Oversight Committee. He has previously given contradictory statements about his relationship with Epstein, but he said he has done nothing wrong and welcomed the closed-door interview with lawmakers

The transcribed interview is a test of how much scrutiny lawmakers will apply to powerful men who kept company with Epstein even after his conviction. President Donald Trump’s administration has tried unsuccessfully for more than a year to move past the issue.

Lawmakers emerged from the private interview with vastly different assessments of Lutnick’s answers. The committee chairman, GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, said Lutnick had been “forthcoming” in describing limited interac-

tions with Epstein Democrats accused Lutnick of lying and evading their questions.

Lutnick is the highestranked administration official, besides Trump, to be named in the Epstein case files.

ously claimed on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home, which included a massage table, disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

that would have blocked the view from their homes.

Epstein also gave $50,000 to a 2017 dinner honoring Lutnick, while Lutnick invited Epstein to a 2015 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.

view and “let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not.”

The Republican president has consistently den ied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago. Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Several Democrats have called for Lutnick to resign.

“He was evasive, nervous. He was dishonest,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va “He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did.”

Epstein’s private island

Lutnick has played down his ties to Epstein, who was once his neighbor in New York City Under questioning from Democrats during an unrelated hearing earlier this year, Lutnick described their contact as a handful of emails and a pair of meetings in 2011 and 2012.

But that admission came after Lutnick had previ-

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state sex offense charges in Florida, including soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,” Lutnick told senators in February when he was asked about Epstein during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

But Lutnick, who was previously the head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, actually had an hourlong engagement at Epstein’s home in 2011. His family then visited Epstein’s private island in 2012 for lunch.

Committee Democrats asked Lutnick repeatedly about that visit, but came away from the interview frustrated with Lutnick and accused him of evading their questions.

The federal release of case files on Epstein also showed that Epstein and Lutnick had kept in contact through email. Lutnick in 2018 emailed Epstein about a proposed expansion of a museum in their neighborhood

“I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether or not he had been on the island,” Comer said.

He added that the committee planned to later release the transcript of the inter-

The interview was not recorded on video, as the committee has done with depositions for others, including former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state. Comer said the decision not to video the interview for which Lutnick volunteered, was keeping with the committee’s practice.

Trump seeks to halt $83M payment GET IN

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeals court in New York to temporarily block a longtime columnist from collecting an $83 million defamation award The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Tuesday to stay

its decision supporting the award so that Trump won’t have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court. A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in January 2024. Another jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in 1996 and then defamed her after she published her account of it in 2019. Trump has vehemently denied sexually abusing Carroll or ever knowing her and has repeatedly accused her of making accusations against him for political purposes or to promote her memoir Smith told the 2nd Circuit that Trump “will suffer irreparable harm” if he must pay Carroll now because she has said publicly that she plans to give the award away, meaning the president would not be able to recover the money if the high court reverses the verdict.

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ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION FILE PHOTO By NANCy MANGIAFICO

Ted Turner is seen at his desk inside the CNN Center in Atlanta in 1982.

Lutnick

3evacuated from cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak

BY ANNIE RISEMBERG, MISPER APAWU, ALEKSANDAR FURTULA and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

PRAIA, Cape Verde Twopa-

tients with hantavirus and one suspected of infection were evacuated Wednesday from acruise ship at the center of adeadly outbreak, the U.N. health agency said Theshipthendeparted Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board —isolated in their cabins —and headed to Spain’sCanary Islands.

AssociatedPressfootage showed health workersin protective gear evacuating three patients, including the ship’sBritish doctor.Two of the patients arrived at Amsterdam’sairport Wednesday evening and weretaken to separate hospitals.

Three people have died and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organization said. Of eight recorded cases, five were confirmed by laboratory testing.

Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though that is rare, accordingtothe WHO, whose top epidemic expert saidthe risk to the public is low Health officials in Europe andAfricaare trying to identify people who may have had contactwith people who earlierleft the ship, which departedApril 1from South America for stopsin Antarcticaand several remote Atlantic islands.

TwoArgentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak saidthe government’sleading hypothesis is that aDutch couple contracted the virus while bird-watching in thecity of Ushuaia before boarding They said the couplevisited alandfill during the tour and may have been exposed to rodents.

No others with symptoms

The Dutch foreign ministry said the three people evacuated Wednesday were a41-year-old Dutch national, a56-year-old British national and a65-year-old German national. WHOsaidtesting in Senegal confirmed that two of the evacuees were infected with hantavirus

Twoofthe evacuees were in “serious condition,” Dutch ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions said, and the third had no symptoms but was “closely associated with aGerman passenger who died on the MV Hondius ship on May 2.

Upon arriving in Amsterdam, oneofthe evacuated patientswas taken to aspecialized hospital in Düsseldorf, Germany; the other wastaken to ahospitalin Leiden, the Netherlands.

Health officials said passengers and crew members still on the ship were without symptoms. Their journey to the Canary Islands will take three or four days, Spain’s health ministry said. Their arrival “won’trepresentany risk for the public,” the ministry said.

‘Not thenextCOVID’ Authorities saidpassengers tested positive for the Andes virus, aspecies of hantavirus found in South America, primarily in Argentina and Chile.The viruscan spread betweenpeople, though that’srare and only through close contact,accordingto the WHO. The health agency has never seen ahantavirus outbreak on aship.

“This is not the next COVID, but it is aserious infectious disease,” the WHO’s top epidemic expert, Maria VanKerkhove, said. “Most people will never be exposed to this.” At St. Helena, the bodyof the Dutch man suspectedto be the first hantavirus case on board was taken off the ship. His wife flew to South Africa, where she collapsed at the Johannesburgairport and died.

U.S. firesonIranian oiltanker

Trumpseeks to pressure Tehran into reaching adeal

BY JOSHUABOAK, BEN FINLEY and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

WASHINGTON The U.S. military fired on an Iranian oil tanker

Wednesday as President Donald Trump sought to pressure Tehran into reachingadeal to end the war

The Islamic Republic saiditwas reviewing the latest American proposals.

A fighter jet shot out therudder of thetanker in theGulfofOman as it tried to breach the American blockade of Iran’sports,U.S. CentralCommand said in asocial media post

CO IN T MI EAST

Only two American-flagged merchant ships are knowntohave passed through the U.S.-guarded route after it opened Monday.The U.S. military saiditsanksix Iranian small boats threatening civilian ships.

Iran’seffective closure of the strait has sent fuel prices skyrocketing, rattled theglobaleconomy andput enormous economicpressure on countries,including major powers such as China.

China’sforeign minister called fora comprehensive ceasefire Wednesdayafter meeting in Beijing with Iran’stop envoy.Wang Yi said his country was “deeply distressed” by theconflict, which began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran.

NFLICT HE DDLE AS

The attack occurred as Iran and theU.S.are officially in aceasefire.TrumpthreatenedTehran with anew waveofbombing if adealis not reached that includes opening thecritical Strait of Hormuz.

Trump posted on social media that thetwo-month warcould soon endand that oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by theconflict could restart. Buthesaidthatdepends onIranaccepting areported agreementthatthe presidentdid notdetail

Meanwhile, Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time since aceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militantgroup was announced April 17. Fighting has continued since then in southern Lebanon.

Trump: U.S. mightforce adeal

Trump insisted Wednesday that Iranian officials want to endthe war

“We’re dealing withpeople that want to make adeal very much, and we’ll seewhether or not they can makeadeal that’ssatisfactory to us,”the president said.

He suggested, both at theWhite House and on social media, that the U.S. could ultimately force asettlement.

“If they don’tagree, thebombing starts,” Trumpsaid on social media, “and it will be, sadly,ata much higherlevel andintensity than it was before.

The White House believes it is near an agreement with Iran on aone-page memorandum to end the war,according to reporting by Axios.There is no deal yet, but provisions include amoratorium on

Iranianuranium enrichment, liftingofU.S. sanctions,distribution of frozenIranian fundsand opening thestrait forships.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the possible agreement.

Aspokesman forthe Iranian Foreign Ministry,EsmaeilBaghaei, told stateTVthatTehran had “strongly rejected”U.S.proposals reportedbyAxios, butthatitwas still examining thelatestproposed agreement.

Shortefforttoforce strait open

Trumpsought to increase pressure on Tehran the day after he suspended ashort-lived U.S. effort to force open asafe passage forcommercial shipsthrough the strait.

The waterway was avital passage for oiland gas supplies, fertilizer and other petroleumproducts before thewar

China’sclose economic and political ties to Tehran giveitaunique positionofinfluence. The Trump administration is pressing China to usethatrelationship to urge the Islamic Republic to open the strait. Iranianenvoy visits China

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’svisit to China came ahead of aplanned trip by Trump to Beijing.

Trump is scheduled to attend a high-profile summitonMay 14 and 15 with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trumpwas the last U.S. president to visit China in 2017.

“Webelieve that acomprehensive ceasefire is urgently needed, that a resumption of hostilities is not acceptable,” Wang said in avideo of the meeting.

The Chinese foreign minister said the conflict “has not only caused serious lossestothe Iranianpeople, but also had asevere impact on regional and global peace.”

Administration sows confusiononIranstrategy

BY BENFINLEY,MATTHEW LEEand FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration’s approach to the Iranwar has pinballedfrom declarations that atenuous ceasefire washoldingand military operations were overto newthreatsofbombing the Islamic Republic Tuesday started with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explaining how theU.S. militarywas protecting stranded shipsso theycould traverse the Strait ofHormuz. He insisteditwas adefensive operation and the truce was still in place even though Iran hadlaunched missiles and drones at U.S. forces, which sank Tehran’ssmall attack boats.

That afternoon,Secretary of StateMarco Rubio told reporters at theWhite House thatthe military operation was “concluded” and that the U.S. achieved its objectives. But in almost thesame breath, hesaid President Donald Trump was still seeking a“path of peace” that required Iran to agree to adeal to reopen the vital oil shipping corridor.

By Tuesday evening, Trump announcedthat the effort to protect ships was paused to see if an agreement could be reached.ThenonWednesday morning, he again warned that bombing wouldresumeifTehran didn’tagree to U.S. terms.

TheTrump administration’sshifting and often contradictory messaging throughout theIran war has produced ever more confusion this week as thepresident andhis aides presented adizzyingnarrative overthe U.S. strategy to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and wrap up the war that drastically changed over thecourse of mere hours. Trying to sell strategies

TheTrump administration has struggledwithits messaging because the war wasn’twell planned, saidElizabethDent, asenior fellow at the Washington Institute forNear East Policy

“Because it happened very quickly,it wasn’tsold to theAmerican public in away that Ithink was palatable,” said Dent, aformer official in the State Department and Penta-

gon. “Now Ithink Trump is sort of doing everything he can to prevent areturnof hostilities because he saw how unpopular the war was.”

Throughout theconflict, thepresident has shifted his prioritiesand hisperspectivesonvictory.He’soffered amurky definition of a ceasefire. Andhe’sprovided his own interpretation of a lawthatrequirescongressionalapprovalfor military operations after 60 days.

The confusion is fueled in partbyTrump’s tendency to makeoff-the-cuff statements that essentially make policy, Dent said. Aides like Rubio andHegseth must then explain Trump’sstatements.

The whirlwind 24 hours of decision-makingbythe Trump administration also reflectsa realization that any alternative to an agreement “isgoing to range from unpalatable to outright ugly” at amomentofgreat political importance forthe Republican president, said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group.

“This is not an administration that operates basedon apolicy process.Itoperates basedonimpulse. And the president seems now both tired of thiswar andreluctant to continue investing hispolitical capital into it,” Vaez said.

Narrativewhipsaws

Thelast couple of days have been emblematic of how theTrump administration’sstatements canseem outofsync andhardtofollow

The president said Sunday that U.S. forces would safely guide hundreds of stranded

commercial vessels out of thestrait, which Iran has effectively closed by firing at ships off itscoast.

On Tuesday,Hegsethand the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, saidtwo Americanflaggedfreighters transited the waterway to lead the effort,but Iran fired at U.S. ships andthe military sank six Iraniansmallattack boats.

Whenasked aboutthe fire from both sides,Hegseth said, “No, the ceasefire is not over.” Caine also said Iranian attacksdid notreach the level of “restarting major combat operations.”

Rubio later insisted Trump’spreference was diplomacy

“Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved theobjectives of that operation,”hesaid, referring to the codename for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

“What thepresident would prefer is adeal.”

Adeal seemed closer at hand when Trump said Tuesdaynight on social media that he was halting theoperation in the strait to seewhat would happen withnegotiations. But on Wednesday morning, Trumpthreatened Iran once again.

“If they don’tagree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly,ata muchhigher level and intensity than it was before,” he wrote on TruthSocial.

Seekinghelpfromothers

Another confusing elementisthe administration’s effortstopersuade allies to deploy warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

NoticeisherebygivenpursuanttoArticle7, Section23(C) of theLouisiana Constitution andR.S.47:1705(B)thata public hearing of theAcadia Parish Police Jury in Acadia Parish will be held at itsregular meeting placeinthe Police Jury MeetingRoom 3rdFloor locatedat500 NParkerson Ave. Crowley, Louisiana70526 on Tuesday, June 9, 2026,at6:00p.m.toconsiderlevying additional or increasedmillage rateswithoutfurther voterapprovaloradoptingthe adjusted millagerates afterreassessment androllingforward to ratesnot to exceed theprior year’s maximum. Theestimated amount of taxrevenuestobecollected in thenextyearfromthe increasedmillage is $8,505,705,and theamountofincreasein taxesattributable to themillage increase is $212,584.

Trump hasbeen lashing out at countries unwilling to do more, telling them to “go getyourown oil” and saying it wasnot America’s job to secure the strait. But administration officialshave begun actively soliciting helpwhile toning down their language.

Rubio said theissue is not alack of interest, but that manyare unable to provide the necessary resources.

“A lot of countries would love to do something about it. But they don’thave a navy,right? Or they can’t get there in time,” he said.

AfterTrump’sabrupt suspension of the initiative, two U.S. officials said the administration wasstill deciding whether,and how,toproceed with planning, followingthe State Department’s formal request forsupport from countries last week.

The officials, who spoke on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said

Trump’sannouncementhad not been expected and that they had not been offered detailed guidance on whether to withdrawthe requests forsupport.

U.S. allieslike Britainand Francehave rejected onagain, off-againsuggestions from Trumpthat they become militarily involved, but they have led the formation of aseparate international maritime coalition to secure the strait —but only once the threat to shipping ends. The issue only hasbeen more complicated by Trump’strip to Beijing next week.

“Going to Chinawhile the strait remains closed is humiliating forPresident Trump and puts China in a position of strengthvis-a-vis the United States, because President Trumpwould have to, as he has done recently, ask forChina’shelp to resolve aproblem that didn’t exist before he launcheda war,”Vaez said.

ISNAPHOTO By AMIRHOSEIN KHORGOOI

Oil tankers sit at anchor offshore Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran.

“The School Board will advise the superintendent on the appropriate next steps regarding Comeaux High School. Any future actions, including potential hearings or agenda items, will be determined through that process and communicated publicly once finalized.”

The board on April 15 rescinded its March 12 vote to close Comeaux High and restart the closure process. According to the school system’s District Administrative Rule, the board “shall” hold at least one public hearing before voting to close a school Closures “will be adopted with as much advance notice as is reasonably possible,” the policy states LaJaunie in March filed a lawsuit, later joined by others, alleging the School Board violated its own rules and the state open meetings law when it voted on March 12 to close Comeaux High at the end of the current school year without holding a public hearing.

Last week, a hearing on the lawsuit was suspended as the two sides attempted to reach a settlement agreement.

The School Board met in special session Monday, behind closed doors, for more than two hours,

MILLIONS

Continued from page 1A

Louisiana’s commissioner of higher education, said the board dissolved the metric to comply with Trump’s executive orders prohibiting the federal government and federal contractors from maintaining DEI programs.

In an executive order on March 26, Trump said individuals are separated on the basis of race and ethnicity in DEI initiatives “rather than treated equally and objectively based on their merit and without regard to their immutable characteristics.”

“There’s been significant conversation about racebased metrics, so we removed it in the formula,” Reed said.

Among Louisiana’s four public university systems, the historically Black Southern University system will lose the most: roughly $1.5 million, the Board of Regents estimates based on numbers from the previous fiscal year

The Southern University system’s total appropriated funds for that year were $191.9 million, according to its budget report

The individual schools most affected by the change are the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge and Louisiana’s other public HBCU, Grambling State University, of the University of Louisiana system.

“It may not seem like a lot for three universities, but for us, that’s a significant cut,” McMeans said, referring to Southern’s campuses

DEATH

Continued from page 1A

criminal justice system “one step closer” to delivering “true justice” for victims.

“I promised the people of this State and the city of Baton Rouge action after the tragic shooting at the Mall of Louisiana,” Landry said Capital defense attorneys were quick to pan the proposal, which they criticized as overly broad and said nearly eliminates the distinction between first- and second-degree murder They also argued that killings by people who fire into crowds already count as first-degree murder The amendment to HB102 comes at Landry’s request, according to state Rep. Jeffrey Wiley, R-Maurepas, who is sponsoring the bill and expressed fervent support for the new version. Wiley said the bill ensures there are “real, serious consequences” for heinous crimes, and that expanding the definition of first-degree murder to cover people on bail or parole would create a “catchall.”

“When you’re looking to prosecute, you’re looking for all kinds of piling on of charges that you can make

but the two sides could not reach an agreement LaJaunie, addressing the news media after the hearing Wednesday morning, said one of the hangups was that she wanted a guaran-

tee that the school system would not retaliate against employees, particularly employees who testified during the court hearing. The board would not agree to that clause, she said.

Comeaux High Principal Erin Atkins and Lafayette High Principal Layne Edelman were subpoenaed and testified in the April 29 court hearing Both said they feared retaliation.

Effects by system

How Louisiana's public university systems were impacted by removing the underrepresented minority completer metric according to fiscal year 2025 formula calculations.

in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport “It’s one that we don’t want to think about trying to make decisions on how we’re going to overcome.”

Southern recently requested an additional $19 million in one-time funding to address campus safety and infrastructure, including the ailing power grid that forced classes to be delayed or canceled three times since February

“We’re trying to go in the other direction and increase our revenues and increase our funding and our fiscal stability,” McMeans said.

“Having a decrease in funding in our base — it’s not a one-time cut; this is our base it will definitely negatively impact us as a system.”

Some non-HBCUs will benefit from the redistribution of dollars through other metrics used to determine funding, such as the benchmark that rewards universities for graduating Pell Grant recipients The LSU system could receive approximately $1.2 million in additional funding once the race-based metric disap-

to make sure you keep them where you need to be, which is in jail forever,” he added. In its original form, HB102 created the crime of second-degree cruelty to the elderly and persons with infirmities. Then, on April 23, a mass shooting at the Mall of Louisiana resulted in the death of 17-year-old Martha Odom and injured five other people. Police said multiple people fired on each other; officials booked Markel Lee, 17, on a count of first-degree murder in the killing That prompted the amendment to HB102, according to state Sen Alan Seabaugh, RShreveport, who drafted it to ensure that killing someone after firing into a crowd counts as first-degree murder, even if the victim was not the intended target, he said on the Senate floor Tuesday evening. The new law would address situations where “an innocent person was shot while the perpetrator was trying to kill somebody else,” Seabaugh said. “It’s taking away that ‘I wasn’t trying to kill her, I was trying to kill him.’”

Capital defense attorneys noted that Seabaugh’s amendment goes even further than he described. “Such a huge change

pears from the formula, according to Board of Regents estimates for fiscal year 2025.

“I think it was President McMeans, the interim president of Southern, who said something to the effect of, ‘Where you stand depends on where you sit,’” University of Louisiana system President Rick Gallot said. “This change does impact some of our institutions, but it also helps other institutions.”

Federal investigation

The Board of Regents divides money from the Legislature between public universities using a funding formula. The equation has been run with a “standstill,” or frozen, budget for three years.

“It doesn’t create funding, but it allocates funding based on priorities,” Reed said.

In the past decade, the formula has increasingly focused on educational outcomes, funneling dollars according to benchmarks like Pell Grant graduates, adult learner graduates and the

shouldn’t be made as a floor amendment with little debate,” said Cecelia Kappel, an attorney who represents people on death row “We already have a much broader definition than in other states. I think this would make us an extreme outlier.”

What would change

In Louisiana, a killing does not need to be premeditated to count as first-degree murder, Kappel said. Instead, it must be committed only with “specific intent to kill or inflict bodily harm” — which Kappel said can be formed “in an instant” — and meet one of a long list of conditions outlined in state statute.

For example, defendants can face the charge if the victim is a child, firefighter or elderly person, or if the crime is carried out during an act of terrorism or in the middle of a rape or burglary. If HB102 becomes law, Kappel predicted prosecutors would use the wider definition as a tool to pressure more defendants to plead to life in prison. She said it was unlikely that HB102 would greatly increase how many defendants actually end up sentenced to death in Louisiana. In only a small portion of first-degree murder

time to a degree for firsttime freshmen.

The board decided to remove its underrepresented minority benchmark last year as an anti-DEI wave, led by the White House, began to sweep through higher education, Reed said. The change will take effect when the formula is run for the upcoming fiscal year

The move occurs as the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation into the Louisiana Board of Regents in February over its DEI policies and what the department said were potential violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

At issue were the higher education board’s executive budget documents in recent years, in which the board included performance targets for the state’s public colleges and universities to increase the number of “underrepresented minorities (all races other than white, Asian)” receiving postsecondary credentials.

“The Louisiana Board of Regents’ objective to prioritize recruitment and graduation efforts for ‘all

cases do prosecutors seek the death penalty, and juries do not always approve it, she said.

But the legislation would expand which defendants are entitled to capital defense teams, Kappel said, adding that a specialized defense has to be offered whenever the death penalty is on the table, even if the prosecutor eventually decides against seeking it.

That could be costly to the state and “threaten to bankrupt the public defense system,” Kappel contended.

Capital cases are generally more expensive than others to defend, and the state typically contracts with outside attorneys to handle them. The size of the capital defense budget has long been a point of contention among state officials.

State Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and plays a key role in drafting the state budget, said any additional costs would be worth the benefit to public safety

“What’s the value of a life?” he said. “The public doesn’t care what the cost is to feel safe.”

The House still needs to approve the new version of HB102, which passed the Senate 35-0.

Another item in the rejected settlement proposal would have allowed Comeaux High to remain open until a District 2 board member is elected by the public.

On April 15, the board appointed Ted Davidson to temporarily fill the District 2 seat following the resignation of Chad Desormeaux on April 1 after his arrest on shoplifting charges. The election to fill Desormeaux’s unexpired term will be in the fall.

The school system on Wednesday afternoon shared an opinion dated April 29 from the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office in response to a complaint that the board violated the open meetings law on March 12.

The complaint alleged the violation occurred as board members had side discussions during the meeting which represented “collaboration in predetermining the outcome” of the vote.

The Attorney General’s Office, however, opined that the side conversations during the lengthy meeting were not unreasonable and did not violate the open meetings law Brian Blackwell, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said they do not plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The next regular School Board meeting is May 14.

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com

races other than white (and) Asian’ appears to blatantly violate not only America’s antidiscrimination laws, but our nation’s core principles,”

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a news release in February

What’s next for HBCUs

While the formula shakeup will result in some dollars being regained through other metrics, Louisiana’s HBCUs still come out with the biggest losses.

Southern University in Baton Rouge and Grambling State University in Grambling would have missed out on $1.1 million and $899,000, respectively, in fiscal year 2025 had the race-based incentive not been included in the formula, according to Board of Regents estimates.

“Certainly, they have the ability to weather the storm,” Gallot said about Grambling. “But as we think about the goal of attainment of a degree or a credential of value, and when you have approximately a third of your state’s population being minority not only does it have an impact on individual institutions, but it has an impact on overall support for students all across the state.”

Tramelle Howard, Southern University alumnus and Louisiana director of the Washington, D.C.-based education policy group EdTrust, said the absence

of the underrepresented minority metric this year is disappointing. He said higher education leaders have different strategies for how to handle antiDEI pushback. Some continue to follow the practices by a different name, while others “overcomply” and root out all measures that benefit students from diverse backgrounds. “They have been overcomplying and responding to a narrative,” Howard said of Louisiana leaders. “I do think it’s about the pendulum swinging, but I think the damages are going to be so longstanding that even when the pendulum swings in a different direction, it’s going to take some real, intentional, innovative work to ensure that we can actually live out the promises of what education should be.” He said Louisiana’s HBCUs will need to seek more philanthropic dollars, but the change only adds more barriers to universities that struggle to access state funding at the same rate as their flagship counterparts. “I feel like right now HBCUs are being served in a policy space that we did not create,” Howard said. “We literally created institutions because people didn’t want us to go to other institutions, and now we create our institutions, we’re doing more with less, and you’re still trying to put us under attack.”

STAFF PHOTO By CLAIRE TAyLOR

Suzanne LaJaunie and others involved in a lawsuit against the Lafayette Parish School Board over the vote to close Comeaux High School address the news media on Wednesday in front of the

Southern Republicanspress aheadwithredistricting

BY TRAVIS LOLLER, KIM CHANDLER, JEFFREY COLLINS and DAVIDA.LIEB Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Republicansin several Southern states pressed aheadwithanaggressiveelectionyear redistricting effort Wednesday,undeterred by demonstrations and objections to their plans to reshape majority-Black congressional districts that have suddenly become susceptible because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

In Tennessee, protesters interrupted legislative hearingsonthe redistricting plans, prompting lawmakers to temporarily suspend their work.

Despite passionate pleas from Black Democratic lawmakers, Republicans in the Alabama House approved ameasuretoupend the state’s congressional primaries if courts allow them to switch their U.S. House districts.

The stakes are high for minority voters who standtolosetheir preferredrepresentatives and for any Republican lawmakers reluctant to follow President Donald Trump’swishes.

The Supreme Court ruledlast week that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a

second Black-majority House districtasitattempted to comply with theVoting Rights Act. Theruling significantly altered adecades-old understanding of the law,giving Republicans in Louisiana and elsewhere grounds to try to eliminate majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats.

Theruling intensified an already fierce national redistrictingbattle ahead of aNovember midterm electionthatwill determine control of the closely divided House.

Plan splits up Memphis

Republicans on Wednesday proposedanew U.S.House map that would splitMemphis’ home of Shelby County into three districts instead of thecurrent two.The map wouldbreak up Tennessee’slone Democratic-held district,centered on themajority-Black city,creating aripple effectofalterations to districts throughout the western and centralparts of the state.

“Tennessee is aconservative state,and our congressionaldelegation should reflect that. This bill ensures itdoes,” Republican state Sen. John Stevens said.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the proposed districts weredrawnbased on popu-

lation and politics, not racial data.

To adoptnew Housedistricts Tennesseelawmakers also are seeking to repeal astate law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting.

Democratsand civil rights activists denounced the efforts during Wednesday’scommittee hearings.

The proposal “is Black votedilution at an industrial scale,” said Sekou Franklin, apolitical-science professor at Middle Tennessee StateUniversity who is part of the Tennessee branch of the NAACP Protesters interrupted aSenate committee meeting, loudlychanting“Handsoff ourvote!”After senatorssuspended thehearing, statetrooperscleared people from theroom. Senators resumed their work elsewhere, advancingthe legislation.

Later Wednesday, protesters in thehallway beat on the walls and doorsofacommittee room where senators weremeeting. AHouse committee alsopaused its work as state troopers escorted chanting protesters from theroom

Thecandidatequalifying period in Tennessee ended in March, but legislation would reopen it to allow new candidates tojoin the races and existing candidates to switch districts.The primary election is

Aug. 6. Democrats noted that the state Supreme Court in April 2022 rejecteda challenge to thecurrent congressional map, finding it was tooclose to the election to make changes. This year,there’seven less time before the primary elections, raising the potential of confusion for both candidates and voters, Democrats said.

AlabamaHouse primary?

The Republican-led Alabama House on Wednesday passed legislation authorizing special congressional primariesasRepublicans eye the possibility of getting adifferent congressional map in place for the November elections. The bill now moves to the state Senate. Alabama is seeking to lift afederal court order that created a second congressional district with anear-majority of Black voters.

That mapled to the2024election of Rep.Shomari Figures, aBlack Democrat. Republicanswantinstead to use a2023map drawn by state lawmakers that would give theGOP an opportunity to reclaim Figures’south Alabamadistrict.

The legislationwon approval on aparty-linevote after four hours of fiery debate during whichBlack

legislators said the moment calls backtothe state’sshameful Jim Crow-era history

Alabama’slegislation hingeson the U.S. Supreme Court or adistrict court agreeing to lift the injunction. Alabama’sprimaries are May 19. If acourt grants the state’srequest, the legislation would ignore the results forcongressional seats and direct the governor to schedulea newprimary underthe revised districts.

Clyburn’sdistrictatrisk

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn hasrepresentedSouth Carolina’s 6th CongressionalDistrict since it was redrawn in 1992 to favorminorityvoters. He’s running foran18th term. But winning reelection could be harder forhim if Republicans redraw his district. Acommittee on Wednesday easily passed aproposal that could allow South Carolina lawmakers to consider drawingnew congressional districts. Republicans have asupermajority,but someare concerned that an attempt to redraw the map to eliminatethe state’sloneDemocratic representative could backfire and create up to two districts where Democrats arecompetitive

BY THOMAS BEAUMONT and BILL BARROW Associated Press

Five months ago, President DonaldTrump was stinging from one of the first politicaldefeats of his second term as Republican state senators defied him on redistricting in Indiana. Now he hasproved he can still punish wayward party members after he endorsed aslate of challengers who defeated almost every one of the lawmakers he wanted to dislodge. But that success may not help Republicans’ odds in November’s midterm elections, when Trump’s sagging poll numbers, lingering inflation and frustration over the war with Iran have boosted Democrats’ chance of retakingcontrol of Congress. Some Republicans are worried that intraparty fights arecosting time and moneythat

should be focused on defending their majorities in Washington.

“Every dollargoing toward keepingseats we already have, and not winning ones we don’t, really matters,”said Rick Tyler,aRepublican strategist who has been critical of thepresident. Trumpdoesn’t seem to have any second thoughts about purging his party of dissenters. Indiana’s primary will likely bolster his confidence in other primaries this month, as he tries to oust U.S.Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana andU.S Rep.ThomasMassie of Kentucky

It also ratchets up the pressure on Republican lawmakers in other states to move aggressively to redraw congressional district boundaries this year

State Sen. Linda Rogers, one of the Indiana lawmakers whovoted against redistricting andlosther seatTuesday,saidthe outcomeof

this week’sprimary “will probably discourage others in other states.”

“If someoneisgoing to ask you to take atough vote, you may think twice about your conscience and what’sbestfor your community andinstead what’sbestfor youand your career,”she said.

Indiana Gov.MikeBraun, who sided with Trump, said it was a “historicnight”and he thanked Republican voters who“stood with me and President Trumptonominatesome greatAmerica First conservatives.” Redistricting efforts began last year when Trumpsaw an opportunity to give Republicansanadditional edge.Indianastood out as a Republican-run state that declined to give Trump what he wanted, even as GOP- andDemocratic-led statestradedgerrymandering maneuvers in anational competition. After theIndiana Senatere-

jected the redistricting plan in December,Trumppledged to punish defiant lawmakers. Hisallies spent more than $8.3 million on races that usually seevery little spending.

Five of Trump’stargets lost their races.One won.One race was too close to call.

Trump allies celebrated theresults andwarnedother Republicans who might be thinking of opposing thepresident.

“RedistrictASAP for the November election or you face areal risk of losing your seat. No excuses,” Robby Starbuck, aconservative activist, wroteonsocial media.

“Reschedule primaries if you must but redrawthe map.Voters demandaction NOW, not weakness.”

Cassidywas amongthe Republican senatorswho votedtoconvict Trump on 2021 impeachment charges after the Jan. 6riot. But

he also hasgivenTrump consistent support. Most notably,the Baton Rouge physician advanced Robert Kennedy Jr.’scontroversial nomination as Trump’shealth secretary The two-term incumbent is campaigning aggressively against Trump’schosen candidate without mentioning the president in his attacks on Rep. Julia Letlow

“Sen. Cassidy is running likehe’s 10 points down and is pounding the pavement every day,” Cassidy campaign manager Katie Larkin said in astatement. It is unusualfor asitting president to be focused on attacking and defeating his own party members this deep into amidterm election year.And it’syieldednotable spending that is not directed at Democrats. In Louisiana, Letlow, Cassidy,and other campaign organizations have plowed

Four familiarcandidatesvying formayor

They hadpreviouslyrun in 2022

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

for St. Martinville mayor and City Council are scheduled for May 16, with early voting underway.The mayoral election features four candidateswho qualified for the ballot, eachofwhom sought the office in the previous

election held in 2022: incumbent Mayor Jason Willis, former Mayor MelindaNarcisse Mitchell, former councilmember andregistered nurse LisaNelson, and retired car repairman Mark Pratt. All four candidates vying for the seat ranin2022, with Willis and Mitchelladvancing to arunoff. At the time, Mitchell was the city’sin-

ELECTION 2026

ST.MARTINVILLE

cumbent mayor,but was ultimately defeated by Willis, 58% to 42%.

Willis says the path the city is on under his leadership is working andthatthe city’s situation willcontinue to improve if he is reelected.

“Weneed to continue to move forward. When Icame intooffice,

our crime rate was high and our citywas in disrepair.Since then, we’vebrought in $18 millionin grants and turned our $1 million deficit into asurplus,” he said.

Willis also highlightedthe city being awarded $9 million in state grantsfor sewer liftstations, sewer extensions and water consolidation during his term.Willis says his experience in applying for grants will be crucial in securing state funding for anew road project worth $12 million. The city passed ahalf-centsales taxtoqualify for matching funds and has identified alist of roads in the city in need of repair Additionally,Willis identified annexation of surrounding areas as apriority forhim should he be elected to asecond term.

BY ADAM DAIGLE

writer

“If you want to moveinto the city,you have to renovate,” he said.

OUR VIEWS

Support ourlocal librariesby renewing tax

Of all the important itemsonthe ballotMay 16, we would like to highlightone that is vital to the future of the Lafayette ParishLibrary system —the renewalofa3.12-mill property tax that generates about $8.89 million each year to fund library operations, buildingmaintenance and personnel.

In recent decades,the library system hasupgraded its facilities to meet community needs, building or renovating regional branchesin Lafayette, Youngsville, Scottand Carencro in addition to smaller satellitelocations. Alongawaited branch in northeast Lafayette will soon be under construction, set to open in 2028 on the site of the former Holy Rosary Institute

The library’sprogramming also hasexpanded to include classes in Zumbaand mahjong. It offers free meeting rooms for community groups as well as 3D printers and laser cutters in its makerspaces. It allows patronstocheck out musical instruments and receive freeaccess to other local cultural attractionswith their library card.

We say that’swell worth thepriceofthe millage. Early voting is underway andrunsthrough Saturday at designated locations around the parish. Or voters can cast aballot at theirlocal precinct on Election Day

In recent years, the library budget has been precarious, but it seems to be back on track now after some belt-tightening

The ballot measure asksvoters to approve the new millage for 10 years, beginningin2027. It is one of two property taxes that go to the library and the largestsource of funding forthe library’sroughly $14 million annual budget.The other tax, 1.84 mills, bringsinabout$5.2million ayear.

Athird tax thatwas collected forthe library was not renewedin2018, leavingthe system scrambling to replace the$3million ayear it generated. In that election, as Library Director Danny Gillane noted, voter turnout wasjust 9% —incase librarysupporters needany more evidence of why making theirvoicesheard matters. In the aftermath, thelibrary wasforced to close on Sundays and cut some programmingto meet its budget.

We know our libraryhas been thesourceof much controversy in recent years as some have sought to make it part of apolitical agenda. We understand thatwith all thechanges to voting rules that Louisiana and thenation haveseen in recentdays, some mayfeel confusedand hesitant about voting at all

But here’sthe thing. The offices at thetop of theballotget allthe attention, but inreality,ballot measureslike this have more impact on the average citizen’sday-to day life. Gillane has a simple message to votersheadingtothe polls: “Weare at the bottom of theballot. So keep going.” We echo that sentiment. Keep goingso our libraries can,too

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

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

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

TO SEND USA LETTER, SCANHERE

Democracy,socialism arenot compatible

If you read an article about “Democratic Socialists” who are now part of theDemocrat talking points, realize that those words are an oxymoron. If one is atrue socialist,one cannot be democratic. Youeither believe in democracy or socialism.You cannot mix these political beliefs. Once again, Democrats have revealed thedevious sleight-of-hand dialogue they have used to deceive voters. The latest addition to this socialist movementisthe newly elected mayor of New York City, ZohranMamdani. He fools with his constant grin, which disguises his true inner self as he leans quiteheavily to the left.

In 1961, my brilliant history professor at Nicholls State, Dr.Joe Grey Taylor,predicted thefuture regarding the spread of communism. He maintained that communism would take over America from within. Since then, I

have witnessed his prediction come to pass. Zohran is theprime example of that prediction, and he is not alone. Voters mustelect leaders who truly love America and work to expand our potential. Complacency and limited information are theenemy.Become informed, study our leaders and vote to keep America strong.Folks who love America and the principles upon which it was founded cannot rest or lower their vigilance. The aim and desired outcome of communism have never changed sinceits inception. What’s changed is the narrative designed to fool uninformed, lazy citizens. Vigilance and alertness to ourenvironmental threats are paramount to our survival. This is not ascare tactic but aharsh reality hovering over our freedom and survival as anation.

BILLYARCEMENT

Prairieville

Camp owners woulddobettertorelyonsolar

In therecent article about ongoing power issues affecting remote camps and rural properties, much of the blamewas directed toward thepower company.While it may be easy to point fingers at the utilityprovider,that perspective overlooks amore practical and forward-looking solution that rests with the camp owners themselves.

These camps are, by their very nature, located in remote andoften difficult-to-service areas. Maintaining and extending reliable grid infrastructure into suchlocations is costly,inefficient and highly vulnerable to weather and environmental disruptions. Expecting consistent,high-qualityservice under those conditions ignores both economic and logistical realities.

What makes far moresense is for camp owners to take advantage of modernenergy alternatives —specifically solar power.Remote camps are, in fact, an ideal use case for solar en-

ergy systems. With abundant sunlight in our region and significant advancements in battery storage technology, solar setups can provide dependable, independent power without relying on miles of fragile transmission lines. Rather than continuing to depend on asystem that was never designed for these conditions, camp owners should consider investing in self-sufficient energy solutions. Not only would this reduce strain on the existing grid, but it would also provide greater reliability and long-term cost savings forthe owners themselves.

In short, this is less afailure of the power company and moreareluctance to adapt to solutions that are already well within reach. It’stimetoshiftthe conversation from blametoresponsibility—and from outdated expectationstomodern solutions.

MIKENORTON Metairie

Financial literacy education lackinginLa.

Louisiana high schools are letting students downinone specificarea: financial literacy.Students graduate knowing how to write essays and solve equations but not how to budget, file taxes or understand credit. This lack of knowledge leads to longterm consequences that affect young adults throughout the state. Financial literacy is just as important as the core subjects in school, such as mathand English, because it is connected to aperson’sability to be independent in their life. After graduation, students are expected to pay rent, pay bills, file taxes and manage their credit without knowing how this works. As aresult, many young adults makemistakes with credit cards and student loans. Educators and policymakers often stress college and career readiness, yet financial readiness is missing. Astudent can graduate with strong academics but still struggle to understand interest rates and credit. Including financial literacy into the school curriculum can reflect reallifeexpectations and ensure that young adults are prepared foradulthood.

The impact is not just scholarly but personal. Many young adults enter adulthood overwhelmed by unfamiliar financial decisions. This lack of guidance leads to long-term debt and financial instability

Thereare unintended supply-chain effectsofIranwar Trump’sWar may have an effect I have not yet seen covered. Few people realize how manymeds, prescription and over-the-counter,are either imported from abroad (frequently India or China) or,ifmanufactured here,

Someargue that schools are already filled with required courses. However, financial literacy is not extra but necessary.Even aonesemester course could help students have knowledge that they will use forthe rest of their lives and help reduce financial mistakes. High school is meanttoprepare students forlifebeyond graduation, yet manystudents are still unfamiliar with basic money management. Louisiana can not succeed while withholding the mostimportant life skills. Financial literacy should be in every high school classroom.

madefrom active pharmaceutical ingredientsthat are imported. Your prescription may not be available if Trump’sWar continues.

MARIE ROUSSELLE Metairie

Baton Rougehigh school student

TAMARI STEPHENS

Court, Jeff Landry made a messyelectioneven messier

Quin Hillyer

Bewilderment in elections is abad thing. Unfortunately,that’s whatthe U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Jeff Landry have created. Whatever one thinks of the substance of the Supreme Court’srulinginthe Louisiana v. Callais redistrictingcase (my reaction is mixed, and complicated), we all shouldbedisturbedby itstiming and by Landry’s decisionto delay the U.S. Houseelectionswhile continuing to hold the Senate election and some others on May 16. In the short run,the high court dealt Louisiana abad hand,and Landry made it worse. The original “bad hand” here was not necessarily the court’s decision itself (which is debatable), but when it was issued. The Supreme Court first heard this caseargued last March, followedbymore oral argumentsin October.There was no good reason it should have taken until lateApril, after months of aprimary campaign andafter absentee voting had already begun, to issue its ruling.

Justice Brett Kavanaughina 2022 ruling (in an Alabama case) explained at great length how unfair and burdensomeitis to change election rules close to an election. Afew snippets of hisverbiage will suffice. Kavanaugh agreed then with the stateofAlabama that such last-minutechanges are “a prescription for chaos for candidates, campaign organizations,independent groups, political parties, andvoters, among others Runningelections statewide is extraordinarily complicated and difficult. Those elections require enormous advance preparations by state and local officials, and pose significant logistical challenges Abedrock tenet of election law[is that] when an election is close at hand, the rules of the road must be clear and settled.” Recognizing these undisputable realities, the court should havemade sure to issue its decision months ago. It is not Landry’sfault that the court acted slothfully When burdenedwith thelatecourt decision, Landry knew he would face legal challenges,all of themwell within reason, no matter what he did If Landry delayed the electionson the grounds that the congressional districts are unconstitutional, one side would sue to say that those who already voted absentee hadbeen disenfranchised and that the candidates and donorshad legally recognizable stakes in going ahead with the current dis-

tricts this year.Ifhedid not delay the election on grounds similar to what Kavanaugh described in 2022, the other sidewouldsue to say he had proceeded with unconstitutional districts. Nonetheless, Landry should have chosen oneoption or the other.What Landry did, though, was significantly to increase what has been described as “widespread confusion” —and perhaps increased the likelihood of adverse legalramifications, too. By continuing with theSenate election (andinaclosed primary) and a few local races, while canceling the House races (in anticipation of rescheduling them, probably in an open primary), Landrybaked asmorgasbord of conundrums. The House races remain on the ballot,but supposedly votes castinthose races this time won’t count. Yetwhat happens if alegal challenger successfully secures acourt injunction ordering the House electionstogoahead after all? Will those votescount? Andwill the early voters whoabstained from voting for House candidates get achance to go back and recast those votes? Howwould that work?

Meanwhile, the unfairness to the Senatecandidates and their supporters anddonors is palpable. With so much

confusion, how manyvoters who hear that the House races are stopped will stay away from the polls entirely?

There’snoway to tell which Senate candidates this would help or hurt, but it is anear-certainty that voter turnout patterns will be substantially affected. Consider,too, that this obvious recipe for befuddlement comes on top of asituation somevoters already found perplexing: namely,the return to closed partyprimaries after most of the past 50 years of Louisiana elections had been conducted with open primaries, meaning all candidates on one ballot regardless of partyaffiliation. What Landry did by bifurcating the election may (but probably won’t) be adjudged illegal. Whether legal or not,though, it is astonishingly unjust.

To quoteKavanaugh again, belated “tinkering withelection laws can lead to disruption and tounanticipated and unfair consequences.” It’s ashamethe court didn’theed those words. Nonetheless, Landry’sdecision to split theelection baby isn’tSolomonic; it’sjust dead wrong.

Email QuinHillyer at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com

Carlsonnearing endofthe schtick

Tucker Carlson’sproblem, it would seem, is that what he says doesn’tmatter,because he hasalong history of not saying what he thinks. True, he once starredatFox News, and even now his followers on social media number in the millions. But he’sshifted into crackpot conspiracies and turning on Donald Trump. Anything for an audience Carlson long hated Trump in his heartwhile praise poured from his mouth. The war in Iran polls poorly as does Trump, and so Carlson uses the opportunity to inflate his diminished importance by blaming himself for making Trump possible.

fakeopinions

WhenTrumptriedtooverthrow the results of the 2020 election, Carlson sent private messages doubting the Trump camp’sclaims of election fraud. “I hate him passionately,” he alsotexted.

triarch Carlson had been heralding for adecade?

On Spirit Airlines,the government protected competitionby eliminatingit

Regulators no longer have to worry that Spirit Airlinesmight upsetthe airline market by merging with the wrong competitor

The now-defunctairline made poor business decisions andhad to cope withtough circumstances, but if its demise were an Agatha Christie mystery,the fingerprints of Biden antitrust officialswould be all over the crime scene. Theseantitrust zealotsfought aproposed deal betweenJetBlue andSpirit,and congratulated themselvesona 2024 court victory that doomed Spirit to likely oblivion.

This was wanton economic destruction masquerading as antitrust enforcement.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whonever met an antitrust action she didn’tlike, exemplifies the perversity.After theBidenadministration gotafederal judge to put the kibosh on the JetBlue-Spirit deal in 2024, she celebrated: “This is aBiden win for flyers!”

Last month, as Spirit teetered on the edge of the grave, she expressed dismay: “The Big Four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the U.S. market. Fewer choices =higher prices foryou.”

Yes, it would be terrifictohave abigger,more serious challenger to the established players, wouldn’t it?Ifonlythere’dbeenaway to achieve such an outcome.

The federaljudge on theJetBlue-Spirit case conceded that “an expansion of all aspects of JetBlue’sbusiness —including network, fleet and loyalty program—would allowfor more vigorous competition with the Big Four,which carry mostpassengers in the country.”

No matter.For Bidenofficials, antitrust enforcement was ascholasticexercise wherethe definition of monopoly had no connection to reality

If JetBlue hadsucceeded in gobblingupSpirit, the airline still would have been smaller than the Big Four Worrying about JetBlue getting too big is like fretting that Thrifty —the fifthlargest car rental outlet in theUnited States after Enterprise, Hertz, Avis and Budget —isone relatively small acquisition away from establishing dominance in the car-rental market.

As forthe fear that the JetBlue-Spirit merger would end Spirit’srole as an ultra-low-cost carrier and therefore harm consumers, the airline hasnow gone away anyway, only in amore disorderly fashion.

JetBlue might wonder what Biden regulators hadagainst it. As the website View Fromthe Wing points out, JetBlue gotapprovalduring the first Trumpadministration forapartnership with American Airlines to expand in New York. Then, the Biden team showed up and killed the partnership on grounds that directly contradicted its rationale for nixing the JetBlue-Spirit deal.

“The Biden administration fought the American Airlines-JetBlue partnership,”ViewFrom the Wing notes, “calling JetBlue apro-passenger disruptorwho drivesdown prices. Thenthey turned around andclaimed that JetBluewas a monopolistwho would drive up prices if they bought Spirit.” JetBlue itself is struggling, but at least the airline is still with us.

“We’re implicated in this, for sure,” he said. “You know,we’ll be tormented by it for along time. Iwill be, andI want to say I’m sorryfor misleading people.”

On trying to mislead people, Carlson is an expert.

In 1999, he wrotethat Trumpwas “the single most repulsiveperson on the planet.” But when Trumpwas elected president in 2016, Carlson wrote aPolitico piece headlined“Donald Trump is Shocking, Vulgar and Right.” In it he gave Trump the lightest of spankings. Trump was “imperfect.”

After 2020, Carlson expressed contempt for Trump but only privately.He had ajob to keep as apolitical pundit on pro-Trump Fox News. There, hewas paid more than$15 million ayear to air

On air,though, Carlson tiptoed aroundTrump’sphony assertion that Dominion VotingSystems software helped steal millions of votes. Instead, he vaguely stated that “somethingwas wrong with the election.”

After Fox dropped Carlson as alegal liability as well as a pain in thebutt, he rebranded himself on social media. He was now apersecuted truth-teller focused on corporate power,demographic changes andother sprawling issues.

ButwhenTrumpran for reelection in 2024, Carlson jumped right back in line andheartily supported him in public. After the assassinationattempt in Butler,Pennsylvania, Carlson said the shooting “changed everything.” That’s when Trump“becamethe leader of this nation,” he said. Thus, a“commentator” who wrote in an email that Trump’s first termwas “a disaster with no upside” started campaigning for him. As awarm-up act at a Trump rally,Carlson did his icky “Dad comes home” routine. In Carlson’s recent telling, Trumphas been manipulated by Israel’sBenjamin Netanyahu into entering the war in Iran. If true, where was the strong pa-

It is Netanyahu’sjob to look after Israel’sinterests. It is the American president’s job to look after America’s interests. Often those interests align, but sometimes they don’t.

Netanyahu had urged other presidentstostrikeIran, but theother presidentsdeclined. There may be an argument for stopping the exporter of terrorism from developing nuclear weapons. Toobad Trump’sbig mouth couldn’tstop itself from hurting the cause with bloodthirsty threatsagainst Iran’scivilization.

Ishare Carlson’sdispleasure at Trump’smany character flaws, but I didn’tcover them up when Trumpwas morepopular.Nor did Ibuy intothe president’s vows to save Obamacare or “drain theswamp” of Washington corruption. Only suckers would believe a man whostiffed his workers, oversaw six bankruptcies and transparently lied about Barack Obama not being American-born.

Carlson wasn’tasucker.Heknew like Trump, how to play thechumps by selling himself as an honest man speaking his mind. Nonetheless, The New York Times just ran along interview credulously titled “What Does Tucker Carlson Really Believe?” Unbelievable.

FromaHarrop is on X, @FromaHarrop Email her at fharrop@gmail.com

Spirit hada good run basedonits initialdisruption of the industry.The airline’sidea was to make abasic fare extremely cheap, andthen charge passengers fees for everything taken for granted at other airlines (drinks, carry-on bags, etc.).

The customer experiencewas terrible,though. And Spirit got buffeted by changes during the pandemic, while more establishedairlines matchedits fareswith basic economy.Spirit stopped making money in 2019. With the JetBlue deal blocked, it couldn’tget an alternative merger done. It declared bankruptcy in 2024, and then again in August 2025. Therecent spike in jet-fuel prices pushed it over the edge.

Elizabeth Warren was quick to say that “Trump’swar wasthe nail in the coffinfor twicebankrupted SpiritAirlines.” Well, yeah. But its vulnerable state underlines how foolish it wasto keep it from getting the lifeline it so desperately needed from amerger

Ronald Reagan said the mostterrifying words in the English language are, “I’m fromthe government, and I’mhere to help.” The Spirit fiasco shows that perhaps equally frightening are the words, “I’m with the DOJ antitrust divisionand I’mhere to protect consumers.”

RichLowry is on X, @RichLowry

Froma Harrop

Rich Lowry

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Voters followthe signs to the pollinglocation at the Louisiana State Archives.

Host, teen brothers speak after release from ICE

Students were detained for over a week

BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer

Gail Baptiste is tired and relieved. She reunited last week with Israel and Max Makoka, the teenage brothers her family cares for, after they were released from the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The brothers had been detained for over a week after immigration agents arrested them as they walked to their school bus stop in Diamondhead, Mississippi.

The Makokas returned home after an outcry from their conservative Mississippi Gulf Coast city Baptiste said the experience is now galvanizing her to advocate for others in similar situations as the Makokas seek reinstatement of their student visas.

“People came together and really became united in this situation,”

Baptiste said. “But I don’t want it to stop with Max and Israel.”

For more than two decades, Baptiste and her family have hosted dozens of international students at their home in Diamondhead. But they made national news last month after the arrests of Israel, 18, and Max, 15.

The Makokas, from the Republic of the Congo, entered the U.S. on student visas in 2023 and 2024 and attended the Piney Woods School, a historically Black boarding institution in central Mississippi. They stayed with the Baptistes during summers and holidays and asked to transfer to Hancock High School, near Diamondhead, last year The Baptistes also became their legal guardians.

The Baptistes and their attorney say they were never notified that the move would change the brothers’ legal status. ICE has said the brothers violated their student visas by transferring from the private school in central Mississippi to the public Hancock High School on the coast.

“Because they violated their visas, they are subject to removal,”

LEGO

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skill levels. Organizers say the event will include galleries of large-scale LEGO models, build zones stocked with thousands of bricks and opportunities to meet professional LEGO artists. Appearances from participants of the television show “LEGO Masters” are also planned.

MOTEL

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he wants to convert into a unique boutique hotel. He and his ownership group bought the building over four years ago for $1.35 million.

Lt. Gov Billy Nungesser attended the event.

NEWSPAPER

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The idea began when Audrey would make handmade mini newspapers at home that she passed around the breakfast table for family

“At night I couldn’t sleep, so I would make mini newspapers and pass them out at breakfast,” Audrey said “Then the 24 Hour Citizen Project was my chance to make it a real thing.”

The newspaper includes a mix of short stories, poems, trivia and artwork, along with a calendar of free local events geared toward families.

Her father, Luke Dupre, said one of the project’s defining features is its focus on print in an increasingly digital world.

“A lot of the questions she got was, ‘Is this going to be digital?’” he said. “And she was like, no, this is print on paper You’ve got to go out and find it; it’s something in your hand.”

Both said the goal is to offer kids an alternative to constant screen time. Audrey, who balances the project with school dance, soccer and other activities, said she has enjoyed reading and writing since first grade.

“It’s interesting to us because it’s written by children for children,” Audrey

an ICE spokesperson said last month.

The brothers were held in separate ICE facilities — one in Houston, the other in Jena according to their family Their detention came as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration, including by increasing scrutiny on international students studying in the United States.

‘What can we do?’

For the past few days, Baptiste said she has been deep in thought and trying to stay away from social media as the teenagers process the experience and readjust to school.

On Monday, the family drove to a check-in at an ICE facility in St. Rose. Amy Maldonado, an attorney representing the Makoka brothers, has said they will participate in frequent ICE check-ins and court proceedings.

The Makoka brothers garnered support from their neighbors and leaders, and Baptiste said the office of Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith also helped the family find a top immigration attorney and answered questions about the

The upcoming LEGO convention on July 18-19 at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette will feature displays, activities and interactions with LEGO artists from across the U.S

MAYOR

federal immigration process.

The Makoka brothers garnered support from their neighbors and leaders, and Baptiste said the office of Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith also helped the family find a top immigration attorney and answered questions about the federal immigration process.

Now, Baptiste is thinking about other children who lack similar support.

“It’s just been really on my heart and on my mind,” she said. “What can we do? What should we do?”

The brothers say they are deeply grateful to be back home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Baptistes drove for hours to pick them up from the detention centers last week.

“I’m grateful to be back with my family,” Israel said. “Everybody showed support.”

“It’s been great to go to school and see my teachers, my friends,” said Max. “Everybody keeps saying, ‘Hey Max, I’m glad you’re back.’”

Hosting international students

Baptiste estimates her family

has hosted about 100 students over the years, giving them a place to stay during summers and school breaks. The Makokas are the only international students who have lived with them.

Many students the Baptistes have hosted arrived from countries including the Congo, Rwanda and Cameroon, and are now adults with college degrees. Baptiste said one of them is now determined to get a doctorate degree.

Many residents in Hancock County, where Donald Trump won almost 80% of the vote in the last presidential election, rallied to support the brothers, including by writing letters in support of their release and calling federal representatives’ offices Others questioned the outcry and argued ICE had to detain the brothers since their legal status had lapsed.

Baptiste said she is determined to work toward a greater solution.

“I feel responsible for somebody else’s children that I have taken as my own,” she said. “I do want this to make a difference for other people, other kids, other families, if at all possible.”

Additional attractions include themed areas such as a “Star Wars” display, a medieval-style castle build zone and vendor spaces selling LEGO sets and merchandise.

A fan zone will showcase creations from local builders.

A portion of proceeds from the event will benefit Creations for Charity, a nonprofit that provides LEGO sets to children in need during the holidays.

Event organizers said the convention has raised more

LCG filed a notice of seizure on the property late last year after assessing violations on the property. A lien was placed on the property last March, and court records indicated then fines totaled $26,215 along with a daily fine of $75 for every day repairs were not made. Daggula and his ownership group stopped it from going to a sheriff’s sale in

said. “And if you don’t like to read, you can still look through it.”

Much of the content comes directly from student contributors, often with minimal direction. Luke Dupre said some of the most meaningful submissions have been unexpected.

“One kid wrote about being the new kid at school and how he made friends,” he said. “Another wrote about investing. It’s interesting to see what these kids come up with.”

The publication accepts submissions from students in kindergarten through eighth grade, as well as classroom contributions from teachers, as long as the content is centered on kids. Despite early success, Audrey expressed that one of the biggest challenges has been encouraging more students to participate.

“It’s kind of still new, so it’s hard to get people to submit,” she said. “But after I showed it at my school, I got like three or four submissions in one day.”

Lafayette Kid News gained support after Audrey presented the idea at the 24 Hour Citizen Project, where it was selected as one of five projects to receive funding.

The first issue was published in February, with the second released in May as part of its quarterly schedule.

Published four times a year, the newspaper is avail-

than $30,000 for the organization since 2023. The group has also partnered with Vet Tix to distribute free tickets to military members, veterans and their families, including families of those killed in action. Organizers said more than $70,000 worth of tickets were donated in 2025. Tickets are $15 and are available for either Saturday, July 18, or Sunday, July 19. Tickets can be purchased at brickconvention.com.

February, Mayor-President Monique Boulet said.

LCG cited Daggula for not removing graffiti on the building’s exterior, not maintaining the building’s exterior and overhangs, failing to maintain the pool and not installing a fence around it, records show

Email Adam Daigle at adaigle@theadvocate.com.

able for free at local libraries, the Children’s Museum of Acadiana and other community locations.

For Luke Dupre, watching the project grow has been both rewarding and unexpected.

“It makes us as parents feel really great,” he said.

“She’s always liked to contribute and help out the community, and this is a way she can do that while having fun. It’s been inspiring to watch her.”

The newspaper operates under a nonprofit structure and remains free to readers, though Dupre said they plan to seek community support to help sustain printing costs. Each issue follows a seasonal theme and includes recurring features such as creative writing and puzzles. Audrey currently contributes a “letter from the editor” and said she may write more stories in future editions

LOTTERY

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2026

PICK 3: 6-2-4

PICK 4: 3-1-9-4 PICK 5: 7-7-0-4-2

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“You can’t build here because there is no room We have fields outside the city we could annex if the parish allows us to. We could see ourselves becoming the next bedroom community in the area.”

Former Mayor Mitchell was elected to the position in 2018 on a platform of bringing businesses into the community, but she came up short in her reelection bid in 2022.

In her first term, Mitchell was able to secure roughly $800,000 in grant money for sewer and drainage projects in the city. Mitchell, who now teaches kindergarten, is mounting a comeback that highlights a need for the city to develop additional evacuation routes in case of weather emergencies and additional resources for emergency responses. Mitchell has also expressed a desire for the city to provide direct support for local businesses and entrepreneurs to grow the local economy as well as new educational programs for local students. Mitchell was unavailable for an interview for this article.

Willis has argued that the city is more unified under his leadership than it was under Mitchell.

“We’ve got a lot of unity in the city right now That doesn’t mean we all agree on everything, but we are all focused on making the

Looking ahead, the paper’s main goal is simple: increasing participation.

“If I could have one goal for this paper, it’s probably to get more submissions from kids,” she said. The publication is current-

city better and having those discussions,” Willis said.

Former council member Nelson disputed Willis’ claims of unity, stating, “I don’t see where he’s actually created unity right now I know a lot of residents don’t feel heard.

Nelson criticized the decision of the city to incorporate under the Lawrason Act, a move that was the source of some contention within the city

“I know a lot of things can be better,” she said. “Electrical rates are outrageous. I would conduct a full financial and operational review of those services and contracts to try and lower costs. I don’t think there was any negotiating of those contracts the last time they were signed.”

Nelson criticized what she described as a slow delivery on infrastructure improvements following the passage of a sales tax by the city, arguing that past leaders have waited too long to address concerns with road quality

“We need to prioritize infrastructure and roads because some are in disrepair,” she said. “Since the city passed the infrastructure sales tax, we haven’t seen anything. We need to be proactive and not deal with problems as they emerge.”

Nelson also spoke on transparency and community safety as top priorities for her if elected.

“Economic tourism is one of the big areas for growth here,” she said. “St. Martinville used to be a big hub

ly operating at about half of its 40-page capacity Audrey and her team, including her brother, have distributed newspapers at local libraries and the Children’s Museum in an effort to build awareness and are working to ex-

for tourism in the area, and it just doesn’t happen as much anymore.”

Nelson came in third place with 21% of the vote in 2022, running ahead of two other candidates, including one of her opponents in the present election, Pratt, who received 1%.

Pratt, a retired car repairman, is the only candidate in the race without prior governmental experience. Pratt’s primary goal for the city involves connecting with leaders and elected officials from across the state to attract growth to the area

“I would like to build St. Martinville up to a new level. I think the only way to do that is to do a better job communicating with state representatives,” he said. “You’ve got to become a part of the system to improve.” His proposals include working with Lafayette city officials to connect St. Martinville to its public transit system and the development of a homeless shelter in the community Pratt also expressed interest in an increased presence in youth-centered activities in the community

“The city needs a strong representative to shake the bush a little bit,” Pratt said. “I don’t think anyone else running for mayor can provide the connections we need moving forward.” Early voting will continue through Saturday Election day is May 16. Visit voterportal.sos.la.gov for more information on upcoming elections.

pand distribution to public schools.

Submissions, including jokes, comics, artwork, short stories, poems and advice, can be emailed to LafayetteKidNews@gmail. com.

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

As Alvin Kamara’sstatus with the New Orleans Saints remains up in theair for next season, former safety Tyrann Mathieu said he thinks the black and gold are mistreating their all-time leading rusher On his podcast, Mathieu aNew Orleans native who playedfor theSaintsand with Kamarafrom 20222024 —took theteam

BA TO THE WALL’

If you met Steven Milam, the LSU shortstopwould likely strike you as asoft-spoken man whowould rather let his leather glove or his aluminum alloy bat do the talking When he does speak,hespeaks plainly.And what he said Tuesday night in the LSU clubhouse after a 13-6 victory over Tulane spoke volumesabout theTigers’ present plight

general manager Mickey Loomis have been coy regarding the running back’s future with the team Mathieu disagrees with the approach. “I don’tthink the Saints are dealing with this in good faith,” Mathieu said. “I don’t think so. This

Scott Rabalais

“I don’twant to go home,” Milamsaid. “I want to win another nationalchampionship.”

This time ayear ago, Milam andthe 2025 LSU baseball team were on theirway to the program’seighth national championship. Thebiggest questionconfrontingthe Tigers then waswhether ornot they could stack up enoughvictoriestoearn atop-eightnationalseed, thus allowing LSU to stay at homeatAlexBoxStadium before making thetrip to Omaha, Nebraska,for the

College World Series. They did. The Tigers were theNo. 6national seed. Asidefrom nearly gettingsunk by an unheralded iceberg named Little Rock in theNCAA regional, those Tigers fulfilled LSU’s annual manifest destiny ambitions and claimed that trophy.Itwas asuccessful quest for pride, achievement,and aplace on the wall as one of this rich program’sforever teams. These Tigers face adifferent, unfamiliar (for LSU) quest:survival. Beingworthy of not winning the NCAA Tournament,but just earning atoehold in it Lessthan two weeksago, it looked as though the Tigers’ cochon de lait was cooked. LSU was coming off an 0-4 week that included athree-gamesweep at Mississippi State, the last of an unprecedented threestraight

ä See RABALAIS, page 4C

LSU coach JayJohnson makes apitching change in the first inning of agame against SoutheasternonApril 28 at Alex Box Stadium. PHOTO By MICHAEL BACIGALUPI

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The UNO Privateers were apparentlyin no mood to allow UL to keep rollingoff home victories, and the Ragin’Cajuns gave the visitors plenty of help

The Privateers scored three runsinthe top of the10th on one hit to claim a9-6 extra-inning win over theCajunson Tuesday at Russo Park UL issued two walks and hit two batters in thedecisive 10th inning.Dathan Cummings added atwo-run single to right as well forthe winning rally

That disastrous 10th wrapped up agame that saw UL pitching walk 10 batters and hit seven more for 17 free bases.

“It was ugly,” UL coach MattDeggs said. “All we can do now is flush it and move on.

“Wedidn’tplay good enough to win, obviously.We didn’tcoach wellenough to win or play wellenough to win. We couldn’thave beaten the Bad News Bears tonight.” Before the 10th, it appeared the Cajuns would pull out the win despite the sloppy pitching. Down 6-4going to thebottomof theninth,ColtBrown crushed atwo-run triple to left-center to tie the game with one out.

Instead of getting Brown home with the game-winning run,though, Steven Spalitta’sshottosecond resulted in atag at the platetoend thethreat “Wehad alpha ABs like that all night long and that’swhat we did,”Deggs said. With aloss in the fi

BY TOYLOYBROWN III Staff writer

LSU is no longer

center reportedly waspursued by Kentucky,according to Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68. The 23-year-old Santos is averaging 7.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.7 blocksand 1.4 turnovers in 17.8 minutes per game in 17 games forMaccabiTel Aviv in Israel.He’salso shooting 52.7% from the field, 12.1% fromthe 3-point line on 1.9 attempts and 73.1% from thefree-throw line. Histeam is currently18-1 in theIsraeliBasketballPremierLeague Santos was born in Brazil and wentundrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft. He is playing his first season in the Euroleague, the highest level of competition outside of the United States. In 37 gamesfor Maccabi TelAviv, he’saveraging 6.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.2 fouls in 14.1 minutes. He is also shooting

Mathieu

STAFF FILE PHOTOByDAVID GRUNFELD Saints running backAlvin Kamara warms up before agame against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 14 at the Caesars Superdome.

Kostyuk withdraws from Italian Open with injuries

ROME Fresh off the biggest title of her career, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine withdrew from the Italian Open due to hip and ankle issues.

Kostyuk won the Madrid Open on Saturday and is up to a careerbest No. 15 in the rankings this week. Having also won another clay-court title in Rouen, France, the week before Madrid, Kostyuk is on an 11-match winning streak.

McIlroy more motivated than ever

McIlroy set for Truist tourney after 3-week layoff

BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Rory McIlroy appeared rested and relaxed as he prepared for his first tournament since repeating as Masters champion.

Just don’t let that be confused with complacency

The world’s No. 2-ranked player said he feels “more motivated” than ever heading into a major stretch that includes the PGA Championship next week outside of Philadelphia and the U.S. Open next month at Shinnecock Hills. First up though is this week’s Truist Championship at Quail Hollow, where McIlroy earned his first PGA Tour victory 16 years ago and has won four times.

“I’m excited for the road ahead,” the six-time major champion said Wednesday after his Pro-Am round.

It’s been more than three weeks since McIlroy slipped on the green jacket for a second time after becoming just the fourth player in 90 years to go back-to-back at the Masters.

He described this year’s postMasters break from golf as “less hectic” than last year’s whirlwind tour

The 37-year-old McIlroy spent most of his time at his home in Jupiter, Florida, although he did visit New York with his wife Erica Stoll and attended a White House state dinner held for King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

But it’s what he didn’t do that has left him feeling refreshed.

He didn’t travel back home to Northern Ireland to celebrate his Masters win like he did in 2025, largely because his parents were already in the United States to see it in person. They skipped last year’s Masters so as not to jinx their son’s chances of completing the career grand slam after years of disappointment.

He also didn’t do the media rounds, electing for more “chill” time at home, allowing him to take

his daughter Poppy to tennis lessons.

“I gave myself a good 10 days to enjoy myself and then thought I needed to get back on the range and start to practice and get ready for this stretch coming up,” McIlroy said.

The stretch begins Thursday with the tuneup at Quail Hollow, a place where McIlroy is adored by fans and often serenaded with the “Happy Birthday” song given the tournament often falls during his birthday

He was 20 when he won his first PGA tournament here, earning him immediate popularity in Charlotte.

In some ways, he’s become the city’s adopted golfer

He has won here four times on a course that sets up perfectly to complement his length off the tee, including a dominant seven-shot victory in 2015 in which he established a new tournament record at 21-under 267 after a third-round 61.

“I really feel like this tourna-

ment got my career going,” McIlroy said. “This is 16 years I’ve been coming here, so it’s been a fun place, I’ve had success. It’s somewhere I always love coming back to.”

He enters this week as the slight favorite to win (+600) over the redhot Cameron Young (+850), who won last week at Doral. McIlroy feels good about his chances despite the three-week layoff that included skipping the RBC Heritage and the Cadillac Championship.

He won the Truist Championship by five shots over Xander Schauffele the last time it was played at Quail Hollow in 2024, but surprisingly struggled here at the 2025 PGA Championship, finishing tied for 47th.

“Slightly different setup than the PGA last year and slightly different conditions,” McIlroy said. “It’s been very dry here by all accounts, so the greens are very firm The rough is down a little bit. Sort of more, probably more in keeping

with what the golf course was like in 2024, when the tournament was last here. The course is great.”

McIlroy said returning to action after winning the Masters a second time feels much different than a year ago.

“I felt like winning the Grand Slam was going to be this lifechanging thing and in some ways it was, but in other ways I had to remember like, ‘No, I still have a lot of my career left and I want to keep playing and keep competing,’” he said. “So this year I think winning was validation for all the work that I’ve put in over the last few years to get myself back to this place where I’m winning majors.”

Schauffele said it will be a tall task beating McIlroy this week and moving forward if he plays the way he did at Augusta National.

“His best club (driver) was his worst club, and he still won the tournament,” Schauffele said. “That’s a little scary, obviously, if you’re competing against him.”

Kentucky Derby winner not running in Preakness

Golden Tempo sets sights on Belmont Stakes in June

BY STEPHEN WHYNO

AP sportswriter

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not run in the Preakness Stakes next weekend, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday. DeVaux and owners decided to skip the Preakness and set their sights on the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. DeVaux, who became the first woman to train a Derby winner, is from Saratoga Springs, which is hosting the Belmont for a third and final time this year

“We are incredibly appreciative of the excitement and support surrounding the possibility of a Triple Crown run,” DeVaux said in a statement “Golden gave us the race of a lifetime in the Kentucky Derby, and we believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort. His health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority.” Golden Tempo is the third Derby winner in the past five years not to be entered in the Preakness. For various reasons, it is the sixth time in eight years the Preakness will happen with no chance of a Triple Crown on the line. American Pharoah in 2015

and Justify in 2018 are the only horses to sweep all three races over the past four decades.

The two-week turnaround from the Derby to the Preakness, which used to be commonplace, is considered a nonstarter for many trainers and owners

given that most elite thoroughbreds now typically go a month or more between races. It has caused endless debate in horse racing circles about the spacing of the Triple Crown in modern times. Maryland racing officials are

“After the best stretch of my career, I was looking forward to Rome. But sometimes your body has other plans, and over the past few days I’ve been dealing with a hip issue. With my ankle still not fully at 100%, it’s just not smart to keep pushing right now, so I won’t be competing there this year,” Kostyuk posted on Instagram on Tuesday as the tournament in Rome began.

NFL, referees association moving toward new deal

The NFL and its officials are moving closer toward a new agreement that avoids a work stoppage.

After a lengthy stalemate, negotiations have reached a point where the NFL Referees Association is planning to have a ratification vote this week, a person with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on Tuesday Last month, the league began the onboarding process for replacement officials because negotiations weren’t progressing.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association is set to expire on May 31. The league and the union have been negotiating a new CBA since the summer of 2024.

Yankees to pay tribute to Sterling with uniform patch

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees will pay tribute to longtime radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling with a memorial patch on their uniform sleeves, the team announced on Tuesday.

Sterling died Monday. He was 87.

After announcing Sterling’s passing, the Yankees wore caps with “JS” stitching on the back of their hats for Monday’s 12-1 win against Baltimore

Following the final out, the sound system blared Sterling’s voice booming “Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theee Yankees win!” just before the first strains of Frank Sinatra crooning “New York, New York.” Sterling called 5,426 regular-season Yankees games and 225 more in the postseason from 1989 until his retirement in 2024

Lakers’ Vanderbilt going day-to-day after dislocation

considering moving the Preakness back from the third Saturday in May to the fourth to increase the chances of not just the winner but other horses from the Derby being considered for the second leg of the Triple Crown. None of the 18 who ran this year at Churchill Downs are heading to the Preakness, with Golden Tempo the only one considered. The Preakness is taking place at Laurel Park between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this spring while its longtime home, Pimlico Race Course, is rebuilt as part of a massive construction project that included demolishing the debilitating old structure. Pimlico is set to become the site for year-round racing in Maryland beginning next year when the state takes control from 1/ST Racing, with Laurel becoming a training venue Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby as a 23-1 long shot in spectacular fashion, making a charge from the back of the pack down the stretch to the finish line a neck ahead of morning line favorite Renegade. DeVaux and co-owner Daisy Phipps Pulito said they would see how the colt came out of the race before making any decisions.

They followed the lead of trainer Bill Mott and Godolphin Racing, which last year chose to bypass the Preakness with Derby champion Sovereignty to give him extra rest for the Belmont. Sovereignty rewarded them by winning the Belmont and the Travers Stakes and is back racing as a 4-year-old.

Though Jarred Vanderbilt suffered a gruesome dislocated right pinky injury during the Lakers’ loss in Game 1 against the Thunder on Tuesday, coach JJ Redick said his forward has been listed as dayto-day for the second-round series. Vanderbilt, who is left-handed, was injured in the second quarter trying to block a dunk by Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren, but his hand hit the backboard. Vanderbilt immediately doubled over in pain, as the bone broke through the skin and had to be put back in place.

Redick said it was a “reduction” for Vanderbilt, meaning it was a procedure to restore his dislocated finger

The Lakers and Thunder play Game 2 on Thursday night in Oklahoma City

Tigers’ Valdez suspended for intentionally hitting Story

DETROIT Detroit Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez was suspended for five games and fined on Wednesday one day after he was ejected for hitting Boston’s Trevor Story with a pitch during a 10-2 loss in which he allowed a career-high 10 runs.

Valdez was at first banned for six games by MLB, which cited him for intentionally throwing a pitch at Story, but the penalty was reduced in an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ association. He started serving the penalty during Wednesday night’s series finale and barring rainouts will be eligible to pitch Wednesday at the New York

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, holds the trophy after winning the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 12 in Augusta, Ga

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEFF ROBERSON

Golden Tempo, ridden by Jose L. Ortiz, wins the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky

Area teams face tough road assignments

Nine schools one step away from state tournament

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The good news is one week away from the LHSAA baseball tournament and the Acadiana area still has nine teams alive.

The tricky part of that is all nine teams will be traveling, which could make the challenge tougher

There are many different angles among the nine teams.

There’s a group of high seeds traveling to even higher seeds in for semifinals matchups of the titans.

That list includes No. 4 St Thomas More heading to No. 1 Brother Martin in Division I select, No 3 Acadiana Renaissance going to No. Vandebilt Catholic in Division II select, No. 3 Teurlings Catholic visiting No 2 St. Charles Catholic in Division II select, No. 5 Catholic High of New Iberia going to No. 1 University in Division III select and No. 9 Northside Christian traveling to No. 1 Maurepas in the Class C quarterfinals.

There’s a few Cinderella teams hoping to continue a magical playoff run with No. 7 Rayne — fresh off its sweep at No. 2 North DeSoto — taking on No. 3 Lutcher in Di-

vision II nonselect, No. 13 Ascension Episcopal heading to No. 5

Ouachita Christian in the Division IV select quarterfinals and No. 11 Delcambre challenging No. 3 Mangham in the Division IV nonselect quarterfinals.

The Cougars will play Brother Martin at historic Kirsch-Rooney Stadium in New Orleans — a stadium that dates to 1957.

“Watching them play and on paper as well, they’re consistent,”

STM coach Justin Robichaux said of New Orleans-based Crusaders.

“Their offense, they like to play dynamic and they like to play fast, so controlling the running game is going to be critical for us. They hit

one through nine as well.

“On the mound, (Drake) Amedee is a really good high school arm. He’s been up to 92, 93 (mph) at times. On paper, it’s going to be a heavyweight fight and our guys are kind of fired up for it. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to going down there and bringing this program back to where we think it ought to be.”

The Cougars overcame a Game 1 loss in last week’s quarterfinal series to oust Rummel in three games.

“It’s a fun group to watch,” Robichaux said of his Cougars. “When they get rolling, they definitely know how to fight and throw down.

We saw that earlier in the year

Then we had the opportunity to play Teurlings in a three-game set and that was one of the wildest games I’ve ever been a part of (in Game 3).

“These kids are very resilient and have been all year.”

The winner will meet the John Curtis-Catholic winner in the state final next weekend in Sulphur

“At this time of the year, you have to be good in all three areas,” Robichaux said. “Hopefully we’re heading in that direction.”

Acadiana Renaissance’s playoff run has been a trailblazing venture in the program’s fifth season under coach Tyler Jensen.

“Whenever I took this job, I knew there was tons of potential for this place,” Jensen said. “I wouldn’t say surprised (about this season). We had high expectations going into this year So from the beginning, our goal was Sulphur and (we’ll) see what happens.”

With a history of winning at Central Catholic, Jensen made a point of making sure his players relished the quarterfinals sweep of Loyola Prep last week.

“These kids don’t realize it right now, but they get to be the standard-setters for everyone down the line,” Jensen said. “This program will never be the same again because of this year.”

The Eagles are hoping to continue to ride their strong pitching and defense.

“We don’t have anyone who is

going to light up the radar gun,” Jensen said. “Our whole identity is throwing strikes and playing defense. We just believe in pitching and really being aggressive and making the offense have to be aggressive and swing the bat.”

Because the Eagles beat the weekend rain with a Thursday sweep, Jensen watched the entire Vandebilt series down in Houma.

“They’re extremely athletic,” he said. “They’re very versatile offensively They have guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark and the same guys can bunt for a hit — they’re aggressive on the bases.”

For Ascension Episcopal and the other Division IV teams alive, it’s been a different kind of a test. They’re playing single-elimination games with long breaks between games.

“You have to get creative,” Blue Gators coach Lonny Landry said. “We came up with some competitive games for the kids to play. It can be trying at times, though.”

The good part of it is you can ride your ace pitcher For the Blue Gators, that’s Sport Gros.

“He’s just a competitor,” Landry said of Gros. “He just keeps getting better and better.”

The Blue Gators will be face Ouachita Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday in Monroe.

“We don’t know a lot about them,” Landry said. “They’re 27-5, so it’s definitely not going to be easy We just need to keep Sport with a low pitch count and play solid defense.”

LCA boys, Teurlings girls take aim at track title

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

It’s been three years since the Lafayette Christian boys won a state track and field title. Meanwhile, the Teurlings Catholic girls program has never won a state track title.

Both the Knights and Rebels will look to bring home trophies when they travel to the LHSAA state track and field meet at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium.

The Knights might be primed to end that short title drought.

“Everyone is really healthy,” coach Brad Sievers said. “We managed to get through district and regionals without any injuries, so I think we’re looking good. We’ve got everyone through that we thought should make it through I think

we’re looking fine.”

Teurlings’ girls are also looking forward to the meet.

“We’re extremely excited about the state meet,” coach Kelly LaMaison said. “We qualified 10 girls and 11 boys So just getting to the stage says a lot about the commitment and the character of our kids.”

The state meet begins Thursday with classes B, C and 1A. LCA will compete Friday with Class 2A and 3A and the Rebels will battle it out on Saturday when Class 4A and 5A will be held.

Sievers and LaMaison both said they think they qualified enough athletes to be in contention for team championships.

“I believe it’s going to be between us and Episcopal of Baton Rouge,” Sievers said. “As I write down the

(projected) scores, it looks like we’re almost tied. It’s going to be a fun meet to watch.”

“I definitely think there’s a shot for us to win it,” LaMaison said.

“We’re just grateful to be in that position. Being seeded in the top three, it’s an honor But nothing’s guaranteed. We’re just trying to approach the meet with humility and gratitude like we have all season.”

LaMaison said keeping Abigail Leger and Aaryam Saleh, who are both competing in four events, fresh is going to be key Leger is competing in the 800 meters, 1,600, 3,200 and the 4x800 meter relay, while Saleh is running in the 400, 800, 4x800 and 4x400 meter relay

“We’re trying to balance it out to where they can go into that third and fourth event with the same in-

tensity and effort and energy that they have in the first two,” LaMaison said. “But if there is one event that’s really going to help us, I would say the girls’ javelin.

“We have senior Mary Rose Guidry and freshman Londyn Viator, who have both been throwing really well. If they can bring in some points, it would be super helpful.”

Sievers said it’s going to require a team effort.

“We’ve got to do great job across the board in all of our events,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a very high scoring meet between us and Episcopal. In 2022 we won with 68 points, but this year may come close to 100 points. So everyone’s just going to have to do their job We’re going to have to win the relays and the distance.

“I think we can step up in the 400 because there’s a little more room for improvement there. We’ve got two guys through and if we can go first and second that would be a huge help.”

Both coaches agreed the weather is of no concern.

“It’s probably going to rain. It rained last year,” Sievers said. “Everyone, every team has to run in the rain if it’s raining. We all will have the same weather conditions. Our kids are tough, so I don’t really think it’s going to be a factor for us.”

“It’s going to be the same for everybody out there,” LaMaison said. “So everybody’s going to have to deal with the same weather conditions. We just have to go into it with a positive mentality and expect the unexpected.”

SCOREBOARD

BRAD BOWIE

Wade adds veteran Smith to LSU staff

Former Michigan assistant named director of player development

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

LSU brings a fourth former college head coach to Will Wade’s staff ahead of next season.

The Tigers’ new coach hired Jay Smith to be the team’s director of player development for next season, the program announced on Wednesday Smith has worked in college basketball for over four decades, starting as an assistant at Kent State in 1984.

“Jay Smith brings many years of college basketball experience to our LSU program,” Wade said in a statement. “He has had success at many different levels as a college head coach. He has proven to be one of the best, if not the best, big man coaches in the country The player development component is an important part of the modern college basketball game and Jay has been successful in player development throughout his outstanding career.”

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

franchise — this is not the way you treat your franchise all-time touchdown leader I know Kamara, his production hasn’t been what we thought it’s going to be, but he is still this franchise’s leader in (expletive) yards and touchdowns, without him having 1,000 yards (in a season) rushing.

“My honest opinion, bruh I think the Saints would rather not have to make a hard decision and he just walk in one day, and say, ‘Hey look, I’m going to retire.’ You know what I’m saying?

“Because I don’t really think they have the — and I know Mickey, I hope he doesn’t take this wrong but I don’t think they’ve got the balls to outright cut him.”

If the Saints are waiting for Kamara to retire the running back didn’t sound like he was close to hanging up his cleats when he appeared Monday on former teammate Terron Armstead’s podcast. Kamara wasn’t directly asked about the possibility the Saints could move on from him, but the 30-year-old praised the franchise and said he was excited to work with the Saints’ new additions, such as wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and running back Travis Etienne.

Etienne’s addition, in particular, raised questions about Kamara’s future after New Orleans signed the former Jacksonville Jaguars running back to a fouryear, $52 million deal in free

Smith, 65, was the head coach at Division II Grand Valley State (199697), Central Mich igan (1997-2006) and Division III Kalamazoo College (2016-19). He most recently was the director of Player development at Eastern Michigan (2024-26) under former Arkansas coach Stan Heath.

The Mio, Michigan, native was also an assistant coach at Michigan from 1989-96 and later served as director of player personnel and development from 2019-24. He played a part in recruiting Michigan’s “Fab Five,” which featured former NBA players Juwan Howard, Chris Webber and Jalen Rose LSU’s newest addition also won two Mid-American Conference titles at Central Michigan in 2001 and 2003. Smith joins a staff that has associate head coach Rick Stansbury assistant head

agency Despite already restructuring his contract once this offseason, the Saints are believed to want to further address Kamara’s contract before next season That could involve asking him to take a pay cut or releasing him outright. Kamara’s cap number is $10.5 million, down from north of $18 million after New Orleans utilized an unconventional salary cap maneuver in March rather than a standard restructure.

Publicly, the Saints have tiptoed around Kamara’s status for next season. At the NFL’s owners meetings in March, Moore said he had envisioned a role for the running back to play alongside Etienne, but that Kamara and the Saints would first have to go through a “process.” Loomis, in a radio interview after the draft, declined to comment on questions about Kamara’s future.

“I think we’re still trying to work through that, to see where we’re at roster-wise,” Loomis said, later adding, “I’d rather keep that to myself at this point.”

On his podcast, Mathieu said that the Saints are treating Kamara “kind of the same way” they are handling Cam Jordan’s free agency

Mathieu, a safety who retired last July, said he would rather the Saints come out and say “Cam, go find somewhere else to play” and that people would respect the honesty. He compared it to his own situation in 2022, when Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told him the team didn’t have the money to resign him.

Mathieu, citing “one of my

Cole Flanagan

coach Johnny Jones and assistant coach Damon Stoudamire, all former college head coaches. Stansbury, 66, is the alltime winningest coach at Mississippi State, leading the program for 14 seasons starting in 1998. He had a 293-166 record with the Bulldogs. Jones, 65, is a former LSU player, assistant coach and head coach at his alma mater He led the program from 2012-17, with a 90-72 record and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2014.

Stoudamire, a former NBA player and All-American at Arizona, led Georgia Tech for three seasons until he was fired last season. The 52-year-old finished with a 42-55 career record and zero NCAA Tournament appearances.

Also on LSU’s coaching staff is Vernon Hamilton, an assistant under Wade at NC State last season and at McNeese State for two seasons (2023-25). Hamilton, a former Clemson basketball player, also worked with Wade at LSU, serving as the assistant to the head coach during the 2020-21 season and director of player development in 2021-22.

good sources,” also suggested that a “few people” in the Saints haven’t been happy with Kamara over the last year, accusing the running back of leading a charge for the team to fire former coach Dennis Allen.

“So you got somebody fired, but you didn’t produce neither,” Mathieu said, alluding to Kamara’s decline in production this past season. “The Saints organization, for people who haven’t been a part of it, it’s really like a family So you’re going to argue, you’re going to fight. A few of those decision-makers who were in love with Dennis Allen because he did have great defenses, he was one of the guys to bring home a Super Bowl, there’s just a history there.

“And some people picked a side. I think (Kamara) got caught in it.”

The Saints fired Allen in November 2024, going on to hire Moore the following offseason. The Saints went 6-11 in Moore’s first year, and Kamara’s production declined significantly He rushed for a career low 471 yards and 3.6 yards per carry before suffering a seasonending knee injury that cost him the last six weeks.

Mathieu said he wished Kamara well. But on the same podcast, he noted that many players don’t get to stay with one team throughout their careers

If the Saints end up parting ways with Kamara, Mathieu said he hopes the fivetime Pro Bowler plays for another team for the next 2-3 years to finish his career

“I don’t think it’s a money issue,” Mathieu said. “I think for some people it’s personal.”

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C

three-game Southeastern Conference sweeps that no other Tiger baseball team had ever endured. At 24-21, LSU was starving for wins. At the crucial time, the food truck pulled up outside the ballpark. Mixing hotter-hitting veterans like Milam and Derek Curiel in the lineup with precocious freshmen like Mason Braun and Jack Ruckert, plus timely pitching and at least passable defense, and the Tigers have a positive streak going. Beating SLU, sweeping South Carolina and beating Tulane has LSU (29-21, 9-15 SEC) on a five-game winning streak heading into another crucial series this weekend at Georgia.

“We,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said, “had to win.”

The Tigers still have to win, a lot, with six games left in the regular season. Those games are at SECleading Georgia and at The Box against a Florida team projected to be an NCAA regional host.

Going into the weekend, the national NCAA Tournament projections give the Tigers a glimmer of hope,

LSU

Continued from page 1C

49.3% from the field, 40% from the 3-point line on 1.6 attempts and 80.4% from the free-throw line.

LSU’s new big man played one game for the Atlanta Hawks summer league team before the 2023-24 season He played one game for the Orlando Magic summer league team before the 2025-26 season. In 14 minutes, he had 11 points on 2-of-7 shooting, four rebounds, two steals and two turnovers. Santos is the second player on Wade’s roster after

though hope that could easily be extinguished by the Bulldogs, an across-theboard top-eight national seed managed by former LSU pitching coach Wes Johnson. D1Baseball, Baseball America and On3 all place LSU on their list of the next four teams out, which basically means Nos. 69-72 in relation to the field of 64. USA Today’s tournament projection stops at the last four out and doesn’t include the Tigers, either In short, the consensus is that LSU must make the baseball equivalent of an ascent up a sheer rock wall to even hope of reaching the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Jay Johnson is an everbubbling font of positive praise for his players mixed with the tempered steel of a man who has a burning desire to be No. 1 all day, every day I asked him if he allowed himself more hope now than he had five games ago.

“I thought this weekend they did a good job making tonight (against Tulane) matter a lot,” Johnson said.

“By winning tonight, it’s all there in front of us. We’re playing two teams with great winning percentages, one of them on the road.

It’s an opportunity

“We’ve got to go in there

Kentucky transfer Mo Dioubate. The 6-7 forward averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game as a junior He played the first two years of his career at Alabama. Dioubate is a consensus top-65 player on the transfer portal rankings of The Athletic, On3 and 247Sports. Wade said on CBS Sports’ “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast on Tuesday that his team will focus more on the international player market. LSU has had all nine of its remaining players enter the transfer portal since the firing of coach Matt McMahon. The departures are Dedan Thomas (Hous-

guns blazing, preparing to win.”

As has been well documented, the Tigers’ cannons are low on shells. Weekend starting pitcher Cooper Moore and slugger Jake Brown are out for the season. Speaking again Wednesday to reporters, Johnson could still not be sure if Friday starting pitcher Casan Evans would be able to pitch at all, and brimming-with-talent freshman catcher Omar Serna is a big question mark because of back trouble. It’s a strange address where LSU baseball finds itself, this intersection of hope and discouragement, especially after winning the CWS two of the past three seasons. There is fortitude in the fact that LSU baseball is still LSU baseball and showed as much these past five games. But it’s eroded by the scars and apprehension of all this season has wrought. At this point, all the Tigers can ask for is a chance. A chance that, to their credit, they have given themselves, despite all the prior deficits on their ledger “We have our backs to the wall,” second baseman Seth Dardar said. “We’re not going to go down without a fight.”

At his introductory press conference on March 30, Wade said he was confident in the resources he would have to pay players. He predicted the total cost in his first season would be higher than in future years because most of the roster would come from the portal. “We’re going to have to go get a bunch of new players, and the new players and the good players cost,” he said. “They ain’t cheap.”

Continued from page 1C

UL will now hit the road to meet Appalachian State in a Sun Belt series starting on Friday

The Privateers didn’t waste much time putting the Cajuns on their heels with a run in the first inning. Evan Rogers was hit by a pitch with one out and scored on Kruise Newman’s RBI single.

The Cajuns didn’t have much going offensively until the fourth with a single tally to tie it. Colt Brown walked with one out and stole second before scoring on Steven Spalitta’s RBI single to right. UNO kept the pressure on, though, with two more in the fifth. With one out, Dylan Biddick doubled and Rogers walked. Miles Curley got one run home with an RBI single to chase starting pitcher Garret Carter for

The freshman left-hander left two batters later after Eli Tidwell’s sacrifice fly to left earned the Privateers a 3-1 lead UL didn’t allow that tworun cushion to last very long, tying the game with a run in the fifth and then getting two more in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. In the fifth, Mark Collins walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, it appeared Collins suffered an injury on the collision at the plate. Donovan LaSalle then reached on a fielding error and scored on UNO’s second error of the frame. Carter gave up three runs on three hits, three walks and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings.

Parker Smith and Hayden

Pearson both pitched 1.1

scoreless innings — Smith struck out three and Pearson had two strikeouts.

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com. UL

“I could have left Pear-

son out there, but I’ve got to see what I’ve got and we don’t want to throw guys too long midweek,” Deggs said. “We’ve got a big conference series on the weekend.”

But Murphy Brooks had his first rocky outing since his return after a two-year absence, with two walks to give way to Tyler Papenbrock, who gave up a walk and a two-run single to right from Curley Curley was 2-for-2 with two walks, a hit batter and three RBIs in the game for the Privateers.

JR Tollett allowed the three runs in the 10th, before Cam Riley got the final two outs.

“The boys have got to do it, it’s their team,” Deggs said. “They’ve got to make the pitches, they’ve got to put the ball in play and they’ve got to get hits. It’s their team. It’s up to them.

ton), Mike Nwoko (Xavier), Jalen Reed (Michigan), Jalen Reece (Texas A&M), Robert Miller, Mazi Mosley (Loyola Marymount), Ron Zipper, Marcus Vaughns (Arizona State) and Matt Gilhool (Kansas State).

Shrimp linguine dish offers sweetness andspice

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

afew minutes to cook, making this dish both quick and satisfying. This Italian classic, Fra Diavolo, meaning “Brother Devil,” is known for its bold, fiery characterthatcreates a delicious balance of sweetness and spice. For my version, Iadd just a touch of heat to

If

Shrimp with Linguine FraDiavolo Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer 4ounces

pasta sauce

1tablespoon tomato paste

¾pound peeled and deveined shrimp

1tablespoon chopped parsley Salt and freshly ground black peppercorns

2tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place alarge saucepan ¾ filled withwater on to boil. When it comes to the boil, add the linguineand boil8minutes Reserve 2tablespoonspasta water and drain the linguine.

2. While pasta cooks, add olive oil to alarge skillet. When it’s hot, add onion and garlic. Saute 3to4minutes or until onion is soft. Add the crushed red pepper and saute 30 seconds. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook 2to3minutes to make a smooth sauce. Addthe reserved pastawater

3. Add shrimp and saute 2minutes until the shrimp starts to turn pink. Add drained pasta and toss in the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Divide between 2dinner plates. Sprinkle withparsley and grated Parmesan cheese.

NUTRITION INFO PER SERVING: 549 calories (30 percent from fat), 18.5 gfat (3.2 gsaturated, 7.5 gmonounsaturated), 282 mg cholesterol, 45.6 gprotein,55.0 gcarbohydrates, 7.7 g fiber, 326 mg sodium.

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL

TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Book of Pizza: Recipes for Every Pizza Maker.”

1⁄3 cup whole-milk ricotta

2cloves garlic confit(see below), mashed to apaste, plus more cloves for garnish

¼teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

¼teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1½ cups fresh babyspinach

¼packed cup fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus small leaves for garnish

1scallion, thinly sliced crosswise

2teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

All-purpose flour,for dusting 1ball Weeknight White Dough (seerecipe)

Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting

½cup low-moisturewhole-milk mozzarella,shredded

¼cup feta, crumbled

1teaspoon garlic confitoil, for finishing

1. Arrange racks in the lower and upper thirds of theoven. Placea baking steel or stone on thelower rack andpreheat theoven to 500 Ffor at least 1hour

2. In asmall bowl, stir to-

Popeye

gether the ricotta, mashed garlic confit, saltand pepper In amedium bowl, combine thespinach, choppedbasil andscallion. Drizzle with the oliveoil andtoss to coat.

3. Shape thepizza: Dust your work surfacewith flour and place the dough on it. Without distorting the round dough, flipitover so that bothsides are coatedwith flour. Useyour fingertips to gently depress thecenter of thedough, being careful not to touchthe outer edge of the crust. This step is important —leaving thecircumference untouched at this stage will result ina beautiful bubbly outer crust postbake

4. Continue usingyour fingertips to press the center of the doughoutward until you have an 8-inch circle. Again, taking care not to touch the outermost edgeofthe crust, lift the pizza from the work surface anduse your knuckles to gently stretch the dough into an 11-inch round. If thedough is at allsticky, use more flour

5. Usetwo hands at once to gently move thedough in acircle, allowing gravity to do most of the work for you, rather than pulling onthe

Quinoa Cakeswith Za’atar

Serves 10-12. This recipe wasinspiredbya cooking blog by Heidi Swanson called “101 Cookbooks.” For anew twist, Itried coating the quinoa cakes in za’atar seasoningbefore browning them in apan

2½ cupcooked quinoa

4eggs, beaten

1teaspoon salt 1small onion, chopped

2garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 cup chopped fresh parsley thyme or oregano

1cup breadcrumbs ½cup grated Parmesan cheese

3tablespoons za’atar

1-2 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil

1. In alarge bowl, add the cooked quinoa, eggs and salt. Stir together to combine the egg into the quinoa. Stir in chopped onion, garlic, andherbs. Mixin the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese

2. Prepare abaking sheet with parchment paper.In a small bowl, add the za’atar spice blend.

3. Next, form small patties with thequinoa mixture Dip each quinoa patty in the bowl of za’atar to coat each sideand place eachpatty on the prepared baking sheet.

dough. If the dough resists stretching, return it to your floured work surfaceand let it rest for 5to10minutes to allow the gluten to relax, then try again.

6. Lightlydust apeel or an overturnedbaking sheet with semolina andtransfer theshaped dough to thepeel. If the dough retracts when transferring it to thepeel, gently re-form it. Shimmy the dough on thepeeltoensure it’s notsticking;ifitis, lift the edge of the crust and add more semolina.

7. Spread the ricotta mixture over the dough in an even layer, leaving a 1/2-inch border.Top with the spinach mixture,piling it more heavilyonthe outeredge(but avoiding the crust),thendistribute the mozzarella and feta over thespinach.

8. Bake: Use thepeel to transfer the pizza onto the steel or stone, then bake for3to4minutes. Check thebottomofthe crust it should be spotted and charred in places, and the edge crust should have some color.Ifnot, rotate thepizza andbakefor another 1to2 minutes.

9. When the bottom has

QUINOA

Continuedfrom page5C

sufficient color,use thepeel to transfer thepizza to the toprack, switchthe oven to broil, and broilfor 2to3 minutes, untilwellcharred in spots. (Don’twalk away pizza can go from perfectly charred to burnt quickly.)

10. Use the peel to remove the pizza from the oven and slideitontoa wire rack Drizzle with the garlic confitoil andscatter wholebasil leaves over.Top withadditional whole confitgarlic cloves. Slice and serve.

11. To makegarlic confit: Combine 6ouncesofgarlic (about 36 cloves)and 1cup olive oil in asmall oven-safe baking dish or loaf pan. The garlic cloves need to be completely covered by theoil; if theyaren’t, add additional oil to cover 12. Bakethe garlic in a 300 Foven until thecloves are very tender,about 90 minutes. Let cool to room temperature in the oil, then use immediately or transfer to aliddedjar andrefrigerate for up to 2weeks.

Note: If your ricotta is at allwet, place it in a finemesh sieve set over abowl and drain for 15 to 30 minutes before using.

Weeknight White Dough

Makes enough for 2(11-inch) pizzas. Recipe is from King Arthur Baking Company’s“The Book of Pizza: Recipes for Every Pizza Maker.”

2½ cups unbleachedallpurpose flouror00 flour, plus more fordusting 1teaspoon fine salt

1½ teaspoons instant yeast

1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¾cup plus 3tablespoonsand 2teaspoons lukewarmwater(85 to 90 F)

1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the flour,saltand yeast, then add the oil and water

2. Mix to combine,then knead the doughbyhand in the bowluntil you have a rough but cohesive dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for30minutes.

3. Uncover thedough and perform abowl fold: With awet hand (which will help keep thedough from sticking to you), grab asection of dough from oneside,lift it up, then press it down into themiddle. Repeat,turning thebowl 90 degrees (a quarter turn) after each stretch, until the dough won’telongate easily and forms a

Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

½tablespoon chiaseeds(optional)

smooth, tight roundball, 4to 6timestotal

4. Turn the dough over, placing it seam side down in the bowl. Coverand letthe dough rise at room temperature (70 to 75 F) for 1hour, until puffy but notnecessarily doubled in size. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 500 F with abaking steel or stone placed on arack in the lower third and an empty oven rack in the upper third.

5. Divide the dough: On alightly flouredsurface, divide the dough into 2 equal pieces (about 1cup per piece). Form each piece into atight ball andplace seam side down in alightly greased container.Cover with alid and let it rest at room temperature while the oven preheats, 20 to 60 minutes. The dough is now ready to use. Alternatively, thedough can be refrigerated forupto24hours; remove the dough from the refrigerator 1hour before shaping and baking your pizzas.

Makes 2servings. Recipeis by Liz Faul.

1cup cooked quinoa

½teaspoon cinnamon

¼teaspoon honey

½cup cut strawberries

1banana, sliced ¼cup dried cranberries

1tablespoon milk (or oat milk for veganversion)

1. In two serving bowls, divide thecookedquinoa, strawberries, banana and cranberries.

2. Stir in the cinnamon and a swirl of honey.Top with milk to addmoisture to bindall the ingredients together.Toss on chia seeds to add some crunch.Enjoy!

4. In alarge, heavypan (I used acast iron pan), heat the oil over medium heat. Add half of the patties to the pan, and cook until each side is golden brown. It can take 5-10 minutes perside. Remove from the pan and place on aclean baking sheet.Repeat with the second halfof the quinoapatties.

of my home kitchen. These shows provided me with the inspiration that Ineeded to makebreakfast,lunch and dinner while mykids were young. Over time, Ibecame abraver and better cook. These cooking shows also madeunfamiliar ingredients into everyday staple meals.Remember when kale becameasuperfood that was everywhere from salads to T-shirtsthat read “Kale Yeah!”? Likewise, quinoa gained popularity and morewidespread appeal. Ijumped on the quinoa bandwagon at that time, and Iamstill crazy for quinoa. Maybe Ishould makethat T-shirt?

pasta have been supplemented with ingredients to boostgrams of protein per serving. Manyfoods, including quinoa, naturally provide qualityplant-based protein. It is what is known as a“complete protein” becauseitprovides all nine essential amino acids.

It is easytodigest, andit is agreat food choice for people who cannotdigest gluten.

Quinoa is also agood source of minerals and high in fiber.Soifyou want to add moreprotein to your diet, buying abag of quinoa is agood place to start.

For these recipes, I cooked twocups of dried quinoa, which yielded 6 cups. Iused 2½ cups to make abatch of quinoa cakes. Then Iused 2cups to make aMediterranean quinoa salad to bring to a party.Iused the remaining 1½ cups of leftover cooked quinoa to make breakfast bowls spiced with cinnamon and topped with cut berries. So one bag of quinoa goes along way and makes everyday homecooking worth the effort.

Liz Sullivan Faul is a registered dietitian nutritionist whoenjoys cooking and sharing meals withher friendsand family

5. Optional ideas for serving:Eat thecookedquinoa pattiesonyourfavorite green salad. They taste great dunked in ayogurt sauce like tzatziki. NOTE: Just after cooking, I put the quinoa pattiesinto theoven on the lowest setting to keep them warm while preparing asalad Store theextra patties in a sealed plastic storagecontainerinthe refrigerator for quick snacksand meals during abusy work week

Simple CookedQuinoa

Yields about 6cups of cooked quinoa.

4cups water

2cups quinoa ½teaspoon salt

1. First,rinse thequinoa.

Quinoa has anatural coating called saponin that serves the plant by acting as anatural repellant against pests.It is recommended to prewash quinoa before cooking because the saponins canproduce abitter taste.

2. Using afine mesh strainer,simply add quinoa

and run cold water over it for1-2 minutes. Alternatively, put thequinoa in a bowl,cover it with water and stir until the water becomes cloudy.Gently pour off thewater 3. In amedium saucepan, add water,salt and rinsed quinoa. Bringtoa boil, then turnheat to low and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed the waterand you can fluff it witha fork.

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday,May 7, the 127th day of 2026. There are 238 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On May 7, 1915, aGerman U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board. Also on this date: In 1945, Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World WarII. In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces; it would be the last major battle of the First Indochina War. In 1975, President Gerald

R. Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnamera.” In Ho Chi Minh City —formerly Saigon —the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover In 1977, Seattle Slewwon theKentucky Derby,the first of his Triple Crownvictories. In 1984, Monsanto andsix other chemical companies agreed to pay a$180 million settlementtoVietnam veterans who wereexposed to the chemical herbicide AgentOrange during the Vietnam War. In 2020, Georgiaauthoritiesarrested aWhite father and son and charged them with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery,aBlack man they pursued in atruck after spotting him running in their neighborhood near the port city of Brunswick. (The two men and athird White man would be convicted of mur-

It is agreat ingredient that can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner.A great way touse leftover quinoa is to makequinoa cakes. Food blogger Heidi Swanson wroteacookbook called “Super Natural Every Day.” It includes a great recipe for quinoa patties.Ihave made her recipe for years, and Irecently decided to experiment with adding different herbs and spices.

This week, Icrusted the patties with aMiddle Eastern seasoning blend called za’atar.Ibuy za’atar in New OrleansatMona’sCafé, which has an international grocery attached. Butyou can make your own version of this spice blend by combining dried thyme, ground sumac, sesameseeds and salt.Quinoa cakes are a great recipe to add to your homecooking repertoire because they are tasty, satisfying and the perfect grab-and-go snack. Protein is having abig moment right now.It seems that everything from breakfast cereal to

der in state court and hate crimes in federal court.)

In 2025, cardinal electors began aconclave at the Sistine Chapel in Rome to choose asuccessor to Pope Francis,who died on April 21 at age 88. Over atwo-day gathering, they choose Cardinal Robert Prevost as the first U.S.-born pontiff and he took thename Leo XIV Today’sbirthdays: Rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead) is 80. Actor/former boxer Randall “Tex” Cobb is 76. Actor Breckin Meyer is 52. Reggaeton musician JBalvin is 41. Actor-comedian Aidy Bryant is 39. Actor-writer Maya Erskine is 39. Actor Alexander Ludwig is 34. YouTube personality MrBeast(Jimmy Donaldson) is 28. Actor Elijah Nelson is 27. Boxer Tommy Fury is 27.

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL

The mise en place for Quinoa Cakes withZa’atar

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Press forward with anticipation and a solid plan. Confidence is knowing what you can do and how to prevent situations from running amok. Trust your instincts over what others say or do.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Embrace what life offers. A change will be a rebirthing that satisfies your soul. It's been a long time coming, and you don't want to miss a beat. Choose a vibrant path that offers freedom.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Keep a low profile and bypass those who stand in your way. Look for and create opportunities that suit your needs. You can't work at maximum efficiency if you aren't getting back the returns you deserve.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Focus on helping others. What you learn and who you encounter will change your perspective regarding how you respond, react and resolve sensitive situations.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Focus on learning. Take your time, back away from pushy people and make revisions only when necessary. It's up to you to ask questions, review options and move forward with confidence.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Work in conjunction with someone who understands what you are up against and how you want to move forward Communication requires patience and thoughtfulness if you want to get results you don't regret.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Don't force your ideas or plans on others. If you

want something done, do it yourself Take control, and you'll find a way to reach your destination without conflict.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Put your energy into home improvements that make your life easier. Let desire and change go hand in hand until you feel comfortable in your surroundings and with your circle or community.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Stop, look, listen, review and reconfigure your plan of attack. Let your intelligence and experience lead the way. Your ego and confidence will encourage you to disregard those trying to lead you astray.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Look at your financial situation, the job market, and upgrading your skills and income. A change at home will help you take better care of yourself and your possessions.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Do your research. The information someone offers will be slanted to benefit them, not you. Participate in events that give you a real-time view of what's necessary and possible.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Overreactingwill get you into trouble. Put on the brakes, listen, back away and sort through your differences before you allow yourself to lambaste someone for something you have little to no proof of.

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

FAMILY CIrCUS

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another toDAy's cLuE: G EQuALs D

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe peAnUtS

zItS

FrAnK And erneSt

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle basedona9x9 grid with severalgivennumbers. Theobject is to place thenumbers 1to9 in the emptysquares so that each row, each column andeach3x3 boxcontains thesamenumber only once. Thedifficultylevelofthe Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

We have been looking at the balancing overcalls that have different meanings from those in the second position. Here is the third. Look at the South hand. After onespade-pass-pass,whatshouldSouth do?

Directly over one spade, if North jumps to two no-trump, it would be the UnusualNo-trump,indicatingatleast5-5 in the two lowest-ranking unbid suits. In the fourth position, though, it shows a (quasi-)balanced hand with some 20-21 points and at least one stopper in the opener’s suit; though you might have slightly fewer high-card points when holding a reasonable six-card minor. In this deal, North then transfers into hearts before rebidding three no-trump to offer South a choice of games. With only two hearts, he selects three notrump. (Note that four hearts fails, the defenders taking three diamonds and one heart.)

Against three no-trump, West leads the spade queen. How should South continue? Declarer has eight top tricks: two spades, three hearts and three clubs. And it is easy to get greedy. Some players would win with their spade ace, cash the heart ace and queen, lead a spade to dummy’s king, and cash the heart king. However, when West discards, the contract can no longer be made.

Instead, South must be willing to trade one heart trick to guarantee four winners from the suit. After winning the first trick with his spade ace, he cashes the heart ace, overtakes the heart queen with dummy’s king, and continues with the heart 10 to drive out East’s jack. Now the contract sails home.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Previous

loCKhorNs

The descendants of Abraham have the Hand of God upon them. — G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

U.S. firms add 109,000 jobs, most since 2025

U.S. companies boosted payrolls in April by the most in over a year, the latest evidence of stabilization in the labor market.

Private-sector payrolls rose by 109,000 in April after a revised 61,000 advance in the prior month, according to ADP Research data out Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an increase of 120,000.

More than half of the hiring advance was due to health services and education. Trade, transportation and utilities payrolls also increased. Construction employment grew, which may reflect the building of data centers that are at the heart of massive investment in artificial intelligence.

The figures showcase a labor market that is finding its footing after an especially harsh year for hiring. Some employers may be more at ease adding to headcount now that there’s more clarity around tariff, immigration and other fiscal policies Moreover, layoffs remain low across the economy Employment growth was fueled by businesses with fewer than 20 employees and those with 500 or more Hiring was strong in the West and South.

DoorDash plans gas price relief for drivers

DoorDash said Wednesday it expects to spend more than $50 million in the second quarter on gas price relief for its delivery drivers.

The San Francisco-based company said in March that it would offer extra compensation to U.S and Canadian drivers as part of a temporary program to offset a sharp increase in gas prices due to the Iran war The national average for a gallon of gas on Wednesday was $4.53, up 44% from a year ago, according to AAA.

DoorDash said demand for deliveries remained strong in the January-March period despite higher gas prices. Total orders rose 27% to 933 million. But that fell short of Wall Street’s forecast of 954 million, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue also fell short of expectations DoorDash said its revenue rose 33% to $4.0 billion, which was shy of the $4.15 billion analysts were forecasting.

The company said the gas price relief is being funded by adjusting investments in other areas. DoorDash said in November that it would be investing heavily in new products and services this year, including the addition of restaurant reservations in its app and robot deliveries.

DoorDash said its net income fell 5% to $184 million, or 42 cents per share, for the January-March period.

Coinbase to lay off 14% of staff as AI alters work

Cryptocurrency exchange

Coinbase said it’s slashing roughly 14% of its workforce, or about 700 workers, partly because artificial intelligence is reshaping the way people work.

“The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native,” Coinbase Chief Executive and co-founder Brian Armstrong said in a Tuesday email to employees.

The email, which was posted on social media, said engineers with the help of AI are completing work in days rather than weeks. As more tasks get automated, that’s made it possible for the company to lean on smaller teams.

Founded in San Francisco, Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States Millions of people use its platform to buy, sell, transfer and store cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin.

Coinbase is among tech companies that have been laying off workers and pointing to how AI is making workers more productive. It is also reducing management layers and some leaders will oversee 15 workers or more, Armstrong’s email said.

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

Oil prices sink as hope for deal grows

Stock markets rallied worldwide as Trump offers new deal to Iran

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK — Oil prices sank

Wednesday, and stock markets rallied worldwide with hopes that the United States and Iran are nearing a deal to allow ships to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf once again to their customers.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 7.8% to $101.27, down from more than $115 early this week. It dropped as President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could be “OPEN TO ALL” if Iran accepts a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.

The small strait has caused big trouble for the global economy because the war with Iran has blocked oil tankers from using it to exit the Persian Gulf. A reopening could allow oil to flow freely again and remove upward pressure on inflation

that’s driving prices up for all kinds of products worldwide.

Stock markets abroad had even bigger gains, with indexes leaping 6.5% in Seoul, 2.9% in Paris and 2.1% in London.

Of course, hopes have risen several times already on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran, only to get dashed each time. That could happen again, and oil prices pared some of their steepest losses from Wednesday morning.

The price for a barrel of Brent briefly dove below $97 before returning above $100 after Trump

threatened to start bombing “at a much higher level and intensity” if Iran does not accept the agreement. AMD helped lead the market with a surge of 18.6% after it joined the list of big-name companies topping expectations for both profit and revenue. Outside of earnings reports, companies with big fuel bills jumped on hopes that oil prices will continue to ease. That included gains of 6.8% for United Airlines, 6.8% for Carnival and 8.8% for Royal Caribbean.

Shipping firms being whipsawed by changing stances, growing risks

Companies weighing costs, alternate routes as uncertainty over strait continues

BY MAE ANDERSON and DAVID MCHUGH AP business writers

NEW YORK With hundreds of vessels still stuck in the Persian Gulf and costs piling up, shipping companies are being whipsawed by uncertainty over how and when the Strait of Hormuz might reopen more than two months into the Iran war

On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom,” a way for the U.S. to “guide” ships to exit the strait. Two ships made the transit, but by Tuesday Trump abruptly paused the effort to allow time for a deal to end the war Meanwhile, the risks for ships and crew haven’t faded. A cargo container ship operated by the CMA CGM Group was damaged when it came under attack while attempting to transit the strait, the French shipping company said Wednesday, and concerns about Iranian speedboats and drones are leading major ship owners and operators to say the strait remains too dangerous.

“Ultimately, it’s still going to come back to the primary issues of risk and safety,” that shippers have to evaluate, said Sean Pribyl, a maritime attorney at Holland & Knight in Washington, D.C. “It seems as though we’re not anywhere near to returning to a free flow of traffic and navigation through the strait,” he added

Costs pile up as goods, workers stranded

Before the Iran war, 100 to 135 vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, according to research firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, but that has slowed to a trickle as Iran has demanded that vessels go through a vetting process run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to receive safe passage. The process requires ships to follow a route near Iran’s coast, submit information on crew and cargo, and in at least some cases, pay a fee. Meanwhile, paying the IRGC risks running afoul of sanctions from the U.S. and the EU, which have designated it a terrorist organization.

Goods stranded in the strait include oil and oil products such as fertilizer, not to mention thousands of ship workers. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday there are more than 1,550 vessels with about 22,500 mariners on them inside the Persian Gulf.

To pressure Iran, the U.S Navy is blockading Iran’s ports, enforcing the blockade outside the strait in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Holland & Knight’s Pribyl said shippers and ship insurers are likely still assessing the scenario in the strait Ships carry two main types of insurance: protection and indemnity, which covers property and thirdparty liabilities, and — during a conflict — war risk insurance that covers damage and

losses due to war Insurance costs have shot up for vessels in the region due to the risk of attack, jumping from less than 1% of the value of goods on a ship to anywhere from 3% to 10% during the conflict, said Ed Anderson, a professor of supply chain and operations management for the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. But even with insurance, most shippers have deemed the crossing too unsafe.

“Ferrying out a couple of ships has not really affected the shipping industry in any way whatsoever,” he said.

Companies weigh costs and risks

Hapag-Lloyd AG, one of the world’s largest container shipping companies, says the Hormuz situation is costing it $60 million a week, particularly in skyrocketing prices of fuel and insurance. It has a fleet of 301 ships including four stranded in the Persian Gulf. The company has also had to suspend some of its transport services and find alternate routes either to safe harbors or over land. “These options are however limited in capacity and cannot completely replace the regular maritime routes through the region,” the company said in a statement.

The Maersk shipping company said its U.S.-flagged Alliance Fairfax vehicle carrier exited the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz “accompanied by U.S. military assets” on Monday “The transit was completed without incident, and all crew members are safe and unharmed,” the company said in a statement.

A long return to normal Oil prices and shipping are unlikely to return to normal until it’s clear the risk of at-

tacks in the Strait of Hormuz have receded, cautioned Kaho Yu, head of energy and resources at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“Even with diplomatic engagement continuing, energy markets are unlikely to return quickly to precrisis assumptions,” he said. “Refiners, shippers, and commodity traders will remain cautious until there is clearer evidence that Hormuz disruptions will not re-escalate.”

A meeting on Wednesday between Iranian and Chinese diplomats emphasized de-escalation. But “Hormuz remains the real metric that will be watched,” Yu added. “Tanker traffic and energy flows over the coming weeks and months are likely to matter more than diplomatic language in assessing whether Beijing can translate influence with Tehran into practical stability.”

If the ceasefire holds and ships gradually begin transiting the Strait of Hormuz again, shipping won’t “snap back overnight,” warned Razat Gaurav, CEO of Kinaxis, a supply chain management company

“Even when conditions improve, carriers, insurers, and shippers need confidence that stability will hold before capacity and routes fully normalize,” he said. “Air cargo can recover relatively quickly, but ocean shipping typically takes weeks or months because of longer lead times and contractual constraints.”

He said shipments of certain categories like liquid natural gas and sulfur, where the Middle East is a major source of supply, are likely to move more quickly as backlogs clear, but “most shippers will remain cautious until stability proves durable,” he said.

Some iPhone owners paid after Apple agrees to settle case for $250M Company accused of false advertisement

BY KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

LONDON Owners of some iPhones are in line to get cash payments of up to $95 from Apple after the company on Tuesday reached a $250 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit for false advertising of its artificial intelligence capabilities. Apple trumpeted new AI features for its virtual assistant Siri when it rolled out the

U.S. consumers in the San Francisco federal court for the Northern District of California, alleged that Apple deceived consumers with a marketing campaign that promoted features that did not yet exist and misled them into buying the devices. Lawyers for the iPhone buyers asked a court for preliminary approval of the proposed $250 million settlement, according to a court fil-

ing. If approved by a judge, it would be one of the biggest ever for Apple. The settlement covers about 37 million devices bought in the United States between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, including all iPhone 16 models and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Owners are eligible for a payment of at least $25 for each device, and that amount could go up to $95 depending on how many claims are filed “and other factors,” the filing said.

Customers will be notified by email or mail that they can file a claim on a settlement website, it said. “Apple has reached a settlement

to resolve claims related to the availability of two additional features,” the company said in a statement. “We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users.” Apple, based in Cupertino, California, was caught off-guard by the intense consumer interest in the Siri AI features. Buyers were angered after finding out that the new features would be released later than expected, the filing said. They “would not have purchased the Eligible Devices or would have paid significantly less, had they known Enhanced Siri features were not available,” the filing said.

ISNA PHOTO By AMIRHOSEIN KHORGOOI

A container ship sits at anchor as a small motorboat passes in the foreground in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Saturday.