The Advocate 05-09-2026 by The Advocate

REDISTRICTING HEARINGHEATED

Southern to start housing expansion

Expected completion is by fall 2027

BY HALEYMILLER Staff writer

With the waitlist to live on campus approaching 600 students each year, Southern University is planning to expand its under-and upperclassman housing options.

“Students now wanttohave the oncampus experience,” said Southern Chancellor John Pierre. “The more we can provide with affordable housing, that enhances their experience.”

Theuniversity’s proposal to constructa new $43 millionresidence hall forfreshmen and sophomores near the student recreation center was approved by the Louisiana Board of Regents at the end of April.

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Over the courseofmore than eight hours Friday,dozens of Louisianaresidents demanded the state Legislature shutdown apushtoeliminate congressional districts held by African Americans.

The marathon hearing, which veered between solemnand fiery, showed the historic consequences of aredistricting battle inﬂamed by arecent U.S.Supreme Court ruling.

The high court substantially weakened the Voting Rights Act, telling lawmakers who draw voting maps they can’t take race into account when determining district lines. That opened the door to eliminatemajority-Blackcongressional districts across the South.

Now,GOP lawmakers arepoised to ax eitherone or bothofLouisiana’smajorityBlack congressional districts, which are represented by two Democrats. Louisiana has six U.S. House seats.

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Prosecutors in Louisiana could getpay raises and seetheir ranks grow as the Legislature consid-

“This is not democracy.Itisthe deliberate dilution of Black political power,” said Keturah Butler-Reed, of the NAACP Youth and College Division. “The country is watching.” Butler-Reed was justone of dozensof people, mostofthem Black,who traveled to the State Capitoltoformally testify

ers bills to givemore resources to district attorneys’ ofﬁces —especially in theparishes of EastBaton Rouge and St.Tammany House Bill 660 would raise the base salary for assistant district

Fromleft, U.S. Rep.Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; Cedric Richmond; William Jefferson; and U.S. Rep.Troy Carter,D-New Orleans, testify during Friday’s hearing

against the effort, chantinprotest or watch the discussion.

Somewho spoke to theSenate and Governmental Affairs Committee, whichhandles redistricting legislation, expressed indignation, frustration, anger and even

attorneys from $50,000 to $60,000, and it would raise the base salary for thestate’s42district attorneys from $55,000 to $65,000. Meanwhile, HouseBill 719 would give thestate 80 new prosecutors, with the most recruits going to the 19th and 22nd judicial districts.

Those proposals, authored by state Rep. Peter Egan, R-Covington, are both headed to the Senate after theHouse passed them on Thursday.But the changes would not take effect unless the Legislatureappropriates money in its budget to fund them

The dorm will be four stories and hold around 500 beds, according to the proposal. Southern is hoping to complete the residencehallbyfall 2027.

“Studentsnow want to have theon-campus experience. The more we can provide with affordable housing,that enhances their experience.”

JOHN PIERRE, Southern chancellor

While there is no requirement for freshmen to live on campus Pierre saidstudents whoapply for on-campus housing will be assigned to thenew residencehall first. The dorm will be traditional student housing, with study roomsand common spaces on each floor and dining facilities on the first level.

“We’re trying to keep students in aniceplace,where therewillbean ecosystem of services available for them as they matriculate,” Pierre said.

State Rep. Jack McFarland, RJonesboro, whoauthors Louisiana’sbudget bills, said he is committed to at least partially funding the proposals but is unsure whether the state hasenough money to

STAFF PHOTOSByJAVIER GALLEGOS

Crowds gathered outside the hearingroom chant during aSenate and Governmental Affairs Committee meetingatthe State Capitol on Friday.

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Starmer won’t quit after local electionlosses

LONDON British Prime MinisterKeir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resignafter bruising electionsthatsaw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right ReformUKmake major gains.

The local and regional elections were widely seen as an unofﬁcial referendumonStarmer whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left Labour Party to power lessthan two years ago.

Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 yearsof Conservative government, and many Labourlawmakershave become despairing at the government’sfailure to deliver

Starmer said he took responsibilityfor the“very tough” results butwould not quit.

“Thevotershavesent amessageabout the pace of change, howthey wanttheir livesimproved,” he said. “I was elected to meet those challenges,and I’m not going to walk awayfrom those challenges and plungethe country into chaos.”

Reform UK, ledbythe veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage,won hundreds of localcouncilseatsinworking-class areas in England’snorth, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades, and also made gains from theConservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London. Reform,which ran on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, did particularly wellinareas that backed the U.K. to leave the European Union in the historic Brexit vote in 2016.

Farage said the results in England, as well as those in Scotland and Wales, where elections to their semiautonomous parliaments were held, marked a“historic change in British politics.”

Labour also lost ground to the Green Party,whose popularity has risen under self-described “ecopopulist” leader Zack Polanski. The Conservative Party also lost ground,with the centrist Liberal Democrats makingsome gains.

Ahandful of Labour lawmakers urged Starmertoquitbut Cabinet ministers cautioned the party not to topple the prime minister while acknowledging theresults were awake-up call forthe party

Rubio defends new U.S. sanctions on Cuba

HAVANA Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday defended theTrump administration’s decision to slap new sanctions on Cuba, the largest of which is against GAESA, or GrupodeAdministración EmpresarialS.A., abusiness conglomerate operatedbythe Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

In addition to GAESA and its leader, the sanctions announced Thursday included Moa Nickel, aCuban joint venture with Canada’sSherritt International, which immediately announced it would withdraw from the business, ending a32-year presence on the island.

The May 1executive orderand the new designations announced May 7signiﬁcantly expand the legal authority through which the U.S. government can levy sanctions on third-country nationalsand ﬁrms, explainedLee Schlenker,aresearch associate at theQuincy Institute’s Global South program.

Officials: Missing hiker killed by bear in Mont. WEST GLACIER,Mont. The body of amissing hiker has beenfound in Glacier National Park in what authorities say appears to be the first deadly bearattackatthe iconic Montana parksince 1998

“His injuries are consistent with those sustained by abear encounter,” the NationalPark Service said in awritten statement Thursday. “Wildlife and law enforcement personnel are currently assessing the area for bearactivity andany ongoing public safety concerns.”

The hiker’sbody was discovered Wednesday in adensely wooded area about 50 feet off the Mt. Brown Trail. No other details were immediately released, but authorities had been searching forAnthonyPollio, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after he disappeared Sunday

AMIRHOSEINKHORGOOI

in the background in the Strait of Hormuzoff Bandar Abbas, Iran.

U.S. fireson, disables 2moreIranian tankers

Tensionsrisein Strait of Hormuz

BY ADAM SCHRECK, BEN FINLEY and MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates U.S. forces ﬁredonand disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday afterexchanging ﬁre with Iranian forces in theStraitofHormuz overnight.The United ArabEmirates, meanwhile, reported another Iranian missile anddrone attack.

The attackscast more doubt on atenuous month-old ceaseﬁre that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranianresponsetoits latest proposalfor adeal to end the war,reopen the strait and roll back Tehran’s disputednuclear program.

said no American ships werehit

“Theythreaten Americans,they are going to be blown up,” Rubio told reporters Friday

Iran’sForeign Ministry condemned what it called “hostile” U.S. military action, saying it violated the ceaseﬁre.“Every time adiplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for arecklessmilitary adventure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

AU.S. strike overnight killed at least onesailorand injured10others aboard acargovesselthatcaught ﬁre,a news agency afﬁliated with Iran’sjudiciary reported. It was not clear if the ship was one of the twotankersthe U.S. acknowledged striking.

U.S.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopestoreceive “a serious offer” fromIranlater Friday

The U.S. military said Fridaythat its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were tryingtobreach an American blockade of Iran’sports. Hoursearlier,the military saiditthwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in thestrait.

Iranhas mostly blocked thecritical waterway for global energy since the U.S. andIsraellaunchedthe waronFeb.28, causing aglobal spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets. TheU.S.has imposedits own blockade of Iran’sports

TheUAE’sDefense Ministry meanwhile said three peoplewerewounded after air defenses engagedtwo ballistic missiles and three droneslaunched by Iran. It was not clearifall weresuccessfully intercepted.

The U.S. military posted video of the two Iraniantankersastheir smokestacks were struck by an American ﬁghter jeton Friday. Earlier in the week, an American militaryjet shot out the rudder of atanker theU.S. military saidwas attempting to breach its blockade

Late Thursday,the U.S. military saidit thwarted Iranianattacks on threeNavy ships in the Strait of Hormuz andstruck Iranian military facilities in response.It

President Donald Trumphas insistedthe ceaseﬁre is holding He also has reiterated threats to resumefull-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t acceptanagreementto reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saidhis country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceaseﬁre and reach apeace deal.

Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press show what appears to be an oil slickinthe Persian Gulf emanating from the western side of Kharg Island, Iran’smain crude exportterminal.

Images taken Fridayshowthe slick covering about 27 square milesand appear to show oil still leaking from the terminal, said AmiDaniel, CEO of maritime intelligence ﬁrm Windward AI.

Daniel estimated thatthe equivalent of roughly80,000 oil barrels has spilled from Kharg Island since theslick was ﬁrst detected by satelliteimages Tuesday.It’s unknown whether the spill was caused by amalfunction, an airstrike or something else.

“This is therisk of ﬁghting in an oil-rich area,” saidDaniel, adding that it’sunlikely any cleanup effortswill be launched in Gulf waters that have becomeanactive war zone

He said thespill appears to be spreading southwestand within the next two weeks could potentially reach the shoresofthe UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.

Spainreadies forevacuations from hantavirus-hit cruise ship

Vessel headsfor the CanaryIslands

BYSUMAN NAISHADHAM Associated Press

MADRID Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board ahantavirus-stricken cruiseship headed for the Canary Islands,where healthofﬁcials have saidthey will perform careful evacuations

The vessel is expected to arrive Sunday at theSpanishisland of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, and passengers will be taken to a“completelyisolated,cordoned-off area,” said the head of Spain’s emergency services, Virginia Barcones. Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to sendplanes to evacuate their citizens fromthe cruise ship.

While three people have diedsincethe outbreak, and ﬁve passengers wholeft the ship areknowntobeinfected withhantavirus, cruise operator Oceanwide ExpeditionssaidFridaythere were no people with symptoms of apossible infection on board theDutch-ﬂaggedship, theMV Hondius The World HealthOrganization considers the risk tothe wider public from the outbreak as low.

On Friday, the WHO said a ﬂight attendant on aplane brieﬂyboarded by an infectedcruise passenger has tested negative for hantavirus. Her possible infection had raisedconcerns about the virus’ po-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Trump: Russia, Ukraineagree to 3-dayceasefire

Countriesplan prisoner swap amid Victory Dayholiday

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

WASHINGTON— President

Donald Trump said Friday thatthe leadersofRussia and Ukraine have agreed to his request forathree-day ceaseﬁre andanexchange of prisoners, adding that such ahalttohostilities could be the“beginning of the end” of the long war between them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser,both conﬁrmed the agreement.

“I askedand, President Putin agreed.President Zelenskyy agreed —both readily,” Trump saidashe departed the White House to attend adinnerathis Virginia golf club. “And we have alittle period of time where they’re notgoing to be killing people. That’s very good ” Trump earlier Friday had announced on social media that the ceaseﬁre would run Saturdaythrough Monday Saturday is Victory Dayin Russia, aholiday that commemorates thevictoryover Nazi Germany in World WarII.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be aTHREE DAYCEASEFIRE (May 9th,10th,and 11th)inthe Warbetween Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote.

“The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine,because theywerealso abig part and factor of WorldWar II.”

TheRepublican president said the ceaseﬁre includes asuspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000prisoners by each country Russia had announced aceaseﬁre for Friday and Saturday,but it quickly unraveled, with both sides blaming the other for the

continued ﬁghting, just as they had when Ukraine’s own unilateral ceaseﬁre had swiftly collapsedearlier in the week.

Trump said he made his request for the ceasefire “directly” to the two presidents. “Hopefully,itisthe beginning of the end of a very long, deadly,and hard fought War,”hesaid.

Trump added thattalks continueoverending the war that began in February 2022 “and we are getting closer and closer every day.” Trump has gone back and forth over whether thewar will end, at times expressing optimismand at other times saying Russia andUkraine should be leftto ﬁght it out to thebitter end.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s decisiononhow to engage with those discussions was shaped in part by the prospect of freeing its prisoners. Ukraine has made the return of prisoners of war a central demand throughout the conﬂict.

“Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainianprisoners of war who can be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram Red Square is where Russia holds its traditional military parade to celebrate Victory Day,one of the biggest holidays of the year After releasing his statement, Zelenskyy issued a formal presidential decree “authorizing” Russia to hold theparade, declaring Red Square off-limits for Ukrainian strikes for theduration of theevent. The framing of thedecree appeared designed to underscoreKyiv’sclaim that it holds effective targetingreach over the Russian capital, while publicly tying Ukrainianrestraint to the ceaseﬁre terms. Kremlin spokeperson Dmitry Peskov later shrugged off Zelenskyy’s decree as a“silly joke.” Zelenskyy said the deal for aceaseﬁre was reached through aU.S.-mediated process and thanked Trump and the American team for what he called effective diplomatic engagement.

Workers prepare the area on Fridaywhere passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arriveatthe port of Granadilla in Tenerife, CanaryIslands, Spain. GET IN

tential transmissibility. The ﬂight attendant’snegative result should ease concerns amongthe public, said ChristianLindmeier,aWHO spokesman. “Theriskremains absolutely low,” he said. “This is not anew COVID.”

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’teasily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruiseship outbreak may be ableto spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually showbetween one and eight weeks after exposure. Health authorities across four continents were tracking down andmonitoring morethan two dozen passengers who disembarked theshipbefore thedeadly outbreak was detected.They were also scrambling to trace otherswho may have come intocontact with them.

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Twomen sit in asmall boatonMonday as cargoshipsare anchored

Alabama lawmakerspassplanfor newHouse primary

Virginia court invalidatesmap

BY KIM CHANDLER, JACK BROOK, JEFFREY COLLINS and DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press

MONTGOMERY,Ala.— Anational redistricting battle over U.S. House seats swung toward RepublicansonFriday, as a Virginiacourtinvalidated a Democratic gerrymandering effort and Republicans in Alabama approved plans for new primary elections if courts allowGOP-drawn House districts to be used in the November midterm elections. The Alabamalegislation, which was signed quickly into lawbyRepublicanGov Kay Ivey,ispart of an effort by Republicans in Southern statestocapitalize on arecent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that signiﬁcantly weakened Voting Rights Actprotections for minorities.

At the Alabama Statehouse, achaotic scene eruptedas one protester wasdragged from the packedHouse gallery by security officers. Republican lawmakersin Louisiana and South Carolina also facedstaunch opposition from civil rights activists and Democrats as they presented plans Friday to redraw their congressional districts. The action came just aday

after Tennessee enacted new congressional districts that carve up aDemocratic-held, Black-majoritydistrictin Memphis. Thestate Democratic Partysued on Friday seekingtopreventthe districts from being used until afterthis year’selections because of the tight timeframe. Even before last week’s Supreme Courtruling in a Louisiana case,Republicans and Democrats already were engaged in a ﬁerce redistricting battle, each seekinganedge in the midterm electionsthatwill determine control of the closely divided House. That battle tilted furthertoward Republicans when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that Democratic lawmakershad violatedconstitutional requirementswhenplacing a redistricting amendment on the ballot.

Israeliairstrikeskill5 in southern Lebanon

OK’d by voters Hezbollah rocketshit open areasinIsrael

BY BASSEMMROUE Associated Press

BEIRUT Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least five people Friday, while the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group fired rockets on northern Israel without inflicting any casualties. The Health Ministryin Lebanon said that an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Toura near the port city of Tyre killedfour people and wounded eight. Lebanon’sstate-run National News Agency reported another airstrike near the southeastern village of Kfar Chouba,saying it killed a paramedic with the Lebanese Civil Defense.

The strikes came hours after the Israeli army’sArabic-language spokesperson issued an evacuation warning to the residents of six villages in Tyre province, including Toura.

In the early afternoon, Hezbollah fired asalvoof rockets toward northern Israel. The Israeli military said it shot down one rocket while the rest fell in open areas without inﬂicting ca-

sualties.

Aceasefire has been in place since April17, but violence hascontinued,including an Israeliairstrike on Beirut’ssouthernsuburbs on Wednesday The Israeli militarysaid Thursdayithad killed AhmedBalout, whoitidentifiedasacommander in Hezbollah’selite Radwan Force, along with twoother militants. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Israelsaysithas killed more than 85 Hezbollah militantsand struck 180 sites used by the group in the past week, without providing evidence.

On Friday,LebanesePresident Joseph Aountolda visiting delegation from the European Unionthat European countries should pressure Israel to commit to the ceaseﬁre and abstainfrom “detonating and bulldozing” homes in villages under Israeli occupation.

Aoun addedincomments releasedbyhis office that Lebanon is committed to the ceasefire in order to start negotiationsthat will end the currentconditions.

Hadja Lahbib, European commissioner forequality,told reporters after the meeting with Aounthat Israel and Hezbollahare takingLebanon “hostage.”

Since President Donald Trump prodded Texas to redrawits congressional districtslastsummer, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new districts in severalstates while Democrats think they could gain up to sixseats. But the parties may notget everything they sought, becausethe gerrymandering could backﬁre in some highly competitive districts

Alabamaprimaries

Demonstrators outside theAlabama Statehouseon Fridayshouted “fight for democracy”and “down with whitesupremacy.”

“I wasout there in 1965 marchingfor the rightto vote,and nowweare back here in 2026 doing the same thing,” Betty WhiteBoynton said.

During debateinside the

statehouse,Black lawmakers said theRepublicanlegislation harks back to the state’s shameful Jim Crow history.The newlaw would ignore the May 19 primary resultsfor some congressional seatsand direct the governor to schedule anew primary under revised districts, if acourt allows it. Lawmakers also approved a similar bill relatedtostate Senate districts.

“Whathappened heretoday is that we were set back as apeople to the days of Reconstruction,” Democratic state Sen. Rodger Smitherman said after the vote.

Senate Democratsshouted “hell no”and “stop the steal” as senators voted.

The special primary would happenonly if the courts agree to lift an injunction that put acourt-selected map in place until after the2030

census. That order required asecond district where Black votersare the majority or close to it, resulting in the2024 electionofDemocratic Rep. Shomari Figures, whoisBlack. If acourt lifts the injunction, Republican ofﬁcialswant to put in place amap lawmakers drew in 2023 —which was rejected by afederal court —that could allow them to reclaim Figures’ district.

“Withthis special session successfully behind us, Alabamanow stands ready to quicklyact, should the courts issuefavorable rulingsinour ongoing redistricting cases,” Ivey said in astatement.

Virginia ruling

Democrats had hoped to gain as many as four additional U.S. House seats undernew districts narrowly approvedbyvotersinApril.

But the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure because it saidthe Democraticled legislature violated procedural requirements.

To placea constitutional amendment before voters, theVirginia Constitutionrequireslawmakerstoapprove it in two separate legislative sessions, with astate electionsandwichedinbetween

The legislature’s initialapproval of the redistricting amendment occurred last October —whileearly voting wasunderwaybut before it concluded for thegeneral election. Thelegislature’s second vote on the amendmentoccurred after anew

legislative session began in January

The state SupremeCourt said the initial legislative approval came toolate, noting that more than 1.3 million ballots alreadyhad beencast, about 40% of the total votes ultimately cast.

SouthCarolinamaps

SouthCarolina lawmakers held arareFriday meeting to discuss aproposed new congressional mapintended to allow Republicans aclean sweep of the state’sseven U.S. House seats. The House hearing was the first step in redistricting. But its future remains murky.The stateSenate has yettoagreetoconsidernew districts later this month, an action that requires atwothirds vote.

The new maphas some Republicans nervous. Breaking up the6th District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, makes the other six districts less Republican.

At Friday’ssubcommittee meeting, lawmakers heard hoursoftestimony, almost all against the new map. The hearing included aconsultant whoreviewed the map, saying it appeared to be legal underthe Supreme Court’s decisioninthe Louisiana case.

“I agreeifthe lawallows us to do it, then we can do It,” Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg said. “But Ican slap somebody’smama and it’snot the right thing to do.”

Canvas system online aftercyberattack

BY HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and COREYWILLIAMS Associated Press

Tens of thousandsof students studying for final exams around the worldFriday regained access to akey online learning system after a cyberattack had earlier knocked it ofﬂine, throwing schools and universities intoturmoil.

ElizabethPolowas in acreative writing class at theUniversityof Maryland lateThursday afternoon when aclassmateshouted, “Canvas gothacked.” Amessage from ahacking collective ﬂashed on her computer screen

“Our whole classjust like was like freaking out aboutit,”saidPolo, ajunior.“Ourpoor professor was trying to get everyone to calm down but it was just kind of chaos.”

Across academia,the outage setoff panic and confusion as students and faculty members found themselves lockedout of aplatform they rely on to manage grades and access course notesand assignments. Colleges scrambled to reschedule final exams as students lost anyway to access materials they needed to study

Instructure, the company behind Canvas,saidinan update late Thursday that thesystem was available for most users.

“Instructure discovered the unauthorizedactor involved in our ongoing security incident made changes to the pagesthatappeared

when somestudents and teachers were logged in,” Instructure said Friday in a statement. “Out of an abundanceofcaution, we immediately took Canvas ofﬂine to containaccess andfurtherinvestigate. Instructurealsosaidit confirmed that the unauthorized actor exploited an issue relatedtoits FreeFor-Teacher accounts. The company has temporarily shut down those accounts. Instructure did notsay whether it paid aransom nor has it said what happened with thecompromised data

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIM CHANDLER

Ademonstrator holds up asignThursday outside the AlabamaStatehouse in Montgomery.

Pope marks his anniversary during Pompeii visit

BY PAOLO SANTALUCIA and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

POMPEII,Italy Pope Leo XIV

prayed Friday for political leaders to end the “fratricidal hatred” in the world, as he spent the anniversary of his election in the ancient city of Pompeii commemorating a feast day that is particularly important to him and coincided last year with the start of his pontiﬁcate.

Leo traveled by helicopter to Pompeii, near Naples, for a daylong visit to mark the May 8 feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. The date marks the day in 1876 when the cornerstone for a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Pompeii was laid.

The sanctuary is located near the excavations of the

city that was buried in A.D. 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and spewed volcanic ash and gas across the region. While the Pompeii archaeological site draws millions of tourists each year, the sanctuary attracts

Catholic pilgrims who are particularly devoted to praying the rosary

“What a beautiful day, how many blessings the Lord wanted to give to all of us,” Leo told throngs of faithful inside the sanctuary before

Suspect in disappearance of Navajo woman sentenced after plea deal

Man gets 5 years for robbery

BY SAVANNAH PETERS and JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press

PHOENIX The only person ever charged in the unsolved 2021 disappearance of Navajo elder Ella Mae Begay, whose case became emblematic of a crisis fueled by disproportionately high rates of violence faced by Native Americans, has been sentenced to ﬁve years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes in Phoenix on Friday accepted an agreement in which Preston Henry Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay Under the agreement, Tolth was credited with three years’ time served and prosecutors dropped an assault charge and agreed not to prosecute him in the future if Begay’s case develops. The sentencing effectively closes a yearslong case that has been troubled by a lack of physical evidence and the suppression of a confession from Tolth, who also is Navajo. During Friday’s hearing, family members urged Rayes to reject the agreement. Begay’s niece tearfully reiterated that they didn’t want Tolth released without him leading investigators to Begay “A 62-year-old woman is

still nowhere to be found. No amount of time is enough if he won’t tell us where she is,” said Seraphine Warren, who later left the courtroom when it was apparent the judge was moving forward with the sentencing.

A beloved grandmother of nine and talented weaver of Navajo-style pictorial rugs, Begay was 62 when she vanished from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation in June 2021. Tolth’s sentencing comes amid a week of awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement, which highlights the disproportionate number of Native Americans who are missing or have been killed.

Mass. “I feel I am the ﬁrst blessed to be able to come here to the sanctuary of the Madonna on the day of her feast and on this anniversary.”

The visit kicked off a series of day trips that Leo

will be making over the next few weeks, up and down the Italian peninsula, as he gets to know better the Italian church of which he is the symbolic head as bishop of Rome.

In his homily at the sanctuary, Leo entrusted his pontificate to the Virgin Mary and prayed for peace.

“We cannot resign ourselves to the images of death that the news presents to us every day,” Leo said “May the God of peace pour out an overflowing abundance of mercy touching hearts, soothing grudges and fratricidal hatred, and enlightening those who bear special responsibilities of governance.”

Friday marked the anniversary of the election of the former Robert Prevost as history’s first U.S.-born pope. Leo had referred to the Pompeii feast day on the night of his election, when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica and was

introduced to the world. That night, he led the faithful in the piazza below in a prayer for his pontiﬁcate. He said then that Mary the mother of Christ, “always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love.”

“Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace,” Leo said then.

The Pompeii sanctuary is closely associated with the ﬁgure of St. Bartolo Longo, who founded the basilica and is venerated especially in Italy for his charitable works for orphans, prisoners and other marginalized people. Pope Francis had approved the miracle necessary for Longo’s canonization from his hospital room, just a few weeks before he died, and Leo made him a saint in October

In legal dispute over ‘The View,’ ABC argues feds trying to chill free speech

BY JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer

NEW YORK — In a strongly worded ﬁling, ABC accuses the Trump administration of trying to chill its constitutionally protected free speech and hinder open political discussion.

The point of contention: The popular show “The View,” and whether it’s subject to equal time rules.

ABC’s filing to the Federal Communications Commission, made public Friday, came in a dispute involving one ABC station in Houston, KTRK-TV But the wording indicated the network was embarking on a broader battle with the administration.

“The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly,” said the ﬁling on behalf of both KTRK-TV and ABC.

The commission replied, in a statement emailed to The Associated Press, that equal time law “encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections.

The FCC will review Disney’s assertion that ‘The View’ is a ‘bona ﬁde news program’ and thus exempt from the political equal time rules.”

The ABC ﬁling appeared to be the latest volley in-

side and outside the legal arena between the U.S. media and the Trump White House over what journalists perceive as the president’s attack on free speech and the media’s ability to do its job Trump has been critical of media outlets whose journalism runs counter to his agenda and sensibilities. Among legal battles in the courts: a dispute between the Pentagon and The New York Times over access; a battle between the White House and The Associated Press over how to refer to the Gulf of Mexico; and Trump’s anger at The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GREGORIO BORGIA Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful on Friday during his pastoral visit in Pompeii, Italy

Trump administration releases batch of UFO files

Documents shed light on sightings but leave interpretation to public

BY SEUNG MIN KIM and COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON Buzz Aldrin

observing a “fairly bright light source” while aboard Apollo 11. A mysterious object making “multiple 90-degree turns” at a speedy clip.

A blaringly bright object doing corkscrew twists over the skies in Kazakhstan

Those are some of the details in a new batch of ﬁles on UFOs that the Pentagon began releasing on Friday as President Donald Trump taps into the public’s long-held curiosities about “unidentiﬁed anomalous phenomena” in the broader universe.

Though the Pentagon has been working on declassifying the documents for years, Trump put attention back on the topic months ago by teasing a major UFO document dump.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’ Have Fun and Enjoy!” Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post.

Trump’s Republican administration says the public can draw its own conclusions with the information in the ﬁles, which includes old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed ﬂights into space. A new Pentagon website housing the documents on UAPs has a decidedly retro feel, with black-andwhite military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font.

Experts urge caution around the release of the new ﬁles, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted

and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with military technology A 2024 Pentagon report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or conﬁrmed evidence of alien life.

Files describe sightings

The initial release is a trove of videos, other imagery and testimony that is sure to stir more speculation among those who believe we are not alone in the universe.

For instance, a State Department cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan in 1994 details how one Tajik pilot and three Americans saw a brightly lit UAP while ﬂying a jet over Kazakhstan. The object, according to the cable, was “making 90 degree turns, doing corkscrews and maneuvering in circles at great rates of speed.”

That’s not the only instance of erratically moving objects cited in the document release. A military report from the Aegean Sea in 2023 cited a UAP ﬂying just above the surface of the ocean and making “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph.”

One interview with a U.S. intelligence official details an incident last year in which the official, doing a search on a helicopter, encountered a “superhot” orb hovering over the ground, traveling about 20 miles at a speedy clip, then spotted four or ﬁve more orbs that ﬂared up and down.

In a 1969 debriefing of Apollo 11 crew members, the astronaut Aldrin recalled spotting several unusual sights, such as a “sizable” object close to the moon and a “fairly bright light source” that the crew felt could be a laser

One document details an FBI interview with some-

one identiﬁed as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky

“The object was visible for ﬁve to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview

Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”

The documents include more than 20 video files showing unidentiﬁed objects captured by military sensors in locations from Syria and Japan to North America. The objects range from fast-moving specks captured in the distance to a football-shaped object spotted over the East China Sea in 2022. The most recent video is from Jan. 1 of this year and appears to show two circular lights ﬂying against an inky black backdrop in North America.

Several ﬁles include military videos from the past several years that showed small ambiguous dots moving above the landscapes of Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The white objects sometimes streaked across the screen in less than a second, while others slowly glided through the air or were followed by the camera.

Other ﬁles include written reports from U.S. military service members who were surveilling locations in the Middle East. One report described an object that was “shaped as a bouncy ball” and traveling 483 mph consistently for at least seven minutes over Syria in 2023.

The object was later determined to be benign. Among the files are hun-

dreds of pages detailing reported sightings dating to the 1940s A 1948 report from U.S. airmen in the Netherlands raised concerns about recurring ﬂying saucer sightings. Swedish counterparts saw them, too and believed they did not come from “any presently known culture on earth,” the report said.

One military video that quickly caught attention on Friday appears to show an aircraft shaped like an eight-pointed star weaving through the air The video, from 2013 in the Middle East, is probably nothing more than a hot jet engine producing a diffraction pattern in the camera, said Sean Kirkpatrick, a former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Ofﬁce, which investigates UAP Kirkpatrick said there’s nothing unexpected in the release and warned that without analysis it will “only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and armchair pseudoscience.”

Trump touts transparency Trump has previously released records related to

the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr that revealed little beyond what was already known.

The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an ofﬁce in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever conﬁrmed a sighting of alien technology

A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., demanded 46 UAP videos identiﬁed by whistleblowers. Luna said Friday those videos will be released later by the Pentagon.

Rep. Tim Burchett, RTenn., thanked Trump for “keeping his word” on transparency and disclosure.

“I would like to remind people that transparency won’t all happen at once, it

will take some time,” Burchett said in a statement. Others used Friday’s release to urge further transparency into what the government knows about UAPs. The Sol Foundation, a research group focused on UAPs, pushed for passage of legislation that would force a “thorough” review of classiﬁed UAP records “with the aim of providing Americans with the full truth about longstanding government knowledge and programs concerning technologies and vehicles not of human origin.”

“While today’s new step toward a full disclosure of government knowledge concerning UAP is welcome, many more need to be taken to bring an end to the decades of secrecy by which the American people were kept in the dark,” said Peter Skaﬁsh, the foundation’s executive director, and retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, a former acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

BY HAVEN DALEY and JANIE HAR Associated Press

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif A

California sheriff said Friday that evidence suggests human remains were present at a home connected to the man convicted of killing Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student who went missing in 1996.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said they cannot say whether the remains are those of Smart or whether authorities will seek another warrant to start digging on Susan Flores’ property Her son, Paul Flores, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, whose body has never been found.

The search began Wednesday after authorities served

a warrant Wednesday at the home in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande more than 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles Authorities have not speciﬁed what prompted the search, but scientists specializing in human decomposition and soil took samples from the ground.

“We believe that based on what we’re looking at evidence-wise scientific evidence — that a human’s remains were there at one time — or still there. We can’t call it Kristin, but there’s evidence to support human remains,” Parkinson said during a news conference.

Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996 after returning from an offcampus party Prosecutors

alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Paul Flores, a fellow student. She was declared legally dead in 2002.

The decades-old case has captivated the public, fueled in part by a podcaster who helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses. Chris Lambert of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast first reported the search of the home.

“We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful and look forward to the outcome,” the Smart family said in a statement, adding that they “continue to feel the amazing support of the local community which provides us with great strength to continue this journey to bring Kristin home.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JON ELSWICK

Files on UFOs released Friday by the Pentagon are displayed in Washington.

fury, while others took a respectful tone.

Among the latter group were the only four Black congressmen who Louisiana has elected since Reconstruction: current U.S. Reps Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, and Cleo Fields, DBaton Rouge, along with former Reps. Cedric Richmond and William Jefferson, both of New Orleans.

The congressmen sat together and called on the Legislature to preserve two Black voting districts.

“A republic cannot survive if the people lose faith that their voices don’t matter,” Carter said. “We’re being tested, and the whole world is watching.”

Fields noted it took well over a century before Louisiana elected a Black person to Congress in the 1990s. He called Republican redistricting efforts “personal.”

State Sen. Gary Carter Jr., D-New Orleans, emphasized that point, saying, “Since the 1870s, these are the only four African American congressmen from the state of Louisiana.”

He said the possibility of having one or even zero majority-Black districts in a state where one-third of the population is African American was cause for anger and embarrassment.

“How can we not be outraged?” he said.

A short time later, that frustration surfaced again Hearing turns fiery

The

ﬁrst two hours of the hearing were relatively calm and orderly, but that changed briefly after two state senators clashed over accusations of racism inside the meeting room.

Sen. Jay Morris, a West Monroe Republican, is sponsoring legislation that will likely contain the new voting map. Carter pressed him on his motivation.

“You’re suggesting that I called you racist,” Carter, who is Black, told Morris, who is White. “What I’m suggesting is that we look at the body of your work this session. You are the only member of this body that has legislation that reduces

significant African American political power throughout the state of Louisiana.”

As Carter continued and became increasingly heated, Republican Sen Caleb Kleinpeter, the committee chair, attempted to pause the meeting, apparently further frustrating Carter “I don’t want a recess,” Carter exclaimed Kleinpeter cut off Carter’s microphone, but the New Orleans senator persisted: “He suggested he’s not racist I said we take a look at his work.”

Morris moved to leave the

committee room, which was ﬁlled with members of the public, some of whom apparently agreed with Carter and conveyed that fact to Morris. Morris responded as he was walking out, telling the people to “shut up.”

A brief verbal disagreement erupted inside the committee room. Meanwhile, Carter’s comments also appeared to encourage observers who were listening and watching the meeting on video feeds outside of the committee room at the Capitol.

“Let him speak, let him

speak, let him speak,” a crowd outside the door chanted, as some protesters attempted to barge in.

Security staff secured the room, and Kleinpeter called for order inside. After a few minutes, the uproar subsided and the committee reconvened.

The exchange between the senators was a kind of prelude to a cascade of at times ﬁery testimony from members of the public who decried GOP efforts to eliminate Black voting districts.

Leona Tate, a New Orleans civil rights activist who at age 6 helped desegregate schools in the South, was the ﬁrst member of the general public to speak.

She called the Supreme Court’s recent decision “one of the most racist rulings in our nation’s history.”

Josiah Hardy, a 16-year-old who attends LSU Laboratory School, also spoke against the redistricting effort.

“As an African American myself, I want to hold politi-

cal ofﬁces in the future, but I cannot do so if my voice is diluted in a community that does not like me,” he said.

A number of people who testiﬁed called out legislators directly

“I need every lawmaker in this chamber who supports these unfair maps to understand something clearly History has its eyes on you. Your children will see this. Your grandchildren will see this,” said Diedra Meredith. “What is happening in Louisiana right now is not just politics, not just partisan decisions. It is the dismantling of Black voting power through racial gerrymandering.”

Sarah Whittington, advocacy director of ACLU of Louisiana, told committee members if they adopt a map that reduces Black representation, “You will lose the moral authority to claim that you represent all Louisianans.”

Jordan Gonzales, of the Young Democrats of Louisiana, predicted Republicans

will soon lose power after Democrats win at the ballot box in coming elections.

“I hope y’all do the right thing,” Gonzales said. “But if you don’t, good luck.” Toward the end of the hearing, just a small handful of people spoke up in support of the redistricting effort, saying the Supreme Court was correct in deciding that race shouldn’t play a role in redistricting.

Christy Haik, a conservative activist, said she supported a proposed map that has no majority-Black districts.

“So many people here have expressed concern that moving away from race-based districting may diminish minority representation. But the Constitution requires equal treatment of voters,” she said. “This bill provides a constitutional map.”

Nationwide stakes

The public hearing is the ﬁrst formal step in Louisiana’s effort to draw a new congressional map in the wake of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana lawmakers and legislatures in some other Southern states immediately took action to redraw congressional maps, reducing the number of majorityBlack districts that favor Democratic candidates and increasing the number of districts expected to elected Republicans.

The move has prompted public backlash by those who see the sudden redistricting efforts as an attack on Black voting rights and political representation.

President Donald Trump has pressured Republicancontrolled states to draw new congressional maps that favor Republicans, helping the GOP retain power in Congress. A number of red states have done so, working quickly to adopt new maps in time for the November midterm elections. Republican legislative leaders in Louisiana have said Trump has not contacted them about redistricting.

Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, presents a proposed congressional map during Friday’s meeting

STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Sen. Gary Carter Jr., D-New Orleans, is held back after he began shouting in opposition to Republican lawmakers

Friday’s Senate and

Committee, speaks during Friday’s meeting

The project will be funded through private equity ﬁnancing coordinated by the Southern University Foundation, Pierre said Southern will lease the site to the foundation to construct the new facilities.

“We’re not getting any capital funds from the Legislature,” Pierre said. “This is all being done based upon our projection of our revenue, cash flow, projected growth.”

The freshman and sophomore residence hall is the ﬁrst stage of a multiphase housing expansion at Southern.

The second phase will build new residential facilities in the same location for upper-level, graduate and professional students, with 350 beds added. Those dorms will be apartment-style and feature laundry machines and kitchenettes in each unit.

The quad created by the new residence halls will include walkways, patios, planting beds and recreation space, according to the proposal. A timetable for the second phase has not been announced yet The entire housing expansion will cost around $77 million.

“We think it will provide for a more wholesome and robust campus experience,” Pierre said Pierre described the project as a part of Southern’s “renaissance.” The university opened a new welcome center and outdoor classroom this year In

HIRING

Continued from page 1A

pay for everything in them.

Right now, about $5.5 million is available, McFarland said That number could change if state budget forecasters increase their revenue estimates for the coming ﬁscal year, he said.

The House passed an initial version of the budget last month. It is now in the hands of the Senate.

$5.5 million is not enough to fully fund Egan’s bills, which would ultimately require $13 million a

year from the state, according to research from the Legislative Fiscal Ofﬁce.

Increasing prosecutors’ base salaries as outlined in HB660 would cost the state about $7.5 million annually, a ﬁscal note attached to the bill says. And adding 80 new prosecutors statewide would cost $4.5 million annually according to the fiscal note for HB719.

Of the 80 new positions, 18 would go to the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish and 16 would go to the 22nd Judicial District Court, which serves St. Tammany and Washington parishes.

On the House floor, Egan said those districts have the highest level of need. The Louisiana District Attorneys Association has supported the proposal.

Though prosecutors may earn more than $50,000 if local governing authorities supplement the state’s salary allotment, Egan said some parishes cannot afford to do so. He called the proposals “a request to put our money where our mouth is” in terms of supporting public safety Egan’s proposals have received broad support. But they have raised another issue, too: On the House ﬂoor, state Rep. C Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, said the

state also needs to increase funding for public defenders if it wants its criminal justice system to run smoothly

Resources in East Baton Rouge

The Legislature is considering Egan’s bills as Hillar Moore, the district attorney for the 19th Judicial District Court, urges ofﬁcials to give more resources to his ofﬁce, which he says is woefully understaffed.

In meetings with state ofﬁcials last month, Moore said that being under-resourced has compromised public safety in Baton Rouge, which has one of the highest per capita violent crime rates in Loui-

siana. Moore said his office has lost 36 attorneys over the last 16 months as it struggles to compete with other public sector employers — including the Louisiana Attorney General’s office — that offer lawyers $30,000 to $40,000 annually more than he can. Moore’s budget was cut by 9% in 2026 and 5% in 2025. The district attorney recently sued the East Baton Rouge Metro Council and Mayor-President Sid Edwards to get more funding. He has argued that, with its current budget constraints, his office cannot operate as the constitution says it must.

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LSU, Southern join graduates study

Census will track how college students use degrees

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

The LSU and Southern University systems will participate in a study with the U.S. Census Bureau to learn more about how Louisiana students are using their degrees after graduation.

The pilot project, which brings together data from the census and the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse, is the ﬁrst of its kind in the country

“There’s tremendous interest across Louisiana in when people graduate from different higher education institutions with dif-

ferent degrees at different levels, what happens then?” said Tristan Denley, deputy commissioner for academic affairs and innovation with the Board of Regents. “What actually do they go do with those degrees?”

The analysis will help answer the questions, on a broad scale, of

where students are employed after graduation, if their jobs match their field of study and if they choose to reside and build their careers in Louisiana, Denley said.

All data will be anonymous.

The National Association of Higher Education Systems is also a partner on the project.

The pilot universities will be able to see datasets bridging degrees and labor market outcomes and get guidance on how to apply the insights on their campuses, according to the Board of Regents.

ä See STUDY, page 2B

“This new partnership would allow us, for the ﬁrst time, to be able to shed that light on what is that education-to-career pipeline, and what does it lead to, and how effectively is it working here in Louisiana,” Denley said.

Rain causes flooding, road closures in BR area

A tractor-trailer tries to turn around after a car got stuck in high water on River Road under the Interstate 10 bridge in Baton Rouge on Friday. A series of severe rainstorms across Baton Rouge on Friday afternoon prompted several major road closures due to flooding, according to the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning, advising people to avoid traveling on roadways. Between 2 and 3 inches of rainfall was expected across the city

Teen shooting suspect held without bail

18-year-old failed to comply with bail restrictions

BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer

Xavier Williams, who was arrested earlier this week for allegedly shooting a Northeast High School student who was getting off a bus, will be held without bail

At a hearing Friday afternoon, Commissioner Nicole Robinson said she was holding Williams, 18, without bail because of his “blatant disregard for the safety of the community ” When the shooting happened, Williams had been out on bail with an ankle monitor for eight days. He was arrested on April 29 and charged with aggravated assault on a dating partner and illegal use of weapons.

Federal court rules against mom trying to enter Live Oak

Deputy did not use excessive force, it says

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

A federal appeals court has ruled that a school resource of-

ﬁcer at Live Oak High did not use excessive force when he removed a Livingston mother who tried to enter the campus in 2022 to retrieve her daughter, who uses a wheelchair and is nonverbal. The mother, Amanda Carter, claimed in a lawsuit that Chad Dupuy, a Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputy, pulled her arm and shoved her while trying to keep her from entering the school.

A district court found in March 2025 that there was enough evidence of excessive force for the case to go to trial, since Dupuy had failed to give Carter “fair warning” before

removing her Dupuy’s attorneys took the case to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court’s ruling in an opinion published two weeks ago.

A three-judge panel said Dupuy’s use of force was minimal and that the lower court erred in saying the case was ﬁt to go to trial.

“(A) constitutional violation does not occur every time an ofﬁcer touches someone,” the panel quoted from case law as the opening to its ruling.

The panel returned the case to the district court, instructing it to grant Dupuy a judgment without sending the case to a jury trial.

“We have maintained throughout this litigation that our school resource ofﬁcer’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances,” Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said. “The 5th Circuit correctly afﬁrmed that position in its recent opinion dismissing

Mrs. Carter’s claims.”

The confrontation was the culmination of a much larger dispute between Carter and district administrators, where both parties accused the other of mistreating Carter’s 17-year-old daughter

As her quarrel with the district escalated, Carter was later arrested for sending her daughter to school with a recording device on her wheelchair, meant to document her alleged mistreatment.

The confrontation between Carter and Dupuy came in February 2022, months after Carter ﬁrst became wary of her daughters’ treatment at school, based on reports that staff had been sitting on her daughter’s lap to ride her wheelchair

In a lawsuit ﬁled a year after the incident with Dupuy, Carter claimed that her earliest complaints to the district were met with retaliation and

Limit on four-day school weeks stalls

Legislators seeking exemption for their districts

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

Legislation to make it much harder to shift to a four-day school week in Louisiana is on hold after a bevy of lawmakers sought exemptions for districts they represent that are considering the idea.

Senate Bill 82, by Sen Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, seeks to bring a halt to a recent wave of shifts from a traditional five-day to a four-day week by forbidding all but those with an A letter grade from making the change. Over the past six years, 12 school districts have gone to four-day-a-week classes. Mizell’s bill had sailed through the Senate and cleared the House Education Committee. But when it reached the House floor this week, it was greeted by a dozen proposed amendments. All but one sought to exempt specific school districts so they would be free in the future to adopt a fourday week.

“It’s a good day for an amendment,” quipped Speaker of the House Philip Devillier, R-Eunice. Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, who was handling the legislation for Mizell, accepted several amendments without objection before abandoning ship and returning the bill to the House calendar Carver can potentially bring back the bill later The legislative session ends June 1.

Before Carver pulled the bill, he already had agreed to exempt Caddo, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Pointe Coupee, St Landry St. Martin and West Baton Rouge parishes. Still in the queue were exemption requests for Bienville, Iberville, Lincoln, St. Tammany and Union parishes.

In Louisiana, 15 out of 69 school districts currently have four-daya-week schedules — some label them “hybrid” schedules because they still have the occasional ﬁveday week. All but 12 have adopted them since 2020. Many of the districts did so to attract and retain teachers during a time of historic teacher shortages.

Opponents argue, among other reasons, that four-day weeks penalize working parents by requiring them to ﬁnd additional childcare on that ﬁfth day and may deprive poor children of meals they rely on. Recently, East Feliciana school leaders voted to shift to a four-day

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Mizell

Carver

Explosion, fire rock Chalmette refinery

No injuries reported by blast felt miles away

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

An explosion and fire rocked a Chalmette reﬁnery on Friday afternoon, shaking homes miles away and causing nearby lunchtime diners to scatter, but no injuries were reported and the blaze was quickly brought under control

The cause of the blast at Chalmette Reﬁning, near the busy intersection of Paris Road and St. Bernard Highway was not yet clear and air monitoring was ongoing.

The explosion was felt as far away as New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood and across the river in the Algiers area, while videos showed a raging ﬁre and thick, black smoke rising into the air in the immediate aftermath.

The blast occurred around 12:50 p.m. and was contained within around 10 minutes of firefighters responding, said Ryan Roy, St. Bernard Fire Department’s inspector of fire protection. The refinery is

equipped with its own emergency response team, and those firefighters worked with the St. Bernard Fire Department to fight the blaze inside one of the plant’s processing units.

“As of right now, the situation is very well under control. There is just a ﬁre that is burning that they are letting burn out,” St. Bernard Parish President Louis Pomes said outside the reﬁnery after meeting with company officials. “But everything around it, the surrounding tanks around it, are being cooled down.”

There were questions over whether sirens at the reﬁnery activated as they were supposed to for such incidents. Pomes said that would be one of the details that would be investigated

Ofﬁcials were also unable to say what burned, and tests were ongoing. Company ofﬁcials and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality were conducting air monitoring, but no results were available yet, according to Greg Langley, a spokesperson for DEQ.

Chalmette Refining did not respond to requests for comment

Authorities closed the intersection near the reﬁnery immediately after the fire broke out, shutting down the eastbound lanes of West St. Bernard Highway from Jackson Boulevard to Palmisano Boulevard while emergency responders worked. The highway was reopened by 1:30 p.m.

Bridget Bitely, a teacher at Chalmette Elementary, located a few blocks from the reﬁnery, said her students were headed outside for recess when she heard a noise that sounded like thunder

“You know when a storm is really close?” Bitely said. “A rumbly feeling.”

Students were ushered inside and placed on lockdown, according to Bitely

‘Scary in the beginning’

The ﬁre was resolved before any evacuations or shelter-in-place orders were deemed necessary said Sara Felt, a spokesperson for St. Bernard Parish Public Schools.

Around 20 juveniles from the nearby St Bernard Correctional Facility were evacuated but returned to the detention center

shortly after, ofﬁcials said.

At the popular Rocky & Carlo’s Restaurant and Bar nearby, the dining room was packed for lunch with around 60 people said coowner Tommy Tommaseo. Most ran out when the blast shook the restaurant, hopped in their cars and sped away, including some who took their plates with them, he said “It was scary in the beginning,” said Tommaseo. “I thought somebody hit the building.”

The restaurant quickly returned to normal once it was clear the incident was under control, he said.

‘As safe as possible’

Chalmette Reﬁning is one of PBF Energy’s six reﬁneries. PBF bought the plant in 2015.

Built in 1915, the plant sits on a roughly 400-acre site along the Mississippi. It produces gasoline as well as other specialty chemicals, handling 185,000 barrels of crude oil a day It says it will soon be equipped to produce 20,000 barrels of renewable diesel per day

The reﬁnery employs about 500 people and calls itself the parish’s largest private employer and

Music museum inks lease with Convention Center

Facility planned for New Orleans River District

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

Organizers of the Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience, a museum intended to tell the story of the state’s musical genres, have ﬁnalized a lease with the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to locate the long-planned attraction in the heart of the River District in New Orleans.

Under the terms of the deal, ﬁnalized earlier this week, the museum’s nonproﬁt board has agreed to lease more than two acres from the Convention Center at the corner of Convention Center Boulevard and Henderson Street for nearly $35,000 a month. The deal also gives the museum an option to purchase the parcel for $8 million within three years of opening

“We have been trying to secure this property for three years so finally having it feels like a real accomplishment,” said Chris Beary, who is leading the project Beary said the lease is significant because it makes the music museum more “real” in the eyes of donors as well as city and state officials who will have to sign off on the financing package for the nearly $172 million project

The deal may also help signal that the River District, a mixeduse neighborhood planned for 47 acres of riverfront controlled by the Convention Center, is moving forward after years of delays and a restructuring in January of the agreement between the Convention Center and the development group originally overseeing the project.

“This gives the museum an op-

SUSPECT

Continued from page 1B

Prosecutors said Williams’ failure to comply with the bail restrictions and the fact that he and two cousins drove to the school bus and allegedly targeted the student are clear indications that he is a threat to the community

STUDY

Continued from page 1B

Denley said Louisiana was chosen for the study because of its progress in educational attainment. In 2025, the number of adults in the state holding a postsecondary credential was 52.5%, a 4.5% increase since 2019 The Board of Regents hopes to bring the percentage to 60% by 2030.

“That dramatic increase in a short period of time to that 52.5% has really caught a lot of attention across the country,” Denley said.

The new study will take attainment data a step further, he said

“We want to make sure that we are linking that increase in educational attainment to actual success and prosperity after graduation,” Denley said.

portunity to move to the next stage of ﬁnancing and try to make this a reality,” said Jim Cook, Convention Center president and CEO. “And as we see it, this is really complementary to the overall district.”

Years in the making

The Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience has been described by backers as a New Orleans-based answer to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It would tell the story of the state’s rich musical heritage, including jazz, blues, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop, funk and hip-hop.

Beary and others have also said it would serve as a “cultural anchor” of the River District, which will also be home to a new ofﬁce building for Shell, apartments, restaurants and shops.

Plans for the River District, long a priority of city and business leaders, appeared to have

The shooting happened about 3 p.m. Tuesday in the 11900 block of Cooper Road in Central. The student was hospitalized with a nonlife-threatening gunshot wound.

Williams was charged with attempted second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon in connection with the shooting.

Williams’ attorney argued he was not a flight risk because all of the alleged crimes happened in

COURT

Continued from page 1B

the weaponization of “the local Child Protective Services in an effort to chill Amanda’s advocacy.”

The Carters allege school administrators sent a staff member to follow their daughter home from school to ﬁnd some dirt” on the family

After allegedly witnessing Michael Carter, the girl’s father, trying to prevent his daughter from removing her soiled diaper after she got off the bus, the staff member reported the parents to the Department of Children and Family Services for child abuse, court documents say

This led to a visit by a CPS investigator on Feb. 4, 2022, which in turn led to the Carters at-

fallen apart in the fall when talks broke down between the development consortium, River District Neighborhood Investors, and the Convention Center’s board, which was frustrated with the group’s slow progress.

Earlier this year, RDNI and the Convention Center reached a new deal, reducing the number of parcels the developers are responsible for and enabling the Convention Center to negotiate directly with tenants and buyers interested in building out the mixed-use neighborhood.

That deal cleared the way for the museum, which had already started scouting for alternative locations, to start fresh lease talks with the Convention Center Financing stack

Though the lease deal is signiﬁcant, museum backers still have to clear several hurdles related to

East Baton Rouge Parish and nowhere else.

Robinson ultimately sided with the state and remanded Williams, who appeared in person at the hearing, back to the custody of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Commissioner Kory Tauzin has a hold on Williams from his bail for the prior arrest and will have Williams back in court on July 28 for another bail review in that case.

tempting to retrieve their daughter from Live Oak and being repelled by Dupuy that same day

Unknown to the parents at the time, CPS had contacted the school while the Carters were traveling there, advising Live Oak administrators not to release the Carters’ daughter to them.

The lawsuit says that, when the couple arrived, Amanda Carter was told she could not leave with her daughter Her refusal to exit the premises led to an encounter with Dupuy, who “forcefully shoved her out of the door using both of his hands on her back, and threatened to arrest her,” the lawsuit says.

Amanda Carter suffered an injury to her wrist hitting the office door during the encounter, and she was later criminally charged with resisting an ofﬁcer and disturbing the peace using

taxpayer In 2023, a large ﬁre broke out at the facility, causing around $34.1 million in damage, according to a report from the U.S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

St. Bernard Renewables, owned jointly by PBF and Italian energy company Eni, is also located at the site. They create renewable diesel fuel using a repurposed hydrocracker a reﬁnery unit that uses hydrogen and a catalyst to break heavy oils into lighter fuels, like diesel.

Pomes spoke of the parish’s need for industry and jobs while also guarding against the possibility of accidents.

“We need all the industry that we can get in St Bernard Parish,” he said, adding that reﬁneries provide employment to a wide range of people who also support local businesses.

He said the parish cooperates well with industry, which he defended as working to “keep it as safe as possible,” but he acknowledged there were questions an investigation would have to uncover

SCHOOL

Continued from page 1B

ﬁnancing the project.

That estimated $171.5 million it will take to fund the museum will come from three sources: $28.5 million from the state’s construction budget, which was allocated by the Legislature during the 2025 session; $63 million in private donations, more than $27 million of which has been pledged; and $80 million in bond debt.

Museum backers are proposing to secure the bond debt with a portion of sales tax revenue generated at the museum, including 50% of the 5-cent city sales tax, 100% of the 5-cent state sales tax and 50% of the of a 2-cent sales tax levied in a special taxing district that comprises the River District.

The museum is also asking the Convention Center’s board to remit the proceeds of a .75-cent tax on food and beverage sales at the museum.

“It’s important to remember these are sales and taxes that would not exist if this thing didn’t get built,” Beary said. Under the terms of its agreement with the museum, the Convention Center agreed to “explore the feasibility” of dedicating its .75-cent food and beverage tax to the museum project. Cook said that is not a guarantee the board will approve the measure, which is separate from the lease.

“When we get to that step, we’ll work with the board to see what works for them and figure out whether they feel comfortable,” Cook said. If the various financial components of the package fall into place, Beary said the museum hopes to break ground in mid2027 and be open by mid-2029.

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

Cameron Williams, 19, who allegedly drove the car used in the attack, was arrested Tuesday on a count of principal to attempted second-degree murder Kriston Williams, 18, who police said was also in the car, was arrested Tuesday on the same count.

Both Cameron Williams and Kriston Williams had their bails set at $100,000 each. They had not posted bail as of Friday afternoon.

offensive words. Her charges were ultimately dismissed. For placing the recording device on her daughter’s wheelchair, Carter was arrested on 20 counts of felony interception and disclosure of wire, electronic or oral communication. She was formally charged on two of these counts, and later pleaded guilty to a single count of misdemeanor illegal wiretapping. She was sentenced to serve two years of probation and pay around $300 in ﬁnes. Carter told The Advocate at the time that the recording device captured disturbing interactions between staff and her daughter, allegedly including a threat to body slam the girl.

Staff writer Claire Grunewald contributed to this report.

Email Quinn Coffman at quinn. coffman@theadvocate.com.

week this fall. As originally written, Mizell’s bill would have grandfathered “any city, parish, or other local school system that participates in a four day school week on or before December 31, 2025.” East Feliciana Parish, however did not qualify It didn’t adopt a four-day week until Feb 3 — 33 days too late. East Feliciana Superintendent Keisha Netterville and seven other administrators from her district testified to no avail against SB82 at the April 23 House Education Committee meeting. Rep. Roy Daryl Adams, DJackson, had better luck when the bill reached the House floor Wednesday He offered the first of the 12 amendments. It pushed forward the grandfathering date until Feb 20, after East Feliciana, a parish he represents, made its decision. Adams said teachers are already showing interest in the change.

“We’ve had teachers who’ve come wanting to take advantage of the four-day school week,” Adams said.

Carver quickly accepted Adams’ amendment without comment.

In defending the bill, Carver said he does not doubt the arguments that he heard in committee that teachers are attracted to a four-day week, but he argued that better pay and professional development are ways of doing the same thing without hurting students.

“(The rationale) was really about teachers and adults, not really as much about students to be honest with you,” he said.

The exemption requests, however, were just getting started.

Rep. Jeremy LaCombe, RLivonia, was next. He asked for an exemption for Pointe Coupee, which he said has been exploring shifting to a four-day week.

“I’d rather err on the side of caution and allow my school board the ability to take a look at this issue for Pointe Coupee and make their own determination as to whether they’d like to stay at ﬁve or move to four,” LaCombe said.

Rep. Steven Jackson, DShreveport, said Caddo Parish has a couple of schools on a fourday week now and he is worried they won’t be grandfathered if the bill passes without changes.

“I want to make sure it doesn’t upset what they are doing,” Jackson said.

Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, was short and sweet.

“It’s the same amendment as everyone else,” Miller said. “I’m just adding St. Landry Parish.” Rep. Silvia Taylor D-LaPlace, finally had enough. Her comments prompted Carver ﬁnally to pull the bill for the day

“Just by the number of people coming up here to amend, it’s apparent that we are not ready to move forward on this bill at this time,” Taylor said.

PROVIDED RENDERING

The Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience has secured a lease with the Convention Center in New Orleans for a museum showcasing the state’s musical genres, paving the way for a $172 million project.

ArnoldJr.,Kenneth

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MargaretMercer"Margarita" Griggs, our beloved mother, wife,sister,and friend, was embraced by the arms of Christ on Sunday morning, May3rd, aftera heroic battlewith cancer. Her sparkling joy and unconditional love will continue to bloominevery gardenand everyheart she touched during her 61 yearsoflife.

FuneralHome Chapel in Crowleyat11a.m

Obituaries

Bates, Elizabeth McLaughlin

Elizabeth McLaughlin

Bates, beloved mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away peacefullyon May 2, 2026, at the ageof 90. She was born in Gilbert, Louisiana on September 18, 1935, and was along time resident of Greenwell Springs Louisiana.She enjoyed gardening and spending time with her familyand friends. She was along time member of Goodwood Blvd Church of Christ. Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband Leroy Bates and their son, James Leroy Bates, her parents, James McLaughlin and Jessie Mae Murphy, and siblings, Betty Williams and Kathleen Murphy. She is survived by her son Mark Andrew Bates and his wife KellyJeffries Bates, grandchildren Kristen Bates White and husband Mackie White, Shelby Bates Berry and husband Bryan Berry, Amanda Denning Smith and husband David Smith, Alexander Jeffries Goodwyne and wifeJessica "Bay" Masters Goodwyne, and seven great-grandchildren.

Visitation willbeheld at Greenoaks Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 9595 Florida Blvd, Baton Rouge, Monday, May 11, 2026, from 12:00 pm until services at 2:00 pm. Graveside services to follow.

Born on Bayou Boeuf in Lecompte on July 27, 1964, Margaretwas the daughterofBettye Jane Hoytand Malcolm MoodyII. She was one of foursiblings born into adventure. Since her father's engineeringjob took him abroad, she lived in Trinidad, England, Belgium, and Singapore before journeyingback home to Louisiana in the NOLA/ Slidell area. Those travels left an indelible mark on her spirit, givingher alifelonglove and compassion forall people and cultures.

Margaretbecame a mother at nineteenand spent every dayofthe rest of her life striving to provide memoriesand opportunitiesfor her two daughters, never waveringinher supportand spirit.

During her careerthis gentle soulwore many hats,fromMcDonald's to the Office of MotorVehicles, buther more than 20 yearsasa rural mail carrier for the US Postal Service was her proudest professional achievement. This careerbegan with asecond-hand left-hand-drive Jeep that her late husband Stephen, lovingly outfitted and kept running forher. Shewas deeply lovedby hercustomers- gifts, cards, and tokens of appreciation covered her kitchencounters each Christmas.

Margaretoften saidthat the best days of her life werethe days her daughterswereborn. Then, in the 90's, she met the love of her life,Stephen, in a chance workencounter that led to "el amor"! The two tied the knot in 1996 in aromanticLas Vegas ceremony. Together theybuilt atruepartnershipof27 years. If Stephen had a greenthumb, Margaret had agoldenthumb. The lovebirdsturned their backyardinto alush sanctuary of palms,camelias, cucumbers, and cantaloupe that they jokingly referred to as Griggs State Park."

Shealsoloved cooking new recipes and decorating their home, with HGTV and Cooks'Countryplaying constantly in the background. She happily sharedeverything she learnedwith others. She was such goodcompany that it was common for family to treat her to trips abroad, including to Ireland and Jamaica. Herfavoriteplace in the whole world was New YorkCity, whereshe visited five timessince 2011.She always wanted to go back and encouraged others to visittotakeinthe rich history and culture. Besides gardening and interiordesign, she adored dancing 70'smusic and rock,jewelry design, fourlegged critters, and banana splits (extranuts!).

Her generous spirithas

leftpermanent footprints in theheartsofothers. She poured love intoher grandchildren, handcrafting elaborategiftslikeediblechocolate Easter baskets, decorating festive Halloweenand Christmas scenes, and taking them on special tripstoNYC, fairs, festivals, and beaches. She also helpedcare forher first husband,Greg, when he became ill. Those who knew her are inspired to follow herlead of forgiving wrongdoings, and showing love by taking meaningful action. Margaret is survived and deeplymissed by her daughters Alyssa and Charisse Fauconne De Calongne, her grandchildren Jack and Yuna Fauconne De Calongne,her sister PaulaSen (Mark), brothers Malcom Moody III(Tammy) and John Moody, nieces, and many cousins, aunts, uncles, and dear friends. She was preceded in death by her husband Stephen Griggs, and her parents Bettye Jane Hoyt and MalcolmMoody II

Acelebratory memorial forMargaret will be held on Tuesday, May 12, from 11am to 1pmatVineyard Church of BatonRouge. In lieu of flowers,the family asks that donations be madetocancer research.

LeliaRose Harrison Taylorentered eternal rest on May 3, 2026.

Agraduateand salutatorian of Southern University LaboratorySchool Class of 1955, she earned her bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Southern University and a master's degreefromthe University of Chicago.She dedicatedmorethan40 years to Southern University as an English and Reading professor, impacting generations of students throughher teaching and mentorship

She was afaithful servant of God who worshipped and served at Gt. Mt.CarmelBaptist Church, Mt.ZionFirst Baptist Church, and Mt.Pilgrim Baptist Church. She was also atalented baker and ownerofRose's HomemadeCakes.

She wasprecededin death by her husband,Earl T. Taylor;her parents; and agreat-granddaughter.

She leavestocherish her memory her children, EileenA.Taylor, Rev. Anita R. Taylor,Earl T. Taylor,II (Kim), and Richard W. Taylor(Marimba); six grandchildren; twogreat-granddaughters; extended family;and countless friends, former students, and loved ones.

Taylor,Lelia Rose

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Tesla recalls Cybertrucks for varying issues

Tesla is recalling 173 Cybertrucks because cracking in the rotor could cause the wheel stud to separate from the wheel hub, increasing the risk of a crash and injury

The recall includes model year 2024-2026 Cybertrucks with 18inch steel wheels. In its report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that rough roads and cornering may strain the stud hole in the wheel rotor causing cracks to form and with continued driving the wheel stud could eventually separate from the wheel hub.

The manufacturer’s recall number is SB-26-33-003. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752.

Tesla is also recalling more than 200,000 Model Y, Model S, Model X and Model 3 electric vehicles because of a software issue that renders the rearview camera inoperable for a short period of time. Loss of the rearview camera image may affect the driver’s view, increasing the risk of a crash Tesla’s number for this recall is SB-26-00-016.

Tesla is not aware of any accidents, fatalities or injuries related to either of the problems in the above recalls.

Google settles racial discrimination lawsuit

Google has reached a settlement with Black employees who alleged systemic racial disparities in hiring, pay, and advancement in a lawsuit ﬁled in 2022.

April Curley, a former Google employee, had sued the tech giant for racial discrimination, saying it engages in a “pattern and practice” of unfair treatment for its Black workers. The suit claimed the company steered them into lower-level and lower-paid jobs and subjected them to a hostile work environment if they speak out. Other former Google workers also joined the suit, which later received class action status.

“This case is about accountability, plain and simple,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the plaintiffs, in a statement. “For far too long Black employees in the tech industry have faced barriers that limit opportunity. This settlement is a signiﬁcant step toward holding one of the world’s most powerful companies accountable and making clear that discriminatory practices cannot and will not be tolerated.”

Google did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Friday

The settlement, which does not constitute admission of liability by Google, also includes a commitment to pay equity analyses, pay transparency measures, and limits on mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes through at least August 2026, according to Crump.

Nintendo raises prices, predicts less profit

TOKYO Nintendo’s annual proﬁt surged 52% in the last ﬁscal year lifted by solid sales of its Switch 2 machines and software, the company announced Friday

The Japanese video game company behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises also announced it was raising prices, citing challenging business conditions.

It recorded a $2.7 billion net profit for the ﬁscal year that ended in March, up from nearly 279 billion yen the year before.

Annual sales rose 99% to $15 billion from 1.2 trillion yen a year earlier, as demand for Switch 2 held up, although sales for the ﬁrst-generation Switch declined.

Nintendo said it was raising the Switch 2 price in Japan to $382, effective May 25, from $318, “in light of changes in market conditions, and after considering the global business outlook.”

In the U.S., the price will rise to $499.99 in September from $449.99. All major Japanese exporters are having to cope with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and other higher costs that have been worsened by the war in Iran Nintendo Co., which did not break down quarterly results, expects an 11% decline in pro

t for the

scal year through March 2027, to $13 billion. The projection takes into account the planned price hikes.

U.S. stocks rise to records

Jobs report overshadows higher oil prices

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK The U.S. stock market rose to records Friday following the latest sign that the nation’s job market is doing better than economists expected.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to an all-time high after a report said U.S. employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up by 12 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.7% to its own record. While hiring slowed from March’s level, it was still nearly double what economists expected.

And it helped the S&P 500 close out a sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has been blasting higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again. It’s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight It’s the latest flareup in fighting to raise doubts about the tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.2% to settle at $101.29 following the latest volleys of fire. That’s below its heights above $119 during the war, but it’s still much more expensive than its roughly $70 level from late February before the fighting began. One big factor helping to support the U.S. stock market despite the war’s uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026. Monster Beverage jumped 13.6% after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and total net sales from there made up about 45% of its total, the high-

est percentage ever for the company Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 26.6%, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in artiﬁcial-intelligence technology

Voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest quarter that was more than double what it was a year earlier, but its net loss was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts’ expectations. The stock of the company which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, fell 11.4%.

Employers add 115,000 jobs, defying economic shock from Iran war

BY PAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer

WASHINGTON America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war

Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conﬂict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far And the import taxes — tariffs — that President Donald Trump imposed last year haven’t turned out to be as high and as damaging as originally feared.

“The labor market is not booming, but it is proving harder to break than many feared,” said economist Olu Sonola of Fitch Ratings. Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and transportation and warehousing companies 30,000. However, manufacturers cut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite Trump’s protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs.

“Businesses to some extent are viewing the conflict in Iran as temporary,” said Gus Faucher, chief economist at the financial firm PNC “We’re seeing strong business investment, particularly around tech and AI. The economy continues to expand. We’ve weathered some shocks. The worst of the tariff impact is likely over.”

Still, Faucher cautioned that “the longer conﬂict in Iran lasts, the higher energy prices go, the longer they stay elevated the greater the drag on the economy.”

Among those worrying is Michael Cramer, co-founder and CEO of online retailer Adagio Teas. He expects to freeze hiring this year He typically adds anywhere from ﬁve to six workers per year to help pack up online tea orders at the company’s warehouse in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Adagio Teas, which has about 50 workers, has seen a slight drop in sales after the Iran war drove up gasoline prices and squeezed shoppers, particularly those in lower-income brackets. Cramer is worried that shoppers are opting for less expensive supermarket tea to cut costs.

“You only hire when you have more orders that you can ﬁll,” he said. “I don’t en-

vision us being in that position for the remainder of the year I think the remainder of this year is going to be fairly bumpy.” Labor Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from March and 3.6% from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2% inﬂation target.

The number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped last month, and the share of those working or looking for work — the so-called labor force participation rate — dropped to 61.8%, lowest since October 2021.

After the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks Feb. 28, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a ﬁfth of the world’s oil and liqueﬁed natural gas passes. The disruption has caused a painful increase in the price of energy and led many economists to downgrade their estimates for global and U.S. economic growth.

But the job market keeps chugging along this year

The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trump’s tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.

The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025. Em-

ployers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, fewest outside a recession year since 2002 High interest rates and uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies held back hiring.

The March and April hiring figures marked the ﬁrst consecutive months of job growth above 100,000 since the end of 2024.

The recent uptick in hiring raises hopes that the job market will break out of a recent rut in which Americans who have jobs are relatively secure from layoffs but jobseekers struggle to ﬁnd work.

Angela Paniccia, 33, of Queens in New York City was laid off by an educational travel company in December The job search can be frustrating “You’ll never hear back or you’ll get just a generic ‘We’re moving on with someone else’ without feedback,” she said.

Many of the openings at colleges and other employers in her ﬁeld simply don’t pay enough to support someone living in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

To help with the rent, she’s been working part-time for a caterer “I’ve always had a full-time job,” she said. “Admittedly, I’m struggling with the loss of daily routine.”

U.S. hiring has been dominated by one industry: Healthcare companies, catering to an aging American population, have added 456,000 jobs over the past year; other employers have combined to cut 205,000 over the 12 months that ended in April.

Meatpacking antitrust case settled to lower prices

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration has reached a proposed settlement in an antitrust case against a data-sharing company for the meatpacking industry that the federal government had accused of helping drive up grocery prices. Justice Department officials touted the deal in the case, initially brought by the Biden administration, as a victory in their effort to reclaim competitive prices in the meat industry and lower food costs for Americans Combating the drivers of high food costs, however is challenging and the solutions

aren’t simple.

“A stable and affordable food supply is critical to our country’s wellbeing,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “This Department of Justice is laser-focused on making everyday life affordable for all Americans.” The case targeted Agri Stats, an Indiana-based company that collects nonpublic information from meat processors and shares the data in detailed reports with the industry The federal government alleged its practices allowed chicken, pork and turkey processors to inﬂate prices they charged restaurants, grocery stores and other buyers who were not allowed

access to Agri Stats’ data. Under the proposed settlement, Agri Stats would be required to share with U.S. buyers most of the information it collects from processors, the Justice Department said. Agri Stats’ president said it was “pleased to put this case with the Department of Justice and six states behind us.”

“Agri Stats has been instrumental in the efﬁciency improvements in the chicken industry that have made such wonderful results possible, and we look forward to continue helping our subscribers improve their businesses, which will make chicken more affordable for all Americans,” Eric Scholer said in a statement

The Justice Department is separately investigating potential antitrust violations in the beef processing industry That followed a request from President Donald Trump to open an investigation into whether foreign-owned meat packers were driving up the price of beef in the U.S. U.S. beef prices have been climbing steadily since 2020 and are near record highs. In March, a pound of ground beef averaged $6.70,

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MARTA LAVANDIER

A job seeker waits to talk to a recruiter at a job fair on Aug. 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla.

America will soon celebrate its 250th birthday.This columnrecently looked at our nation’s ﬁrst milestone anniversary, its 50th.Let’snow turn to July 4, 1876, when Americans marked the centennial of the Declaration of Independence.

By the time of its 100th anniversary,the nationhad 37 states with apopulation of 45 million. It was only 11 years after the end of the Civil Warand just days after Lt. Col. George Custer was defeated by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The president was Ulysses S. Grant. There wasnovice president. The man who held the job, Henry Wilson,diedthe previous year; in those days there was no provision to appoint asuccessor

“The centennial anniversary of theday on which the peopleofthe United States declared their right to aseparate and equal station among the powers of the earth seems to demand an exceptional observance,”said Grant. “It seems ﬁtting …agrateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God.”

On Independence Dayin1876, parades rolled through cities and small towns, and ﬁreworks setalight jubilant skies. That year’scelebration coincided with the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the city where the declaration wassigned. At the exposition’s July 4ceremony, Richard Henry Lee, grandson of the revolutionaryleader of the same name, read the Declaration to an assembled throng. Acentury earlier,the elder Lee had made the motion at the Second Continental Congress declaring independence from Great Britain. The Philadelphia Exposition showcased new industrial, agricultural and technological innovations, including the steam engine, the Remington typewriter,Alexander Graham Bell’stelephone and Thomas Edison’stelegraph. What would become iconic American foods —Heinz Ketchup, Hires Root Beer and popcorn —were greeted with great cheer Susan B. Anthony led suffragists in crashing the ofﬁcial ceremony at Independence Hall with their own “Declaration of the Rights of Women.” Aspecial pavilion celebrated numerous inventions pioneered by women Across the country,crowds gatheredfrom New York’s Central Park to Galveston,Texas, where 100 white doves (one for each year) were released. In Peoria, Illinois, lawyer and orator Robert G. Ingersollcalled the Declaration of Independence the“grandest, the bravest, and the profoundest political document that was ever signed.” Festivities traversed California, astate for only 25 years. More than 10,000 marchers and 400,000 spectators powered agrand parade in SanFrancisco. SanDiego staged afull day of activities, from benedictions to parties and songs. In LosAngeles,the centennial committee produced abook on July 4festivities, including alengthy parade and lively civic pageantry

Some White Southerners, however,saw no reason to revel; they viewed Independence Dayasapro-Union event celebrated mostly by Northerners. This underscored the raw emotions and economic hardships that still existed after four brutal years of civil war and atense decade of Reconstruction in the South.

Louisiana’srecognition of Independence Day 1876 was restrained —although observances were reported in New Orleans, Morgan City,Hahnville, Donaldsonville,New Iberia and Natchitoches.

William Pitt Kellogg wasgovernor of Louisiana. Born in Vermont and later anIllinois resident, he began his Louisiana career when President Abraham Lincoln appointed him customs collector for the Port of New Orleans. He went on to become one of thestate’smost prominent Reconstruction-eraRepublicans. Kellogg not only served as governor,but survivedimpeachmentafter the state Senate failed to convict him, heldseats in the U.S. House and Senate and battled through bitter Reconstruction election contests In 1876, Louisiana had apopulation of about 850,000. New Orleans had 200,000 residents andBaton Rouge had fewer than 7,000. At the time, Charles J. Leeds was mayor of New Orleans, when the city was Louisiana’stemporary state capital. Leeds was known for pursuing drainage and street improvements,but he also supported the paramilitary White League’sinsurrection, known as the Battle of Liberty Place, which sought to overthrow the Reconstruction government just two years before the centennial celebration. Leon Jastremski was mayor of Baton Rouge. In that position, he worked to restorethe city as Louisiana’scapital. Born in Toulon, France, Jastremski fought on the Confederate side in some of theCivil War’smost famous battles: Harpers Ferry,Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. July 4, 1876 —just imagine all that happened during those ﬁrst 100 years, and whatwas to comeinthe next 150. Ron Faucheux is anonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana.

In his recent letter to the editor,Roger Villere supports Gov Jeff Landry’splan to get rid of the stateinspection sticker.Villere is aprominentleader of the state Republican Party,soofcourse, he supportsthis change. Saying that eliminating the inspection sticker is thestate Legislature working for the people is a stretch.Some cities (New Orleans

and Kenner) will still require inspections, as will someparishes (EastBaton Rouge).

If $10 drains your wallet, maybe theLegislature should do somethinglike raise the minimum wage, somethingLandry and the Republican Party oppose.

Lastly,Villere points out that the LouisianaState Police collect over $10 million annually.This obvi-

ously leaves the State Police with alarge hole in their budget. Where will that money come from? Do the governor and the Republican Party, the party of law enforcement, have aplan to raise fees?

The inspection sticker is not a burdensomeissue. Iencourage others to oppose House Bill 1085.

On April 14, the newspaper published aletter from BrianHanley about the difference between strength and power.Ilargely agree withHanley on his explanation. Nonetheless, Isuspect he believes thatPresident Donald Trump and his use of U.S. military“strength” in Iran is misguided. On that, Idisagree.

In thecase of dealing with Iran, it is necessary to remember,and seriously takeintoaccount, that theMuslim mullahs in charge of Iran have clearly stated that their objective is to annihilate the U.S. and Israel by any means at their disposal. Indeed, they have been trying to do that since 1979, when theIslamic regimedeposed the Shah of Iran. Past U.S. administrationshave repeatedly negotiated so-called deals that have tried to appease these zealots, allowing them more time to develop their ultimate nuclear weapons and build up their conventional weapons and militaryforces.

At the beginning of the latestsocalled negotiation, it became clear

At this point,the newspaper’s coverage of the senatorial campaigns in Louisiana hardly qualiﬁes as news.The reporting is limited to covering the Republican candidates, whose campaigns are already well-known to readersofthe newspaper because of the almostdaily articles about theirstrategies. While moresubstantive reporting about the Republicans’ policies is needed, the newspaper relegates coverage of the Democratic candidates to an afterthought by oc-

to Trump and his negotiators that the mullahs hadachieved their goal and had manufactured enough ﬁssile material to make about adozen nuclear weapons. (The mullahs statedsointheir opening position.)

At that point, President Trump was forced to makeadifﬁcult decision —whether to use U.S. overwhelming military “strength” to eliminate the nuclear threat from thezealots whowish to use them on the U.S., or to negotiate in hopes of convincing the Iranians to give those weapons up.

Of course, there really wasonly one possible correct answer to that question.

Repeated attempts since 1979 have not succeeded in the desired power over the mullahs, convincing them that they should not obtain and use nuclear weapons. Hence, thewar we now have. American military strength must be used to eliminate the nuclear threat.Any other decision would have been foolish.

JIM STEPHENS Slidel

casionally mentioning their names in the last paragraph of an article about the Republicans.

The newspaper has aresponsibility to ensure voters knowmore about the Democratic candidates, who theyare,their policies and what is or is nothappening with their campaigns. Granted, aRepublican is likely to win the Senate race, but reporting should be fair and balanced.

BETH FLOYD Baton Rouge

While Michael Gretchen’sletterwas anicenod to assorted services andthe 3-digit phone lines, it is disingenuous to think these options arethe answer Long before someone reaches the point where self-harm, extreme self-medication and/or violenceistheir only choice, societyasa whole, andthe medical community in particular, needs to resethow to view the neurological factors thatare part of the “mentalhealth” conundrum. Identifying andaddressing these factors should begin in childhood,not decades later No onewould advise achild or teen thattheywill “growout of” abrokenarm, but we will assure themthattheir deep sadness is theirs alonetoconquer.Until the impliedstigma that symptoms suchasdepression and despair areunimportant or asign of weakness is removed; until suggestions suchaseating better/ exercising more/getting out of one’shead areunderstood to be notonly unhelpful but likely to encourage the sufferer to remain silent; until the scopeof howmanypeople are affected by these neurological problems is acknowledged, this crisis will only worsen. Seasonable hotweather aside, we should paymoreattentionto ourfamily,friends, neighbors andco-workers who may need ourhelpand arehoping for that helping hand.

KAREN MH KERSTING NewOrleans

SHELBY ROTOLO Metairie

Ron Faucheux

Basketball thriving, but other sports on bubble

BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer

Basketball got the beer money

Many smaller sports around the NCAA are still looking for a lifeline

The expansion of March Madness and the $300 million in extra revenue that comes with it through opening sponsorships to beer, wine and liquor companies offered a brief reprieve from the steady drip of headlines that underscore big-picture problems confronting college sports in an era of tightening budgets and revenue sharing with athletes.

Among them:

■ A title-contending tennis program at Arkansas is disbanded, while golf teams at Wichita State also get the ax as part of the purge of multiple sports programs nationwide.

■ The Big 12 taps into private equity for loans, while Duke cuts a streaming deal with Amazon expected to bring millions more to the Blue Devils.

■ The College Sports Commission, which is in charge of making sure everyone follows the rules regarding the hundreds of millions of dollars now being paid to players, gets challenged in court and in arbitration while waiting for schools to sign off on a long-awaited agreement that cements its authority

All of those issues have one thing in common: money The NCAA’s move to expand its tournament brackets to 76 teams is about that, too. Of the $300 million in extra revenue projected over the next six seasons, about $131 million will be distributed to the conferences whose schools make the tournaments.

“The NCAA and conferences and schools generating revenue in responsible ways is important in the current environment with revenue sharing,” said Dan Gavitt, who oversees Division I basketball at the NCAA. “That wasn’t the sole reason, I can assure you that. But it was an important consideration.”

Is a tennis program more valuable than a wide receiver?

One of the most trenchant questions sports attorney Gabe Feldman asked North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham during a recent podcast was whether Arkansas, after cutting its tennis programs, “can’t ﬁnd a way to make it work, how can Arkansas State and everybody else?”

Cunningham’s basic answer was

ä See BASKETBALL, page 5C

Braun changes tune

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Growing

FIRST TEST ACED

First-round WR Tyson impresses Saints on first day of work

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

eith Williams had a test in mind for Jordyn Tyson before the Saints rookie went out and practiced for the ﬁrst time. A pop quiz, of sorts.

Normally, NFL coaches tend to start players — even the most dynamic ones — at one position, then gradually expand their workload. But Williams, who oversees the Saints’ wide receivers, wanted to see if the ﬁrst-round selection was really as versatile as his college ﬁlm suggested.

So at practice, Williams had Tyson line up as the X receiver on the outside. Then came instructions to go to the Z, the strong side of the formation. And before the afternoon was done, Williams made sure Tyson got action in the slot, too.

“I told him that was going to happen on his way coming in,” the receivers coach said

“(But) I didn’t give him any (prior) knowledge about what the play was going to be because I wanted to see what he can handle.

LSU pitching falters after getting big lead

Tigers drop SEC series opener at No 5 Georgia

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

ATHENS Ga. In the third inning, the runs came in bunches. Freshman Omar Serna blasted a ball over the left-center fence on a pitch below his knees. Sophomore Cade Arrambide hit a tworun home run, and sophomore John Pearson left the yard to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead. LSU was going to have to score a lot to take down Georgia, a club that entered Friday with the second-most runs in the country And to start the game, everything was going according to plan.

“(We were) making sure we get our pitch,” Arrambide said

“We’re only swinging if we know we can drive the ball, and just really trying to run the offense and work at-bats.” But just like in the Mississippi State series, no lead was safe

for the Tigers’ struggling pitching staff. LSU allowed nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits and three home runs after inheriting a four-run lead after the top of the third inning. The onslaught resulted in Georgia (39-11, 19-6 SEC) ending the Tigers’ ﬁve-game winning streak with an 11-8 victory at Foley Field.

“Twenty-seven outs is going to be difﬁcult to hold them down,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “This is a great offense. One of the better ones that I’ve probably seen, to be honest with you.” Against Mississippi State, LSU surrendered an 8-7 lead in the ninth inning, a 7-2 lead in the seventh and an 8-5 lead in the sixth. The catalyst of its struggles two weeks ago was not having two starters available: sophomore

ä See LSU, page 5C

SAINTS ROOKIE MINICAMP

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD Saints wide receiver Jordyn Tyson makes a catch during a drill on the first day of the team’s rookie minicamp on Friday at the Saints’ training facility in Metairie.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU first baseman Mason Braun has reached base 17 times in his last 30 plate apperances since moving to the top of the order on April 25 against Mississippi State.

Jets, RB Hall agree to 3-year, $45M extension

FLORHAM PARK, N.J Breece Hall got the big contract he desired and the New York Jets are keeping the engine of their offense for at least a few more years.

The Jets and Hall agreed Friday on a three-year extension worth $45.75 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. The team had used the franchise tag on Hall, whose contract which will pay him $15.25 million per year — makes him the third-highest paid running back in the NFL.

Hall rushed for a career-high 1,065 yards last season despite missing the ﬁnal game with a knee ailment, becoming the first Jets player to top 1,000 yards rushing in a season since Chris Ivory in 2015. Hall, who turns 25 on May 31, was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Iowa State.

Williams, Fulwiley lead U.S. to 3x3 event titles

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

LSU stars Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley kicked off their summers by helping a Team USA squad pick up a pair of big wins in 3×3 basketball. Williams and Fulwiley won one tournament in China last Saturday, and then they took another one in the Philippines on Friday, leading the U.S. to consecutive titles for the ﬁrst time since it joined the Women’s Series circuit in 2019.

Williams, a rising senior, led the U.S. in scoring at both stops She tallied 38 points across ﬁve games in China before notching 37 across ﬁve contests in the Philippines. On Friday, the Bossier City product clinched the title for Team USA when she stepped into a free-throw line jumper to beat Lithuania 17-15 in overtime.

The 3×3 team, which also features South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards and Oklahoma’s Sahara Williams, has now won 11 of the 12 games it’s played since it opened the Women’s Series on May 1. Fulwiley appeared in 10 of those matchups, tallying 18 points, 24 rebounds and 10 blocks She swatted away more than twice as many shots as any other player in the Philippines tournament.

Both Williams and Fulwiley are set to return to LSU for their senior seasons, alongside six returners and more than ﬁve newcomers. The Tigers lost four guards to the transfer portal, and their top addition of the offseason was former Iowa State point guard Jada Williams, one of the ﬁve best transfers in ESPN’s rankings. Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

LSU adds shooter from Kansas State

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

After a slow start building the 2026-27 roster, LSU added a new player for the third consecutive day.

Will Wade gained the commitment of Kansas State transfer Abdi Bashir on Friday, according to the player’s announcement on social media

The 6-foot-7, 175-pound guard averaged 13.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 turnovers in 18 games as a junior The Omaha, Nebraska, native is best known for his long-range shooting, making 44.4% from beyond the arc on 8.4 attempts per game last season. He didn’t finish the full season because he suffered a stress fracture in his foot in a Jan. 17 game against Oklahoma State. Kansas State fired its coach, Jerome Tang, after a 10-15 start Bashir spent one season at Kansas State and his first two years at Monmouth. As a sophomore, he led the Coastal Athletic Association in scoring (20.1) and shot 38.3% from beyond the arc on 10.1 3-point attempts per game.

Bashir’s best game for Kansas State was scoring 26 points in an 86-85 loss to Nebraska, which later made the Sweet 16. He made 7 of 15 from the 3-point line.

Bashir’s best game of his career was as a sophomore at Monmouth when he had a 38-point outing at Rutgers in a 98-81 loss. This was against a team that had freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, who were drafted in the top ﬁve of the 2025 NBA Draft

The Tigers’ latest transfer is the fourth addition to the team He joins 23-year-old Brazilian center Marcio Santos, Kentucky transfer Mo Dioubate and Michigan State transfer Divine Ugochukwu. In 37 EuroLeague games for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Santos, a 6-9, 250-pound center, is averaging 6.9

Kansas State guard Abdi Bashir

Burries during a game on Jan. 7 in Tucson,Ariz

points, 1.9 rebounds and is shooting 40% from the 3-point line on 1.6 attempts.

Dioubate, a 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. He was the ﬁrst player to commit on April 20.

Ugochukwu, who played 22 games at Michigan State before suffering a foot injury, averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 assists and 0.7 turnovers in 16.1 minutes per game as a sophomore.

Wade said Tuesday on the “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast that he has several players committed who aren’t known publicly yet. He also said that he will focus on using many of LSU’s resources on the top half of the roster

“So one thing I’m focusing on here is we’re really going to pay seven or eight guys at LSU this year,” he said. “We’ll ﬁll out the

back half of the roster with some guys who could help us in a pinch.

But we want to put our resources into those main guys.”

Of the eight or nine rotation players whom Wade expects to rely on, he said LSU has “all but one spot ﬁlled.” He said that rushing to make player decisions is how you make mistakes, and that this year’s portal class wasn’t as strong as 2025.

Outside of the four players he’s added, Wade has made progress building his coaching staff. The program first announced Rick Stansbury as the associate head coach and Johnny Jones as the assistant head coach. That was followed by the hire of former Georgia Tech head coach and NBA player Damon Stoudamire, who will be an assistant coach. Vernon Hamilton, a former NC State assistant and LSU director of player development under Wade, was the latest assistant hired.

McIlroy moves into contention, four shots back of Im

BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It took 27 holes, but Rory McIlroy started to return to his Masters form

The No. 2 player in the world heated up on the back nine Friday at Quail Hollow and ﬁnished with a 4-under 67 to climb into contention at the Truist Championship, four shots behind 36-hole leader Sungjae Im, who was at 9-under 133. Playing his first tournament since winning the green jacket for a second time on April 12 at Augusta National, McIlroy was 1 under and buried on the leaderboard eight shots back when he made the turn. But birdies at No. 10 and 11 got him rolling and he seemed to feed off the energy from the crowd, just as he’s done in his previous four wins in Charlotte, where he has a large following.

McIlroy’s approach shots got closer and closer, and he added birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16. He shot 32 on the back nine despite lipping out his par putt on the par4 18th hole after ﬁnding a green-

straight greens in regulation a personal course record.

“I started to make some good swings, especially with the irons,” McIlroy said. “I played one tournament in seven weeks, so I think just getting the reps under my belt a little bit and getting a scorecard in my hand. I feel like your patterns on the golf course are always a little bit different than your patterns on the range, or it is for me anyway.”

McIlroy isn’t the only big name in contention.

Tommy Fleetwood shot 67 for the second straight day and trailed Im by one shot. Justin Thomas was two back along with PGA Tour newcomer Alex Fitzpatrick, the brother of Matt Fitzpatrick.

Fleetwood said he scored well despite not having his best stuff.

hope it continues.”

For Im, the season hasn’t gone as well he’s hoped. He’s battled through a wrist injury and has only one top-40 ﬁnish. Now healthy, that may be about to change.

The South Korean followed an opening round 7-under 64 with a 69 as he looks for his ﬁrst tour win since 2021 in Las Vegas.

“I know this course very well, so I’m taking advantage of that,” Im said “And then the scrambling, because of the play with the Presidents Cup, I know where to miss the greens, I’m very familiar with this golf course. But I didn’t putt very well today, but I’m happy with where I’m at.”

Packers release McManus after drafting another kicker

Veteran kicker Brandon McManus was released by the Green Bay Packers on Friday two weeks after they drafted his potential replacement.

McManus’ exit leaves rookie sixth-round pick Trey Smack and Lucas Havrisik as the two kickers on Green Bay’s roster

The Packers announced the move and McManus posted a farewell to Green Bay on social media and thanked the organization, its fans and his teammates.

McManus, 34, went 44 of 51 on ﬁeld-goal attempts and was 6 of 8 from at least 50 yards out during the regular season in his two years with the Packers. He missed two ﬁeld goals and an extra-point attempt in Green Bay’s 31-27 NFC wild-card playoff loss at Chicago.

Djokovic beaten by Croatian qualifier at Italian Open

ROME — Novak Djokovic was beaten by a Croatian qualiﬁer 18 years younger than him at the Italian Open on Friday in his ﬁrst match after two months out due to a right shoulder injury

The 20-year-old Dino Prižmic defeated the record 24-time Grand Slam champion 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 with an ace on his ﬁrst match point.

The 38-year-old Djokovic hadn’t played since March when he lost to Jack Draper in the fourth round in Indian Wells, California.

Djokovic had taping on his right shoulder that was revealed when he changed shirts between sets. He declined to talk about any ailments, not wanting to take any focus from Prižmic. But Djokovic admitted he wanted more than one match at his only warmup for the French Open.

Mavericks hire Schmitz away from Trail Blazers as GM

DALLAS The Dallas Mavericks hired Mike Schmitz as general manager on Friday, naming the Portland Trail Blazers’ assistant GM to his new role three days after introducing Masai Ujiri as team president and alternate governor

The announcement gives Schmitz the title Nico Harrison held until he was ﬁred in November, nine months after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a move that backfired badly on the franchise.

The Mavericks said Schmitz would oversee day-to-day management and strategic alignment in the club’s basketball operations department.

Schmitz joined the Trail Blazers in 2022 after spending ﬁve years as a draft analyst at ESPN.

Arizona promotes prospect Waldschmidt, demotes Thomas PHOENIX The struggling Arizona Diamondbacks shook up their roster on Friday, promoting their top prospect, outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt, from Triple-A and designating veteran outﬁelder Alek Thomas for assignment.

side bunker

“It was a good day to get myself back in the hunt, and feel like I have a real chance going into the weekend,” McIlroy said. At one point, McIlroy hit 14

“It’s just nice to even get a couple of days where you have something to show for your work, I guess,” said Fleetwood, who will play in the ﬁnal pairing with Im on Saturday “Just a nice reminder that it will come good at some point if you keep doing the right things. So that’s been great. I just

Thomas won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in 2017 and said this is the best he’s felt physically since having surgery to treat a herniated disk in his lower back in November

He would have posted backto-back 67s had he not missed a birdie putt on his ﬁnal hole Friday “I felt like I’m close,” Thomas said. “I’ve really been pleased the last couple weeks.”

The 23-year-old Waldschmidt was batting .289 with three homers, 22 RBIs and had a .877 OPS at Triple-A Reno. He was the 31st overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Kentucky

The Diamondbacks entered Friday having lost 11 of 15 to fall to 17-19 this season. The 26-year-old Thomas was

ting .181 with

ASSOCIATD PRESS FILE PHOTO By RICK SCUTERI

drives on Arizona guard Brayden

AP PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits from the 16th tee during the Truist Championship at the Quail Hollow Club on Friday in Charlotte, N.C.

Mooreoffers little insightintoKamara’sstatus

BY LUKE JOHNSON AND MATTHEW PARAS Staff writers

Kellen Moore doesn’t have anything to addtothe recent discourse surrounding Alvin Kamara

cent comments from former Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu,who suggested the team has mishandled theentire situation.

Notebook

Whilethe NewOrleans Saints running back had nothing butpositive things to say about the organization and the direction it is heading in a recent appearance on Terron Armstead’spodcast, he has been the focal point ofsome drama throughout the offseason.

TheSaints spentone of theirbiggest free agent chips on running back Travis Etienne,who is expected to have abig role in the offense aftersigning afour-year, $52million contract. As an organization, the Saints have not made a ﬁrm commitment to bringing Kamara back into the mix in 2026.Add in the re-

“I don’tthink the Saints are dealingwiththisingood faith,” Mathieu said. “. This is not theway you treatyour franchise all-time touchdown leader.”

Mathieu went on to say, “I think theSaints would rather not have to make ahard decision and he just walk in one dayandsay,‘Heylook, I’mgoing to retire.’ “

Moore said Friday after the team’s ﬁrst rookie camp practice that he hadn’tseen Mathieu’scomments, so he was choosingnot to judge or comment on them. He also declined to give anymore of aclear picture on where Kamara stands with the team.

“We’re just continuing to evaluate this roster,” Moore said when asked whether anything had changed re-

FRANK FRANKLINII

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By

Newyork Jets defender David Baileytakes part in drills at rookie minicampatthe team’s practice facilityonFriday in Florham Park,

N.J.

Jets rookie DE Bailey shares linkswithGlenn

BY DENNIS WASZAK JR.

AP pro football writer

FLORHAM PARK,N.J.— David Bailey

gave coach Aaron Glenn asmall dose of nostalgia when he took the practice ﬁeld for the ﬁrst time with the New York Jets

The No. 2pick in the NFLdraft is wearingNo. 31 —the samejersey number Glenn wore while playing eight seasons withthe Jets.

“I really didn’tnotice thatuntil he picked it here,” asmilingGlenn said Friday after the Jets’ first rookieminicamp practice.“He has to show out, Iguess, with that number.” The Jetsare banking on that.

Bailey was the highest-selected defensive player taken in the NFL draftbythe franchise after abreakout season at Texas Tech. Considered by many the most proready edge rusher in the draft, the 22-year-old Bailey signed his rookie deal —afour-year contract worthabout$54.7million, fully guaranteed —earlier in the day After Bailey ﬂew to NewJersey from Pittsburgh the day after the draft two weeks ago, Glennprovided some proof thatheand his new pass rusher have something in common.

“I was with my mom andmysister and we were justsitting there in his ofﬁce and he actuallytold me,” Bailey said. “Heshowedme like alittleposter board ofhis jersey.”

Glenn wasthe Jets’ ﬁrst-round pick —No. 12 overall —in1994 out of Texas A&M. The three-timePro Bowl cornerback woreNo. 31 for allbut two seasons —whenhewas No. 26 in Dallas—ofhis 15-year NFL career,which also included stops in Houston, Jacksonville and New Orleans.

Bailey has been wearing No. 31 for most of his football life, too. He sported thenumber during hisprepdaysatMaterDei High School in Santa Ana, California. Bailey switched to No. 23 when he arrived at Stanford in 2022 because cornerback Zahran Manley,

asenior,was wearingNo. 31 for the Cardinal.Bailey stayed with No.23 the following season when freshman cornerbackAaron Morris arrived and took over No. 31.

But when Bailey transferredto Texas Tech before lastseason, he was back in his familiar jersey digits.

Areporter jokingly asked Glenn if Bailey,who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 251 pounds, has to “ﬁll out the uniform”— as opposed to say,the waythe 5-9, 185-poundformer cornerback did in his playing days.

“I don’tthink he’ll have aproblem ﬁlling out the uniform,” Glenn saidwitha biggrin. “He’ll be just ﬁne in that.”

Bailey certainly was last year at Texas Tech, when he had 14 ½ sacks —his combined totalinthree seasons at Stanford —with52tackles, 19 ½tackles and three forced fumbles, all on strip sacks.Glenn saidBailey will be used as an outside linebacker in the Jets’ base defense, at defensive endinother situations andbemoved around in pass rushing situations.

“He’sa very intelligentman,” Glenn said. “He’sgoing to be an exciting guy to coach, Iwill tell you that.”

Forcomparison’ssake

Having thesamejersey number as your coachisone thing, but cornerback D’AngeloPonds drew immediate comparisons to Glenn when he wasdrafted by theJets in the secondround forhis skills, style andstature

The5-8,182-pound Pondswas a physical ballhawkatIndiana and theTVbroadcast used Glenn as a player comparison when Pro FootballHall of Famer Curtis Martin announced the pick for theJets. In avideo fromthe draft room shared by the team, Glenn was seen smiling at the mention

“It makes me proud that when peoplesee himand they say (that),” the coach said. “I mean, Iwishpeoplelooked at me and said Iplayed likehim because, heck,he’sadamn good player.”

garding Kamara. “So much of our time this last week have been buildingupfor this rookie camp andgetting these guys as manyopportunities as we can “That’sreally been thefocus; getting this thingdialedupand ready. We’re excited aboutthese young guys,and we’ll continuetowork throughthisroster.”

Asked specifically whether the team wasevaluating Kamara’s place, Moore said the organization was“evaluating theroster as awhole” and is “alwaystryingto acquire as manydifferent talented players as we can.”

Kamara has spenthis entire nineyear career in New Orleans. He is enteringthe ﬁnal year of his third contract with theSaints, and as Mathieu alludedto, holds multiple franchise records.

He will turn 31 this summer and is comingoff hisworst statistical sea-

son as aprofessional, posting career lows in rushing (471 yards), yards per carry (3.6) and total touchdowns (1)while appearingin11games, also acareer low

“ObviouslyweknowwhatAlvinmeans to us,” Moore said.“We love Alvin. We’vegone through this processand we’ll continue to go throughit.”

Saints sign 7picks

All but one of the Saints’ eightman draft classsigned their rookie contracts Friday before thestartof theteam’srookie camp.

The lone holdoutissecond-round defensive tackle Christen Miller,which doesn’t come as asurprise. Secondround pickstypically takelonger to sign as they negotiate guarantees, which was the casefor many teams last season —including in New Orleans, where Tyler Shough did not sign hisdeal until afew days before the

start of training camp.

Wide receiver Jordyn Tyson,the No. 8 overall pick, will earn afully guaranteed $32.5 million over the course of his rookie deal.

Werner restructured On aday when the Saints ﬁnalized deals for mostoftheir rookie class, they alsocreated morecap space by restructuring linebacker Pete Werner‘s contract. The Saints converted slightly more than$5million of Werner’s basesalaryin2026 to create more than $4 million in cap space. As a result,his cap hit for this coming season was lowered to $3.9 million while increasing to $9.2 million in 2027 and $5.3 million in 2028 —the year whenhis contract will void, according to Spotrac.

Email Luke Johnsonat ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

LB Rodriguezaimstofollow Thomas’legacywithMiami

BY ALANIA THAMES AP sportswriter

MIAMI GARDENS,Fla Thereare

photos of HallofFamer Zach Thomasall over theDolphins’ practice facility,homages of the impact theformerAll-Pro linebacker had during his 12 seasons in Miami.

Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez is hoping to leave asimilarlegacy in Miamiand followinthe footsteps of his mentor Thomas, whoplayed for the same Texas Tech team that Rodriguez helped reach itsfirst College Football Playoffthisyear Achieving that goal began Friday when Rodriguez and other Dolphins newcomers took the practice ﬁeld for the ﬁrst time for the start of rookie camp.

Rodriguez was humbled by seeing reminders of Thomas allover “It means alot, especially seeing him around the facility,onthe walls everywhere,”saidRodriguez,wearing aNo. 10 Dolphins jersey.“It’skind of surreal knowingthat he came from where Iwas, and he was doing thesamething. And that’skind of where Iwant to be,isaHall of Famer. It makes it really easy to see the blueprint of what he did.”

TYSON

Continuedfrom page1C

“Hedealt withitwell.”

Tyson’sdebut at the Saints’ rookie minicamp can be boiled down to one word —smooth.

He lookedsmooth when lining up at three different spots, just like his coaches hadasked. He looked smooth breakingin and out of his routes. He looked smooth in hisfourreps of 7-on-7 against the defense

Sure, analyzing rookie minicamps often deservesa grainof salt. Coach Kellen Moore, after all, said one of the main goals of the practices is to get players used to playingfootball again after spending months as “track athletes” whilepreparingfor the combine andpro days. One practiceisn’tgoing to sayanything deﬁnitive about Tyson’sprospectsin the NFL.

Butatthe very least,Tyson’s initial impression backed up the idea of why the Saints had become tantalizedinthe ﬁrst place. He can addadifferent elementto thereceiving room.

“He can really go,” Moore said, referring to Tyson’sspeed. “He’s gotsome suddenness, some elusiveness. Yousee his body move pretty well.”

Rodriguez began following the blueprint in college.

He went from playing quarterbackasa freshman at Virginiato walkingonatTexas Tech in 2022, eventually becoming one of the most dominant linebackers in the country

The former Red Raiders team captain witha distinctive mustache won nearly every notable defensive award possible this past season, including the Chuck Bednarik andBronko Nagurski awards as thetop defensive player, and the Dick Butkus Award as the top linebacker.He finished fifth in the HeismanTrophy voting. He is the first FBS player in 20 yearswith at least five forced fumbles (hehad seven), twofumblerecoveries and four interceptions in the same season.

“Jacob is aguy we’ve coveted fora long time,” Dolphins assistant generalmanager Kyle Smith said. GM “Jon-Eric (Sullivan) has talked about good football players and bringing good football players in here. Jacob is one of those guys —a ﬂag bearer,captain, going to walk in Day1and be that type of guy.Takes the ball away run game, pass game, three-down player.Godownthe list of every

That elusiveness is what perhaps separates the first-round pick from the rest of his position group. As good as Chris Olave hasbeen for the Saints —and he was second-team All-Pro last season— Tyson’sability to effortlesslyturn his hips and change directions was regarded in such a mannerthat the 21-year-old even drew lofty,pre-draftcomparisons to Odell Beckham.

“That is very lofty,” Williams said.

“They’re both males,” he added. “We’ll leave it at that for now. They’re both Americanand they’re both males.”

Williams,understandably, may notwant to embrace such acomparison since Tyson has yet to play asingle snap. But the position coach waswilling to acknowledge one draft comparison— he said he could see those who said Tyson reminded them of Olave.

The two sharea“similar movementpattern” and have “kind of thesame build, to some degree.”

(Tysonis2inches taller.)

Instead of focusing publicly on howTyson differsfromthe rest of thereceiving corps,the Saints have repeatedly noted how the Arizona State product can accentuate the position’stalent.

Tyson, Olave and Devaughn Vele have versatility that creates ﬂexibility fora play-caller andan

single attributethat you want in an inside backer,that’swhat this guy is.”

Rodriguez said he has agood relationship with Thomas, the 154th pick in 1996 who went on to make seven Pro Bowls and earn ﬁve AllPro selections.

“He’slet me reach out to him for any questions Ihave,” Rodriguez said when he was drafted. “It’sa really cool experience to be in this position, to have guys who were in your same spot.”

Many believe in Rodriguez’s abilitytobeacornerstone piece in Miami’srebuild, perhaps creating astrong linebacker tandem with fellowrookieKyleLouis, drafted out of Pittsburgh in the fourth round.

In addition to an organizational reboot that has included hiring a new general manager,head coach and staff, theDolphins gutted their roster of most established players withaneye toward thefuture.

“Itfeels great to be believed in coming right in,” Rodriguez said, adding: “Being in this position has been unbelievable, but we more so want to build relationships with the guysaroundusand be team ﬁrst.This is Day 1for us, so we’ve justgot to keep building off today.”

advantage against the defense, coaches have said.

On draft night, Tyson was thrilled by the idea of playing with Olave. The two had interacted during the draft process, when Olaveunexpectedly poppedinto Tyson’smeeting with Williams at the Saints’facility.Tyson boasted thatheand Olavewould take “pressure offeach other”and make their jobs easier by both being on the ﬁeld.

“Us one-on-one?” Tyson said last month. “It’sgoing to get ugly.”

For that to happen, Tyson —and Olave—will have to be healthy The Saints pickedTyson despite myriad injuries in college, with the team’sbrass saying they were comfortable enough to make the selection.

On Friday,Tyson didn’tappear limitedatall by last season’s hamstring injury that carried into his offseason and delayed his pre-draft workout forteams.

The clean bill of health allowed Tyson to focus on whatever coaches asked of him, including Williams’ test.

“When Ilook at plays, Idon’t look at just one person,” Tyson said after practice. “I look at the whole concept becauseyou’regoing to runthatsameconcept out (of) adifferent formation and you might be on adifferent route. You have to look at it conceptually “Soyeah, Iwas ready forit.”

LEARNMORE

Steven Milam LSU Baseball, Infielder

THE VARSITYZONE

LHSAATRACK ANDFIELD RESULTS

Brownsetsrecord in Class3Ashotput

BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

University High senior Lamar

Brown competed for more than himself on Friday

LSUfootball’stop signeededicated his performance in the Class 3A shot put to his grandmother, Lilly Mae Brown,who died earlier this week.

On the same day her funeral was held, Brownset an LHSAA Class 3A record in the shot put with a winning throw of 62 feet,71/4 inches at LSU’sCarl Maddox Field House. Heavy rainpushedseveral field events indoor, while track events were delayed by two hours at BernieMoore Stadium.

Classes 2A and 3A competedFriday, while 4A and 5A are scheduled for Saturday

“I was just dedicating this to her,” Brown said. “I know she’ssmiling down because she would’vebeen here. It just means alot.”

The win was made more special after he nearly quit track and ﬁeld to focus on preparing forhis freshman footballseason withthe Tigers.

“I wantedtoquitand justfocus on football,” said Brown, a6-foot-4, 293-pounder who is slated to play on LSU’sdefensive line. “God told me to just ﬁnish and ﬁnish strong. That’swhat Idid.”

He credited his two events, shot putand discus, in helpinghim improve on the football ﬁeld. Brown highlighted how the eventshelped

NOTEBOOK

him withhis hip transition, especially

He will moveonto LSU’scampus in two weeks, but it meanta lotto himtowin an individual title in the ﬁeldhouse less than 500 feet from Tiger Stadium

“I’m ready toshowwhatI’m about,” Brown said. “I’vebeen waiting my whole life for this. God gave me theway.Now I’m here.

Dunn overcomesinjury

At thebeginning of the basketball season, DeAndre Dunn’s high schoolathletic career nearly came to an abrupt end.

TheGlenOaks star partially tore his ACL, which ended his basketballseason. He felt like giving up athletics altogether but with track and ﬁeld still ahead, he wouldn’tlet theinjury stop him.

Dunn worked hard to recover and on Friday won the Class 3A boys long jump with adistance of 20 feet,41/2 inches inside the Carl MaddoxField House.

“It’s been along year,” he said. “I’ve been pushing through. It’s my senior year; this is my last chance.”

He finished second at the regional meet and then gave it his allto claim firstinthe long jump. After sitting outfor two months with his injury,Friday’sresult madethat difficult time worthit.

“Itwas hard because Ireally just

BASEBALLPLAYOFF GLANCE

gave up,” Dunn said. “I had to sit outfor twomonths. Today,I just really wanted to show what I’m truly capable of doing.”

Dunn hopes to usehis winasa chance to spotlight his talentto college coaches.

“I really just want colleges to see me,” he said. “Tosee that Ireally can put forththe effort and help that team compete. I’ve really just got one mindset and that’stowin.”

Wilfredthree-peats

Madison Prep senior Dynasty Wilfred walkeduptothe start line of an event she knows well —the 300 hurdles. Her strategy was simply “Inmymind, it was just (about the) take-off,” shesaid. “Take off and let myself carry me to the ﬁnish line.”

Once she hit the ﬁnal turn, she knew she had to give it everything shehad. She did exactly that.Wilfred won her third straight Class 3A 300 hurdlesstate title.She ﬁnished with atime of 42.69 seconds, which bested her teammate, Makayla Miller,who hada time of 45.95.

Wilfred credited her teammates who pushed her to reach this feat.

The Southern commitmentreﬂected on her growth, and showed that her 5-foot-4 height didn’tstop her from completing athree-peat “It took alot,” she said. “A lot of people downplayed it. I’m so short, they probably didn’teven think I could jumphurdles, but Imade it happen.Now I’ma three-time state champion.”

BY DANGELSTON AP sportswriter

PHILADELPHIA— JalenBrunson scored 33 pointsand sealed the game with big bucketslate to the delight of roaring Knicks fans,leading New York to a10994 winoverthe Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night for a3-0 lead in theEastern Conference semiﬁnals. Game 4isSunday in Philadelphia. With 2016 and 2018 Villanova national championship banners hanging in the rafters, the so-called Nova Knicks all took turns taking the ﬁghtout of the Sixersinthe fourth quarter,turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory Josh Hart had 12 pointsand 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks and firstyear coach Mike Brown within one vic-

Final

Northwest,58. 3. Glen Oaks, 52. 4. St. James, 45. 5. John F. Kennedy,37. 6. Lake Charles College Prep, 35. 7. Erath, 28. 7. Kaplan,28. 9. Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 26. 10. Parkview Baptist,24. Fieldevents Javelin: 1. Presley Parks-Smith, Sterlington, 171-01. 2. Jacob Marcantel, South Beauregard, 165-00. 3. Gordon Rush, University Lab, 164-04. High jump: 1. Braxton Ardoin, Mamou, 6-07.50. 2. Gregory Johnson, Patterson, 6-07.50. 3. Joseph Bernardez, John F. Kennedy,6-03.50. Shot put: 1. Lamar Brown, UniversityLab, 62-07.25. 2. Daviel Straughter, Carroll, 4906.25. 3. DallasTaylor, Westlake,48-09.00. Long jump: 1. De-AndreDunn, Glen Oaks, 22-04.50. 2. JavonVital, Lake Charles College Prep, 21-08.75. 3. Elmari Lewis, Vidalia 21-06.00. Pole vault: 1. BrylonToups,Erath, 13-05.25. 2. Connor Toups,Erath, 12-11.50. 3. Luke Caraway,St. LouisCatholic, 12-05.50. Discus: 1. Kevin Small, Kaplan, 162–00.

2. Frederick Nimer, Northwest,155-02. 3. Chance Landry,Acadiana Renaissance Charter, 139-03. Triple jump: 1. Kingston Harris, Patrick Taylor, 45-05.75. 2. GrangerCollins, University Lab, 45-00.50. 3. JadenVillanueva,St. James, 42-08.75. Track events 4x800-meter relay: 1. Glen Oaks, 8:02.59. 2. Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 8:15.28. 3. St. James, 8:27.97. 100: 1. KevonJohnson, Northwest,10.83. 2. Keithan Vidito,Northwest,10.95. 3. Derrick White, LakeCharles College Prep, 11.02. 110 hurdles: 1. Sean Herrington,Erath, 14.12. 2. MyijalonMark, Bogalusa, 14.91. 3. Terry Matthews, Acadiana Renaissance Charter, 15.08. 4x200 relay: 1. John F. Kennedy,1:27.98. 2. LakeCharlesCollege Prep,1:28.17. 3. Northwest, 1:28.18. 1,600 meters: 1. Max Tsolakis, University Lab, 4:22.03.2.Andrew Watts,Parkview Baptist,4:22.67. 3. MalachiSimonet, Lake Charles College Prep,4:40.45. 4x100 relay: 1. St. James, 42.13. 2. Northwest,42.32. 3. University Lab, 42.66. 400: 1. Kodi Clement, Kaplan, 48.32. 2. Greyson Snow, St. LouisCatholic, 48.85. 3. Davis Antwone, John F. Kennedy,49.05. 300 hurdles: 1. Myijalon Mark, Bogalusa, 39.01. 2. JeremiahSmith, GlenOaks, 39.60. 3. Aydan Zenon, St. James,40.82. 800: 1. Max Tsolakis, UniversityLab, 1:56.79. 2. Andrew Watts,ParkviewBaptist 1:58.92. 3. Ethan Washington, GlenOaks, 1:58.97. 200: 1. Jayden Lazard,Northwest,21.82. 2. Kodi Clement, Kaplan, 21.96. 3. ErinMoore, University Lab, 22.12. 3,200: 1. MaxTsolakis, UniversityLab, 9:56.54. 2. Andrew Watts,ParkviewBaptist, 10:10.28. 3. TysonStantz,St. LouisCatholic, 10:15.32. 4x400 relay: 1. Glen Oaks, 3:18.96. 2. John F. Kennedy,3:19.57. 3. St. James, 3:25.96. Girls Team totals: 1. Parkview Baptist,118. 2. Madison Prep, 68. 3. UniversityLab,58. 4. Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 34. 5. Iota 27. 6. Kaplan, 26. 6. Thomas Jefferson, 26. 8. Sacred Heart-N.O.,25. 9. Buckeye,22. 10. St. James, 18.5. Fieldevents Javelin: 1. Kaylee Henry,Church Point, 122-09. 2. Aubrianne Redditt, South Beauregard, 120-11. 3. Bella Boone,Buckeye, 117-02. High jump: 1. Ameilia Fontenot, Iota, 5-03.75. 2. KaileighBroussard,Erath, 5-01.75. 3. Brantlee Rinehart, Sterlington, 4-11.75. Shot put: 1. Chidera Ajoka, St. James, 36-00.75. 2. Olivia Kohn, Parkview Baptist 35-08.00. 3. Madison McGeathy, Ursuline Academy, 34-11.25. Long jump: 1. Jana Thymes, Parkview Baptist,18-10.75. 2. Treasure Matthews, Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 16-10.50. 3. Robbyn Palmer, Glen Oaks, 16-08.75. Pole vault: 1. RachelOwens,Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 10-06.00. 2. Jaycie Willis,Iota,10-00.00. 3. Ramsey Edmonds, Parkview Baptist,10-00.00. Discus: 1. JaedenBrown, De La Salle, 113-06. 2. Aija Comeaux,Kaplan, 107-02. 3. Emma Venable, Jennings, 105-00. Triple jump: 1. Cali Cain, UniversityLab, 38-07.50. 2. Savannah Thompson, Thomas Jefferson, 37-09.50. 3. KaileighBroussard, Erath, 37-01.75. Track events 4x800-meter relay: 1. Parkview Baptist 9:39.05. 2. Kaplan, 9:41.44. 3. Sacred HeartN.O.,9:57.93. 100: 1. Jana Thymes, Parkview Baptist, 12.00. 2. Kassi Washington, University Lab, 12.06. 3. KenliAddison, Madison Prep, 12.26. 100 hurdles: 1. Makayla Miller, Madison Prep, 14.80. 2. SophiaParnell, ThomasJefferson, 15.93. 3. KinsleyTemplet, Acadiana RenaissanceCharter, 16.21. 4x200 relay: 1. UniversityLab, 1:40.52. 2. Madison Prep, 1:42.63. 3. John F. Kennedy 1:45.28. 1,600 meters: 1. Lucy Cramer, Parkview Baptist,4:57.55. 2. Molly Cramer, Parkview Baptist,5:13.21. 3. Leah Varisco, Sacred Heart-N.O.,5:25.63. 4x100 relay: 1. UniversityLab, 49.00. 2. LakeCharles College Prep,49.46. 3. John F. Kennedy,50.32. 400: 1. KenliAddison, Madison Prep,56.12. 2. Kennedy Aldridge, UniversityLab, 56.48. 3. JernyStevens,LakeCharles College Prep, 58.39. 300 hurdles: 1. Dynasty Wilfred, Madison Prep, 42.69. 2. Makayla Miller, Madison Prep, 45.95. 3. SophiaParnell, ThomasJefferson, 47.31. 800: 1. GeorgiaTheriot, Parkview Baptist 2:15.48. 2. Lucy Cramer,Parkview Baptist, 2:16.22. 3. Milah Ballou, St.LouisCatholic, 2:18.58. 200: 1. Jana Thymes, Parkview Baptist 24.63. 2. Kassi Washington, 24.99. 3. Kenli Addison, Madison Prep,25.17. 3,200: 1. Lucy Cramer, Parkview Baptist, 11:22.38. 2. Molly Cramer,Parkview Baptist,11:28.76. 3. Leah Varisco, Sacred Heart-N.O.,11:52.74. 4x400 relay: 1. Madison Prep,4:00.65. 2. Kaplan, 4:05.18. 3. Parkview Baptist,4:06.45.

tory of their second straight conference ﬁnals appearance. The Knicks have the luxury not to rush backforward OG Anunoby,who’s averaging21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with astrained righthamstring andremainsday-today Joel Embiid scored 18 points forthe Sixers in his returnafterhemissed Game 2with asprained right ankle and asore right hip. Embiid’s return fromanappendectomy helped spur the Sixers’ rally from a3-1 deﬁcit in the opening round to stun the Celtics. Beating theKnicks fourstraight times —including twice in New York —seems like amuch harder hill to climb for Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers. Kelly Oubre scored 22 points and Maxey added 17.

Class 2A

Girls Team scores: 1. Episcopal, 84. 2. Lafayette Christian, 59. 3. Lafayette Renaissance Charter, 2. 4. Country Day, 38. 5. Newman, 36. 6. St. Thomas Aquinas,33. 7. Notre Dame, 30. 8. Rosepine, 26. 9. Delcambre, 25. 10. East Feliciana, 24. 11. Mansfield, 22. 11. Menard, 22. 13. Midland, 21. 14. North Caddo, 20. 15. Ouachita Christian, 18. Track events 100: 1. Nasiyah Collins, North Caddo, 11.99. 2. LaJordan Boykin,Mansfield, 12.19. 3. Rylii Goodie,Lafayette Renaissance Charter, 12.22. 100 hurdles: 1. Mary Ellen Trahan, Notre Dame, 14.52. 2. Jada Recasner,Newman, 15.21. 3. Remi Cousins, Newman, 15.36. 200: 1. Nasiyah Collins, North Caddo, 24.97. 2. Rylii Goodie, Lafayette RenaissanceCharter, 25.12. 3. LeJordan Boykin, Mansfield, 25.30. 300 hurdles: 1. Mary Ellen Trahan, Notre Dame, 43.58. 2. Emma Smith, Delcambre, 46.48. 3. ClaireBrodhead, NotreDame, 47.61. 400: 1. Myah Trahan, Midland, 57.02. 2. Hayley Calcote, Rosepine, 57.29. 3. Chloe Carter, St. Thomas Aquinas,57.48. 800: 1. Colette Alvarado, Country Day, 2:13.99. 2. VarenkaZhuk,Country Day, 2:19.75. 3. AdanzeAda Mere, Episcopal, 2:19.91. 1600: 1. VarenkaZhuk,Country Day, 5:02.08. 2. NevaLambert, Episcopal, 5:08.91. 3. AdanzeAda Mere, Episcopal, 5:18.71. 3200: 1. NevaLambert, Episcopal, 11:25.18. 2. Celia Adams,St. Thomas Aquinas 11:27.95. 3. KayleeSiebeneicher, Menard, 11:59.99. 4x100: 1. Lafayette Christian, 49.36. 2. Episcopal, 49.80. 3. Mansfield, 50.34. 4x200: 1. Lafayette RenaissanceCharter, 1:43.91. 2. Episcopal, 1:4.72. 3. St. Thomas Aquinas,1:47.60. 4x400: 1. Lafayette Christian, 4:01.83. 2. Country Day, 4:05.14. 3. Episcopal, 4:08.90. 4x800: 1. Rosepine, 10:08.47. 2. Episcopal, 10:17.55. 3. Dunham, 10:23.73. Field events Discus: 1. Carly Meynard, Menard, 112-05. 2. Ajaya Harris, Franklin,109-11. 3. Mary LouisHagan, Ouachita Christian, 97-08. High jump: 1. Emma Smith, Delcambre, 5-07.75. 2. Kariah Dunn, East Feliciana, 5-01.75. 3. Jayla Shelton-Keyes, Vinton, 4-11.75. Javelin: 1. JoleyBennett, D’Arbonne Woods 131-03. 2. Samarie Glynn, Many,120-09. 3. Braylee Derouen, Loreauville, 111-11. Long jump: 1. Alaysia Titus,Lafayette Christian, 18-04.50. 2. Remi Cousin, Newman, 16-11.50. 3. Zoey Hodges, Episcopal, 16-10.75. Pole vault: 1. Emma Romano, Northlake Christian, 10-00. 2. Randall McMillan, Newman, 9-06.25. 3. Olivia Marcantel, Menard, 9-06.25. Shot put: 1. Laila Hudson, Lafayette Christian, 39-01.25. 2. Kemani Coleman, East Feliciana, 36-03.50. 3. Jade Triste,St. Thomas Aquinas,34-07.50. Triple jump: 1. Alaysia Titus,Lafayette Christian, 38-02. 2. Rylii Goodie,Lafayette RenaissanceCharter, 38-00.75. 3. Zadi Huggins,Dunham, 35-06. Boys Team scores: 1. Episcopal, 96. 2. Lafayette Christian, 80. 3. Slaughter Community Charter, 46. 4. Ouachita Christian, 38. 4. Newman, 38. 6. Catholic High NewIberia, 28. 7. Mangham, 23. 8. Mansfield, 21. 9. Delhi Charter, 20. 10. South Plaquemines 18. 11. Country Day, 17. 12. East Feliciana, 16.5. 13. St. Thomas Aquinas,16. 13. North Caddo, 16. 15. Ferriday, 10. Track events 100: 1. BradenCarter, North Caddo, 10.74. 2. Jayden Hamilton, Mansfield, 10.88. 3. Daniel Grainger, Kinder, 10.90. 110 hurdles: 1. Wynn Turner, Episcopal, 14.59. 2. SabrynBartholomew,South Plaquemines, 14.80. 3. KadenOakley, SlaughterCommunity Charter, 14.99. 200: 1. Ty’KimionFord, SlaughterCommunity Charter, 22.12. 2. Brice Perrier, Sarah T. Reed,22.28. 3. BradenCarter, North Caddo, 22.29. 300 hurdles: 1. SabrynBartholomew, South Plaquemines, 38.77. 2. Wynn Turner, Episcopal, 38.78. 3. Evan Sanders, Episcopal, 40.16. 400: 1. Luke Green,Lafayette Christian, 49.34. 2. Grant Forrest,St. Thomas Aquinas, 49.68. 3. Thomas Carter, SlaughterCommunity Charter, 50.15. 800: 1. WilliamFosterLambert, Episcopal, 1:58.67. 2. Francis LeLong, Newman, 1:59.19. 3. JacksonFoster, Catholic High New Iberia,2:00.09. 1600: 1. WilliamFosterLambert, Episcopal, 4:22.73. 2. TalanSievers, Lafayette Christian, 4:27.72. 3. Levi James, Ouachita Christian, 4:35.29. 3200: 1. TalanSievers, Lafayette Christian, 9:40.56. 2. Wyatt Price, NotreDame, 9:50.38. 3. Mason Kelly,Episcopal, 10:03.11. 4x100: 1. Lafayette Christian, 42.55. 2. Dunham, 42.87. 3. Ferriday, 43.00. 4x200: 1. SlaughterCommunity Charter, 1:28.10. 2. Lafayette Christian, 1:28.45. 3. Mangham, 1:28.86. 4x400: 1. Episcopal, 3:23.37. 2. Ouachita Christian, 3:24.28. 3. SlaughterCommunity Charter, 3:25.91. 4x800: 1. Episcopal, 8:12.60. 2. Rosepine, 8:16.35. 3. Newman, 8:19.06. Field events Discus: 1. Dylan Kolenovsky,Newman, 159-01. 2. Jacob Carter, Winnfield, 147-01. 3. Tyler Ausberry,Mangham,136-05. High jump: 1. Ashton Simon, Mansfield, 6-05.50. 2. Rafael Cuartas, Houma Christian, 6-05.50. 3. ThomasCarter, Slaughter Community Charter, 6-01.50. Javelin: 1. Isaac Herzenberg,Country Day, 186-00. 2. Tate Soileau, St.ThomasAquinas,182-09. 3. Michael Bertrand, Catholic High New Iberia, 171-00. Long jump: 1. Tayven Carter, DelhiCharter, 23-02.75. 2. Ke’Shaun Toney, East Feliciana, 22-08.50. 3. JeremyMitchell, Episcopal, 21-02. Pole vault: 1. ElijahParich,Catholic High New Iberia,14-11. 2. BarrettFreeland, Ouachita Christian, 12-11.50.3.Joel Smith Country Day, 11-11.75. Shot put: 1. Kaleb Campbell, Lafayette Christian, 51-04.25. 2. Kayden Wilson, East Feliciana, 50-08.25. 3. Kobe Smith, Avoyelles, 47-10. Triple jump: 1. Tayven Carter, Delhi Charter, 49-01. 2. Tyler Cook,Lafayette Christian, 4-11.50. 3. JeremyMitchell, Episcopal, 44-07.

The Sixers triedtopull offthe win in front of A-list Knicks fans andthousands from the five boroughs and beyond who circumvented Philadelphia’s ticket-buying tricks and filled the arena with “Let’s go Knicks!” chants in the waning moments. The76ersgamely tried to makeita series. Quentin Grimes hit his first two 3s of the game early in the fourth to trim the lead to 88-84. The familiar faces in Philly Brunson, Hart andBridgesall played for Villanova —then seized control of the game. Hart and Bridges madeconsecutive baskets that pushed the lead to 92-84. Brunsonburieda 3fromthe top of the arc that made it 95-86 during a9-0 Knicks run, to the delight of the visiting fans.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

seniorLamar Brown shows his winning form in theshotput on FridayatLSU’s Carl Maddox Field House. Brown, an LSU football signee, set aClass 3A record with atoss of 62 feet,

MLB rookies making impact in early season

BY DAVID BRANDT AP baseball writer

n stepped to the plate on Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks and ripped a 110.1 mph laser high off the center-ﬁeld wall at Chase Field, cruising into second base for a double. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo’s jaw dropped almost to the dugout

ﬂoor

“Twenty years old and driving the ball off the center ﬁeld wall,” Lovullo said. “Let’s go back to being 20 years old. I was just getting hair under my armpits, and this guy’s in a big-league baseball game. It’s impressive.”

Griffin — who just turned 20 a few weeks ago is part of an MLB rookie class that’s made an instant impact as the calendar turns to May He’s batting 256 with two homers, 16 RBIs and is 8 for 8 on stolen bases, all while playing shortstop at a high level for a Pirates team that has a 21-17 record. No wonder the Pirates were comfortable handing him a $140 million, nine-year deal in April.

Lovullo has been the manager of the D-backs for 10 seasons and said he’s noticed a huge difference in the readiness of young players when they get to the big leagues

The data backs that up, too. As measured by Wins Above Replacement, three of the ﬁve most productive classes of rookie hitters since 1950 graduated in the past four years, in 2023 (67.5 WAR), 2022 (53.7) and 2024 (49). Through Thursday’s games, this year’s class is on pace for 47, which would rank ﬁfth. Even the 2025 class, which wasn’t as deep, featured examples of players ready to make an unusually fast impact. Nick Kurtz got just 210 atbats in the minor leagues before joining the Athletics, then batted .290 with 36 homers and 86 RBIs over 117 games to win American League Rookie of the Year in 2025.

“Everything is fast-forwarded now, everything’s on speed dial, everything happens really quick,” Lovullo said. “These kids are developing. It’s the same message I send to our group about player development. We aren’t going to be the L.A Dodgers or the Padres. Spots won’t be ﬁlled by Player ‘X’ coming off of free agency. Spots will be ﬁlled by someone in this clubhouse.”

Here’s a look at some of the other top rookies in the big leagues through the season’s first 1 1/2 months:

Kevin McGonigle, SS, Detroit Tigers

The 21-year-old made the bigleague club with a strong spring performance and continues to impress, batting .299 with two homers, 16 RBIs and an .845 OPS while splitting time between shortstop and third baseman. He’s been

arguably the best player on a Tigers’ team that’s otherwise underachieved so far this year That’s exactly why the franchise was comfortable signing him to a $150 million, eight-year deal in April.

JJ Wetherholt, 2B, St. Louis Cardinals

Another highly-regarded prospect who was the No. 7 overall pick in 2024 out of West Virginia, Wetherholt has popped seven homers for a Cardinals team that’s been a pleasant surprise in the NL Central. He looks like a mainstay in St. Louis for years to come.

Chase DeLauter, OF, Cleveland Guardians

DeLauter actually made his MLB debut last season when he became one of the few players in big league history to get his ﬁrst call-up in the playoffs. So far this spring, he’s showed why the Guardians had enough conﬁdence to bring him up for those pressurepacked games, batting .306 with six homers and 23 RBIs.

Munetaka Murikami, 1B, Chicago White Sox

The veteran Japanese slugger has made an instant impact in the big leagues, crushing 14 homers in just 37 games. He needs to cut down on the strikeouts and may never consistently hit for high average, but there’s no doubt the power is legit and he’s still just 26 years old.

Kazuma Okamoto, 3B, Toronto Blue Jays

The 29-year-old is older than all of the other players on this list and had a slow start while making the transition from Japan. But he’s picked up the pace over the past few weeks and is batting .246 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs.

Sal Stewart, 1B, Cincinnati Reds

The 22-year-old made a good impression during a short stint last season and has continued to hit in the big leagues so far this spring. Playing mostly ﬁrst base, he’s batting .245 with 10 homers and 30 RBIs.

Nolan McLean, RHP, New York Mets

The Mets have been one of the biggest disappointments in the big leagues, but McLean has been one of few bright spots. He dazzled in an eight-start cameo last season and has pitched well so far in 2026. The 24-year-old has a 2.97 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings through seven starts

Parker Messick, LHP, Cleveland Guardians

The Florida State product has been one of the best pitchers in the American League this season with a 3-1 record and a 2.40 ERA through seven starts. The left hander is a big reason the Guardians are currently at the top of the AL Central.

BRAUN

anymore. Despite the major step up in competition from Indiana high school baseball, looking over detailed scouting reports before at-bats has helped Braun feel ready to face any pitcher

“You really know what the pitcher’s going to do before you even face him,” Braun said.

That edge, combined with his patience at the plate and strong contact skills, has made him one of LSU’s best hitters during Southeastern Conference play — and a perfect candidate to hit leadoff.

Braun is hitting .333 with a .493 on-base percentage against SEC competition, drawing more walks than strikeouts in 72 plate appear-

BASKETBALL

Continued from page 1C

that the ultimate solution will involve a system in which the money ﬂows in both directions

“One is you will be paid to play your game and the other is you’ll have to pay if you’re going to play your game,” he said.

If recent headlines are any indication, tennis and golf players will be among those who will be paying to play

The tennis programs at Arkansas joined those at North Dakota, Saint Louis and Illinois State (men’s only) that were discontinued this season.

The cuts at Arkansas stood out because this involves a team in the Southeastern Conference, the second-richest conference in college sports behind the Big Ten.

The Razorbacks’ tennis programs cost about $2.5 million — around the cost to sign a highprofile wide receiver men’s coach Jay Udwadia told Front Ofﬁce Sports.

“My initial reaction was, ‘That’s funny April fools, right?’ ” Udwadia said of his reaction upon hearing the news. Turns out, his was one of about 20 programs eliminated this year across all college sports — a cutback that ﬁgures to hit Olympic sports, and the U.S. Olympic pipeline, the hardest.

“You want to see Olympic sports survive and thrive,” said Paia LaPalombara, a former college administrator who is now a partner at the Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim law ﬁrm specializing on college sports deals.

“But those are going to be the ones generally on the chopping block.”

Schools and conferences are showing an endless willingness to discover new ways to make ends meet.

Last week, Duke signed a landmark deal to stream three of its basketball games on Amazon — a deal believed to be worth millions and one that could be a sign of things to come.

When Georgia and Florida State abruptly canceled their home-and-home football series set for 2027 and 2028, they said they were seeking to reschedule a neutral-site game. Reporting emerged that the schools were looking to cut a deal with a

streamer, as Duke had done. It’s the sort of arrangement a smaller school could never make, and one that further separates the haves from the have-nots in college sports.

“Ultimately, it’s about revenue generation,” said James Strode, a professor of sport management at Ohio University who focuses on changes in college sports. “We’re now in a situation where the separation and divide between big programs, Power Four programs, and Group of Six programs is even getting wider.”

In another move that felt novel a mere three years ago but now seems like business-as-usual, the Big 12 inked a deal with private equity firms that availed its 16 schools of up to $30 million each in a line of credit.

Texas Tech was among the Big 12 schools not interested. The school’s regent chair, Cody Campbell, is a billionaire who last year said equity deals were not a permanent solution and basically amounted to a “payday loan.”

Who’s keeping track of it all?

That’s supposed to be the College Sports Commission the entity formed out of the House settlement that is tasked with vetting most of the payments going from schools and their afﬁliates to the players.

The CSC has introduced an approach that LaPalombara said “has growing pains at the moment.” The difficulty comes in two places:

■ Schools’ reluctance to sign a “participation agreement” that was intended to cement the CSC’s status as the main regulator when it comes to NIL compensation.

■ Arbitration cases stemming from deals the CSC has rejected. The most important one involves 18 football players at Nebraska over whether the CSC can exercise oversight over third-party NIL deals cut through schools’ multimedia-rights holders, the likes of which are an increasingly popular way to execute the deals.

A ruling in favor of the CSC could trigger litigation.

“That’s the true test of the efﬁcacy of the CSC as an actual governing body,” LaPalombara said.

“If an institution or a student-athlete doesn’t receive the outcome they desire, it’s whether they sue and what the outcome of the lawsuits will be.

“That will be the true test of whether the CSC can continue in its current form.”

(He’s) really conﬁdent in his abilities as he should be. And (he’s) getting better at ﬁrst base.”

JAy JOHNSON, LSU coach

ances. His .472 OBP this season is the best mark on the team by a wide margin.

Braun taking a big step forward at the plate, along with fellow freshmen Omar Serna, Jack Ruckert and William Patrick, has lifted an LSU offense that’s been missing star outﬁelder Jake Brown the last two weeks.

“We want to try to recruit depth so we can overcome things,” Johnson said. “But when you look at the names that (are) not on the 34-man

roster, it’s a different team. I’m so proud of them for overcoming that.”

For LSU to make a late-season push and capture its slim hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers will have to continue their recent surge at the plate. That pursuit begins with Braun, who has become a staple at the top of the LSU lineup.

“This guy’s all baseball, all the time. Hardest worker on the team,” Johnson said “(He’s) really conﬁdent in his abilities as he should be. And (he’s) getting better at ﬁrst base.

“He’s developed a lot since he’s been here. He’s a much-improved player than when he got here. I knew he would with the work ethic, the talent.”

Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com.

right-hander Casan Evans and junior right-hander Cooper Moore. Both righties were not available to start Friday but the Tigers were still throwing sophomore righthander William Schmidt, and their bullpen — led by senior right-hander Zac Cowan and redshirt sophomore right-hander Deven Sheerin — was ready to go. The staff was also coming off a weekend where it allowed only four runs Evans was also off the SEC availability report before Friday’s game, paving the way for his po-

tential return this weekend. Overall, LSU’s pitching situation was still in a better spot than it was the last time it faced a potent offense in Mississippi State.

“It helps a lot,” Johnson said when he was asked about Evans’ return

“Just the timing of it, he wasn’t available for today Not because of the injury, but (because) without throwing for eight or nine days, we’ve had to build him up correctly

“We’re not going to risk hurting a guy like him or William.”

Nevertheless, LSU (29-22, 9-16) still struggled on the mound. Geor-

gia’s powerful offense scored in every inning except for the second and eighth and the Bulldogs eventually clawed back from their

four-run deﬁcit by the ﬁfth.

A pair of two-out home runs from shortstop Kolby Branch and Ryan Black against Sheerin tied the game 7-7. Then, in the sixth inning, the Bulldogs took the lead on a run-scoring single from center ﬁelder Rylan Lujo.

LSU fought back after Lujo‘s big hit, tying the game again after freshman Jack Ruckert grounded out to second base to drive in junior Steven Milam. But that was the only run the Tigers tallied after the fourth inning.

“They slowed us down. I don’t think they stopped us,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t stop them or slow them down.” Friday was another short out-

ing for Schmidt. In his first Friday start of the year, he lasted only four innings, surrendering four earned runs on four hits while struggling to find the strike zone for much of the evening. Schmidt walked five batters and hit two others. Just one of the free passes he allowed scored, but the balls drove up his pitch count to 94 by the time his night was over He was replaced by Sheerin after walking the leadoff batter in the fifth inning Sheerin retired the first two batters he faced before allowing the home runs. After Sheerin, redshirt junior right-hander Gavin Guidry gave up a three-run home run to second baseman Tre Phelps with two outs in the seventh inning that gave Georgia the lead for good. Eight of Georgia’s 11 runs

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DAVE TULIS Spectators crowd center court at the Dan Magill tennis complex during the UCLA and North Carolina women’s doubles match in the NCAA Division I tennis championships on May 20, 2014, in Athens, Ga.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

baseman Mason Braun hits a home run against Kentucky on March

at Alex Box Stadium.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK J TERRILL

New york Mets pitcher Nolan McLean throws to the plate during a game against the Los Angeles Angels on May 2 in Anaheim, Calif.

LIVING

TerryRobinson

FAITH MATTERS

BatonRouge native coming homefor power-packed conference

Adivine assignment is bringing Prophetess Kalisha Eackles back home to BatonRouge—if onlyfor one day Eackles, aBaton Rougenative who now resides in Houston, will host and deliver the keynote message for the “Pentecost Until” conference set for 5p.m. May 24 at Antioch Full Gospel Baptist Church, 5247 Ford St., Baton Rouge.

“This is my home. Baton Rouge is my Jerusalem,” said Eackles, who has been an ordained minister for 23 years.

“I’m humbled and excited and grateful that my church family is open and receptive to what Godis doing.”

The themeis based on Luke 24:49: “And, behold, Isendthe promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the cityof Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Eackles credits Antioch’spastor,Bishop Gregory Cooper, for opening the doors

“Bishop Cooper has always been an advocate of bringing churches together,” she said Theconference grows out of Eackles’ virtual BibleBelt Crusades that she has led annually for 21 days in December since 2017.

Eackles has assembled a powerful lineup of ministers, many of whom she has connected with the crusadesor her “Saved by Grace” show on the NOWNetwork. Multiple choirshave also been invited.

“It’srelationships that were built online, on social media and TV.Some of them have ministered in it over time,” Eackles said. “These are people from different states, different denominations and different backgrounds.”

Among the guests ministers will be Eric Pierce, Samantha Coleman,Pamela LaCour, Marc Fisher and Lawrence Morgan, all of Baton Rouge; Vannessa Douglas,ofCharlotte, North Carolina; and Brian Jones, of Oklahoma City. Coleman and Eackles sang in the church choirasyouth. Coleman,formerly known as “DaGanksta,” stars in the “Diamonds in the Dirt 3” on Amazon Prime.

“I saw her online, and Isaid, “’Hey,I’m coming home, and God said in my heartfor you to be one of my ministers,’” Eackles said.

Eackles left BatonRouge after graduating from Broadmoor High School in 2005, going on to earn an accounting degree at Langston University in Oklahoma.

Her work and ministerial journey have taken her to Dallas and the Potter’sHouse with Bishop T.D. Jakes and Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church with Tony Evans before moving to Houston. Eackles, who accepted the call on her life at the age of 15, said she’shumbled to be used by God.

“My motto is Ihave nothing to say; Ihave to say whathe has to say.It’shim, and that’s what Iwant to releasetothe people. God has used me in that capacity,” she said. For more on the conference, call 832-800-3624 or go to prophetesskalisha.org.

Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com.

Spencer LeFebvresings in the

LEARNING CONNECTION

IBY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

fhehad been afootball fan, Spencer LeFebvre likely would have heard about LSU.

Buthewasn’t.

“I played soccer,not football,” he said. Not only that, he played soccer in hishometown, Anchorage, Alaska, 4,300 miles northofBaton Rouge, where he’d eventually enroll in the School of Music.

Sincethen, he hasnot only watched theLSU Tigers battle it outwith top-ranked football foes in Death Valleybut has learned to make amean potofLouisiana-style red beans, all while working on his degree in voice performance.

Graduating next week

LeFebvre will graduate from LSUonMay 15, and he’ll wrap up his college career by performing a farewell concert at 4p.m. May 17 at

BY JUDY BERGERON Staff writer

First United Methodist Church sanctuary, 930 NorthBlvd. ADMISSION: Free.

I’m going to be here while Iaudition everywhere Ipossibly can,” he said. He hopestolanda spotinanopera company either in the United States or Europe. Opera is his forte in alifeofsinging. LeFebvre’smom even tells friendsthathewas singingwhen he born.

Quietlycontemplates

First UnitedMethodist Church of Baton Rouge, wherehe’sspent his college tenure as ascholarship singer in the church’sChancel Choir

Butthat doesn’tmean he’ll be leaving Baton Rouge.

“I’m going to take ayear off, so

While sitting at atable outside of HighlandCoffees at LSU’sNorth Gates, he quietly contemplates on how his life changed on this journey between Alaskaand Louisiana

PROVIDED PHOTOByLAMAR DRUMMONDS

sanctuaryofFirst United Methodist ChurchinBaton Rouge, where he is a member of the Chancel Choir.The seniortenor cametoLSU from hishometown of Anchorage,Alaska. He’ll be graduating on May15with abachelor’sdegree in vocal performance

Eackles

Nguyen Bourgeois

Friend’s breakfaststinksupcar everymorning

Dear Miss Manners: Every morning, Ipick up my son’sneighborhood friend and drive them both to school on my way to work. My son’sfriend is an exemplary young man polite and respectful in all ways except one. He eatshis breakfastin my back seat each morning —unfortunately,ina way that allows us to hear his chewing and smacking of lips, etc. Worse, the smell of his daily bagel lingers in the car,often all the way to my

CHEFS

Continued from page1D

Some seriousbarbecue

After growing up in his family’sVietnamese restaurant, the first stop in Nguyen’sculinary career was a3½-year stint as food and beverage manager at theHyatt French Quarter From there, Nguyen owned T2 Street Food, the Em Trai Sandwich Company and Slow &Pho in the historic food hall St. Roch Market in New Orleans.

ASt. Roch vendor introduced Nguyen to barbecue with asimple invitation.

“Hey,you wanna help me with an event?,” Nguyen recalled of joining themany volunteers at New Orleansbased charity Hogs for theCause’sannual grilling championship.

“And seeing the camaraderie, …we’re waiting for meat to get cooked on apit and justdoing whatwedo best. Ijust got hooked with that lifestyle,” he said. “It’s not likeyour traditional Asian cooking, where it’s quick and fast. It’slow and slow.It’snew ﬂavors that I was never,never introduced to, butitreallyworks well with the things that Iwas already doing.”

Nguyen later incorporated barbecue pork elementsinto some of the signature dishes, like phoand bao, on his menu at Slow &Pho.

“It just became my niche,” he said.

On Netflix’s“Barbecue Showdown,” his firstTV competition, eight contestants with varied barbecue experience square offin timed cooking challenges, with the eventual winner bringing home $50,000.

Nguyen said he wasa “deer in headlights” on the show,which aired in 2024. He wasthe ﬁrstone eliminated.

“I just crashed and didn’t do too well,” Nguyen said. “So Icame home, honed my craft and barbecue. And now we’re here.”

“Here” is Oklahoma City Oklahoma, where Nguyen moved at the end of 2024 to become the director of culinary operations for Kosmo’sQInc., abarbecue seasoning andsauce company.Independent of that, he’ll be releasing his own line of sauces underthe self-imposedmoniker Asian Cajun Cowboy,with bottles expected in target markets starting next week.

“BBQ Brawl” debuts

8p.m. Monday,and for Nguyen, it was ashot at redemption for his “Showdown” crash-and-burn. On “Brawl,” 12 competitors barbecue their way through

place of work25minutes down the road from theschool. Thefriend seemstodo hisbest to avoid crumbs or amess in thecar,but inevitably there are occasional leftovers that go beyond thearoma. He never asked my permission to have his daily breakfastduring the ride, but Idon’tthink there was any bad intent on his part atall. Rather,he(and by extension, his parents) assumed Iwould have no issue with himeatinginmycar

Onemorning, when the school year was almost over,Idecided on awhim to address the issue (against thewishes of my wife and my son, who both felt it would be too awkward to bring up). I told awhitelie, indicating that I had to pick up customers the next day right after the school dropoff, and said, “If you don’tmind, go ahead and grab your breakfast before Ipick you up tomorrow.” Isaid it in avery polite and friendly way.Iamhoping he gets thehint and Iwon’thave to worry about this issue any further

My son is not-so-secretly grateful Isaid something, but my wife is angry with me and thinks Iam being petty and selﬁsh. But Ihave always believed that if someone is breaching etiquette, it is totally one’sright, or maybe even obligation,toaddress the issue. WasIwrong to handle this issue in this way?

Gentlereader: Let us see ﬁrst if your approach makes any difference. This young man seemsso oblivious that he may not be put off by thevague suggestion that he “grab” his breakfast before-

Competing chefs Tung Nguyen, left, and VinnyMangual prepare their first challengedish on ‘BBQ Brawl: Season 7.’

intense challenges, cooking outdoors under the guidance of team captains Bobby Flay,Maneet Chauhan and new team captainBrooke Williamson.

Nguyen was placed on Flay’steam

“What better personto coach me than the guy who started it all,” he said. “The validation or affirmation fromBobby Flay saying, ‘Oh, that’s good,’ or ‘It needs that,’ sets it all apart from this competition toothers.”

After nine episodes, one chef will claim the “Master of ‘Cue” title and the opportunity for afeature spot in a newseries on the network’s digital side.

‘I grew up in nature’

Foravidoutdoorsman Bourgeois, “Castaways” sounded likesomething made for him.

“I’ve spent my life in the outdoors, mostly in Louisiana,”Bourgeoissaidfrom Gulf Breeze, Florida, where he and his family moved in 2024. “In alot of waysthat’s whyI kind of ﬁtright into the whole‘Chopped Castaways’ idea, because Igrew up in natureand around all the natural world and hunting and ﬁshing —and very remote andrudimentary and rustic, some would say.”

In each episodeofthe original “Chopped,” four chefs aretasked with creatinga three-course meal, using the mish-mash of ingredients they are provided “Chopped Castaways,” airing8 p.m. Tuesday,adds to the “fun” by placing the 12 chefs on aremote island to cook beachside with limited resources, tacking on physical challenges and, of course, theweather factor. At stakeisa$100,000 prize.

“I would say the environment —the wind,the rain, thesand, the heat —was

devastating. When it wasn’t raining or windy,itwas heat beating down on you,” Bourgeois said. “Thatobviously played itspartineverybody’ssituation there.”

Nevertheless, Bourgeois foundsuccess in thedishes he presented tothe judges by tapping into his Cajun and south Louisiana roots. He speciﬁcally recalledone dish folks back home will especially appreciate.

“I just cannot wait for people to see it,” he said.

Beyond“Castaways,” Bourgeois, like Nguyen, no longerreports to arestaurant kitchen each day

Aftergraduating from Chef John FolseCulinary Instituteathis hometown university,Nicholls State, he worked in restaurants in California, Atlanta, theVirgin Islands and ﬁne dining establishments in New York for 12 years.

“And Ileftthatlifeto pursue what I’m doing now, which is mostly in the world of digital media, content creation,stuff like that,” he explained.

Bourgeois’ show,“Duck Camp Dinners,” was nominatedfor the2026James Beard FoundationBroadcast Media Award under the “Lifestyle Visual Media” category.Bourgeoistravels to private duck camps around Louisianatohunt, cook anddiscussconservation andenvironmental issues with the camp owners.

Theshow, enteringits fourth season,airsonOutdoor America, Tubi, WayPoint TV,Outdoor Channel andBourgeois’ YouTube channel,Stirthe Pot —which has 72,700 subscribers.

Thechefsayshis social media presence is authentic to his lifestyle of family, friends, cooking and investigative food journalism

“I’ll travel around to

different places and create YouTube videos based around plate lunchspots, those little mom-and-pop spots that are so cornerstone to smallcommunities in Louisiana,” Bourgeois said. Tuesday night’sTVaudience, meanwhile, will watch thewell-seasoned yetstill down-to-earth Bourgeois do his thing on “Chopped Castaways.”

“Mygoal was Iwanted to have fun, be myself and represent Louisianathe best I could,”hesaid. “SoIthink Idid that. And that was an honor.”

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate. com.

hand. To him,this could mean grabbing it and bringing it into your car,asusual. As foryour wife’sobjection, Miss Manners will pointout that good mannersneed notmean beingbulldozed by others. Politelysetting boundaries is warranted,especially when it is also forthe beneﬁtof everyone else —asproven by the gratitude andreliefofyourson Andyourfakecustomers.

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

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, May 9, the 129th day of 2026. There are 236 days leftinthe year

Todayinhistory: On May 9, 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved Enovid for use as the ﬁrst oral contraceptive pill.

Also on this date: In 1754, the famous political cartoon “Join or Die” was first published by Benjamin Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, acting on ajoint congressional resolution, signed aproclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’sDay In 1951, the U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse by detonating a225-kiloton device (nicknamed “George”) on Enewetak Atoll in the PacificOcean. In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommendthe impeachment of President Richard Nixon. (The committee ultimately adopted three articles of impeachment against the president, whoresigned before the full House took up any of them.) In 1980, 35 people were killed when afreighter rammed the Sunshine Sky-

wayBridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 1,300-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.

In 1992, abuildup of methane gas and coal dust triggered amassive explosion in the Westray Mine in NovaScotia, Canada, killing 26 coal miners. In 2019, Pope Francis issued agroundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.

In 2023, ajury found Donald Trumpliable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in damages.

Today’sBirthdays: Producerdirector James L. Brooks is 86. Musician-songwriter Sonny Curtis (The Crickets) is 89. Actor Candice Bergen is 80. Musician Billy Joel is 77. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo is 75. Actor John Corbett is 65. Singer Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) is 64. Hockey Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman is 61. Rapper Ghostface Killah is 56. R&B singer Tamiais 51. Actor Rosario Dawson is 47. TV personality Audrina Patridge is 41. Actor Grace Gummeris40. Musician Shaboozey is 31. Actor Mary Mouser is 30. Singer-songwriter

He’s 23 now,but he was only 19 when he auditioned for LSU professors of voice Robert Grayson and Paul Groves after taking agap yearbetween high school graduation and college enrollment

Grayson is now the School of Music’sprofessor emeritus,and Groves not onlyis the school’sartist-in-residence but an alumnus who is now general director of Baton Rouge opera company,Opera Louisiane.

LeFebvre met the duo through his voice teacher classical vocalist Michelle DeYoung,who had worked with both. But, he admits, he wasn’tyet serious about acareer in music.

Momwas avocalist

His mom was atrained opera vocalist, though she opted for acareer as abehavior analyst. Sheenrolled LeFebvre’solder brother,Rev,in piano lessons, but he wasn’t really interested in playing. LeFebvre, however,was intrigued.

“I was about 7, and my brotherwas taking piano, but Iwasn’tallowed to, because Ithink the teacher who taught my brother didn’ttakeonstudents until they were 9,”hesaid. “ButI think Ibegged alot. Ithink I just wanted to do something that my brother did, so I started taking lessons early at 7, and that’sreallywhere it all started. My brother quit, and though Iwouldbe frustrated by practicing, I never quit. Ikept on.”

LeFebvre can’tcontain his laughter at this point.

“I wasn’taMozart,”he said.

Somethingspecial

Well, tell that to Grayson and Groves, both of whom immediately recognized something special in LeFebvre’splaying and singing in his Zoom audition.

LeFebvre had always sung well. He’d even performed in some of hishigh school’s musicals. But he didn’tbecome truly seriousabout vocal training and performance until he came to LSU But there was aproblem

“When he got to LSU,it was hard to tell whether he was atenor or abaritone,” Groves said. “For awhile, we hadhim singing baritone. Imean, there’snot that much difference between the high lyric baritones and tenors. So, we had him sing baritone for acouple of years, and when he learned how to sing baritone in the correct way,weswitched him to tenor last year.”

The switch didn’tcome without obstacles. There were some growing pains, Groves said, but everything clicked in three months’ time.

Work isn’teverything

LeFebvre also quickly

learned that work wasn’t everythinginlife when Groves invited the young baritone-turned-tenor on a Gulf ﬁshingtrip Groves’ friends know that he not only has performed as atenor at the Metropolitan Opera,aswellasother leading opera houses,but he has apassion for deep sea ﬁshing

“I’vetaken Spencer ﬁshing twice in the Gulf of Mexico,”Groves said. “He’sthe kind ofperson that doesn’t needtobepromptedtohelp —he’sincredibly helpful. He’d never been ﬁshing offshore, andhejust instinctively knew to help without having me instruct him on exactly whatto do.And he’s that kind of person. He’s very kind and gracious.”

Knowingwhathe sings Groves also praised LeFebvre’sattentiontodetail whenitcomes to learning the music and studying the textofeach composition he performs.

Classical and operatic pieces often are written in languagesother than English.Italian,French and German are some of the more popular languages for operas, and though LeFebvre hasstudiedFrench and German, he still makes a pointtodelve deepinto what he’ssinging.

“You don’thave to know what you’re singing, but you should,” he said. “I’m not fluent in Germanand French, andthoughI haven’tstudied Italian,I know how to speak it —as in, Ican look at thewords andunderstand howtopronounce them. But Itranslatewhat I’msinging word by word,thenI memorize the translation.”

The effort helps LeFebvre understand thestory and context of each piece andthe emotionsthe composers were trying to convey.And in the end, it makesa differenceinhis performances

In away,LeFebvrehas applied asimilar method to his understanding of Louisiana and its people, conclud-

Dear Harriette: My daughter has been having trouble gettingpregnant.She and her husband have been trying for two years now.They have been to many doctors withnoluck. Ifeel so bad that she is struggling, especially because both of her sisters have been able tohave children. Ican see how much she wants to be amother,and it hurts me that somethingsomeaningful to her isn’tcoming easily.She tries to stay positive, but Iknow this has taken an emotional toll on her; sometimes Idon’t

know the right thing to say or do to support her

ing that his favoritepart of

LSU football season is the community created by tailgaters before each game.

“I love how everyone comes together,” he said.

And though he’saself-proclaimed non-partier,hehas attended Mardi Gras and observed the community of revelers in New Orleans

“When Icame here, Iwas interested in the history of theSouth,especiallythe Civil Rights era, and Iwanted to learn more,” LeFebvre said.“What I’ve learnedis that Louisianaisanincredibly interesting state.”

The state’sspirit has captivatedLeFebvre so much that he’s spenttime adding itsdifferent genres of musictohis repertoire. Jazz, blues andnow zydeco has entered his music realm, all inﬂuencing his own world of music, whichhas primarilybeeninﬂuencedby such names like Frederic Chopin, Claude DeBussey, W.A. Mozartand Johannes Sebastian Bach

“Butthe music I’m hearingnow is good music,” LeFebvre said of the Louisiana music he has learned.

“And it’s as Duke Ellington once said: There aretwo types of music —the music that’sgood, and the music we don’ttalk about.”

Email RobinMiller at romiller@theadvocate. com.

As her mother,Ifeel abit helpless. Iwant to comfort my daughter without overstepping or making her feel worse. Ialso worry about the comparisons she might be making between herself and her sisters, even though Iremind her that everyone’sjourney is different. Family gatherings have become more complicated, and Ican sense the quiet sadness she carries, even when she tries to hide it. Should Ibring it up and check in often or give her

space and let her cometo me?Also, how can Ihelp her feel less alone during this time? —Inconceivable

DearInconceivable: Thebest thing you can do is to be present for your daughter without asking questions. Just love her.Bringing up the obvious will notbehelpful. Youcan invite her to do things with youindependent of the rest of the family Since you do have grandkids, you maynot realize how muchtime they take in your life. Carve out time just for your daughter,too. Sendquestions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com.

Make this fast andlight dessert

Dear Heloise: Here’sa fast, lighter dessert Ilike making in my air fryer: Just use a flour tortilla, and you’ll have asweet, crunchy snack in minutes. First place thetortilla flat in theair fryer basket.Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar evenly over the tortilla. Then set asecond rack directly on top tokeep the tortilla flat and secure. Choose theair-fry setting and cook for 10-12 minutes. Once finished, remove the tortilla and let it cool for several minutes. After

cooling, break it into pieces and enjoy the crispiness. The result is alight, crunchy snack that tastes rich without feeling too heavy To dress it up, drizzle with honey or sprinkle with powdered sugar.This easy method uses ingredients that are already in the kitchen, which is aclever way to satisfya sweet tooth. Ihope others will try it! —Linda W.,inFlorida

Serrated knives

Dear Heloise: Most people think serrated knives are only forbread, but they’re

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFFREPORTS

FreemanBaptist to honor pastor’sservice

Freeman Baptist Church, 4628 La. 955, Ethel, will host itspastor’s appreciation service at 2p.m.Sunday,May 31. The guest speaker will be theRev.OrinD.GrantSr., pastor of St. Paul Missionary BaptistChurch in Gretna. The church will celebrate and honor theRev.Robert L. ScottJr. for hisservice and commitment. Allare invited.

Mother’sDay worship service

Nathaniel Baptist Church, 5032 Hwy.33S, Centreville, Mississippi, will hold aspecial Mother’sDay worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday The message will be delivered by the Rev.Curtis Hopkins. Everyone is welcome.

Mother’sDay at St.James Baptist

St.James Baptist Church, 1105 N. 44th St.,Baton Rouge, will hold aspecial Mother’sDay celebration at

8a.m. Sunday The youth and children’s ministry will highlight “The Value&Victorious View of Godly Mothers.”

Breakfast will be served following the worship experience. The public is invited.

Justice to serveas graduation speaker Louisiana Supreme Court Justice John Michael Guidry

useful formuch more. When Iuse aregular knife on ripe tomatoes, they get crushed, while aserrated blade cuts through the skin smoothly.With sandwiches on crusty rolls or toast, aserrated knifeslides through the bread without squishing the inside. Using mine moreoften makes my cuts cleaner and reduces the mess. Delicate foods keep their shape, too. NowI reach formyserrated knife farmore often; it hardly sits in the drawer —Ira B.,in Lake Forest, California Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

will speak at graduations for twoBaton Rouge elementary schools. Guidrywillspeak at Audubon Elementary School’s graduation at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Goodwood Church of Christ,10715 Goodwood Blvd He will also serve as speaker forGreenbrier Elementary School’sgraduation at 9:30 a.m. Monday,May 18, at VictoryHarvest Church, 3953 N. Flannery Road. All are invited.

Hints from Heloise

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Share your thoughts, but be willing to compromise. Keep an open mind when constructive criticism comes your way. Don't go over your budget when improving your surroundings.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Put some muscle behind the changes you want to make. Dreaming doesn't get the job done. Wasting time and effort arguing or trying to do the impossible will result in fatigue and disappointment.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Keep your life simple, your projects doable and your mind on what's important to you. How you reach out to others will make a difference. Offer patience, sincerity and a helping hand.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) It's what you do that matters. A personal change to how you present yourself, or updating your appearance to give you the edge you need to command attention, will attract partnerships.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Researching and paying attention to detail will help you expand your awareness and prospects. Let your words plant suggestions that encourage others to participate.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Social events will change your perspective regarding love, learningandlifestyle.Reachouttosomeone who grabs your attention, and you'll discover you have more options than you realize.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Mixed emotions willsurfaceifyoudiscussdomesticplans with someone close to you. Refrain from

overreacting to what someone suggests. Hit the reset button, apologize if necessary and offer comfort.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Keep the momentum flowing and your expectations growing. Embrace each challenge with a competitive mindset and an attitude that commands attention. You will find the success you desire.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Don't labor over what you cannot change; instead, put more time and effort into surrounding yourself with what makes you happy, brings you peace and encourages you to explore life's little pleasures.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) It's up to you to bring about change. Stop letting what you don't like dictate what happens next. Spiceupyourlife,discoverwhoyouhave become and test the waters to see what soothes your soul.

PIscEs(Feb 20-March20)Putmorethought into what you enjoy doing and how you earn your living. Put greater emphasis on intellect and money management and less on temptation and overspending on things you don't need.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Size up situations, and allocate enough time to make a difference How you help others will determine how they perceive you and what they are willing to do in return.

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers Theobject is toplace thenumbers1 to 9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column andeach 3x3 box contains thesamenumber only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s PuzzleAnswer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Samuel Johnson, an 18th-century English essayist, said, “The two offices of memory are collection and distribution.”

One of the offices of success at the bridge table is collection of information, which might involve hand distribution as in this deal.

South is in four hearts after East opened one club. West leads his lowest club. East wins with his king, cashes his ace and continues with a third round to declarer’s queen. How should South continue?

South’s leap to four hearts has two ways to win: The contract might make, or he might talk his opponents out of a higher-scoring contract.

South seems to have 11 tricks: two spades, seven hearts, one diamond and one club. And that will be true if hearts are 2-1. But when declarer learns that clubs are 3-3, what must East’s hand distribution be?

There is only one answer: 4-3-3-3. (If he had four diamonds, he would have opened one diamond, not one club.) So South does not have a trump entry to the board. And surely East has the diamond king for his opening bid. What can declarer do?

There is a clever solution. After winning the third trick, South should cash two top trumps, then sacrifice a heart trick by leading a low heart. East takes the trick with his jack, but what can he do now?

Nothing! East has to lead a spade or a diamond, which gives declarer access to the dummy. Note that East cannot play his heart jack earlier, because dummy’s eight would become an entry. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

Average

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

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