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F r i d ay, M a r c h 21, 2025
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Trump orders Education Dept. closed
Shutdown likely impossible without act of Congress BY COLLIN BINKLEY and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to take apart an agency that’s been a longtime target of conservatives.
Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Republicans said they will introduce legislation to achieve that, while Democrats have quickly lined up to oppose the idea. The order states the education
secretary will, “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.” It offers no detail on how that work will be carried out or where it will be targeted, though the White House said the agency will retain certain critical functions.
Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its “core necessities,” preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell Grants and money for children with disabilities. The White House said earlier Thursday that the department will continue to manage federal student loans, but the order appears to say the opposite. It states the Education Department doesn’t have the staff to oversee its $1.6 trillion loan portfolio and “must
MARCH MADNESS! McNEESE UPSETS CLEMSON 2C
MANAGING FAME
McNeese basketball manager Khan makes history with his own NIL deal
return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.” At a signing ceremony, Trump blamed the department for America’s lagging academic performance and said states will do a better job. “It’s doing us no good,” he said. Already, Trump’s Republican administration has been gutting the agency. Its workforce is being slashed in half, and there have
ä See TRUMP, page 4A
Food bank to open store on north side Second Harvest grocery to help with area’s food desert
BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLES KRUPA
McNeese State men’s basketball student manager Amir Khan scored endorsement deals after a video of him dancing, rapping and leading the Cowboys basketball team down the tunnel to the court for a February game went viral on social media. BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer
During his two years as a student manager with the McNeese State University men’s basketball team, Lake Charles native Amir Khan often joked he would land a deal to capitalize on his name, image and likeness. Khan’s joke became reality at the end of February, when he became the first student manager of a college sports
team to secure an NIL deal. The senior sports management major has scored endorsement deals with TickPick, Buffalo Wild Wings and Insomnia, the gourmet cookie franchise. “I don’t know how to fully process that,” Khan said of his instant fame, after a video of him dancing, rapping and leading the Cowboys basketball team down the tunnel to the court for a February game went viral on social media. “It’s crazy to think that I’m
the first one ever to do that. So, it’s definitely amazing, and I’m glad … it’s the start, but hopefully it’s not the last.” When Khan, 22, first applied to be a student manager for the McNeese Cowboys in March 2023, he had no intent of getting NIL deals or going viral on social media. He applied for the position after he learned former Louisiana State University men’s basketball coach Will Wade would be taking the coaching
job at McNeese State University. As a lifelong LSU basketball fan, he wanted the opportunity to work with Wade. For the past two years, he’s done just that. Ten months out of the year, Khan and the four other student managers for the basketball team do team laundry, wipe up spots on the court, set up for games and practices, run the clock and hype the basketball team before games.
ä See FAME, page 4A
Second Harvest Food Bank will open a nonprofit grocery store on its campus to address food deserts on the north side of Lafayette. The nonprofit will open the Makin’ Groceries Store, at 215 E. Pinhook Road, in partnership with the United Way of Acadiana, officials with “Access both agencies announced to healthy, Thursday affordable morning. food is a The store fundamental will be funded through the right, yet many United Way’s face barriers L a f a y e t t e stemming from Initiative for poverty, food Food Equity deserts and program and will open later limited nutrition this year, said education.” Paul Scelfo, PAUL SCELFO, chief regional officer at Sec- chief regional officer ond Harvest at Second Harvest Food Bank. Food Bank “Access to healthy, affordable food is a fundamental right, yet many face barriers stemming from poverty, food deserts and limited nutrition education,” he said. “The Makin’ Groceries Store is a direct response to these challenges and will be a hub for nourishment, empowerment and positive change.” The store will build on the success of the food bank’s Makin’ Groceries Mobile Market, a grocery store on wheels that has been delivering fresh, affordable food and health services to food desert neighborhoods across the region. According to data from the
ä See STORE, page 4A
Higgins says he won’t challenge Cassidy for U.S. Senate seat BY MARK BALLARD
incredibly significant, it may be ultimately more beneficial to the Republic that I remain in service to the MAGA America WASHINGTON — Acadiana U.S. Rep. Clay First agenda as a senior Republican in the Higgins wrote in a letter Thursday that House of Representatives,” wrote Highe would not run in the 2026 U.S. Senate gins, R-Lafayette. “So, fellow citizen, I race — even though he pointed to a poll shall continue to serve you in the People’s that found he would have won. House.” “It is my considered determination that, Higgins did not endorse incumbent Sen. current engagement in the House being Bill Cassidy, a Baton Rouge Republican
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 70 LOW 37 PAGE 10C
who has angered many right-wing Republicans after voting to convict President Donald Trump of impeachment charges for provoking the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Cassidy, however, has been invited to the White House twice in the past week. “I respect the Senator, I thank him for
ä See HIGGINS, page 4A
Business ......................6A Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................4B Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, has served in Congress since 2017.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
100TH yEAR, NO. 264