MARCH MADNESS! WILL WADE LEADS McNEESE PAST CLEMSON 3C
ADVOCATE THE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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F r i d ay, M a r c h 21, 2025
Trump orders closure of Education Dept.
$2.00X
ST. GEORGE
Legislation planned to form school district Proposed boundaries to match those of new city
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
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 return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve
Ending nearly a year of speculation, a state senator announced Thursday he is filing legislation to form a St. George school district with the same boundaries as the newly created city of the same name. If successful, the new St. George school system would be the fifth public school district in East Baton Rouge Parish, joining Baker, Central and Zachary in gaining educa“Landmark tional independence from the parish school system. legislation only The new district would be- comes a couple gin student instruction in fall of times in a 2026 at the earliest. lifetime, and “Landmark legislation only this is landmark comes a couple of times in a lifetime, and this is landmark legislation.” legislation,” state Sen. Rick STATE SEN. Edmonds, R-St. George, said RICK EDMONDS, during a news conference at R-St. George St. George City Hall. The new city of St. George, the fifth-largest in Louisiana, was cleared to go into operation less than a year ago, after a lengthy incorporation effort and court battle. Creating a companion school district is a long-standing promise to St. George supporters unhappy with parish public schools. The new district would significantly shrink the size of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system and could cause significant educational disruption for many families. In making the contours of the St. George school district the same as the municipal boundaries, St. George is following a different path than the other three breakaway districts in the parish, none of which matches their respective municipal
ä See TRUMP, page 4A
ä See SCHOOL, page 5A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BEN CURTIS
President Donald Trump is joined by students as he signs an executive order in the White House on Thursday.
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 depart-
ment 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.
Audubon Zoo alligator gets cataract surgery at LSU Vet School Rare white reptile gets first-of-its-kind operation in U.S.
end of a pair of long tongs. “We would notice the food would be right next to him and he would miss it, or he couldn’t grab his food as well,” senior zookeeper Ashley Rabenau said. “Normally, they’re taking the food right from the BY ELLYN COUVILLION tongs.” Staff writer Another zookeeper, Victoria Zookeepers at Audubon Zoo in Brumley, noticed the alligator was New Orleans knew something instead following the shadow the wasn’t right with its rare, blue- tongs made on a wall in his encloeyed, white alligator Victor when sure. he seemed to not notice his dinner “We tried to toss the food closer — a whole, thawed fish or other to the shadow,” Rabenau said. type of meat held out to him at the Something was amiss.
WEATHER HIGH 71 LOW 48 PAGE 8B
Audubon Zoo veterinarian staff reached out to veterinarians at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge, where ophthalmologist Dr. Renee Carter and her team examined 12-year-old Victor’s eyes and discovered he had an advanced cataract in the left one, along with some inflammation. But the retina itself was healthy and well. On Feb. 19, Victor became the first alligator in the U.S. to have cataract surgery.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Victor, one of the white alligators at Audubon Zoo, came to the zoo in ä See ALLIGATOR, page 5A 2019.
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