The Acadiana Advocate 05-21-2025

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

The Carencro Police Department last week held a dedication and grand opening ceremony for its new police station.

New technologies now available to the department have allowed it to respond quicker investigate faster and ultimately solve crimes more efficiently, said Police Chief David Anderson, creating a safer environment for the growing city.

“What used to take a week to investigate is now taking an hour,” Anderson said

The 18,000-square-foot facility, located on North University Avenue, which technically opened late last year, is expected to serve the department for the next 30 to 40 years with space to expand if needed, said Anderson, who has led the department since 2016. Construction of the facility was completed in June 2024 and cost around $10.5 million, or $1.3 million over what was initially budgeted. A 2016 penny sales tax primarily funded the project.

The space is a considerable upgrade from the previous station on Centennial Drive, which stood at 3,000 square feet

The old station is now being used as an annex for city government.

A new station wasn’t on Anderson’s mind when he was elected to run the department but said in 2018 it became clear

that the old facility’s 6-by-8-foot evidence room was no longer working. He and his team began sketching out ideas for a new station in 2020.

“We went through probably 500 sheets of paper, literally trying to think what’s right and what’s going to work for everybody,” Anderson said.

The new 40-by-25-foot evidence room

will be able to meet the department’s needs for the coming years.

“It did not leave for a lot of room,” Anderson said. “We’re still housing evidence from 30 to 40 years ago because we can never get rid of it because of the type of case it’s involved in.”

See CARENCRO, page 5A

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

BY LARA NICHOLSON, JUSTIN MITCHELL and MISSY WILKINSON Staff writers

Someone needed to turn off the water

To execute Friday morning’s massive jailbreak from the New Orleans jail without flooding the cell and setting off alarms, a valve in the “pump chase,” a supposedly secured area located behind rows of cells, would need cranking off.

According to authorities, Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance man who has worked for five years at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, N.O. jail worker accused

ä See WORKER, page 5A

Controversial measure faces opposition

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

The Lafayette Public Library Board may have missed an opportunity to settle a federal First Amendment lawsuit that has already cost more than $100,000 in legal fees.

Matter has already cost more than $100,000 in legal fees Judge

The board on Monday sided with former board President Robert Judge over its attorney’s advice, refusing to enter an executive session to discuss a settlement offer that would have waived the legal fees, dropped everyone from the lawsuit except Judge and prevented Judge from voting on matters involving the lawsuit.

Lynette Mejia and Melanie Brevis, founders of Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship, in March 2023 sued in federal court Lafayette Consolidated Government, Judge, current board President Daniel Kelly, Sheriff Mark Garber and two of his deputies hired as guards for a board meeting where Brevis was escorted from the speaker’s podium on Judge’s order After the meeting Monday, Mejia said the board “is in breach of their fiscal duty to the citizens of Lafayette Parish” because taxpayers will be burdened with hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

“Once again this board has put personal political interests above what’s best for our library,” she said.

She and Brevis, Mejia said, did not sue for financial gain, but to stop the board from limiting residents’ free speech.

The security guards at a January 2023 meeting on Judge’s order escorted Brevis from the speaker’s podium. Judge previously had a resident arrested during a board meeting for uttering a single word out of order Three years later, a Lafayette district judge dismissed the charge and apologized to the resident, an LGBTQ+ activist. In federal court, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Summerhays, Western District of Louisiana in

See LIBRARY, page 4A

crats and two White Democrats stood in solidarity in the front of the House to express their quiet fury with the bill, repeatedly calling it “divisive.” Debate over the bill lasted into the night.

“This is the most racially offensive piece of legislation that I think I’ve had to debate since I came into office,” said Rep. Candace Newell,

ä See DEI, page 4A

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

New salmonella outbreak tied to previous grower

U.S. health officials are investigating a new outbreak of salmonella illnesses tied to a Florida grower whose tainted cucumbers were linked to more than 550 illnesses last year

Cucumbers grown by Florida-based Bedner Growers and distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales have been linked to illnesses in at least 26 people in 15 states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported late Monday. At least nine people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported

The cucumbers were sold to restaurants, stores and food service distributors between April 29 and May 19 and may still be within their shelf life this week Illnesses were reported between April 2 and April 28, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The outbreak was detected as part of a follow-up inspection in April to a 2024 outbreak that sickened 551 people and led to 155 hospitalizations in 34 states and Washington, D.C. In that outbreak, investigators found salmonella bacteria linked to many of the illnesses in untreated canal water used at farms operated by Bedner Growers and Thomas Produce Company In the current outbreak, officials found salmonella bacteria from samples on the farm that matched samples from people who got sick.

Health officials are investigating where the potentially contaminated cucumbers were distributed. Several people who fell ill ate cucumbers on cruise ships leaving ports in Florida, according to the CDC. Organic cucumbers are not affected, officials said.

Iran rejects U.S. stance on uranium enrichment TEHRAN, Iran Iran’s supreme leader on Tuesday pushed back against U.S. criticism of the country’s nuclear program, saying that Tehran won’t seek permission from anyone to enrich uranium and calling American statements “nonsense.”

“They say, ‘We won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium.’ That’s way out of line,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a memorial for late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last year “No one in Iran is waiting for their permission The Islamic Republic has its own policies and direction — and it will stick to them.” Khamenei’s remarks came as indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. reportedly continue, though he expressed doubt about their outcome.

“Yes, indirect negotiations were held during Raisi’s time too, just like now,” he said. “But they didn’t go anywhere — and we don’t expect much from the current ones either Who knows what will happen.” His comments reflect Tehran’s growing frustration with the stalled nuclear discussions, as well as the broader tensions that have defined U.S.-Iran relations in recent years

Westminster Kennel plans for 150th show

NEWYORK It’s still just 21 in dog years. But the Westminster Kennel Club is gearing up for its 150th annual dog show next year and announced plans Tuesday for the milestone event, expected to draw about 3,000 champion dogs

It’s slated to start Jan. 31 with agility and other canine sports, including the relay-race-style flyball tournament introduced last year, at the Javits Center convention venue in Manhattan

The traditional breed-by-breed judging happens Feb. 2 and 3, with first-round competition during the days at the Javits Center

The show moves in the evenings to nearby Madison Square Garden. U.S. dogdom’s most storied best in show trophy will be awarded late on Feb. 3 by David Fitzpatrick, who handled two of his Pekingese to Westminster wins in 2012 and 2021. The Westminster show began in 1877 and has been held every year since. In 2020, it happened about a month before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. New York shutdowns began soon after

Israeli strikes kill at least 85 in Gaza

BY WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel pressed ahead Tuesday with its new military offensive in Gaza despite mounting international criticism, launching airstrikes that health officials said killed at least 85 Palestinians Israeli officials said they also allowed in dozens more trucks carrying aid.

Two days after aid began entering Gaza, the desperately needed new supplies have not yet reached people in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, according to the United Nations. Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s 2 million residents are at high risk of famine.

Under pressure, Israel agreed this week to allow a “minimal” amount of aid into the Palestinian territory after preventing the entry of food, medicine and fuel in an attempt to pressure the Hamas militant group. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that although the aid has entered Gaza, aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies onto separate trucks and workers ran out of time

COGAT, the Israeli defense body that oversees humanitarian aid, said five trucks entered Monday and 93 trucks entered Tuesday But Dujarric said the U.N. confirmed only a few dozen trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday

The aid included flour for bakeries, food for soup kitchens, baby food and medical supplies. The U.N. humanitarian agency said it is prioritizing baby formula in the first shipments.

But none of that aid actually reached

Palestinians, according to the U.N. Dujarric described the new security process for getting aid cleared to warehouses as “long, complex, complicated and dangerous.” He said Israeli military requirements for aid workers to unload and reload the trucks are hindering efforts to distribute the aid. COGAT did not immediately comment on the new procedures.

The United Nations humanitarian agency received approval for about 100 trucks to enter Gaza, spokesman Jens Laerke said, which is far less than the 600 that entered daily during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said dozens are expected to enter each day

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he decided to let in limited aid after pressure from allies, who told him they couldn’t support Israel while devastating images of starvation were coming out of Gaza.

But some close allies say the limited aid is not enough.

The British government on Tuesday said it was suspending free trade negotiations with Israel and was leveling new sanctions targeting settlements in the occupied West Bank. The move came a day after the U.K, France and Canada condemned Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza and its actions in the West Bank and threatened to take action.

“I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein called the new sanctions “unjustified and regrettable” and claimed Israel and the U.K. had not been talking about free trade.

New EU, U.K. sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers

By The Associated Press

BRUSSELS The European Union on Tuesday agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions put in place over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir “Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences.”

Russia uses its “shadow fleet” of ships to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain.

The EU has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total. The new measures are not obviously linked to Russian delays in agreeing to a ceasefire. Work on the measures began in the days after the last package was finalized three months ago

Ukrainian officials have said that the shadow fleet involves around 500 aging

Man executed in Indiana’s second execution in 15 years

BY SOPHIA TAREEN and ED WHITE Associated Press

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — An Indiana man convicted in the fatal shooting of a police officer in 2000 was executed Tuesday by lethal injection in the state’s second execution in 15 years.

Benjamin Ritchie, 45, had been on Indiana’s death row since 2002, when he was convicted of killing Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a chase on foot.

Ritchie was executed at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to Indiana Department of Correction officials. IDOC said in a statement that the process started shortly after midnight and Ritchie was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m Ritchie’s last meal was from the Olive Garden and he expressed love, support and peace for his friends and family according to the statement.

Under state law, he was allowed five witnesses at his execution, which included his attorney Steve Schutte, who told reporters he had a limited view of the process.

“I couldn’t see his face. He was lying flat by that time,” Schutte said. “He sat up, twitched, laid back down.”

The process was carried out hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case, exhausting all of Ritchie’s legal options to fight the death sentence.

Dozens of people, both anti-death penalty advocates and supporters of Toney, stood outside the prison until early Tuesday Indiana resumed executions in December after a yearslong hiatus due to a scarcity of lethal injection drugs nationwide. Prison officials provided photos of the execution chamber before Joseph Corcoran’s execution, showing a space that looks like an operating room with a gurney, fluorescent lighting and an adjacent viewing room. They’ve since offered few other details.

Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indi-

ana is one of two that bars media witnesses. The other, Wyoming, has conducted one execution in the last half-century The Associated Press and other media organizations filed a federal lawsuit in Indiana seeking media access, but a federal judge denied a preliminary injunction last week that would have allowed journalists to witness Ritchie’s execution and future ones. The judge found that barring the news media doesn’t violate the First Amendment nor does it single out the news media for unequal treatment. The execution in Indiana was among 12 scheduled in eight states this year Texas and Tennessee also plan to execute prisoners this week. Ritchie was 20 when he and others stole a van in Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. He then fired at Toney during a foot chase, killing him. At the time Ritchie was on probation from a 1998 burglary conviction. Toney, 31, had worked at the Beech Grove Police Department for two years. The married father of two was the first officer of the small department to be killed by gunfire in the line of duty Relatives spoke at a clemency hearing last week in support of the execution. “It’s time. We’re all tired,” said Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney’s wife. “It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It’s time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill’s life, and not his death.” Ritchie’s attorneys fought the death sentence, arguing his legal counsel at trial was ineffective because his lawyers failed to fully investigate and present evidence on his fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and childhood lead exposure.

Current defense attorneys say Ritchie suffered “severe brain damage” because his mother abused alcohol and drugs during pregnancy and that he struggled with decisionmaking. He was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2005.

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ships of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging sanctions and keeping the oil revenue coming.

Ratings agency S&P Global and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a think tank, have put the number at over 400 ships that can transport oil, or products made from crude such as diesel fuel and gasoline. Vessels from the shadow fleet have also come under suspicion of damaging undersea cables, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Finnish police on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S, a tanker they said was part of the dark fleet, on suspicion it used its anchor to damage the Estlink 2 undersea power cable

that supplies electricity from Finland to Estonia.

The EU also said that it targeted people and companies, including an insurer that make it possible for the shadow fleet to operate, hitting interests in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Hong Kong.

In parallel, the U.K. targeted the shadow fleet in a raft of 100 new sanctions that it said are aimed at “ramping up pressure” on the Kremlin.

In a statement Tuesday, Britain’s Foreign Office said the sanctions will hit entities supporting Russia’s military, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund its war against Ukraine.

Cassie’s mother says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs demanded $20K

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRYNEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK Sean “Diddy” Combs demanded $20,000 from Casandra “Cassie” Ventura’smother and threatened to release explicit sex tapes of his longtime girlfriend when he became angry that she was dating someone else,the mother testified Tuesday at the hiphop mogul’ssex trafficking trial.

Regina Ventura said she felt “physically sick” when she received an email from Cassie in late 2011 saying Combs was planning to release two explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt her and the man she was seeing, rapper Kid Cudi.

“I did not understand alot of it. The sex tapes threw me,” Ventura told the Manhattanfederal court.

Ventura, of New London, Connecticut, said she then received ademand from Combs for $20,000 “to recoup money he had spent on her because he was unhappy she was in arelationship with Kid Cudi.”

“He was angry that he had spent money on her and she went with another person,” she said.

Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, is expected to testify Wednesday or Thursday.Ventura said she and her husband used ahome equity loan to pay Combs, telling jurors “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.” Days later,she said, the money was returned, and before long, Cassie was dating Combs again. Ventura testified for less than ahalf-hour, in part because defense attorney Marc Agnifilo declined to cross-examine her.During her testimony,the jury was shown photosofbruiseson Cassie’sbodythatVentura

testified were taken when herdaughter came home for Christmasin2011.

Before the jury arrived Tuesday,Agnifilo triedto persuade Judge Arun Subramanian to disallow the testimony,saying it was“purely prejudicial” because it illustrated thewide difference between the financial status of the Venturafamily and Combs.The judge allowed it though, saying thethreatsto release sex tapes and harm Cassie made it an instanceof “potential extortion.”

Jurors also saw parts of twoAR-15riflesthat federal agents found last year while searchingCombs’mansion on Star Island, acelebrity enclave off of Miami.

Special AgentGerard Gannon, of Homeland Security Investigations, testified that agents executing a search warrant for the propertyinMarch 2024 used an armored vehicletobust through Combs’ security gate and had teams on boats nearby.Inadditionto weapons, he said they found platform high heels anditems thatprosecutors say Combs frequently used during his freak-off sex marathons, including lingerie, sextoys, baby oil,lubricantand condoms.

The testimony came during the second weekofthe trial, whichisexpected to last up to two months. If convicted of thecharges he faces, includingracketeering, the Bad Boy Records founder could be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

Combs, 55, has pleaded notguilty to chargesthat he used threats and his powerfulpositioninthe hip-hop world to abuse women and others, and force Cassie to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances with other men that she said left her too drained to pursue hersinging career

BY TARA COPP Associated Press

WASHINGTON— President DonaldTrump announced Tuesday the concept he wants for his future Golden Dome missile defense program —amultilayered $175 billion system that for the first time will putU.S. weapons in space.

Speaking in theOval Office, Trump said he expects thesystem will be “fully operational beforethe end of my term,” whichends in 2029, and have thecapabilityofinterceptingmissiles “even if they are launched from space.” It’slikelier that the complex system may have some initial capability by that point, aU.S.official familiar withthe program said.

Trump also announced that Gen. Michael Guetlein, who currently servesasthe vice chief of space operations, will be responsible for overseeing Golden Dome’s progress.

Golden Domeisenvisioned to include ground- and spacebased capabilities thatare able to detect and stopmissilesatall four major stages of apotential attack:detecting and destroying them before alaunch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight,stopping them midcourse in the air, or halting them in the finalminutesas they descendtoward atarget. Forthe last several months, Pentagon plannershavebeen developingoptions—which aU.S. official described as medium, high and“extra high” choices, based on their cost —that include spacebasedinterceptors. Theofficial spoke on condition of anonymity to detail plansthat have notbeen madepublic The difference in the three versions is largelybased on how many satellites and sensors —and for thefirst time, space-based interceptors would be purchased.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that just thespace-based components of the Golden

Dome could cost as much as $542 billionoverthe next 20 years. Trump has requested an initial $25 billion for the program in his proposed tax break bill now moving through Congress.

ThePentagon haswarned for years that thenewest missiles developed by China

andRussia aresoadvanced that updated countermeasures are necessary.Golden Dome’sadded satellites and interceptors —where the bulk of the program’s cost is —would be focusedonstopping those advanced missiles early on or in themiddle of their flight.

Thespace-based weapons envisioned for Golden Dome “represent new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplishedbymilitary space organizations,” Gen. ChanceSaltzman,head of the U.S. Space Force, toldlawmakersatahearing Tuesday China and Russia have put offensiveweapons in space, such as satellites with abilities to disable critical U.S. satellites, which canmake the U.S. vulnerable to attack. But there’snomoney for theGoldenDome project yet, and the program overall is “still in the conceptual stage,”newly confirmed Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told senators Tuesday While thepresident pickedthe concepthewanted, the Pentagon is still developing therequirements thatGoldenDome will need to meet —which is notthe way new systemsare normally developed.

D-New Orleans, the first of 10 members of the Black Caucus who denounced the measure, House Bill 685 by Rep. Emily Chenevert, RBaton Rouge.

“This bill is about race, that’s all,” Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, said several minutes later.

Chenevert teared up briefly as she defended it, saying, “My desire is that we come together, and we not divide.”

Voting closely along party lines, the House passed Chenevert’s bill by four votes, 57-32.

No Democrats voted for the bill, while three Republicans voted against it. They were Rep. Vincent Cox, of Gretna; Rep. Beth Billings, of Destrehan; and Rep. Jeff Wiley, of Gonzales

Likely indicating the political sensitivities, 13 members who voted on the preceding bill were absent on HB685

The bruised feelings remained on Tuesday

“We received no answers to our questions of what the bill would do to specific programs that deal with racial relations and training,” Rep Tammy Phelps, D-Shreveport, said in an interview

Tuesday

Chenevert’s bill is part of a movement by conservative lawmakers in recent years to target DEI programs, particularly at schools

In August, Gov Jeff Landry signed an executive order preventing the use of critical race theory in Louisiana’s K-12 public educa-

tion system.

“Critical Race Theory (CRT) includes divisive teachings that instruct students to view life through the lens of race and victimhood,” Landry said in issuing the order

Chenevert’s bill prohibits state agencies from maintaining or initiating DEI programs, employing people to perform functions related to DEI or requiring any applicants or employees to provide a statement regarding DEI.

Her bill also prohibits “any preferential treatment based on race, color, ethnicity, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation in making decisions at public postsecondary education institutions on admissions, state-supported financial aid, scholarships, or other services or benefits.”

“This is not about taking rights away from anybody,” said Chenevert “This is not divisive. This is about protecting every Louisianan This is about equality for all.”

But Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, echoing the views of other Democrats, said Chenevert’s bill would undermine efforts to overcome laws that have held back Black people and women.

“Apparently, Rep. Chenevert does not know why it was created in the first place,” Marcelle said. “If we had equal opportunity to be at the table, there would be no need to create the program.”

Larvadain said HB685 might repeal a program that gives financial need scholarships to one or two Black students each year to study

at LSU-Alexandria.

In an interview Tuesday, Rep. Adrian Fisher, D-Monroe, said it could eliminate a program at the state Department of Agriculture that assists Black farmers.

Rep. Vanessa LaFleur, DBaton Rouge, said it could kill courses on Black history or African-American studies that are mandated for a major

The bill bars institutions from mandating instructional content “that relates to critical race theory, white fragility white guilt, systemic racism, institutional racism, anti-racism, systemic bias, implicit bias, intersectionality, gender identity allyship, race-based reparations, or race-based privilege.”

It also forbids institutions from requiring “instructional content that promotes the differential treatment of any individual or group of individuals based on race or ethnicity, imputed bias, or other ideology related to diversity, equity or inclusion.”

The bill includes some exemptions, and it specifies that it is aimed at institutional mandates, not to “limit the academic freedom of any individual faculty member to direct the instruction of his own class, including the selection of instructional materials, classroom discussion topics, and assignments, nor to limit the discussion of ideas in a classroom setting.”

But some Louisiana university professors have raised concerns that the bill could undercut their academic freedom and block them from teaching important concepts.

“This legislation would stifle the ‘marketplace of ideas’ and infantize our students, forcing faculty to avoid concepts the legislature dislikes and presenting only those that have gained their favor,” wrote leaders of the Louisiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors in a letter to lawmakers. “This is antithetical to freedom in a democratic society and hurts our students as they transition into fully enfranchised citizens.”

After passage of the bill, HB685 heads to the Senate for consideration.

The racial debate that roiled the chamber might spill over and affect other legislative business, especially on bills where Republicans are divided and need Democratic support to win passage. That could affect bills supported by Landry, who backs the measure, according to Chenevert.

Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, cast doubt on whether the Senate will ap-

prove HB685.

“The Senate as an institution was built on trust and respect. That’s still in place,” Boudreaux said in an interview “There will be some conversations about, ‘What does this accomplish and are there other means to get there?’”

Racial issues periodically flare up and divide legislators.

In 2021, anger by Black legislators over a White colleague’s “divisive comments” from teaching about race ignited a monthlong controversy In the end, the legislator, then-state Rep. Ray Garofalo, R-Chalmette, was forced to step down as chair of the House Education Committee by thenSpeaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales.

On Monday night, Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said leaders such as P.B.S. Pinchback, the state’s first Black governor during the Reconstruction Era, provided for public education. “Then Jim Crow came in,”

he said, adding, “Let me be frank. This is an anti-Black bill.” After the Black Caucus members, Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray, went to the well and spoke in favor of the bill.

Amedee called equity “a Marxist term. It’s an attempt by the government to force equal outcomes.” She added, “What makes us strong is unity, unity around truth. We should recognize people for their strengths, for their talents. There’s only one race, and it’s human. All are created in the image of God. I love you, my colleagues.” Rep. Chuck Owen, RRosepine, defended Chenevert, saying she is a good, churchgoing woman. He expressed chagrin at the debate.

“I see us talking past each other,” he said. “I hear us talking past each other.”

Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate. com.

Lafayette, in March dismissed a request by Judge to drop the lawsuit against him. Judge alleged he had qualified immunity Summerhays disagreed, writing that Mejia and Brevis established that Judge’s actions violated the First Amendment and his conduct was “objectively unreasonable in light of clearly established law.”

At Monday’s meeting, as the board was poised to enter executive session to discuss the settlement, Judge interrupted and handed out documents to the board. Judge said the board learned details of the proposed executive session only 48 hours in advance, not giving them time to consider the ramifications of the executive session and settlement offer Judge accused board legal adviser Stuart Breaux of being biased because he works for LCG, which would be dismissed from the lawsuit if a settlement was reached. The settlement, he alleged, would restrict Judge from voting on some board matters, including the lawsuit, and might be a First Amendment free speech violation in itself. LCG attorney Pat Ot-

tinger previously provided the board with a March 13 memo from Kathleen Allen, former longtime lead attorney for the Louisiana Ethics Administration. Allen advised that Kelly, who was not board president during the 2023 incident, doesn’t appear to have any personal exposure in the lawsuit, so he could participate in the executive session and discussion on the litigation.

Judge, however “may have some personal exposure with respect to the outcome of the lawsuit,” Allen wrote. “It could be argued that he has a personal substantial economic interest in the outcome of the litigation. Therefore, I would caution against his participation in matters involving the lawsuit.”

If Judge wanted to attend the executive session and participate in discussion or actions regarding the settlement, LCG could ask him to obtain an advisory opinion from the Board of Ethics, Allen wrote. The letter was provided to Judge as a courtesy Judge immediately requested an ethics opinion, dismissing Allen’s arguments as a “pseudo opinion.” Breaux advised it could take two months to receive an opinion from the ethics administration. Some government matters such as

the settlement offer must be acted on faster than that, he said.

Mejia advised the board that depositions will begin immediately if it did not accept the settlement offer, which will mean additional attorney fees. She referred to Summerhays’ 25-page March opinion saying the board’s actions are illegal.

“You’re going to lose this case. This gives you an opportunity to avoid all those legal fees,” Mejia said.

Board member Rena Bradley said she was appalled that board members Eric Bacque and Allan Moore made a motion and second to not go into executive session to discuss the settlement, instead siding with Judge after hearing only his side of the story a few minutes earlier while Judge complained of having only 48 hours to review the settlement offer

“I do not agree that immediately caving to his request is in the best interest of the board,” Bradley said “as it positions him as the leader of this board and he is not.”

Bradley was the only board member who voted to go into executive session.

Judge’s term on the board expires Sept. 30. He is eligible for reappointment by the Parish Council.

Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

was the man for the job.

An investigation by the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation ledtoWilliams’arrest Monday on one count of malfeasance and 10 counts of principal to simpleescape. According to an affidavitfor his arrest warrant,Williams “willfully and maliciously” aided in the brazen early morning exodus.

An initial Sheriff’s Office investigation found that the 10 inmates, six of whom remained on the lam late Tuesday,did the rest.

That review found they escaped “by removinga sink toilet combination unit from acell,then using an unknown apparatus to saw steel bars behind the cell roomsink.

After bending the bars, the inmates escaped to an outdoor unsecured pipe walk area, before eventually scalingthe jailwall to complete the escape.”

They would end up crossingInterstate 10 andshedding jail garb as they dis-

persed into the city in what authorities are calling one of the largest jailbreaks in modern history Williams, who wasjailed in Plaquemines Parish, appearedbyZoomata hearing in New Orleans magistrate court on Tuesday afternoon. Public defender Amanda Cannon said the maintenanceworker hasnocriminal historyand not asingle disciplinary complaint lodged in hisfiveyears at the jail.

“He hadno intenttobe complicit in this escape,” Cannon said.

Investigators said Williamsadmitted to closing the water valve, accessing the pipe chase through adoor on the rear loading dock, according to the warrant signed late Monday by magistrate commissioner PeterHamilton However,healso told agentshe’d done so under duress. Antoine Massey oneofthe escapees, threatened to “shank” him if he didn’tcut off the water to the dorm area, according to records.

On Tuesday,a different commissioner,Joyce Sal-

lah, setbail forWilliams at $100,000 percount, foratotal bail of $1.1 million.

TheLouisianaBureau of Investigation is an investigative agency under Attorney General LizMurrill’soffice. According to theaffidavit from one of its agents, theevidenceagainst Williams includes video of him talking to three inmates,includingMassey andDerrick Groves, an alleged four-time killer who remains at large.

Williamstold authorities that Groves tried to take his phone away andtried to get himtogiveGroves’ cousin, whoisalsoina jail, abook with CashApp information inside of it, according to the affidavit forWilliams’ arrest MurrillsaidTuesday that Williams had plentyof chances to sound thealarm. Initially “very evasive and untruthful,” he confessed after around of questioning, authorities said.

“(Williams) made some baddecisions,” Murrill said at amedia briefing.“He intended to assist theseindividuals to leave thatfacility.”

Police Chief David Anderson talks about the Emergency Operations Center at the new

Like Kendall Myles, the first of the 10 escapees to be captured,Massey hada historyofescape Massey,32, broke out of theMorehouse Parish Detention Center in Collinston, 20 milesoutside of Monroe, with another inmate on Aug. 26, 2019. The tworan out through aholeinthe fence andescaped in arental car that hadpulledupnearby, according to Morehouse ParishSheriff’s Office Chief Criminal DeputyJames Mardis.

Mardis said surveillance footage tracked the car near thepropertynight before.

Massey andthe other inmate were recaptured that evening in Lancaster,Texas, about300 milesaway from the detention center,according to aFacebook post from the Sheriff’sOffice at the time. The two were taken into custody at the Tri City Jail in DeSoto, Texas, andlater extradited back to Louisiana.

Masseywas booked in March on counts of motor

vehicle theftand domesticabusebattery involving strangulation. Ajudge issued aprotective order in OrleansParish, andMassey hadn’tentered aplea before the Friday escape, according to court records.

Masseyisalso wanted in St. Tammany Parish on accusations of domestic violence with strangulation, second-degree kidnapping, second-degree rape and violation of aprotective order with batteryinvolved,according to Suzanne Carboni, spokesperson for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. He is accused of kidnapping awoman he knewin theSlidell area in November and bringing her to Orleans Parish, she said.

Massey waslater arrested in Mississippi andbooked into theOrleans Parish jail. By the time heroffice issued the warrants for his arrest, Carboni said, Massey was already jailed in Orleans. A hold was placed forthe St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office’swarrants. Officials

have contacted the victim, Carboni said. Williams is the first person arrested in the case outside of theescapees. Sheriff SusanHuston, who put herreelection campaign on hold Tuesday night, said three Sheriff’s Officeemployees have been suspended related to the jailbreak. Murrill did not disclose theroles and titlesofthe suspendedemployees. She said she’d be examining the facility’s conditions, court system backlogs andother broader contributing factors in the ongoing investigation. More arrests and upgraded charges couldbecoming pending its outcome. Four inmateshavebeen captured so far,while six —includingMasseyand Groves —are still on the run five days after the jailbreak. The inmates still at large also include Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate and Corey Boyd. Staff writers John Simermanand Willie Swett contributed to this report.

Trump implores GOP to unify behind tax cuts bill

BY LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, LEAH ASKARINAM and JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump implored House Republicans at the Capitol to drop their fights over his big tax cuts bill and get it done, using encouraging words but also the hardened language of politics over the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week.

During the more than hourlong session Tuesday, Trump warned Republicans not to touch Medicaid with cuts, and he told New York lawmakers to end their fight for a bigger local tax deduction, reversing his own campaign promise. The president, heading into the meeting, called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican Party and praised Speaker Mike Johnson. But he also criticized at least one of the GOP holdouts as a “grandstander” and warned that anyone who doesn’t support the bill would be a “fool.”

“We have unbelievable unity,” Trump said as he exited “I think we’re going to get everything we want.” The president arrived at a pivotal moment. Negotiations are slogging along and it’s not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs, has the support needed from the House’s slim Republican majority Lawmakers are also being asked to add some $350 billion to Trump’s border security, deportation and defense agenda.

Inside, he spoke privately in

what one lawmaker called the president’s “weaving” style and took questions.

The president also made it clear he’s losing patience with the various holdout factions of the House Republicans, according to a senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

But Trump himself disputed that notion as well as reports that he used an expletive in warning not to cut Medicaid. Instead, he said afterward, “That was a meeting of love.” He received several standing ovations, Republicans said.

Yet it was not at all clear that Trump, who was brought in to seal the deal, changed minds.

“We’re still a long ways away,”

said Rep Andy Harris, R-Md., the chair of the House Freedom Cau-

cus.

Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue At the same time, a core group of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home. Worries about piling onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt are stark.

With House Democrats lined up against the package as a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of safety net programs, GOP leaders have almost no votes to spare. A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night Tuesday in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon.

“They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of

N.J. Rep. charged with grabbing agents while trying to stop arrest

BY MIKE CATALINI, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

Federal prosecutors alleged Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey pushed and grabbed officers while attempting to block the arrest of the Newark mayor outside an immigration detention facility, according to charges in court papers unsealed on Tuesday In an eight-page complaint, interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba’s office said McIver was protesting the removal of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka from a congressional tour of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark on May 9. The complaint says she attempted to stop the arrest of the mayor and pushed into agents for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She faces two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an officer. McIver has denied any wrongdoing and has accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor She denounced the charge as “purely political” and said prosecutors are distorting her actions in an effort to deter legislative oversight.

Habba had charged Baraka with trespassing after his arrest but dismissed the allegation on Monday when she said in a social media post she instead was charging the congresswoman. Prosecuting McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption.

The case instantly taps into a broader and more consequential struggle between a Trump administration engaged in overhauling immigration policy and a Democratic party scrambling to respond. Within minutes of Habba’s announcement McIver’s Democratic colleagues cast the prosecution as an infringement on lawmakers’ official duties to serve their constituents and an effort to silence their opposition to an immigration policy that helped propel the president back into power but now has emerged as divisive fault line in American political discourse.

Members of Congress are authorized by law to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without advance notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that

spelled out the authority A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence She and uniformed officials go through the gate and she joins others shouting they should circle the mayor The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.

It isn’t clear from bodycam video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint says she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s top border adviser said during an interview on Fox News Tuesday “she broke the law and we’re going to hold her accountable”

“You can’t put hands on an ICE employee. we’re not going to tolerate it,” he said.

Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Trump has been pushing hard for Republicans to unite behind the bill, which has been uniquely shaped in his image as the president’s signature domestic policy initiative in Congress.

Asked about one of the conservative Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Trump lashed out.

“I think he is a grandstander, frankly,” the president continued. “I think he should be voted out of office.”

But Massie, a renegade who often goes it alone and wears a clock lapel pin that tallies the nation’s debt load, said afterward he’s still a no vote.

Also unmoved was Rep Mike Lawler, one of the New York Republicans leading the fight for a bigger state and local tax deduction, known as SALT: “As it stands right now, I do not support the bill. Period.”

The sprawling 1,116-page package carries Trump’s title, the “ One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as well as his campaign promises to extend the tax breaks approved during his first term while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips, automobile loan interest and Social Security

There’s also a higher standard deduction, of $32,000 for joint filers, and a bigger child tax credit.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON In Joe Biden’s family there’s a saying that the three worst words anyone can hear are “you have cancer.”

One decade ago, his son Beau died from a brain tumor Several years later, his wife Jill had two cancerous lesions removed in her own brush with the disease.

Now it is the former president’s turn. Biden’s office disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis over the weekend, saying it has already spread to his bones.

Although the cancer can possibly be controlled with treatment, it is no longer curable. The announcement is a bitter revelation that a disease that has brought so much tragedy to Biden’s life could be what ends it.

“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on social media. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.”

Even before the diagnosis, Biden’s post-presidency was shadowed by questions about his health and whether he should have run for reelection.

As questions about his fit-

Republicans criticizing the measure argued that the bill’s new spending and tax cuts are frontloaded, while the measures to offset the cost are back-loaded. In particular, the conservative Republicans are looking to speed up the new work requirements that Republicans want to enact for able-bodied participants in Medicaid. They had been proposed to start Jan. 1, 2029, but GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said on CNBC that work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries would begin in early 2027. At least 7.6 million fewer people are expected to have health insurance under the initial Medicaid changes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week.

Republican holdouts are also looking to more quickly halt green energy tax breaks, which had been approved as part of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, and are now being used for renewable energy projects across the nation. But for every change Johnson considers to appease the hardright conservatives, he risks losing support from more traditional and centrist Republicans. Many have signed on to letters protesting deep cuts to Medicaid and the rolling back of clean energy tax credits.

Trump, who had campaigned on fully reinstating the unlimited SALT deduction, now appears to be satisfied with the proposed compromise, arguing it only benefits “all the Democratic” states. If the bill passes the House this week, it would then move to the Senate, where Republicans are also eyeing changes.

ness for office mounted, he abandoned the campaign and Donald Trump retook the presidency by defeating Kamala Harris. As the 82-year-old Biden works to safeguard his damaged political legacy, he’ll also be fighting a disease that shaped the final chapters of his decadeslong career Biden was serving as Barack Obama’s vice president when Beau died in 2015. He decided not to seek the Democratic nomination the following year, which helped clear a path for Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016.

Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser, said Biden wanted to “channel his grief into action and figure out how we can do better” on treating cancer to “make sure that other people didn’t have to go through what he went through.”

The effort was formalized as a White House task force, with Biden in charge. After a few years out of office, Biden reentered politics to campaign against Trump in 2020.

The heartache from Beau’s death was never far from the surface though. His eldest son had been Delaware’s attorney general and often viewed as Biden’s political

successor

“Beau should be the one running for president, not me,” Biden said, a thought he echoed on many occasions. He made fighting cancer a focus for his presidency, resurrecting a “moonshot” initiative to increase funding for research and improve treatment. He unveiled the initiative at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in 2022, echoing the Democratic icon’s famous speech declaring that “we will go to the moon” six decades earlier “Beating cancer is something we can do together,” Biden said. By this point, he had already signed legislation known as the PACT Act to expand health care benefits for veterans. The law guarantees treatment for chronic illnesses blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases.

Biden left no doubt that he believed Beau’s death resulted from his service with the National Guard in Iraq.

“When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer,” he said. “My son Beau was one of them.”

George Wendt, who played beloved barfly on ‘Cheers,’ dies at 76

BY MARK KENNEDY Associated Press

NEW YORK George Wendt, an actor with an Everyman charm who played the affable, beer-loving barfly Norm on the hit 1980s TV comedy “Cheers” and later crafted a stage career that took him to Broadway in “Art,” “Hairspray” and “Elf,” has died. He was 76. Wendt’s family said he died early Tuesday morning, peacefully in his sleep while at home, according to the publicity firm The Agency Group.

an astounding 117 Emmy Awards, winning 28 of them.

Wendt, who spent six years in Chicago’s renowned Second City improv troupe before sitting on a barstool at the place where everybody knows your name, didn’t have high hopes when he auditioned for “Cheers.

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN, THOMAS BEAUMONT and RYAN J FOLEY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON Elon Musk, the richest person in the world and a key financial supporter of President Donald Trump, said Tuesday that he’ll be spending “a lot less” on political campaigns, a reversal that could be a setback for Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

rallies on the GOP nominee’s behalf.

And while he took credit for helping Trump return to the White House, Musk suffered a public defeat in April, after he became deeply involved in a Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign. Musk-backed groups America PAC and Rebuilding America’s Future spent more than $21 million on the April 1 election in support of the Republican-backed candidate Brad Schimel.

“play a significant role in primaries,” adding later that he might help finance Republican challengers to GOP members of Congress who did not support Trump’s nominees.

“How else? There is no other way,” Musk wrote on X, which he rebranded after purchasing Twitter, in response to the suggestion of supporting intraparty challenges.

“George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him,” the family said in a statement “He will be missed forever.” The family has requested privacy during this time.

Despite a long career of roles onstage and on TV, it was as gentle and henpecked Norm Peterson on “Cheers” that he was most associated, earning six straight Emmy Award nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy series from 1984-89.

The series was centered on lovable losers in a Boston bar and starred Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, Kelsey Grammer, John Ratzenberger, Kirstie Alley and Woody Harrelson.

It would spin off another megahit in “Frasier” and was nominated for

“My agent said, ‘It’s a small role, honey It’s one line Actually, it’s one word.’ The word was ‘beer.’ I was having a hard time believing I was right for the role of ‘the guy who looked like he wanted a beer.’ So I went in, and they said, ‘It’s too small a role. Why don’t you read this other one?’ And it was a guy who never left the bar,” Wendt told GQ in an oral history of “Cheers.”

“Cheers” premiered on Sept. 30, 1982, and spent the first season with low ratings. NBC president Brandon Tartikoff championed the show, and it was nominated for an Emmy for best comedy series in its first season. Some 80 million people would tune in to watch its series finale 11 years later Wendt became a fan favorite in and outside the bar his entrances were cheered with a warm “Norm!” — and his wisecracks always landed. “How’s a beer sound, Norm?” he would be asked by the bartender “I dunno. I usually finish them before they get a word in,” he’d respond.

Musk disclosed his decision via videoconference during a Bloomberg forum in Doha, Qatar It speaks to his possible disenchantment with politics after his tumultuous tenure as Trump’s pick to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which has fallen far short of its goals for reducing federal spending. Musk has scaled back his government role to spend more time at his businesses, including Tesla, which have seen intense blowback. Tesla reported a big drop in profits in the first quarter

“In terms of political spending I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk said. Asked why he responded that “I think I’ve done enough.”

Musk’s statement marks a reversal of the course he had set during the 2024 campaign when he was among the very top political spenders — and immediately after Musk spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the presidential campaign, as the main contributor to America PAC, a super PAC that was active in advertising and funding door-to-door canvassing groups across the seven most-competitive states in the November presidential election.

Musk relished in the publicity, campaigning alongside Trump at times and headlining some of his own campaign

New Trump vaccine policy limits access to COVID shots

BY MATTHEW PERRONE and LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration said Tuesday it will limit approval for seasonal COVID-19 shots to seniors and others at high risk pending more data on everyone else — raising questions about whether some people who want a vaccine this fall will be able to get one.

Top officials for the Food and Drug Administration laid out new requirements for access to updated COVID shots, saying they’d continue to use a streamlined approach to make them available to adults 65 and older as well as children and younger adults with at least one highrisk health problem.

But the FDA framework, published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, urges companies to conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people. In the pa-

per and a subsequent online webcast, the FDA’s top vaccine official said still, more than 100 million Americans still should qualify for what he termed a booster under the new guidance Dr Vinay Prasad described the new approach as a “compromise” that will allow vaccinations in high-risk groups while generating new data about whether they still benefit healthier people

“For many Americans we simply do not know the answer as to whether or not they should be getting the seventh or eighth or ninth or tenth COVID-19 booster,” said Prasad, who joined the FDA earlier this month. He previously spent more than a decade in academia, frequently criticizing the FDA’s handling of drug and vaccine approvals. It’s unclear what the upcoming changes mean for people who may still want a fall COVID-19 shot but don’t clearly fit into one of the categories “Is the pharmacist going to

determine if you’re in a highrisk group?” asked Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”

The nation’s leading pediatrics group said FDA’s approach will limit options for parents and their children.

“If the vaccine were no longer available or covered by insurance, it will take the choice away from families who wish to protect their children from COVID-19, especially among families already facing barriers to care,” said Dr Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 47,000 Americans died from COVID-related causes last year The virus was the underlying cause for twothirds of those and it was a contributing factor for the rest.

But Schimel’s defeat by 10 percentage points in Wisconsin, a state Trump carried just five months earlier, was a blow to Musk, who campaigned for Schimel in Green Bay the weekend before the election and had also pledged to enforce Trump’s agenda in the 2026 midterm elections.

A week after Trump’s November victory, Musk said the political action committees he supported would

An adviser to Musk’s PACs declined to comment Tuesday

Once Trump took office, Musk held a prominent role as an adviser and leader of DOGE. He and his acolytes in the department fanned out widely across the federal government to enact deep cuts to the workforce and spending, in some cases seeking to shutter entire agencies altogether

DOGE has pushed to fire tens of thousands of work-

ers in downsizing at agencies, ranging from the IRS to Health and Human Services, and pressured tens of thousands more to take buyout and early retirement offers. And they sought to shut down agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. With backing from DOGE, agencies have cancelled tens of thousands of government contracts and grants that they say do not align with the administration’s priorities. Some of those

‘60 Minutes’ explores zydeco music

Scene experiencing ‘unlikely renaissance,’ show says

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Cajun country is an “exotic land like nowhere else,” according to CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Jon Wertheim.

The reporter spent time in the Acadiana area learning about the

Task force eyes scrapping FEMA

Trump group seeks to start over with agency

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON FEMA needs to be eliminated and reopened under a new name that better reflects a new role in handling disasters, Homeland Security Secretary

Kristi Noem said Tuesday to a new presidential task force charged with recommending changes in the Federal Emergency Management Agency

“The president has said to me many times that he believes that FEMA should be eliminated as it exists,” Noem told the FEMA Review Council’s inaugural meeting

“What that means is that I need you to reimagine this agency If we do what the president has tasked us to do, I believe this agency needs to be renamed,” Noem added. “Our goal is for states to manage their emergencies and we come in and support them.” For instance, she said that after major disasters, states should receive a set sum of money, called block grants, rather than have most expenses paid by the federal government. State and local officials better understand needs and can get the money into the right hands much quicker Noem co-chairs the task force with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who did not attend Tuesday’s first meeting of the Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for an end to FEMA. He established what’s called the FEMA Review Council with an executive order on Jan. 24 — a few days after taking office. The future of FEMA is particularly important to hurricane-prone Louisiana. Since 2003, Louisiana has received nearly $47 billion for 28 disasters — more than any other state that helped 3.5 million households and nearly 43,000 public assistance projects Noem has agreed with Trump that the beleaguered federal agency is slow to deliver relief costs federal taxpayers too much and operates under rules that clip state and local governments’ ability to handle relief and recovery after disasters such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires and the like.

culture of Cajun and zydeco music for a “60 Minutes” episode that aired on Sunday Featuring interviews from local artists like Jourdan Thibodeaux, Chubby Carrier and the Savoy Family Band, Wertheim remarked that south Louisiana is a counterpoint to the “United States of Generica” — where

each region largely resembles the others.

Not so in Acadiana Wertheim said the area is “home to a cuisine, a language, a landscape, even a pacing all its own.” And in his conversations with noted Cajun and zydeco musicians, he uncovered a “singular sound” that

is experiencing a “most unlikely renaissance.”

“It’s the sounds of our community,” according to Jourdan Thibodeaux, who plays the fiddle and sings in Cajun French as frontman for his band, Les Rôdailleurs. “It just buries into your heart when you’re little.”

Wertheim asked if fans of Cajun and Creole culture are thought of as “hipsters,” as Thibodeaux laughed.

“No,” he said. “Most of the people at these dances are as far removed from hipster as you can possibly imagine.”

Viewers can watch clips and read more about the “60 Minutes” exploration of Cajun and zydeco music on the CBS News website.

Email Joanna Brown at joanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

Bayou Teche

LEFT: Seniors file into the Cajundome as graduation ceremonies for David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy are held on Tuesday in Lafayette.

MOMENTS TO REMEMBER

RIGHT: Isabelle Alban, left, is recognized by Principal Sherri Livesay, center, and Superintendent Francis Touchet.

to host classical music festival

South Cameron high school had one graduate

Opera singer plans showcase of works

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

The Teche is no stranger to music. Grammy winners and unsung prodigies alike have sprung up from the banks of one of Louisiana’s most famous bayous, inspired by Cajun and Creole traditions that have

made Acadiana a hub for musical talent. But while it’s possible to catch a Cajun or zydeco show most nights of the week in Bayou Teche country, Baroque classical performances are a bit harder to come by Opera singer Andre Courville, a native of Cecilia, is working to change that with his Baroque on the Bayou festival, aiming

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

Only one student collected a diploma from South Cameron High School this year

The school in Cameron Parish in southwest Louisiana is used to having smaller graduating classes, ranging from eight to 14

students. However, this year Diana Lopez was the only student to walk across the stage and collect her certificate at the May 13 graduation ceremony

The region took a beating from Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020. Many communities are still recovering, which Lopez points to as the cause for the nearly-empty class of 2025.

“Hurricane Laura hit in 2020,

Region disrupted by hurricanes ä See FESTIVAL, page 2B ä See GRADUATE, page 2B ä See FEMA, page 2B

In 2024 alone, FEMA responded to more than 100 disasters, including twocatastrophic hurricanes, that required Congress in December to approvebillions of dollars in additional relief funds.

Over the past four years, FEMA hasprovidedmore than $12billion to individuals and $133 billion to state and local governments, tribal nations, territoriesand some nonprofits to help in recovery efforts.

The council is to make recommendations for changes by summer

“I don’twant you to go into thisthinking that we’ll make alittle tweak here, alittle delegation of authorityoverhere. That we’re going to maybe to cut somedollars from somewhere. No, FEMA should no longer existasitis. He wants this to be anew agency,” Noem said.

Former Mississippi Gov.PhilBryant, who serves as an assistant chair,told his panel colleagues that FEMA is “going to have to be torn down” completely and rebuilt.He said the council members shouldgointo this exercise with thinking that differs from the traditional reliance on the federal government and reorient to something more akin to apartnership.

States, for instance, should tap their “rainy day” funds —created for down economic times —tohelp provide disaster relief for their citizens, Bryant said.

“FEMA is slow and clunky,” agreed Texas Gov.Greg Abbott, amemberofthe council. “Wehave to streamline their effort.”

Trumphas been moving toward adramatic makeover of the agency since the campaign.

The administration’sproposed budget for the next fiscal year cuts FEMA’s funding by $646 million.FEMAalsohas suspended or stopped taking applications forseveral programs aimed at mitigating disaster damage throughinfrastructureimprovements, such as strengthening leveesand raising structures. The administration’sfirst pickto runthe agency,Cameron Hamilton, lost his job the day after he testified before aHouse subcommittee that FEMA should not be eliminated.

The 2025hurricane season begins June 1, and weather experts are predicting up to 18 named storms,10ofwhich should be significant and as many sixhitting theU.S. mainland.

FEMA was established in 1979 at the insistence of Southern governors who wanted amore coordinated federal relief effort. Almost from the beginning, Congress responded to complaints by noncoastal states by imposing tighter fiscal controlsand expanding the agency’smission.

In addition to Abbott and Bryant, the council includes Mark Cooper,who was former chief of staff for Democratic Gov.John Bel Edwards and director of the Governor’s Office for Homeland Security underRepublicanGov.Bobby Jindal.

Other members of the council include:

n Jane Castor,mayor of Tampa, Florida.

n Rosie Cordero-Stutz, sheriff of MiamiDadeCounty,Florida.

n Robert Fenton Jr., Region 9administrator and former actingadministrator of FEMA.

n Evan Greenberg, CEO ofinsurance company Chubb Limited.

n Kevin Guthrie, executive directorof the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

n W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

n Michael Whatley,chair of the Republican National Committee n Virginia Gov.Glenn Youngkin.

GRADUATE

Continued from page1B

and it was very disastrous and completelytook out the class that was supposedto be graduating (this year),” Lopez said. “A lot of them relocated to different schools, kind of more north, kind of away from all the hurricanes.” Knowing there was no senior class graduating in 2025 —and after aconversation with afriend during her 10th grade year —Lopez set up a meeting with her counselor to see if she could graduate ayear early,making her the school’sentire class of 2025.

“I was able to kind of combine the two years taking dual enrollment classes,online classes, and just overall, having afull seven-hour schedule,” Lopez said. “I was able to complete all the credits and graduate early.” In the fall, Lopez will attend NorthwesternState University and plans to earn anursing degree. In fact, she got a“good offer” from the university when it came to financialaid and she received most of the scholarships availableinher community,Lopez said.

“It was alot of my inspiration for wanting to graduate early,coming froma single mom having to raiseus, I wanted it to be simple for her to be able to financially support me through college,” Lopez said. “A lot of the schol-

FESTIVAL

Continued from page 1B

to showcase powerful works by composers like Vivaldi and Bach alongside pieces by contemporary Louisiana composers.

The festival will take place Friday to Sundayathistoric sites in St. Martin Parish where classical music and the beauty of theTechewill merge to createatransportive experience, according to Courville.

“What Iwas interested in was the visual aspect to partner with the music,” he said.

“I wanted venuesthatfollow the bayou,because Igrewup right on the banks. TheLouisiana element is important, because Ifeel like alot of

people thinkBaroque music is inaccessible —orsomething yougotoNew York to hear “The operahouseinSt. Martinville is so beautiful, it wasjust renovated, andit’s the first timewe’ll be doing opera there in probably 100 years.”

Friday’sconcert will take place at NUNU Artsand CultureCollective in Arnaudville, and will feature Courville’shand-picked AtchafalayaOrchestra playing selectionsfrom Bach and Vivaldi, in addition to theworld premiere of “Five Cajun Songs” by Forest Huval.

On Saturday,Baroque on the Bayou will travel to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Cecilia, where the orchestra will perform “Spring” from Vivaldi’sFourSea-

arshipsthatI’ve gotten now, I’msavingthem. And Iwon’t be touching them until absolutely necessary.”

While knowing she would be able to get alot of scholarshipswas adriver behind Lopez’sdecision tograduate early,she said it was not the only reason “I think the biggest reason was being able to prove that Icoulddoa lot more than everything that I’ve done so far,and being abletopush myself to be able to graduate (and) do all the things,” Lopez said.“It wasa very stressful task. Going through all those classes and stuff was really difficult,but being able to do it and graduateearlywas proving notonlytomyself, but to other people,that I could gosomuchfarther.”

As she starts her next chapter at Northwestern State University,Lopez is excited to meet new people and have new experiences. SouthCameron is so small

thateveryone has known her sincePre-K

However,she said it’s been sad to miss some of the high school senior experiences and graduate ahead of her friends.

“(It was) very bittersweet (to graduateearly),” Lopez said. “It was exciting to graduateand kind of start my life early,but also scary to have to start, especially by myself.”

Email Courtney Pedersen at courtney.pedersen@ theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY

MONDAY,MAY 19, 2025

PICK 3: 5-4-6 PICK 4: 8-9-7-8 PICK 5: 9-4-4-4-9 POWERBALL: 13-14-3750-60 (11) Unofficial noti

sons, with additional sacred songs performedbyLaura Huval.

On Sunday,Baroque on the Bayou will give ahistoric performance at the long-shutteredDuchamp Opera HouseinSt. Martinville, which was built in 1830.There, theAtchafalaya Orchestra will play orchestralselections from French Baroque operas, with arias and songsfromCourville himself

Courville is abass-baritone professional operasinger, andhas performed all over the country,inaddition to roles in Italy,China, Switzerland and other international stages.

Courville said he knows classical music can be “a lot” for people, which is why he designed the concerts to be an

hour each, to give his Louisiana family,friends and neighbors “little moments they can enjoy.”

“Wehave these incredible musiciansand incredible venues in St. Martin Parish. And Cecilia is barely atown—we have maybe 1,000 people. But it’s areally great treasure troveofculture andgreat musicians.I wanttobuild on that. And Iwant to encourage people to go see the bayou, andcheck outthispartof the state that they’ve maybe never had areason to go to before.”

Ticketsfor each of the three concerts arefor sale on the Bayou Teche Music website for$35 each.

Email Joanna Brownat joanna.brown@theadvocate. com.

Mancuso, Trish Belanger

Obituaries and fire departments or sharedduring one of her cherished Sundayfamily dinners. These gatherings wereher favorite moments, surroundedby those she loved most.

ACelebration of Life Service will be held on Friday, May 23, 2025, at 11:00 am at Our Savior's Church Lafayette Campus for Patricia Belanger Mancuso, age 67, who passed awayonThursday, May 15, 2025, at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette. The family requests that visitation be observed at OurSavior's Church Lafayette Campus on Friday, May 23, 2025, from 8:30 am until time of services. Pastor Jacob Aranza will officiate at the services. Interment willbe held in Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest with her husband, Vincent. Survivors include her children, Paul Mancuso, and his wife, Misty, and Michelle Mancuso Flott, and her husband, Kellen; six grandchildren, Landon Mancuso, Eliana Flott, Dontray Flott, Everett Flott, Greyson Mancuso, and Eliza Flott; her brother Mark Belanger, and his wife, Adele; and many nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband, Vincent Andrew Mancuso, Jr.; and her parents, Henry Wynn Belanger and Sally Tickle Belanger. Trish, anative of Oxford, Mississippi and longtime resident of Youngsville, Louisiana, lived alife marked by compassion, creativity, and unwavering devotion to her family andcommunity. A graduate of Berwick High School, Trish carried with her agentlestrength and servant's heartthat touched everyone she met. She had adeep love for the simple joys of life-gardening, painting,baking, and cooking forthose she loved. Her home was often filled with the comforting aroma of something sweet in the oven-baked with care for the local police

Trish devotedthe majorityofher adult life to homeschooling her children, guiding them through every grade with unwavering commitment and care. Herdedicationto their education was aprofound expression of her love,and one of herproudestaccomplishments was seeingboth childrenearn full-tuition academic scholarships-a testament to herhard work,perseverance, and belief intheirpotential Trish was afaithful memberofthe Lafayette Campus of Our Savior's Church, whereshe served wholeheartedly as a greeter, volunteered in the children's ministry, and participated in numerous outreach projects through Love Acadiana. Her life was abeautiful reflection of grace in action. She planted kindness wherever she went, whether in the formofflowersfromher garden,meals lovingly prepared,and the steady presence of amother whoselove knew no bounds.She will be deeply missedbyall who had the blessing of knowing her, but her legacy of love and service livesoninthe hearts she touched.

ServingasPallbearers willbeMarkBelanger, LandonMancuso, Greyson Mancuso, Everett Flott, Dontray Flott,and Johann Sathre. Honorary Pallbearerswill be Paul Mancusoand Kellen Flott. The family of Mrs. Mancusoextends their

heartfelt appreciation to thedoctors, nurses, and staff of both theOur Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center Emergency and I.C.U.teams forthe care, support and comfort throughthistime In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be madetoLove Acadiana, 337-595-0922, honoring Trish's memory and her passionand commitment to theorganization. Contributions may be madeonline at www.loveacadiana.org/ giveandserve View theobituary and guestbookonline at www.mourning.com

Martin& CastilleSOUTHSIDE, 600 E. Farrel Road,Lafayette, Louisiana 70508, 337-984-2811

OPINION

OUR VIEWS

Coastal restorationis working;let’s notturnback

It’shard to imagine today,but thescope of Louisiana’scoastal land loss was onceanongoing crisis that received scant attention.Now,it seemswe have an alphabet soup of agencies to address coastal restoration Still, the state is losing theequivalent of a football field of wetlands every 100minutes, although the rate of coastal landlosshas decreased in recent years. That’s due toavariety of factors, but we cannot overlook how much a sustained, coordinated coastal restoration effort has contributed to our progress.

Yet, we are beginning to see cracks inthat unified front. Disagreements over sediment diversions and pressuretocut fundingatthe federal level are threateningtoundo decades of hard-won progressjust as we are starting to see significantresults.

We urge all who careabout thecoast notto let discordderail us. If it’shard to measurehow far we’vecome, Mother Nature has her own ledger: Brown pelicans returning to barrier islands. Endangered seaturtles onceagain spotted at theBreton National Wildlife Refuge. Hundredsofacres of restored marsh thriving.And at theWax Lake Delta, river sediment is actually building new land, providing aliving laboratory foranarmy of researchers studying how healthywetlands operate.

We’ve arrived at this momentdue to tireless work of coastal advocacy groupsand thebipartisan efforts of our elected officials. We all owe them adebt of gratitude.

Seventy-three percent of statevoters in 1989 approved acoastal restoration trustfund authored by state Sen. Ben Bagert. To fill thefund, the Breaux Act in 1990, spearheaded by Sens. John Breaux and J. Bennett Johnston, provided the first dedicated federal financing

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,Gov Kathleen Blancowas instrumental in establishing the Coastal Protection andRestorationAuthority to coordinate coastal protectionefforts. In 2006, Sen. Mary Landrieu pushed through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, or GOMESA, which gave Louisiana and otherGulfstates ashare in oil lease royalties for offshore drilling to address coastal issues.

After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Gov.Bobby Jindal was keytogettingasettlement fromthe oil giant BP that would direct funding to coastal restoration andprotection.

We see severalways for legislators to carry forward their vision and continue to attack what is an existential threat to ourway of life

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise,R-Jefferson, has inserted languageinthe budgetbill being debated in Congress thatwould giveLouisiana agreater share of money from offshore oil drilling, money that will become critical as BP settlement funds end in 2031.Weurgeour state’sdelegationtomake sure this provision survives as thebillmovesthrough the legislative process. The latest annual plan from CPRA, whichoutlines spending on $2 billion worthofprojects, has received approval from itsboard andnow goes before the state Legislature. Lawmakers should support it so work canmove forward.

As for the thorny issue of sedimentdiversions, we believe that experimentationwith new ways of rebuilding land alongthe coastisthe only way ultimately to figure outhow tonot just stem, but reverse, coastal land loss. However, we agree that as we experiment, the voices of residents and commercial interests must beat the table.

We know that coastal projectsare costly,but countless benefits have alreadyredoundedto ourstatefrom theseendeavors. We’re mitigating our risk from storms, andwehavebecome leadersworldwide in coastalscienceand managing wetlands.

Restoring our coast was never going to be easy.But when we startedthis journey, we felt we owed it to future generations. Thathasn’t changed. Neither should ourcommitmentto preserving the rich land and legacyofcoastal Louisiana.

Respectimmigrantsifyou want them to respectlaws

Iwas excited to see contrasting columns on the case of Kilmar Ábrego García. Ihavetosay Iwas disappointed in both. Byron York raised thequestion of why this man is even in jail, but he did not follow up withthe obvious point that thereason we do not know is because of alack of basic due process. Cal Thomas,onthe other hand, decided to list all theaccusations against ÁbregoGarcía as if accusations excuse his accidental deportation,much less offer arationale to skip due process. If this guy is agang member,anabuser and ahuman trafficker,you know what we do in theUnited States?Weprove that in court. This caseseems simple. Afederal court judge and then the Supreme Courthave saidtothe Trump administration: Youscrewed up. They ordered them to bring theguy back, and if he should be in jailinAmerica or

needs to be deported, then do it legally

Isn’tthat always the mantra Ihear around immigration —doitthe legal way? To see President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi sit around with the authoritarian president of El Salvador and say,“See, we can’tget him back” is not only alie; it’s amiddle finger to the Supreme Court. The president just said in an interview that he could callupElSalvador and get ÁbregoGarcía back if he were anice guy.What?Ifheisabad guy deporthim or puthim in jail the right way.This isn’tabout if someone is a nice guy or not;it’sabout rule of law Time for the president to obey the Supreme Courtand if he doesn’t, time for Republicans in Congress to do something about it THOMAS SHEPLEY NewOrleans

Editorialonclosing Bourbon Street to vehicles missed themark

This is in response to therecent staff editorial on pedestrianizing Bourbon Street.Puttingaside security entirely, Bourbon should still be closed to vehicles

The editorial raises concerns for the livelihoods of residentsand business owners —aserious concern. However, existing pedestrianization efforts in other cities have resulted in morebusinessfor the pedestrianized area, not less.

On congestion concerns: Prior pedestrianization efforts show that pedestrianization can lead to less traffic on adjacentstreets, as fewer people decide to drive to thepedestrianized area, instead opting for means of travel like bikes and public transit.

Getting delivery and emergency vehicle pastpedestrian barriers is a solved problem and is addressed in the Teneo report, through active barriers. The lack of other vehicles on theroad will quicken, not hinder,emergency responses —aphenomenon seen in other pedestrianized places

The most bizarre concern raised in theeditorial concerns the charm of

Bourbon. Has anyone ever thought to themselves,“that F150 crew-cab obscuring the historic buildings really ups thecharmaround here?” Motor vehicles —their noise,exhaust and tire debris —detract from the charm of the Quarter.The space vehicles take up would be better utilized as more walking space for pedestrians, aka potential customers, for local businesses. Finally,the editorial is concerned about Bourbon becoming “difficult to access and cut off fromthe rest of the city.” Of all the visitors each day,few drive to andpark on BourbonStreet Mosteither parkfartherout, take a rideshare, take public transportation, walk or bike.

The city should absolutely get input from residents, but Iwould also urge consideration of the outcomes in previously pedestrianized places. Better to act on evidence than to suppose our fear of change is correct If we do nothing differently, nothing different will happen.

MATTHEW JOHNSON NewOrleans

Iamthe mother to abright, loving, daughter whohas multiple disabilities including autism and arare chromosome syndrome, so I’ve witnessed firsthand both the beauty of neurodiversity and the heartbreak that comes when our leaders fail to uphold their responsibilities to disabled Americans. My daughter deserves aworld where she is supported, understood and included —not sidelined by political agendas. Yettimeand again, administrations —past and present —have madepromises to protect the disability community,only to fall short. Whether it wasslashing funding to Medicaid programsthat provide lifelines to families like mine, failing to enforce education laws like IDEA or spreadingmisinformation about autism,these decisions have real consequences. Theydon’t just hurt policy; they hurtpeople

My daughter’sfuture depends on access to therapies, inclusive education,community supports andemployment opportunities. She depends on asociety that sees herasfully human, notasaburden or atalking point.Unfortunately, proposalsfrom current politicians like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.only add to this concern.Whenpublic figures cast doubtonscience or minimize thelivedrealitiesofpeoplewithdisabilities, they undermine theprogress so many of us have fought for. This isn’tabout partisanship. It’s aboutpeople. About ourchildren Aboutthe nearly61millionAmericanswithdisabilitieswhose lives are shaped by policiestoo often made without theirvoices at the table

We need leadershipthatprotects ourrights, funds ourfutures and listenstoour stories. My daughter is notastatistic. She is alearner,a light in this world, and she, like so many others, deserves better So in closing,ifwedon’tcare aboutour mostvulnerable,who are we as individuals? That’sthe real question?

CHRISTINA MARTIN Kenner

COMMENTARY

POPE LEO’S

LA.ROOTS

When genealogist Jari Honora atThe Historic NewOrleans Collection madethe discovery thatnewly electedPopeLeo XIV’sfamily tree has abranchinNew Orleans, it set off awaveofinterest and introspection. Though thepope, formerly CardinalRobertPrevost, grew up in Chicago andspentmuch of his adult years in Peru,his mother’sfamilyhails from NewOrleans’7th Ward.Censusrecords showtheywereCreoles of color.Louisiana has long been home to amix of cultures from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean andmore. So, in many ways the pope’s storyisrelatable to many Louisiana families. Still, the ties to our state have promptedreflectionsfrom many quarters. Here are afew we want to share.

Pontiff’sgrandparentswere my

ancestors’ neighbors

Closer connection demands action,not just history

My mother was already on herfeet, despite the ache of aging legs, gleefully watching repeated news clips aboutthe new pope. Then Ishowed her historian Jari Honora’spost connectingPopeLeo XIVtoNew Orleansand, well,the lid blewoff her boiling pot of joy Indeed, theappearance of an energetic, first-ever U.S.-born pope mightelicit enthusiasm among folks anywhere invested in papal leadership. But for locals, the connection to New Orleans was nextlevel jubilance. My city’s connection to the Holy Father in Rome mightseem improbable. On its surface, New Orleans looks to be wholly unseriousabout anything unconnected to havinga good time.But New Orleans RomanCatholics have given so much of themselves to the church, taking very seriously their responsibilities as practitioners of their faith. After the cataclysm of Hurricane Katrina, apriority for many parishioners hurting from deep personal loss was: How can we get our churches back? Moreover,for New OrleansBlack Creoles like me, our familiesand teachers were very serious about demonstrating notonly how to be good Catholics, but how to be good and caringpeople. We made our way into acacophonousworld

prepared to live by thegolden rule work hard,mind your manners, meet high expectations,take care of family, serve yourcommunity Thecity’sBlack Creoles have long had the church’s back. Over generations, many of ourfamily members, including several in mine, have devoted their lives to religiousservice in orders like the Josephites and the Sisters of Holy Family, as well as to lay ministry.Corpus Christi Church, the center of Black Creole spiritual life in the 7th Ward for generations, was at one time thelargest Black Catholicparish and school in the U.S. As well, the city is home to Xavier University of Louisiana,the only historically Black Roman Catholic university in theU.S With news of thepope’sfamily ties to the 7th Ward, the sense of pride is nearly overwhelming for those of us raised or schooled in that neighborhood. The pontiff’s grandparentswere my ancestors’ neighbors, were wed in achurch that was on Annette Street,ahalf-block from my childhood home. They were part of acommunity of New OrleansBlack Creoles —nurturing and supportive, encouragingand demanding —whose family legacies include brilliant artists, musicians,poets,writers, physicians, educators and civic leaders. Andnow, even apope.

Lynette Dolliole Johnson is aLouisiana cultural historian.

Treasure troveofchurch recordstrace papallineage

From the moment Ifirst entered the archdiocesan archives, Iwas captivated by its rich history and abundance of records. With records dating backtobefore1718, each visit felt likea treasure hunt as Isought out the most remarkable documents in the collection. Little did Iknowthat arandom Thursday in May would lead me to one of my biggest discoveries as an archivist.

Discoveringthe baptismal record of PopeLeo XIV’sgreat-grandmother was one of the most extraordinary finds ofmy career.His great-grandmother,Eugenie Grambois, was baptized in 1840 at St.Louis Cathedral. Learning that she was baptizedinthe oldest continuously operating cathedral in the United States is just the beginningofher family’sdeep connection to New Orleans We have traced Pope Leo’sfamily lineage back to the 1750s,with many of the sacramentsoccurring at St.Louis Cathedral.

St.Louis Cathedral is theiconic symbol of thecity and was founded in 1718. It hasendured numerous disasters yet has remained asteadfast beacon for thecity throughitall. Since the 18th century,St. LouisCathedral has united the people of New Orleans. It has stood as an icon of thecity through wars, catastrophes, diseasesand victories. Though itsfaçade haschanged over theyears, thestoryof the cathedral has remained the same. It is aliving symbol of acity that has witnessed over 300 years of history, showing thatthe church and the cityare interconnected from thebeginning of New Orleans’ establishment. The connection between thepope and St. Louis Cathedral brings local New Orleanians closer to both the church and the city once again.I am so excited to continue searching our records and fully trace the history of thepope’sfamily and their link to the city we alllove.

Katie Beeman is director of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Archives and Records

Beinganeighth generation Louisiana Creole who’sbeen researching and tellingthe story of my people since the 1990s, discovering that Pope Leo XIV shares apiece of ourgeographic and familial history feels quite normaland not out of the ordinary In New Orleans, once upona time pre-Katrina youkneweverybody’s mama or who their people were. Many of us were Catholic; our grandparents spoke fluent Louisiana Creole, and we ate gumbo for breakfast a time or two. Our heritage was molded out of athree-caste society among other things. We are unique.Wefeel connectivity

Ibelievethis is whysomany people are excited to bring him into the fold of what is left of us. It’sgood for other people to gain asense of hope through beingconnected to thenew pope. Ido feel he is far moreChicago than here. He was born andraised, like his mother, in Chicago. That is his lived experience aside from where he haslived as an adult. WhatheshareswithLouisiana is asomewhat distant connection. My issue with thechurch and thoughts

overshadowing Pope Leo XIV’sconnection to Louisiana are with the treatment of abused children. The fact that there is so much wrong that has been historically happening, especially for Black Catholics, and so little being done about it all. Words and great sermons are only that. Ilook around and see churches being sold, senior citizen living complexes being sold, people possibly displaced against the backdrop of the stunning architecture, the gold and rich fabrics in the Vatican and wonder why.Isee people having faith in things that hurt innocent children and look the other way at the cover-ups. The thing that came to mind most of all during all the Creole connection hoopla was the old WWJD acronym When will we get serious about that? No parades and parties and gumbo until the temple is cleansed. Where have we landed as asociety? We pummel others for their “sins” but don’teven stand up for our ownpeople, our children especially No, Ineed the pope to respond in an urgent, intentional way,then we can possibly break bread or share popcorn and pizza.

Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honoré is an historicinterpreter

Family ties span centuriesand countries

PopeLeo XIV and Iare fourth cousins. IamgratefultoJari Honora of The HistoricNew Orleans Collection for bringing Pope Leo XIV’sNew Orleans Baquié family roots to my attentioninthe newspaper OurBaquié rootsinNew Orleans go back to the early 19th century.My grandmother,Blanche Catherine Baquié,and Pope Leo’sgrandmother, Louise Baquié, were second cousins, both born in New Orleans. Through Blanche and Louise, Robert Prevost and Ishareacommon ancestor: Jean Pierre Baquié (b.1752 in Monein, France). Jean Pierre had at least two families. Onebranch (mine) producedJean Rose (b.1786, St. Domingue [Haiti]), his son Charles Eduard(b. 1816, Jamaica), and thedaughter of Charles, Blanche Catherine (b. 1844, New Orleans). Blanche Catherine Baquié was my grandmother After Jean Pierre Baquié’swife (Rose Blanchard) died in 1810, he hadtwo sons

with Marie Thérèse Rancuel. One was JosephAristide Fleury Baquié (b. 1811, Guadeloupe). His father (Jean Pierre) died when Aristide was 5yearsold. Aristide became part of the family of his much olderhalf-brother, Jean Rose (my greatgreat-grandfather) andwenttoNew Orleanswith the family some time in the 1820s or early 1830s. By 1835, Aristide was in arelationship with afreewomanofcolor in New Orleans, Celeste Lemelle.They had two sons. One,Ferdinand, wasborn in 1837. Ferdinand wasthe father of Louise Baquié (b. 1868),the grandmother of Pope LeoXIV Honora was quoted in the newspaper as joking that“now, every New Orleanianisgoing to be claiming to be cousins with the pope.” Many New Orleanians may have thatclaim. Ihope people are motivatedtolook at the complex family relationships thathaveenrichedour culture.

MaxReichardisaretired professorof history

Shown is today’sweather.Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’slows.

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LOOSEN UP

Deggswants Cajuns to play liketheyhavenothing to lose

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Time will tell how possibleitis, but UL

coach Matt Deggs hopes his Ragin’ Cajuns gets alittle out of character this week at theSun Belt Tournament in Montgomery, Alabama.

All season, Deggs professed how much his youngteam cares and how badlyhis players want to win.

Throughout his coaching career,though, Deggs’ philosophyistoplay “fast, hard and loose.”

He’shoping for alot moreof the latter when No. 5-seeded UL opens postseason play against No. 4Marshall at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at RiverwalkStadium.

BY JIM KLEINPETER

LSU softball coach Beth Torinawas still feeling the pain of last weekend’sstunning lossestoSoutheastern in the NCAA Baton Rouge regional, calling them “unacceptable” and vowing to fix the issues that led to the second regional ouster in threeseasons by an in-state foe. Her job is going to be harder than expected with the apparent loss of right-hander Sydney Berzon, the team’sace the past three seasons and two-time AllAmerican. The On3 website reported twodays ago that Berzon plans to enterthe transferportal. Torina declined to commentspecifically on Berzon’sdeparture Tuesdayafter spending Monday conducting exit interviews. She said sheand her staff will be active duringthe transfer-portal windows. Despite some fans calling for herdismissalon social mediaafter an eight-year absence from the Women’sCollege World Series, Torinatouted her bodyofwork that includes four trips to the

between 2012-17.

“I don’twant to make excuses for losses

Game 3: No. 3Troyvs. No. 6

Old Dominion, 9a.m

Game 4: No. 2Southern

Miss vs. No. 7TexasState, 12:30 p.m

Game 5: No. 1Coastal

Carolina vs.TBD,4 p.m

ä Allgames on ESPN+

Game 6: No.4 Marshall vs. No.5 UL, 7:30 p.m

“It’sthe teamsthat put thattogetherand go play fast, hard and loose with nothing to losethat winthese tournaments,”Deggs said. “Baseball’snot agame thatyou can press. Trust me, Iknow. I’ve watched us

try it for55games.”

Now that theregular season is over Deggs hopeshis teamlets it fly

“We’re going in with nothing to lose,” he said. “If we were sitting here42-14, I’dbe real worried.We’d be in line to host (a regional)and youcan’t go 0-2. Those arethe times Iget worried

“Right now, we’re going in therewith nothing to loseand that in itself should make youdangerous.

Marshall is 31-24 overall and 16-14 in Sun Belt playwhile UL is 26-29, 16-14.

The twoteams didn’tplay in the regular season, but the Thunderin’ Herd will bat last because they beat SouthernMisstwo

See CAJUNS, page 3C

BY RODWALKER Staff writer

New Orleans Pelicans center

Yves Missi proved to be one of the steals of the 2024 NBA Draft.

Thatwas validatedfurther when Missiwas namedto theNBA All-Rookie secondteam on Tuesday

Not bad fora player the Pelicans selected with the 21st overall pick last season. Of the 10 players to make one of theAll-Rookie teams, Missi was the second-lowest draft pick. Only Memphis Grizzliesguard Jaylen Wells, selected in thesecondround, was draftedlower than Missi.

Missi was asked at the end of the season whatitwould mean forhim to makethe All-Rookie team.

“Obviously,just knowing that whatever Iwas doing outthere was being acknowledged by theNBA

Tate’s exit maycreate uncertainty at LSU

Isuppose in the end William F. Tate IV felt he wasmore urgently needed at Rutgers than LSU

How do you not when your new basketball team has twoNBA lottery picks and doesn’teven make the NCAA Tournament?

Tate’sdeparture as the LSU president after ahistoric fouryear tenure at the university he wasthe first Black president or chancellor of any Southeastern Conference school —leaves abig leadership void to fill in Baton Rouge. Not the least of which is his support of, interest in and appreciation forasuccessful athletic program and what that can mean for auniversity’simage. Tate wasanear omnipresent figure at major LSU athletic events and announcements. He was there in December 2021, holding a“Win” bar replica with then-new football coach Brian Kelly and athletic director Scott Woodward. He helped cut downthe nets in April 2023 when LSU women’s basketball trounced Iowa forits first NCAA title (still the biggest wininthe still simmering Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark feud). His face is even plastered next to KimMulkey’sonthe wall of the women’sbasketball practice gym at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center —Tate’swifeKim served as the team’schaplain.

Whoever replaces Tate, one of the biggest questions inevitably will be how much does that person support athletics? In astate that ranks 50th forlivability,how much does LSU’s new president care about winning and striving to have achampionship-level athletic program across the board?

This is, of course, Gov.Jeff Landry’sdecision to make. One can expect the governor isn’tconsidering apro-sports (not professional sports) candidate as being aquality at the top of his list. Nor should he. But one questions how much Landry values astrong athletic program at the state’s flagship university.His interest in how LSU performs on the field or court to this point has seemed minimal.

LSU presidents and chancellors have, at times, injected

See RABALAIS, page 3C

jurors would be great,” Missi said. Missi, draftedout of Baylor,was expected to be more of aproject forthe Pelicans. Instead, he becameone of the team’s more reliable players with the potential to become more.

Missi started ateam-high 67 games andplayed in 73.Heaveraged 9.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. He scored aseason-high 24 points in aloss to the Phoenix Suns in February,and grabbed a season-best 15 rebounds in awin over the SanAntonio Spurs.

Missi earned WesternConference Rookie of theMonth in December.Hefinishedthe season with 14 double-doubles for aPelicansteam that finished21-62, the second-worst record in franchise history

“Asa team,itwasn’tasgood,” Missi said when asked whether he exceeded expectations this season. “But obviously forme, individually,just being abletoplayand geton

Knicks, Pacers set for Round 9

Winner of the two heads to Finals

BY BRIAN MAHONEY

GREENBURGH, N.Y Jalen Brunson

held a steel chair Tyrese Haliburton had brass knuckles.

As the star point guards glared at each other in a WWE wrestling ring last summer in Madison Square Garden, it seemed a fitting next step in the rivalry between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks. It’s already featured headbutts and chokes, so why not weapons?

The teams go at it again starting Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Knicks’ first trip to the Eastern Conference finals in 25 years, with the winner of their ninth playoff matchup headed to the NBA Finals.

“It’s obviously a storied rivalry between the two franchises, so to add another chapter to it is going to be a lot of fun,” Haliburton said. It sure was for Haliburton and the Pacers last year when the teams met in the se cond round. Indiana won Game 7 at Madison Square Garden against a Knicks team that was decimated by injuries, shooting an NBA playoff-record 67.1% from the field in a 130-109 romp.

Haliburton scored 26 points and afterward wore a sweatshirt to his news conference with a picture of Reggie Miller making a choke signal toward Knicks fan Spike Lee on the sidelines during a playoff game three decades earlier

Haliburton returned to the Garden to troll New York fans again about a month later, attempting to interfere in a match on behalf of Logan Paul. Brunson, with a seat in the crowd near the ring, intervened and LA Knight pinned Paul After the match, Brunson grabbed the chair and entered the

ring to protect the winner when it appeared Paul and Haliburton had him surrounded.

“I’ll be back! I’ll be back!” Haliburton yelled toward fans after exiting the ring. Well, here he comes.

“It was obviously something that he wanted to do and the way he played last year in the playoffs, I mean, it was fitting,” Brunson said. “And so, he played well in the Garden Obviously Knicks fans and Pacers fans, they go back and forth. But I think he did a great job with it last year but now we’re moving on.”

A Knicks-Pacers series could be penciled into the spring schedule in the 1990s.

The teams met six times in an eight-year span, starting with a 1993 series that included John Starks getting ejected for headbutting Miller Indiana won the last one in that stretch, a victory in the 2000 East finals the most recent time the Knicks advanced this far

This time, it’s a surprise. Cleveland and Boston ran away to the

top two records in the East, but the Knicks ousted the defending champions and the Pacers blew away the top-seeded Cavaliers in five games to set up this matchup between the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.

Things are different now Brunson and Haliburton are friendly, having been teammates in 2023 on the U.S. team that played in the Basketball World Cup. But Miller will be in the arena, working the games as an analyst for TNT, so there will be a reminder of the way Knicks-Pacers used to be.

“There was definitely a sense of hatred for each other So I think that makes a good rivalry,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

“They have a history of finding a way to end each other’s season, so it’s up to us now to add our names into history and see what we do.”

The postseason history

The Pacers lead the series 5-3. When the teams have met in the East finals, the Knicks won in 1994 and 1999 — when they reached the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed — and

the Pacers won in 2000.

The 2024-25 history

The Knicks went 2-1 against the Pacers, with all the meetings before the All-Star break. Towns had 30.3 points and 12 rebounds per game for the Knicks, who averaged 124 points on 53.9% shooting.

A torrid Pace

The Pacers were just 10-15 after a loss to Charlotte on Dec 8. Counting the playoffs, they are 48-19 since.

A June reunion?

An NBA Finals matchup between the Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves is a possibility after they made a blockbuster trade on the eve of the preseason. The Knicks acquired Towns by sending Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota. Towns, the Wolves’ No. 1 pick in 2015, isn’t thinking about that yet.

“We’ve got to get there first,” he said. “I ain’t going to worry about something that we’re not there yet. Step by step.”

Clark, Reese help WNBA to stellar ratings

BY DOUG FEINBERG AP basketball writer

It was a busy opening weekend for the WNBA with record-breaking performances and ratings as the league’s stars shined

The game between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky drew an average of 2.7 million viewers, which made it the most watched WNBA game on ESPN platforms. Clark posted a tripledouble while Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds in the blowout loss for Chicago. The pair also had a moment on the court when Clark had a hard foul on Reese while she was going for a layup that ended up being a Flagrant 1 when it was upgraded by the officials. Both players after the game said that it was just a basketball play A day after the game, the league said it was looking into racial comments made towards Reese by fans. A person familiar with the situation confirmed the details to

Continued from page 1C

the court and get some experience was great.” Missi was selected to play in the Rising Stars Game during NBA All-Star Weekend, but he didn’t get to play after hyperextending his right knee against the Sacramento Kings in the game right before the All-Star break. His selection was an indication of just how much he had developed in the first few months of the season

The Associated Press on Sunday

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league had not publicly identified the subject of the taunts or who made the allegations.

Indiana said it would do what it could to help the league.

“I told the team, obviously, we’re going to cooperate fully with the investigation,” Fever coach

Stephanie White said Monday

“But there’s no place for that in our league, whether it’s at home, whether it’s on the road. It doesn’t matter We want to encourage our players, our staff to bring recognition to it in real time if it’s heard, if it’s seen or anything of that nature.”

The two teams will meet again on June 7 in Chicago.

It wasn’t just the ChicagoIndiana game that drew strong numbers. The opener Saturday between Las Vegas and New York had an average of 1.3 million viewers. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson had a stellar performance in the loss. Last season’s runner-up for MVP also had a strong opening weekend as Napheesa Collier led

“It’s a credit to Yves and his persistence and his ability to come in as a rookie and pick up all of the concepts. With everything that’s been going around, he’s been pretty consistent with his ability to step on the floor and compete at a high level.”

WILLIE GREEN, Pelicans coach

“It’s a credit to Yves and his persistence and his ability to come in as a rookie and pick up all of the

Minnesota to two victories.

While Indiana, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Minnesota were expected to be in the WNBA spotlight this season, not much was expected of Washington with a new coach new general manager and a whole host of new players, led by rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen. The Mystics won their first two games and now head out for a three-game west coast trip in Golden State, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Sidelined

Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper underwent an arthroscopy on her left knee last week and will be out four-to-six weeks, the team announced Copper is playing in her ninth season in the league and was the WNBA’s third leading scorer last year averaging 21.1 points a game in her first season in Phoenix. Power poll rankings

Minnesota and New York led the way in the first regular season AP power poll tied at No 1. The national voting panel chose Indiana

concepts,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said in February. “With everything that’s been going around, he’s been pretty consistent with his ability to step on the floor and compete at a high level I think that’s admirable.” The All-Rookie first team consisted of Stephon Castle (Spurs), Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), Alex Sarr (Wizards), Zach Edey (Grizzlies) and Wells. Joining Missi on the second team were Donovan Clingan (Trail Blazers), Matas Buzelis (Bulls), Bub Carrington (Wizards) and Kel’el Ware (Heat).

Ex-LSU guard Givens transfers to Memphis

Former LSU point guard Curtis Givens is transferring to Memphis of the American Athletic Conference, he announced on social media Tuesday The 6-foot-3 freshman from Memphis, Tennessee, averaged 4.8 points on 26.9% shooting and 1.6 assists per game last season. He averaged 18.2 minutes and made 12 starts. He entered the starting lineup for the first time on Jan. 11 against Ole Miss, replacing fifth-year senior Jordan Sears. Of the seven players to leave coach Matt McMahon’s 2024-25 team, Givens was the last one to enter the transfer portal before the window officially closed April 22. Givens was the No. 65 player in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports Composite, and chose LSU over Memphis as a high school recruit.

Former Arkansas standout Fland commits to Florida

Former Arkansas standout Boogie Fland, widely considered the top guard in the transfer portal, chose to play for defending national champion Florida on Tuesday Fland committed to coach Todd Golden following a two-day visit to Gainesville and posted his decision on Instagram.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Fland averaged 13.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 21 games with the Razorbacks last season. The freshman from New York averaged nearly 32 minutes a game despite missing time with a right thumb injury that required surgery He returned for three postseason games before entering the NBA draft. He withdrew his name from consideration Sunday and made the visit to Florida.

All-Pro guard Thuney, Bears agree to extension

Two-time All-Pro guard Joe Thuney and the Chicago Bears have agreed to a two-year $35 million contract extension, agent Mike McCartney announced on Tuesday The extension is for $17.5 million per season. Thuney is due $51 million over the next three years with $33.5 million guaranteed, McCartney said.

General manager Ryan Poles said last month he hoped to get a deal done. Thuney was entering the final season of a five-year, $80 million deal he signed with Kansas City The Bears acquired the 32-yearold Thuney from the Chiefs in a trade in March, one of several moves they made to overhaul a shaky offensive line and give Caleb Williams the protection he needs.

Hall of Famer Woodson joins Browns’ ownership

third and Phoenix fourth. Las Vegas, Washington and Los Angeles were the next three. Seattle, Atlanta and Dallas followed. Chicago, Connecticut and Golden State rounded out the rankings.

Player of the week

Napheesa Collier had a strong opening weekend, averaging 28.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists to help the Lynx win their first two games, both on the road. Other players receiving consideration included Caitlin Clark of Indiana, Natasha Cloud of New York, Kelsey Plum of Los Angeles and Brittney Sykes of Washington.

Game of the week

New York at Indiana, Saturday The defending champion Liberty will visit Clark and the new-look Fever Indiana made a ton of offseason moves to bolster their roster, including signing DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. It will be a chance for the team to see where it stacks up against one of the best teams in the league early in the season.

Missi is the eighth player in franchise history to make an AllRookie team. Chris Paul (200506), Darren Collison (2009-10), Anthony Davis (2012-13), Buddy Hield (2016-17) and Zion Williamson (2019-20) all made the first team as rookies. Marcus Thornton (2009-10) and Herb Jones (2021-22) made the second team. Missi’s goals for next season are to bulk up, work on his shooting touch around the basket and improve his free-throw shooting. “Keep working on my game and just come back strong and win some games,” Missi said.

Former NFL great and Ohio native Charles Woodson has joined the Cleveland Browns as a limited partner, the club announced Tuesday The non-controlling minority interests were approved at the league’s spring meetings in Eagan, Minnesota. Jimmy and Dee Haslam are majority owners.

Woodson won the 1997 Heisman Trophy at Michigan, played 18 years in the NFL for the Raiders and Packers and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021. He is an NFL analyst for Fox Sports and lives in Orlando, Florida, as an assistant on his son’s high school football team. Woodson, who grew up in Fremont, Ohio, said it was a dream come true to play in the NFL but he never expected to be part of an ownership group.

Indy 500 announces first sellout since 2016

The Indianapolis 500 has sold out its grandstands for the first time in nearly a decade, and the local TV blackout that has been in place since 1951 has been lifted so fans in central Indiana will be able to watch the race live.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said Monday that while its roughly 230,000 grandstand seats had sold out, general admission infield tickets were still available. He expects a crowd of about 350,000 race fans or about 1 for every 1,000 people living in the U.S — will be at the track Sunday for the 109th running of “The Greatest Spectacle

The

UL coach Matt Deggs, left, fist bumps outfielder Conor Higgs after Higgs’ solo home run against James Madison on March 30 in Lafayette. STAFF

CAJUNS

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of three in West Virginia earlier this season.

“(Marshall’s)Greg Bealsisa great coach,” Deggs said. “Hedid atremendous job at Ohio State. He really knows how to react and get those guys to play hard. In my opinion, they had nothing to show for it, but theywere really tough to play

“Weplayed (Marshall)the lasttwo years, and obviously he’sgot some newblood in there and got that thing going. He’sgot anew stadium.They’ve obviously recruited extremelywell. They’re atough draw.”

Offensively,the numbers aren’t much different. Marshallisbatting .272 with 51 home runs and 72stolen bases. UL is hitting .259 with 41 homers and 92 steals.

“We’ve had alot of teams win these tournaments and get in the championship games,” Deggssaid. “It’sall about,can you score runs —and you’re going to have to getsome good starting pitching and you’re going tohave play good defense —but the ability to scorerunsearly and often is gigantic in thesetournaments.”

The Herd is led at the plate by Eddie Leon (.301, six HRs,34RBIs) aswell as EthanMurdoch (.277, 10 HRs, 40 RBIs) and Maika Niu (.265, 12 HRs, 46 RBIs).

SBCTOURNEY GLANCE

“Atthis point in time,everybody’s seen everybody,” Deggs said. “From here on in, you’llstart to see hitters start to catch up to 97 (mphfastballs) and stay on sliders. It’ll just start to get more offensive the hotteritgets

and the wind starts blowing. Hitters are smart. They’veseen everything everybody hastooffer.”

The Cajuns are led by Conor Higgs (.346, 16 HRs, 45 RBIs) and Caleb Stelly (.314, eight HRs,31RBIs).Lee Amedee (.275, two HRs, 30 RBIs) and JoseTorres(.274, two HRs, 35 RBIs) also have solid bats.

Diggsisalsohopingacouple of other players gethot.

“For ateam in ourposition to win it, there’s going to be adark horse —beit aConnorCufforwhoever it might be that just goes off,”Deggs said. “That’s generally therecipe to do something like that. Whatwecan’t do is go in and continue to do thesame things that we’vedone.”

UL is expected to start sophomore right-handerTate Hess (6-2, 5.17 ERA, 552/3 IP,63K)against juniorleft-hander BryceBlevins (5-5,6.29, 83 IP,44 K).

The winnerwill playinthe 7:30 p.m. game againThursday,likely against top-seeded Coastal Carolina.

“It would be amazing,” Deggs said of winning the tournament. “They’ve doneitbefore, andIknowthatwecan do it again. Youjust have to playover your ski tips forfourdays.

“We’ve got agood roadmap to it. It’s just amatter of playing good baseball. More than anything, you’ve got to swing the bat.

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

SoutheasternLouisiana’sMaria Detillier celebratesafter scoring the game-winning runin a4-3 winagainst LSUatthe Baton Rougeregional on Friday at TigerPark as LSU catcher Maci Bergeron looks on.

TORINA

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“Of course we can’tlose those games. We’re going to make adjustments to make sure that doesn’thappen again. Idon’twant to not take ownership for that because it’snot acceptable, but it’salso softball.” Torina tooklast year’s team to within one game of the WCWSand lost six players who had started for at least three seasons. She signed athree-year extension to her contract that pays her $455,000 through the 2028 season.

The former Florida star pitchersaid the team’searly success combined with its youth may have had the team “a little over their skis” when the backloaded half of the schedule came around. LSU was 35-5 and 8-4 in conference play at one point but went 7-11 the rest of the way “Weneedpeople that can win us big games, pitch under pressure, execute plans,” she said. “People who

can win big games when the lights are on

“We’ve got to be tougher as awhole, top to bottom, in the organization. It’sone thing to be able to execute it in Tiger Park with no one in thestands on Tuesday afternoon at 2o’clock. It’s another thing to do itwhen somebody is pressing you with speed playersthatrun allover you like Southeastern did. We needpeople whocan execute with pressure.”

LSUtweaked its offensive attack after thedeparture of longtime assistantHoward Dobson and promotion of BryceNeal, and the stats showed that it paid off. LSU set aschool recordfor onbase percentage, and had the second-best batting average and walk totals. LSUalso set arecordfor themostmercyrule wins with 19. Torina said her staff will scour the portal for power hitters who can produce right away.She will also havetolook for immediate pitching help to replace Berzon, who was 18-8 with a2.46 ERA.

“It was arecord-setting offense, and we did it without theslugnumbers,”Torina said. “Normally when you are in the top 20 in scoring in the country it comes from doubles and homers. Butyou can’t findusinthe top for that. We just didn’t have it.”

Therecruitingclassisled by outfielder Rylie Johnson, atop-25 outfield prospect from Fredericksburg, Virginia, andpitcher Ashlin Mowry from Lancaster, Ohio, whohas hit73miles per hour on the radar gun.

Torina said she expects herteam to mature next season with only twoposition starters out of eligibility

“Wehaveareally good core of the offense,” she said.

“It’s devastating tolose thatway,but once you keep moving it forwardit becomesexcitingtothink about what could be. As we starttoput thepiecestogether with theportal and incoming freshmen, it becomeshopeful of what it could be in trying to findthe right answers.

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themselves deeply into the expenditures, hirings and firings that come as part of the course charted by its athletic directors. There was the point man negotiating that former LSU chancellor and later NCAA president Mark Emmertdid to hire Nick Saban in late 1999. And there wasthe roadblock to firing Les Miles at the end of the 2015 season by then-athletic director Joe Alleva, which came from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration, facilitated by then-LSU president F. King Alexander That doesn’tmean that LSU’s new president, and by proxy Gov. Landry,will or will not take amore keen interest in the future. How that will shape policy when it comes to laying out multi-million deals to hire coaches, or conversely firethem,isabig question.

Thenthereisthe matter of Woodward. The LSU

grad and Baton Rouge native’stenurepredates Tate’sbytwo years, having been hired by Alexander under the governorship of John Bel Edwards. There has been atrend at LSU since Landrytook office to sweep out preLandry administrative appointees Will anew president put asimilar target on Woodward—who has lost popularity with morevocal segments of LSU’sfan base fornot retaining scandalplagued men’s basketball coach Will Wade and for keeping his successor, Matt McMahon —orwork with him?Much may be determined by how LSU football does this season under Kelly,ablockbuster hire Woodward madeand that Tate endorsed. Kelly has spoken often about the “alignment” he sought with LSU’s athletic and academic administration. Whether that’s something that continues now that Tate is moving to New Jersey will become one of the new LSU administration’smost closely watched issues.

AES hires boys, girls basketball coaches

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

Ascension Episcopal will be ushering in a new era of Blue Gators basketball when they take the floor next season.

The Blue Gators have hired two new head basketball coaches in John Tanner, who will lead the boys, and Zach Frederick, who will take over the girls program.

“I’m very excited to be the new head coach,” Frederick said. “I’m excited to have the chance to take on a leadership role.”

Frederick is familiar with the Blue Gators, having played for and coached under former Ascension Episcopal boys basketball coach Eric Mouton. Frederick played for Mouton from 2011-15 and served as an assistant for both programs last year

“I grew up coming here and playing here,” said Frederick, who before last year was an ESA assistant for six seasons. “I’ve always wanted to be a head coach and I was open to either position.”

In Tanner, the Blue Gators are getting a coach with plenty of experience. This will be Tanner’s fifth head coaching opportunity after previously serving in that role at Acadiana High, Oak Hill, Menard and Sacred Heart of Ville Platte.

“They have some really good kids over there, and I’m really looking forward to working with them,” Tanner said. “I think it is a good fit for both sides.”

Tanner said one of the biggest reasons he wanted the Blue Gators’ job was because “there is already a solid foundation.”

“We played against them a couple of times and I saw them a few

times on film, and they impressed me,” Tanner said. “They were very well-coached, and I look forward to building off of that.”

After 18 seasons, Mouton and the Blue Gators agreed to part ways. Despite Mouton’s success with the Blue Gators, Tanner doesn’t feel pressure being his successor “I wouldn’t say pressure, but maybe a responsibility to do a good job with (the program),” Tanner said. “A responsibility to continue working hard, developing the kids on and off the court. But not necessarily pressure. I think it is going to be a good fit and we’ll do well.”

The 28-year-old Frederick said his familiarity with the Blue Gators’ players will help in the transition.

“I have a good relationship with the girls already,” Frederick said. “I’m glad we have someone that

is taking over the program that knows them. They have so much potential.”

Frederick described himself as an energetic person who is “a calming presence” on the sidelines.

“People can definitely expect a lot of energy from me,” Frederick said. “I have a positive attitude, and I’m defensive-minded. We’re going to be aggressive on defense and try to turn people over.”

Tanner said Blue Gator fans can expect to see “a good product” on the floor

“You’ll see kids that carry themselves very well,” Tanner said.

“We’ll be a disciplined team who defends well and plays very unselfish and together.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

Eunice assistant named St. Edmund baseball coach

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

Casey Charlie has always wanted to one day become a high school head baseball coach

However, he did not want it at the expense of no longer working side-by-side with Scott Phillips, the longtime Eunice coach whom Charlie also played for while in high school.

But now that Phillips is retiring, the time has come for Charlie to pursue a head coaching position.

And he’s landed one, in his hometown.

Charlie has been named the St Edmund Blue Jays baseball coach

“I’m extremely loyal to Coach Phillips,” Charlie said.

“If he had stayed at Eunice, there is a very good chance I would have stayed with him. But with him leaving, it made it the right time for me to pursue this opportunity.”

Charlie takes over a Blue Jays program that was 17-15 and reached the second round of the Division IV select playoffs where they were defeated by eventual state champion Vermilion Catholic.

“I’m extremely excited,” Charlie said. “It’s a great opportunity, and to be able to get my first head coaching job at a place like St. Edmund is incredible. St. Ed’s has a rich tradition in baseball, and they’ve won six state championships.

“They have great facilities, so the foundation has already been put into place.”

For the past 10 seasons, Charlie has served as the Bobcats’ pitching and infield coach.

“I’m excited for him,” Phillips said. “He’s done a lot of things for our program behind the scenes, and he never wanted any credit for it.

“He wanted to be a head coach, and I’m glad he’s getting the opportunity to do so.”

Although Charlie is excited about leading a program, he knows a lot of things Phillips instilled in him are what he wants to do at St. Edmund.

“I have a lot of baseball knowledge in general,” Charlie said.

SCOREBOARD

– Championship

1 p.m. All-SWAC Baseball Coach of the Year: Jonathan Hernandez, Bethune-Cookman Player of the Year: Cardell Thibodeaux, Southern Co-Hitter of the Year: Juan Cruz, Alabama St. Co-Hitter of the Year: Andrey Martinez, Bethune-Cookman Pitcher of the Year: Eric Elliott, Jackson St. Relief Pitcher of the Year: Jean Carlos Zambrano, Bethune-Cookman Freshman of the Year: Garrett Workman, Florida A&M Newcomer of the Year: Cardell Thibodeaux, Southern First team C – Broedy Poppell, Florida A&M

1B – Juan Cruz, Alabama State

2B – Jesus Vanegas, Bethune-Cookman

3B – Jay Campbell, Florida A&M

SS – Bryce Hughes, Texas Southern DH – Taj Bates, Southern OF – Cardell Thibodeaux, Southern OF – Andrey Martinez, Bethune-Cookman OF – Kameron Douglas, Alabama State SP – Eric Elliott, Jackson State SP – Kenney Fabian, Arkansas-Pine Bluff RP – Jean Carlos Zambrano, BethuneCookman Second team

C – Chris Marcellus, Grambling State

1B – Wilbert Perez, Jackson State

2B – Alex Espaillat, Alabama State

3B – KJ White, Southern SS – Jeter Polledo, Bethune-Cookman

DH – Damian Garcia, Texas Southern OF – Trey Rutledge, Alabama A&M OF – Darryl Lee, Bethune-Cookman OF – Jordan McCladdie, Jackson State

SP- Jorhan Laboy, Alabama State SP – Edwin Sanchez, Bethune-Cookman

SP – Nick Luckett, Southern RP – Ethan Bates, Grambling State RP- Peyton Huff, Southern College softball

NCAA tournament Super regionals glance

(Best-of-3; x-if necessary)

Host school is home team for Game 1; visiting school is home team for Game 2; coin flip determines home team for Game 3 At Norman, Okla. Friday’s game: No. 2 Oklahoma (48-7) vs. No. 15 Alabama (40-21), 4 p.m. Saturday’s game: Oklahoma vs. Alabama, 2 p.m. x-Sunday’s game: Oklahoma vs. Alabama, TBA At Gainesville, Fla. Friday’s game: No.

x-Sunday’s game: Florida vs. Georgia, TBA At Fayetteville, Ark. Friday’s game: No. 4 Arkansas (43-12) vs Mississippi (40-18), 7 p.m. Saturday’s game: Arkansas vs. Ole Miss, 8 p.m. x-Sunday’s

Games Baltimore (Sugano 4-3) at Milwaukee (Patrick 2-4), 12:10 p.m. Cleveland (Bibee 3-4) at Minnesota (Ryan 4-2), 12:10 p.m. Houston (Brown 6-2) at Tampa Bay (Bradley 3-3), 12:10 p.m. Detroit (TBD) at St. Louis (Pallante 4-2), 12:15 p.m. Seattle (Evans 2-1) at Chicago White Sox (Smith 1-3), 1:10 p.m. Kansas City (TBD) at San Francisco (Webb 5-3), 2:45 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Megill 3-4) at Boston (Crochet 4-3), 5:45 p.m. Texas (deGrom 4-1) at

(Gaus-

“I’ve been around a winning program for a while. I know what it takes to build a program, and I know all of the things that we did correctly over there

“I’m going to do things the right way and help our guys not only become better baseball players, but better men.”

When asked if he’s nervous about the opportunity, Charlie adamantly said “no.”

“Maybe if this was my first year right out of college, then yeah maybe I’d be nervous,” Charlie said. “But Coach Phillips has groomed me for 10 years to prepare me for this. I’m ready.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

Sunday, May 25: Dallas at Edmonton, 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 27: Dallas at Edmonton, 7 p.m. x-Thursday, May 29: Edmonton at Dallas, TBA x-Saturday, May 31: Dallas at Edmonton, TBA x-Monday, June 2: Edmonton at Dallas, TBA Pro tennis ATP-Hamburg European Open Tuesday At Am Rothenbaum Rot-Weiss Tennis Club Hamburg, Germany Surface: Red clay Seedings in parentheses Men’s Singles Round of 32 Flavio Cobolli, Italy, def. Vitaliy Sachko, Ukraine, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Argentina, def. Francisco Comesana, Argentina, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Frances Tiafoe (2), United States, def. Yunchaokete Bu, China, 7-5, 6-2. Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Argentina, def. Sebastian Baez (8), Argentina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (5), Spain, def. Gael Monfils, France, 6-3, 6-3. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, France, def. Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan, 7-6 (6), 6-4. Felix Auger-Aliassime (6), Canada, def. Daniel Altmaier, Germany, 6-3, 6-3. Men’s Doubles Round of 16 Fernando Romboli, Brazil, and Andres Molteni, Argentina, def. Andre Goransson, Sweden, and Sem Verbeek, Netherlands, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury, Britain, def. Hugo Nys, Monaco, and Manuel Guinard, France, 6-3, 6-4. Max Hans Rehberg and Justin Engel, Germany, def. Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons, United States, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-5.

LIVING

Teenage bullfighting enthusiast celebrates victories

BY ELDAR EMRIC Associated Press

KAKANJ, Bosnia Like most girls

her age, Bosnian teenager Mirnesa Junuzovic splits her days into free time and time reserved for school and house chores. How she spends the former, however, makes her unique.

The 15-year-old Junuzovic takes daily, hourslong walks with her bull, Cobra, and trains the beast for traditional bullfights that have been organized in the country for more than two centuries.

“We walk for three or more hours every day, I talk to him and call him by different nicknames that I have for him,” Junuzovic said, adding: “I can always anticipate when he is going to rush or scrape at the ground.”

Junuzovic believes that she and Cobra share a special bond and insists that while they train and walk through the fields and forest around her rural home on the outskirts of Kakanj, the bull sometimes uses its horns to move tree branches and shrubs out of her way

When somebody else approaches him, Junuzovic insisted, “his whole demeanor changes” and he starts snorting.

“But he never acts like that with me,” she rushed to say “He knows that I take care of him. He is just like a human, except that he cannot talk.”

Bulls

ght during the bullfight competitions in Bijelo Polje, Bosnia, on May 11.

Bullfights without blood

Bullfights in Bosnia are relatively mellow and bloodless affairs resembling a natural clash for dominance between male bulls in the wild. Almost every weekend during the summer months, rodeo-like corrals are set up in forest clearings or meadows around the country

Thousands of people gather around these enclosures in village fair-like settings to watch bull-on-bull fights in which animals push each other and clash horns until one of them admits defeat by turning their tail and fleeing. The clash often lasts just a few minutes

Before bulls enter the arena, inspectors check their horns and even cut off the tips if they are too sharp. They also check the animals’ anti-doping test results and make sure the bulls clash heads only if they want to.

Among the village folk in Bosnia, the love of bulls and bullfighting is installed in children at an early age Attending the fights is often embraced as a family activity

“This is a part of our tradition. We love it,” explained Muriz Spahic, who drove for more than 45 miles to watch bulls fighting last Sunday outside the village of Bijelo Polje in central Bosnia.

“My grandpa loves it, he is here with us today, I love it, my child loves it,” he said, “We go to the fights together.”

A community event

In between the fights, the spectators fire up grills, roast meat, drink and dance to blaring folk music.

ä See BULLFIGHTING, page 6C

‘The definition of grassroots’

Lafayette group for foodies celebrates connection, community — and cake

BY JOANNA BROWN

On a warm, sunny day in May, more than 100 people gathered at the Petroleum Club of Lafayette to share something that makes everyone happy: cake.

Pineapple upside down cake, Coca-Cola cake, strawberry cake, red velvet cake — rows of cakes of every description filled the tables at the inaugural Cake Fête, hosted by the Foodies of Lafayette Facebook group on Sunday The event was designed to include as many people (and cakes) as possible, with the only requirement being that attendees had to bring their own cake to be able to try others.

It was a joyful, icing-topped afternoon that embodied one of Heidi Jacobs McDonald’s primary goals when she started Foodies of Lafayette in 2019: building positive connections over food. She wanted the Facebook group to be a place to share recipes, great meals and Lafayette’s hidden restaurant gems, with a focus on celebrating the food culture of Acadiana. Over the past five years, McDonald and her growing Foodies team have hosted dinners, volunteered at food-based organizations, gone out to lunch, developed the Foodies of Lafayette Culinary

Excellence Awards and taken over the Lafayette Community Fridge program all while hosting an online membership that hit 100,000 people this month.

It’s been a pivotal year for a project that started as a small social media community McDonald says that she wanted Foodies of Lafayette to be an instrument for doing good through food, because “it’s the thing we all need. There’s nothing negative about it.”

She says, “Food is the thing that brings everybody together So that makes it a really good vehicle to use to help as many people as possible.”

One of those vehicles is the Lafayette Community Fridge initiative, now powered by Foodies of Lafayette. While Acadiana hosts a

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday,May 21, the141st day of 2025. There are 224 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On May 21, 1881, the American Red Cross was founded bynurse and educator Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.

On this date: In 1924, 14-year-oldBobby Franks was murdered in a “thrill killing” carried outby University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr.and Richard Loeb (Bobby’sdistant cousin).

In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33½ hours.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to flysolo across the Atlantic Ocean as she landed in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland.

In 1941, aGerman U-boat sank the American merchant steamship SS Robin Moor in theSouth

Atlantic after theship’s passengers and crew were allowed to board lifeboats. In 1955, Chuck Berry recorded hisfirst single, “Maybellene,” for Chess RecordsinChicago. In 1972, Michelangelo’sPieta, in St.Peter’sBasilica at the Vatican,was damaged byahammerwielding man. (Thesculpture went back on display 10 months later after its damaged elements were reconstructed.)

In 1979, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan Whitewas convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor GeorgeMosconeand openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. Outrage over White’slenient sentence sparked theWhite Night riots that evening.

Today’sbirthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame managerBobbyCox is 84. Singer RonaldIsley (The Isley Brothers) is 84. Singer Leo Sayer is 77. Actor Mr.Tis73. Actor JudgeReinhold is 68. Filmmaker Nick Cassavetes is 66. Actor Lisa Edelstein is 59. Comedian-TV presenterNoel Fielding is 52. Actor Fairuza Balk is 51.

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that it would be good the next day,but it was!

The tangy flavorofthe dressing paired well with the salty cotija cheese, and the steak was cooked to perfection.

—Lauren Cheramie, features coordinator Massaman curry n Duang Tawan, 4850 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd., BatonRouge

Pad thai is usually my go-toorder at Duang Tawan restaurant, butfor aFriday lunch, Iwanted something warmer withmore vegetables. Curry sounded just right

Ichose the Massaman curry with chicken, coconut milk,onions,bell peppers, potatoes and peanuts.For alunch portion, the size was perfect for me. The sweet spices like cinnamon,cardamomand nutmeg filled meup with cozy warmth on arainyday Lunch specials at Duang Tawan alsocome with aspring roll and acup of TomYum soup. For dessert, Igot the Mango Sticky Rice, which was fresh and delightfully sweet.

—Joy Holden, Louisiana Inspired coordinator

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN

An order of garlic Parmesan fries, withaside of spicy’rette sauce, from Acadian Superette

Garlic Parmesan fries

n Acadian Superette,600 Lamar St., Lafayette

This platteroffries are the kind that you keep picking at, long after realizing you’retoo full for one more bite. Heaps of fresh Parmesan andgarlic are layered over crispyfrench fries, providing a perfect accompaniment to the Superette’scelebrated line of sandwiches, burgers, po-boys and smoked meats. They are a bitpricey at $6 aserving, but the platter is morethan big enough to share with afriend while enjoying thesefrenchfry flavor bombs (with aside of theSuperette’shouse-made sauce.)

—Joanna Brown, staff writer

BULLFIGHTING

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Fighting bulls of Bosnia have traditionally been trained by men, but women started joining the fray several years ago. Still, women in this field are rareand Junuzovic, who started training bulls at the age of 12, remainsthe youngest of the trainers Some of her school friends look down at her hobby and insist that it is “stinky,” she said.But those who she really cares about are “very supportive. They call to congratulate me every time we

An upside-downhint

Dear Heloise: In responsetoCharlie M., what Ihave done in the past has helped stop the problem of spray-paint clogs. When you’re finished painting, invert your can and hit thespray button for just asplit second. Then you should see thenozzle clear up. I’ve done it for years, and it works for me. —Floyd R., via email Carsafetyconcern

Dear Heloise: Yourecently suggested to put keys in abowl or on akey holder by thedoor.This is not a smart idea! Iknow of afamily who got robbed when they were not home. Athief broke into their home, took the keys off the key holder,and drove off withthe victim’scar full of the victim’s belongings.Abetter idea is to hide thekeys in asafe place where only family members know thelocation —and to also purchaseasecurity system.

never be toocareful.

Thank you! Ienjoy your column. —MarieF., in Lancaster, California Eating more fiber

win.”

Bullsfightindifferent weight classesand Cobra, whoweighs more than 1,360 pounds, is among the“lightweights.” Cobra’swinning streak, which began eight fightsago, continued in Bijelo Polje, where he scored hisninth victoryof the 2025 bullfighting season. Theother bull“quit,” because he “was unprepared,”Junuzovic said.

Around half of thescheduled battles overall endwith oneofthe animals leaving the ring without even trying “Still, wewon andevery victory counts,”she saidwithabig smile.

Dear Heloise: My doctor said I need more fiber in my diet, but I have no idea where to get fiber.I know somefoods havealot of fiber,but can you suggest afew foods for me? —TroyS., in Wisconsin Troy,toget you started, thereare books online or at abookstore that go into detail about fiber and which foods are best for you. Buthere are fewideas:

n Beans: chickpeas, limabeans, black beans andsplit peas.

n Whole grains: oatmeal (steelcut, not instant), quinoa, and brown rice.

n Fruit:all berries, apples, pears and bananas.

n Vegetables: spinach, Brussels sproutsand carrots.

Here’sanother suggestion: Keep blinds closed when you’re not at home in rooms like a study wherecomputers and other devices are kept. Don’t set purses, phones,laptops and other items on atable in front of awindow or glassdoors! That’s just common sense! We can

n Nuts andseeds such as sunflower seeds. —Heloise Festivepacking material

Dear Heloise: Whencolorful gift wrap hasseen better days, don’tthrow it away;reuse it in anew way.Put it through a paper shredder andstore in a designated plastic bag to use as

festive gift packing material. It’s colorful andeconomic, and it can be usedmorethanonce. In its finalincarnation, it deteriorates more easily thanmulchinyour gardenorlandfill. —S.H., in Anaheim Hills, California

Somethingisbugging me

Dear Heloise: When Igot home today and was unpacking my groceries, Ifound alive spider —a large one —amongthe bananas. My neighbor said she took home alarge cockroach from adifferent food store. We both called the stores to report this problem but were told that this happens from timetotime.

NexttimeI’m in my local grocery store, I’ll be alot morecarefulabout inspecting the itemsI select! —Lisa, in Texas Lisa, this probably happens morethan we realize. Pantry pests can be shipped undetected with fresh produce, or they can chew ahole big enough to get inside aplastic bag and hide. Someare shipped as eggs and eventually hatch en route to the store. Always wash fresh produce carefully and be sure to inspect everything you buy —Heloise

Sendahinttoheloise@heloise com.

Friend gets handsy with buffet items

Dear Miss Manners: Ihave adear friend who occasionally attends functions with me where food is available —usually breakfasts. She invariably takes an item (a bagel, muffin or cookie, say), breaks off theamount she wantsand then puts theremainder back on the serving platter Ithink this is wrong, as she’stouching the food with bare hands and returning it for others to eat. If it’sa casserole or something to be scooped up withutensils, that’s fine, but not asingle-serving baked item that she’stouching. She thinksit’sa good practice to

not wastefood that she won’teat and, if she just wants “a taste,” it’sOKfor her to break off what she wants.

Interestingly enough, when Ibake an item for home, like brownies or apie or casserole, Itend to allow people to choose theirown size/portion. Yet if this samefriend is present, she will grab aknife and cut the item into equal portions, despite being asked not to do so! Is it me or is there aright answer?

Gentlereader: Your friend is apublic menace, isn’tshe? The right answer is forher to

be agood guest, which meansnot trying to play hostess and keeping her hands off food meantfor other people. At functions you are both attending, this also applies to you. In your own home, Miss Manners recommends walking the platter around, as that will limit her access to the serving knife—oratleast to astable surface on which to employ it. Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite,www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.

FOODIES

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number of community refrigerators and free food pantries, two LCF public refrigerators —one at McMillan’s Pub in Lafayette, and the other at T-Boy’sFleaMarket in Abbeville —were setupin2021 by agroup of volunteers looking to provide free ingredientsand prepared foods to people in need. According to McDonald,the group approached Foodies of Lafayette severalmonths ago to discuss transitioning the management of therefrigerators.The project involves more than keeping the fridges stocked with fresh, safe meals —the sites need power,regular maintenance and clean outs. Since taking over managementof therefrigerators at thebeginning of the year,the Foodies have been fundraising and pursuing local partnerships to keep therefrigerators going, in additiontomaintaining aregular stocking schedule

Much of this work hasbeen spearheaded by Jason Stoner, one half of theSundayDinnerGuys

andthe first moderator to join the Foodies of Lafayette team, about a month after the group started.

“The electricity for the refrigeratorsiscaught up nowthrough 2026,” said Stoner,who quit his full-time job earlier this year to takeona more active role as McDonald’sFoodies of Lafayette business partner.Currently organized as an LLC, the twoare starting the processoftransitioning the group’sstructure from an LLC to a nonprofit as their community initiatives expand.

“Taylor International (an offshorefood product supplier) donateda whole skid of containers, which will last us forquite awhile. We have restaurantsdonating food, there’s all these volunteers fordistribution. For Foodiesof Lafayette, it’sall about food and community,” said Stoner.“And the community has come together in a huge way forus.”

“It’sthe definition of grassroots,” McDonald agreed.“The beauty of it is, it’sall positive. We’re only goingtodothings that are good for everybody, period. Because of that buy-in, because that is understood, we can make abigger dif-

ference— because it’sall people who want to be there, and want to be involved in this.” Now, with charitable partnerships in the works, hundreds of thousands of members and amoderator team that organizes events like the Cake Fête and weekly Foodie FieldTrips, McDonald has seen her goal of helping people expand farbeyond her initial plans.

“It’sbeen an evolution for me. I’m not an internetperson. Ionly invited friends and family to the group first, because Idon’teven accept friends on Facebook that I don’tknow in real life,” she said.

“Wewere alwayspromoting different fundraisers, festivals, anything we could to help as many people as possible. And so many other people got it and came onboard, that it sparked so much more.

“Welive in aworld with so much negativity,which is partially at the faultofsocial media.And Ilove that we have the ability to create this positive space that helps people in areal way.”

Email Joanna Brownatjoanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Take the stage, express your views and listen to the response you get. Putting yourself out there will give you a sense of whether you are on the right track.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Gather as much information as possible and thoroughly analyze what you discover. Understanding the problems and needs of others will help you know what you can do to improve things and find a valuable niche.

LEo (July 23-Aug 22) Stand up and do something that makes you proud. Broaden your awareness, learn from the best and help people. Spend your downtime with a loved one, and you will enhance your relationship. VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Rethinkyoursituation. Don't stifle your emotions when you must face your feelings to get past what stands in your way. Reach out for help if you need it. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Reflect on what you want to turn into a reality. Expand your interests, scout out new prospects andteamupwithpeoplewhounderstand you and what you want. Refuse to let emotions get in your way.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Outside interests will take your mind off your worries and give you a break. Distancing yourself from people who confuse you willallowyoutimetofigureoutwhatyou want and need.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Protectwhat matters most to you. Update your image orsurroundingstofitwhatyouaretrying

to achieve. It's up to you to take responsibility and create opportunities instead of waiting for them to come to you.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You'll face opposition if you are too demanding or unaccommodating. Put more thought and energy into partnerships, equality and shared expenses. Balance the budget and divvy up duties fairly.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You know the drill, so do your part. What you achieve will give you the confidence you need to do or try something you've been reluctant to pursue. Make your move and find out where you stand.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Pare down. Rid yourself of what you no longer use. Be true to yourself and the people you love. Reevaluate your situation and change what isn't working for you.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Think about what youwantandcandotogetahead.Participate in functions that can put you in contact with people who can provide insight into unique ways to put your attributes to good use.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Stick close to home and revise your routine to make your life less confusing or cumbersome. Use your energy to enforce positive financial change. Refuse to let outside influences interfere with your peace of mind.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist. By

Andrews McMeel Syndication

Sudoku

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

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

By PHILLIP ALDER

Elizabeth Olsen, an actress and singer, said, “At New York University, I went to the Atlantic Theater Company, and they havetwomainpoints.Oneisalwaystobe active in something instead of just feeling it. And the other is figuring out your character.”

At the bridge table, be active in counting points and figuring out tricks, both yours and theirs.

In this deal, West is trying to defeat three no-trump. He leads the spade queen: five, two, king. South plays on clubs, putting West back in. What should he do next? What do you think of South’s one-notrump response?

I think it is better than raising clubs, which might be only a 4-3 fit. But if three no-trump is the best final contract, probably it would be preferable for the opener, with the stronger hand, to be the declarer. Some Souths would respond with an imaginative one diamond (and I might do that if the spades and diamonds were reversed).

Note South’s taking the first trick with the king. Usually declarer should win with the top of touching honors from the closed hand.

Trick one in no-trump can be an exception. If he wins with the ace, it advertises strength, because with only the ace, he would make the holdup play. East’s spade two denies a high honor. So South is marked with seven points in spades and, with the club ace out of the way, nine winners (two spades, three hearts and four clubs). There isn’t a moment to lose. West should go center stage and shift to the diamond queen, hoping East has at least A-J-10-x-x

Southwest to require chargersbekept out

Passengers on Southwest Airlines flights willsoon be required to keep their portable chargers in plainsight while using them because of concerns about the growing number of lithiumbatteryfires in anew policy that other airlines may adopt Southwest announcedthe new policythat will go into effect May28and said passengers mayhave already seen notifications about the rule when using the airline’sapp.

WhileSouthwestisthe first U.S. airline to restrict theuse of portable chargers, several Asian airlines have taken action earlier this year after a devastating fireaboard an Air Busan plane waiting to takeoff fromanairport in South Korea in January

There is growing concern about lithium-ion battery fires on planes because thenumber of incidents continues to grow yearly,and devicespowered by those batteries are ubiquitous.There have already been 19 incidentsinvolving these batteries this year,following last year’srecord high of 89, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics

Southwest said that requiring thesechargerstobekept out in the open when they are being used will help because “in therare event alithium battery overheats or catches fire, quickaccess is critical and keepingpower banks in plain sight allow for faster intervention and helps protect everyone onboard.”

The airline will allow the chargers to be stored inside carry-on bags when they aren’t in use.

Honda pulls back on EV strategyfor now

Honda said Tuesday electric vehicle sales wereslowing in the U.S., prompting the Japanese automaker to scrap its previousgoal forEVs to be 30% of its global vehicle sales by 2030. Instead of the initial plan to invest $69 billion in an electrification strategy through thefiscalyearendingin2031,Honda is reducing that investment to $48 billion.

Honda Motor Co. ChiefExecutive Toshihiro Mibecalled thedecisions “a switch inthe planned course,” while stressing thelong-term shift toward electrification remained unchanged, justpushed backin time Mibe didn’tmention U.S. President Donald Trump. But Trump’spolicies on tariffs, as well as his lack of enthusiasm for electric vehicles, have Japanese automakers scramblingto adapt.

Levi Strauss agrees to sell Dockers

Levi Strauss is settofinally part ways with Dockers— inking adeal to sell its brand once credited with propelling the popularityof“Casual Fridays” to Authentic BrandsGroup. In an announcement Tuesday,the denim giant said it had agreed to sell Dockers toAuthenticfor up to $391 million. The transaction willstart at an initial value of $311 million, with thepotential of addinganother$80 million to the price tag based on business performance under the new ownership.

The sale arrives as San Francisco-based Levi Straussboosts itsfocusonthe chain’score Levi’sbrand —aswell as BeyondYoga, which the company acquired in 2021,asmore and more consumers continue to cozy up to athleisure wear.

Levi Strauss launched Dockers back in 1986,and the brand soon became a“Casual Friday” staple. Many office workers turned to Dockers’ khakis and looser button-downs in the place of more traditional business attire. While it was not the sole—orvery first —creator of dressed-downoffice looks, Dockers has been widely creditedasan integral part to “Casual Friday’s”rise,particularly in the ’90s.

HomeDepot doesn’texpecthikes

Retailer:Diverse

sourcing offers some insulation from tariffs

BY MICHELLECHAPMAN AP business writer

Home Depot doesn’texpect to raiseprices because of tariffs,sayingithas spent years diversifying the sources for the goods on its shelves

Billy Bastek, executive vice presidentofmerchandising, said duringa conferencecallonTuesday that Home Depot’ssuppliers have shifted sourcing across several

countriesand that the company doesn’t expect any singlecountry outside of the U.S. will represent morethan 10% of itspurchases 12 months from now “Wedon’tsee broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward,” he said. Othercompanies, domestic and foreign, have warned customers thatpricehikes are on theway due to atrade war kicked off by the U.S.

Walmart said last week thatit hasalreadyraised prices andwill have to do so againinthe near future. Late Monday, Subaru of America said it would raise prices on some of its mostpopular models

released this month by

Additionalhousing material costs wouldput home ownershipout of reach formore potential buyers, though Home Depotissomewhat insulated as it sources the

of itslumberinthe U.S. Early last year,the company said that about17% of itswood is sourced from Canada. The company would not say Tuesday if those import levels have changed though after negotiations,Canadianlumberwas exempted from additional 25% U.S. tariffs

by as much as $2,000. President Donald Trumplambasted Walmart, saying on social media over the weekend that the retailgiant should “eat” the additional costs created by his tariffs As Trump hasjacked up import taxes,hehas triedtoassure thepublicthatforeign producers would pay forthose taxes and that retailers and automakers would absorb the additionalexpenses. Many economistsare skepticalof those claims and have warned that thetradepenalties would worsen inflation. Tariffs on materials like lumber arealso aconcern for both homebuildersand homebuyers. Ahomebuyer now needs to earn at least $114,000 ayear to afford a$431,250 home —the national medianlisting price in April, according to

Google unleashesnew ‘AIMode’

of web links.

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP technologywriter

GoogleonTuesday unleashed another waveofartificial intelligence technology to accelerate ayearlongmakeover of its search engine that is changing the way people get information and curtailing the flow of internet traffic to websites.

The next phase outlined at Google’sannual developers conference includesreleasinganew “AI mode” optioninthe United States. Thefeaturemakes interacting with Google’ssearch engine more like having a conversationwith an expert capable of answering questions on just aboutany topic imaginable

AI mode is being offered to allcomers in theU.S. justtwo-and-a-half-months after thecompany began testing with alimited Labs division audience.

Google is also feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search algorithms and will soon begin testing other AI features,

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK U.S. stock indexes fell on Tuesday,asmomentum slowed forWall Street after it rallied from adeep hole nearly all the way back to its all-time high set earlier this year. TheS&P 500 fell forits first drop in seven days, but it’sstill within 3.3% of its record.The Dow Jones Industrial Averageand theNasdaq composite also slipped. Treasury yields and the value of theU.S.dollar heldrelatively

such as the ability to automatically buy concert ticketsand conduct searches through live video feeds.

In another exampleofGoogle’sall-in approach to AI, thecompanyrevealed it is planning to leverage the technology to reenter thesmart glasses market withanew pair of Android XR-powered spectacles. The preview of theforthcoming device, which includes ahands-free camera and a voice-poweredAIassistant, comes 13 years after the debut of “Google Glass,”a product that thecompany scrapped after apublic backlashover privacy concerns.

Google didn’tsay when its Android XR glasses will be available or howmuch they will cost, but disclosedthey will be designed in partnership withGentle Monsterand Warby Parker.The glasses will competeagainst asimilarproduct already on themarketfrom Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban.

The expansion builds upon atransformationthat Google began ayear ago with the introduction of conversational summaries called “AI overviews” that have been increasinglyappearingatthe top of its results page and eclipsing its traditional rankings

stablefollowing abriefjolt Mondaymorning after Moody’sRatings said theU.S.government no longer deserves atop-tier credit rating because of worries about its spiraling debt

Several of the U.S. stock market’s worst losses came from companies in the travel industry,as doubts continue abouthow much U.S. households will be able to spend on vacations. Airbnb dropped3.3%, Norwegian CruiseLine fell 3.9% and UnitedAirlines lost 2.9%. Viking Holdingsfell5%even though the company, whichoffers river cruises and other trips, reported stronger resultsthan analystsexpected for thelatest quarter

About1.5 billionpeople nowregularly engage with “AI overviews,” according to Google, andmostusers are nowentering longer and morecomplex queries.

Although Google executives predicted AI overviews would trigger moresearches and ultimately moreclicks to other sites, it hasn’t worked out that way so far, according to the findings of search optimization firm BrightEdge.

Clickthrough ratesfrom Google’ssearch results have declined by nearly 30% during the past year,according to BrightEdge’srecently released study, which attributedthe decrease to people becoming increasingly satisfied with AI overviews.

Google’sreliance on more AI so far appears to be enablingits search engine to maintain its mantle as the internet’smain gateway —aposition that’s mainreasonits corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., boasts a market value of $2 trillion.

During the year ending in March, Google received 136 billion monthly visits, 34 times more than ChatGPT’saverage of 4billion monthly visits, according to data compiled by onelittleweb.com.

On thewinning side of Wall Street was D-WaveQuantum, which jumped 25.9% after releasing itslatest quantum computing system. The company says it can solve complex problems beyond thereach of classical computers. In thebond market, the yield on the10-year Treasury edged up to 4.47% from 4.46% late Monday

The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations foraction by the Federal Reserve, edged down to 3.96% from 3.97%.

Concern still remainsthat Trump’stariffs could pushthe U.S. economy into arecession, even if it’sheld up OK forthe timebeing. If arecession were to hit, the U.S. government may have less room

to offer support for the economy through big spending plans or direct stimulus checks to households than in prior downturns. That’s because the U.S. government’s debt is so muchhighernow,and it could be set to get even bigger with Washingtondebatingmore cuts to taxes. If the U.S. governmentcan’t offer as muchfiscal support for the economy, that could make the next recessiondeeper andlastlonger, according to James Egelhof,chief U.S. economist andotherstrategists at BNPParibas. Thatcould put morepressure on theFederal Reserve to prop up the economy by itself through lower interest rates.