BATON ROUGE SUPER REGIONAL: GRAND SLAMS LIFT LSU OVER WVU THE
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T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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S u n d ay, J u n e 8, 2025
‘An evolution, not a renaissance’
Cajun, zydeco music brings national media attention to Louisiana
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Scammers utilizing crypto ATM machines Schemes to take victims’ money have become more sophisticated
BY AIDAN MCCAHILL Staff writer
When Danny Foret’s computer froze one morning, a window flashed on the screen urging him to call Microsoft customer support. But after he dialed the number, Foret says, his minor headache turned disastrous. The support agent informed him his computer had been hacked, giving someone access to his bank account: $9,000 had been spent at a child pornography site, with another $4,000 siphoned toward online gambling. Panic set in, Foret recalls, but the voice on the other end was reassuring, his instructions clear: Don’t touch your computer, don’t speak to anyone, and above all, act fast.
ä See SCAMMERS, page 10A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
Jourdan Thibodeaux, left, and Cedric Watson perform as Jourdan Thibodeaux et Les Rôdailleurs at Festival International de Louisiane in 2024. BY JOANNA BROWN
the region’s folk traditions, is largely thanks to how Cajun and zydeco music and perforWhen “60 Minutes” came to mance have evolved through the Lafayette area last fall to the years — in addition to a film a segment on Cajun and multidecade effort to promote zydeco music, they were con- the region’s music in Louisiana and beyond, acfronted with the “We live for energy of a thrivcording to experts. “We live for moing cultural scene. moments like CBS corresponments like this, this, when we when we see our dent Jon Wertheim see our culture culture repreremarked that the represented sounds of southsented anywhere anywhere — — nationally and west Louisiana internationally. It’s were experiencing nationally and a “most unlikely internationally. It’s what we all work hard for,” said renaissance,” what we all work so Cynthia Simien, in the “60 Minso hard for.” wife of zydeco utes” episode that star and Grammy aired on Sunday, CyNTHIA SIMIEN, winner Terrance May 18. Seeing wife of zydeco star Simien. acts like Jourdan Terrance Simien Cynthia Simien is Thibodeaux, Chubalso an agent and by Carrier and Lil’ booking manager Nate Williams attract crowds of eager fans to who has long worked with her local watering holes, Wertheim husband to promote Louisiana noted that Acadiana feels like music worldwide. She was a place apart, where Cajun and largely responsible for the zydeco music sets the rhythm campaign to include a Cajun/ of life — instead of being rel- zydeco category in the Grammy Awards, which was inauegated to the history bin. That immediacy, and the vi- gurated in 2008 but collapsed a brancy with which fans and ä See EVOLUTION, page 8A artists continue to engage with
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Melanie Cade, a special education teacher in Jefferson Parish and single mother of two, says she has to rely on family support and take on extra jobs like DoorDash to make ends meet.
Teachers face pay struggles Lawmakers debate raising educator salaries
BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Terrance Simien is a zydeco star and Grammy award winner.
Melanie Cade wasn’t sure how she felt when the package arrived on her doorstep last year with a red DoorDash delivery bag inside. As a single mother of two and a special education teacher in Jefferson Parish, working for the online service would offer Cade a little extra cash — on top of her other part-time tutoring gig — to supplement her salary. But it was also a reminder of how difficult it has been to make ends meet. When the bag came, Cade’s 7-year-old daughter asked why she needed to work another job. Cade
ä See TEACHERS, page 11A
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100TH yEAR, NO. 343