largest selection & lowest prices on wine, spirits & beer
Very best selection
of wine and o spirits
Louisiana Local
New 30 Pack! Limited Time Only!
THC
LB
— ONLY —
— ONLY —
29
$ 30 PACK 12 OZ
Michelob Ultra
LB
9
$ 99
99 750 ML SELECTED
Apothic Wine
— ONLY —
750 ML
— ONLY —
99
LB
Crown Royal Whisky or Hornitos Tequila
visit rouses.com for more weekly ad specials!
THE
23
$
13
$ 1.75 LITER
LIMIT 3
Taaka Vodka
— ONLY —
— ONLY —
16
99
$ 12 PACK 12 OZ
Abita Brewing
1399
$
99 12 PACK 12 OZ
Cheech & Chong’s THC Seltzer
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores June 4th - 11th, 2025.
ACADIANA
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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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M o n d ay, J u n e 9, 2025
$2.00X
EXTRAORDINARy
GIFTS
Quiet billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s $180 million in surprise donations bolstering La.’s neediest families
Raises eyed for Lafayette teachers
Consolidations, cuts also in budget up for School Board approval BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
The Lafayette Parish School Board will vote Thursday on a balanced $656.5 million budget for the district that serves nearly 30,000 students. The proposed 2025-26 fiscal year budget, which will be voted on during the School Board’s 5 p.m. meeting, comes with about $7.6 million in new and increased expenses. That includes raising starting teacher salaries to $50,000, compensating staff for extracurricular duties and partially funding a special program at Alice Boucher Elementary. To fund those expenses, the district had to make cuts elsewhere, primarily through consolidations and cuts at the district office and among other staff.
ä See BUDGET, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Heavenly Care Child Development Center 3 employee Kenyia Boyd reads to Noah Hall at the center in Alexandria on May 30. Hall is able to attend the center for free thanks to a grant from MacKenzie Scott. BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
ALEXANDRIA — The day care center’s door opened before Ananda Flanagan and her son, Noah, reached it. “Good morning, Noah!” the center’s director sang to the 1-yearold, her arms stretched out to him. “How are you today?” Noah beamed. When Flanagan was pregnant, she had planned for family to help with child care. But after her aunt’s schedule shifted, the Colfax resident found herself shuffling Noah to work with her, setting him in a pack-and-play. Desperate for an alternative, she came across an online ad for an early childhood education grant. “It was God,” she said. It was also MacKenzie
school districts in Rapides, Grant and Natchitoches parishes match dollars from the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund. That $2.13 m i l l i o n helped 380 Scott infants, toddlers and preschoolers attend an early childhood center — in Noah’s case, for free. STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE In the five years since Scott, Café Reconcile CEO Kheri Billy, center, chats with customers a billionaire philanthropist, novelist and former wife of Deidre and Anthony Webb at the restaurant on May 22. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, The Central City nonprofit received a $4 million grant from began bestowing big, flexMacKenzie Scott. ible grants on unsuspecting nonprofits, the money has Scott. In late 2023, flush with known as Yield Giving, the taken root in communities a surprise, $14 million grant Alexandria-based Rapides ä See GIFTS, page 3A from Scott’s charity, now Foundation decided to help
Challenges, opportunities await LSU’s next president BY PATRICK WALL
Staff writer
William Tate IV’s final months as president of LSU, leading up to his May announcement that he would step down to become president of Rutgers University, had been — to put it mildly — eventful. In January, LSU’s general counsel Tate resigned and was soon followed by two more of Tate’s top lieutenants. In February, Tate
ä See LSU, page 4A
National Guard faces off with protesters hours after arriving in L.A. BY ERIC THAYER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Guard troops and shouted insults at them, hours after President Donald Associated Press Trump’s extraordinary deLOS ANGELES — Tear gas ployment of the military was fired at protesters in over the objections of the Los Angeles on Sunday governor and mayor. The confrontation broke when some demonstrators moved close to National out as hundreds of people
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 76 PAGE 10C
protested in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where several of the newly arrived National Guard troops stood shoulder to shoulder behind plastic riot shields. Video showed uniformed
officers shooting off the smoke-filled canisters as they advanced into the street, forcing protesters to retreat. It was not immediately clear what prompted the use of
ä See GUARD, page 5A
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National Guard troops stand outside the federal prison Sunday in Los Angeles, following a immigration raid protest the night before. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JAE HONG
100TH yEAR, NO. 344