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Answers sought in death of teen ‘She lit up every room,’ friend says
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W e d n e s d ay, n ov e m b e r 5, 2025
McNeese president picked to lead LSU
Rousse promises corporate-oriented leadership
BY JA’KORI MADISON and ASHLEY WHITE
ä See TEEN, page 4A
Donations, funds sought at area community pantries BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Wade Rousse, front, and James Dalton receive a round of applause and shake hands on their way to the podium after being named LSU president and executive vice president respectively during the LSU Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.
Board also appoints chancellor for BR campus BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer
PROVIDED PHOTO
Gabriella Sharp, a senior at Acadiana High School who died Saturday, dreamed of becoming a beautician.
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
The shelves are mostly empty at the OASIS Community Food Pantry outside the MLK Recreation Center on Monday.
Food needs on the rise
Staff writers
The family of Gabriella Sharp, a senior at Acadiana High School, is remembering her shining spirit while seeking answers about the circumstances surrounding her death. Sharp, who dreamed of becoming a beautician, was known by family and friends for her radiant smile and her love of doing hair and makeup. According to her family, she had a gift for making others feel beautiful. “She could brighten any room she entered,” family friend Hailey Matthews said. “She had the ability to make anybody smile, no matter what they were going through.” Family members said they know little about the circumstances surrounding Sharp’s death. What has been confirmed is that Lafayette police officers responded about 3:40 a.m. Saturday to a convenience store in the 2400 block of West Congress Street after reports of an unresponsive person. When they arrived, officials found Sharp and attempted life-saving measures, but she died at the scene. Preliminary autopsy findings show her death to be “medical
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After a monthslong process and two hours of deliberation by the LSU Board of Supervisors, McNeese State University President Wade Rousse is LSU’s 29th president. A Louisiana native, Rousse pitched himself as a nontraditional candidate who would shake up the university with corporate-oriented leadership after past presidents had lengthy academic backgrounds. He said the exact date he will start hasn’t been set. In an unexpected turn of events Tuesday afternoon, the
board simultaneously appointed another finalist for the president position — James Dalton, executive vice president and provost at the University of Alabama — as the executive vice president of LSU. The position will include the traditional chancellor role of the flagship campus in Baton Rouge and signals a significant change to the current system. Accepting his position, Rousse said he intended to put a detailed organizational chart out in the next 30 days and called the appointment “the honor of my life.” “Thank you for thinking creatively,” he told board members. “As we started this process, we started thinking about structure.
At every event I went to, I talked about structure. In my mind, I have a 90-day, a 180-day and a 360-day plan.” Rousse will take control of LSU under intense public scrutiny: In the past two weeks, football coach Brian Kelly was fired and Athletic Director Scott Woodward left under pressure from Gov. Jeff Landry. Additionally, the Trump administration has been attempting to cut federal grant funding to universities nationwide, including LSU. Yet total enrollment in the LSU system is at a record high, adding some financial stability.
ä See LSU, page 4A
Meals donated to the Lafayette Community Fridge on East Simcoe Street these days are gone almost immediately. Shelves at other community pantries and refrigerators in the city empty quickly, too. Many were nearly empty Monday, and the need for food is likely to increase. Community organizations, even the state, are asking residents to help their neighbors by donating cooked meals and food items at least as long as federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is withheld. “As long as that goes on, the community needs to step up and fill those holes,” said Jason Stoner, of Foodies of Lafayette, a group that manages the Lafayette Community Fridge. The shutdown of the federal government starting Oct. 1 and President Donald Trump’s refusal to use backup funds to continue to pay food subsidies to those in SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, have left some families struggling to pay for food. Despite a court order, Trump said Tuesday he will not release SNAP funds until Congress returns to session. In Louisiana, 800,000 people
ä See FOOD, page 4A
Former Vice President Cheney dies at 84 He was a powerful and polarizing figure
BY CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Dick Cheney, the hardcharging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at 84. George W. Bush’s vice president died Monday from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said Tuesday in a
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statement. In Cheney’s hands, the vice presidency became a nexus of influence and manipulation — no longer the timid office whose occupants had tended their boss’s ambitions, gone to endless banquets and often waited in the wings for their own shot at the prize. “The Darth Vader of the administration,” as Bush described the public’s view. When he bunkered in secure undisclosed locations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, that was less an inconvenience for Cheney than a metaphor for a life of power that he exercised to maximum effect from the shadows. No one seemed more amused at that
perception than Cheney himself. “Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?” he asked. “It’s a nice way to operate, actually.” Cheney served father and son presidents, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush before returning to public life under his son. Cheney had a hand, often a commanding one, in implementing decisions most important to the president and some of surpassing interest to
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHUCK BURTON
Dick Cheney served two terms as George W. Bush’s vice ä See CHENEY, page 6A president.
Business ...................10C Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................8A Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 128