The Acadiana Advocate 01-28-2026

La. food stamp restrictions set to begin

State limits use of SNAP benefits for candy, soft drinks

BY EMILY WOODRUFF

Staff writer

Louisiana SNAP recipients may

find themselves involuntarily giving up soda and candy for Lent this year as new restrictions on what the food assistance can be used to purchase take effect on Ash

Wednesday In announcing the changes, state health officials said the timing immediately after Mardi Gras was

intentional. The waiver allowing Louisiana to place the restrictions on the federal program commonly known as food stamps was approved last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was set to begin Jan. 1, but the state received approval for the delay “You can still buy soda, you can still buy candy, but you cannot use your SNAP card to do it beginning Feb. 18 ” said Camille Conaway, the executive director for eco-

nomic independence at the Louisiana Department of Health. “So we are going to enjoy our candy and our soda and our energy drinks all the way from Mardi Gras, and then we’re collectively going on a really great diet.”

Roughly 25,000 products will no longer be eligible for purchase with SNAP funds, according to a product list commissioned by the state and compiled by NielsenIQ, a consumer research company

Under Louisiana’s waiver, “soft drinks” are defined as any carbonated, nonalcoholic beverage containing high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners, such as regular or diet sodas. Flavored carbonated waters, such as LaCroix, remain eligible, as do beverages containing milk or milk substitutes like soy or almond milk, and drinks made up of at least 50% fruit or vegetable juice. Energy drinks containing added stimulants — including fortified caffeine, taurine, guarana or glucuronolactone — are also no longer

allowed. That category includes popular brands such as Red Bull and Monster Coffee and tea remain eligible, as do caffeinated beverages that do not include added stimulants.

Candy is defined as a sugar- or sweetener-based product combined with ingredients such as chocolate, fruit or nuts and sold in bars, drops or pieces. Chocolate bars, gummies and hard candies are excluded, while protein bars and baking ingredients such as

Long piping being used for a city sewer project is stored along St. Mary Boulevard on Tuesday. The construction is part of a major upgrade to the downtown area’s sewage capacity and will see parts of the road closed for several weeks, said Lafayette Consolidated Government’s Capital Improvements Director Martin Poirrier Officials say that while construction won’t impact the Mardi Gras parade route, work zones will be fenced off and monitored for public safety Story, Page 1B

Population in state sees slight increase

Louisiana continues to lag in growth among Southern peers

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL

Staff writer

Louisiana’s population ticked slightly higher last year, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, suggesting that population losses from recent years have waned even as the state remains one of the slowest growing in the U.S. and among its Southern peers. The figures released Tuesday show that Louisiana had a population of approximately 4.6 million as of July 1, with 3,300 more people living here than a year earlier The nudge higher was fueled by more births in the state than deaths and

an increase in the number of international immigrants, who offset the number of people that left the state last year

ä Immigration crackdown triggers drop in growth rate nationally PAGE 7A

It was the second-straight year that Louisiana posted a modest increase in population after two-straight years of declines and a decades-long depopulation trend in the state. Still, the latest data places Louisiana at 43rd of the 50 states, both in terms of population growth and out-migration, continuing a persistent trend that Gov Jeff Landry has focused on trying to reverse through economic development

ä See POPULATION, page 7A

Children sled on the wintry mix that fell in Shreveport on Sunday.

Outages from winter storm continue

North and central La. residents hit hard

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN and JENNA ROSS Staff writers

Tens of thousands remained without power Tuesday in north and central Louisiana as residents braced for more belowfreezing temperatures, even as south Louisiana was mostly spared from the worst of the week’s severe winter weather

Over the weekend, a winter storm that has ravaged much of the country blanketed the upper half of the state with snow and ice, snapping trees and bringing down power lines.

By Tuesday morning, the death toll related to the storm had climbed to at least six, state officials reported. The Louisiana

ä See WINTER, page 6A

Judge bars removal of boy, 5, and father

A federal judge has issued a temporary order prohibiting removal of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father whose arrest last week in Minnesota quickly became another lightning rod for America’s divisions on immigration under the Trump administration.

U.S. Judge Fred Biery ruled Monday that any removal or transfer of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is on hold while a court case proceeds.

The father and son are now at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio. They were taken into custody last week outside their home in Minnesota. Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer

The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.”

France bans social media for children under 15

PARIS French lawmakers approved a bill banning social media for children under 15, paving the way for the measure to enter into force at the start of the next school year in September, as the idea of setting a minimum age for use of the platforms gains momentum across Europe.

The bill, which also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools, was adopted by a 130-21 vote late Monday French President Emmanuel Macron has requested that the legislation be fast-tracked and it will now be discussed by the Senate in the coming weeks.

“Banning social media for those under 15: this is what scientists recommend, and this is what the French people are overwhelmingly calling for,” Macron said after the vote.

“Because our children’s brains are not for sale neither to American platforms nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams must not be dictated by algorithms.”

Mountain lion captured in posh neighborhood

SAN FRANCISCO — A 77-pound mountain lion set off a scramble Tuesday as it wandered through San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood before finally being captured as onlookers safely peered from their home windows or stood across the street. Dozens of officials worked to capture and tranquilize the male cat after warnings were issued advising people to slowly back away if they encountered it. The wild cat was first seen Monday morning.

The mountain lion was found Tuesday hiding in a garden between two apartment buildings, San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias said. Authorities shot the feline with tranquilizers three times “to make sure it was completely unconscious,” Elias said “They covered his eyes and bound its paws, just to make sure it wasn’t going to run anywhere.”

‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the U.S. and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday and advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending Last year, the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight. Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.

Bitter cold grips U.S. as storm deaths rise Activists say

BY SOPHIE BATES, KRISTIN M. HALL and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse. Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.

Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 F late Tuesday into early Wednesday The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts

of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.

“This could be the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday Officials in states afflicted with severe cold reported more than 40 deaths.

Three brothers ages 6, 8 and 9 died Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said Tuesday The boys’ mother said she ran into the freezing lake and frantically tried to pull her sons from the water, but the ice kept breaking beneath them.

“They were just screaming, telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water I watched all of them fight.”

More than 470,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday evening, with over

half the outages in Tennessee and Mississippi. Reconnecting some hard-hit areas could take days. Electric utility Entergy said some of its 6,000 customers in Grenada, Mississippi, might not have power until Sunday Jean Kirkland used a lighter and paper Tuesday to ignite her gas stovetop. Her neighborhood in Lexington, Mississippi, lost power Sunday, and Kirkland and her daughter have been relying on the stove and a couple of gas-powered heaters to keep warm. Outside, icicles dangling from power lines clattered.

“When you’re used to certain things, you miss them when they’re gone,” said Kirkland, who’s been getting by without hot water and lights at night, as well as her TV Health officials warn against using gas-powered stoves to heat a home. They can give off fumes that increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one carbon monoxide death was reported in Louisiana, according to the state Health Department.

Russian drones kill 3 and wound children in Ukraine

Zelenskyy urges speedier diplomacy

BY KAMILA HRABCHUK Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — A heavy Russian drone bombardment of Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa killed at least three people and wounded 23, including two children and a pregnant woman, officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for speedier U.S. efforts to end Russia’s almost 4-year-old invasion of his country

The Odesa attack involved more than 50 drones, some of them models recently upgraded by Russia to improve their range and strike power, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The drones targeted the power grid, which Russia has repeatedly bombarded during the coldest winter in years, and also hit five apartment blocks, officials said. Emergency crews retrieved the bodies of two men, aged 90 and 52, and a woman from the rubble, authorities said.

“The rescue operation will continue until the fate of all people who may be under the rubble is clarified,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that an informal Protestant place of worship was also damaged.

“Each such Russian strike undermines diplomacy, which is still ongoing, and hits, in particular, the efforts of partners who are helping to end this war,” he said.

Zelenskyy said late Monday the next round of talks with the United States and Russia is penciled in for Feb. 1. but that “it would be good if this meeting could be accelerated.”

In Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, a passenger train carrying over

200 people was hit by three drones later Tuesday, in what the head of the regional administration Oleh Syniehubov labelled “terrorism.” Four people were killed and another four reported missing.

A diplomatic push by the Trump administration to end the war has made progress, according to officials, but has delivered no breakthrough on the key issue of what happens to Russian-occupied Ukrainian land and other territory that Moscow is demanding.

Analysts says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in no rush to find a settlement, despite his army’s difficulties on the roughly 600-mile front line. He believes that time is on his side, that Western support for Kyiv will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually break under pressure, according to analysts.

To replenish its forces and keep up the pressure on Kyiv, Moscow is offering cash bonuses, freeing convicts from prison and luring foreigners to its army

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

Emirates

DUBAI,UnitedArab

Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests has killed at least 6,159 people while many others are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East to lead any American military response to the crisis. Iran’s currency, the rial, meanwhile fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1. The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyers accompanying it provide the U.S. the ability to strike Iran, particularly as Gulf Arab states have signaled they want to stay out of any attack despite hosting American military personnel

Two Iranian-backed militias in the Mideast have signaled their willingness to launch new attacks, likely trying to back Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or Tehran launching mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to drag the entire Mideast into a war, though its air defenses and military are still reeling after the June war launched by Israel against the country But the pressure on its economy may spark new unrest as everyday goods slowly go out of reach of its people — particularly if Trump chooses to attack.

Ambrey, a private security firm, issued a notice Tuesday saying it assessed that the U.S. “has positioned sufficient military capability to conduct kinetic operations against Iran while maintaining the ability to defend itself and regional allies from reciprocal action.”

“Supporting or avenging Iranian protesters in punitive strikes is assessed as insufficient justification for sustained military conflict,” Ambrey wrote. “However, alternative objectives, such as the degradation of Iranian military capabilities, may increase the likelihood of limited U.S. intervention.”

Tuesday’s new figures came from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest in Iran.

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Authorities release Ecuadorian man

Case led judge to order ICE leader to court

BY MIKE CATALINI and STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS Federal immigration authorities have released an Ecuadorian man whose detention led the chief federal judge in Minnesota to order the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in his courtroom, the man’s attorney said Tuesday

Attorney Graham OjalaBarbour said the man, who is identified in court documents as “Juan T.R.,” was released in Texas. The lawyer said in an email to The Associated Press that he was notified in an email from the U.S. attorneys office in Minneapolis shortly after 1 p.m that his client had been freed.

In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz expressed frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of Juan’s and

other immigration cases. He took the extraordinary step of ordering Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, to personally appear in his courtroom Friday Schiltz had said in his order that he would cancel Lyons’ appearance if the man was released from custody “This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” he wrote.

The order comes a day after President Donald Trump ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the second death this month of a person at the hands of an immigration law enforcement officer

Trump said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he had “great calls” with Minnesota Gov Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday, mirroring comments he made immediately after the calls.

The seemingly softer tone emerged as immigration agents were still active across the Twin Cities region, and it was unclear if officials had changed tactics following the shift by the White House.

Walz’s office said Tuesday that the Democratic governor met with Homan and called for impartial investigations into the shootings involving federal officers. They agreed on the need to continue to talk, according to the governor Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said they also met with Homan and had a “productive conversation.” The mayor added that city leaders would stay in discussion with the border czar

1 in critical condition after Ariz. shooting involving Border Patrol

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press

One person was shot and in critical condition Tuesday in a shooting involving the Border Patrol near the U.S.Mexico border, authorities in Arizona said. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the FBI had asked it to “lead the use-of-force investigation involving the agent.” It noted that such investigations are standard when a federal agency is involved in a shooting in the county “We ask the community to remain patient and understanding as this investigation moves forward,” the department said in a statement.

In response to an Associated Press request for details of the shooting, the FBI said it was “investigating an alleged assault on a federal officer” near Arivaca, Arizona, a community about 10 miles from the border. An FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email and telephone call asking about how the alleged assault was related to the shooting.

The Santa Rita Fire District said it responded to the shooting and the person who was wounded was in custody

“Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter for rapid transport to a regional trauma center,” the fire district said. One level-one trauma cen-

ter hospital in Tucson declined to release information, and the AP was waiting on a response from another

The area is a common path for drug smugglers and migrants who illegally cross the border, so agents regularly patrol there.

Authorities released no information about the suspect. The shooting comes in a month that has seen three shootings — two fatal — by immigration officers involved in the massive Department of Homeland Security enforcement operation in Minnesota.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to emails and telephone calls seeking more information

Trump visits Iowa, trying to focus on affordability

BY SEUNG MIN KIM and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press

CLIVE, Iowa President Donald Trump arrived in Iowa on Tuesday as part of the White House’s midtermyear pivot toward affordability even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

The Republican president first made a stop at a local restaurant, where he met some locals and sat for an interview with Fox News Channel — in which he said he was attempting to “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota. Afterwards, he was scheduled to deliver a speech on affordability at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.

The trip is expected to also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.

The latest comes as the

Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in the neighboring state of Minnesota Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, Trump said he was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.

As Trump left the White House on Tuesday to head to Iowa, he was repeatedly questioned by reporters about Pretti’s killing. Trump disputed language used by his own deputy chief of

staff, Stephen Miller, who on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post.

Trump, when asked Tuesday if he believed Pretti was an assassin, said, “No.” When asked if he thought Pretti’s killing was justified, Trump called it “a very sad situation” and said a “big investigation” was underway

“I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” he said. He also said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was quick to cast Pretti as a violent instigator, would not be resigning.

Judge finds Virginia Democrats’ redistricting resolution illegal

BY OLIVIA DIAZ Associated Press/Report for America

RICHMOND,Va A Virginia judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed constitutional amendment letting Democrats redraw the state’s Congressional maps was illegal, setting back the party’s efforts to pick up seats in the U.S. House in November Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr struck down the legislature’s actions on three grounds, including finding that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.

His order also said Democrats failed to approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law

As a result, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, who was listed in Republicans’ lawsuit over the resolution, said Democrats would appeal the ruling.

“Nothing that happened today will dissuade us from

continuing to move forward and put this matter directly to the voters,” Scott said in a joint statement with other state Democratic leaders. Virginians for Fair Elections, a campaign that supports the redistricting reso-

lution, accused conservatives of filing their lawsuit in a known GOP-friendly jurisdiction, saying, “Republicans court-shopped for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left.”

NOTICE OF VACANCY

APPOINTMENT OF ST.MARTIN PARISHREGISTRAR OF VOTERS

THE ST.MARTIN PARISHCOUNCIL SHALL APPOINT AN INDIVIDUALTOSERVE AS THE ST.MARTIN PARISH REGISTRAR OF VOTERS.

Allinterestedapplicantsshall submit applications andresumes as follows: 1). Sent to the Clerkofthe Councilthrough emailat: bgillespie@ stmartinparish.net, 2). Hand delivered at the followingaddress: 301 W. Port Street St Martinville, Louisiana 70582; 3). ViaU.S.Mailto301 W. Port Street St.Martinville, Louisiana 70582. Allapplicationsand resumes shallbeattention to the St.MartinParish Council, Attention: Clerkofthe Council, Brooke Thibodeaux ALL APPLICATIONS AND RESUMES MUSTBERECEIVED NO LATER THAN 4:00 P.M. ON JANUARY29, 2026.

THE ST.MARTIN PARISHCOUNCIL WILL CONDUCT INTERVIEWS OF ALL QUALIFIED APPLICANTSATA SPECIAL MEETINGAT10:00 A.M. ON SATURDAY,JANUARY31, 2026.

QUALIFICATIONSFOR APPLICANTSFOR REGISTRAR OF VOTERS ARE PROVIDED FORINLOUISIANA REVISED STATUE 18:52 WHICH PROVIDES AS FOLLOWS: Louisiana RevisedStatute 18:52. Qualificationsofregistrars A. Each applicantto fill the office of registrarofvotersshall be aregistered voter. If appointedto fill the office of registrarofvoters, the applicant shallbecomea resident andregisteredvoter of the parishinwhich he is to performhis duties priortotakingthe oath of offi

Department of Health confirmed that three people died of hypothermia, with two other suspected hypothermia deaths.

One man died of carbon monoxide poisoning and another died in a fatal wreck related to icy conditions, according to the agency. A woman also died after her oxygen concentrator failed during a power outage, according to the agency

Meanwhile, road conditions prevented some residents from evacuating their homes and shut down parts of the northern parishes.

Drivers were stranded for as many as 20 hours on Interstate 20, according to social media reports, as stuck 18-wheelers near Arcadia and Ruston brought traffic to a standstill. Louisiana State Police troopers conducted supply drops, welfare checks and ATV evacuations in the area.

As of late afternoon Tuesday, more than 90,000 customers still lacked power, according to poweroutage.us.

Gov Jeff Landy toured East and West Carroll parishes by air Tuesday when he also met with leaders in Ouachita and Richland parishes to discuss the effects of the storm Landry has said he is contacting the White House in hopes of getting federal aid.

East Carroll shuts down

The storm’s impact was especially pronounced in East Carroll Parish, which lost power almost entirely

“It’s been catastrophic,” Sheriff Wydette Williams said. “We’ve had storms before, but the way the power lines and trees snapped like toothpicks, I’ve never saw this before.”

The hospital, prisons, a grocery store and other public spaces were

RESTRICTIONS

Continued from page 1A

chocolate chips or toffee bits are still allowed.

Louisiana is one of about a dozen states that have requested waivers from the USDA to restrict certain SNAP purchases, part of a growing movement and a cornerstone of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement put forth by federal health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Each state has slightly different rules for what is no longer allowed. For instance, West Virginia restricts sugary beverages but not candy Texas defines sweetened drinks as having 5 grams or more of added sugar or any artificial sweetener Missouri added “prepared desserts” to its list of ineligible foods.

Nearly 750,000 people in Louisiana about 1 in 5 households — use SNAP, which provides monthly benefits loaded onto a debitstyle card that can be used at most grocery retailers.

Benefit amounts vary based on household size, income and expenses such as housing.

The average monthly ben-

efit in Louisiana is $377, totaling roughly $1.78 billion per year The program is entirely federally funded, though the state covers

relying on backup generators, Williams said.

It was unclear when power would be restored

“We have received word from Entergy that they have run into far more problems than anticipated,” the Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook. “They are in the parish on the ground working diligently, but they cannot commit to a definitive time and date when electrical services will be restored.”

Residents in East Carroll also lost water service, and some struggled to keep medical devices running amid the outage, according to a release from Delta Interfaith, a coalition of congregations and community organizations in the Louisiana Delta. Blocked roads prevented some residents from

half of the $337 million in administrative costs. That state share is expected to increase to 75% next year under the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” championed by President Donald Trump. State officials said the changes are part of a broader effort to promote healthier eating. When the restrictions were first announced, Gov. Jeff Landry said the state would seek approval to allow SNAP recipients to purchase rotisserie chicken a prepared food item typically excluded from the program but touted by the state as healthy, cheap and good for feeding a large family

That request has not yet been approved by the USDA, according to Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein

The USDA doesn’t have a specific timeline for approval or denial, according to a spokesperson. States can make a new request with additional information if a request is denied

The Health Department is also expanding a pilot called the Louisiana Carrot Program, which offers SNAP users 30 cents back for every dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. More than 71,000 people are currently enrolled in 11 parishes, and the program is expected to expand to New Orleans and Baton Rouge later this year SNAP is an anti-hunger

evacuating.

Before the storm, Prudence Grissom bought a propane heater for her East Carroll home. “They advertise that it’s safe indoors,” she said. But just to be sure, the 70-year-old placed it in a doorway, leading to a hallway Over the course of the weekend, Grissom found herself sleeping for six-hour stretches, struggling to wake up.

A friend called, and on Sunday, when Grissom failed to pick up, alerted the Sheriff’s Office. A deputy knocked loud enough that Grissom awoke.

“At that point, I said, ‘OK, it has to be this heater,’ ” she said. “I haven’t been using it since.”

Instead, Grissom donned three sweaters, two pairs of pants and several sets of socks. She lit can-

dles. She watched from her window as ice-coated tree branches snapped and fell.

Grissom moved to East Carroll a decade ago to care for her mother She is from New Orleans, where after Hurricane Katrina, she lived without power for weeks.

“You put one step in front of another,” she said. “You do the best you can.”

Upcoming temperatures

The Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans areas were expected to see lows in the upper 20s and lower 30s Tuesday and Wednesday nights, according to the National Weather Service, which forecast that temperatures would stay in the low 40s Thursday night.

Meanwhile, temperatures near

Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria would be in the 20s Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and hover just above freezing on Thursday night, the agency predicted. The state is expected to see temperatures drop again over the weekend, when nighttime temperatures could dip into the teens near Monroe, Alexandria, Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

Officials have urged residents to follow safety instructions when using devices like space heaters and generators, and to avoid driving in north and central Louisiana. The state has opened dozens of warming centers that are available to the public. Residents looking for more information on how to stay safe during the storm can visit getagameplan.org.

program at its core, and nearly 830,000 people in Louisiana are food insecure, meaning they don’t have access to enough or adequately healthy food. SNAP’s effectiveness has long been tied to the freedom it gives families and the discreet way benefits are used at the checkout counter, and it’s unclear how changing that might affect shopping habits.

“What does this look like at the register when people are coming up with products, thinking they’re covered, and they’re not?” said Megan Knapp, a public health professor and researcher focused on food policy at Xavier University “I think there’s going to be some confusion.”

Knapp, who is developing a research proposal to study whether SNAP purchase restrictions actually reduce consumption of sugary beverages, said some retailers have also raised concerns. Smaller stores, in particular, may find it burdensome to manage constantly changing eligibility rules and could opt out of the program altogether

Marcus Coleman, a public health researcher at Tulane University, said federal cuts to SNAP education funding in September undercut efforts to help families actually eat healthier

“We’re telling people to buy healthier foods, but

what if they don’t necessarily have the knowledge about how to prepare certain things?” Coleman said.

In rural areas, sometimes candy or a soft drink is what’s available, said Coleman, who grew up in Tensas Parish.

Greenstein said SNAP has always come with limits.

“It’s a big change, but today you can’t buy a six-pack of beer, you can’t buy paper towels,” he said. “There are things the program has never paid for.”

“My town has a Dollar General. My grandmother has to travel 13 miles to the next grocery store,” Coleman said. “You need things in between to get by.”

The waiver banning soda, candy and energy drinks is approved for two years. During that time, the state is required to collect data and regularly report on whether the changes lead to measurable shifts in purchasing behavior and health outcomes.

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate. com.

Immigrationcrackdown triggers drop in growth

U.S. population hits 342million

BY MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press

ORLANDO,Fla. President Donald Trump’scrackdown on immigration contributed to ayear-to-year drop in the nation’sgrowth rate as theU.S.populationreached nearly 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesdaybythe U.S. Census Bureau.

The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was asharp drop from 2024’salmost 1% growth rate, which was the highest in two decadesand was fueled by immigration.The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people.

Immigration increased by almost 1.3 million people last year compared with 2024’sincrease of almost 2.8 million people.Iftrends continue, the annual gain from immigrants by mid-2026will drop to only 321,000 people, according to the Census Bureau, whose estimates do not distinguish between legal and illegalimmigration In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was in 2021, during theheightofthe coronaviruspandemic, when theU.S.population grew by just 0.16%, or 522,000 people and immigration increased by just 376,000 people because of travel restrictions into the U.S. Before that, the lowest growth rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 at the height of the Spanish flu.

Births outnumbereddeathslast year by 519,000 people. While

POPULATION

Continued from page1A

and changes to thestate’s tax laws.

The state population estimates are released annually at the beginning of the year and are basedonpublicly available data likebirth and deathrecords,IRS returns and Medicare filings. Parish- and municipal-level estimates will come out later this spring. The estimates, though imperfect, help governments and institutions plan and budget during the years between the once-adecade census count. Since the 1980s, when the state’soil-based economy collapsed, Louisiana has lagged other states in terms of net growth, even though thenumberofpeopleborn in the state has continued to increase.

Landry was unavailable for comment on Tuesday while in North Louisiana on Tuesday dealing with the aftermath of afatal winter storm. Louisiana Economic Development SecretarySusan Bourgeois said the data shows the state is headingin the right direction, though she acknowledged it still has along way to go.

“The latest census data shows La.has stabilized its population and that matters,” Bourgeois said in a text message from Washington, where she is attending the annual gathering of Louisiana officials known as Washington Mardi Gras.

higherthanthe pandemic-era low at thebeginningofthe decade, the natural increasewas dramatically smaller than in the 2000s, when it ranged between 1.6 million and 1.9 million people. The immigration drop dented growthinseveral states that traditionally have been immigrant magnets.

Californiahad anet population loss of 9,500 people in 2025, astark change from theprevious year, when it gained 232,000 residents, even though roughly the same number of Californians already living in the statemoved out in bothyears. The difference was immigration since the number of net immigrants who moved into the state dropped from 361,000 people in 2024 to 109,000 in 2025.

“After years of decline, these small gains tellusthat the reforms and initiatives we’ve put inplace over the past two years have helped stop thebleedingand that’s an important first step. But it’snot the finish line.”

Still, Allison Plyer, chief demographer of TheData Center,aNew Orleans-based data-analysis groupthat keeps watch on population trends,noted that in comparison with other states, Louisiana isn’t catchingup.

“Louisianaisseventhfrom the bottom, nationwide,” said Plyer.“That is trueof thelast year andeveryyear since 2020.”

The trends last year in Louisiana come against a backdrop of anationthat sawsomeofthe slowest population growth in its recent history,due largely to the sharp decrease in international immigrants to thecountry during the last six months of the Biden administration and the first six months ofPresidentDonald Trump’ssecondterm.

The U.S. population grew by around 1.8 million over the year to nearly 342 million.The number of international immigrants during that period —nearly 1.3 million —was less than half the high of over 2.7 million underPresident Biden in 2024.

In Louisiana, 14,900new international immigrants moved into thestate last year,offsetting the14,387 residentswho left the state. The difference of 513 net new people, coupled with 2,774 more births than

Floridahad year-to-year drops in bothimmigrants and people movinginfromother states. The Sunshine State, which has become moreexpensive in recent years from surging property values and higher home insurance costs, had only 22,000 domestic migrants in 2025,comparedwith 64,000 people in 2024, and the net number of immigrantsdropped from more than 411,000 people to 178,000 people.

New York addedonly 1,008 people in 2025, mostly because the state’snet migration fromimmigrants dropped from 207,000 people to 95,600 people.

SouthCarolina, Idaho and North Carolina hadthe highestyear-overyear growthrates, ranging from 1.3% to 1.5%. Texas, Florida and North Carolina added themost

deaths, gave the state atotalgainlastyearof3,311 people.

Plyer said it’snot clear from the data whether the new international immigrantsrepresentnew residentstothe state, who came to work, set down roots and paytaxes, or whether the numberswere inflated by thenumber of migrants sent to one of the state’sdetention centers.

“Louisiana has adisproportionate number of ICE detention centers so the numbers could be distorted,” Plyersaid, adding that additionalresearch will be needed to figure it out “Whatisclear is that we have the seventh-highest rate of domesticoutflow and the only reason we are not losingpopulation is because of international immigrants.”

Louisiana has suffered a seriesofsetbacks in recent years as it has tried to attract moreresidents and stem the tied of people heading elsewhere. Thestate made few gains during the coronavirus pandemic even as other statesinthe South saw arise in population growth. Analysts have attributed some of therecentdepopulation to theseries of major hurricanes that struck the state, including HurricaneIda which helped to spark an insurance crisis and questions about affordability

During the five-year period of 2020-2025, for instance, Louisiana lost 55,000 more people thanitgained and was theonlySouthern

people in pure numbers. California,Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont and West Virginia had population declines

The South, whichhas been the powerhouse of growth in the 2020s, continued to add morepeople than anyother region, but the numbers dropped from 1.7 million people in 2024 to 1.1 million in 2025.

“Many of these states are going to showeven smallergrowth when we get to next year,” Brookings demographer William Frey said Tuesday

Tuesday’sdata release comes as researchers have been trying to determine the effects of the secondTrump administration’s immigration crackdownafter the Republican president returned to the White House in January 2025.

Trump madea surge of migrants at the southern border acentral issue in his winning 2024 presidential campaign.

Thenumbers madepublic Tuesday reflect change from July 2024 to July 2025, covering theend of President Joe Biden’sDemocratic administration and the first half of Trump’sfirst year back in office.

Thefigurescapture aperiod that reflects thebeginning of enforcement surges in Los Angeles andPortland, Oregon,but do not capture the impact on immigration after theTrump administration’scrackdowns began in Chicago; New Orleans; Memphis, Tennessee; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The 2025 numbers were ajarring divergencefrom2024, when net international migration accounted for 84% of the nation’s3.3 millionperson increase from the year be-

state to experience anegativenet migration.

Over the same period, Florida andTexas experienced anet increase of 1.8 million and2million, respectively.Alabama hada net increase of nearly 200,000 and Arkansasgained more than 115,000 residents. Mississippi, which often battles with Louisiana for last place in quality-of-life rankings, also had anet increase of morethan 11,000.

fore. The jump in immigration two yearsago waspartly because of a new method of counting that added people who were admitted for humanitarian reasons.

“They do reflect recent trends we have seen in out-migration, where the numbers of people coming in is downand the numbers going outisup,”Eric Jensen,a senior research scientist at the Census Bureau, said last week. Unlike theonce-a-decadecensus, which determines howmany congressional seatsand Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as thedistributionof$2.8 trillion in annual government funding, the population estimates arecalculatedfromgovernment records and internal Census Bureau data

The releaseofthe 2025 populationestimates was delayedbythe federal government shutdownlast fall andcomes at achallenging time for theCensusBureau and other U.S. statistical agencies. The bureau, which is the largest statistical agency in the U.S., lost about 15% of its workforce last year due to buyouts and layoffs that were part of cost-cutting efforts by the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency

Other recent actions by the Trumpadministration, such as the firing of Erika McEntarfer as Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner,have raised concerns about political meddlingatU.S.statistical agencies. But Frey said the bureau’sstaffers appear to have been “doing this workasusual without interference.”

“So Ihave no reason to doubt the numbers that come out,”Freysaid.

Plyer said the single reason Louisiana consistently lags peer statesisits economy.Since 2005, the state has seen only a2%increase in thenumberofnew jobs, compared with a20% increase nationwide. New industrial developments like LNG plants and data centerspromising investments in the billions of dollars create temporary jobs, she said, but not necessarily sustainable employ-

ment. Bourgeoissaidher office is focused on “turning stabilization into sustained growth” by creating more high-wage jobs and making it easier to succeed in business in the state.

“The momentumwe’re seeing in record capital investment and job creation gives us confidence that we’re on theright track,” she said. “Weknowthere’s still morework to do.”

Probe: Unlawful force unlikely in death Angola inmate dies after being subdued

BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer

An inmate who died at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Saturday afternoon was maced and subdued by officers before suffering a suspected heart attack, but officials do not believe unlawful force was a factor in his death.

Hulin film to screen at arts center

Documentary showcases longtime musician

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

A documentary showcasing the life of Louisiana swamp pop singer TK Hulin will screen this week at Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette

However, Hulin has a slight dispute with his categorization as a swamp pop star

“I did some swamp pop, but I never was a swamp pop singer,” said the singer who is 82. “Mostly it was rhythm and blues, a little country I mixed it all up.”

“Good Time HardLoving Cajun Man,” from filmmaker Lucy Henke, is a documentary showcasing the life of this dynamic musician, who electrified Louisiana stages in the 1960s and for decades after. The film debuted at the Southern Screen festival last year, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts is hosting a second showing on Wednesday Hulin and his brother, bandmate Larry “BLou” Hulin, will be at the screening for a question-and-answer session. TK Hulin retired from performing in 2024 due to painful symptoms of primary lateral sclerosis, a rare nerve cell disease Despite being wheelchair bound, he said he misses performing and has enjoyed the opportunity to mingle with fans through the documentary “It’s gotten so many good responses; it’s been unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve been singing a long time, baby Sixty-seven years But when you’re hurting and trying to sing in a wheelchair I couldn’t do it. It didn’t sound good. I miss it a lot. I really do.” Watch “Good Time Hard-Loving Cajun Man” at the Acadiana Center for the Arts at 101 W. Vermilion St., Lafayette, at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday Tickets are available at Southern Screen.

Harold Brooks, 37, of Lafayette, allegedly died from a heart attack at 4 p.m. Saturday in the prison infirmary “It appears that the correctional officers were acting in good faith and trying to subdue a disorderly offender,” West Feliciana Parish Sheriff Brian Spillman said. “We

have not made a correlation between the struggle between them and his untimely death.”

Brooks was causing a disruption in his cell block Saturday afternoon when officers approached him in an attempt to prevent any harm to nearby inmates, Spillman said Brooks, who was allegedly acting aggres-

sively and erratically, used a pair of handcuffs as a weapon against officers.

“He was subdued, and the situation deescalated, and then later he was taken for observation, and later died on what is suspected to be a cardiac event,” Spillman said.

Brooks was checked by prison medical staff because mace was used on him.

“Anytime that you utilize a gas-

sing agent on a suspect, you need to have them checked out by medical staff,” Spillman said.

Brooks was pronounced dead about 4 p.m. The West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office was immediately notified and started an investigation.

Brooks was serving a sevenyear sentence for aggravated assault with a firearm An autopsy was scheduled to be conducted Tuesday morning.

Sewage upgrades start

Officials say they hope work won’t affect Mardi Gras

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

Commuters and homeowners along St. Mary Boulevard on either side of Johnston Street might have noticed large pipes and construction along the street

The construction is part of a major upgrade to the downtown area’s sewage capacity and will see parts of the road closed for several weeks, said Martin Poirrier, Lafayette Consolidated Government’s capital improvements director

“This is an in-depth project for (Lafayette Utilities System). We’ve done similar construction, but not to this magnitude,” Poirrier said.

Current closures include St. Landry Street to Souvenir Gate on the north side of Johnston Street and at the intersection of St. Mary and Taft Street on the south side.

Additional road closures will occur along the street as construction progresses, but barring poor weather, the roadway is expected to be fully reopened in eight weeks.

Carencro parade canceled due to cold

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

It will be too cold for the Mardi Gras parade to roll this weekend, according to the Carencro Mardi Gras Association. The Carencro Mardi Gras Parade on 11 a.m. Saturday has been canceled with no rescheduled date Organizers stated that the decision was made in coordination with the Carencro Police Department, with concern for public safety in this weekend’s anticipated sub-freezing temperatures.

A low of 26 and high of 38 is forecasted for the Lafayette area Sat-

urday, with the temperature falling precipitously the night before, creating potentially dangerous road conditions on Saturday “This decision was extremely difficult and not made lightly,” the Carencro Mardi Gras Association shared on Facebook on Monday The association stated that the mandatory float captain’s meeting Wednesday has been canceled, and every parade registrant will be contacted individually regarding refunds and next steps.

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

The lift station, located near Olde Tyme Grocery, to Johnston Street will be closed on Jan. 26, with an anticipated reopening the week of March 16.

St. Landry Street to the lift station will be closed Feb. 2 and reopen sometime around March 2. The intersection of St. Mary and Taft will reopen sometime around March 16.

Construction was supposed to be completed to make way for Mardi Gras parades along Johnston. While construc-

tion won’t impact the route, work zones will be fenced off and monitored for public safety

“We’re gonna do our due diligence to make it safe,” Poirrier said. “We’re just kind of a little concerned about some of the activities that go along with Mardi Gras. “ Lafayette broke ground on the $17.6 million South Gravity Lift Station back

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

The Lafayette warming center will remain open most of this week due to continued freezing temperatures. The warming center at the Dupuis Recreation Center is located at 1212 E. Pont Des Mouton Road. Additionally, all programming at the recreation center is canceled for the week. The facility will operate during the following times: n Wednesday: Opens at 6 p.m. through 9 a.m. Thursday n Thursday: Closed after 9 a.m. n Friday: Opens at 6 p.m. through 11 a.m. Sunday Most nights except Thursday will be below freezing. Above freezing temperatures are expected to return next week. Transportation to the warming center is available through the Lafayette Transit System at any active city bus stop during operating hours. Additional pickup locations include St. Joseph’s Diner, located near 401

OUR VIEWS

Continuing crusade for cockfighting is no feather in state’scap

Why did the chicken cross theroad?Perhaps it was to get away from those rabid Louisiana fans of cockfighting who just can’tseemtoleave thisbloodsportinthe rearview mirror. Much to our bewilderment, theSt. Landry Parish Council this month drew apacked house when it was presented with aproposalfor the parish to seek an exemption to the state’s cockfighting ban. Supporters say renewing cockfightswould bring money torural Acadiana and that the ban is unconstitutional. They even invoked Cajun and Creole heritage as areason thatcockfightingshould return, arguing thatthe practice is as sacred as Mama,crawfish pie and gumbointhe culture.

Thankfully,the members of the parish council had the good sense to reject this pile of chicken droppings. They nixed theproposed resolution to askalocal representative to introduceabill to change the Louisiana statestatutewhich bans cockfighting. But it was close, andnewly elected council chairman WayneArdoin hadtocastthe decidingvoteasthe measure failed 6-7. The council then voted unanimously on asecond resolution to ask LouisianaAttorney GeneralLiz Murrill for an opinion on theconstitutionality of the cockfighting ban. Murrill laterreleased astatement that cockfightingremainsillegalin the state of Louisiana, but theAttorneyGeneral’s office has astandingpractice of not issuing opinionsonthe constitutionalityofstate laws. Somecockfighting supportersvow to continue thefight. But if this does end upbeforethe state Legislature again, we hopethe proposallaysan egg. There is no reason for Louisianatobring back asport that inflicts brutalityonanimals simply for human entertainment

So what tomake of all these feathersflying?

Timmy LeJeune, the St.Landry council memberwho championed the resolution and former cockfighterJamesDemoruelle spokeupata December council meeting about all theways cockfighting could bring revenue to ruralareas like Sunset, oncehome to acockfighting ring that drew visitors from around the country and the world. In 2008, after much squawking,Louisiana becamethe last statetoban cockfighting,and the infamous Sunset Pit closed.Since then, infrequent arrests at underground cockfights show thesport has not been entirelyeradicated, but it certainly isn’tas lucrative. And the600seat Sunset Pit, officiallythe SunsetRecreation Game Club, established in the1940s, still lies dormant with a“For Rent” signout front,a shadow of its past glory days.

All kidding aside, we know thereremainfew real economic opportunities in manyof our state’srural areas.That’swhy we’realways going to support new industries coming in to placeslike Rayville and Donaldsonville.People living in these areas deserve opportunitiesto make an honest living, too. And we alsoknow that when there is more to look forward to in the future,it’seasierto let go of the past.

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND USA LETTER, SCANHERE

Don’tsquanderfunds set asidefor public education

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, I’d like to bring attention to the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, who set up how we would survey our lands which included amechanism to fund public education.

In theLand Ordinance of 1785, within each township (36 squaremiles), the 16th section is designated as being owned by thestate, with theusufructs (proceeds) maintained by theschool boardtobeused for education. By federal law,these lands can only be soldatpublic bid, in theirentirety, only if approved by majority of the registered votersinthe township. The proceeds are required to go intothe state treasury andpay aminimum of 4% dividend to theschool board affected. In school districts like oursinLafayette, the state has maintained ownership of these lands, with Southside High School in Lafayette having been built on Section 16 lands. In other parishes,

these lands have been sold. The state no longer owns any Section 16 lands in Red River Parish. In my past work with St. Martin Parishcrawfishermen, we researched these lands to discover that the school boards werenot receiving the funds guaranteed by federal law.Some lands were apparently sold without being properly approved by avote. We have rich, profitable lands in Louisiana that children should be benefiting from. We have acenturies-old mechanism in place to betterfund our education system, but it seems to not be working. Some of ourmost economically impoverished parishes could benefit the most.

Ask questionsatyournext school boardmeeting. Call your U.S. senator or U.S. representative.

HAROLD SCHOEFFLER Lafayette

We areaccepting conductthatweteach is wrong

What has happened to our country?

Once, we were the playground leader that stood up for others, helping rescue Europe and theworld from Nazism. Then somehow,wetraded our sense of fairness and right for egoism and might We have becomethe bully.The kid who pushes around the little guy,even the nicest kid in theroom, Canada. We are going after Greenland to steal his lunch money and the troubled kid, Venezuela, to steal his toys. We belittled our already bullied friend, Ukraine, by dressing down itsleader in that infamous White House meeting. Andwecontinue to disrespect and push around our best buddies, our NATO allies.

What has happened to our sense of order and fair play? Do we really believe it’sOKtothreaten and steal and twist arms to take whatever we want, whenever we want? Conservative columnist George Will hit the nail on the head, calling our leadership “a moral slum of an administration.” And our Congress is equally culpable, abdicating its responsibilitybyfailing to curb this bullying, allowing the thugs to run roughshod over norms and laws and the Constitution Shameonus for becoming the bully We are better than that.

ANDREWDUHON Lafayette

Forthose in advanced years, stay on theline

Often upon phoning, we hear voice mail: “Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.”

For those of us in our 70s or 80s, our options have surelychanged! The abilitytowalk or trot, or easily fall asleep are different from when we were younger It’ssomehow easier to look back

rather than to look forward as we know theinevitable awaits us. So those of us in advanced years, as we often reflect upon our life, let’scherish our precious memories of earlier years and trust the source of life that all will be well for us in theyears ahead.

BARRYWEINSTEIN Baton Rouge

When norms fail,laws must lead

Our normsare normsbecause we have respected them as such, not because they were written in stone, but because we believed in them

They are the invisible architecture of our democracy,the guardrails of conduct, decency and restraint that have guided us through peace and peril alike. But today,those guardrails have been battered. The unwritten rules of governance, once sacred, have been stretched, bent, and in somecases, abandoned altogether.Wehave learned the hard way that when normsare no longer respected, they must be memorialized in law

Tradition alone is no longer enough to protect the Republic. It is timetocodify not just the outcomes of government, but the manner in which we govern, our rules of engagement. We must limit the gray areas that invite abuse, regardless of who holds the Oval Office or controls Congress. The presidency should not be ablank check for power,and Congress should not be aspectator to executive excess.

This is not apartisan call; it is apatriotic one. The erosion of normsisnot aDemocratic problem or aRepublican problem;itisanAmerican problem If we fail to act, we leave the door open forfuture leaders of any party to exploit ambiguity and undermine trust. Let us now turn lessons into law

Let us enshrine the expectations of honor,transparency and restraint that once needed no reminder.For if democracy is to endure, it must rest not only on the will of the people, but on the character of the rules that govern those who lead them

REP.TROYA.CARTERSR. Louisiana’s2nd Congressional District

Mitt Romney should be focusedon cuttingspending, notraising taxes

Congress is debating major funding bills that would avoid another of those phony government “shutdowns” now scheduled for Friday

Cal Thomas

One sticking point is that Democrats want to either defund ICE, or greatly reduce its budget even though it is following the law in arresting and deporting people from other countries, some of whom have committed crimeswhile here. Adding nothing positive to this debate is Mitt Romney, the former Republican nominee for president in 2012.

In alengthyletter to theeditor of The Wall Street Journal, Romney seems to be channeling Democrats when he writes that he is fine with tax increases because “...continuing to add to the national debt at arate far greater than the growthofthe economy can’tgoonforever.” It can go on long enough to result in serious consequences if Congress refuses to address themain problem, which is not revenue, but spending. Romney is at the wrong end of the debate. The U.S. government has been taking in recordamountsofrevenue, largely driven by asurge in tariff collections under President Trump’spolicies. Total revenues have reached new highs, exceeding $5 trillion in Fiscal Year 2025. Individual income taxes have reached record levels in recent years, significantly boosting federal coffers. Yet, the national debt is approaching $39 trillion. Visit USDebtClock.org and see how many numbers are in red and quickly rising.

So total revenue has hit new highs, individual income taxes are at record levels (though down slightly

under President Trump) but thedebt keeps rising. Raise your hand if you know why.Yes, it’sbecause spending keeps increasingand despite efforts by Elon Musk and his DOGE crew,Congress appears unwilling to reduce spending and borrow more money These arguments are familiar to most people who are paying attentionand care about the future, but fewer seem to becauseso many are receiving government benefits. Nearly 100 million Americans —about one-third of the total population —received some form of government assistance in 2019, according toa2023 estimate from

theDepartment of Healthand Human Services.We’ve heard the howls from Democrats and themedia when there are suggestionstocut anything, including therate of increased spending, along with unnecessary and fraudulent spending. Human naturetells us that the more people relyonothers —inthis case government —the lesslikely they are to relyonthemselves

At theend of his letter to theeditor of the Journal, Mitt Romney writes, “I’m agreat deal moreconcerned about the future of the country than thesizeofmytax bill.” If that is true, Romney should be focused on cutting spending and reducing debt beforegiving Washington another dime, whether it’shis dime or dimes from therest of us.

In an address to the nation on April 24, 1985, PresidentRonald Reagan said: “No matter how hardyou work, no matter how strongthis economy grows,nomatter how much more tax money comes to Washington, it won’tamount to ahill of beans if government won’tcurbits endless appetite to spend.Overspending is thesubject we mustnow address —how budgets gotsofar out of balance and, yes, what together we can andmustdotocorrect this. Every dollar thegovernment spends comes out of your pockets. Every dollar the government gives to someonehas to first be taken away from someone else. So, it’sour moral dutytomake sure that we can justify every one of your tax dollars, that we spend them wisely and carefully and, just as important, fairly.”

MittRomney should watch Reagan’saddress.

Email Cal Thomasatcaeditors@ tribpub.com

Look at allaspects of Epsteinscandal

Thebig probleminthe transgender sports rights case

Almost every lawyer whogoes before the SupremeCourt has at least one sizable hole in their argument. After all, if the questions wereclear-cut, the case would have been resolved in the lower courts. But there are holes, and then there are holes.

In the transgender sports cases heard at the SupremeCourt recently,attorneys forthe trans athletes spent much of their time trying to skirt asinkhole the size of Atlanta. The court was weighing whether lawsintwo states banning trans athletes from competing in women’s sports violates their civil rights.

“For equal protection purposes,” Justice Samuel Alito asked Kathleen Hartnett, the attorney representing a Boise State University cross-country runner,“what does it mean to be aboy or agirl or aman or awoman?”

“Wedonot have adefinition forthe court,” Hartnett said.

It wasamoment madefor social media, and it attracted immediate ridicule. But it wasonly one of several such exchanges, none of which helped the trans inclusion cause. As Alito asked in his followup, “How can acourt determine whether there’s discrimination on the basis of sex without knowing what sex meansfor equal protection purposes?” Excellent question! And one that trans rights activists have avoided foryears.

Consider the Lambda Legal conversation guide released before oral arguments. It suggests that people respond to reasonable questions such as “How can it be fair (or safe) foragirl to compete against aboy?” with psychotherapy prompts such as “What do you think matters mostinsports?” or “Have you ever been leftout just because of who you are?” This exercise in evasion is political and legal malpractice.

Aforthright argument is the better tactic. Samesex marriage advocates wonbyconvincing the public of three propositions: That gay people were born that way, not making a“lifestyle choice;” that excluding them from marriage was therefore unfair; and that giving gay people the samemarriage rights as everyone else wasgood forthem and didn’t hurt anyone else.

Froma Harrop

Of course, Bill Clinton should cooperate with any investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’straffickingofunderage girls. The suggestion thatDemocrats wouldshieldaformer president from questions that mighttarnish his legacy speaks ill of Democrats. This concerns acriminal enterprise, not bad-boy behavior Democrats siding with the pursuit of justice should be commended.Nine of them joined Republicansonthe House Oversight Committee in voting to hold Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., then gave Clinton twoweeksto address the matter before bringingit to the House floor for avote. As president, Clinton topped the charts for success,inmybook.But his overseeing afederal government budget surplus is apast triumph. This is about asex ring that abused minors and about which Clinton may have some knowledge.

There is, so far,noevidence that Clinton took part in the crimes —and no publicly verified evidence thathe ever set foot on Epstein’s“Pedophile Island.” But he was afriendofEpstein and flew on his privatejet

Some commentary suggests that Bill and Hillary Clinton are Democratic royalty that many in theparty want to protect. May we swat down the concept of royalty in acountry founded on sweeping away hereditary rule? The Kennedys have been heralded as somehow royal, which is how Donald Trump got away with putting the lunatic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.incharge of the nation’shealth. It would appear that Trump held far closer ties to Epstein thanBill Clinton did. He, too, should testify under oath about what he knows aboutthe sexual abuse of minors. Clinton should not give him cover by refusingtoparticipate in the probe

The Trump administration appears to be throwing wrenches in the gears of aserious investigation.Attorney General Pam Bondi was ordered to releaseall Justice Department docu-

House Oversight Committee ChairmanJames Comer,R-Ky., speaks during a House Committee on Oversightand GovernmentReformmarkup business meeting about finding former PresidentBill Clinton and former SecretaryofState HillaryRodham Clinton in contempt of Congress on Jan. 21 in Washington.

mentsrelatingtoEpstein by Dec. 19.

That was over amonth ago. Some in theDemocratic leadership wrongly saw protecting Clinton from uncomfortablequestions as ameans to improve their prospectsinthe midterms. On the contrary,having himtestify would show aprincipled interest in getting to thebottom of an appallingcriminal case.

And so kudos to the Democratic reps who joined Republican committee members in voting to hold Clinton in contempt. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., explained her vote: “I’m just focused on survivors We want to hearfromanyone whohas information. And that should not be limited to partylines.”

Sure, Republican calls to look into Clinton’s possible ties with Epstein are also intended to dredge up memories of the former president’s tawdry sexual behavior as somekind of excuse for Trump’s.But theEpstein investigation isn’tabout adulterous trysts. It’saboutsexual abuse of girls young enough to be in junior high.

I’m hardly alone in believing that much of Trump’sdaily flame-throwing —fromtalking about 100% tariffs on Canada to staging military-like sieges of American cities —are related to changing the subject from, as he complains,“Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.” About the deportation of illegal immigrantswho committed crimes: Democrat Barack Obama did better than Trumpwithout the theatrics. Through his eight years in office, Obama quietly oversaw over 3.1 million deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. By comparison, fewer than 932,000 were removed in Trump’sfirst term. And since Trumpreturned to office on Jan. 20, 2025, ICE has deported about 540,000 people. Trumpsurely wantstobury the public in daily spectacle tokeep thespotlight off the Epstein probe. Exempting Clinton from testifying would have only slowed it down.

Froma Harrop is on X, @ FromaHarrop.

Aparallel process fortrans inclusion in sports would have consisted of convincing people either that women’s sports reflect asocial distinction, not a biological one; that trans inclusion takes precedence over creating alevel playing field for biological females; or that trans women are biologically indistinguishable from cisgender women.All were tried. Noneworked.

The public was not receptive to the idea that females should step back and give males moreopportunities to winathletic competitions. As more trans womencompeted and won in women’ssports, it becameharder to argue that there wasnoresidual advantage.

The fallback strategy wastosuggest that it’snaive to think in termsofbiological binaries. Sex is a social construct, aspectrum,anincomprehensible mystery,like the inner workings of the Holy Trinity.Like all sacred mysteries, it is knowable not by any outward signs, but by inward revelation, and a person’stestimony to their own gnostic experience must be taken on faith by the rest of us.

The mostobvious problem with this argument is that it’snot so much an argument for trans inclusion as it is forabolishing women’ssports. What is the point of having acompetition that excludes cisgender men but puts Lia Thomas, atransgender woman, and Iszac Henig, atransgender man,inthe pool with cisgender women?

The law requires clear definitions, not ecstatic invocations of the infinite complexity of human experience. For mostnormal people, asking whether we can even know what awoman is doesn’tmake you look wise and compassionate; it makes you look crazy.Nowonder Republican senators keep asking progressives at hearings someversion of this question: “What is awoman?”

Nonefound agood answer,which could not be evaded by dressing asenator downfor transphobia, nor by challenging the premise of the question, nor by pleading ignorance. “I’m not abiologist,” Ketanji BrownJackson said during her confirmation hearing forthe SupremeCourt. Afraid to suggest that biology might matter morethan gender identity, not quite brave enough to assert the opposite, they instead madethemselves look foolish. As did writers and scientists whostarted insisting that even the idea of two sexes wassimplistic and unscientific. This worked among college-educated elites, bolstered by the fear of being called abigot. But tragically,the moretrans rights advanced, the more popular support retreated. Aclean compromise was available, similar to the compromise we madeon women’s sports: treat males and females as interchangeable in contexts where biology is irrelevant or minor,while reserving segregated spaces forcontexts where it is not. Advocates rejected that compromise in favor of an insistence that gender identity always trumps biology.The risk of all-or-nothing arguments is that they often end with nothing. MeganMcArdle is on X, @asymmetricinfo.

Studentdeportedafter father’s immigrationcheck

High school senior seeks asylum in U.S.

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

An Ascension Parish high schoolstudent seeking asylum in the U.S. was detained by federal agents and deported to Guatemala lastweek, according to the student and people who spoke with her Maria Bolvito, asenior at St. Amant High Schoolin St. Amant, wastaken into custodyonJan. 20 when she joined her father fora routinecheck-in with immigration officials, those close to the teen said. Bolvito, who recently turned 18, said she didnot speak with alawyer or go before ajudge. Three days later, sheand herfatherwere deported “I felt sad,” Bolvito, who hadbeeninthe U.S. since she was about 10 years old,said in atext message to The Advocate this week fromGuatemala.“Ididn’t want to leave yet.”

AU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokespersonwould not confirm that Bolvito was deported. Aspokespersonfor Ascension Parish Schools referred questions

to lawenforcement. Bolvito appears to be one of only afew Louisiana students known to have been deported as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Trumpadministration officials say they are enforcing the country’simmigrationlawsand targetingadults with criminal recordslivinginthe country illegally. But some childrenand young people havebeen caughtupinthe sweeps.

ThreeLouisiana children whoare U.S.citizens were allegedlydeportedlast year along with their parents A16-year-old boyalso was deported from Louisiana last year,despite havingspecial legal protection for immigrant youth, according to advocates. Attorneys arechallenging thedeportations.

BridgetPranzatelli, a staff attorney at the National Immigration Project, which advocates for immigrants’ rights, said her grouphas noticed a growingnumber of people beingdetained duringroutine immigration appointments and quickly deported. She suspects that many more young people havebeenensnared by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown than hasbeen publicly re-

herfriendfor acoupleof days. Then Bolvito sent her amessage: She and her father had been sent back to Guatemala. Bolvito, who spoke with a reporter in Spanish through themessagingservice WhatsApp, confirmed that she was deported Jan. 23. She saidshe was not brought before ajudge or shown adeportation order She added that sheand her father did not have legal representation. Valeria Gallardo, another friend and classmate, said Bolvito’s suddendisappearance has rattled their friend group. They were scheduled to graduate together this spring, but nowthey must adjust to life without her

Obituaries

Bischke, Elsie Lumallo

ported “I encounter people and then they’re missingthe next day,”she said. “I am sure what’sbeing reported is the tip of the iceberg.”

Alifeleftbehind Bolvito, who arrived in theU.S. from Guatemala as afifth grader, said she didn’t typically accompany her father when he regularly checked in withimmigrationofficials on his request for asylum. But she said that officialsaskedher father to bring her to his most recent appointment,which came just aweek after her 18th birthday Afamily member drove

them to the meetingwith immigration officials in New Orleans on Jan. 20. Whilewaiting outside, the relativereceiveda call fromBolvito’s father saying that thetwo were being taken into custody Family friends eventually found Bolvito andher father in an online database of ICE detainees, which showed that they were being held at separate sites, thefriends said. Bolvitowas detained at an ICE processing center in Evangeline Parish, according to the database.

BritanyMolina,Bolvito’s close friend andclassmate at St. Amant High School, saidshe didn’thear from

“When Ifound out she got caught, my heartjust sank and the tears started flowing,” Gallardo said. “One day Iwas with her,and then the next dayshe’s not here anymore.”

One of Bolvito’s teachers, whoasked not to be named out of fear of retaliation,describedher as asweet and quiet girl who had recently started to comeout of her shell.

“I can tell you she’s not acriminal; she’sjusta regular girl whowants to have friends,” the teacher said. “She’s loved by so many people, and she’s so missed.”

N.O. councilreversesstrip club restrictions

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

The New Orleans City Council on Tuesday reversed new restrictions for Bourbon Street strip clubs after those regulations —approved earlier this month—provoked criticism from industry workers.

Council member Freddie King, who represents the French Quarter and sponsoredthe measure to rescind the rules he introduced Jan. 8, said Monday that he backtracked after speaking with people who would have been affectedbythe move.

The regulations would

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

Members of the Kern family,the owners of Kern Studios and Mardi Gras World, have acquired an interest in Galatoire’s, one of the handful of “grand dame” restaurants that have been in operation for more than acentury in the heartofNew Orleans’ French Quarter

The deal, announcedTuesday,brings members of one of the city’smost recognizable families —Carnival float builders who have promoted Mardi Gras culture internationally through various businessendeavors —into asmall ownershipgroup that includes Louisiana businessmenJohnGeorges, Todd Trosclair,former ship-

SEWAGE

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inOctober,but the engineering aspect of the project has been in the works for the last sixyears,Poirriersaid. Part of thefunding came from a$5million Environmental Protection Agency Community Grant.

The project is considered alinchpin to further development and increased density in the city’surban core, adding capacity for an additional 2,000 residential units. “From the start, thisprojecthas been aboutbuild-

have restricted newclubs from opening unlessthey met certainrequirements while city plannersstudied permanent rules forupto two years.

Council President JP Morrell, who joined his colleagues in voting for the restrictions at the Jan. 8meeting, told dancers and others whoshowedupTuesdayto bash the rulesthatcouncil wouldwork harder to seek community input before changing policy.The former statesenator also touted his record in theLegislature voting against acontroversial state law thatraised the minimum age for dancers

from 18 to 21 years old.“It was very jarring at that time, in modern times, to have the statetry to dictateatwhat age you could do certain types of employment,” he said. “Wehear what you’re saying. We certainlyare going to do better as far as trying to communicatewiththe industry before we do things but it’sunfortunate that ten years later we’re still having these conversations.”

Morethan adozen Bourbon Street strip club workersand their supporters cametopan the proposed restrictions.

“Wewelcome new business on BourbonStreet, as more options means morejobs

for awider range of entertainers,”saiddancer Emily Nestor,noting that many of theclubs operatingonBourbon Street show preferences for dancers based on race, weight and other factors.

“Wewant the variety and freedom to choose where we work,”Nestor said.

Speakers recalled attempts by officials to restrict new nightlife venues on Bourbon Street adecade ago, which dancers organized to oppose. Those measureslargely failed. But state code enforcement raidsatthattime resulted in some clubs shuttering or getting suspended and dancerssaid Tuesday

thatthose closures ledtoa higher shareofcorporateowned clubs on the strip.

Plannerswill still review whether the city should impose additional restrictions on newclubs underaseparate motion approved by the councilJan.8,which was not rescinded.

Workers andtheir advocates have criticized the council fornot seeking their input before passing therules at theend of the previous council’sterm. Threenew andfourincumbent council members were sworn in Jan.12.

Staffwriter JoniHess contributed to this report

Memorial serviceswill be held on Saturday, January31, 2026 at a2:00 PM Service in Martin & Castille's SOUTHSIDE location for ElsieLumallo Bischke, age 71, who passedaway peacefullyon January10, 2026. Brionne Bischke willofficiate the funeral services. ElsieBischkepassed away after alongand dedicatedaccounting career Elsieretired from Frank's Casing in Lafayette, Louisiana, whereshe worked from 2002 to 2015. Shewas born in thePhilippines, where she met herhusbandof40 years, Richard Bischke, PhD, whom she marriedin 1986, whilehewas working there. Shevaluedtheir faithand values.

builder BoysieBollinger and Melvin Rodrigue, who serves as president and CEO of the Galatoire’sleadership team. Georges, who has been Galatoire’s largest shareholder since 2009, owns theconvenience-store distributor Imperial Trading Company and with hiswife Dathel is the owner of The Times-Picayune and several other print and digital publicationsacross south Louisianathrough Georges Media Group

Georges said the Kerns made a“substantial” investment to buy into thegroup when aformermemberdecided to divest for personal reasons. Thecurrent owners declined to provide specific valuationdetails of the private company “Weare often approached by people wanting to invest in the restaurant,” Trosclair, chair of therestaurant’sownership group, said in aphone interview.“When the shares became available, we approachedthe Kerns because

ing astronger more reliable system for Lafayette,” Mayor-President Monique Boulet wrote. “Theprogress residents see today reflects along-term investment in infrastructure that supports growth, protects public health,and improves quality oflife —and it’sjust the beginningofmorecritical investmentstocome. “ In the past,capacity upgrades have been quickly outpaced byoverwhelming demand. In 2021, theLafayette Public Trust Finance Authority committed around $1 million to construct alift stationindowntownLafayette.

we know they will bring a lot of creativity and helpus move the business forward.”

Founded in 1932, Kern Studios constructs the elaborate colorful parade floats used by many of the city’smost wellknown Carnival krewes. It also builds floats, sculptures, props, set decorations and other fabricated elements for international clients, including theme parks and corporations.

Mardi Gras Worldisthe company’sworkingfloatbuilding facility that doubles as atourist attraction and event space.

Kern Studios CEO Barry Kernsaid his family’s move to join the ownership group made sense based on their work to promote thecity and itslandmark attractions.

“There’sasymbioticrelationshipbetween Galatoire’s andthe hospitalityindustry, because we’re always sellingNew Orleans, and thisis one of thegreat places that defines the city,” Kern said.

The project is expected to be fully completedbyOctober

Email StephenMarcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY MONDAY,JAN.26, 2026

PICK 3: 9-0-9

PICK 4: 6-1-3-7

PICK 5: 9-0-8-1-7

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“This investment is for me, my children and grandchildren.”

Galatoire’scurrent ownershipgroup owns 75% of the restaurant. It has expanded the business beyond its original locationinthe 200block of Bourbon Street, where it opened in 1905and has served shrimp rémoulade, oysters Rockefeller,trout meunière andother menu classics for more than acentury The Galatoire family continues to own a25% share.

In 2013, the restaurant opened Galatoire’s33Bar &Steak next door.In2021,

the owners opened the Galerie de Galatoire restaurant, whichcan host largeprivate events, in the 200 block of Royal Street across from the MonteleoneHotel. They also launched the Galatoire’s Foundation to supportlocal nonprofits.

Georges andTrosclair said theKerns’investment helps ensure therestaurant, which in 2005 won the James Beard Award for most outstanding restaurant in theU.S., stays locally owned and rooted in New Orleansculture.

“Now peoplecan call the Kerns if they want to geta table,” Georges joked.

Sheissurvivedbyher husband, Richard Bischke; herdaughter; and herfour grandchildren. Shedeeply lovedher familyand friends andalways strove to be helpful to others even as herhealthdeclined Elsieearned herdegree from AdamsonUniversity (AdU) in the Philippines. Following hergraduation, she taughtaccountingfor several years, sharing her knowledge andpassion for theprofession After immigratingtothe United States in 1986, Elsie continuedher career in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, working at asporting goods store, and later in Princeton,New Jersey,at Educational Testing Service (ETS), whereshe supported theSAT program. In 1992, she moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, whereshe workedatthe Exploration Companyof Louisiana anda doctor before joiningFrank'sCasing, whereshe remained until herretirement Even after retiring, Elsie stayed active andengaged. Sheworkedata professional dancing school andvolunteered on committees supporting retirees at local city centers. Sheespecially loveddancing. Elsiewill be rememberedfor herintelligence, dedication,and commitmenttoservice,aswell as herdeep devotion to her family. Shewillbedeeply missed andlovingly remembered. Thefamilyrequeststhat visitation be observedon Saturday January31, 2026 at 1:00 PM untiltimeofservices. View theobituaryand guestbook online at www.mourning.com

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

SPORTS

LARGE PERSONALITY

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Jalen Courtney-Williams quickly learned LSU center Mike Nwoko’s favorite question.

“Why?”

“He has this big game that he wants to show off,” Courtney-Williams, a secondyear assistant coach at LSU, said. “Our job is to really refine it and cut the fat and, you know, his first question is why? And it’s a fair question, right? So just

helping him understand why that’s necessary what it means to be efficient.”

Nwoko is inquisitive at heart. It’s the root of how the 21-year-old became one of the most improved basketball players in the Southeastern Conference, upping every stat from his sophomore season at Mississippi State. In 21.3 minutes per game, the Toronto native is averaging eight more points (14.1), 1.3 more rebounds (5.9) and shooting 14.8 percentage points better from the field (an SEC-leading 67.3%) and 9.8

percentage points better from the freethrow line (70.6%).

Nwoko will showcase his on-court growth against his former team when LSU (13-7, 1-6 SEC) faces Mississippi State (10-10, 2-5) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Sincerely, I am excited about playing my old team,” Nwoko said. “(But) I’m just focused on one thing, which is to win the game and get our team better.”

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

She took away a top scorer She orchestrated the offense. Jada Richard, once again, gave the LSU women’s basketball team something it’s been missing lately

The Tigers played each of the past two seasons without a point guard. At least not one with all the tools Richard now is using to make sure coach Kim Mulkey’s system runs smoothly so it can power a younger group of players through its first stretch of challenging games against SEC opponents.

“It wasn’t like she didn’t have those skills last year,” Mulkey said. “It was just adjusting to this level of college.”

Now Richard is up to speed, as she’s shown throughout her breakout sophomore season The 5-foot-7 Opelousas native pieced together another strong show-

ing Monday, when she held one of the nation’s five leading scorers in check on one end of the floor and notched a game-high 20 points on the other, leading the No. 6 Tigers (19-2, 5-2 SEC) to a 29-point win over Florida.

Richard is one of LSU’s most important players, and her emergence has made the Tigers less reliant on their stars. Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams can shoulder lighter offensive loads. MiLaysia Fulwiley can play with more freedom, less burdened with the extra responsibilities Mulkey gives her lead ballhandlers.

“Jada grew up being a point guard,” Mulkey said. “It’s not any magical thing I’ve done other than to maybe toughen her

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

The Saints have a history of drafting players they scout at the Senior Bowl. Last year’s haul included quarterback Tyler Shough, cornerback Quincy Riley, running back Devin Neal and tight end Moliki Matavao. The year before that yielded tackle Taliese Fuaga, quarterback Spencer Rattler and linebacker Jaylan Ford. New Orleans’ classes in 2023 and 2022 also netted several Senior Bowl participants. Chances are the Saints will dip back into the well again this year, which makes this week of Senior Bowl practices all the more important.

Here are four Saints-related Senior Bowl questions as practices for the allstar outing began Tuesday in Mobile, Alabama:

Advantage to coaching American team? Kellen Moore’s coaching staff is well represented in Mobile, with running backs coach Joel Thomas serving as the head coach of the American Team and several other assistants taking on other important roles. That will allow Saints coaches to get a close look at an intriguing group of prospects that includes Florida defensive tackle Carl Banks, Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun and USC wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane. Of that trio, Banks is seen as a potential first-rounder though New Orleans doesn’t have a strong need at that position. Igbinosun, a 6-foot-2, 193-pound corner, could be an interesting Day 2 option if Alontae Taylor leaves in free agency, while Lane a 6-4 jump-ball-catching specialist — would give the Saints a shiny new red-zone target. Regardless, the Saints are coming off their best draft class in years and getting a detailed look at an entire team of prospects should help their evaluations this year

Bills promote OC Brady to head coach

BY JOHN WAWROW AP sportswriter

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y The Buffalo Bills stayed in-house by promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady as their new coach on Tuesday, in a move that provides continuity to a Josh Allen-led perennial winner that has accomplished everything short of reaching a Super Bowl. The team announced the five-year

nator on LSU’s 2019 national championship team. Considered an up-and-coming head coaching candidate, Brady returned to the NFL by taking over as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator before being fired late into the 2021 season. Brady shared a bond with McDermott,

Gauff loses chance at semifinals

BY JOHN PYE AP sportswriter

MELBOURNE,Australia A searing hot day turned into a sweltering night at the Australian Open and eventually Coco Gauff let off steam, shattering her racket after a lopsided loss to Elina Svitolina that cost her a place in the semifinals.

Day 10 of the season-opening major began with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka beating 18-year-old Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 on Tuesday before the Extreme Heat Policy was activated and the roof was closed on Rod Laver Arena.

The center court was still under cover when No. 12 Svitolina stunned the third-seeded Gauff 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes to earn a semifinal against Sabalenka.

The men’s quarterfinals also were split into day and night sessions, with one played under a roof and the other under the stars.

Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz moved within two wins of completing a career Grand Slam after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Alex de Minaur to close play

In his first semifinal in Australia, Alcaraz will take on 2025 runnerup Alexander Zverev who beat 20-year-old Learner Tien 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (3) under cover in an afternoon match.

They’re 6-6 in head-to-heads, with Zverev winning the quarterfinal here in 2024, their only meeting in Australia.

“It’s going to be a great battle,” Alcaraz said. “I’m looking forward to playing him here, taking revenge.”

Svitolina’s streak

Weeks into a return from a mental health break, Svitolina is in the semifinals here for the first time, and is on a 10-match winning streak after starting the season with a title in Auckland, New Zealand.

The series of wins will put her back into the Top 10 next week

“Very pleased with the tournament so far and, of course, always been my dream to come back af-

ter maternity leave in the Top 10,” said Svitolina, a 31-year-old Ukrainian who is playing her 12th major tournament since taking a break in 2022.

She and Gael Monfils, the French player who is retiring this year, are parents to Skai.

Svitolina lost quarterfinals here in 2018, 2019 and last year, but she dominated Gauff from the outset.

The 21-year-old American struggled with her serve and recorded five double-faults in the first set, when she was broken four times.

She finally held in the fourth game of the second set, but by then it was too late. After leaving the court, the two-time major winner smashed her racket into the floor of a concrete ramp seven times on her way back to the player area.

Gauff said she tried to find a place where there was no cameras to let out her frustrations, and went to the quietest area she could find.

Svitolina, meanwhile, wanted to win for millions of people watching from afar

“It’s very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians,” she said. “Right now it’s very — it was one of the toughest winters for Ukrainian people and without electricity and everything.

“So I feel like (I) bring this light, a little light, you know, even just positive news to Ukrainian people.”

Sabalenka-Jovic

Sabalenka is aiming for her third Australian Open crown in four years. She won back-to-back titles here in 2023 and 2024 and lost the final a year ago to Madison Keys.

The first of the quarterfinals was played outdoors, despite predictions of extreme heat. It was closed for subsequent matches after the tournament’s heat index hit the threshold.

“I guess, yeah, as a woman, we are stronger than the guys,” Sabalenka said at her news conference, laughing. “They had to close the roof for the guys so they don’t

to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at

Australia, on Tuesday.

suffer!”

Sabalenka went up 3-0 in the first set and established her dominance early against the 29th-seeded Jovic.

Jovic had three breakpoint chances in the ninth game, which lasted 10 minutes, but wasn’t able to convert against the world’s No. 1-ranked woman.

In the last game, Sabalenka served an ace on break point and clinched it with another ace on match point. She saved all five

break points she faced. It gave her back-to-back wins over up-and-coming teenagers following her fourth-round victory over 19-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko.

“These teenagers have tested me in the last couple of rounds, incredible player,” Sabalenka said of Jovic. “It was a tough match. Don’t look at the score. She played incredible tennis and pushed me to a one-step better level. It was a battle.”

Koepka ‘nervous’ ahead of return to PGA

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

SAN DIEGO Brooks Koepka was freed from the final year of his contract with Saudi-funded LIV Golf and the first person he called was Tiger Woods. Three weeks later, the PGA Tour created a path back for him that starts at Torrey Pines.

Koepka said Tuesday he can’t wait for the week to end because of all the attention. The gratitude of returning to the PGA Tour comes with the kind of nerves the fivetime major champion rarely experiences — wondering what others think about him.

“It feels a little bit different,” he said ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open, his first non-major on the PGA Tour since he lost in the quarterfinals of the Match Play in March 2022. “I’m definitely a little bit more nervous this week just coming back. But it feels good. I’m super grateful to be back.” Koepka cited the need to be closer to family as his main reason for wanting out of LIV His wife announced in early October she had a pregnancy loss at 16 weeks. Woods was partially responsible for Koepka’s path back, along with other player-directors on the PGA Tour board who worked with CEO Brian Rolapp in coming up with a plan for select players to return. Koepka is the first LIV defector, and it came at a price.

He is making a $5 million charity contribution (still to be decided with the tour), receives no FedEx Cup bonus money this year and has no access to equity shares in the PGA Tour for five years a value the tour has estimated at $50 mil-

U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club on June 13 in Oakmont,

lion and beyond. He also can’t play the $20 million signature events until he qualifies on his own.

“I guess it’s a fresh start for me, which is cool,” Koepka said.

“It’s just another chapter I guess in my book I’m excited for that. I feel like my game’s in pretty good shape and I want to see where it’s at. Obviously this week is a little bit different Would just like to get this week over and just feel like I can start playing golf again.” Woods never contemplated going to LIV and disparaged those who did — “They’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” he said a month after LIV began — and he now is the leading player’s voice on the PGA Tour board.

Koepka said he’s always had a good relationship with Woods. Besides, he had never met Rolapp, who had been on the job barely six months. Commissioner Jay Monahan, who attended Koepka’s wedding a month before Koepka left for LIV in 2022, would have been next on his list.

Woods has been among several players who supported the decision to let Koepka back in, saying it made the PGA Tour stronger and ultimately would raise value for players who have been receiving equity shares. “It’s a win for everyone,” Woods said earlier this month. Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who shares the same manager as Koepka, also supported the decision.

Chio wins second SEC gymnast of week nod

Kailin Chio dominated the Southeastern Conference freshman of the week honors in 2025, winning the award a record nine times.

The LSU gymnast has started the 2026 season in similar fashion. On Tuesday, the Tigers sophomore was named SEC gymnast of the week for the second time in three weeks by the conference office. The honor came after she posted the nation’s first perfect 10 on Friday on balance beam against Kentucky and won the all-around title with a 39.775, the second-best total in the nation this season.

Chio also finished first on vault (9.95) and scored a 9.925 on floor and a 9.90 on uneven bars.Chio has won seven individual titles this season and 30 for her career in 18 meets.

Titans hire former Giants coach Daboll to run offense

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll is an offensive coordinator again as part of new Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh’s staff. The Titans announced the hire of Daboll on Tuesday Daboll, 50, has previously been an offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns (2009-10), Miami Dolphins (2011), Kansas City Chiefs (2012) and Buffalo Bills (2018-21). He also was the University of Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017.

He was a part of five Super Bowl championships while working on Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots staffs from 2000-06 and 2013-16. Daboll also was part of Alabama’s 2017 national championship team.

Jets, OC Engstrand part ways after tough season

NEW YORK — Aaron Glenn is now in the market for both a new offensive and defensive coordinator On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand and the New York Jets mutually parted ways, sources confirm to the New York Daily News. Glenn and Engstrand had recently discussed his role moving forward. Glenn initially planned to keep Engstrand on staff while reducing his responsibilities, including stripping him of play-calling duties. But both sides thought it was best to part ways instead. The Jets under Engstrand fielded one of the worst offenses in the league last season. They finished No 29 in both yards and points per game.

Giants, outfielder Bader agree to two-year contract

“I think it’s good getting someone back on tour that want to be back,” Scheffler said last week. “Brooks had a desire to come back to the tour The last few months he certainly had a large desire to get back to the tour, and I’m glad that Brian and the team and the board was able to find an avenue for him to be able to get back and start competing out here again.”

Still to be determined, at either Torrey Pines or next week in the Phoenix Open, is how golf fans receive a player who bolted from the PGA Tour after the 2022 U.S. Open for a rival league that was paying outrageous signing bonuses. Koepka once confirmed his was “nine figures.”

He returns to a PGA Tour in the midst of big changes. Woods leads the Future Competition Committee that is reshaping the schedule so that every event feels like a big one. There are 11 tournaments with prize money of at least $20 million, not counting the four majors.

Is it better than when he left?

“I’m two days in,” Koepka said with a smile.

Justin Rose answered that for him last week when asked about Koepka’s return.

“We’ve all benefited from this chaos in one way or another,” Rose said. “It’s been good for tour players in the sense the powers that be pushed a little harder in our direction with equity in the tour and prize funds.

“But we need a premium product,” he said. “And this is the first time we’ve had someone who moves the needle come back our way.”

SAN FRANCISCO Free agent outfielder Harrison Bader and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a $20.5 million, two-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Monday

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was subject to a successful physical and had not been announced.

Bader confirmed the agreement on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman,” a New York Post podcast. Bader shared how he came up with San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman in the Texas League and also faced Willy Adames in the NL Central when the shortstop was with the Brewers and Bader was on the Cardinals.

Cavaliers forward Mobley to miss up to three weeks CLEVELAND Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley will be sidelined for the second time this season due to a strained left calf, the team said Tuesday The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is expected to miss 1 to 3 weeks.

Mobley suffered the injury during Monday night’s 114-98 victory over the Orlando Magic. He had tightness in the calf after the game and an MRI on Tuesday revealed the strain.

Mobley

cember with

Mobley

and 8.8

NWOKO

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Courtney-Williams has been around his fair share of big men in basketball. The 33-year-old was a 6-foot-8 forward himself at LSU for three years and has been on coaching staffs in the SEC and Big East Nwoko’s outgoing nature is a rarity at the position, the assistant said.

“His personality is bigger than his 6-10, 260 frame,” CourtneyWilliams said. “A lot of big guys tend to be a little bit more timid, they want to hide just because of how, you know, their life was growing up. They’re always bigger than everybody else, and they want to fit in. So they try to make themselves shrink a little bit So I think it’s really unique when you get a big guy that’s completely (himself).

“Just his personality is bigger than he is, and his game is bigger It’s fun.”

When Nwoko’s teammates tease him because they hear his music when he parks his car, the center will accept the playful jabs and continue blasting his Afrobeats songs by Burna Boy and Wizkid.

When asked in a news conference about what he saw on the court after scoring 29 points and missing three shots against Alcorn State, he’ll say that he saw “baby food.” After an 18-point win over

SAINTS

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Florida International, he graded the team’s performance a D- because it didn’t reach the standard.

In another postgame news conference, he joked that whenever Dedan Thomas turns down 3-pointers when a defender goes under a screen, he threatens him with a blow to the chest. The 6-1 point guard said his favorite lob target is a great person on and off the court.

LSU walk-on Jaden Bobbett, who has been in locker rooms at Division III Middlebury College and

Which skill players are targets for Shough?

The Saints are projected to have eight draft picks in April when factoring in the compensatory pick they likely will receive for Paulson Adebo’s departure in free agency last spring. That gives them ample opportunity to find playmakers to help Shough, who’s coming off an electric rookie season at quarterback.

The Senior Bowl won’t have regarded prospects such as Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate or Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, but there are opportunities for others to boost their stock Specifically several draft analysts have remarked that there isn’t a clear-cut “RB2” in this year’s draft behind Love. Perhaps that opens the door for someone like Penn State running back Nick Singleton or Washington running back Jonah Coleman At wide receiver, ESPN named Missouri’s Kevin Coleman (5-11, 174 pounds) as a potential sleeper

How good is defensive linemen class?

Unfortunately, Miami’s Rueben Bain and Texas

BRADY

Continued from page 1C

as both played college at William & Mary Brady played receiver and upon graduating in 2012, he took on a role with the Tribe as linebackers coach.

Brady was the first to interview for the Bills job in a search that began Jan. 21. Aside from Buffalo, Brady also interviewed for five other NFL openings.

Buffalo eventually met with nine candidates in an interview process led by general manager Brandon Beane that included Allen Buffalo was the 10th and final team

RICHARD

Continued from page

up, change a few mannerisms, make her understand you won four state championships, and you had to be the scorer “You don’t have to be the scorer here, but you can be.”

Before this season, LSU hadn’t received a 20-point game from one of its point guards since Hailey Van Lith scored 26 in a road win over Tennessee on Feb. 25, 2024. She hit that mark in only three of the 16 games she played against SEC opponents in her lone season with the Tigers.

Richard has tallied at least 20 points in two of LSU’s last three contests. In league play, she’s shooting 46% from the field and 37% from 3-point range. Against the Gators (13-9, 1-6), Richard shot 6 of 10 from the field, 2 of 3 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line. She scored 12 of her points in the third quarter when the Tigers built an insurmountable lead. She drained pull-up jumpers in the mid-range and catchand-shoot shots from beyond the arc.

Richard also played tight defense on Florida star Liv McGill, a 23.4 points per game scorer who finished with only 14 points Monday Richard kept walling off her drives to the rim, turning in a performance reminiscent of the one she threw together against Oklahoma star freshman Aaliyah Chavez on Jan. 18.

Krystle Nwoko, who plays volleyball at IMG Academy, are alike as high leapers who exude confidence.

Amid LSU’s struggles with Thomas sidelined for almost three weeks, Nwoko’s competitive streak and curiosity didn’t take a back seat. That was crucial after he scored six or fewer points in four straight games after a 21-point outing against Texas A&M in the SEC opener

His skills trainer Filip Music, said the junior is a true “student of the game.”

“Mike always asks questions,” said Music, who has worked with Nwoko since his high school junior season. “He’s always like, ‘OK, why am I gooing to do this move? When would I do this move?’ You know, he’s constantly looking to get better, and that’s something I don’t really experience with a lot of guys.”

the Big Ten at Indiana, is roommates with Nwoko during road games and calls him the “ultimate teammate.”

“He has so much energy so much joy, so much love and he’s competitive,” Bobbett said. “He’s not worried to voice his opinion when he needs to, and he tells the real.

“And he just wants to win. He’s an ultimate competitor.”

Nwoko’s dad, Leonard Nwoko, said his son isn’t easily discouraged. He and his younger sister,

Tech’s David Bailey are no longer expected to attend the Senior Bowl after previously committing to it. Despite the lack of star power, this year’s defensive line class is arguably the deepest position in the draft.

The Saints could use another edge rusher, even though Chase Young and Cam Jordan each recorded double-digit sacks in 2025. Miami’s Akheem Mesidor, Clemson’s T.J. Parker and Alabama’s LT Overton are among those worth watching in Mobile. Will any Saints news break in Mobile?

Unlike last year the Saints don’t have to worry about conducting a head coaching search during Senior Bowl week The year before that, New Orleans was in the midst of an offensive coordinator search. Despite no large issue overshadowing this year’s event, there are still several unanswered questions surrounding this offseason. Will the Saints bring back Demario Davis and Jordan? Will Taysom Hill retire? How aggressive will the Saints be in free agency?

This week won’t provide all those answers, but with teams gathering in Mobile, there could be enough exchanging of information for the rumor mill to churn.

Email Matthew Paras at matt.paras@ theadvocate.com

to have a coaching vacancy, and missed out on interviewing John Harbaugh, who was hired by the New York Giants.

Among the candidates were former Giants coach Brian Daboll, who was the Buffalo offensive coordinator before landing the job in New York. The Bills also interviewed Jacksonville offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers, who removed his name from consideration three days after meeting with Buffalo.

Under Brady, the Bills offense took a far more balanced approach in part to take the burden off of Allen Brady also introduced what became known as an “Everybody

Eats,” share-the-wealth approach to the passing game, which followed Buffalo trading leading receiver Stefon Diggs to Houston in April 2024. The approach worked the following season, with Allen earning MVP honors for his 28 touchdowns passing (plus 12 rushing) and a career-low six interceptions to a receiving group led by Khalil Shakir’s 76 catches for 821 yards. This season, the Bills offense ranked fourth in the NFL in total yards and tied for fourth in scoring. Though Buffalo was knocked for a middling group of receivers, fourth-year running back James Cook finished with 1,621 yards rushing to become the first Bills

In Nwoko’s last two contests against No. 19 Florida and No. 15 Arkansas, he averaged 15.5 points on 63.2% shooting, 2.5 offensive rebounds and 1.5 steals in 25 minutes. The physical gifts, touch around the rim and the mind to learn the reason for everything are why coach Matt McMahon said Nwoko “can be as good as he wants to be.”

The Tigers will look to Nwoko to continue tapping into his potential as the team pushes for a hot streak in SEC play now that Thomas is back.

Mulkey said she may keep asking Richard to take on the toughest defensive assignment on the perimeter moving forward, especially if that opposing player is a point guard.

“I would say it starts with her,” Mulkey said, “but I think we have two or three (defenders), depending on who’s the best player on the perimeter for the opposing team.”

That’s an example of how Richard’s breakout has unlocked a more dangerous version of LSU. Johnson may have had to defend Chavez or McGill in previous seasons, but now she doesn’t have to, which means she can save more of her energy for the offensive end of the floor

And if Johnson’s shot isn’t falling, Richard has shown she can pick up the slack. She’s scored at least 10 points in six of the seven SEC matchups LSU has played so far, largely through a healthy diet of pull-up jumpers and spot-up 3s. Richard canned three more of those shots on Monday a night in which her breakout season chugged along, reminding the Tigers exactly what they were missing for the last two seasons.

“I always knew I can get to this stage,” Richard said. “It was just a matter of me being humble and just putting my head down and going to work.”

player to lead the NFL in rushing since O.J. Simpson in 1976. It’s now on Brady to get the Bills over the hump in the postseason. In nine seasons, McDermott transformed a longtime loser ending Buffalo’s 17-year playoff drought in his first season — into a franchise that became the NFL’s only team to qualify for the postseason in each of the past seven years. Buffalo had 10 or more wins in each of those seven years and enjoyed a five-year stretch as AFC East champions before going 12-5 and finishing second to Super Bowl-bound New England this season. On the downside, the Bills be-

Mensah, Duke settle, resolve legal fight

Settlement clears way for QB to transfer

BY AARON BEARD Associated Press

The legal fight between Duke and Darian Mensah is over Now the quarterback can transfer elsewhere after bringing the Blue Devils an unexpected Atlantic Coast Conference title.

The school and Mensah’s agency released statements Tuesday confirming they had reached a settlement without providing any details It came roughly a week after Duke filed a lawsuit seeking to block Mensah’s efforts to transfer and reach a contract with another school to play elsewhere next season.

The case was scheduled for a hearing Thursday in Durham County Superior Court, with a judge having granted Duke’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking Mensah from doing anything beyond entering his name into the transfer portal.

Attorneys for both sides filed a joint motion with the court Tuesday morning for dismissal, citing a “confidential agreement” reached to resolve the case.

Mensah, who transferred from Tulane and led the Blue Devils to their first outright ACC title since 1962, had signed a two-season contract in July 2025 running through 2026 that paid him for exclusive rights to market his name, image and likeness tied to playing college football.

That became the latest in what is becoming a more frequent occurrence in the revenue-sharing

era of college sports: potential legal fights over contracts between schools and players seeking to transfer

Resolution and next moves

“We are committed to fulfilling all promises and obligations Duke makes to our student-athletes when we enter into contractual agreements with them, and we expect the same in return,” the school said in a statement “Enforcing those agreements is a necessary element of ensuring predictability and structure for athletic programs.

“It is nonetheless a difficult choice to pursue legal action against a student and teammate; for this reason we sought to resolve the matter fairly and quickly.”

Young Money APAA Sports, which represents Mensah, issued a statement in a social media post saying the agency had “successfully navigated an unprecedented path, one that has now reached a fair and mutually agreeable resolution.”

“Darian extends his sincere gratitude to Duke University for engaging in good-faith discussions and reaching this resolution,” the agency said. “He wishes the Blue Devils, Coach (Manny) Diaz, the staff and the entire fan base continued success in the seasons ahead

“The 2025 ACC championship run will forever stand as a remarkable chapter in Duke football history, one Darian is proud to have been part of.”

Mensah was in the process

Tuesday of scheduling and going through a visit to Miami, a person familiar with the quarterback’s plans told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because those details were not revealed publicly Miami has long been expected to be Mensah’s landing spot. The Hurricanes have excelled with portal quarterbacks, getting No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Ward for the 2024 season and bringing in Carson Beck for this year’s run to the national championship game.

Receiver Cooper Barkate, Mensah’s top target at Duke with 1,106 yards and seven scores, has also entered the transfer portal but has yet to announce his next stop.

Legal fight

Mensah, who transferred in from Tulane and even faced his former team, finished second in the Bowl Subdivision ranks by throwing for 3,973 yards while ranking tied for second with 34 passing touchdowns.

Mensah and Duke announced his return in December coming between the Blue Devils’ overtime win against Virginia for the ACC title and their Sun Bowl win against Arizona State. But Mensah abruptly reversed course with hours left before the Jan. 16 window closed for players to enter their name into the transfer portal, deleting the Instagram video announcing his return and tweeting his intention to depart.

Duke sued Mensah to block his

move three days later, arguing the contract required parties to go through arbitration before any dispute can be resolved.

The Blue Devils unsuccessfully sought to block Mensah from entering his name into the portal entirely But a judge did grant the temporary restraining order blocking Mensah from taking any additional steps — such as enrolling elsewhere or reaching a financial deal tied to play for a new school until the upcoming hearing meaning Mensah could do little other that state his intention to transfer

That hearing was originally slated for Feb. 2 before Mensah’s attorney filed an emergency motion asking the judge to “reconsider” the temporary restraining order,

SCOREBOARD

Game, set, match

as well as moving up the hearing date. In a striking passage, Mensah’s filing argued that “neither Mensah nor counsel was aware of any enrollment deadlines” at the case’s first hearing on Jan. 20. In an accompanying affidavit, Mensah stated he “learned for the first time” that enrollment deadlines at other schools would expire Friday and that he was “not informed” of deadlines before the hearing. A judge moved up that hearing a few days, but the potential of going through arbitration Duke had already filed the request to start that process — would have lengthened this case even more. Now, Mensah is cleared to enroll at another school ahead of spring practices for the 2026 season this fall.

VALENTINO GARAVANI

MAy 11, 1932, TO JAN. 19, 2026

Italian

Paris mourns the last titan of couture’s golden age

BY THOMAS ADAMSON

AP fashion writer

PARIS Valentino Garavani’s death cast a long shadow over the opening day of Paris Fashion Week menswear Tuesday, with front-row guests and industry

figures mourning the passing of one of the last towering names of 20th-century couture — an Italian designer whose working life was closely entwined with the Paris runways Valentino, 93, died at his Rome residence, the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation said in a statement announcing his death. While he built his house in Rome, he spent decades presenting collections in France.

He “was one of the last big couturiers who really embodied what was fashion in the 20th century,” said Pierre Groppo, fashion editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair France.

On a day meant to sell the future, many guests said they were thinking about what fashion has lost: the couturier as a living institution.

Groppo pointed to the codes that made Valentino instantly legible — “the dots, the ruffles, the knots” — and to a generation of designers who, he said, “in a way, invented what is celebrity culture.” Valentino’s vision was built on a simple idea: make women look luminous, then make the moment unforgettable.

The spice of life

Meet the chefs bringing Trinidadian flavors to Lafayette’s lunch scene

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff

They are a somewhat unlikely duo, but that’s how a lot of great partnerships begin: with friendship, a lot of laughs and good food.

Kerry Bissoon runs local Trinidadian sauce company and food popup Spicyman and Tre Ware owns Black Cafe, a breakfast and lunch spot in Lafayette’s Fightingville neighborhood. Together, they have created Café Spicyman, a new pick-up-and-go concept located in Park Tower at 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Road.

The offerings include a breakfast sandwich, pastries, pulled pork, an egg salad, chicken wraps and more — similar to Black Cafe’s sandwiches, pastries and salad menu, but with a few twists.

He dressed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor, among others, fixed his signature “Valentino red” in the public imagination, and — through his decades-long partnership with Giancarlo Giammetti — helped turn the designer himself into part of the spectacle, as recognizable as the clients in his front row. The end of a fashion era

Prominent fashion writer Luke Leitch framed the loss in similarly outsized terms, calling Valentino “the last of the fashion ‘leviathans of that generation’,” and saying it was “absolutely” the end of a certain class of designer: figures whose names could carry a global house, and whose authority came not from viral speed but from permanence.

Trained in Paris before founding his maison in Rome, Valentino became a rare bridge figure: Italian by origin, but fluent in the rituals that made Paris couture an institution. His career moved between those two capitals of elegance, bringing Roman grandeur into a system

ä See VALENTINO, page 6C

Bissoon incorporated his Spicyman green Trinidadian seasoning in the tuna salad, which is an herb mixture with plenty of cilantro, parsley garlic and other aromatics that imparts a fresh, unmissable flavor Other menu items, like the Island Spice Chicken Wrap, heightens the flavor even more with a mango vinaigrette and Spicyman’s

Pinchos Mixtos from Veracruz in Baton Rouge

“Trinidadian food culture is very diverse because of the influence of different cultures, from European to Indian and African and Asian cultures. And the food is heavily influenced by all of them. It’s a huge pot of flavor, and I’d love to bring

Hot & Spicy Jerk Marinade. Spicyman Garlic Sauce is drizzled over the pulled pork sandwich, and Trinidadian sweet bread and meat pies appear alongside bagels and coffee cake on the pastry menu Bissoon said the menu intentionally fuses Trinidadian seasoning with traditional lunch fare, and his ultimate goal is to introduce Acadiana to the island flavors he grew up with in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

on during a news conference at Rome’s Capitoline museums in 2007, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Valentino Maison’s foundation. ä See SPICYMAN, page 6C

SPICYMAN

that here,” Bissoon said. Ware noted that he was impressed by Bissoon’s cooking because he could taste the freshness, especially in the hot sauce.

“It stands out a little bit more than the traditional sauces,” he said.

The chefs did not start out as business partners

Bissoon is an insurance agent by day his office is in Park Tower, where Café Spicyman is located — and an all-around extroverted guy who loves sharing his passion for food, family and good times. After eating at Black Cafe and meeting Ware, the duo forged a friendship over a year of family game nights and potluck dinners with their wives and kids.

“We used to have a cafe in the building that closed down, and there was a void that needed to be filled,” Bissoon said. “I asked him if he wanted to open another location of Black Cafe.”

“I was like ‘Nah, I ain’t doing that,’” interjected Ware — but he was convinced once Bissoon offered to join the venture.

“He does the whole salesman thing,” said Ware, laughing.

According to Ware, “it’s an evolving thing We have a tuna salad, but it’s not just a tuna salad. You’ll be able to taste the influence of the Trinidadian cooking. Same with the meat pies, which people here are familiar with. There are certain things that people connect to here in Acadiana, and if we can bridge that gap, they can take the next step over and try things they are not familiar with.”

Café Spicyman will focus on providing sandwiches, wraps, salads and other

lunch items for now Bisson said that they eventually plan to introduce hot lunches with rice dishes, curries and other examples of island cuisine.

“And that’s where the culinary explosion happens,” he said.

Café Spicyman is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday Customers can order online and pick up at Park Tower, 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Road, Lafayette.

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

Continued from page 5C

like an occasion.

Joanna Brown, staff writer Spicy Salad n Duang Tawan, 4850 S Sherwood Forest Blvd., Baton Rouge

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 28, the 28th day of 2026. There are 337 days left in the year Today in history: On Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven crew members including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

Also on this date: In 1813, the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen was first published, anonymously in London.

In 1956, Elvis Presley made his first national TV appearance on “Stage Show,” a CBS program hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey In 1980, six U.S. diplo-

VALENTINO

Continued from page 5C

that still treats fashion not only as commerce, but as ceremony

Even as he aged, the house’s founder kept turning up at its couture and ready-to-wear shows, as observed by one Associated Press journalist — until he eventually retreated from public life, all the while radiating quiet grandeur from his front-row seat.

For some in Paris on Tuesday, the loss felt personal precisely because Valentino’s world was never only Italian.

Groppo recalled the designer as “very much more than a fashion brand,” adding: “It was a lifestyle.”

That lifestyle — couture polish, social glamour, and the conviction that elegance could be a form of power — remains a reference point even as fashion accelerates toward louder branding and faster cycles.

“It’s quite sad as he’s so important to the fashion in-

mats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats; the events were later dramatized in the film “Argo.”

In 2011, protesters opposed to Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule of Egypt seized the streets of Cairo, battling police, burning down ruling party headquarters and defying a military curfew Hundreds of protesters would be killed in ensuing days in attempts to crush the uprising before Mubarak stepped down as president that February In 2017, Serena Williams won her record 23rd Open Era Grand Slam singles title, defeating her sister Venus at the Australian Open for what would be her final

dustry, and he contributed a lot and I cannot forget the stunning red he created,” said Lolo Zhang, a Chinese fashion influencer attending Louis Vuitton ’s show in Paris.

“He always celebrated pure beauty, and architecture for the silhouette, and how he used color. The old era just passed by.”

Other guests described a delayed realization — the kind that arrives only when a figure who seemed permanent is suddenly gone.

YSL, Chanel and Valentino

“There are some people who want to be Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel There are also people who are spontaneously Valentino,” said Guy-Claude Agboton, deputy editor of Ideat magazine. “It’s a question of identity.”

For Paris fashion observer Benedict Epinay, the grief was bound up with memory And with the emotional charge of Valentino’s final bow

“It was such a great moment. I was lucky enough to attendthelastshowhegave,”

major championship. In 2024, three American troops were killed and 25 were injured in a drone strike in Jordan near the border with Syria. President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the first U.S. fatalities after months of strikes by the groups against American forces across the

of crab claws and rounds of Don’s signature cocktails.

Don’s old-fashioned, my go-to drink, manages to balance a very nice amount of whiskey without making it too sweet, creating an eminently smooth beverage that tastes like it was concocted just for the customer On this evening, I paired my drink with a platter of fried shrimp, and I noted that the way they prep and butterfly the shrimp seems to highlight the Gulf flavor Don’s is more than just a spot to have a celebratory dinner; the way they care for their food and drink makes any evening feel

Thank goodness for the Eat the Boot Facebook group. I wouldn’t have discovered my new favorite dish at Duang Tawan if it weren’t for this page. On Thursday I already knew what I was ordering before sitting down the spicy salad ($12.95) and a Thai tea ($4). The salad came with a choice of protein, and I chose beef.

The dish is cooked with Thai spices, lime juice, fish sauce, cucumbers, onion, tomatoes and lettuce. It kind of reminded me of the freshness that comes with ceviche, minus the vinegar The citrus notes from the lime juice made the veggies taste even more crisp and refreshing.

I was craving a Thai tea that day, and the sweetness made for a delightful treat. It’s safe to say I will be ordering this pairing again. Maddie Scott, features reporter

Epinay said. “It was so moving because we knew at that time it was the last show.” Fashion observer Arfan Ghani pointed to what Valentino represented to younger designers: a “classy” standard of restraint in an era that often rewards noise.

“Because it was very classical materials,” Ghani said. “It wasn’t as loud as a lot of other of these brands are with branding.”

Paris-based sculptor Ranti Bam described Valentino in the language of form: less trend than structure, less look than line.

“As a sculptor I saw Valentino as an artist,” Bam said. “He transcended fashion into sculpture.”

“He didn’t follow trends, he pursued form,” she added. “That’s why his work doesn’t date, it endures.” The fashion house Valentino has for years continued under a new generation of leadership and design — still showcased in Paris.

Associated Press writer Amy Seraphin in Paris contributed to this report.

TheAmerican RedCross ofLouisiana is hereall year.

Local support. Local impact. TheAmerican RedCross in Louisiana serves4.65millionresidentsacrossall64parishesandextendshopeto communitiesacrossthenationandaroundtheworld.Whenyousupportyour localRedCross,youmakeadirectimpactinyourcommunity Poweredbygenerosity. TheRedCrossisnotagovernmentagency.Wearea501(c)(3) nonprofitthatreliesonthepowerofvolunteersandthegenerosity ofdonorstocarryoutourhumanitarianmission. RedCrosssupportersprovideabeaconofhope.Fromhelping duringdisasters,toprovidinglifesavingtrainingandsupporting militarycommunities,theRedCrossistherewhenhelpcan’twait.

AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Express your thoughts, feelings and intentions with vigor, and engage with those who see the value in what you want to pursue. Life is about doing; stop talking and start making things happen.

PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) You'll feel tension mount if someone opposes your suggestions. Don't waste time trying to talk others into seeing things your way. Put differences aside and complete your mission.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) If you like something, endorse and use it to further your interests. Interacting and building connections with people you can rely on will make a difference to your lifestyle and your peace of mind.

tAuRuS (April 20-May 20) Put your energy into taking care of your responsibilities. Discipline and honesty will keep you on track and impede those trying to take advantage of you. Put yourself first.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Put your desire to learn and fulfill your curiosity at the top of your to-do list. What you discover will change your perspective about life, love and personal gain.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Refrain from letting anyone manipulate you into doing more for them than what you'll get in return. Maintaining equality in situations and partnerships is necessary if you don't want things to go awry.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Set high standards and goals, and lock into what you want to achieve. Enjoy conversations that make you think and offer insight into

others' perspectives. Reach out, and the response will surprise you.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Put your emotions aside and listen. The information you gather will help you rearrange your thoughts and point you in a realistic direction. You may crave change, but if there is comfort in familiarity, stick with it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) Keep life simple regardless of temptation. Do your research and take on only what's necessary. Develop relationships with people who share your interests and concerns.

ScoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Expand your knowledge, talk to experts and figure out how you can get the most for the least. Time spent with someone who appreciates you will help you put situations in perspective.

SAGIttARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Don't overlook an opportunity to use your skills differently or to submit your resume to a prospective employer Travel, communication and input from someone you value will help you invest in yourself.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Refuse to make changes based on what others imply. Get the facts and figures, and consider how they can affect your future. The best change you can make is to adopt a positive, healthy lifestyle.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

nea CroSSwordS

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

By PHILLIP ALDER

Yesterday, Igave the deal for which Peter Bertheau from Sweden won the International Bridge Press Association Yeh Bros. BestBid of the Year award. That wasexcellent, but Iparticularly admired thisaction by Peter Fredin, also from Sweden. Thedeal was originally described by Shane BlanchardofNew YorkCity Look at theSouth hand andthe auction. Partner’s redoubleshows10or more pointsand fewer than four hearts. Doubler’s one no-trump indicates equal lengthinthe minors. And partner’s jump to four hearts promisesthree-card support and opening count. What wouldyou do now, if anything? Fredin paused to work out who had what. East would surely have bid one spade over the redouble with four,and West probablyhad three spades because hewouldhaverescuedviaonespadewith four. So North rated to have five spades. (Notsix, because he would have called one spade instead of redouble.)

If West had equal length in the minors, his hand’s distribution wassurely3-2-44. Ergo, heartswere breaking 3-2. North also had three or four diamonds,but had not doubledtwo diamonds for penalty. So he was probably weak there. Fredin

deduced that his partner’s 12-plus points weremostlyinthemajors.Andwithboth of those suits lyingwell, Fredin bidfour no-trump,Roman Key-Card Blackwood, followedbysix hearts. Asyoucansee,thiswaslaydown;South taking five spades, five hearts and two clubs. ©2026 by NEA,Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InStRuctIonS: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed

toDAy’S WoRD ALREADy: awl-RED-ee: Previously.

Average mark22words

Timelimit 35 minutes

Can you find 29 or morewords in ALREADY?

yEStERDAy’S WoRD —PERFoRcE

BRIEFS

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Francesca’s to close all Louisiana locations

A national women’s clothing retailer with five stores in south Louisiana will close all of its locations this month.

Francesca’s, which has locations in the Mall of Louisiana and Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge, The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk in New Orleans, Acadiana Mall in Lafayette and Southland Mall in Houma, will cease operations and has begun liquidation sales at its stores and website.

Layoffs began earlier this month at its stores and its corporate headquarters in Houston, according to Retail Dive.

Francesca’s, which opened in 1999, had more than 450 locations across the U.S.

Francesca’s has been in financial trouble for a while. The chain filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2020 and was sold to TerraMar Capital, a private equity firm, for $18 million.

Wall Street soars to another day of records

Wall Street ticked to a record on Tuesday, as stocks zigzagged under the market’s surface following mixed profit reports from UnitedHealth, General Motors and other big companies.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and edged past its prior all-time high set a couple weeks ago, even though more stocks fell within the index than rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 408 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%. UnitedHealth Group tumbled 19.6% despite reporting a profit for the latest quarter that was a bit better than analysts expected. More attention was on the company’s forecast for revenue in the upcoming year, which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations Health care stocks also felt tremendous pressure from a projected rate increase for Medicare Advantage by the U.S. government, which fell well short of what investors had hoped. Humana skidded by 21.1%, Elevance Health dropped 14.3% and CVS Health sank 14.2%.

Helping to offset those losses was Corning, which climbed 15.6% after announcing a deal with Meta Platforms that’s worth up to $6 billion.

Corning will supply optical fiber and cable to help build out data centers for Meta, enough that Corning is expanding its optical-fiber manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina.

Amazon to close its Go, Fresh locations

Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept.

The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be shuttered locations into Whole Foods Market stores. The company operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go stores.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazonbranded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for largescale expansion,” the company said in the post.

Amazon noted that customers can continue to shop Amazon Fresh online in available areas for “fast and convenient delivery.”

The last day of operation for Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores is Sunday, with the exception of its California locations, which will remain open longer to comply with state requirements, Amazon said

Since Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017, it’s seen more than 40% sales growth and expansion to more than 550 locations, it said.

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press

UPS is planning to cut up to 30,000 operational jobs this year as the package delivery company continues with its turnaround efforts and reducing the number of Amazon shipments that it handles.

Last year, UPS started on a plan to reduce dependency on its largest customer, Amazon, and focus on higher-profit areas such as healthcare customers.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said during the company’s conference call on Tuesday that the job cuts will be made through a voluntary buyout offer for full-

time drivers and through attrition.

“This is a tactical move,” he said during a call with analysts. “We did something similar last year in order to help us to right-size the position levels and the network infrastructure with the new volume and delivery levels.”

UPS is also looking to close 24 buildings in the first half of the year and is evaluating additional buildings to close later in the year, he added.

UPS said in a regulatory filing in October that it had cut about 34,000 operational positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings dur-

ing the first nine months of last year

The company also announced approximately 14,000 job cuts, mostly within management. According to FactSet, UPS employs about 490,000 workers. In April, UPS announced that it was looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduces the number of Amazon shipments it handles.

The company said in January 2025 that it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.

CEO Carol Tome said during the conference call that by the end of 2025 UPS had reduced Amazon’s volume in its network by approximately 1 million pieces per day. “We’re in the final six months of our Amazon accelerated glide down plan, and for the full year, 2026, we intend to glide down another million pieces per day, while continuing to reconfigure our

work,” Tome said. UPS also said it was officially retiring its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes after a deadly crash in Louisville, Kentucky, in November The planes, about 9% of the UPS fleet, had been grounded.

TikTok settles landmark youth social media addiction lawsuit

Video platform was 1 of 3 companies facing claims that it harms children

BY KAITLYN HUAMANI and BARBARA ORTUTAY AP technology writers

LOS ANGELES TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed.

The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.

Details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Joseph VanZandt, co-lead counsel for the plaintiff, said in a statement Tuesday that TikTok remains a defendant in the other personal injury cases, and the trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.

Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms.

The selection process is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.

nology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Importantly, the lawsuit claims that this was done through deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. This argument, if successful, could sidestep the companies’ First Amendment shield and Section 230, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.

TikTok remains a defendant in the other personal injury cases, and the trial will proceed as scheduled against Meta and YouTube.

“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the lawsuit says.

them into self-destructive feedback loops.”

The tech companies dispute the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing a bevy of safeguards they have added over the years and arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.

“Recently, a number of lawsuits have attempted to place the blame for teen mental health struggles squarely on social media companies,” Meta said in a recent blog post. “But this oversimplifies a serious issue. Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and trends regarding teens’ well-being aren’t clear-cut or universal. Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges and substance abuse.”

“This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and sadly new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the nonprofit Tech Oversight Project KGM claims that her use of social media from an early age addicted her to the tech-

BY MATT OTT Associated Press

WASHINGTON U.S consumer confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014 as Americans grow increasingly concerned about their financial prospects. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index cratered 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, falling below even the lowest readings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in health care costs and restrict marketing targeting minors.

“Plaintiffs are not merely the collateral damage of Defendants’ products,” the lawsuit says. “They are the direct victims of the intentional product design choices made by each Defendant. They are the intended targets of the harmful features that pushed

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement Monday the company strongly disagrees with the allegations outlined in the lawsuit and that it’s “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

José Castañeda, a Google Spokesperson, said Monday that the allegations against YouTube are “simply not true.” In a statement, he said “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday

A measure of Americans’ shortterm expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market tumbled 9.5 points to 65.1, well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 12th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80. Consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation slid by 9.9 points to 113.7.

“Confidence collapsed in January as consumer concerns about both the present situation and expectations for the future deepened,” said Dana Peterson, the Conference Board’s chief economist. “All five components of the index deteriorated, driving the

overall index to its lowest level since May 2014 — surpassing its COVID19 pandemic depths.”

Respondents’ references to inflation, including gas and grocery prices, remained elevated. Mentions of tariffs and trade, politics, and the labor market also rose in January as did comments about health insurance and war Perceptions of the job market also declined this month. The conference board’s survey reported that 23.9% of consumers said jobs were “plentiful,” down from 27.5% in December Also, 20.8% of consumers said jobs were “hard to get,” up from 19.1% the month previous.

The country’s labor market has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates. Earlier this month, the government reported that employers added just 50,000 jobs in December, nearly unchanged from 56,000 in November The unemployment rate is 4.4%.

Job gains have been subdued all year, particularly after April’s “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy gained just 584,000 jobs in 2025, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024.