The Acadiana Advocate 02-02-2026

FAN-TASTIC DAY

ABOVE: University of Louisiana at Lafayette softball coach Alyson Habetz, right, interacts with young fans while signing a poster during the team’s Fan Day inside the Mancla Indoor Practice Facility in Lafayette on Sunday. Fans could get autographs and take photos of the coaches and players. UL softball starts its 2026 season on Friday against Tulsa at Lamson Park.

RIGHT: Player Mia Norwood holds her nephew, Bryce Norwood, while she signs a ball on Sunday

LIGO dodges significant budget cuts

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

A top criminal attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs, “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli and accused corporate assassin Luigi Mangione just scored a big win for a lesser-known client, in a case involving a mom-and-pop pharmacy in downtown Hammond that New Jersey prosecutors tied to a nearly $50 million fraud scheme.

Attorney Marc Agnifilo represents Trent Brockmeier a Florida man who was convicted last year along with a Louisiana attorney, Christopher Kyle Johnston, on three conspiracy counts apiece. After a six-week trial, a jury found the pair had used Central Rexall Drugs, one of Hammond’s oldest businesses when it shuttered after 120 years at the end of 2016, to fulfill a massive fraud against two sets of health plans. One insured New Jersey cops, firefighters and teachers, and the other, TRICARE, is for military members and veterans

Dozens were convicted on the New Jersey end of the scheme, most of them pleading guilty, while the Hammond pharmacist’s daughter and a former sales executive also pleaded guilty agreed to testify and still await their sentences

But on Jan. 16, a federal judge in Camden, New Jersey, threw out the convictions against Brockmeier and Johnston. In a 65-page opinion, U.S District Judge Edward Kiel found the government built its case against the pair on innuendo and an unbelievable witness. He tossed the jury verdicts, finding them not guilty

“In sum, the evidence did nothing more than paint defendants as bad people who must have done something illegal to make all that money,” wrote Kiel, who was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden.

scientists are breathing a sigh of relief after recently approved federal science funding exceeded earlier proposals. Scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, tucked away in the piney woods of Livingston Parish, feared their operation detecting black holes would be shuttered after the Trump administration in May proposed steep cuts to funding for science programs. LIGO receives its funding from the National Science Foundation. But on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump signed a funding appropriations act in which multiple federal science agencies dodged crippling budget cuts for 2026. The appropriations act allocated $8.75 billion

Livingston observatory allocated federal funding ä See LIGO, page 5A

Portland mayor tells ICE to leave after gas used PORTLAND Ore. The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators — including young children — outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he and others characterized as peaceful.

Witnesses said agents deployed tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets as thousands of marchers arrived at the South Waterfront facility on Saturday Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who joined the protest, said she was about 100 yards from the building when “what looked like two guys with rocket launchers” started dousing the crowd with gas.

“To be among parents frantically trying to tend to little children in strollers, people using motorized carts trying to navigate as the rest of us staggered in retreat, unsure of how to get to safety, was terrifying,” Barnett wrote in an email to OregonLive.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the daytime demonstration was peaceful, “where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat and posed no danger” to federal agents.

“To those who continue to work for ICE: Resign. To those who control this facility: Leave,” Wilson wrote in a statement Saturday night. “Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame.”

The Portland Fire Bureau sent paramedics to treat people at the scene, police said. Police officers monitored the crowd but made no arrests on Saturday

Trump says U.S. is ‘starting to talk to Cuba’

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE President Donald Trump said the United States was beginning to talk with Cuban leaders as his administration puts greater pressure on the communist-run island and cuts off key oil supplies. He made the comment to reporters on Saturday night as he was flying to Florida. It comes in the wake of his moves in recent weeks to cut off supplies of oil from Venezuela and Mexico, which he suggested Saturday would force Cuba to the negotiating table.

His goals with Cuba remain unclear, but Trump has turned more of his attention toward the island after his administration in early January captured Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro and has been more aggressive in confronting nations that are adversaries of the U.S Trump has predicted that the Cuban government is ready to fall.

The Republican president did not offer any details on Saturday about what level of outreach his administration has had with Cuba recently or when, but simply said, “We’re starting to talk to Cuba.”

His recent moves to cut off its oil supplies have squeezed the island.

Officer killed, another critical in Ga. shootout

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A police officer was killed and another was critically wounded Sunday in a shootout at a hotel in suburban Atlanta.

Gwinnett County police said in a statement that gunfire broke out early Sunday after two officers were dispatched on a call reporting fraud at the address of a hotel near Stone Mountain, about 25 miles northeast of Atlanta. When the officers arrived, police said, they encountered a person who drew a gun and shot both officers. The officers returned fire, wounding the suspect. One of the officers was killed, the police statement said, and the other was hospitalized Sunday in critical but stable condition.

Police said the suspect was also being treated for a gunshot wound. No other injuries were reported.

Georgia Gov Brian Kemp said he was mourning the death and praying for the recovery of the second officer

5-year-old, dad return to Minnesota

Both ordered released from ICE detention

BY JACK DURA Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS Five-yearold Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were detained by immigration officers in Minnesota and held at an ICE facility in Texas, have been released following a judge’s order They have returned to Minnesota, according to Texas Rep Joaquin Castro.

The boy and his dad, Adrian Conejo Arias, who is originally from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

Katherine Schneider, a spokesperson for the Democratic congressman, confirmed the two had arrived home. She said Castro picked them up from Dilley on Saturday night and escorted them home on Sunday to Minnesota In a statement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs

Enforcement did not target or arrest Liam Conejo Ramos, and that his mother refused to take him after his father’s apprehension. His father told officers he wanted Liam to be with him, she said.

“The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” McLaughlin said.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.

Images of the young boy wearing a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack and surrounded by immigration officers drew outrage about the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

In his order granting the release, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blasted the administration, writing, “The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented gov-

mother, Rosa, while driving to school on Jan. 6. He said they both remained in custody at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in San Antonio the same facility where Liam and his father were held.

“It’s the same situation as Liam, but there were no pictures,” said Carolina Gutierrez, who works as a secretary at the school that Elizabeth attended. “Seeing Liam released, it gives us faith.”

Inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security about that case were not immediately returned.

ernment pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Neighbors and school of-

ficials 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.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway

On Sunday afternoon, residents of Columbia Heights,

Minnesota, gathered outside the house where Liam was detained to celebrate his release and call attention to others from the community who remained in ICE detention.

“We cried so much when we heard that he was coming back,” said Lourdes Sanchez, the owner of a cleaning business. “My son is also named Liam, and he is 5 years old, so it felt personal for us.”

Nearby Luis Zuna held up photographs of his 10-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who he said had been detained, along with her

Brenda Marquez, another nearby resident, said she had driven with her husband and two young children to the house immediately upon hearing news of Liam’s release, stopping on the way to pick up SpiderMan balloons. “We wanted something that would bring a little happiness,” she said.

“Being away from my son and not knowing what’s going on with him, I just can’t imagine it.”

Castro wrote a letter to Liam while they were on the plane to Minnesota, in which he told the young boy he has “moved the world.”

More winter weather mires swaths of U.S.

Cold brings snow, canceled flights, falling iguanas

BY ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press

MEMPHIS Tenn. A huge

swath of the U.S. from the Gulf Coast into New England was mired in extracold temperatures Sunday after a bomb cyclone brought heavy snow and hundreds of flight cancellations to North Carolina, flurries and falling iguanas in Florida, and more misery for thousands who are still without power from last weekend’s ice storm in the South.

About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the U.S., with wind chills near zero to single digits in the South and the coldest air mass seen in South Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area in Florida saw

snow flurries, while temperatures dropped to the 20s in the Panhandle and 30s in South Florida on Sunday morning, Mullinax said. That left cold-stunned iguanas lying prostrate and motionless on the ground Iguanas in South Florida go dormant in the cold and though they usually wake when temperatures warm, the reptiles can die after more than a day of extreme cold.

The cold also left ice on strawberries and oranges in the state. Farmers in Florida sometimes spray water on fruit trees and berry plants to protect

them from the cold.

Meanwhile, the bomb cyclone, known to meteorologists as an intense, rapidly strengthening weather system, contributed to nearly a foot of snow in and around Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city The snowfall represented a topfive snow event all time there, Mullinax said.

In eastern North Carolina, James City recorded 18 inches of snow, while Swansboro recorded 17 inches, the National Weather Service reported.

Flight cancellations exceeded 2,800 in the U.S. on Saturday, with another

Gaza’s Rafah crossing prepares for limited travel to resume

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

CAIRO Palestinians in Gaza watched with hope and impatience Sunday as workers laid the groundwork to reopen the territory’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, its lifeline to the world. Israel says the crossing is scheduled to resume Monday as its ceasefire with Hamas moves ahead.

“Opening the crossing is a good step, but they set a limit on the number of people allowed to cross, and this is a problem,” said Ghalia Abu Mustafa, a woman from Khan Younis.

Israel said the crossing had opened in a test, and the Israeli military agency that controls aid to Gaza said residents could begin crossing Monday. But only a small number of people can cross at first.

“We want a large number of people to leave, for

it to be open so that sick people can go and return,” said Suhaila Al-Astal, a woman displaced from the city of Rafah who said her sick daughter needed help abroad. “We want the crossing to be open permanently.”

Israel’s announcement came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children, according to hospital officials — one of the highest death tolls since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10.

Israel had accused Hamas of new truce violations.

Nicolay Mladenov, director-general of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new board of peace in Gaza, urged the parties to “exercise restraint” and said his office was working with the new Palestinian committee chosen to oversee Gaza to find ways that prevent future incidents.

The Rafah crossing has been largely shut since Is-

rael seized it in May 2024.

About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care are hoping to leave war-devastated Gaza via the crossing, and thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to return home.

Few people, and no cargo, will be allowed to cross at first. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will allow 50 patients needing medical evacuation to leave daily.

An official involved in the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic talks, said each patient can travel with two relatives, while 50 people who left Gaza during the war can return each day

Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s documentation department, said the ministry hadn’t been notified about the start of medical evacuations.

1,700 on Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking and data company More than 800 of those Sunday cancellations were for flights departing from or arriving at Charlotte Douglas

International Airport. The storm caused an hourslong mess on Interstate 85 northeast of the city, after a crash left dozens of semitractors and other vehicles backed up into the evening, according to the State Highway Patrol. More than 1,000 traffic collisions and two road deaths were reported, North Carolina Gov Josh Stein said Sunday “It’s an impressive cold shot for sure, and there are daily records that are being seen down in the South,” Mullinax said.

In Kitty Hawk on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Susan Sawin said her house got a “whopping” amount of snow and strong winds that reminded her of a nor’easter She has a snow drift about 2 feet high outside her house, but she did not lose power

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DOJ plays down chance for charges from Epstein files

Top official: Records don’t ‘allow us necessarily to prosecute

BY ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON A top Justice Department official played down the possibility of additional criminal charges arising from the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying Sunday that the existence of “horrible photographs” and troubling email correspondence does not “allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”

Department officials said over the summer that a review of Epstein-related records did not establish a basis for new criminal investigations.

That position remains unchanged, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, even as a massive document dump since Friday has focused fresh attention on Epstein’s links to powerful individuals around the world and revived questions about what, if any, knowledge the wealthy financier’s associates had about his crimes.

“There’s a lot of correspondence There’s a lot of emails. There’s a lot of photographs There’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or people around him,” Blanche said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”

He said that victims of Epstein’s sex abuse “want to be made whole,” but that “doesn’t mean we can just create evidence or that we can just kind of come up with a case that isn’t there.”

somebody’

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said Friday that it would be releasing more than 3 million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under a law intended to reveal most of the material it collected during two decades of investigations into Epstein.

The fallout from the release of the files has been swift A top official in Slovakia left his position after photos and emails revealed he had met with Epstein in the years after Epstein was released from jail. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested that longtime Epstein friend Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, should tell U.S. investigators whether he knows about Epstein’s activities.

The revelations continue

The files, posted to the department’s website, included documents involving Epstein’s friendship with Mountbatten-Windsor, and Epstein’s email correspondence with onetime Trump adviser Steve Bannon, New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and other prominent contacts with people in political, business and philanthropic circles, such as billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk.

The Epstein saga has long fueled public fascination in part because of the financier’s past friendships with Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Both men

said they had no knowledge Epstein was abusing underage girls.

Among the newly released records was a spreadsheet created last August that summarized calls made to the FBI’s National Threat Operation Center or to a hotline set by prosecutors from people claiming to have some knowledge of wrongdoing by Trump. That document included a range of uncorroborated stories involving many different celebrities, and somewhat fantastical scenarios, occasionally with notations indicating what follow-up, if any was done by agents.

Blanche said Sunday that there were a “ton of people” named in the Epstein files besides Trump and that the FBI had fielded “hundreds of calls” about prominent individuals that were “quickly determined to not be credible.”

Some of Epstein’s personal email correspondence contained candid discussions with other people about his penchant for paying women for sex, even after he served jail time for soliciting an underage prostitute. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In one 2013 email, a person whose name was blacked out wrote to Epstein about his choice “to surround yourself with these young women in a capacity that bleeds — perhaps, somewhat arbitrarily from the professional into the personal and back.”

“Though these women are young, they are not too young to know that they are making a very particular choice in taking on this role with you,” the person wrote.

“Especially in the aftermath of your trial which, after all, was public and could be

indeed was — interpreted as a powerful man taking advantage of powerless young women, instead of the other way around.”

In another email written in 2009, not long after Epstein had finished serving jail time for his Florida sex crime, another woman, whose name was redacted, excoriated him for breaking a promise that they would spend time alone together and try to conceive a baby

“I find myself having to question every agreement we have made (no prostitutes staying in the house, in our bed, movies, naps, two weeks Alone, baby...),” She wrote.

“Your last minute suggestion to spend THIS weekend with prostitutes is just too much for me to handle. I can’t live like this anymore.”

‘This review is over’

“We reviewed over six million pieces of paper, thousands of videos, tens of thousands of images,” Blanche said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he thinks the Department of Justice is complying with the law requiring public disclosure of the Epstein files.

But Rep. Ro Khanna, DCalif., and co-sponsor of the law requiring the Justice Department to release its Epstein files, said he did not believe the department had fully complied. He said survivors are upset that many of their names accidentally had come out without redactions and they want to make sure the rest of the files come out. Blanche said each time the department has learned that a victim’s name was not properly redacted, it has moved quickly to fix the problem but that those mistakes account for a tiny fraction of the overall materials. The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from Versant, CBS and NBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.

Blanche said in a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that though there are a “small number of documents” that the Justice Department is waiting for a judge’s approval before it can release, when it comes to the department’s own scouring of documents, “this review is over.”

Iran’s leader warns U.S. attack would spark ‘regional war’

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a “regional war” in the Mideast, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on recent nationwide protests. The comments from the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are the most-direct threat he’s made so far as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and associated American warships are in the Arabian Sea, sent by Trump there after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. It remains unclear whether Trump will use force. He’s repeatedly said Iran wants to negotiate and has brought up Tehran’s nuclear program as another issue he wants to see resolved. But Khamenei also referred to the nationwide protests as “a coup,” hardening the government’s position as tens of thousands of people reportedly have been

Iranian lawmakers chant slogans as they wear the Revolutionary Guard’s uniform Sunday in a session of parliament, in Tehran, Iran.

detained since the start of the demonstrations. Sedition charges in Iran can carry the death penalty, which again renews concerns about Tehran carrying out mass executions for those arrested — a red line for Trump.

Iran had also planned a live-

fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The U.S. military’s Central Command had warned against threatening American warships or aircraft during the drill or disrupting commercial traffic. Khamenei spoke to a crowd at his compound in Tehran as Iran marked the start of a dayslong commemoration of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. He, at one point, described the U.S. as being interested in its oil, natural gas and other mineral resources, saying that they wanted to “seize this country, just as they controlled it before.”

“The Americans must be aware that if they wage a war this time, it will be a regional war,” he said.

The supreme leader added that: “We are not the instiga-

tors, we are not going to be unfair to anyone, we don’t plan to attack any country But if anyone shows greed and wants to attack or harass, the Iranian nation will deal a heavy blow to them.”

Asked about the warning, Trump on Sunday told reporters that the U.S. “has the biggest, most powerful ships in the world over there, very close, a couple of days, and hopefully we’ll make a deal If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right.” Khamenei also hardened his position on the demonstrations after earlier acknowledging some people had legitimate economic grievances that sparked their protests. The demonstrations began Dec. 28, initially over the collapse of Iran’s rial currency It soon grew into a direct challenge to Khamenei’s rule.

“The recent sedition was

similar to a coup. Of course, the coup was suppressed,” he said. “Their goal was to destroy sensitive and effective centers involved in running the country, and for this reason they attacked the police, government centers, (Revolutionary Guard) facilities, banks and mosques — and burned copies of the Quran. They targeted centers that run the country.”

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists New Agency, which relies on a network inside Iran to verify its information, reports that over 49,500 people have been detained in the crackdown. It says the violence killed at least 6,713 people, the vast majority of them demonstrators. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll and arrest figures, given authorities have cut Iran’s internet off from the rest of the world.

Zelenskyy says more talks coming this week

BY VOLODYMYR YURCHUK Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine A Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hit a bus carrying mineworkers and killed at least a dozen people, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the next round of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

The strike injured several more people and sparked a fire that was subsequently put out, according to the emergency services.

DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said it owned the bus and accused Russia of carrying out “a large-scale terrorist attack on DTEK mines in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” whose capital is Dnipro.

“The epicenter of one of the attacks was a company bus transporting miners from the enterprise after a shift in the Dnipropetrovsk

region,” the company said in a Telegram post.

The strike came days after President Donald Trump said the Kremlin had agreed to temporarily halt the targeting of the Ukrainian capital and other cities, as the region suffers under freezing temperatures that have brought widespread hardship to Ukrainians.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday called the strike in Dnipro “a cynical and targeted attack on energy sector workers,” and said it occurred near the Ternivska mine east of the city Hours earlier Ukraine’s emergency services reported that Russian attack drones injured six people at a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, envoys from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. had been expected to meet Sunday in Abu Dhabi to continue negotiations aimed at ending Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor But on Sunday morning, Zelenskyy announced that they would take place this week instead.

“We have just had a report from our negotiating team.

The dates for the next trilateral meetings have been set: Feb. 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in an outcome that will bring us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post. There was no immediate comment from U.S. or Russian officials.

On Saturday afternoon, top Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev said he had held a “constructive meeting with the U.S. peacemaking delegation” in Florida. Officials have so far revealed few details of the talks in Abu Dhabi, which are part of a yearlong effort by the Trump administration to steer the sides toward a peace deal and end almost four years of all-out war

While Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed in principle with Washington’s calls for a compromise, Moscow and Kyiv differ deeply over what an agreement should look like.

A central issue is whether Russia should keep or withdraw from areas of Ukraine its forces have occupied, especially Ukraine’s eastern industrial

Speaker: No quickHouse vote to endpartial shutdown

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON House

Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will be afew days before agovernment funding package comes up for avote, all butensuring the partial federal shutdown will drag intothe week as Democrats and Republicans debate reining in the Trump administration’ssweeping immigration enforcement operations.

Johnson signaled he is relying on help from President Donald Trump to ensure passage. Trump strucka deal with senators to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from abroaderpackage after public outrage over two shooting deaths during protests in Minneapolis against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The measure approved Friday by the Senate would fund DHS temporarily,for two weeks, setting up adeadline for Congress to debate and vote on new restrictions on ICE operations.

“The president is leading this,” Johnson,R-Benton, told “Fox News Sunday.”

“It’shis play call to do it this way,” the speaker said, adding that the Republican presidenthas “already conceded that he wants to turn down the volume”onfederal immigration operations.

Johnson faces adaunting challenge ahead, tryingto muscle the funding legislation through the House while

Democrats arerefusing to provide the votes for speedy passage. They are demanding restraints on ICE that go beyond $20 million forbody cameras that alreadyisin the bill. Theywantto require that federal immigration agentsunmask and identify themselves and are pressing for an end to roving patrols, amid other changes

Democrats digin

“What is clear is thatthe Department of Homeland Security needs to be dramatically reformed,” saidHouse

Democraticleader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on ABC’s“This Week.”

Jeffriessaidthe administration needs to begin negotiations now, notoverthe next two weeks, on changes to immigration enforcement operations.

“Masks should comeoff,” he said. “Judicial warrants should absolutely be required consistent withthe Constitution, in ourview, beforeDHS agents or ICE agents are breaking into thehomes of theAmerican people or ripping people out

of their cars.”

It’sall forcing Johnson to rely on his slim House GOP majority in aseries of procedural votes, startingincommittee on Monday and pushing apotential House floor vote on the package until at least Tuesday,hesaid.

House Democrats planned aprivate caucus call Sunday evening to assess thenext steps.

Partialshutdowndrags on

Meanwhile, anumber of other federal agencies are snared in thefunding stand-

TexasDemocratflips stateSenateseat

Trumpwon district by 17 points

BY JOHN HANNA and JULIE CARR SMYTH

political writers

AP

DemocratTaylor Rehmet flipped areliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’sspecial election, continuinga string of surprise victories forDemocrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House. TheRepublicanpresident immediately distanced himself from the loss in adistrict he’d won by 17 points in 2024.

“I’m not involved in that. That’salocal Texas race,” Trump told reporters Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Yetjust aday before the race, Trump had heaped praise on Republican contender Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist and entrepreneur,onhis social media platform, declaring that she would be “a GREATCandidate and has my Complete and Total Endorsement.” A longer post came later,in whichheurged Texans to get out and vote, describing Wambsganss as asuccessful entrepreneur and “an incredible supporter” of his Make America Great Again movement.

Despite the plugs,Wambsganss was easily trounced in the Fort Worth-area district by Rehmet,alabor

union leader and veteran, forapartialtermending in earlyJanuary. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet was leadingbymorethan14 percentage points.

“Thiswin goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet told supporters Republican TexasLt. Gov Dan Patrick called the outcome “a wake-up call for Republicans acrossTexas,” where the GOP controlsevery statewideoffice

“Our voters cannot take anything for granted,” Patrickwrote on X, while noting low-turnout specialelections are always unpredictable.

“I know the energy and strengththe Republican grassrootsinTexas possess. We will comeout fighting with anew resolve, andwe will takethis seat back in November.”

Rehmet’svictory added to theDemocrats’ record of overperforminginspecial elections so far this cycle, beginning in March —when they prevailed in aPennsylvania legislative district made up of suburbanites andfarmersthatDemocrats hadn’theld in acentury and continuing through to November,whentheydominatedcandidate and ballot contests from Maine to California

And Zohran Mamdani, an unapologetic democraticsocialist, was elected mayor of New York City,aDemocratic strongholdthat saw the highest voter turnout in amayor’s race in 50 years.

The showings come as Trump’sapproval ratings with thepublicholdsteady at around40%.A January AP-NORC poll found that a majority of U.S.adultsdisapprove of the way he’shandling foreign policy,trade negotiations and immigration, as well as the economy. Democrats said Saturday’s results in Texaswere further evidence that voters under the second Trump administration are motivated to rejectGOP candidates and their policies.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Rehmet won by standing withworking people and talkingtoTexansabout the future.

“This winshows what is possible in Texas withstrong organizing, great candidates andstrategic investments,” he said in astatement. “People arenoticing that Democratshave the workers’ backs and aredelivering results.”

Democrats’ other state victories since 2025 included wins for governorinVirginia andNew Jersey andinspecial elections in Kentucky and Iowa. And, while Republican MattVan Epps won a Tennessee special election foraU.S.House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democratshope for this fall’smidterms.

With thatbackdrop in mind, Trump and Vice President JD Vance have pushed states toredraw their political mapstoRepublicans’

Mansentenced to 4years forthrowing Molotovcocktail during L.A. protest H

By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES A23-year-old man was sentenced to four years in federal prison after he admitted throwing aMolotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during protests against immigration raids acrossthe region last spring. Emiliano Garduno Galvez, aMexican national who authorities say is in the U.S. illegally,pleaded guilty in October to possessingan unregistered destructive device and civil disorder connected to his actions June 7inParamount, acity near LA. He was sentenced on Friday Sheriff’s deputies responded to alarge protest

thatday at which demonstrators were throwing rocks and otheritems outside aHome Depot where U.S. Border Patrolagents hadgathered. According to theplea agreement obtained by the LosAngeles Times, Galvez admittedthat he went behind awall,lit theMolotov cocktail and then hurled it toward where he had seen the deputies. The incendiarydevice landed in agrassy area near the foot ofaprotester and about15feet from the deputies, according to the plea agreement. Galvez said he then ran away Galvez threw the device “intending to obstruct,interfere with,and impede

the LASD deputies who were lawfully engagedin performance of official duties,”according to the agreement.

“This defendant’s reckless behavior threatened the lives andsafety of lawenforcement officersand that of alawfulprotester,” Bill Essayli, thefirst assistant U.S. attorney for theCentral DistrictofCalifornia, said in astatement.

Galvez’sfederal public defenders asked foramore lenient sentenceofthree years, saying in asentencing memo thathenow “readily admitsand acknowledges howserioushis actionswere andthe harm that could have ensued,” according to theTimes.

offasthe government went into apartial shutdownover the weekend.

Defense,health, transportation andhousing are amongthose that were given shutdown guidance by theadministration, though many operations are deemed essential and services are not necessarily interrupted. Workers could go without pay if the impasse drags on. Somecould be furloughed.

This is thesecond time in amatter of months that federal operations have been disrupted as Congress digs in, using the annual funding process as leverage to extract policy changes. Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdowninhistory, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of healthinsurance tax breaks.

That shutdownended with apromise to vote on proposals to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But the legislation didnot advance and Democrats wereunable to achieve their goal of keeping the subsidies in place. Insurance premiums spiked in the new year for millions of people.

Trumpwants quick end

This time, the administration has signaled its interest in more quickly resolving the shutdown.

Johnsonsaidhewas in the Oval Office last week when Trump, along with border czar TomHoman, spoke with Senate Democratic leader ChuckSchumer,ofNew

York, to work out the deal.

“I thinkwe’re on thepath to get agreement,” Johnson said on NBC’s“Meet the Press.” Body cameras,whichare alreadyprovidedfor in the package, and an end to the rovingpatrols by immigrationagents areareas of potential agreement, Johnson said.

Buthesaid taking the masks off and putting names on agents’ uniforms could lead to problems for lawenforcement officersas they are being targeted by the protesters and their personalinformation is posted online.

“I don’tthink the president would approve it —and he shouldn’t,” Johnsonsaidon Fox.

Democrats, however, said theimmigration operations are out of control, and it is an emergency situation that must end in Minneapolis and other cities.

Growing numbers of lawmakers are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to be fired or impeached.

“What is happening in Minnesotaright nowisa dystopia,” said Sen. Chris Murphy,D-Conn., wholed effortstoholdthe line for morechanges.

“ICE is making this country less safe,not more safe today,” Murphy said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“Our focus over the next two weekshas to be reining in alawless and immoral immigration agency.”

advantageheadedintothose contests, which will determine partisancontrolin Washington. Some Democratic states —mostnotably California —have pushed back with their own redistricting efforts.

The Texas Senateseat was open because the fourterm GOPincumbent, Kelly Hancock, resignedtotake astatewide office. Hancock easily won election each time he ran for theoffice, and Republicanshaveheldthe seat for decades.

The district is redder than its home, Tarrant County Trumpwon thecountyby 5pointsin2024, but Democratic PresidentJoe Biden carried it in 2020 by about 1,800 votesout of more than 834,000 cast.

ButRehmet hadsupport from national organizations, including theDNC and VoteVets,aveterans group that said it spent $500,000 on ads. Rehmet, whoserved in the Air Force and works as amachinist, focused on lowering costs, supporting public education and protecting jobs Wambsganss called Saturday’sresult“awake-upcall for Republicans in Tarrant County,Texas,and the nation” and warned her party not to be complacent

“The Democrats were energized,”she saidina statement. “Too manyRepublicans stayedhome.”

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trumpsays he will move to close Washington’sKennedy Center performing arts venue fortwo yearsstarting in July for construction.

Trump’sannouncement on social media Sunday night follows awave of cancellations since Trump ousted the previous leadership and added his nameto the building.

Trump announced his plandaysafter thepremiereof“Melania” a documentary of the first lady wasshownatthe storiedvenue.The proposal, he said, is subject to approvalbythe boardofthe Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his hand-picked allies. Trump himself chairs the center’s board of trustees.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO President DonaldTrump arrivesThursdayfor the premiereof first lady MelaniaTrump’s movie ‘Melania’ at The John F. KennedyMemorial Center ForThe Performing Arts in Washington.

“This important decision, basedoninput from many Highly Respected Experts, will takea tired, broken,and dilapidated Center,one that hasbeen in badcondition,bothfinancially andstructurally formany years, and turn it into aWorld Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in his post.

Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances, most recently,composer Philip Glass, whoannounced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” because he said the values of the center todayare in “direct conflict” withthe message of the piece.

Black History Month centennial channels angst

Advocates fight against historical erasure

BY TERRY TANG Associated Press

For academics, historians and activists, the past year has been tumultuous in advocating the teaching of Black history in the United States.

Despite last year proclaiming February as National Black History Month, President Donald Trump started his second term by claiming some African American history lessons are meant to indoctrinate people into hating the country The administration has dismantled Black history at national parks, most recently removing an exhibit on slavery in Philadelphia last month. Black history advocates see these acts and their chilling effect as scary and unprecedented.

“States and cities are nervous about retribution from the White House,” said DeRay Mckesson, a longtime activist and executive director of Campaign Zero, an organization focused on police reform.

“So even the good people are just quieter now.”

In the 100th year since the nation’s earliest observances of Black History Month which began when scholar Carter G. Woodson pioneered the first Negro History Week — celebrations will go on. The current political climate has energized civil rights orga-

FRAUD

Continued from page 1A

On the first charge, alleging a health care and wire fraud conspiracy, Kiel found that “the inferences the government advanced had no logical and convincing connection to any established facts.”

The charge for conspiracy to commit identity theft didn’t belong in New Jersey, Kiel found.

Agnifilo, a former New Jersey prosecutor, said in an interview that Kiel mistakenly instructed the jurors they could consider Brockmeier and Johnston guilty based on “willful blindness” rather than knowledge of a fraud.

“But the pharmacy is getting prescriptions signed by doctors, and they’re filling them,” he said.

“The government’s theory is, there are so many prescriptions from the same doctors, the only way the pharmacists could think this (was OK) was to put their head in the sand. It’s not the proper charge.”

Quiet downfall

Johnston and Brockmeier became the last of four dozen defendants to be convicted when the jury found them guilty of conspiracies

LIGO

Continued from page 1A

for the NSF The funds are a stark increase from the Trump administration’s proposed budget, which would have cut $5.2 billion, or 57%, of the agency’s annual budget.

The Livingston observatory is one of two LIGO sites in the United States. Its counterpart is LIGO Hanford in Washington state. Under the May budget proposal, only one LIGO observatory would have operated, with reduced spending on technology development.

LIGO Livingston made international headlines in 2015 when it detected gravitational waves from black holes more than a billion light years away — earning researchers a Nobel Prize in physics and kick-starting a new era of astronomy in the process.

Gabriela González, LSU professor and the spokesperson for the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration during the 2015 breakthrough, has spent the past six months lobbying elected officials for science funding.

nizations, artists and academics to engage young people on a full telling of America’s story There are hundreds of lectures, teachins and even new books — from nonfiction to a graphic novel to mark the milestone.

“This is why we are working with more than 150 teachers around the country on a Black History Month curriculum to just ensure that young people continue to learn about Black history in a way that is intentional and thoughtful,” Mckesson said about a campaign his organization has launched with the Afro Charities organization and leading Black scholars to expand access to educational materials.

New novel highlights Juneteenth

About three years ago, Angélique Roché, a journalist and adjunct professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, accepted a “once-in-alifetime” invitation to be the writer for a graphic novel retelling of the story of Opal Lee, “grandmother of Juneteenth.”

Lee, who will also turn 100 this year, is largely credited for getting federal recognition of the June 19 holiday commemorating the day when enslaved people in Texas learned they were emancipated.

Under Trump, however Juneteenth is no longer a free-admission day at national parks Juneteenth helped usher in the first generation of Black Americans who, like Woodson, was born free.

“First Freedom: The Story of Opal Lee and Juneteenth,” the graphic novel, comes out Feb. 10 It is the

to commit health care and wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering

Behind a distinctive orange sign on East Thomas Street, prosecutors claimed the pharmacy they led had filled the bulk of prescriptions for a high-volume scheme tapping high reimbursement rates for tailored drug mixes from compounding pharmacies like Central Rexall. The case rippled through the Garden State communities where many of the defendants lived and worked.

One implicated man ran in front of a moving train, said Kevin Shelly, a retired investigative reporter from New Jersey who now blogs about the case. A lawyer “took a swan dive off a casino garage roof,” he added And Dr James Kauffman, a New Jersey endocrinologist tied to the fraud scheme, reportedly died by suicide in jail after he was accused of another crime: plotting with an outlaw biker gang, the Pagans, to kill his wife. The downfall of Central Rexall was much quieter

The historic pharmacy was suspended in April 2015 by the Defense Health Agency for allegedly filling faulty prescriptions to patients with TRICARE. Reimbursements dried up. Central Rexall would close within two years.

“We worked very hard not just people in LIGO but many scientists and physicists,” she said.

González said she was thankful for Louisiana representatives in Congress who were receptive to securing the funding for LIGO

“We were happy for all science agencies,” she said.

Head of LIGO Livingston Joseph Giaime called the appropriations act “a great relief.”

Giaime said the staff had been paying close attention to budget talks in Congress and that it had been a “whirlwind.”

“We try to be super honest to staff. It’s tough to do sometimes,” Giaime said about the past few months after the proposed cuts.

“We were being conservative making decisions We wanted to preserve people and scientific options.”

Giaime said working with LSU, along with Louisiana and Washington elected officials, helped make a case for a larger budget.

LIGO’s black hole detector was put on pause in November for scheduled improvements and was supposed to be down for a few years, but it will power

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GERALD HERBERT Angélique Roché,

“It doesn’t mean don’t work with other people,” Roché said. “Don’t wait for other people to make the changes you wanna see.”

New generation of Black historians

When Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders were issued last year, Jarvis Givens, a professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard, was thousands of miles away teaching in London, where Black History Month is celebrated in October He had already been contemplating writing a book for the centennial.

Watching Trump’s “attack” cemented the idea, Givens said.

tion of history was a historian’s job,” Mckesson said, adding his group’s campaign will teach young students how to record history

The ‘father of Black history’ Born in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents, Woodson was among the first generation of Black Americans not assigned to bondage at birth. He grew up believing that education was a way to self-empowerment, said Robert Trent Vinson, director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

culmination of Roché’s assiduous archival research, phone chats and visits to Texas to see Lee and her granddaughter, Dione Sims.

“There is nothing ‘indoctrinating’ about facts that are based on primary sources that are highly researched,” said Roché, who hopes the book makes it into libraries and classrooms. “At the end of the day, what the story should actually tell people is that we’re far more alike than we are different.”

While Lee is the main character, Roché used the novel as a chance to put attention on lesser known historical figures like William “Gooseneck Bill” McDonald, Texas’ first Black millionaire, and Opal Lee’s mother, Mattie Broadous Flake.

She hopes this format will inspire young people to follow Lee and her mantra — “make yourself a committee of one.”

“I wanted to kind of devote my time while on leave to writing a book that would honor the legacy that gave us Black History Month,” Givens said.

The result is “I’ll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month,” a book with four in-depth essays that comes out Tuesday The title is a line from the 1920s poem “The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson, whose most famous poem, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” is known as the “Black national anthem.”

Givens examines important themes in Black history and clarifies misconceptions around them.

The book and the research Givens dug up will tie into a “living history campaign” with Campaign Zero and Afro Charities, Mckesson said. The goal is to teach what Woodson believed younger generations can become historians who can discern fact from fiction.

“When I grew up, the preserva-

PHOTO By RANDy BEGERON

The building that once housed Central Rexall, a pharmacy that imploded in 2016 under a $50 million fraud scheme, is now a coffee shop but still retains the signage.

Hayley Taff, the daughter of longtime pharmacist Don Fellows, pleaded guilty in 2020 to a three-year-long conspiracy and agreed to forfeit $1.5 million. The pharmacy’s vice president of sales, Christopher Casseri of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty in 2024 and agreed to forfeit $100,000.

Both still await their sentences after testifying against Johnston and Brockmeier

Taff’s attorney Garrison Jordan, said Tuesday that Taff was “obviously frustrated” at the judge’s ruling to negate the jury verdict but declined further comment.

back on this upcoming fall so there is less wait time between detector runs.

Giaime said this is so taxpayers and the community can be served better with more detections, an idea that was recently proposed amid budget talks.

In the past year, the observatory announced the discovery of the most massive black hole merger ever detected. More recently, LIGO had its sharpest detection yet that proved one of Stephen Hawking’s theories to be correct. It also saw growing attendance at its monthly Science Saturdays.

NSF has not finalized how it will distribute its funds in 2026, said Michael England, NSF head of media affairs. However, a joint congressional statement for the appropriations act states it “provides not less than $49 million for the year” for LIGO. This amount is on par with previous years’ budgets for the observatories.

LIGO Executive Director David Reitze, who oversees both observatories and is based at the California Institute of Technology, said in an email that he was thrilled and greatly appreciated the support of the Louisiana congressional delegation.

The bitter end for Central Rexall has weighed on her, Jordan said.

“It’s always been an emotional and devastating loss for her, because it was in the family for so long. It’s traumatic,” he said.

Booming business

New laws around drug compounding had brought a temporary boom in the field. Johnston and Brockmeier saw an opportunity They bought into Central Rexall, taking control in 2013 in a deal for 90% of the profit, prosecutors said.

Johnston, a lawyer, became general counsel.

The second Black man to earn a doctorate at Harvard University W.E.B. Du Bois was the first Woodson was disillusioned by how Black history was dismissed. He saw that the memories and culture of less educated Black people were no less valuable, Vinson said. When Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, he was in an era where popular stereotypes like blackface and minstrelsy were filling in for actual knowledge of the Black experience, according to Vinson. This sparked the creation of Black history clubs and Woodson began inserting historical lessons “on the sly” in publications like the “Journal of Negro History” and the “Negro History Bulletin.”

“Outside the formal school structure, they’re having a separate school like in churches or in study groups,” Vinson said “Or they’re sharing it with parents and saying, ‘you teach your young people this history.’ So, Woodson is creating a whole educational space outside the formal university.”

Brockmeier was chief operating officer Central Rexall’s staff grew eightfold in a few years. The pharmacy expanded next door, booting out a tenant.

Profits rolled in as the pharmacy fashioned what prosecutors called medically unnecessary pain, scar, antifungal and libido creams “solely based on the amount of money” the health plans would pay

“If you could add a pinch of something and get a couple hundred extra bucks, they would add it,” Shelly said. “A lot of them were health compounds. It wasn’t lifesaving Rx’s.”

Several hundred prescriptions came from the same New Jersey doctor, often at thousands of dollars for a month’s supply, as the alleged kickback scheme unfolded in 2015 and 2016, court records show Prosecutors accused Johnston and Brockmeier of submitting dummy claims to test reimbursements for various recipes, calling it identity theft. Johnston and Brockmeier denied it. Agnifilo described a window for drug compounding that lasted about five years. Back then, some health plans would pay based on ingredients, and new players entered a profitable market.

“If insurance is like

‘We’re going to cover hydrogen and oxygen,’ you’re going to start making water These guys are smart,” Agnifilo said. “This pharmacy thought it had some procedures in place to weed out the bad actors.” Will prosecutors appeal?

A spokesperson said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey declined to comment on the ruling or if it will appeal. That office has become a political lightning rod lately over President Donald Trump’s appointment last year of a former personal lawyer, Alina Habba, to lead it as U.S. attorney An appeals court panel ruled last month that Habba lingered too long without Senate confirmation, and on Jan. 26 the court declined to reconsider An attorney for Johnston issued a statement. “We are grateful for the Court’s careful and very thorough analysis,” attorney Lawrence Lustberg said of Kiel’s ruling. “We truly believe that this judgment achieves justice and reaches a result that is correct under both the facts and the law.” Fellows, the pharmacist, was never charged. Central Rexall’s old orange storefront remains, but the pharmacy he once ran has been converted to a coffee shop.

“For LIGO, this removes a lot of uncertainty We will be able to effectively carry out our scientific program as planned in 2026 and move forward with hiring several STEM-related staff positions that were on hold last year,” Reitze wrote.

Bovino faceddiscriminationlawsuit

Emailcomparing Border Patrol leader to Confederategeneral surfaced in N.O. case

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

Gregory Bovino, asenior

U.S. Border Patrolofficialwho emerged as aface of the federal government’simmigration dragnetand ledthe agency’smonthlong sweep through southLouisiana, faced questions in a2019 discrimination lawsuit filed in New Orleans about an email in whicha subordi-

CEOof Methodist Children’s Home stepsdown

Rick Wheatexpected to take newroleas chiefadvocacyofficer

BY ANDREA GALLO Staff writer

One of Louisiana’s most vocal advocates for child welfare and the chief executive officer of anonprofit that runs foster care programs and treatment facilities for children is stepping down.

Rick Wheat, who has been the CEO of Methodist Children’s Home for 15 years, has resigned asthe nonprofit’sleader and is expected to take on anew role as chief advocacy officer. Thenonprofit’sboard named Luke Allen, the chief operating officer,asinterimCEO while they search for apermanent head.

Wheat has become well-known at the Louisiana State Capitol and in child welfare circles for pushing state lawmakers and other elected officials to changelaws to improve the state’s often-dismal scores for childhood well-being. He was among those who pushed for the state to create thenew office of achild ombudsman, meant to investigatecomplaintswithin Louisiana agencies that serve children. TheLouisianaLegislature passed alaw to create the office in 2023.

“Rick’stenure as CEO of

nate compared him to aConfederate Army general. Bovino’s response: The message, which he received afew months before assuming leadership of Border Patrol’sNew Orleans sector,had nothingtodowith race.

Christopher Bullock, afriend and colleague from Bovino’s tenure in the El Centro, California,Border Patrol sector,sent the noteinMay 2018. The messages surfaced in

thediscrimination lawsuit filed the following year in theEastern DistrictofLouisiana, andBovinowas questioned about them in a2020 deposition.

“Oh jeez. DELETE!!!!” Bovino wrote in response to theemail, according to court records.

He said in the deposition he believes there wasnothing racist aboutthe message, which compared Bovino to aConfederate Army general. He added that the email was “not relative to the mission” and “worthless.”

Bovino did notreport the email to superiorsatthe Department of HomelandSecurity,heacknowledged in the deposition. Afew months after receiving the email, he was assigned to lead the New Orleans sector,arole in which he oversaw agency operations across 362,000 square miles stretching from New Orleanstothe Florida Panhandle. There, he would tapBullock, who was still in El Centro, foratop positioninthe NewOrleansoffice. The move triggeredatleasttwo

MODERN MEDICINE

Finalists for the 2025-26 Education All-Stars will be honored during the University of Louisianaat Lafayette’smen’sbasketballgame Saturday.The winners will be announced duringhalftime.

Carencro Middle has been ‘home’ forMouton

‘I’m here to do a servicefor these children’

Mireille Mouton completed herstudent teaching at Carencro Middle more than 24 years ago andhas taught English-language arts there ever since.

“I’m just so in love with the community, the kids and thepeople,” she said. “It’smyhome. I will retire here.”

Mouton was selected as one of three LafayetteParish schoolsystemmiddle school teachers as afinalist

forthe Education All-Stars award, presented by Love OurSchools. She was surprised with thenews in her classroom bydistrictstaff, school leaders andLoveOur Schoolsrepresentatives

“I wasshocked andvery humbled,” shesaid. “I don’t ever look for apat on the back or recognition. I’m here to do aservicefor these children and make them better humans.”

Moutonsaidshe intentionally builds relationships with each of her students. She wants them to feel like they are the most important student to her by learning their strengths, weaknesses, favorite thingsand other unique facts.

“I make sure that they’re

Poulan says every studentmotivates him

‘FromDay One, I buildarapport with them’

CarencroMiddleSchool history teacher Steve Poulanusessports analogiesto encourage his students The classroom is where stude nts work as a team to be succ essful, he said. It’s aplace wherethey have home-court advantage, so even when someonemakes amistake,the rest of the team is going to encourage that person. He was in his class-

room when district staff, school leaders and representativesfromLove Our Schools surprisedhim withthe news that he is one of three Lafayette Parish school system middle school teachers selected as afinalist for the Education All-Stars awards.

“I was shocked.Itwas a blessing,” Poulan said. “I don’talways get to seethe results of how Iimpacted astudent. Somethinglike this just makes it all feel worthwhile.” Poulan teaches American historytosixth andeighth graders. He’s worked at Carencro Middle for about 13 years. He “took the long way”tobecominganeducator, goingtocollege right

ABOVE: Customers wait in lineto enterduring thegrandopening of The ApothecaryShoppe on Sunday in Lafayette. Therewere food trucks fromEmpanada Guy,K.O.K. Wings &Things, Mimi’sThaiFood andSouthernCreole, alongwith more than 7,000 slices of king cake andkingcake-themed desserts fromsome of thebestbakeries in Acadiana.

LEFT: Customers enter duringthe grand opening.

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

As an educator,Britney Bonnet-Taylorknows that theoutlook she brings to her Acadian Middle School classroom makes all the difference. She leans into the Henry David Thoreau quote, “It’snot what you look at that matters, it’swhat you see,” to see her sixth and eighth grade English-language arts stu-

dents’ potential. The support and encouragement she provides her students is one of the reasons Bonnet-Taylor said she believes she wasselected as oneofthreeLafayette Parish school system middle school teachers as afinalist forthe Education All-Stars awards, presented by Love Our Schools. “I was excited and surprised,” she said. “These are never the things Iexpect.” Bonnet-Taylorbegan her education career as aparaprofessional.She’sbeen leading the classroom for 13 years, workinginSt. Landry and Lafayette Parish schools. She’s been at Acadian Middlefor about

Be skeptical aboutdataon environment andhealth

Awebsite called Louisiana Health Facts has been circulating recently,presenting parish-level health statistics to argue that concerns about Louisiana’sindustrial corridor are overstated. Thesite relies on broad indicatorssuch as lifeexpectancy and aggregate cancer rates to suggest that health outcomes in these areas compare favorablywith therest of the state. Even when drawn from reputable data sources, this kindof analysis deserves caution. Aggregate health metrics are usefulfor identifying large-scale trends, but they are poorly suited to answering questions about localized environmental risk. Parish-wideaverages can easilyobscuresharp differences within acommunity, particularly in areas where industrial facilities, residential neighborhoods and exposure levels vary block by block.

Life expectancy,inparticular, reflects many factors beyond environmental conditions, includingincome, access to health care, education and urbanization.A slightly higher average life span in alarge geographic area does not demonstrate that residents living near industrial sites face no elevated health risks. It simply means that multiple influences are being averaged together. Public conversations about environmental health should be clear about these limits. When the scale of analysis does not match the scale of the concern the result can be misleading reassurance rather than meaningful understanding. Louisiana’scommunities deserve careful, transparentuse of health data, especially when those data are invoked to characterize safety and risk. Amore honest discussion would acknowledge what aggregate statisticscan show,and just as importantly, what they cannot.

DEVIN FOIL NewOrleans

What’s in anamefor Greenland?

Ithink the real reason thepresident wants to buy Greenlandisso that he can appoint acommission to change the island’snameto Trumpland.

JAMES CRONVICH Harahan

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR

AREWELCOME.HEREARE

YOUR VIEWS

Landownermakes case for state’seconomicfuture

Generations of Louisiana landowners have taken seriously thedutytoprotect the land, balancing respect for the past withplans for thefuture. In the timber industry,that mindset is notoptional. It is how you stay in business.

Carbon capture and storage is not apolitical talking point for us. It is apractical tool that fitswith thelong-term vision that landowners already live by.Done responsibly, CCS allows us to use subsurface rights without disturbing theforests, farms and habitats we manage every day.Itbrings steady investment to rural areas and helps keepLouisiana competitive in an energy economy that is changing, whether we are ready or not.

Landownersdonot make decisions lightly We weighrisks, study long-term impacts and look at compatibility with current operations. In my case, that meanssustainable timber production on someofthe largest family-owned timberlands in the South. After doingthat homework, many of us

see CCS as an opportunity that aligns with principles we have followed fordecades: responsible resource use, economic stability for rural communities and stewardship for future generations.

This is also about keeping Louisiana’s economy strong. Ourindustrial base faces growing pressuretocut emissions to stay competitive both domestically and internationally.CCS gives industries arealistic way to keep operating and growing here at home. Without it, investment will movetostates with clearer permitting and fewerobstacles. Capital follows certainty,and right now our neighbors offer more of it than we do. The principle is simple. Landowners should have theright to put land, including subsurface rights, to productive use when it fits our values and long-term plans. Louisiana has an opportunity to lead. We ask for aclear,predictable path to participate and help shape thefuture of our state.

ROBERT CROSBY president of CrosbyLand

&Resources, L.L.C.

Expanded cervical cancer screeningmatters

As someone who works with communities across Louisiana, Isee every day how access, trust and convenience shape whether peoplereceive preventive cancer care. That’swhy the newly released updated cervical cancerscreening guidelines (from the Health Resources and Services Administration and American Cancer Society) are an important step forward.

though cervical cancer is preventable when detected early

Self-collection can be done during aroutine primary carevisit. It can helpwomen who lack access to gynecologic care, feel discomfort with atraditional Pap test or cannot take time off for appointments. Once collected and sent to alaboratory,itisthe samehighqualitytest.

La.shouldbe ashamedat goingafter oil companiesthat create jobs

It’s appalling forambulance-chasing lawyers and career politicians to now want to cook the goose that laid the golden egg forLouisiana. Regarding the recent article, “SupremeCourt hears Louisiana coastal case,” addressing the lawsuit Chevron USAInc. vs. Plaquemines Parish: As we are aware, the biggest culprit in the destruction of Louisiana coastal marshes wasthe U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers. In the 1920s, the Corps started building federal Mississippi River levees to restrict the overflow of river water to protect cities, towns and people from flooding. These levees cut off the natural flow of land-building dirt, sand, etc. With the vital source forkeeping saltwater out blocked, it did not take long forsaltwater intrusion into the marshes to begin killing the vegetation that held everything together Oil companies in the 1940s were requested by our federal governmenttoincrease production ASAP due to the demands of World War II. It is disappointing forajury of 12 biased Plaquemines Parish citizens to reach the conclusion they reached last year.I am also extremely disappointed with our current governor and lieutenant governor forsupporting such lawsuits harassing great companies whohave done so much good for individuals, our state, the United States and the world.

Has anyone considered the number of jobs the oil industry created directly and the number of jobs it created indirectly foroil-related service companies? All of these jobs weresome of the best-paying jobs in the state. That number would be in the hundreds of thousands over a60-year span. Those paychecks paid sales taxes, state and federal incometaxes. And lest we forget, all these folks increased the demand forhousing, grocery stores, entertainment, hospitals, doctors, lawyers, catering services, general marine leasing companies, workboats, crewboats, helicopters and office space.

JIMMY D. BOYD Marrero

OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone 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. Box588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER, SCAN HERE

Thenew guidance expands screening options by recognizing high-risk HPV testing, including patientself-collection, as apreferred screening method for average-risk women ages 30-65, while preserving appropriate options for younger women. Just as important,the guidelines require mostinsurance planstocover follow-up testing needed to complete thescreening process beginning in 2027. Together,these changes reduce cost and logistical barriers that too often stand between women andlifesaving care.

This matters in Louisiana, where cervical cancer incidence and mortality remain higher than thenational average, especially in rural communities and among women facing economic or health access barriers. Women are still beingdiagnosed at later stages, even

Observingwhat President Donald Trump has done, is doing and is threatening to do in light of what reasonable people expect of the presidentofthe United States, perhaps it is time to seriously consider invoking the 25th Amendmenttothe Constitution —and work-

Backed by FDA approvals andresearch conducted at LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center,self-collection gives women morecontrol and flexibility and for many, that difference can mean choosing screening instead of delaying care.

Cervical cancer is one of the mostpreventable cancers. No one should be diagnosed with cervical cancer,and no oneshould die from it because they couldn’taccess screening.

These updated guidelines bring us closer to afuture where prevention is the norm,not theexception.

DONNA WILLIAMS associate director, LSULCMC Health Cancer Center and associate dean, LSU School of Public Health

ing our way down through the presidential options until we finally

Ienjoyed the Martin Luther King Jr.Day article titled “Making the Dream Reality.” A.P.Tureaud was one of the six individuals identified in the accompanying photo dated 1960, though there wasnomention of him in the article. Tureaud’s leadership during Louisiana’sCivil Rights Movement wascritical. He successfully litigated equal pay for Louisiana’sBlack educators and the desegregation of public schools and spaces throughout the state. He gathered regularly with King at Dooky Chase’sRestaurant in New Orleans. At Tureaud’s1972 funeral, SupremeCourt Justice Thurgood Marshall closed his eulogy by noting, “Inthis age of civil rights, we got where we are today by the efforts and dedication of men like A.P.Tureaud, whomade himself a leader.” His wasalifeofservice that should be remembered and celebrated.

KEVIN PORTZ Baton Rouge

Making acasefor pluralism

Much of our publicdebate todayrests on asimple but mistaken premise: that awell-functioning society ismade up of largely self-sufficient individuals, andthat public systems should reward strength while discouraging dependence.

reality

Last month, President Donald Trump’sEnvironmental Protection Agency issued this judgmentonthe American people: Our lives are worthless.

That wasn’tjust forblue state residents, the media, Democrats and anyone else whomight disagree with him;Trumplong ago pronounced them vermin and scum No, this is also about everyone whovoted forhim,all the GOP delegations worshipping him in Congress, as well our children including the generations yet to be born.

It’sanunderstandable assumption, but it doesn’t reflect the way human lives really unfold.

Amore realistic and durable framework is pluralism. Not as apolitical slogan, but as adesign principle for public systems funded by the collective will.

Pluralism begins with abasic truth abouthuman life:Variation is universal. Every person ages. Every person’sbody changes. Every person’scapacity fluctuates across time. Illness, injury, caregiving and vulnerability are notexperiences that affect only“some people ”They areexperiences everyone encounters, but in combinations, intensities anddurations far more complex thanour public systems typicallyassume.

The problem is not thatwefail to recognize this individually.The problem is that we designpublic systems as if it weren’ttrue.

Any system built on theassumption thatself-sufficiency is thedefault will failunder real conditions. Notbecause people are irresponsible, but because theassumption itself does not match

There has never been aself-sufficient human. We are born dependent. We relyon shared knowledge,infrastructure and carethroughout our lives.Capacity rises and falls. Circumstances shift. No life follows asingle, predictable path. Pretending otherwise doesn’tcreate strength.It creates fragility

Pluralism simply means designing public systems that account for this reality rather than punishing it. In apluralist framework, human variability is not adefect to be managed away.Itisa coredesignconsideration. Systems are built to functionacross a broad spectrumofhuman conditions, notjustfor an imagined “normal” person who remains healthy,able and independent atall times.

Thisisnot aradical idea. It is howsuccessfulsystems already work.

We don’t build roads assumingnothing will ever go wrong. We build them knowingaccidents, detours,and breakdowns happen. Strong public systems account forvariability rather than assuming ideal conditions

Health care access, disability accommodation, education, food security and caregivingsupports belong in this same category.Theyare not moral rewards forgood behavior.They arepublic structures that allow people, in all their varied circumstances and capacities, to participate in economic and civic life over an entirelife span.

By contrast, ahierarchical, ruthless individualist approachtreats need as failure. It assumes independence is the norm anddependence is adeviation that must be corrected or discouraged. That mindset shiftsattention away from systemdesign and toward sorting people into “deserving”and “undeserving” categories. This does notproduce efficiency.It produces systems thatsubstitute judgmentfor design and fail as aresult. Pluralismoffers acalmer alternative. It does not deny effort or responsibility It recognizes that effort operates inside bodies, historiesand circumstances that varywidely and rarelyunfold in predictable ways.Support, in this view,is notthe opposite of responsibility.Itis what makes participation possible. Asocietythatonlyworksfor the healthiestand luckiestisnot strong. It is fragile. Andfragile systems eventually fail everyone. Pluralismisnot about celebrating difference for its own sake or enforcing agreement. It is about designing public structures that reflect how human life actually unfolds. It asks apractical question: Does this system still work across the full range of human experience? If theanswer is no, theproblem is not thepeople. It’sthe design.

EllenHolliday is awriter based in Baton Rouge

Reporterspushing thewrong narrativeonimmigration

If you follow what presents itselfas “reporting” these days youhavelikely heard about a5-year-oldboy in Minneapolis who was used as “bait to get his father,who had abandoned him, to return so he could be arrested. Some claimed the child had been “kidnapped”by ICE. Rep. Jasmine Crockett,DTexas, rushed to the cameras to promote the “bait” and “kidnapped” narrative. Hillary Clinton said ICE was usingchildren as “pawns” and Kamala Harris also repeated the “bait”label. The women on “The View” echoed the same theme. Their talking points were wrong. As explained by ICE and Border Patrol, the father of the boy is in the country illegally.They saidhehad left his son in acar while trying to avoid arrest. ICE officers took the child to asafe place until they wereable todetain the father andreunite the two.

on Saturday,Minneapolis officials were quick to establish anew narrative even thoughthey didn’t have “all thefacts.”

positive clips as ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts were negative 93% of the time.”

That sentence was handed down when the agency quietly decided this: It will no longer include the number of lives lost or damaged when determining the required cost-benefit analysis of pollution regulations.

The agency will continue to determine how much compliance with aregulation will cost an industry’sbottom line and how much it could cost the economy.Itwill makesure corporate lives are not harmed. But the human lives that have been valued at $10 million to $11 million each in the formula forgenerations? Well, now they’re worthless. It’s all laid out in “Economic Impact Analysis forthe New Source Performance Standards Review forStationary Combustion Turbines: Final Rule.”

This analysis concerns two types of air pollution.

One is “PM 2.5” —tiny dust-like particles of less than 2.5 micrometers mainly from vehicle exhaust, industry and wildfire. The other is ozone, which is ground and low-elevation air pollution from mostofthe samesources. Both are proven to result in deadly lung and heart diseases, and decades of research have shownthat regulations saved tens of thousands of lives and helped the economy by reducing billions in medical costs and lost working days. So whychange?

“Basically,what this administration is saying, that trying to monetize the value of ahuman lifeissocomplicated that it can’treally trust the numbers —sothey’re just not going to include it,” said Rob Verchick, aLoyola law professor

“This is departing from what has been the norm at the EPAinboth Republican and Democratic administrations going back to Ronald Reagan where it began.”

Verchick should know.Hewas adeputy associate administrator at EPAduring the Obama administration.

The EPAhas two responsibilities in setting environmental regulations, Verchick explained. By law (the 1970 Clean Air Act), its first job is making sure Americans have clean, healthy air to breathe, so its scientists establish how much of anything can be emitted without harming human health.

Itssecond charge started when the Reagan administration, at the behest of industry,began the cost-benefit analysis forregulations to show how much they might cost industry and the economy

Reporters rarely question thepromoters of afalse narrativewhether they would like to apologize for what they said. That may be because many of them agree that ICE is wrongtoarrest people with criminal convictions and previous deportation orders and get them out of Minneapolis andthe country.You can’targue withthe results. Some are tying the deportation of violent criminals to the reduction in murders nationwide.

Following the shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse and U.S.citizen,

Homeland SecurityKristiNoem later said the man was armed with agun and two magazines and intended to kill ICE agents, although bystanders’ video contradicts that claim.

Falsenarratives are not new Recall “Hands up, don’tshoot”

(Michael Brown/Ferguson, Mo. 2014), the Russian collusion hoax, Trumpisa Russian agent, the Hunter Biden laptop, Black Lives Matter and some of itscorrupt leaders, and so manymore. This is theproblem with falsenarratives. If you hate President Trumpand everythinghis administration is doing, you look for anything —whether true or false —tolower his approval numbers. That seems to be working as most polls show votersdisapprove of ICE’s tactics and the president. Why wouldn’t they when themedia are virtually united in false narratives? Border Patrol and thepresident have beendisplayingpictures of some of the worst criminals they are arresting anddeporting. The media have largely ignored that important part of the story.According to astudy by theconservative Media Research Center,“In the 10 days following the shooting of Renee Good,ABC, NBC and CBS were overwhelmingly negative about ICE. The study found 68 negative sound bitesabout ICE, compared to only five

Ihave not seen areporter ask an antiICE protester whether they are OK with rapists, murderers and pedophiles staying in Minneapolis. The Trumpadministration needs to do what is known in television as counter-programming. This might include allowing some of thevictims of these criminals to speak. Bringsome of those awaiting deportation before reporters and read off their records. That might be moreeffective at influencing public opinion than displaying their photographs.

It doesn’ttake asoothsayer to predict that the goal of these demonstrations might be to help Democratsregain a congressional majority so they can again impeach the president, even though thelikelihood of convicting him would be about the same as theprevious impeachments. For them, it’sall politics. For Homeland Security, it’s about getting bad guys off the streets and out of the country Let theDemocrats run on aplatform of defending violent criminals and see how that works for them. As for the wrong narrative that has been promoted aboutthe 5-year-old boy,itagain proves thetruthofthe saying: “A lie travels halfway around the world while thetruthisputtingonits boots.”

Email Cal Thomasattcaeditorstribpub.com

But from the beginning, that was meant to also include the costs to human health, afactor that can also be adrain on the nation’seconomy This always led to pitched battles between industry seeking higher profits and environmental groups trying to protect public property like air,water and land.

Massive political contributions from polluting sectors had impacts over the years, especially after the Roberts SupremeCourt decided in Citizens United that companies are citizens and have equal rights to humans in someareas. Attacks on the system werealways highest during pro-business GOPadministrations and Congresses, often in cutting agency budgets and enforcement and rolling back regulations. But the nation has never seen anything like this second Trumpadministration, arguably the first truly anti-environmental protection. It has bragged about inaugurating the largest rollback of environmental regulations in history and reducing enforcement and compliance checks on industry by as much as 50%. Meanwhile, its administrator,Lee Zeldin, echoing his hero in the White House, ridicules climate science as a“religion” all the while gaslighting the public by claiming their cutbacks are making things cleaner But anyone reading that they want to remove the costs in human lifefrom determining the value of pollution regulations can be leftfeeling only one thing: Worthless.

Bob Marshall, aPulitzer Prize-winning Louisiana environmental journalist, can be reached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com

Hearingtodecideifteenwill remain in juvenile detention

15-year-old arrestedin Clintonparade shooting

BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer

A15-year-old faces a court hearing Monday afterhis arrest in the Clinton Mardi Gras shooting Saturday that injured five people, including a6-year-old girl. The girl, who was in critical condition, had surgery Sunday morning and is expected to survive, said Sam D’Aquilla, the district attorney forEastand West Feliciana parishes. There

MOUTON

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loved and appreciated andvalued and seen and heard,” she said. “They deserve to have individual attention in apositive way, know that they’re loved and they belong here.” She hopes that students know she cares about their progress and success and that she’salways there for them, even when theyleave

POULAN

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is no otherinformation on the other four victims who were shot.

D’Aquilla also noted that Monday’shearing will determineifthe teen will remain in the juvenile detention center or be moved to thegeneral prison

Thesecondsuspect is Noah Basquine, 19, from Ethel. Basquine andthe 15-yearoldare accused of attempted second-degree murder, reckless dischargeofa firearmataparadeand obstruction ofjustice, according to astatement from the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The third suspect, JascentScott, 26, of Baker,is accused of illegal carrying

herclassroom.

Moutonbecame an educator because of her son, Mark Mouton. She wanted acareer whereshe could spend more time with him. His first dayofkindergarten was her first dayteaching, she said. Mark Mouton isnow an educator himself,teaching math in aclassroom around the cornerfrom hers. He’s an Education All-Stars finalist alongside two other early-career teachers. “What Ithought was just

them,they will do anything that you ask,’ ”hesaid.

of aweapon and resisting an officer,the Sheriff’sOffice said. D’Aquilla said authorities do not believe Scott was involved with the shooting.

At the scene, the crime lab collected 29 bulletcasings from arifle and two handguns, D’Aquilla said.

The shootings remain underinvestigation but D’Aquilla said there is a possible gang affiliation that ledtothe violent outbreak There could be additional arrests.

The shooting started around 12:20 p.m. across from the Clinton CourthouseonSt. Helena Street

The “Mardi Grasinthe Country” parade was rollingfor only15minutesbefore gunshots rang out

away to have vacation time withmyson turned out to be my calling,”she said. Mouton and theother finalistsfor the 2025-26 Education All-Stars, including herson,will be honored during theUniversityof Louisiana at Lafayette’s men’s basketball game Saturday.The winners will be announced during halftime.

ContactAshley White at ashley.white@ theadvocate.com.

BOVINO

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discrimination complaints from career Border Patrol officials in the New Orleans sector whoarguedincourt filings that they hadbeen blocked from consideration forpromotions because they are Black.

While leading the federal government’srecentimmigration sweeps in Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and Minneapolis,Bovino emerged as an enthusiastic spokespersonofthe deportationpush from President Donald Trump’sadministration Federal court filings from the case shednew light on alittle-knownperiod of Bovino’scareer as he led Border Patrol operations for two years across theGulf Coast. Spokespeople forBorder Patrol and the Department of Homeland Securitydid notimmediatelyrespondto questions about the case.

Bovino would return to the El Centro sector in Southern California before being named “at-large”commander in 2025 after Trump’ssecond inauguration. But he was stripped of his“at-large” title last week amid mounting scrutiny over BorderPatrol agents’ fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester,Alex Pretti.

TheChicagoSun-Times first reportedFriday on the emails between Bovino and Bullock.

Bullock’sMay 2018 email to Bovino includeda photo of General William Mahone, aConfederate States Army generalfrom Virginia, and captioned it “ChiefBovino.”

Theemail contained two additional photos:One showing Civil Warreenactors dressed in gray ConfederateArmyuniforms grouped around aConfederatebattle flag, and another showing Black UnionArmy soldiers at an artilleryposition during the war

Bullock captioned the photo of the Confederate reen-

CEO

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Methodist Children’s Homehas been transformative,quite literally,” saidBilly James, the MethodistChildren’sHome board chair,inanews release. “Rick broughtto lifeavision to establish a statewide agency of care for abused and neglected children.”

Under Wheat’stenure, the nonprofit addeda third children’s home in Loranger.And while the Methodist Children’sHome began as aloneorphanage in 1904 in Bunkie, the organization now has three homes across the state that specialize in inpatient care for children with severe behavioral, emotional or family problems.

actors “NLL all hands meeting.” He captioned the photo of the Union soldiers “NLL Sector HQ.” NLListhe code name for Border Patrol’s New Orleans sector ASt. Tammany attorney for the two Black Border Patrolofficials who fileddiscriminationclaims,Kevin Vogeltanz, wrote in acourt filing that thephoto of Confederate reenactors represented the NewOrleans sector’smostly-White rank-andfile. The Unionartillerymen represented senior officials in the sector who were ethnic minorities, including the officials Vogeltanz represented, he argued.

The officials, Jon Joyner andRandolph Williams, settled theirdiscrimination claimsin2022 for undisclosed amounts, according to court records. Their current status at the agency is unclear.Vogeltanz did not immediately respond to phone ande-mailed messagesabout the case. He represented two other Border Patrol agents in additionaldiscrimination cases involving Bovino, which also yieldedsettlements. DHS lawyers opened an internal probeafter receiving acomplaint of “confederate images” attached to official communications,according to documents. Bullock told aDHS agent

When Gov. JeffLandry’s administration planned to reject summer EBTin 2024 to give families extra money to feed children out of school, Wheat sent aletter around the state.

“There is never agood reason to keep food from hungrychildren, but some questionable reasons for Louisiana’sdelay or refusal to accept Summer EBT funds for hungrychildren have been reported,”he wrote.

Amid uproar,Louisiana backtracked to accept summerEBT Wheat oftenposted his musings about improvingchild welfareinonline blogs

assignedtothatprobe that he sentthe imagesbecause Bovino is a“history buff who appliesinstances in American history to different work-relatedsituations.”He addedthatthe emailwas intended to “poke fun at Bovino since the NewOrleans sector is behind thetimes in comparison to other sectors.” Bullock said he believed that racism is “not appropriate in America.” He could not immediately be reached. In his2020 deposition,Bovino saidhedid notbelieve Bullock had intended to offend anyone by sending it.

“I ascribedverylittle meaning to this because I received many,many emails each day,” Bovino said. “When Ireceive an email like this, typically,itgoes to the recycle bin.”

Asked repeatedly if the emails could be perceived as racist or “racially tinged,” Bovino said, “no.”

“In perusing the email that he sentme, Idid not find anyracialconnotations that would lead me to open an investigation for Mr.Bullock,” he said.

Bovino and Bullock appear to have been associates since at least the 2010s. Alisting forthe 2014 film “LaMigra” on the film website IMDB acknowledges and thanks Bullockand Bovino as contributors to the production.

Theabsence of acomprehensive plantocarefor children?”

In his new role, Methodist Children’sHome plans for Wheat to lead an advocacy programtopromote policy and legislation for Louisiana children and families.

Wheat pushedfor changes across the state beyond children in foster care, taking up themantleofchildren in juvenile prisons andothers in poverty

“Louisiana ignores wakeup calls regarding our children with thegreatest needs,” he wrote in a2022 post. “What arethe proverbial earplugs thatallow us to miss thewake-up calls our children desperately need us to hear to rouse us from our slumber?Understaffed state agencies? Unmaintained facilities?

“She said,‘If thekids know that you care about

BONNET

Continued from page1B out of high school, taking a break, working as ayouth pastor and then returning to obtain hisdegreeat35 years old. As an educator,Poulan said he treats his students with respect and takes the time to listen to them, something he learnedfrom his sister,who’salso an educator.

four years. When working with her students, Bonnet-Taylor strives to be apositive source for her students, even if it’ssomething that doesn’thave to do with the ELA curriculum. She’s helpedstudents secure school spirit shirts and helped another apply for awork permit. Shetells

“That’s what Ido. From Day One,I build arapport with them.” Poulan said even though thecurriculumdoesn’t change, each class has its own personalityand challenges. That and the relationships he’sfostered with his co-workers are what motivate him.

He hopes as students leave his classroom,they remember that they can achieve anything,alife lesson Poulan’s own parents instilledinhim.

them about higher education opportunities, including college and technical schools.

“WhenIcome here,I aim to beateacher Iwant to be standinginfront of my kids,” she said.“I’m grateful and thankful to the parents who trust me with their kids.”

Bonnet-Taylor’sthree children and her husband are what helpkeep herbalanced. She finds motivation from her mother, who’s always

“Itmay take some hard work, there may be some growing pains,but you can do whatever you set your mindtodo,” he said. “Any of us are capable of that.” Poulan and theother finalistsfor the 2025-26 Education All-Starswill be honoredduring the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’smen’s basketball game Saturday.The winners will be announced during halftime.

ContactAshley White at ashley.white@ theadvocate.com.

praying for her,and her former students, who continue to make her proud.

Bonnet-Taylor and the other finalists for the 202526 Education All-Stars will be honored during the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s men’sbasketball gameSaturday.The winnerswill be announced during halftime.

ContactAshley White at ashley.white@ theadvocate.com.

N.O. native headed to SuperBowl LX with Patriots

Charles-Hubbardhas been team’s assistantequipment managerfor threeyears

BY RODWALKER Staff writer

DevinCharles-Hubbard knowshe’ll get chills at Levi’sStadium on Sunday

ä Seahawks vs: Patriots

5:30 P.M. SUNDAy,NBC

Not the kind he got standing on the sideline in the snow when theNew England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game. These chills will be the ones youget when living a dream that has taken you from Uptown New Orleans, where you werebornand raised, to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California. Hubbard, 34, is in his third season as New England’sassistant equipment manager, a gig that will put him on the biggeststage when the Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks. “You wanttotreatitlikea regular game, butatthe same time,it’sthe SuperBowl,” Hubbard said. “You want to be on your P’s and Q’sand double and triplecheck everything.” Hubbard has been in big gamesbefore. He was the equipment manager for Tulane

HOTSTREAK

BYREED DARCEY Staff writer

Editor’snote: Information forthis column was compiled from apresentation madeby Mike Chappell of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee.

TheHall of Fame case for Reggie Wayne is not about sentiment,although it’s difficult not to empathize with him after his painstaking seven-year runasa finalist. Wayne’scandidacy is based on evidence. Statistics. Metrics. Production. His impact on oneofthe great offenses in NFL history.His undeniable longevity and productivity.His Super Bowl ring and six Pro Bowl selections Wayne is one of 15 finalistsfor thePro Football Hall of Fame’sClass of 2026. Along with fellow receiver Torry Holt, who is in his seventh year as afinalist,Wayne hashad to wait longer than anyofhis fellow candidates Wayne’swait showsjust how difficult it is to earn agold jacket, because the former

But neverbymorethan 30 points as it did against coach Kristy Curry’sCrimson Tide (19-4, 5-4).

“Wehit abuzzsaw,” Curry said, “and we didn’thave aresponse foritafter the first quarter.”

Alabama was thefirst rankedopponent LSU hasfaced in two weeks. The Tigers won their past three games by an average margin of 31.7 points, but they were against the SEC’sbottom threeteams Texas A&M, Florida and Arkansas. The CrimsonTide presenteda decidedly toughertest. Lastseason,itbeat LSUin overtime.

OnceMikaylah Williams’ 3-pointer droppedthrough the rim, coach Kim Mulkeycould turn around andyell to the Pete Maravich AssemblyCenter crowd, telling it to stand up forthe finalseconds of adominant first half. Mulkey had good reason to celebrate. Her LSUwomen’sbasketball team wasin themiddle of its 103-63 shellacking of No 24 Alabama on Sunday Williams, who finished with 15 points, had aproductive offensive game. And she wasn’t alone. TheNo. 6Tigers (21-2, 7-2 SEC) had four players score in double figures on aday in which theyshot 56% from thefield, drained 10 3-pointers and hit the century mark against an AP-ranked SEC opponent for just the second time in the past five seasons. Before Sunday,LSU had beaten aranked team 22 times since Mulkey’stenure began in 2021.

Left Williams shines in LS

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

In less than two weeks, LSUwill get anothercrackatdefendinga nationaltitle under coach Jay Johnson. And after asecondweekendofpreseason scrimmages, strong indicatorsofwhatthe team Johnson will trot out on opening day have begun to emerge. Here are afew takeaways from LSU’s scrimmages this weekend. Cooper Williamsdominates The sophomoreleft-handerwas nearly perfect on Thursday,tossing 42/3 innings with eight strikeouts. He surrendered just one hit, asolo home runtojunior third baseman Trent Caraway on an off-speed pitch he left over the plate. The fact thatWilliams pitched into afifth inning is astrong indicator that Johnson is preparing himfor aspot in theweekend

rotation. His command has taken another step forward, andhis abilitytokeep hitters off balance with four pitches he can throw forstrikesissimilartowhat LSU hadin KadeAnderson last year To say that Williams will be the next Anderson this year maybea stretch. But outsideofmaybe juniorright-hander and Kansastransfer Cooper Moore, no LSU pitcher has looked as good as Williams to start 2026. Apotential look at thestartinglineup LSUrolledout alineup anddefensive alignmentonSunday that may be closeto what the Tigers’ starting nine is on opening day 1. Chris Stanfield LF,2.Derek Curiel CF, 3. Jake Brown RF,4.Zach Yorke 1B, 5. Steven Milam SS, 6. Mason Braun DH, 7. Tanner Reaves 2B, 8. Trent Caraway 3B, 9. OmarSerna C There areafew parts of this order that likely won’tbeinplace on Feb. 13. Sophomore Cade Arrambide is still the projected starteratcatcher,but he wasn’tbehind the plate for eitherteam on Sunday,likely as an attempt to

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Alcaraz beats Djokovic in final

Spaniard becomes youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam

BY JOHN PYE Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia Carlos Alcaraz is 22, he’s the youngest man ever to win all four of the major titles in tennis, and he had to achieve what no man previously has done to complete the career Grand Slam in Australia

The top-ranked Alcaraz dropped the first set of the Australian Open final in 33 minutes Sunday as Novak Djokovic went out hard in pursuit of an unprecedented 25th major title, but the young Spaniard dug deep to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

“Means the world to me,” Alcaraz said. “It is a dream come true for me.”

Djokovic had won all 10 of his previous finals at Melbourne Park and, despite being 38, gave himself every chance of extending that streak to 11 when he needed only two sets to win.

Alcaraz rose to the challenge.

“Tennis can change on just one point. One point, one feeling, one shot can change the whole match completely,” he said. “I played well the first set, but you know, in front of me I had a great and inspired Novak, who was playing great, great shots.”

A couple of unforced errors from Djokovic early in the second set gave Alcaraz the confidence. He scrambled to retrieve shots that usually would be winners for Djokovic, and he kept up intense pressure on the most decorated player in men’s tennis history. There were extended rallies where each player hit enough brilliant shots to usually win a game.

Djokovic has made an art form of rallying from precarious positions. Despite trailing two sets to one, he went within the width of a ball in the fourth set’s ninth game of turning this final around

After fending off six break points in the set, he exhorted the crowd when he got to 30-30. The crowd responded with chants of “Nole, Nole, Nole!”

When Djokovic earned a breakpoint chance — his first since the second set — he whipped up his supporters again. But when Djokovic sent a forehand long on the next point, Alcaraz took it as

a reprieve.

A short forehand winner, a mishit from Alcaraz, clipped the net and landed inside the line to give him game point. Then Djokovic hit another forehand long.

Alcaraz responded with a roar, and sealed victory by taking two of the next three games.

As he was leaving the court, Alcaraz signed the lens of the TV camera with a recognition: “Job finished. 4/4 Complete.”

Teamwork

After paying tribute at the trophy ceremony to Djokovic for being an inspiration, Alcaraz turned to his support team. He parted ways with longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero at the end of last season and Samuel Lopez stepped up to head the team.

“Nobody knows how hard I’ve been working to get this trophy I just chased this moment so much,” Alcaraz said. “The preseason was a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally

“You were pushing me every day to do all the right things,” he added. “I’m just really grateful for everyone I have in my corner right now.”

Djokovic’s praise

Djokovic joked about this showdown setting up a rivalry over the next 10 years with Alcaraz, but then said it was only right to hand the floor over to the new, 16 years his junior, champion.

“What you’ve been doing, the best word to describe is historic, legendary,” he said. “So congratulations.”

Both players were coming off grueling five-set semifinal wins Alcaraz held off No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Friday; Djokovic’s win over two-time defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner ended after 1:30 a.m. Saturday — yet showed phenomenal fitness, athleticism and stamina for just over three hours in pursuit of their own historic achievements.

Djokovic won the last of his 24 Grand Slam singles titles at the 2023 U.S. Open; his push for an unprecedented 25th has now been blocked by Alcaraz or Sinner for nine majors.

Rafa in the house

Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played some epic matches, in-

cluding the longest match ever at the Australian Open that lasted almost six hours in 2012.

Nadal was in the stands Sunday, and both players addressed the 22-time major winner

“He’s my idol, my role model,” Alcaraz said. To complete the career Slam “in front of him, it made even more special.”

Djokovic, addressing Nadal directly as the “legendary Rafa,” joked that there were “too many Spanish legends” in Rod Laver “It felt like it was two against one tonight,” he said.

One for the ages

At 22 years and 272 days, Alcaraz is the youngest man to complete a set of all four major singles titles.

He broke the mark set by Don Budge in the 1938 French championships, when he was 22 years and 363 days.

He’s the ninth man to achieve the career Grand Slam, a list that also includes Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer

Alcaraz now has seven major titles his first in Australia along with two each at Wimbledon and the French and U.S. Opens.

Rose leads from start to finish at Torrey Pines

He is first wire-to-wire winner at course in 71 years

BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press

SAN DIEGO Justin Rose became the first wire-to-wire winner at Torrey Pines in 71 years, starting with a six-shot lead and never letting anyone get any closer to him Sunday as he closed with a 2-under 70 to win the Farmers Insurance Open. Rose opened with a 62 on the North course at Torrey Pines and really never let up all week, playing even better on the South course that has hosted two U.S. Opens. He wound up breaking the 72-hole tournament record at 23-under 265, one better than Tiger Woods in 1999. George Burns also shot 266 in 1987.

“Sorry, T-dub, if you’re watching,” Rose said. That was his only real challenge, smaller goals to keep him pushing — he wanted to increase his lead each day, and he was aware of the tournament record. He got both Tommy Bolt in 1955 is the only

end the West Coast Swing. Brooks Koepka finished his return to the PGA Tour after defecting from LIV Golf with familiar cheers on the ninth green when he tapped in a birdie putt for a 70. There were some 300 people around the green, most of them shouting, “Welcome back, Brooks.”

He headed to Phoenix later Sunday for the loudest event in golf. “I love the chaos,” Koepka said.

Rose, who also won at Torrey Pines in 2019, now has 13 career titles on the PGA Tour He moves to No. 4 in the world, his highest ranking in more than six years. Even for all he has accomplished, from a U.S. Open to an Olympic gold medal to seven Ryder Cup appearances, he has not stopped putting in the work to stay among the elite in golf.

Report: 49ers hire Morris as defensive coordinator

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers are hiring former Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris as their new defensive coordinator in hopes of finding a long-term solution to a revolving door at the spot.

A person familiar with the decision said Sunday that Morris will join the Niners to replace Robert Saleh. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team hadn’t announced the hiring.

ESPN first reported the decision.

Morris had long been viewed as a strong potential candidate because of his success as a coordinator and his ties to San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan.

Morris was fired by Atlanta last month after back-to-back 8-9 seasons as head coach for the Falcons

Korda wins season opener as final round is canceled

ORLANDO, Fla. — Nelly Korda won for the first time in 14 months without having to hit a shot Sunday when the LPGA Tour reduced the season-opening Tournament of Champions to 54 holes because of wind and cold.

Korda won with an 8-under 64 on Saturday, an astonishing round that was roughly nine shots better than the field average in bitter cold and gusts that approached 40 mph Korda said it was among the best three rounds she ever played. She finished just before the LPGA halted the third round when wind blew Youmin Hwang’s golf ball off the 17th green.

The LPGA planned on finishing the event Sunday, but temperatures were below freezing and the LPGA said the forecast was just as bad for Monday

Reed loses in a playoff as Schott wins in Bahrain

AL MAZROWIAH, Bahrain Patrick Reed’s bid for back-to-back victories on the European tour came up just short Sunday when he was beaten in a playoff won by No 436-ranked Freddy Schott for his first title.

Reed made bogey at the first playoff hole to drop out of a threeman contest that also included Calum Hill.

The 24-year-old Schott clinched victory on the second playoff hole after Hill hooked his drive out of bounds shanked his fourth shot into water and shook hands with his German rival, who was on the green in three shots.

Reed was seeking a second straight win after the Dubai Desert Classic last Sunday

NASCAR’s Clash delayed again due to intense snow

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A bomb cyclone over North Carolina forced NASCAR to push its preseason exhibition to Wednesday because the snow-covered roads are too dangerous for teams and fans to get to Bowman-Gray Stadium.

The Clash had been scheduled to run Sunday night and has now been postponed twice because of the intense snowfall that blanketed the area.

NASCAR said Sunday it was moving it to Wednesday “due to the impacts of historic winter weather across the North Carolina region.”

The race is now scheduled to run one week before qualifying for the Daytona 500, at Daytona International Speedway, where The Clash was held from 1979 through 2022.

Von Allmen nabs second win for Swiss in two days CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland World champion Franjo von Allmen dominated the last men’s World Cup downhill before the Olympics on Sunday, giving troubled ski resort Crans-Montana a second Swiss victory of the weekend.

other player to lead from start to finish without ties at Torrey Pines. The 45-year-old from England said he would not be complacent, and that much was evident when Rose went out in 33, holing a 35foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth that turned the back nine — all day, really — into what looked like a peaceful walk on the public course along the Pacific Ocean. The tournament had one of its best weeks of weather, even by San Diego standards. The only thing lacking was drama, which was just fine with Rose.

“I still believe there’s good stuff in front of me,” Rose said.

This was little more than a battle for second and that was a tie. Si Woo Kim (69), Ryo Hisatsune (69) and Pierceson Coody (66) shared runner-up honors, a consolation prize worth $726,400. For Coody, it also is likely to get him into a pair of $20 million signature events to

He thought his performance at Torrey Pines in 2019 was among his best, and this was better It might have been more meaningful, too. His longtime caddie, Mark Fulcher, was hospitalized with heart issues in 2019. “Now he’s got one for himself,” Rose said.

With the Olympic race coming up in six days, von Allmen won his second downhill of the season and fourth overall after beating Italian veteran and Bormio specialist Dominik Paris by 0.65 seconds.

The Alpine skiing events of the Milan Cortina Games open with the men’s downhill on Saturday on the storied Stelvio course, where Paris has won a record

and

Archbishop Shaw High School standout is certainly Hall of Fame-worthy He ranks 11th all-time in NFL receptions (1,070) and 10th in receiving yards (14,345) He holds the Colts franchise record for games played (211) and is tied with Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison for the most 1,000-yard receiving seasons (eight) in club history He is one of 11 players in league history to record seven consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons (2004-2010) and one of 17 players to register 15 games with 10 or more receptions.

“He’s something special,” former NFL head coach Jon Gruden said. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, Peyton Manning made him a great receiver Well, B.S That was a great receiver when he had Curtis Painter playing quarterback Every year, he was in the upper echelon of receivers.”

From 2001 to 2014, Wayne was one of the most dominant and prolific receivers in the NFL. During that span, Wayne, a 2018 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee, led the entire NFL with 1,070 receptions, 14,345 yards and 763 first downs. Only Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald recorded more than his 82 career touchdowns.

ProScout Inc. graded Wayne with 10 “blue” seasons in his career, a scouting metric that identifies a player in the top 10% at his position in a given year

Among the finalists in this year’s class, only Adam Vinatieri (13) had more.

Wayne rates just as high on Pro Football Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor — a formula that measures various criteria to determine a player’s likelihood of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of the top 12 receivers on the Hall of Fame Monitor, nine are already enshrined in Canton. The three exceptions? Wayne and fellow Class of 2026 finalists Fitzgerald and Holt.

“Reggie Wayne was a great teammate, and he was a tough receiver, fearless across the middle, great catcher of the ball with his hands; it was a privilege to play with him,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Man-

WILLIAMS

Continued from page 1C

start of the season. The lineup is also probably too left-handed, with six of the seven hitters from spots 2-7 being lefties.

Even with those caveats, Reaves starting at second over High Point transfer Brayden Simpson and Kansas State transfer Seth Dardar was notable. Stanfield leading off was also noteworthy, given that he’s been hitting at the top of the order often this preseason.

A freshman who has impressed Braun cracking the lineup with the starters could be seen as a major stamp of approval from Johnson.

SUPER BOWL

Continued from page 1C

when the Green Wave stunned Southern Cal in the 2023 Cotton Bowl. He was a ball boy for the New Orleans Hornets and Pelicans, including the sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2018. And he’s even worked at a Super Bowl before, serving as a ball boy in the Superdome 13 years ago when the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers.

“This one is going to hit different because now I’m actually working for a team,” Hubbard said. “I haven’t thought about what it will feel like. I just want to embrace it and take it all in. It’s going to be a big spectacle, but we have to treat it like a regular game. But I think I’m going to be in awe.”

Hubbard’s journey to the Super Bowl began in 2009 Hubbard, a McMain High School graduate was a freshman at Tulane when he started working for the then-New Orleans Hornets as a ball boy. He worked for David “Big Shot” Jovanovic, the only equipment manager the franchise has ever had

“You could tell real early on that Devin wanted to be in equipment,” Jovanovic said. “He was always on time and willing to do anything and he always did it with a smile on his face. He could always figure things out, so he’s perfect for this role he’s in now He’s earned it by

ning for Wayne’s induction into the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame.

Manning would know He was the Colts quarterback for the first 10 years of Wayne’s career

“I always felt that we had that Louisiana bond and that translated to our on-the-field connection,” said Manning, who starred at Isidore Newman School. “He was an extremely hard worker and that work ethic paid great dividends for him, and for me, because of all the timing we were able to develop.”

Wayne is one of only two players in NFL history to rank in the top 11 in both receptions and yards in the regular season and the postseason. The other? Jerry Rice. Company doesn’t get much stronger than that This achievement alone should earn him enshrinement, as it showcases his rare combination of regularseason dominance and clutch playoff performance

What’s more, Wayne is one of only five players to register at least eight 1,000-yard seasons and four seasons with at least 100 receptions. The others: Rice, Fitzgerald, Harrison and Brandon Marshall. In postseason history Wayne ranks sixth all-time in receptions and seventh in yards. He has more playoff receptions and touchdowns than the combined total of the last three wide receivers enshrined in Canton — Andre Johnson, Calvin Johnson and Isaac Bruce — with only 159 fewer yards. His 221 yards against Denver in 2004 still rank as the fourth most in playoff history

However, Wayne’s sustained excellence is his most compelling case for Hall induction. In the six years after he succeeded Harrison as the Colts’ No. 1 receiver Wayne averaged a stellar 96 receptions, 1,264 yards and 41 total touchdowns. He is the only player in NFL history to have at least 100 receptions and 1,355 yards at age 34.

“I’m biased, but Reggie was a great route runner,” Manning said. “He was just a guy you wanted in the huddle with you. His numbers speak for themselves.”

The case is clear Wayne’s résumé places him alongside the undisputed legends of the game. He deserves to be recognized for his greatness. He deserves to be a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The freshman corner outfielder and first baseman has shown excellent contact skills at the plate and flashed some pull-side power on Thursday when the left-handed hitter smashed a home run into the right-field bleachers. He went 3 for 4 that afternoon and hit three balls over 102 mph in another 3 for 4 performance last Friday Braun had a chance of getting drafted out of high school. He was the No. 231 player in ESPN’s draft rankings. But as a freshman from South Bend, Indiana, there wasn’t an expectation heading into preseason that Braun could be a starter. Perhaps his outlook has changed after a strong few weeks at the plate from — according to Perfect Game — the No. 1 first baseman in the 2025 class.

Improved shooting helped lift LSU past South Carolina

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Max Mackinnon’s dagger

3-pointer in overtime was fitting.

It was the type of open look that LSU has struggled to make during its three-game losing streak entering South Carolina. After the LSU guard helped dribble through a full-court press, he was the final recipient of a pass after a trapping South Carolina defense. Mackinnon drained his right corner jumper with 21 seconds left, giving his team a four-point lead in its eventual 92-87 overtime victory Saturday against the Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Tigers snapped a threegame losing streak and captured their first road SEC win.

Success from the 3-point line has eluded LSU (14-8, 2-7 SEC) recently Not only had the Tigers shot a low percentage, but there was a large discrepancy in total makes compared to their opponent.

“For us, our biggest challenge the last three games from behind the 3-point line, we’ve been minus 18, minus 18 and minus 21 points,” coach Matt McMahon said in the news conference. “You can’t win like that. Tonight, we’re even and gave ourselves a better chance to win because of it.”

LSU made 9 of 22 from beyond the arc compared to the 9 of 24 by South Carolina (11-11, 2-7).

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU guard Max Mackinnon takes a shot against Prairie View A&M on Dec. 22 at the PMAC. Mackinnon finished Saturday’s game against South Carolina with 15 points and a season-high eight assists.

In the Tigers’ three previous games combined, they averaged 3.3 made 3-pointers per game on 21.7%. Their opponents made 9.7 on 41.4%.

Mackinnon, LSU’s top shooter at 40.8%, made 3 of 6 3s and finished the game with 15 points and a season-high eight assists. The next best marksman was Rashad King, replacing injured point guard Dedan Thomas in the starting lineup.

The senior made 3 of 6 from long range.

“I just thought Rashad King was

LSU

Continued from page 1C

But this year’s matchup followed

a much different script. Alabama fell too far behind an LSU team that caught fire on offense in the first half, racing out to a 49-29 halftime lead. Across the first and second quarters, the Tigers shot 58% from the field and 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Williams found a groove. So, too, did sophomore point guard Jada Richard and freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson.

Richard tallied 16 points, four rebounds and four assists. Johnson scored 15 points and grabbed 10 boards to post her first doubledouble since LSU’s season opener Senior guard Flau’jae Johnson and senior forward Amiya Joyner each added nine points, while junior guard MiLaysia Fulwiley chipped in 10. All 11 active players scored at least two points. Alabama shot well from 3-point range (39%), but LSU hardly let it score inside the arc. The Tide converted only 31% of its 2-pointers and turned the ball over 17 times. The Tigers then turned those giveaways into 24 points at the other end.

“Our defense today was special,” Mulkey said, “and you just wish you could bottle that up and play like that every game. We just beat a very good basketball team. Do

working his way from the Pelicans to Tulane to the NFL.” Hubbard says his best times with the Pelicans were making the playoffs, interacting with superstars throughout the NBA and the brotherhood with his co-workers. Jono Barnes was one of those in that brotherhood. Barnes and Hubbard would often work the visitors locker room for the Pelicans games. They would often joke and have friendly trash talk with opposing players. Those conversations built relationships that lasted. LeBron James once

even sent Hubbard and a few other ball boys some of his signature shoes. “LeBron doesn’t do that for everybody,” Barnes said. “That just shows how personable and impressionable Devin could be.”

One of the fondest memories Jokanovic and Barnes have about Hubbard is his striking resemblance to NBA superstar Kyrie Irving. Barnes even took a picture of Hubbard and Irving at the 2017 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans. “It felt like the Spider-Man point-

ä Georgia at LSU 5 P.M.SATURDAy, SEC NETWORK

terrific,” McMahon said on the LSU sports radio network. “Not only scoring it, he drew six fouls, he got seven rebounds, only one turnover.”

PJ Carter was the last player to make multiple 3-pointers. The Memphis transfer re-entered McMahon’s eight-man rotation and made 2 of 3 from beyond the arc. He had eight points in a seasonhigh 23 minutes. The last time he played more than four minutes was Jan. 6, when LSU lost by 10 points in its first meeting against South Carolina. McMahon admitted after a 14-point home loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday that LSU is “not an elite 3-point shooting team” and is unlikely to outshoot conference opponents. However, the fourth-year coach wants a healthy balance of deep-range production so that its preferred method of points in the paint is effective. Center Mike Nwoko had 21 points, and forward Marquel Sutton had 16 against South Carolina

Even without Thomas, who reaggravated his lower left leg injury from Jan. 2, LSU’s outside scorers have faith in their range.

“Coach McMahon, you know, he instills a lot in us,” King said on the LSU sports radio network. “We practice all these shots every day, so we just got to come out there and execute. And that’s what we did tonight. Got the win.”

‘COLLEGE GAMEDAY’ HEADED TO BATON ROUGE

ESPN announced on social media Sunday that the basketball version of its “College GameDay” show will be eminate from Baton Rouge on Feb 14.

The game between two of the Southeastern Conference’s top women’s basketball powers will tip off at 7:30 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and will be shown on ABC The game is already a sellout.

The last time “College GameDay” was in town for an LSU basketball game was for South Carolina’s last visit on Jan. 25, 2024.The No. 1-ranked Gamecocks beat the No. 9 Tigers that day 76-70. Scott Rabalais

not be misled by that score. Everything that we did defensively today affected what we did offensively.”

The Tigers started to build their lead late in the first quarter They hit three shots from beyond the arc just in the last two minutes of the first and the first three minutes of the second. Flau’jae Johnson drained one from the left wing. Richard nailed the other two, including one from the top of the key that Williams set up for her with a quick pass from the right wing.

LSU didn’t cool off over the halftime break. Instead, it hit 10 of the 17 field goals it took in the third.

Six different contributors scored in that frame.

ing meme as they sat together while I took the picture,” Barnes said. “Fans were wondering if Devin was Kyrie’s twin, brother or stunt double. Every opposing player and Pelicans player would always call him Kyrie Irving.”

Hubbard’s next stop was Tulane. His fondest memory there was that magical January evening three years ago when the Wave won the Cotton Bowl. It was his final game working for Tulane. He began working for the Patriots five months later

“It was something I couldn’t pass up,” Hubbard said. “After working in pro basketball and college football, I knew I wanted to find my way to the NFL and I was blessed to get here. Everyone loves New Orleans. I love where I am from, too. But I always knew there was more to the world than just Louisiana. I wanted to experience that. And I don’t mind the cold.”

The first two seasons were tough. The Patriots went 4-13 in each of their first two seasons. This year, they turned things around. They punched their ticket to the Super Bowl on Jan 25 in Denver — on a day Mother Nature played a huge factor in the game — as a heavy snowfall arrived in the second half.

“We checked the weather but I think it was calling for it to come later on,” Hubbard said. “But we were prepared for it. We had the big jackets. We had cleats in case guys wanted to switch cleats. We were pretty equipped for it. But

“They’re just extremely deep and talented,” Curry said. “It’s kind of like bringing a pocket knife to a bar fight today, and we didn’t respond very well with our pocket knife.”

Before Sunday, Alabama ranked 12th among Division I teams in scoring defense. It was allowing its league opponents to score only 63 points per game on 42% shooting. None of them finished with more than 83.

LSU has now beaten five teams slotted in the latest edition of the AP Top 25 poll this season. It’s also 7-3 at home against AP-ranked SEC teams since 2021.

The Tigers won’t play in the PMAC again until they host No 3 South Carolina on Feb. 14. They’ll take on two road contests between now and then one on Thursday against No. 4 Texas and another next Sunday against unranked Auburn.

When LSU last faced the Longhorns, it was 1-2 in league play Now the Tigers are 7-2, and they’ll head to Austin, Texas, on Wednesday with by far the longest active win streak in the SEC. They can still win the league’s regular-season title, and are still in contention for an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed

“It’s fun to be in the mix,” Mulkey said “We don’t have to rely on anybody else winning or losing. Go win seven ballgames, and you might win your first SEC title.”

it was weird. We came out from halftime and saw a few flurries. The next thing you know, it’s like, where did all this snow come from? It happened so fast.”

Hubbard’s cell phone was flooded with text messages and social media notifications once the game ended. Family and friends back home in New Orleans, typically Saints fans, are Patriots fans for now and as long as Hubbard is there. One of those friends is Barnes. Hubbard caught the garter at Barnes’ wedding back in 2022.

“Although he isn’t married yet, maybe it was meant for him to really get a Super Bowl ring instead of a wedding ring,” Barnes said. Hubbard is four quarters away from that goal. He remembers getting those chills during the pregame flyover when the Patriots played the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs. And the ones he got in Denver. And he is anticipating the chills he will probably get once Grammy Award-winning Charlie Puth performs the national anthem Sunday

“I had no idea this was going to be my career path,” Hubbard said. “I played sports my whole life. You hear all the time that someday it’s going to end. For some people, it ends earlier than others. For me, it ended in high school. But even if you don’t play anymore, if you were ever an athlete in high school or college you still get those pregame jitters. You get that feeling.”

Saints to play Browns in first NFLgameinParis

French outlet reportsteams will play regular-season game at StadedeFrance

Vive la France!

The NFL’s efforts to play a2026 regular-seasongame in Paris seem to be alive. And theNew Orleans Saints are involved As recently as last month,it appeared the game would be pushed to 2027 so French officials would have more time to meet NFL demandsat Stade de France, where the game will be played. But in recent weeks, the game has gained momentumfor theNFL’s 2026 International Series.

The NFL is expected to announce its complete International Series this week, perhaps as early as Monday at Roger Goodell’s state-of-the-league pressconference.

On Sunday,RMC Sport —a major outlet in France —reported that the Saints will face the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 25, 2026, at Stade de France.

The Saints were grantedinternational marketing rights in France by the NFL in 2023, and the team has formed astrategic partnership with the Paris Musketeers of the European League of Football.

Players, coaches and executives from the Parisfranchise were hosted by the Saints in November as part of that agreement.

Agameabroad isn’tthe only Saints-related newsto trackatSuper Bowl LX. Alook at theweek ahead and what I’m hearing: AssessingBrees’HOF chances

We’ll learn the fate of former Saints Drew Brees and Jahri Evans and New Orleans natives Eli

Flagbearers marchduring the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the Stade de FranceonAug.11, 2024,inSaint-Denis, France. The Saints look to be in line to play the first NFLgameinParisnext season, which would takeplace in StadedeFrance.

Manning and ReggieWayne on Thursday,when the Pro Football Hall of Fame’sClass of 2026 is announced at the NFLHonors show

As the New Orleans representative on the selection committee, Idelivered the presentation at theHall’sannual meetingJan. 13. Brees’ candidacy is so strong that Iprobably didn’tneed the full fiveminutes to present his case, butIfelt it was important to recognize and honor his extraordinary career,soImaxed out the

time limit.

As we’ve learned this week, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to Hall of Fame selections. Brees obviously deserves induction,and Iexpect him to get in, but only Hall officials knowthe answer because the ballot is kept secret.Selectorsare notapprised of theinductees, so we’ll find outwheneveryone else does on Thursday.

My guess is that Brees becomes the first Saints player to earn aHOF induction on his

first ballot and that he is joined by Larry Fitzgerald and secondyear candidates Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. The fifth modern-day spot is wide open, but I’ll be surprised if those four players are not part of the Classof2026, along with senior candidates Roger Craig and Ken Anderson.

It lookslike another year of waiting for Evans, Manning and Wayne.And it doesn’tget any easier next year,when Antonio Brown, Adrian Peterson, Ben

SCOREBOARD

Grambling 69,Jackson

69, Georgia Southern 60 Nicholls 72, East TexasA&M

5

Totals 240:00 40-9219-2211-46 23 16 114 Percentages: FG .435, FT .864 3-Point Goals: 15-36, .417 (Bey 4-7, Alvarado 3-8, MurphyIII 3-11, Fears 2-4, Queen 1-1, Peavy1-2, Jones1-3) Team Rebounds:5.Team Turnovers: None.

BlockedShots: 11 (Missi4,Matkovic 2, Williamson 2, Fears, MurphyIII, Queen).

Turnovers: 10 (Queen 3, Matkovic 2, Williamson 2, Bey,Jones, Peavy). Steals: 5(Fears 2, Matkovic 2, Alvarado) Technical Fouls: None FG FT Reb

PHILA Min M-AM-A O-TA PF PTS

Barlow28:13 3-4 2-2 0-3 00 8

OubreJr.30:15 7-13 2-4 1-10 44 19 Embiid 39:01 13-2711-144-11 42 40

Edgcmbe37:07 6-10 1-1 0-3 61 15

Maxey 35:15 7-18 0-0 0-5 83 18

Watford16:47 2-5 0-0 2-6 43 5 McCain 16:39 4-7 0-0 2-2 13 12

Grimes 15:50 2-3 0-0 1-4 20 4

Bona 12:45 1-5 1-2 2-6 01 3 Walker 8:08 0-2 0-0 0-2 00 0

Totals 240:00 45-9417-2312-52 29 17 124

Percentages: FG .479, FT .739

3-Point Goals: 17-36, .472 (McCain 4-6, Maxey 4-9, Embiid 3-5, OubreJr. 3-7,Edgecombe 2-5, Watford1-2, Barlow0-1, Grimes 0-1). Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 4(Bona 2, Embiid2). Turnovers: 9(Embiid 5, Bona 2, Edgecombe, Maxey). Steals: 5(Barlow2,Edgecombe, Embiid, Maxey). Technical Fouls:coach Nick Nurse, 7:58 fourth. New Orleans 33 21 27 33 —114 Philadelphia 31 36 20 37 —124

A_20,096 (20,478). NBALeaders

Scoring GFGFTPTS AVG

Doncic, LAL 39 416 343 1315 33.7 G.-Alexander, OKC47515 389 1504 32.0 Edwards, MIN 40 405 230 1177 29.4 Brown, BOS 44 476248 1293 29.4 Maxey,PHI 46 474238 1343 29.2 Mitchell, CLE 46 465 235 1338 29.1 Leonard, LAC34327 191 941 27.7 Brunson, NY 43 422 213 1185 27.6 Markkanen,UTA 35 325 209 959 27.4 Curry,GS39348 190 1061 27.2

Durant,

Murray,DEN

BKN

Avdija,

PHO

Harden,

Southeastern 83,Stephen F. Austin55 UNO 75, Northwestern State 64 LSU 92, South Carolina87(OT) McNeese 64,Lamar 63 Sam Houston 83, LouisianaTech 67 Sunday’s games Tulane 78, Memphis76 Monday’s games Grambling at Alcorn, 7p.m.

Southeastern at Lamar, 6p.m.

McNeese at Stephen F. Austin, 6p.m. UNO at EastTexas A&M, 6:30 p.m. Nicholls at Northwestern State, 6:30 p.m. Southern at Jackson State, 7p.m.

Men’s national scores Sunday’s games EAST Duquesne 76,Rhode Island 61 Marist 58, Niagara46 Merrimack 75,Sacred Heart 58 Mount St Marys72, Manhattan 65 Penn State 77, Minnesota 75 Purdue 93, Maryland63 Quinnipiac 72, Fairfield65 Rider 81, Saint Peter’s 78 Siena 78, Canisius63

SOUTH Coastal Carolina 83,Louisiana-Monroe 79 East Carolina 76, Florida Atlantic 75 Florida 100, Alabama 77 Furman 75, Chattanooga 70 Samford88, Western Carolina 74 Tulane 78, Memphis76

MIDWEST Cleveland State 90,Milwaukee 88 Illinois78, Nebraska69 Iowa State 95, Kansas State 61 Oakland 76, Northern Kentucky 65 St. Thomas 99,Kansas City 64 Wright State 83, Green Bay75 SOUTHWEST Tulsa93, Wichita State 83 FARWEST Colorado 87, TCU61 State women’s schedule Saturday’s games Marshall 95, UL 54 UL-Monroe 78, Appalachian State 70 Southern 69,Alcorn56 Jackson State 61,Grambling55 Stephen F. Austin83, Southeastern 55 Louisiana Tech 71, Jacksonville State51 Northwestern State 78,UNO 61 East TexasA&M 68, Nicholls 57 McNeese 64,Lamar 54 Temple 67, Tulane 65 Sunday’s games LSU 103, Alabama 63 Monday’s games No games scheduled. No. 6LSU 103, No. 24 Alabama63 ALABAMA (19-4) Jones 0-1 0-00,Collins5-9 0-0 14,Scott3-8 0-0 6, Timmons 5-121-3 15, Weathers 3-9 2-2 10, Cody 3-8 0-0 6, Da SilvaCosta 0-2 0-0 0, Egbuna 0-0 0-00,Ramsey 0-0 1-2 1, Austin 1-8 3-46,Brooks 0-00-0 0, Chambers 1-31-2 3, Douglas 0-1 0-0 0, Jennings 1-30-0 2, Totals 22-64 8-13 63 LSU (21-2) Knox2-2 4-48,Koval 4-70-0 8, Flau’jae Johnson 4-10 0-09,Richard5-5 3-4 16,Williams 6-11 2-2 15, Joyner 4-4 1-2 9, Yarnevich 0-1 2-2 2, Bourrage 2-3 0-0 5, Fulwiley 3-10 1-2 10, Hines 2-4 2-2 6, ZaKiyahJohnson 5-9 4-5 15, Totals 37-66 19-23 103 Alabama 15 14 14 20 —63 LSU 21 28 25 29 —103 3-Point Goals—Alabama 11-28 (Collins 4-4, Scott 0-3, Timmons 4-7,Weathers 2-6,Cody 0-1, Da SilvaCosta 0-1,Austin1-4, Chambers 0-1, Douglas 0-1), LSU10-21(F.Johnson 1-3, Richard3-3, Williams 1-3,Bourrage 1-2, Fulwiley 3-7, Hines 0-2,Z.Johnson 1-1). Assists—Alabama 12 (Weathers 3), LSU 20 (Williams 5).Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Alabama 28 (Austin 6, Jones 6) LSU 43 (Z.Johnson 10).Total Fouls—Alabama 21, LSU 16. Technical Fouls—LSU Richard1 A—12,054. Women’s national scores Sunday’s games EAST Creighton 72, Seton Hall66 Delaware 51, FloridaInternational 48 Drexel 65, Northeastern 56 Marquette 67, Georgetown 59 Saint Joseph’s 59, Davidson51 StonyBrook 61, Monmouth 51 UConn 96, Tennessee 66 West Virginia 70, Baylor60 SOUTH Chattanooga 61, Samford40 Clemson 77, Florida State 58 Duke80, Wake Forest 44 Elon 68, Towson 54 Georgia Tech 70, Boston College 60 High Point 70, Presbyterian41 LSU 103, Alabama 63 Liberty 60, Missouri State 52 Missouri 88, Mississippi State80 Richmond 77, VCU65 Syracuse 65, Miami (FL) 60 UNC Greensboro55, WesternCarolina46 Vanderbilt 82, Florida 66 Virginia Tech 76,

Roethlisberger,Richard Shermanand Andrew Whitworth becomeeligible.

Doping theROY races

As afinalist forthe NFL’sOffensive Rookie of the Year award, Tyler Shough will be in the audience at the Palace of Fine Arts forNFL Honors Thursday,but his chances of becoming the fifth Saint to win the award are remote.

While Istrongly believe Shough deserves it, Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan is considered the heavy favorite to garner the honor Shough’slimited nine-game body of work hindered his candidacy.McMillan helped lead the Panthers to their first playoffappearance in eight years and led rookie receivers with 70 catches for1,117 yards and six touchdowns.

Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger is the favorite to winthe Defensive Rookie of the Year

Manofthe Year scouting report

Demario Davis is one of 32 candidates forthe Walter Payton Man of the Year award. This is the third timehe’sbeen nominated forthe award, so you could say he’sdue. Then again, I thought Cam Jordan was ashooin to win last year,and it went to Arik Armstead.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is considered the frontrunner,but Davis deserves strong consideration for the tireless work he’sdone in the New Orleans community with his Devoted Dreamers program Brees is the only Saints player to win Man of the Year in the award’s56-year history

TexasTech 62, TCU60 FARWEST Hawai’i 67, Long BeachState 44 Kansas State 74, Arizona State 67 Louisville 71, California 59 NotreDame 78, Stanford66 Oklahoma State 88, Arizona 69 UCLA 88, Iowa 65 USC 71, Rutgers39 Pro tennis Australian Open results Sunday At Melbourne Park Melbourne, Australia Purse: AUD111,500,000 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Men’s Singles Championship Carlos Alcaraz (1), Spain, def. Novak Djokovic (4), Serbia, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. Pro golf

Farmers Insurance Open parscores Sunday La Jolla, Calif a-Torrey Pines —South (HostCourse) 7,765 yards; Par72 b-Torrey Pines —North 7,258 yards; Par72 Purse: $9.6million

Final Round

Note: Tournament is played on twocourses Justin Rose 62b-65a-68a-70a—265 -23

Pierceson Coody 68b-70a-69a-65a—272 -16

RyoHisatsune69b-66a-68a-69a—272 -16

Si WooKim 68a-66b-69a-69a—272 -16

Stephan Jaeger 65b-75a-65a-68a—273 -15

JakeKnapp 66b-70a-70a-67a—273 -15

JoelDahmen 70a-63b-68a-73a—274 -14

Andrew Novak69a-69b-70a-66a—274 -14

Sahith Theegala 66b-69a-73a-66a—274 -14

MaverickMcNealy65b-70a-70a-70a—275 -13 Tony Finau 72a-67b-71a-66a—276 -12

Ryan Gerard70a-67b-71a-68a—276 -12

Hao-Tong Li 69b-68a-69a-70a—276 -12

Hideki Matsuyama64b-73a-69a-70a—276 -12

Keith Mitchell 67b-72a-68a-69a—276 -12 Seamus Power65a-66b-74a-71a—276 -12 Adam Schenk 69b-70a-68a-69a—276 -12

Chris Gotterup 68b-70a-70a-69a—277 -11

DavidLipsky71a-65b-70a-71a—277 -11

Matthew McCarty 70a-68b-69a-70a—277 -11 M. Thorbjornsen 68a-67b-72a-70a—277 -11

Harris English 73a-68b-67a-70a—278 -10

Nicolai Hojgaard70a-67b-72a-69a—278 -10 Chad Ramey 74a-67b-69a-68a—278 -10 Kris Ventura66b-70a-70a-72a—278 -10 Cameron Young 70a-68b-72a-68a—278 -10

C. Bezuidenhout 68a-71b-71a-69a—279 -9 Eric Cole 69a-66b-72a-72a—279 -9 PatrickRodgers 70b-70a-73a-66a—279 -9 Daniel Brown68a-70b-70a-72a—280 -8 Rasmus Hojgaard74a-67b-70a-69a—280 -8 Justin Lower63b-72a-73a-72a—280 -8 Max McGreevy 66a-67b-71a-76a—280 -8

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOSByLUCA BRUNO

Asnowgun sprays artificialsnowatthe StelvioSki Center,venue for the Alpine ski and ski mountaineering disciplines at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter OlympicsinBormio, Italy

Italian expert’s manufactured snow will play bigroleatthe MilanCortina Games

BY JENNIFER McDERMOTT and PATGRAHAM Associated Press

Davide Cerato will play amajorroleinskiing andsnowboarding eventsat the upcoming Olympics, buthewon’t be competing.

The Italian snowmakingexpert is responsiblefor perfecting several of the courses that will feature in the 2026 Milan Cortina WinterGames,and he takes his jobseriously “It’sthe most important race of their life,” Cerato said. “Our duty is to givethem the best, todeliver the best courses where they can perform theirbest after training so hard.”

Cerato overseesoperationsat venueswhere new snowmaking systems were installed, including in Bormio for Alpineski racing and skimountaineering, and in Livigno for freestyle skiing and snowboardingevents. He has been working withthe International Skiand Snowboard Federationand the International Olympic Committeesince the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Thesedays, manufactured snow —“technical snow” as Cerato calls it —isa way of life in ski racing, so much so thatOlympic athletesdon’tthink twice about competingonit. Above all else, they want acoursethat willhold

BY HILLEL ITALIE

up over multiple training runs and the races themselves without becomingtoo mushy or rutted

Mother Nature can’talways provide for that, and withclimate change affecting winter sports in particular, snowmaking has become essential.

Newreservoirsand snow guns

On Jan. 23,the organizing committee saidthat it has produced nearly 2millioncubicyardsof technical snow for all the venues, which is less than forecasted.

Cerato oversaw the work to carve out new high-elevation water reservoirstostore water for snowmaking.

At theLivigno Snow Park, they built abasin capable of holding about 53 million gallons of water. It’s nowone of the biggest reservoirs on theItalian side of the Alps, Cerato said. They added more than 50 snow guns there to produce about 211 million gallons of snow in roughly 300 hours.

ä See SNOW, page 6C

Olympic rings aredisplayed in the snow at the Stelvio Ski Center in Bormio, Italy.

BY LARRYLAGE Associated Press

Someblind and low-vision

fans will have unprecedented access to the Super Bowl thanks to atactile devicethattracks theball, vibrates on key plays and provides real-timeaudio.

The NFLteamed up with OneCourt and Ticketmaster to pilot the game-enhancing experience 15 times during the regular-season during games hosted by the SeattleSeahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, SanFrancisco49ers, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings. About 10 blind and low-vision fans will have an opportunity to use the sametechnology at the Super BowlinSanta Clara, California, where Seattle will play the NewEngland Patriots on Feb. 8. With hands on the device, they will feel the location of the ball andhear what’shappening throughout the game. Scott Thornhill can’twait. Thornhill, the executive director of theAmerican Council of the Blind, will be among the fans at Levi’sStadium with aOneCourt tablet in their lap and Westwood One’sbroadcast piped into headphones. He was diagnosedwith retinitis pigmentosa when he was 8, and later lost his sight.

“It will allowmetoengage and enjoy the gameasclose as possible as people who can see,” Thornhill told The Associated Press. “As someone who grew up playing sports before Ilost my vision, I’m getting abig part of my lifeback that I’ve been missing. To attenda game and not have to waitfor someone to tell me what happened, it’shard to even describe how much that meanstome.

“It’sagame-changer.”

Clark Roberts experienced it first hand.

The Seahawks fan was invited by the team to attend its home gameagainst Indianapolis on Dec. 14 to experience the game withthe OneCourt device that is the size of athick iPad with raised lines outlining afootball field.

“The device does twowonderful things,” said Roberts, who lost his sight when he was 24 duetoretinitis pigmentosa.“It

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday, Feb. 2, the 33rd day of 2026. There are 332 days left in the year

Today in history:

On Feb. 2, 2013, former Navy SEAL and “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle was fatally shot along with a friend at a gun range west of Glen Rose, Texas; Eddie Ray Routh was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Also on this date:

In 1653, New Amsterdam

— now New York City — was incorporated as a city.

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, officially ending the Mexican-American War. In 1925, the legendary

Continued from page 5C

vibrates in different ways for different plays and through headphones, I was able to hear Seattle’s amazing announcer Steve Raible. Real-time audio is the real beauty of the device because usually when I’m listening to a game, there can be a delay of up to a minute or more and that can be challenging to constantly ask family and friends what happened.

“Can you imagine how this can open up everything, not just football?”

OneCourt is working on it

It has partnered with NBA and Major League Baseball teams to provide its devices at games and is in talks to make them available with the NHL, along with other leagues and sports organizations all over the world.

OneCourt launched in 2023 after founder Jerred Mace saw a blind person attending a soccer match while he was a junior at the University of Washington.

The startup with headquarters in Seattle uses the NFL’s tracking data from Genius Sports and translates it into feedback for the device to create unique vibrations for plays such as tackles and touchdowns

The data is generated from cameras and chips embedded in balls, jerseys and elsewhere. The same technology is used by the NFL’s NextGen Stats for health and player safety, statistics and gambling.

“It’s a testament to the maturity of the product and our company that we have gone from delivering this to a handful of teams throughout

AWARDS

Continued from page 5C

Alaska Serum Run ended as the last of a series of dog mushers brought lifesaving medication to Nome, the scene of a diphtheria epidemic, traveling 674 miles in just six days. In 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces at the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II. In 1990, in a dramatic concession to South Africa’s Black majority President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela. In 2014, Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, widely considered one of the greatest actors of his generation, was found dead in his New York apartment

from an accidental drug overdose.

In 2022, four men were charged with being part of the drug distribution crew that supplied a deadly mix of narcotics to actor Michael K. Williams of “The Wire,” who had overdosed five months earlier

Today’s birthdays: Rock singer-guitarist Graham Nash is 84. Television executive Barry Diller is 84. TV chef Ina Garten is 78. Actor Brent Spiner is 77. Football Hall of Famer Dave Casper is 74. Model Christie Brinkley is 72. Singer Shakira is 49. Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama is 44. Actor Gemma Arterton is 40.

Actor Zosia Mamet is 38.

Actor Paul Mescal is 30. Actor Ellie Bamber is 29.

OneCourt founder Jerred Mace, right, talks with Clark Roberts, a blind Seattle Seahawks fan who has had the chance to try out the OneCourt tablet.

the last year or two to having it at the largest event in American sports,” OneCourt co-founder Antyush Bollini said. “The Super Bowl is such an amazing event and now blind and low-vision fans can use our technology in a way they deserve.”

Ticketmaster’s funding for the NFL pilot went toward underwriting the device to make it available to fans for free, according to senior client development director Scott Aller

“This is a very, very big social impact win,” Aller said.

“We hope that we can make an investment like this in every single one of our markets.”

After some teams approached the league about improving access for all, the NFL has spent the past few months piloting the program and ultimately decided to have the device make its Super Bowl debut.

“It’s not lost on us that we have blind to low-vision fans and we want to do right by them,” said Belynda Gardner, senior director of diver-

crime novelist S.A. Cosby’s “King of Ashes”; Garrett M Graff’s “The Devil Reached Toward the Sky”; Devney Perry’s “Shield of Sparrows”; and Charlotte McConaghy’s “Wild Dark Shore.” Narrators for the best book finalists include Oscarnominated actors Glenn Close, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Jessie Buckley on “Pride and Prejudice.” Reiner is a best nonfiction nominee for “A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever,” an account of the making of “This Is Spinal Tap” and “Spinal Tap II” that also includes cast members Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead in their home in December Son Nick Reiner

sity equity and inclusion for the NFL.

Gardner said the league has been very encouraged by the pilot and potential of this technology

“We’re reviewing what we learned and evaluating how it can be implemented going forward,” Gardner said.

“There aren’t any definitive next steps and we will use the offseason to determine where this technology sits in the NFL’s suite of offerings.”

Thomas Rice, a Jaguars fans, who is blind, said he had a seamless experience with the OneCourt device at a game in Jacksonville. Rice picked up the tablet at guest services at EverBank Stadium and after settling in at his seat, he felt and heard football in a new way

“When Trevor Lawrence threw a touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr., I felt the ball travel through the air,” Rice said. “When Travis Etienne ran the ball, I could feel it happen along the sideline.”

“It was like giving me my own pair of eyes.”

is facing charges of first-degree murder

Reese Witherspoon is a nominee in mystery for the thriller she co-wrote with Harlan Coben, “Gone Before Goodbye,”whichalsofeatures the narration of Chris Pine. Finalists for short stories/collectionsincludeJulianneMoore’s narration of “Notes to John,” a private journal of the late Joan Didion. Winners in 27 categories will be announced March 2.

and water

In Bormio, Cerato said they constructed a lake at an elevation of 2,515 yards to hold 23 million gallons of water. They also added 75 snow guns for Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering.

“We brought the Bormio slope to a new level,” he said, comparing it to a “Ferrari with new gears.” Ensuring fair, safe courses By making snow, organizers can control a slope’s quality and hardness, preparing it according to FIS requirements and ensuring consistent conditions, Cerato said.

He said it’s easier to work with technical snow because it’s compact and is safer because it doesn’t deteriorate as quickly, where-

as natural snow requires more work. They can inject water deep into the snowpack, which will freeze and create a more stable race surface.

“We can deliver better, safer and fair courses,” he said. “That is the difference a fair course from bib No. 1 to bib No. 50.”

Snow senors Cerato and his team are using state-of-the-art sensors to monitor the snow depth. If there’s a gap, snow guns go to work. If there’s too much, they are turned off.

“It automatically adjusts everything, each snow gun, so you can control with just one person sitting in the office, all the mountain,” Cerato said.

In Bormio, snow groomers are also equipped with GPS systems to help monitor the snow quality and levels, saving time, energy

The snow groomer knows exactly where to push the snow and how much snow is needed. And at the same time, “you produce the minimum amount of snow that you need,” Cerato said. “This is a powerful tool.” Preparing a slope for elite competition isn’t the same as doing it for commercial use. For the latter, natural snow is precious, he said. Personally he prefers skiing in powder

“I was born on the mountain,” he said. “I love snow.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

AQUARIUS(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Trust your instinctsand be straightforward with your instructions andany questionsyou might have.Leavenothing to chance or up to someone else to complete.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Do your thing; don'tgive anyone achance to interfere. Adisciplinedapproach will getyou whereyou want to go and encourage positive change and feedback

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Setyourself up to win. No matter what comes your way, summonyour charm,turnupyour energylevels andmanufacture enough kindnessand courage to make adifference.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Considerwhat makes you feel content and what it might take to incorporate it intoyour daily routine. It's time to please yourself and to takeresponsibility foryour happiness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Letyour emotions and passionleadthe way. No matterwhat you take on, do it with gusto. Be the one to make adifference, and you'll gain leverage that surpasses expectations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Communication is necessary if you want to maintain healthy connections with those you regularly deal with.Setting boundaries will put your mind at ease and allow you thefreedom to start newadventures.

LEO(July 23-Aug. 22) Send amessage; make your position andmotives clear. Amoneymakingidea, investment or professional change looks promising.

Discuss your feelings withsomeone youlove.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept.22) Take abreak,do something different andexplore possibilities, and you'll discover alifestyle that excites you. Step outsideyourcomfort zone andembark on ajourney that makesyou feel alive.

LIBRA (Sept.23-Oct. 23) Think big but budget wisely.How you manage your life will determine your state of mind. Observe how others manage their money,expensesand relationships.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Pay attention to howyou look andfeel. Don't take riskswith your health or your physical well-being. When in doubt,sit tight, observe andwait to see what unfolds.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Put your moneywhere your mouthisand follow through on your plans. There is money that can be yoursifyou invest more in yourself andhow youparticipate in life. Start by lowering your cost of living.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Search,and you will find. Be on the lookout for somethingthat will turn askill you have or items you possess into source of cash. Usingyourmoney in meaningful wayswill lead to satisfaction and peace of mind.

Thehoroscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist.ByAndrewsMcMeel Syndication

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object 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. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

TimeS CroSSword

BY PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

This wasthe deal in last week’sfinal column. ChenYuechen from China won the2013RichardFreemanJuniorDealof the Year from the International Bridge PressAssociationforhisdefenseagainst sixno-trump. Chen (West) hadguessed to lead his club three. South had taken East’s nine with his ace, played adiamond to dummy’s jack, andrun theheart jack. West had won and found thekilling return of his remaining diamond. South wonin his hand, cashedhis club king, and led a spade, planning to finesse dummy’s 10. He needed twodummy entries:one to repeat the heart finesse and the second to cash the 13thheart. But Chen put up hisspade jack, atextbook entry-killing play that defeated the contract. Iwonder how many readersnoticed that South missed an interesting chance to make his contract. Beforeplaying adiamond to dummy’s jack,declarer shouldhave cashed his diamond ace. This looks pointless, but not when West startedwithonlytwodiamonds.Whenhe got in with hisheart ace, he would have been endplayed.

If West returned aclub, Southcould get four tricks in the suit by playing low from the dummytocollect three spades, oneheart,four diamondsand four clubs.

wuzzles

Or,ifWestshifted to alow spade, declarer would win with dummy’s 10 and have his second dummy entry. He would win three spades, three hearts, four diamonds and twoclubs. This is called aDentist’s Coup extracting thesafe exit card(s) from a defender’s hand. ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist.ByAndrews McMeel Syndication

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

Previousanswers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,”suchas“bats” or “dies,”are notallowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may notbeused. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are notallowed.

toDAY’s WoRD oFFsHoRE: OFF-shor: Outside the country.

Average mark 13 words Time limit 20 minutes Can youfind17ormorewords in OFFSHORE?

sAtuRDAY’s WoRD —couRsInG