LB
4 DAY SALE
JanUARY 30th - February 2nd FRI
SAT SUN MON
30
31
1
Pork Tenderloins
2
LB
When You Buy 3
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TWIN PACK
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1
$ 88 LB
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Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
1
$ 97 LB
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Collard, Mustard or Turnip Greens 12 OZ PACK
Chisesi’s Seasoned Ham
5
3/$
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4
$ 99
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4 LB BAG GRANULATED
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2
$ 39
LIMIT 4
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores January 28th - February 4th, 2026.
THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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M o n d ay, F e b r u a ry 2, 2026
FAN-TASTIC DAY
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$2.00X
Louisiana pharmacy tied to $50M fraud case Hammond business hires big-name attorney
BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
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. STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP
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.
ä See FRAUD, page 5A
LIGO dodges significant budget cuts Livingston observatory allocated federal funding
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 sciBY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD ence programs. LIGO receives its funding from the National Staff writer Science Foundation. But on Jan. 23, President Donald Trump After facing possible steep budget cuts that could have shut down a Louisiana space obser- signed a funding appropriations act in which vatory, scientists are breathing a sigh of relief multiple federal science agencies dodged after recently approved federal science fund- crippling budget cuts for 2026. The appropriations act allocated $8.75 billion ing exceeded earlier proposals. Scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravä See LIGO, page 5A itational-Wave Observatory, tucked away in
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Classified .....................4B Deaths .........................4B Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Commentary ................3B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
Joseph A. Giaime, observatory head of LIGO Livingston, shows off the 4-kilometer-long steel vacuum tubes that are shielded by concrete enclosures. STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
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