The Advocate 03-03-2026

Judge: St. James schools remain segregated

School Board had sought to dismiss case after 60 years

BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer

Sixty years after residents sued to end racial segregation in the St. James Parish school district, a federal judge found inequalities remain — including one school’s student body being more than 95% Black — and denied a School Board request to dismiss the case.

U.S. District Judge Darrel James Papillion, of New Orleans, found Friday that the school district had failed to comply with aspects of a 2017 consent order and that vestiges of segregation persist at schools across the district

His order focused on three schools that were once all-Black and legally segregated before Brown v. Board of Education, including the St. Louis Math and Reading Academy Papillion found that aspects of a special literacy program designed to attract students from across the parish to St. Louis had been adopted districtwide, nullifying the program’s intended desegregation purpose.

“In sum, this Court recognizes the District’s efforts in desegregating its geographically complex school district and desires to return St. James Parish Schools to the local authorities,” he wrote. “But this Court cannot ignore the fact that St. Louis, or former Fifth Ward, a historically Black school remains a virtually all-Black school.”

His ruling follows an initial onepage decision released in September, in which he said he would later publish the full order with his reasons. The School Board has appealed his ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Papillion was nominated to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden.

The development is just after a judge rejected a bid by the neighboring St. John the Baptist Parish School Board to end its longstanding desegregation order It also comes after Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s stated goal last year of closing all remaining desegregation cases in the state with the help of the U.S.

ä See SCHOOLS, page 4A

Trump says attacks on Iran will last weeks

State Department urges Americans to leave region

Donald

of the White House.

War could impact gas prices and energy production in La.

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

The war in Iran is sending shock waves across global energy markets that are likely to reach Louisiana, first through rising prices at the pump and, if the conflict persists, with companies in the state potentially looking to increase production of oil and natural gas.

Gasoline prices are tied directly to the price of crude oil, which rose 6% on Monday to nearly $72 a barrel as the U.S. continued to unleash airstrikes and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and U.S. targets across the energy-rich Middle East.

INSIDE

ä Hegseth insists Iran conflict is ‘not endless.’ Page 3A

ä Officials say some La. National Guard members could be in region of conflict. Page 4A ä Iranian students at LSU cheer death of Khamenei Page 5A

duction is scarce, but because of how oil and gas is priced on the global market.

“The impact of these disruptions depends on their duration and severity,” Gray said. “Short-term price swings may be manageable but prolonged issues could significantly raise costs.”

BY JON GAMBRELL, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Israeli and U.S. airstrikes pounded Iran in an escalating campaign that President Donald Trump said Monday would likely take several weeks. Tehran and its allies retaliated across the region, striking Israel and a variety of targets inside Gulf states, including energy facilities in Qatar and the American embassy in Saudi Arabia.

The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with farreaching consequences. Places deemed safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; energy prices shot up; and U.S. allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.

Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” As the conflict spiraled, the State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks.

“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before briefing members of Congress about the Iran operation.

President Donald Trump said the attacks could persist for weeks in the Persian Gulf region. The Strait of Hormuz, which is the transit point for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply, was virtually closed to maritime traffic.

That means gasoline prices, currently averaging around $2.50 a gallon in Louisiana, will likely rise in the coming weeks, though it’s too soon to say how high.

Tyler Gray, director of innovation at the LSU Energy Institute, said disruptions in the oil and gas market thousands of miles away can show up in south Louisiana within days. That’s not because pro-

Natural gas prices which heat and cool homes, also are rising, which could mean that ratepayers in Louisiana, still reeling from sticker shock after February’s freeze, will

ä See IMPACT, page 5A

Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday As several airstrikes hit Iran’s capital, Tehran, the top security official Ali Larijani vowed on X: “We will not negotiate with the United States.” World markets were rattled as the fighting expanded across a region vital to energy supplies.

Saudi Arabia said early Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh came under attack from two drones, causing a “limited fire” and minor damage A

ä See ATTACKS, page 5A

Photo of autistic student in a cabinet rocks Gonzales Middle

Teacher, principal depart school

BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer

Late on a Friday afternoon in early February, Sydney Alexander posted on social media a picture she had just received of her 12-year-old son Jaelon The picture showed the boy in a school uniform with his head hidden inside a cabinet.

“A teacher named Coach Patrick put my child in this cabinet ” the mother asserted. Three days later, the following Monday, the teacher, Patrick Mahoney Jr. and the school’s principal, Lori Charlet, were gone. The news shocked Ascension Parish. Charlet, in particular, is well known and well loved A native of Donaldsonville, Charlet spent 25 years as principal at Gonzales Middle School. Just two days before, she rode as a lieutenant in the Krewe of Ascension Mambo parade as it rolled through Gonzales. The Advocate was unsuccessful in reaching either Charlet or Mahoney for comment. Mahoney is known too, mainly through his family His father, Patrick Mahoney Sr., is a longtime wrestling coach at East Ascension High School. Mahoney Jr., until recently, served as assistant coach to his dad at the high school. The father is a longtime physical ed-

ucation teacher at the middle school. The son spent almost two years as a paraprofessional at East Ascension High before moving in August to Gonzales Middle to work as a special education teacher In January Mahoney Jr was honored by the parish school board as one of 22 “rising educators” who’ve transitioned from support roles to teaching.

District spokesperson Jackie Tisdell said Mahoney Jr has been enrolled this school year in an alternative certification program focused on special education.

Mahoney Jr.s’ name is absent from the Teach Louisiana teacher certification database, which is maintained by

ä See STUDENT, page 4A

A picture taken in November shows an autistic student at Gonzales Middle in a classroom cabinet.

PROVIDED PHOTO

BRIEFS

FBI joins search for suspect in Ohio shooting

COLUMBUS Ohio Federal authorities joined local police Monday in the search for a suspect in a weekend nightclub shooting in Cincinnati that wounded nine people.

The nine were hospitalized with injures that were not lifethreatening after shots rang out about 1 a.m. Sunday inside the music venue Riverfront Live.

Interim Cincinnati Police Chief Adam Hennie said all the victims were in stable condition

The FBI was working with the Cincinnati Police Department on the investigation, said spokesperson Todd Lindgren, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offered a $5,000 reward for information identifying a suspect.

Though it occurred almost simultaneously to a deadly bar shooting in Austin, Texas, which is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism, authorities in Ohio have not provided any details about a motive in the Cincinnati shooting.

Bill Halusek, spokesperson for the Cincinnati ATF, said that at this time, the Cincinnati shooting is not suspected to be an act of terrorism.

‘Today’ host visits her missing mother’s home TUCSON,Ariz. “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie and her sister returned to their mother’s home outside Tucson on Monday in their first sighting at the house since Nancy Guthrie went missing a month ago.

The NBC anchor, her sister Annie Guthrie and brother-inlaw Tommaso Cioni walked arm in arm down the driveway, laid down yellow flowers and embraced each other in a tearful scene. The makeshift tribute at the edge of the property includes flowers, yellow ribbons, crosses, prayers, a sign that read “Let Nancy Come Home” and a statuette of an angel.

Later on Monday, Savannah Guthrie posted a photo of flowers at the tribute.

“We feel the love and prayers from our neighbors, from the Tucson community and from around the country,” Guthrie wrote, ending the sentence with a heart emoji. “Please don’t stop praying and hoping with us. bring her home.”

Nancy Guthrie’s children have previously appeared in videos in which they pleaded for their mother’s return, most recently with a social media posting from Savannah Guthrie in which she said the family was offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of their mother

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day

Trump awards Medal of Honor to 3 U.S. soldiers

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to three U.S. Army soldiers at the White House on Monday, celebrating heroes of old wars as he defended his launch of a new one.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson was recognized for actions during the Vietnam War that were credited with saving the lives of 85 other service members.

Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2013, was recognized for saving a Polish Army officer’s life.

Master Sgt. Roderick W. Edmonds, who died in 1985, was recognized for his leadership and resistance as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. “There’s no ceremony that can be more important than this,” Trump said to begin the East Room ceremony that included the recipients’ family members and the man Ollis shielded from enemy fire.

Video of Clintons’ depositions released

Former president tries to distance himself from Epstein

BY STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON Former President Bill Clinton distanced himself from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in closed-door depositions with lawmakers, according to videos that were released Monday by a House committee.

The recordings of the depositions, which spanned hours over two days last week, show how Bill Clinton told the committee that he had ended his relationship with Epstein years before the financier entered a 2008 guilty plea to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Hillary Clinton told the committee she never even recalled meeting Epstein.

Both closed-door interviews before the House Oversight Committee were taken under oath Thursday and Friday

The Clintons’ testimony came as lawmakers are trying to meet demands for a reckoning over Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 in New York while facing charges for sex trafficking and abusing underage girls. High-status men around the world have been forced into resignations because of revelations about their relationships with Epstein, but so far there are few signs in the U.S. of serious legal consequences coming.

The former Democratic president said he first remembered meeting Epstein when he flew aboard the financier’s private jet in 2002 for the Clintons’ humanitarian work, and they parted ways the year after

“There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women,” he told the committee.

Epstein visited the White House numerous times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers he did not recall those interactions

Bill Clinton faced searching questions

both from Republicans and Democrats about photos of the former president that have been released as part of the case files on Epstein. In response to a Democratic lawmakers’ questions about a photo that showed him in a pool with a woman whose face was redacted, the former president said he did not know the woman and did not engage in sexual activity with her

He said the photo was from a trip to Brunei for charitable work and a number of people in their travel party were swimming.

Whether the subject was a note Clinton wrote for Epstein’s 50th birthday or their travel together for the Clinton Foundation, he described their relationship as little more than “cordial.”

“We were friendly but I didn’t know him well enough to say we were friends,” he said.

Asked by Republicans whether they had talked about young women or girls together Clinton responded emphatically: “No.”

One line of questioning stirred up curiosity from lawmakers, and that was what Clinton had to say about President Donald Trump. He made clear he believed it was important for anyone, including presidents, to come forward and testify to their knowledge of Epstein.

Clinton also shared how he and Trump had briefly discussed Epstein at a charity golf tournament more than 20 years ago. He said Trump had never “said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein,” but also remarked that those two men had a falling-out over a real estate deal.

Republican lawmakers left the deposition pointing to Clinton’s words and arguing that it showed there is no evidence that Trump ever did anything wrong in his own relationship with Epstein.

Democrats, meanwhile, said Clinton’s testimony counters what Trump has said more recently about why he and Epstein had a falling-out. Trump has told reporters they had a disagreement because Epstein had hired people away from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Pakistan deploys troops, imposes curfew after deadly protests

BY MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD Pakistani authorities deployed troops and imposed a three-day curfew before dawn Monday in the northern cities of Gilgit and Skardu after several people died and tens were injured in violent protests following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes, officials said.

Thousands of Shiite demonstrators on Sunday attacked the offices of the U.N. Military Observer Group, which monitors the ceasefire along the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and the U.N. Development Program in Skardu city

Protesters also burned a police station and damaged a school and the offices of a local charity in Gilgit, according to officials. At least 12 people were killed and 80 others injured, said police in the GilgitBaltistan region.

Officials: Gunman not on FBI’s radar before shooting

Attack at Austin bar kills three

BY JIM VERTUNO and LEKAN OYEKANAMI Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas The gunman who opened fire outside a crowded Texas bar and killed three people in an attack that wounded more than a dozen had not been on the radar of authorities, federal and local investigators said Monday

The FBI and police in Austin said it’s too soon to identify the motive behind the mass shooting early Sunday that the FBI has said is being investigated as a potential act of terrorism, coming after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.

“Our ultimate goal in everything we do is to determine the motive,” Alex Doran, the acting agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office, said during a news conference.

Police shot and killed the gunman, whom they identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. He was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and bearing the words “Property of Allah” during the attack, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Investigators are poring over thousands of hours of video and police said there are more than 150 witnesses to interview

“We are still in the early hours of this investigation,” said Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.

The gunman legally bought the weapons used in the attack several years ago in San Antonio, Davis said. More information about the suspect along with body camera footage from the officers could be released later this week Davis said.

Police identified the victims as 21-year-old Savitha Shan, 19-year-old Ryder Harrington and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson.

Harrington joined the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at

An article published Sunday about Clover a New Orleans nonprofit that provides educational and support services, misspelled the name of co-CEO Arnel Cosey The Advocate regrets the error

U.N. spokesperson StéphaneDujarric said Monday protesters became violent near the UNMOGIP Field Station, which was vandalized. “The safety and security of U.N. personnel and premises throughout the region remain our top priority, and we continue to closely monitor the situation,” Dujarric said.

Meanwhile, Shabir Mir, a Gilgit-Baltistan government spokesperson, said Monday the situation was under control and that the curfew would remain in place until Wednesday Police chief Akbar Nasir Khan urged residents to stay indoors,

condemn the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

citing “deteriorating law and order conditions.”

Demonstrators in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi stormed the U.S. Consulate on Sunday, smashing windows and attempting to burn the building. Police responded with batons, tear gas, and gunfire, leaving 10 people dead and more than 50 injured.

One person was also killed in clashes in Islamabad during an attempted march by Pakistan’s minority Shiites toward the U.S. Embassy They were protesting in support of Iran, which is majority Shiite. On Monday the U.S. diplomatic mission in Pakistan said its consulate in northwestern Peshawar city would close temporarily, while the embassy in Islamabad would continue providing all routine and emergency consular services for U.S. citizens.

Texas Tech University in 2024, the fraternity said in an Instagram post.

“Ryder had a rare ability to truly enjoy life to make people laugh, to make moments feel bigger, and to make ordinary days unforgettable,” the fraternity said. “If anyone embodied what it meant to live fully and love deeply, it was Ryder.”

Texas Tech said in a statement that Harrington had been enrolled as recently as the fall 2025 semester, but was not taking classes this semester

“Our thoughts are with Ryder’s family, friends, and all those affected by this devastating situation,” the statement said.

Shan’s LinkedIn profile listed her as a dual-degree student majoring in management information systems and economics at the University of Texas at Austin.

University President Jim Davis said her death was “devastating” and that several other students were wounded in the attack.

“Some of these are very serious and we are hoping for the best outcomes, while others are on the path to recovery,” he said in a statement. “I have met with many of these families and will continue to pray for them.”

Austin Police announced Monday evening that Pederson had died from his injuries.

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Hegseth insists Iran conflict is ‘not endless’

Defense secretary warns more casualties likely

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Monday to widening concerns that the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring: “This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” even as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead

While the Trump administration has cited Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the chief concern to be addressed, officials increasingly are pointing to the threat from Iran’s ballistic missiles as a key reason to launch the attacks as well as an opportunity to take out the government’s leadership and the sense that negotiations around the nuclear program have stalled.

Trump said Monday that Iran’s conventional missile program “was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas.”

Hegseth said at a separate news conference with Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the operation had a “decisive mission” to eliminate the threat of Iranian ballistic missiles, destroy the country’s navy and ensure “no nukes.”

Trump, Hegseth and Caine have not suggested any exit plan or offered signs that the conflict would end anytime soon as the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the future of the Islamic Republic and hurtled the region into broader instability Caine said the biggest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in decades would only grow because the commander in the region “will receive additional forces even today.”

“This is not a so-called regime-change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it,”

Hegseth said. Trump, however, in video statements released after the strikes began, urged the Iranian people “to take back your country.”

The conflict has spilled into the wider region with Iran and its allied armed groups launching missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets in the Middle East.

Six American troops have been killed, with Trump, Hegseth and Caine predicting more casualties. All were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

When asked about the six deaths Monday, Hegseth said an Iranian weapon made it past allied air defenses “and, in that particular case, happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified.”

Eighteen American service members also have been seriously wounded, said Capt Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.

The latest sign of the escalating upheaval came when, the U.S. military said, ally Kuwait “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets during a combat mission as Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones

were attacking. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely from the American F-15E Strike Eagles and were in stable condition.

Asked if there are boots on the ground now in Iran, Hegseth said, “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.”

He said it was “foolishness” to expect U.S. officials to say publicly “here’s exactly how far we’ll go.”

Trump told the New York Post on Monday that he wasn’t ruling out U.S. forces in Iran if “they were necessary.” He noted, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground.”

At the White House, Trump said the mission was expected to take four to five weeks but “we have the capability to go far longer than that.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the Capitol that the U.S “will do this as long as it takes to achieve” its objectives and warned that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military.”

Hegseth also dismissed questions about the time frame and said Trump had “latitude” to decide how long it would take. “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks,” he said. “It could move up. It

Justices block law against schools outing trans students to parents

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for California schools to tell parents if their children identify as transgender without getting the student’s approval, granting an emergency appeal from a conservative legal group. The order blocks for now a state law that bans automatic parental notification requirements if students change their pronouns or gender expression at school.

could move back.”

In laying out a case for the strikes Hegseth did not point to any imminent nuclear threat from Iran and said again that strikes by the U.S. and Israel last June “obliterated their nuclear program to rubble.”

Instead, Hegseth pointed to threats from other weaponry that justified the operation: “Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield

for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.”

He added, “Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs. Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb.”

Hegseth said that during negotiations leading up to the attack, Iranian officials were “stalling” despite having “every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal.”

He also justified the operation by describing Iran’s government as having started the conflict from its inception, declaring that for 47 years it has “waged a savage, one-sided war against America.”

In a private briefing Sunday, Trump administration officials told congressional staffers that U.S. intelligence did not suggest Iran was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S., three people familiar with the briefings said.

As with the attack that dropped massive bunkerbuster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities last year, Caine said the military used B-2 stealth bombers in the new operation with a 37-hour round trip. He said the penetrating bombs were dropped on Iranian underground facilities” but did not specify that they were nuclear facilities. Nuclear sites were not among the types of targets on a list released over the weekend by U.S. Central Command. The administration says Israel and the U.S. have bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.

Caine on Monday referenced the use of cyber technologies, saying the U.S. “effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks” that left “the adversary without the ability to coordinate or respond effectively.”

Without giving specifics, Caine said the military “delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran’s ability to conduct and sustained combat operations on the U.S. side.”

Trump, a Republican, had said the objective of the mission was to eliminate “imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” And senior Trump administration officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, told reporters Saturday that there were indicators that the Iranians could launch a preemptive attack.

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The state said that school policies and state law are aimed at striking a balance with parents’ rights

The high court majority, though, sided with the parents and reinstated a lowercourt order blocking the law and school policies while the case continues to play out.

“The parents who assert a free exercise claim have sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and they feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs. California’s policies violate those beliefs,” and burden the free exercise of religion, the majority wrote in an unsigned order

The court’s three liberal justices publicly dissented, saying the case is still working its way through lower courts and there was no need to step in now. “If nothing else, this Court owes it to a sovereign State to avoid throwing over its policies in

The split decision comes after religious parents and educators challenged California school policies aimed at preventing schools from outing students to their families. Two sets of Catholic parents represented by the Thomas More Society say it caused schools to mislead them and secretly facilitate the children’s social transition despite their objections. California, on the other hand, argued that students have the right to privacy about their gender expression, especially if they fear rejection from their families.

a slapdash way, if the Court can provide normal procedures. And throwing over a State’s policy is what the Court does today,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, noted they would have gone further and granted teachers’ appeal to lift restrictions for them.

The Thomas More Society called the decision “the most significant parental rights ruling in a generation.”

The Supreme Court has ruled for religious plaintiffs in other recent cases, including allowing parents to pull their children from publicschool lessons if they object to storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters.

The California order comes months after the court upheld state bans on genderidentity-related health care for minors. The justices also seem to be leaning toward allowing states to ban transgender athletes from playing on girls sports teams.

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La.NationalGuard hasmembers deployed abroad

Officialssay some couldbeinregion of Iran conflict

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers

About 1,000 LouisianaNational Guard soldiers are deployed abroad, including some whocould be near the conflict with Iran that began over the weekend, state leaders said.

At the moment, thereare no plans for abroadermobilization of Louisiana Guard members to Iran, officials said.

SCHOOLS

Continued frompage1A

Department of Justice.

In awritten statement, St. James Parish school system SuperintendentChrisKimball said the board and district were unabletocommentbecause the matter concerns pendinglitigation. The U.S. Department of Justice said in an email that it had no comment.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys, including Alexsis Johnson, who serves as anassistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and EducationalFund. Speaking Monday,Johnsonsaid the group was“reallyhappy with the ruling.”

“It reflects the reality that our clients and Black folks in St.James Parish have known all along: that the district is under-investing in the educationofBlack school childreninSt. James Parish and that there is much more the district needs to do in order to remedy its past race-based discrimination against Black students,” shesaid

First filed by severalresidents on Dec. 15, 1965, the historic case

STUDENT

Continued from page1A

the Louisiana Department of Education. Tisdellsaid initially that her understanding wasthat the state agency solely maintained the database, but she later clarified that statement,makingclear that individual teachersand schooldistricts play arole.

“The LouisianaDepartment of Education serves as the official repository for certification documentation; however, it is the responsibility of the individual employee to upload the required materials. The district’srole is to ensure that employees complete that process,”Tisdell said. “In this instance, it is our understanding that the employee did not upload the required documentation.”

TedBeasley,aspokesperson for the agency,offered asimilar statement Monday “Wedonot have acertification record for theindividual you asked about,” Beasley said. “In general, the individual educator will work with either acertification program or their school system to submit information.”

Another educator involved in this matter,Adrina Million, a28-year veteran of the district, is likewise no longer working as the director of special education. Her last day was Jan. 31, ending a 15-month tenure in that job. Tisdell said Million’sdeparture “had nothing to do with Gonzales Middle School. Ascension recently hired Jennifer Vicknair to replace Million as director of special educationand Dineska McZealtobecomethe newprincipal at Gonzales Middle. Jaelon no longer attends Gonzales Middle. Alexander removed both of her children from school for several days —Jaelonhas atwin brother who is similarly autistic and nonverbal —until theAscensionParish school district agreedtomove them to another school. How Jaelon ended up in that cabinet remains uncertain.

Citing personnel and student privacy laws, Ascension Parish school officials have offered few details of what happened. Jaelon, having autism and being nonverbal, is unabletocom-

“I want toacknowledgethe brave soldiers and airmen in the Louisiana National Guard who, as we speak, are serving within missile range of Iran,”Maj. Gen. Michael Greer told thestate House Appropriations Committee during abudget hearing Monday.“Our thoughts and prayers are with them andtheir families hereat home.”

Forsecurityreasons, National Guard officials generallydonot give specific information about locations or missions for foreign deployments.

The Louisiana NationalGuard has about11,000 members. Greer said afterthe hearing that 1,000 Louisiana soldiersand airmen are

currently deployedabroad for missions that began before Operation Epic Fury The bombing campaign, carried outbythe U.S. andIsrael struck targetsthroughout Iran andkilled Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,among other top figures. Iranretaliated with missile strikesonU.S.bases in theregion, nearby Gulf states, and oil infrastructure.

Louisiana National Guardsoldiers andairmen are deployedto several regions, “not necessarily in that part of the world,” Greer said. But, “It’sentirelyplausible that thereare someLouisiana National Guard members supportingEpicFury by doing the

“Itreflects the reality that our clients and Blackfolks in St. James Parish haveknown allalong: that the districtisunderinvesting in the education of Blackschool children in St. James Parish and thatthere is muchmore the districtneeds to do in order to remedy its past race-based discrimination against Black students.”

ALEXSIS JOHNSON, assistant counselwith the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

moved closer to concluding in 2017 when allpartiesagreed to anew consentorder.That order allows court supervision of thedistrict andguidesittoward resolving the case.

The SchoolBoard filed amotion in 2023 asking the court to find it had achieved desegregation to all practicableextents.Atthe time, Papillion found that theschool district had accomplished desegregationinsome areas, but not in student assignment,which concerns theracial demographics of schools across thedistrict.This meantthe school district would still be under court supervision Papillion’sdecision on the 2023 motion focuses on three schools that were once all-Black:the west bank Cypress Grove Montessori

municateclearly what he experienced Even so, hismother is certain that the teachermust have put the boy in that cabinet.

“I knowfor afactthat my child would NEVER go into aconfinedspace on his own free will,” said Alexander accordingtoa statement provided by her attorney “Hehates small spaces and situations where his movement is restricted.”

“My home hasplenty of cabinets; my son has never put himself in one,” she continued.

Alexander said she’ssince heardfrom another parent whose child says the teacher put Jaelon in thecabinet Alexandersaidshe and Mahoney Jr.already hada testy relationship.She said Jaelon’sbehavior “changed drastically”since he became her son’steacher.She recalled Mahoney Jr.calling her frequently midday to come pick Jaelon up at school, butwould give her “little to no explanation of what happened in his class.”

She said sheonly learned aboutthe cabinet incident in earlyFebruarywhenaparaprofessional at the middle school shared the picture with her,saying the teacher hadtaken it in November and latershared it with other adults at the school, but notwith Alexander “It is not apopularitycontest. Theprincipal and the teacher resigned on their own,”Alexandersaid. “Itis amatter of rightand wrong, and exposing the truthfor my son andother parents like me.”

Tisdellwouldnot say whether theprincipal or the teacher resigned, retired or were terminated.Charlet was eligible for retirement as was Million.Mahoney Jr however,was not,having worked forAscensiononly since October 2023.

Another person no longer working for Ascension Parish schools is theparaprofessional who sent Alexanderthe photo.

Alexander’sattorney, Jamar Lanier Ennis, is also representing the paraprofessional; he would not identifyher,make her available for an interview,orcomment on heremployment. He said she was firedalmost immediately aftersharing thephotowith Alexander “She is awitness, not a

job they were doing prior to Epic Fury.”

Six American service members have been killed in the conflict, federal officials have said.

TheIranian Red Crescent Society said that the bombing has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranianmissiles, 11 people were killed.

TheIranian-backed Hezbollah militant group also targeted Israel, whichresponded with strikes on Lebanon, killing morethan twodozen people.

Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates andone each in Kuwait andBahrain.

President Donald Trump on

dents, including aspecialized curriculum, atrained interventionist teacherand specializedtraining forteachers.

“The District’smere‘initiation’ of aliteracy program that had the potential to desegregate SLA but failed to do so —does notentitle theDistrict to unitary status,” thedocument stated.

Mondaysaidheexpected the U.S. operation would last four or five weeks, but “we have the capability to go farlonger than that.”

About 350 members of the National GuarddeployedinNew Orleans shortly before the year started to assist with law enforcement. That deploymentwas scheduledto end Saturday,but Gov.Jeff Landry announced Monday that about 120 soldiers will remain in the city until August. Louisiana National Guard troops also participated in Trump’sdeployment in Washington, D.C., and assisted with border security operations, among other missions.

The AssociatedPress contributed to this report.

order adopted avariance measure of 15% above or belowdistrictwide demographics as astarting point. In practice, that roughly correlates to aBlack student enrollment rate of between 45% and 75% forevery school.

School, formerly Lutcher ElementarySchool, and the east bank St. Louis Academy and Sixth Ward Elementary School.

While the elementary student population in St. James Parish is about 62% Black,in2016at least 94% of students at the three schools were Black Papillion’sdecision focused on St.Louis Academy and its literacy academy program. It was created in the2017 consent order,which required the district to createa special program at the school to attract students from across the district According to the 2023 objection to thedistrict’s motion submitted by residents, the districtrolled back several of the program’s features intended to attract White stu-

wrongdoer,”Ennis said. “But forher courage in coming forward, this family would never have known what happened to their child.”

Louisiana lawcalls for an independent set of eyes, namelya camera, to witness what occurs in selfcontainedspecial education classrooms that educate children like Jaelon.

The special education cameralaw,approved in 2021, haslimitations. It requires that “recordings be retainedfor at leastone month from the recording date.” After amonth, though,AscensionParish policy calls for deleting recordings “unless thereis an outstanding request for viewing of the recording.”

Alexander learned of the phototoo late; the video was already gone.

“Webelievethat(the video) was accessed and reviewed but it was never intended for it to see the light of day,” Ennis said.

Ennis argues that district policy as it stands “voids the transparencythat parents like Ms.Alexander deserve.”

This is not Alexander’s first time butting up against thedistrict’scamera policy

In November,she requested accesstovideo of Jaelon’s classroom. In aDec. 3letter, Million,the district’sthendirector of special education, rejected Alexander’srequest on technical grounds: Alexander’srequest didnot specify an “incident” such as “abuse, neglect or sexual misconduct”that would justify allowing her to view the video.

Million, however,assured her that districtstaff would view thevideo and alert her if they detected any “verbal abuse” that would prompt further steps on thedistrict’spart

Papillionagreed, finding that the district failedtocomplywiththe consent order because the special aspects of the program wereadopted districtwide.

“The program’sdesegregative functiondependedonits distinctiveness, and the District’simplementation of materially identical features across schools eroded thedistinguishing features of the program,” he wrote.

He alsofound that the school, like others in the district, had failed to change its racial demographics.

St. Louis Academy andSixth Ward Elementary School failed to significantly change their racial composition since the 2017 consent order,Papillion ruled.

To determine if aschool can be considered desegregated in student assignment, the 2017 consent

Ennis, who until recently wasexecutive director of the Governor’sOffice of Disability Affairs, saidAlexander’scase showshow

In the 2023-24 school year,more than 95% of the student body at St. Louis Academy wasBlack, while SixthWardwas 80%Black, according to the order

The district alleged thedemographics of both schools weredue to the west bank’sdemographics and the St. Louis Academy being in a“geographically isolated community.”

Residents represented in the lawsuitrejected that argument because 21 Black students had transferredtothe schoolbetween 2018 and 2023. Basically,ifthe district can get transport students into the school, it cannot argue that it is too isolated or remotetoattract asimilar number of White children. Papillion said that St. Louis Academy,which feeds into Sixth Ward, “is at the heart of the issue.” He didn’ttake action on the decision, instead stating he wanted both parties to meet in order to find aremedy

the 2021 state law,which was tightened in 2025, still has loopholes that can be exploited andconsequently needs revising again.

“A parent doing everything right was defeated by apolicy that protects the district, not the child,” Ennis said.

Iranians at LSU cheer death of Ayatollah Khamenei

BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer

When they heard news that Iran’s leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been killed, they cheered. They cried. They called their relatives still in Iran, cheering and crying with them.

Then on Monday, more than 50 Iranian-born students and Baton Rouge residents gathered on LSU’s campus with flags, signs and a boom box.

“USA! USA!” they chanted. “Thank you, President Trump! From Iran,” one sign read, one of the many praising President Donald Trump’s weekend assault on the country The group danced to the Village People’s “YMCA.”

With the help of the Iranian Students Association, Hamed Ghassemi, 47, pulled together the celebration in a matter of hours. He’s long been critical of Khamenei’s “very, very dangerous regime,” including his security forces opening fire on street protesters in January, killing thousands.

Growing up in Iran, Ghassemi said he was brainwashed, trained to target U.S. civilians. When he returned to Iran to bury his mother in 2015, he was put in prison for his online criticism of the Iranian government he said. Ghassemi worried about the Islamic Republic developing nuclear weapons: “If these people get their hands on a nuclear weap-

ATTACKS

Continued from page 1A

resident in the neighborhood of the embassy who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the security situation described light smoke coming from the embassy On Monday, the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait was struck.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery also came under attack from drones, but its defenses downed the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the staterun Saudi Press Agency The refinery has a capacity of over half a million barrels of crude oil a day

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

After two of its facilities were struck, QatarEnergy said it would stop producing liquefied natural gas indefinitely, taking one of the world’s top suppliers off the market. European natural gas prices surged by 40% in response.

Several ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes and where Iran has threatened attacks.

IMPACT

Continued from page 1A

face higher utility bills

The war comes at a time when the U.S. is less dependent on foreign oil than it ever has been. The U.S. produces more than 70% of what it consumes — some 13 million barrels of crude oil per day

Of that, about 80% is refined in Texas and Louisiana, according to Eric Smith, an associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute. In that respect, the Gulf Coast and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the country, is seemingly less vulnerable to the effects of a conflict in and around the Middle East and Arabian peninsula than it was, say, during the 1970s energy crisis.

“We have plenty of oil and plenty of refining capacity,” Smith said. “That’s not the issue.” But global supply chains are deeply intertwined, and exporting the oil and natural gas now mined from offshore Gulf waters and the shale formations in Texas and north Louisiana will be more difficult and expensive with key shipping lanes clogged or closed because of the conflict.

ons we’re smoked.”

So he praised Trump for taking action: “We want freedom,” he said. “We want what we had back in the ’70s. It was taken away from us. That was taken away from us. If you took something away, whose turn is it to take it, to give it back?”

Meanwhile, a dozen counterpro-

Iranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday

“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.

Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so while saying its nuclear program is peaceful.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed dozens of people in Lebanon.

The U.S military announced that two previously unaccounted for American service members have been confirmed dead, bringing the total to six. All six were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S.

“Oil and LNG exports can continue, but if you are having trouble sending your ships around the world it makes it more difficult to sell,” said Jim Richardson, LSU professor emeritus.

Experts say it’s too soon to say how much prices might rise, because there’s no telling how long the conflict will last and how widespread the collateral damage will be across the Middle East In the short-term, however, they say the uncertainty and risk will drive gasoline prices up, which could spill over into price increases for other goods and services

“Markets respond swiftly to perceived risks, and the effects are often visible at the pump before any physical supply constraints materialize,” Gray said. “This means increased transportation costs, food prices and industrial input costs.”

When Trump took office in early 2025, he said one of his priorities was to further increase domestic oil production.

One reason that hasn’t happened is because oil prices have hovered around $60 a barrel, too low, experts say, for drillers to justify the cost.

But if the war were to persist, cutting off supplies of

testers with cardboard signs protested the U.S. intervention in Iran as yet another immoral Middle East conflict, citing civilian deaths and support for the Iranian people. A protest with a similar message took place in New Orleans over the weekend.

“I support the sovereignty of Iran and Iranians to be able to make

official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity

Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Iran’s top diplomat on Monday shared an aerial photo showing rows of graves that he said were for more than 160 girls killed during a U.S.-Israeli strike on an elementary school in Minab. “Their bodies were torn to shreds,” Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister said on X. In Israel, three young siblings killed by an Iranian strike were being laid to rest at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Monday night.

The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely

Hezbollah said it fired missiles on Israel early Monday in response to Khamenei’s killing and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” It was the first time in more than a year the militant group has claimed an attack.

There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country’s Health Ministry reported at least 52 people

oil and natural gas to buyers in Europe and Asia, domestic production along the Gulf Coast could increase, which could lead to more job creation in Louisiana and benefit the companies that do business here.

Such a scenario would be good for producers, experts say but likely at the expense of consumers, who would feel the effects of higher prices throughout the economy.

“Two things can be true at once,” Gray said.

Still, building out new production and refining capacity wouldn’t happen overnight Smith doesn’t think it’s likely because of the financial risk oil companies would be taking.

Another potential longterm impact could be a market-driven response to more renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, which have been stymied by the Trump administration.

But those projects also take years to develop and wouldn’t have any impact on the supply chain and available sources of energy For now, consumers in Louisiana need to brace for higher prices, though how much higher and for how long remains to be seen.

“It depends on whether this lasts for a month or a year,” Richardson said.

these kinds of decisions for themselves,” said student Ziad Eissa, of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, “not for the U.S. to come in and impose, you know, this government will by military force.”

As the two sides shouted opposing chants into bullhorns in LSU’s Free Speech Alley, some students gathered, trying to make sense of

were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.

An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen Effie Defrin, said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it had completed a wave of strikes targeting branches of al-Qard al-Hasan, a charity operating outside the Lebanese financial system that Israel says is used to fund Hezbollah’s military wing.

Israel also struck a building housing Al-Manar channel studios in Beirut’s southern suburbs following

local reaction to the United States’ and Israel’s missile strikes in the country

“We think it’s needed,” Aidin Arasteh said of the military action, “because the people don’t have guns. The regime of Iran is willing to murder tens of thousands of its own people.”

Iranians are “not naturally Trump supporters,” Arasteh said, nodding to the group of students that had formed between groups. The pro-Trump signs are “gathering a bit of attention among students here who are sort of surprised to see that.”

Under earlier leaders, the country valued human rights and uplifted women, he said. Arasteh, born in the U.S. to Iranian parents, himself didn’t vote for Trump and, in fact, has worked locally for Democratic campaigns. But he believes that given his targeting of protesters and killing of civilians, Khamenei needed to go.

Karame Mohammadiporshokooh left Iran for LSU “for the chance to get better education, to be free,” she said.

The Ph.D. candidate is hopeful that the military strikes open up an opportunity for a revolution, rather than the reign of a leader made in Khamenei’s image. Her relatives in Iran, who were celebrating his death, agree.

“They want to have a democratic regime,” she said. “They want to take their country back.”

an evacuation warning, the channel said. No immediate details on casualties were available.

The U.S. military, which has used B-2 stealth bombers to strike Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs, said Monday that it had taken out 11 Iranian warships. Trump has said the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed.”

While Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., said the conflict would continue “as long as it takes,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday that the U.S. is not engaged in a nation-building

effort, saying, “This is not Iraq. This is not endless.” Trump sought to more clearly define the administration’s objectives on Monday following an earlier statement — as the attack was unfolding Saturday — in which he listed various grievances dating to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and urged Iranians to “take over” their government. There have been no signs yet of any such uprising. Trump has also signaled an openness to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership, which could be chosen soon. Tehran’s streets have been largely deserted with people sheltering during airstrikes.

BRIEFS FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

India, Canada to boost economic partnership

NEW DELHI India and Canada on Monday agreed to strengthen their economic partnership, in a move aimed at boosting ties after two years of strained relationship

Speaking after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two countries would soon finalize a “comprehensive economic partnership” which is expected to increase bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030. India and Canada began advancing negotiations on a long-pending trade agreement last year, as Carney moved to re-engage with New Delhi, restore diplomatic channels and stabilize ties between the two countries.

Carney said the two sides were aiming to conclude the deal by the end of the year

“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight,” Carney said.

Burger King testing AI-powered headsets

Burger King is testing AI-powered headsets that can recite recipes, alert managers when inventories are low and even track how friendly employees are to customers. Restaurant Brands International the Miami-based company that owns Burger King, Popeyes and other brands — said Thursday it’s testing the OpenAI-powered headsets in 500 U.S. restaurants

The system collects data on restaurant operations and shares it via “Patty,” a voice that talks to employees through their headsets. If the drink machine is low on Diet Coke, Patty will tell the store’s manager If a customer uses a QR code to report a messy bathroom, the manager will be alerted

Employees can ask Patty how to make various menu items or tell Patty to remove items from digital menus if they’ve run out of ingredients.

Burger King said it’s also exploring using Patty as a way to improve customer service. The system can track when employees say key words like “welcome,” “please” and “thank you” and share that with managers. When asked about that capability Thursday by The Associated Press, Burger King said the intent is to use Patty as a coaching tool, not a tracker of individual employees.

“It’s not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts It’s about reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights so they can recognize their teams more effectively,” Burger King said in a statement.

Burger King added that the key words are “one of many signals to help managers understand service patterns.”

Walmart to pay $100M to settle FTC allegations

NEW YORK Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that the retailer caused its delivery drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars’ worth of earnings by deceiving them about their pay and tips they could make, the commission said in a statement on Thursday

Joined by 11 states, the FTC alleges that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer showed drivers inflated base pay and tip amounts in its crowdsourced gig driver delivery program called Spark

The FTC alleges that the retailer deceived customers by falsely claiming that all of its customer tips would actually go to drivers. The commission also alleges that Walmart failed to inform drivers that it would split tips when a customer’s delivery was split across multiple drivers.

“Labor markets cannot function efficiently without truthful and nonmisleading information about earnings and other material terms,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement

As part of its settlement with the FTC, Walmart is required to implement an earnings verification program to ensure that drivers are paid the promised earnings and tips, among other orders.

Federal court rejects refund delay

Companies seeking payouts after Trump’s tariffs ruled illegal

BY PAUL WISEMAN and MAE ANDERSON AP business writers

WASHINGTON A federal court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to slow the process of refunding billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs the Supreme Court struck down as illegal last month.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit started the

next phase in the refund process by sending it to a lower court to sort out.

In a court filing Friday, Trump’s Justice Department had urged the Federal Circuit to proceed cautiously and hold off for 90 days. But the judges refused.

The Supreme Court ruled Feb 20 that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most countries in the world were illegal, clearing the way for the importers who paid them to seek refunds.

The government had collected more than $130 billion from the tariffs by mid-December, and could ultimately be on the hook for refunds worth $175 billion, according to calculations by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

But the Supreme Court offered no guidance on refunds; its deci-

sion did not even mention them Now the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York will decide how the complicated refund process should proceed.

“I would expect the Court of International Trade to quickly issue an order requesting a status update from the government on their plans with respect to refunds (or expedited briefing),” said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. “I expect the court to take an aggressive posture, asking the government to justify how they intend to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

Siddartha Rao, a partner at law firm Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, said he has been getting a lot of calls from clients with questions.

Stocks remain up despite big drop

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK Oil prices

leaped Monday on worries that war with Iran could clog the global flow of crude and make inflation even worse. U.S. stocks, meanwhile, swung from sharp losses to a tiny gain.

Crude prices jumped more than 6%, which will likely mean higher prices soon at gasoline pumps. That would hurt not only U.S. households, whose spending makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, but also businesses with big fuel bills.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.2% at the start of trading, and cruise lines and airlines led the way lower But U.S. stocks quickly erased those losses, in part because past military conflicts haven’t usually created sustained drops for the market, and the index finished the day with a gain of less than 0.1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 73 points or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Both also came back from steep early losses.

Prices for natural gas remained higher, meanwhile, which could raise heating bills for the remainder of the winter, after a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to Europe said it would stop production because of the war Gold climbed 1.2% as investors looked for safer things to own and as U.S. officials tried to persuade the world that this war will not last forever Typically, Treasury yields also fall in the bond market when investors are feeling nervous. But yields instead climbed, in part because higher oil prices will put

upward pressure on inflation, which is already worse than nearly everyone would like. That could tie the Federal Reserve’s hands and keep it from cutting interest rates.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and job market, but they also worsen inflation. Higher rates can do the opposite.

Past military conflicts in the Middle East have not caused long-term drops for markets For this war to knock down U.S. stocks in a significant and sustained way, the price of oil would perhaps need to jump above $100 per barrel, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley led by Michael Wilson.

Oil prices are still well below that level, even with Monday’s jump. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 6.3% to settle at $71.23. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 6.7% to $77.74 per barrel.

That helped the U.S. stock market pare some of its steep opening loss. Morgan Stanley also said the S&P 500 has climbed an average of 2%, 6% and 8% in the one, six and 12 months following “geopolitical risk events” historically That’s going back to the Korean War, which began in 1950, and the 1956 Suez crisis. At this moment, though, fear is still running through markets.

Stocks of airlines were some of Monday’s sharpest losers. Not only do higher oil prices threaten their already big fuel bills, the fighting in the Middle East also closed airports and left travelers stranded.

American Airlines lost 4.2%, United Airlines fell 2.9% and Delta Air Lines

sank 2.2%.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings dropped even more, 10.6%. It needs customers to have plenty of cash to spend after paying for gasoline and other essentials.

The cruise operator also reported weaker revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit was better Its forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year was also lower than analysts expected.

Stocks in the housing industry struggled as higher Treasury yields could translate into more expensive mortgage rates. Homebuilder D.R. Horton lost 3.7%, and Builder FirstSource sank 4.7%.

Helping the U.S. stock market to bounce back from its early losses were oil companies, which benefited from the rising price of crude. Exxon Mobil climbed 1.1%, and Marathon Petroleum rose 5.9%. Companies that make equipment for the military also strengthened. Northrop Grumman climbed 5.9%, and RTX rallied 4.7%.

Palantir Technologies, whose software helps global defense agencies and other customers, jumped 5.8% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500. Big Tech stocks also helped support the market. Nvidia rose 2.9% and was the strongest single force pushing the S&P 500 higher In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.04% from 3.97% late Friday A report showing growth for U.S. manufacturing was better last month than economists expected also helped to lift yields.

“We are somewhat in uncharted territory,” he said.

The Trump administration has been reaching for new tariffs to replace the ones the Supreme Court struck down.

One question, he said, is how the government might actually pay for these refunds.

“Everyone is sort of cognizant of the fact that it’s not like there’s over a hundred billion dollars sitting in, you know, in a room somewhere to just cut checks,” Rao said.

“So, you know, this is a Treasury problem, and it may very well be that the administration is reimposing tariffs for the reasons that it’s cited it’s important for strategic trade agreements and for bargaining power and all of that. But it also might be that they need to raise revenue to pay out refunds.”

Limited flights resume from UAE

BY KELVIN CHAN and ADAM SCHRECK Associated Press

LONDON Several international airlines cautiously resumed a small number of flights from the United Arab Emirates on Monday, providing the first opportunity for travelers stranded by sweeping airspace closures to leave the country after the U.S. and Israel bombarded Iran, and Iran struck back at targets across the Middle East.

The limited flight schedules followed days of near-total shutdowns at some of the world’s busiest aviation hubs. The disruptions have rippled far beyond the conflict zone, stranding tourists, business travelers, migrant workers and religious pilgrims across multiple continents and snarling global travel that relies heavily on Gulf airports. Long-haul carriers Etihad Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, along with budget carrier FlyDubai, said they would operate select flights from the country where air traffic was suspended Saturday and defense systems have intercepted Iranian missiles and drones. Dubai’s government urged passengers to go to airports only if contacted directly, warning that operations remained limited. More than 90% of the scheduled flights from Dubai and more than half of those set to depart Abu Dhabi were still canceled, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

At least 16 Etihad flights left Abu Dhabi to evacuate stranded passengers during a three-hour window Monday, according to tracking service Flightradar24, heading to destinations including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Moscow and London. The airline’s website, however, said all its regularly scheduled commercial flights remained suspended until Wednesday afternoon.

Emirates said customers with earlier bookings would get priority for seats aboard the limited flights it planned to operate starting Monday evening. FlyDubai said it would operate four flights departing the city and another five arriving planes on Monday, adding that schedules could quickly change as the situation evolved.

Leela Rao, a 29-year-old law student at Georgetown University in Washington, made it onto one of Monday’s Etihad flights after landing in Abu Dhabi on Saturday She learned of the airstrikes while waiting to make a connection and spent hours at the airport following news updates, hearing explosions and receiving shelter-in-place alerts before the airline arranged a hotel stay in Dubai.

“I am feeling so, so, so grateful,” Rao said via text message after arriving in Delhi in time for a friend’s wedding. “Everyone clapped when we landed.”

With air travel severely limited throughout the Middle East, travelers found themselves unexpectedly marooned in hotels, airports and on cruise ships in multiple countries besides Iran and Israel once the conflict started Saturday Dubai International Airport, Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport and Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, are key hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and Asia. All three were all directly affected by Iranian strikes over the weekend. Along with people planning to head to or from the region, travelers who were passing through on multileg journeys also found themselves stuck. Air Canada announced Monday it was canceling flights between Canada and Israel and Dubai until March 22.

Airlines elsewhere in the region remained grounded. Qatar Airways said its flights were still suspended, with its next update expected Tuesday. Jordan announced a partial closure of its airspace Monday.

At least 11,000 flights into, out of and within the Middle East have been canceled since Saturday, impacting more than 1 million passengers, according to an analysis by aviation analytics firm Cirium. It said the major airlines operating in the region, including Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and Saudia, along with all of the carriers in the three main airline alliances, fly around 1,500 flights a day to the Middle East, totaling nearly 389,000 seats. Governments urged stranded citizens to shelter in place as they scrambled to organize evacuations and alternative routes.

Minnesota launches probe into DHS officers’ actions

Investigation could lead to charges against federal agents

BY SARAH RAZA and HANNAH FINGERHUT Associated Press

A Minnesota prosecutor announced an investigation Monday that may lead to charges against federal officers, including Border Patrol official Greg Bovino, for misconduct during an immigration enforcement crackdown.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a news conference that her office is already looking into 17 cases, including one where Bovino threw a smoke canister at protesters on Jan 21.

Another on Jan. 7 involved federal officers making an arrest outside a high school and deploying chemical irritants while students and staff were in the area.

“Make no mistake, we are not afraid of the legal fight,

and we are committed to doing this correctly,” Moriarty said “Operation Metro Surge caused immeasurable harm to our community.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, responded in a statement Monday night that such enforcement is a federal responsibility and states cannot prosecute federal officers.

“What these States are trying to do is unlawful, and they know it,” the statement said. “Federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law.”

The statement added that local officials should instead consider how their actions have endangered federal law enforcement officers.

A message to Bovino seeking his response was not immediately returned Bovino, who emerged as a key figure in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations, is known for bringing aggressive tactics to crackdowns in Minneapolis-St. Paul,

Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago, federal officers frequently deployed chemical irritants as crowd control measures in residential neighborhoods, and a judge ordered Bovino to wear a body camera and appear in court daily to answer questions about the crackdown.

That order was overturned before his first mandated appearance. Officers at times took a forceful approach to corralling protesters in Minneapolis-St. Paul and detained numerous people blowing whistles and recording arrests.

Bovino was eventually removed from his leading role in the Minnesota effort after federal officers fatally shot 37-year-old mother Renee Good and 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on different days in January, leading to nationwide demonstrations and criticisms of DHS use-

France to allow temporary deployment of nuclear-armed jets to European allies

BY SYLVIE CORBET and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press

L’ILE LONGUE, France French

President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday that France will increase its nuclear arsenal and, for the first time, allow the temporary deployment of its nuclear-armed aircraft to allied countries, in a new strategy aimed at strengthening Europe’s independence.

In speech planned long before the most recent outbreak of war in Iran, Macron discussed how French nuclear weapons fit into the security of Europe as leaders there express concerns over recurring tensions with President Donald Trump and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

France has been the only nuclear power in the European Union since Britain’s exit from the bloc in 2020

“To be free, one needs to be feared,” Macron said at a military base at L’Ile Longue in northwestern France that hosts the country’s ballistic missile submarines.

Macron said the new posture could “provide for the temporary deployment of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” but said there would be no sharing of decision-making with any other nation regarding the use of the nuclear weapons.

Talks about such deterrence cooperation have started with Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark, Macron said. France also will allow partners to participate in deterrence exercises and allow allies’ non-nuclear forces to participate in France’s nuclear activities, said Macron, who is the commander-inchief of the armed forces under the French constitution.

European partners welcomed the strategy In a joint statement, Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the two countries would deepen integration in deterrence starting this year, “including German conventional participation in French nuclear exercises and joint visits to strategic sites.”

In a letter to Dutch lawmakers, Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius and Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said the Netherlands was in strategic talks with France on nuclear deterrence as “a supplement to, and not a replacement for, NATO’s collective defense and nuclear deterrence capabilities.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that “we are arming up together with our friends so that our enemies will never dare to attack us.”

Macron also announced that France will increase its number of nuclear warheads from the current level of below 300, but did not give a figure for the increase.

It will be the first time France increases its nuclear arsenal since at least 1992.

Israeli settler gunfire kills two Palestinian brothers in West Bank

BY JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press

JERUSALEM Israeli settler

gunfire killed two Palestinian brothers on Monday in the occupied West Bank the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as settler violence has surged in the territory and Israel intensifies its military presence because of the new war across the region. In a statement, the health ministry identified the victims as Mohammad and Faheem Mo’mar Mohammad was shot in the head and Faheem was hit in the pelvis They were killed in their village of Qaryout, in the northern West Bank.

Three others were wounded by gunfire, including a third brother, prominent Israeli rights group B’Tselem said. The group said ambulances couldn’t reach the wounded for over an hour because of checkpoint closures Israel has imposed on the territory since the start of the latest war Israel says the closures are temporary and a security measure. But Palestinians say they choke off movement in the territory, with potentially deadly consequences The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monday’s shootings bring the number of Palestinians killed by settler violence this year to three, and come after Israeli settlers shot and killed 19-year-old Nasrallah

Abu Siyam, a Palestinian American man, on Feb. 19. Palestinian media and B’Tselem posted videos to social media showing a group of around 10 settlers standing adjacent to a Palestinian home in Qaryout One settler can be seen aiming his rifle at the top floor of the home. Another video shows Palestinians rushing as they carry a bleeding man toward medical care.

The wounded were brought to a hospital in the central West Bank city of Nablus, where The Associated Press filmed men grieving over the body of one of the brothers. Villagers helped doctors pull bloodied bodies onto operating tables and cover the dead and injured with blankets.

By The Associated Press

of-force policies.

Moriarty’s office has set up an online portal where photos, videos and eyewitness accounts from any point during Operation Metro Surge can be uploaded.

The Trump administration has defended federal officers, but Moriarty is making clear that her office is “collecting evidence about all sorts of possible crimes,” said Rachel Moran, a professor of criminal law and policing at University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. In cases where officers unjustifiably used chemical weapons, threw people to the ground or smashed car windows, Moran said as examples, prosecutors may be investigating assault or property damage.

“These would be situations where the state has to determine: Is there evidence that agents acted unlawfully and outside the scope of their authorized duties?” Moran said. “I think agents did illegal things here. I watched it.”

Pakistan’s president defends ongoing strikes in Afghanistan

BY MUNIR AHMED and ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN Associated Press

Pakistan’s president on Monday defended his country’s ongoing military strikes in neighboring Afghanistan, saying Islamabad tried all forms of diplomacy before targeting militants operating from Afghan territory and called on the Taliban government in Kabul to disarm groups responsible for attacks in Pakistan.

Pakistan earlier said it is in “open war” with Afghanistan, alarming the international community

The border area remains a stronghold for militant organizations including alQaida and the Islamic State group.

“(The Afghan Taliban) must choose to dismantle the terror groups that survive on conflict and its war economy,” Asif Ali Zardari said during a speech to lawmakers, adding that “no state accepts serial attacks on its soil.”

Afghanistan on Thursday launched attacks in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday Since then, Pakistan has carried out operations along the border, with Information

Minister Attaullah Tarar claiming the killing of 435 Afghan forces and the capture of 31 Afghan positions. Kabul has denied such claims.

In Afghanistan, the deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Pakistan’s military fired mortar shells at a refugee camp in eastern Kunar province, killing three children and injuring three others. Afghanistan’s defense ministry said Afghan forces carried out strikes targeting a Pakistani military facility near Paktia province, causing “substantial losses and heavy casualties.”

Have us take alook!

JanRisher

LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Klanceya helping pawat

DA’s Office

Our daughter’s8-year-old dog still operates at full throttle. His near-constantenergydid not prepare me for Klancey,who was theopposite of hyper Klancey is a2-year-old Labradorand golden retriever mix. He was so still on the floor of the East Baton RougeParish District Attorney’sOffice’sconference roomthat it felt almost unnatural.His eyes moved. Therest of him did not Trained by CanineCompanions, Klancey is a“facility dog,” which is differentfrom aservice dog. Servicedogs are paired withone person. Facility dogs work in onesetting and serve many.

Klancey joined theDistrict Attorney’sOfficeinMay.He’s taking the place of Diesel, the office’spreviousdog,who has gone to work in another courtacross the street with Judge Louise Hines. Amy Files was Diesel’s secondaryhandler.Files, asenior legal specialist, andHannah Minnick, an investigator,are now Klancey’shandlers. Both workwith the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’sOffice and have waited for Klancey tojoin their team for 18 months.

The dogs spend nearly two years in professional training before they are matched. The handlers train, as well.

“They had amatchingceremony where we’re sitting there waiting to find out which one’s goingtobepicked for us,” Minnicksaid. “Wehad an idea becausewe’d worked withthis one themost —and then they bring himout, and it’s like, ‘You guys are with Klancey.’” Klancey knowsabout 40 commands. Files and Minnick had to learn them all. And yes, he has a command for bathroom breaks.

“‘Hurry’isthat command,” Files said. “So we don’tsay that word alot.”

Files said they were looking for adog who had acalm personality, who would let someone love on him and be acalm presence. Minnick handles mostly sex crime cases, manyinvolving juveniles. District Attorney Hillar Moore said Klancey is also used in human traffickingcases. The children with whom Klancey works are often asked to talk about trauma in rooms filled with adults. If acase goesto trial, the child may testify with the defendant —often arelative —seated just feet away

“It’stoughfor an adult being cross-examined, but for akid, it’s brutal,” Moore said. Before achild ever takes the witness stand, there is preparation, often in aspace called the Family Room —aplace where Klancey can shift from stillness to engagement. Minnick toldmeabout arecent meeting withtwo juvenileswho were reluctant to talk

“I would say they were disassociating from what we were talking about,” she said. “And Iwas just like, ‘Do you guys wanna see what Klancey can do?’ He climbed onto the furniture. He offered his paw on command. He gave kisses on command. He spoke on command. The energy of the room changed.

“And immediately,itwas like it switched,” Minnick said. “Now we’re talkingabout Klancey.” If acase reaches trial,the choreographybecomes more

ä See RISHER,

‘Shouldhavenever happened’

Dowworkers left lightindrum, causing2023explosion

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

Alargeexplosion at Dow’scomplexinPlaquemine in mid-2023 was a“catastrophic incident” that “should havenever happened,” set in motion by workers accidentally leavingalight inside alarge chemical drumfollowing repairs, according to afederal safety agency

Theindependent agency,the U.S. ChemicalSafety and Hazard Investigation Board, recom-

mended Dow Chemical Co. and twonational fire safetyorganizations adopt procedures and rules to prevent similarkinds of accidentsfrom happening again.

The panel doesn’thave regulatory authority but investigates serious chemical accidents and suggests waystoavoid them in thefuture.

The explosioninDow’sGlycol II unit on July 14, 2023, in Iberville Parishreleased nearly adecade’s worth of typical emissions of the flammableand potent carcino-

gen ethylene oxide —more than 31,000 pounds —along with 16 other chemicals in 12 hours. The release created atowering fire that took aday and ahalf to bring under control and weeks afterward to clean up.

Hundreds of nearby residents hadtoshelter in place for hours and stay inside with their air conditioners offduring asteamy summer night, while officials closed nearbyhighways.

The fire has triggered scrutiny from regulators, including $31,250

LEAN WITH IT

in fines to settle safety violations from theU.S.Occupational Safety andHealth Administration in October 2024 and aU.S Environmental Protection Agency inspection that identified aseries of safety training and plant design issues. In anew report on the fire, the ChemicalSafety Boardidentified acause —the work light —that otheragenciesand Dowhad reported previously

But the board laid out the series

Three deputies ride throughthe offset course during ajoint training session on FridayinBaton Rougefor lawenforcement officers seeking thecertification required for motorcycle patrol.This class, featuring officers fromagencies in Iberville Parish,West Baton RougeParish, Ascension Parish, Plaquemine, Baton Rougeand LSU, willspend twoweeks training on differentcourses to simulate real worldconditions.

Hospital sued by slain employee’s children

Filing targetsOur Lady of theLake, security contractor, allegedshooter

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

The childrenofanOur Lady of the Lakeemployee whowas allegedly shot by aformer partnerafter working her shift have filed awrongful-deathlawsuit against the hospital, itssecurity consultant andthe suspect himself. In apetitionfor damages filedFeb. 23 in the 19th Judicial District Court, the familyofPatricia Jackson claims thehospitaland itsconsultant failed toprotect Jackson by allowingher estranged partner, Roland Domino,toloiter on thehospital’sEssen Lane grounds before reportedly killing her Domino, 61, had been waiting near Jackson’scar in an employ-

ee parking lotoutside the hospitalonMarch 19, police said at the time.Whenshe arrived, the two argued beforeDomino shot hermultiple times,police said. Jackson was taken back inside the hospital, where she died of herwounds

Policesaidmultiplewitnesses reported seeing aman who matched Domino’sdescription,and Jackson’sco-workers told police she had been receiving threats from aformer partner

The afternoon shooting ledto asearch for Domino after he left thescene, ending whenBaton Rouge officerscapturedhim on the Mississippi Riverbridge that evening as he was carrying ahandgun andthreatening to kill himself. In theirlawsuit,Jackson’s children claim the hospital’s security contractor,InnerParishSecurity Corp., negligently failed in its duties to protect hospital staff by allowing Domino to loiter on hospital premises

Firearms distributor begins work on Highland facility

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Staff writer

Lipsey’s, the Baton Rougebased wholesale firearms distributor,has broken ground on itsnew corporateheadquarters. The 265,000-square-foot headquarters anddistributioncenter will be built on Highland Road, next to Ruffino’s.Plans areto finishthe building by fall2027, said Rob Abruzzino, marketing manager for Lipsey’s. Lipsey’scurrently has about 200 employees. The expansion is expected to lead to additional hiring, Abruzzino said. Lipesy’swas founded in 1953 andoriginally known as S&S Wholesale. Over the years, the company hasgonefrom being a regional distributor of hunting and fishing supplies to one of the country’slargestindependently owned gun wholesalers.

Lipsey’s supplies items such as handguns, rifles, shotguns and opticstogun dealers andretailers such as Academy Sports and Outdoors, Bass ProShops and Cabela’s.

Thenew building will replace Lipsey’scurrent headquarters at Exchequer Drive and Rieger Road

Company officials said the new officespace will providecollaborative work environmentsand room for further expansion.

“Seeing Lipsey’s take thisnext step in Baton Rouge makes me incredibly proud,” said Richard Lipsey,who renamed the businessin1993. “This new home represents progress, stability, anda promise that we will continue serving ourcommunity, customers and employees with integrityand dedication for decades to come.”

Arkel Construction is the general contractor,while Ritter Maher and Powers BrownArchitectsdesignedthe building. Email TimothyBooneat tboone@theadvocate.com.

Dad on a mission created blossoming nonprofit

Goal is to help other fathers with daily struggles

BY IYAHNNA CARTER LSU

“God, why me?” Levar Robinson remembers asking himself after reflecting on some of his hardest moments in life alienated from his kids, juggling shift work and wondering if his struggles had any purpose.

The answers to those questions became the foundation for Fathers on a Mission, a nonprofit organization based in Baton Rouge that Robinson founded to help dads stay connected to their children and break cycles of instability

What started as a few conversations in rented community spaces blossomed into a community effort with fatherhood talks and classes,

reentry programs and policy advocacy

Born and raised in north Baton Rouge, Robinson grew up with a single mother After getting kicked out of Capitol Senior High School, he completed his GED and joined the U.S. Navy Then, after 13 years away from home, he found himself back in Baton Rouge.

He landed a job at Dow Chemical, doing shift work throughout the week. His weekends consisted of being a single dad, taking care of his six children while also mentoring in church and different organizations.

Frustrated by the lack of change in his mentoring work, Robinson decided to act.

“I prayed, and I said to God, ‘What’s going on? People and mentors are getting excited but there’s a root cause problem going on,’” he said. “God told me, ‘Look at yourself: What would help you not make the mistakes you made in your

life?’ I said, ‘That’s easy, if my dad was involved.’”

Baton Rouge has plenty of programs for kids, Robinson said, but almost nothing for fathers. He took his idea for FOAM to many different organizations, but no one was interested.

“Nobody wanted to do it, and I got frustrated,” he said. “I prayed and asked God if he was really speaking to me, because it all made sense biblical or just common sense. Then he said, ‘Yes, but I didn’t give this for you to give to others; I gave it for you.’”

After struggling with the idea of running a nonprofit for some time, Robinson decided to take on this challenge in 2017.

On his days off from Dow, Robinson rented community spaces and started hosting fatherhood conversations.

Those small gatherings grew and made space for other creative events like Doughnuts with

Dads, father-daughter dances and cooking workshops — safe spaces where men could share struggles and learn practical parenting skills. As FOAM expanded its events, the organization grew into a more formal organization with two office locations.

Through Project Family Build a core FOAM program that focuses on case management and resource navigation — Robinson received enough funding to open a main office at 1120 Government St. The other office is on Choctaw Drive.

“So yeah, a lot of stuff I went through prepared me for this,” he said. “I hate to look at it that way, but it’s true.”

Every Tuesday evening, fathers gather for FOAM’s 14-week Responsible Fathers class, where topics range from communication and co-parenting to health and hygiene.

For many of the men who attend, these sessions have become a vital

source of support.

“FOAM really matters to me and other families,” said Ty Harlan, an active member of the group.

Many of the fathers say the sense of community is what keeps them engaged week after week.

“It’s rare to find a space where dads can be honest without being judged,” Harlan added.

FOAM also partners with the LSU School of Social Work and the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication to strengthen outreach and research.

Robinson’s goal is for FOAM to expand across Louisiana and eventually across state lines into Mississippi and Alabama. Scaling the organization means more offices, more classes and more fathers gaining the tools to stay in their children’s lives.

“We can’t keep talking about improving outcomes for kids without mentioning fatherhood,” he said “That conversation has to change.”

Landry: National Guard to stay in N.O. through August

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

The Louisiana National Guard will remain in New Orleans through August via a federally funded deployment aimed at assisting the city with a host of upcoming events, state and local leaders said Monday

The National Guard was expected on Saturday to withdraw the 350 guardsmen who have been in the city since just before New Year’s Eve at Gov Jeff Landry’s request and on the government’s dime.

But the governor has since asked and received approval for around 120 soldiers to remain in the city for six more months, said Landry, who called the deployment a success thus far

“The National Guard complements cities with high crime problems,” the governor said in a statement on Monday “This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana.”

In a statement included in a news release from Landry’s office, Mayor Helena Moreno said that federal law enforcement presence during

DOW

Continued from page 1B

of breakdowns that led to the fire in far greater detail, including that the design of some of Dow’s process equipment and its procedures to ensure pipelines are clear of hazardous chemicals contributed to the “severity of the incident.”

‘Enormous consequences’

The light had been left in what’s known as a reflux drum after turnaround maintenance in May 2023. When the Glycol II Unit was restarted and filled with ethylene oxide, the light broke down and debris eventually flowed into downstream equipment, breaking open a protective disc, according to the safety board.

The broken disc allowed ethylene oxide to enter downstream pressure relief piping containing oxygen, allowing the chemical to ignite. Then, the flame moved farther through more equipment into the reflux drum which exploded, board investigators found “This catastrophic incident should never have happened,” Steve Owens, board chairperson, said in a statement. “The workers did not remove all the work lights from inside the drum, and Dow did not have an effective procedure in place to ensure that they did so. When dealing with a highly hazardous chemical like ethylene oxide, even a seemingly small mistake can have enormous consequences.”

Dow officials said they recognize the board’s role in reviewing chemical incidents and its “goal in preventing a recurrence,” but that they were already at work learning from what happened.

“The agency’s recommendations are consistent with the recommendations that came out of Dow’s internal root cause investigation,” company officials said in a statement. “Dow remains dedicated to learning from this event and preventing incidents such as this from happening again.”

The safety board noted that Dow adopted a new vessel closure process among other measures, so it did not need to make those recommendations. However, the board said it was “urging Dow to ensure that the company strictly adheres to the new requirements.

Mardi Gras “was instrumental in guaranteeing a secure environment through the festivities.”

”Building on the success of these deployments, my Administration seeks to continue and strengthen this partnership to ensure ongoing safety and security for residents and guests of the City of New Orleans during major events,” Moreno said.

The mayor, who has said New Orleans’ crime rate is low due to the work of the New Orleans Police Department, added later Monday that “major events in New Orleans are where we need the Guard most” and that “there are several coming up in the next few weeks.”

French Quarter Festival is scheduled for April 16-19, followed by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds the following two weekends. The deployment is scheduled to continue for months beyond New Orleans’ festival season, extending into hot summer months when foot traffic in the French Quarter dwindles.

The Guard’s presence in New Orleans, one of several cities that has come under President Donald Trump’s crosshairs in recent

It did recommend that Dow improve procedures to make sure closed pipelines remained “inert,” meaning dangerous chemicals aren’t left in a line that is supposed to be shut, and that the inert lines are monitored continuously ‘Clean and verified’

The board identified deficiencies in the system that filled closed lines with nitrogen and made them inert. The company “was unaware that nitrogen had slowly leaked out” of a relief pipe that then filled with outside air, including oxygen.

That relief pipe was one of the pieces of equipment that received flammable ethylene oxide once debris from the left-behind light had damaged other equipment.

“Companies must ensure that equipment is clean and verified before startup, that inerting systems are actively monitored, and that pressure relief systems are designed to prevent flame propagation,” added Mark Wingard, a safety board supervisory investigator

The board also spotted flaws in the design of Dow’s emergency pressure relief system because it routed back to the reflux drum. Flames in the equipment were able to reach the drum because of this structure and “intensify the explosion,” the board said.

The board noted that Dow could have reworked this flawed design in 2010 when the company replaced equipment

OSHA originally proposed fining Dow $46,875 over three serious safety violations stemming from the fire, including a lack of procedures to prevent left-behind equipment, but agreed to reduce the number to two and the severity of one of them after Dow appealed.

EPA’s inspection noted problems with the safety of worker emergency shelter buildings and emergency relief valves, among several other problems. Dow was issued a notice of noncompliance in January 2025 but has not been fined.

The board advised the National Fire Protection Association and the American Society of Safety Professionals to update their startup safety rules following the postrepair cleanup of tanks and other enclosed vessels.

David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@theadvocate.com

months, has largely been embraced by city leadership, including the city’s police force. Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the partnership highlights New Orleans as “the gold standard” for security

Yet in the French Quarter, where the deployment has been highly visible, reviews of the Guard’s presence have been mixed. Some neighborhood residents, workers and advocates have said the armed officers make the neighborhood appear less safe, while others say their presence is a vital deterrent.

News of the extended stay triggered much of the same reactions

Monday

Alex Fein, president of the Bourbon Street business owners group, the French Quarter Business League, praised the extension and said the area has felt safer recently

“They’re a part of that,” said Fein. “We support anything that helps keep everyone safe.”

Mark Vallory owner of NOLA Poboys on Bourbon Street, said the Guard’s continued presence is important.

“They’re not masked, they’re polite, they don’t throw you on the

HOSPITAL

Continued from page 1B

for hours.

They seek damages for mental anguish, loss of life and funerary expenses

RISHER

Continued from page 1B

precise. In court, Klancey is only allowed to work with victims 17 and under

The courtroom is cleared, and Klancey is brought in and waits beneath the witness stand, out of sight.

“The dog is put underneath the witness box that you can’t see,” Moore said. “And the dog remains silent.”

The jury never sees him. The defendant never sees him. The child does. Klancey is right there at the child’s feet.

After testimony ends, the courtroom is cleared again, and Klancey makes his exit.

His presence is invisible to the room — but not to the child.

Klancey comes to work Monday through Friday When he’s not working with victims, he spends time in the office with Files and Minnick. Sometimes he tags along to meetings. They’ve noticed that when someone is struggling, Klancey seems to know

“During the meeting, he will just walk over to that person and sit at their feet,” Files said. Outside of court, both Files and Minnick say he is unmistakably a young dog. They take turns bringing him home at night.

He has his assigned spaces in the District Attorney’s Office, and Minnick has created a new bed for him by a window in her new office because Klancey likes to bask in the sun. Minnick also manages Klancey’s social media. He has a best friend Diesel, his predecessor — who now works across the street. The dogs often run and play together When the vest comes off, he runs. He plays. He is a 2-year-

ground,” said Vallory, contrasting the Guard’s operation with that of federal immigration agencies operating around the country in recent months.

But barista Logan Lindsay, at Perk Coffee on North Rampart Street, said customers have appeared uncomfortable the few times that guardsmen have entered the shop to order a drink there in recent months.

“It’s an intimidating thing, like them just walking in here with their rifles brandished almost full, tactical gear,” said Lindsay, who said that he and other baristas have refused to serve the guardsmen because they are armed.

“It boils down to pure politics,” added Jim Congleton, a regular at Perk. “The only reason that the National Guard is in this city is because Landry is our governor, and Trump is our president, and we’re a Democratic city.”

Trump referred to the deployment in his State of the Union speech last week and in January pointed to it as one reason crime in New Orleans was “down to almost nothing.” Louisiana National Guard officials also took credit in

Domino, originally of Gross Tete, was indicted in December on charges of second-degree murder and possession of a stolen firearm.

Two doctors advised that Domino was not suffering from a major mental illness that would keep him from participating in

February for New Orleans’ low crime rate citing 175 human trafficking arrests police made as the Guard served as a “force multiplier” for local law enforcement.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of Louisiana, said the Louisiana National Guard is “proud to stand alongside our law enforcement partners” and is “committed to those partnerships as we continue supporting efforts to keep the City of New Orleans safe.”

The Guard will “continue to bolster law enforcement efforts during upcoming festivals and events and ensure a daily presence to safeguard the city from crime,” added Lt. Noel Collins, a spokesperson for the Louisiana National Guard, in a statement. It’s unclear how much the Trump administration has shelled out for the deployment: The National Guard did not respond to a public records request for that information by The Times-Picayune in February

Email Sophie Kasakove at sophie.kasakove@theadvocate. com.

a fair trial, and a judge ruled he was fit for trial on May 11.

The status of Domino and Jackson’s relationship at the time of the shooting is not clear but court records show the two share a son and a daughter Domino’s next hearing is set for July 7.

old dog, his handlers say with a smile. When the vest goes on, he becomes something else entirely not an advocate, not a witness, not a distraction, but a steady presence in rooms where steadiness can feel scarce.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

Aydell, Verna

St.JosephCatholicChurch

Obituaries

Brown, Leslie Harrelson

The words of Jesus Christ-"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and Iwill give yourest." —Matthew11:28 (KJV) Leslie Harrelson Brown, age 40, was peacefully called to his heavenly home on February 28, 2026. He was born on April 16, 1985, and was atreasured son, brother, uncle, and blessing to all who knew him. Leslie was aprecious soul whose life was defined by love. He greeted each day with asmilethat could light up aroom anda spirit that was gentle, pure, and kind. Leslie knew nothing but love his entire life, and in return, he gave love freely and without condition. Though he faced challenges that few could understand, he taught everyonearound him what joy, patience, and true love look like. Leslie is precededindeath by his grandparents Leslie and Bessie Brown and Alex Floyd and Minnie Floyd Netterville; brothers in lawNathan Harvey and JoJo White; Special Aunts and caregivers Gloria Runnelsand Yancey Carruth. He was deeply loved by his devoted parents, Buddy and Judy Brown, who cared for him faithfully throughout his life. He is also survived by his loving sisters, Dusty Butler and her husband David, Janice Harvey, and Jerry Kay White. Leslie was aloving uncle to his nephews Cameron Stokes, Peyton Stokes, and Deacon White, and to his nieces Madelyn Ray, Elizabeth Harvey, and Emmaline Harvey, each of whom held a special place in his heart AcelebrationofLeslie's lifewill be held at First Baptist Church of Wilson on Wednesday, March 4, with visitation from 11 am1pmuntil funeral services at 1pmwhere familyand friends willgather to honor alife that, though quiet, spoke loudly through love Pallbearers willbeBobby Brashear, Russell Brown, Philip Accardo, Cameron Stokes, Peyton Stokes, Deacon White, David Butler, and Jonathan Runnels. Honorary Pallbearers will be Julius Brown, Jr., Mark Carruth, Marlon Carruth, Ken Lemoine, Danny Crutchfield, Jaaroed Butler, Brody Butler, and Eli Whitaker. The familywishes to express their deepest gratitude to the many healthcare professionals, caregivers, therapists, and medical staff who lovingly cared for Leslie throughout his life. Your compassion, patience, anddedication meant more than words can ever express and were atrue blessing to Leslie and to our family. Leslie is now resting in the armsof Jesus—free, whole, and filled with joy—where pain and limitation no longer exist. Share sympathies, memories, and condolencesatwww.CharletFun eralHome.com.

He was compassionate and decisive. Jamesexemplifiedthe "American Dream" of rising up in grace, opportunity,bypassing any normal economicconstraints. He worked as asoda jerk making root beerfloats, and even in amortuary to pay his way through medical schoolsupplementing his academic scholarship. Seeing unnecessary deaths at the mortuary job made him want to help people live fuller lives.He met the love of his life, beautiful Edwarda, and stayed faithful to his desiretomarryher while she passed through her fears and finally made herdecision in his favor. He was known as adedicated, consistent, and effective cardiologist.Mostimportantly, he had beenanattentive son, charitable brother, jovialuncle,faithful husband, peacemaking father amongst hisfive children. James was known by staffasone who persistedinkeepingpatients alive. His effective medical innovation made him quite an expertand founder of invasive cardiology in Baton Rouge. He dutifully saved thousands of precious lives.A nickname from nurses, "Little Dr. Jesus" (JC)becausehe wouldpersevere in saving livesevenafter death! He wouldresuscitate patients who had "died" (mostlyby not giving up too easily). He was precededindeath by his loving bride,Edwarda Calvin; son Christopher Dean Calvin;grandson, Nicholas Calvin; parents, Earl and Mary Calvin; and his siblings, MaryLou Guy, Earl E. Calvin, John R. Calvin,and Malcolm Calvin. He is survivedby his children, Lon Edward Calvin,Pamela Marie Calvin Mahoneyand her husband Richard, Douglas Paul Calvinand his wife Kelsey,and Timothy WayneCalvin and his wife Susan; grandchildren, Maria, Donna, Dawn, John, Teresa, Angela,Anne, Joseph, Margaret, Bernadette, Bridget, Natalie, Victoria,Hope, Savannah,Thomas, and Sarah; daughter-in-law, Amy Calvin; and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitationwillbeheld in the Parish Hall at St.Agnes CatholicChurch,749 East Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, on Thursday, March 5, 2026, from 10:00a.m.until the Traditional Latin Mass of Christian Burialin the Church at 12:00p.m. Interment willfollow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory. In lieuofflowers, donations can be made to the American HeartAssociation, Baton Rouge Cardiology Center,orthe Mary Bird Perkins Center.

Houston, Barbara Cornelious

Barbara "GiGi" Houston, 84, was adevoted sister, mother, aunt,grandmother, friend, and avid shopper. Shetransitionedfrom thislifepeacefullyon February 17, 2026. Barbara is survivedbyher two sons, Kevin and Marvin Houston, and predeceased by herhusband, Lawrence, andparents, Dorothy and

JosephCornelious. As aproud 1959 graduateofScotlandvilleHigh School, she represented her beloved school with beauty, pride, and excellence. She furthered her educationat"The"Southern University, where she graduated with distinction in 1963 becoming alifelong member of theesteemed Jaguar Nation. Barbara'slife'scalling was rootedinher work as an educator. As amaster mathematician, Barbara empoweredthousandsof studentsthrough herlove of numbers. Her career spanned morethan40 years. Though she served as aschooladministrator and Teacher of theYearat Tally Jr.HighSchool in Wilmington, Delaware, Barbaraloved that she began and concluded her career as amathteacher at Scotlandville High School.She leaves to mourna host of family and friendsfrom coast to coast—livesforever touched by her warmth, guidance,and theenduring connectionshe so effortlessly cultivated. Barbara dearly lovedand cherished her siblings (sisters Shirley Kize and Thelma McGee;brother Darold Cornelious), her grandchildren,nieces, nephews, friends,and members of her church family,The MissionChurch of Christ of Zachary, Louisiana.

Barbara taught the world to love,walkinfaith and to effortlessly provide unwavering support -a legacy that willcontinue to guide allwho were blessed to know her.

Apublicviewing willbe held on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at HallDavis and Son's Funeral Home from 9:00 -11:00 AM with memorial services immediately following. The Interment will follow at theLouisiana National Cemetery in Zachary, Louisiana.

Kraemer, Brenda Joy Bankston

Reverend BrendaJoy Bankston Kraemer, born on December 15, 1944, passed away on Friday, February 27, 2026, at theage of 81. Reverend Brendawas born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through her education, she achievedearning her Associatesdegree. After graduating,she spent time as aflorist,aswellasbecoming an ordainedminister. Reverend Brendawas amember of the Krewe of Venus for 5years, being their queenfor 3years in Biloxi,Mississippi. Reverend Brendaalways enjoyed Gulf Coast JazzSociety(2nd Line) in Gulfport, Mississippi, and theJazzabelles in Biloxi,Mississippi.Reverend Brendaissurvivedbyher loving husband of 52 years, Norvin JosephKraemer; grandchildren, BrendaAnn Brown, Hannah Joy Lott, and Caleb William Lott; aunt,Ola Kay Delaune;and cousins, Louis and Vivian Redden, Jr MollyDelaune Mindyand Warren Green, Andy and Roxanne Delaune, and Geraldand DebbieCarbo; and sisters-inlaw, Gail Anne Groband Connie Kraemer. She is precededindeathbyher parents, John Hines Bankston and Louise Redden; daughter, Jackie Louise James; son, Percy K. Lott,Jr.;grandchild, Joseph Earl Pedelahore; grandmother, ElvinaHutchinson Smiley; and aunt,Jackie Williams. Relatives and

friends are invited to celebrateReverend Brenda's life on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at Resthaven Funeral Home.Visitation willbegin at 12:30 PM and Funeral Service to beginat2:30 PM. Burial to follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory.Family and friends may sign theonline guestbookorleavea personalnote to thefamily at www.resthavenbatonroug e.com.

McManus III, Robert Emmett

Our brother, Robert, worked for theAlliance House Drop-In Center as a directorand as acomputer consultant.Heonce testified beforethe U.S congress as an advocate forthe mentally ill. He enjoyed playing chess for many years and wasquite successful having won tournaments.

He waspreceded in death by his father, Robert Emmett McManus,Jr. and his mother, Frances StewartMcManus;grandparents:RobertEmmett and Juno GardnerMcManus Sr., John Tyler and Inez Stewart and by severalaunts and uncles.

He is survived by his siblings and their spouses Frances An and Laury Porter, Walter and Anne McManus and Cathy McManus and John Wilkinson and by severalniecesand nephews, spousesand children: Roxane DespainFrampton and Brian Scott Despain, Elizaand Katie McManus (Ezra and Juno) Anson and ElizabethMcManus, DevanWilkinson Reimonenq and Gary Reimonenq,Jr. (Orionand Varick), and Loren Wilkinson and Joshua Key (Rowyn Key).

Deborah Adamswas his good friend and housemate of many years.

AMemorial Service will be held on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rougeat8470Goodwood Blvd,Baton Rouge LA 70806.

In lieu of flowers donationsmay be made to the Alliance House or to the LouisianaMentalHealth Association

SamuelJoseph Medica passed away on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at the ageof91. He was born in Alexandria,Louisianato Charles JosephMedicaand Dora Giordano Medica. Upon graduationfrom Bolton High School, Sam received his degree in Educationfrom LouisianaCollege in Pineville. He began his career as ateacher, then assistant principal prior to taking aposition withthe LouisianaDepartment of Education. He retiredastheir Director of PhysicalManagement in Special Education, after more than 30 years serving theLouisianaSchool Systems. Hisdedicationtothe studentsand facultieswas evident to allwho knew him. Sam is preceded in death by his parents; his brothers Charles Medica

andDonald Medica;and hissister,Mary Rose Graves.Heissurvivedby hislovingwife of 62 years, Miranda Lacombe Medica; theirson Michael Medica andhis wife Lori; their daughterPam Medicaand herhusbandKevin;and his belovedgrandchildren GarrettSlusher, Shannon Slusher,MikaelaMedica andBrandonMedica.Heis also survived by hissister Angela Lahood andher husband George;aswell as numerous other family andfriends

Thefamilywould like to express their sincere gratitude to thedoctors, nurses andstaff with Bridgeway Hospice fortheir compassionate care

Relativesand friends are invited to attendthe Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March5,2026, at St.FrancisXavier Cathedral,626 4th Street in Alexandria, Louisiana. Avisitation will be held in Baton Rouge from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at ResthavenFuneralHome, 11817 Jefferson HighwayinBaton Rouge,and in Alexandria beginningat9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March5,2026, at the church.Interment will follow at Greenwood Memorial ParkinPineville, Louisiana.

Familyand friends may sign theonline guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyatwww.resthav enbatonrouge.com

Gary Dewitt Stafford, age 82, of Louisiana, passed away on January 22, 2026. He wasa graduate of Istrouma High School andservedinthe United States Army.

Gary lived much of his life quietly, sharing his time with familyand always ready to lend ahand or share aunique findfrom hisestate sale outings. Familywas asteady part of hislife, and he will be deeply missed but never forgotten.

He wasprecededin death by hisparents, Carter AllenStafford Sr andWincie Kyzar Stafford; hisbrothers, CarterAllen Stafford Jr.and Alton Lionel Stafford; andhis sister, Fay AnitaStewart.He is survived by hisbrother RonnieStafford.

Agravesideservice will be held at Greenoaks FuneralHome andMemorial ParkonThursday, March5 2026, at 10:00 a.m.

It is with heavy hearts we announce thepassing of Glenda Tate, 79, of Baton Rouge,Louisiana. Glenda passed peacefullyon February, 24, 2026, surroundedbyher family. She wasa dear motherand

grandmother of two. She enjoyed spendingtime with herfriends playing bingo, goingout to eat playing cards andslotmachines,and spendingtime at the beauty shop. An avid LSUTigersfan,you could findher enjoying game day with herCentral CitySteak andSeafood family.

Glendaisprecededin death by herparents John Houston andGeneva Loupe,(former husband) Earl Ray Tate Jr,son John Earl Tate, and sistersGayle Sanders and Bridget Crozier Sheleaves behindher daughter, Leslie Mouton (Keith), Michael Blake Toler,Gracie Tate Huden (Cole), brotherJohnLoupe (Wanda), nieces Melissa Mouton (Chad), CoCo Loupe (Michael), and nephew Blue Loupe (Megan). Shealso leaves behind several great nieces andnephews.

Familyand friends are invited to celebrate thelife of Glenda at Greenoaks FuneralHome on Friday, March6,2026. Visitation will be held from10:00am to 1:00pm. Asmall service will follow.Internment will be held at Greenoaks Memorial Park. Pallbearers will be Michael "Blake" Toler, Daylin Laird, Claude Bergeron,Dave Miller, Mike Adams, Marshall Lippert, Lance Davis. honorarypallbearer Paden Mouton

Thefamilywould like to thankthe staff at Baton Rouge General Medical Center including thenursingstaff in theICU for the care they providedduring herlast moments.

Faye BeverlyBordelon Taylor,borninMelville, Louisiana on August 15, 1935, passed away in Gonzales,LouisianaonSaturday, February 28, 2026, at theage of 90 years. Visitation will be at Ascension Baptist Church,13432 Airline HighwayGonzales, LA, on Wednesday, March4 2026 from 10:00 am untilfuneralservicesat11:00 am. Burial to follow at Lusk Cemetery,Gonzales, LA.

Speeding

projects

butArmyCorps should handle with care

Climbingcosts and delayedcompletion are phrases all too familiar in south Louisiana, especially when it comes to key projects like those that protect us from storms and flooding. This is especially true when it comes to the U.S. Army CorpsofEngineers, the federal agency that builds and oversees avastnetwork of installationswithavariety of functions: protecting residents from floods, making sure rivers and waterways are safe for commerce andoperating majorinfrastructurelike theMorganzaand Bonnet Carré spillways.

So we are encouraged to seehigh-levelCorps leadershipvisit Louisiana and vow to cut through thered tape that often pushes projectedcompletion dates far into the future.Shortening the length of time between conception and completion lowers the risk that any new project will be obsolete as soon as it is built. Italso brings residents relief in the form of protectionand sometimes lowered insurance premiums.

But we acknowledge the importanceofquestionsabout how this reductionintime willbe accomplished. The Corps is not acompletelyautonomousagency.Projects must secureCongressional funding, and the slowpaceofreview and planning is oftennecessarytoensure that other federal laws andregulationsare being properly followed.

In many cases, these are necessary.Major Corps projects alter the landscape in significant ways, and consequently, they have majordownstream effects.

Perhaps the greatest example is the Mississippi River levee system, whichprovides crucial floodprotectiontomuch of southeast Louisiana. But it also funnels land-building sediment out into the deep Gulf of Mexico insteadofintothe marshes,where it canbuild land that then protects populated areas fromstorm surges. This effect has been so pronouncedthatthere are now scores of projects aimed atcountering it through dredging or other means.

Another example is the BonnetCarré Spillway, which provides important river-levelreliefto the city of New Orleans but also causes major algae blooms in Lake Pontchartrain and hasbeen blamed for dolphin and other marine lifedeaths in the Mississippi Sound.

Unfortunately,details on howthe Corps intends to shorten project timelines remain thin. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Assistant Secretary Adam Telle, in Louisiana last week to tout their efforts, provided few details.

Driscoll and Telle visited the site of the West Shore Lake Pontchartrainlevee system, aproject that will provide protection to roughly 60,000 peopleand was originally projectedtocost$760 million, butthat has now balloonedto$3.4 billion. It has been delayed too long, theysaid.

“Our goal is to cut paperwork and get back to building for the Americanpublic,” said Telle That’saworthy goal, and one we support. But doing so properly will require far more than handy slogans and news conferences in LaPlace. It will require meticulous and careful workto devise away to build morequickly,while still accounting forthe potentialeffects uponother areas, residents, commerceand wildlife.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

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

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

public resource

This year marks the100th anniversary of the historic CityPark Golf Course, aTom Bendelow design and one of Baton Rouge’soldest public recreational landscapes. For acentury,this course has offered an accessible, walkable and affordable place for residents to learnthe game, stay active and enjoy arare piece of intact early 20th-century park design. Instead of celebrating that milestone, thecourse now faces an existential threat.

BREC andBRAF are advancing a proposal to “repurpose” the40acres occupied by thecourse into athree-hole, pitch and putt. While presented as an enhancement, the plan would in fact dismantle ahistoric public asset and removeitfrom theNational Register of Historic Places, erasing its recognized cultural and architectural significance. It would displace the28,000 rounds played there in 2025 —usage that reflectsa loyal and diverse community of golfers.

The ripple effect would impact all

If we are serious about improving healthoutcomes and reducing longtermpublic spending, we must begin with housing. Substandard housing conditions are linked to higher rates of chronic disease, respiratory illness, mental health challenges and substance use disorders. Families facinghousing instability are morelikely to delay medical care, struggle with medication adherence and rely heavily on emergency rooms. The connection is not abstract. Housing is not separate from health care.

In Baton Rouge, thenumbers tell a sobering story On any given night, more than 400 people experience homelessness. More than half of renters in East Baton Rouge Parishare cost-burdened, spending 30% or more of their income on housing. When housing instability collides with chronic illness, untreated trauma or behavioral health needs, the outcomes are predictable: repeated emergency room visits, avoidable hospitalizations, involvement with the criminal justice system and sustained strain on taxpayer-funded systems. Evidence from communities across thecountry shows that permanent supportive housing —affordable hous-

BREC courses, particularly nearby Webb Memorial which recorded 56,246 rounds played in 2025. Absorbing City Park’scapacity would place enormous maintenance pressure on that facility.The remainingfour-course BREC lineup would be without aunique 9-hole layout, in thecenter of the city,that provides opportunity forbeginners, high school golf competition and anyone with only time for9holes on any given day.Atatime when communities nationwide are working to preserve historic public spaces andexpand recreational opportunities, Baton Rouge risks moving in the opposite direction. City Parkismore than agolf course. It is acentury-old civic resource that has served generationsoffamilies, seniors, studentsand beginners. The public deserves atransparent, citywide conversation about what is at stake. Not just askewed survey andmeetings that may not be open tothe public.

STAN SPRING director, Friends of City Park Baton Rouge

ing paired with case management and healthservices —reduces hospital utilization, improves treatment adherence and increases long-term stability Addressing root causes upstream costs less than repeatedly managing emergencies downstream.

At STARTCorp.,where we serve vulnerable families and individuals across Louisiana, we see this transformation firsthand. When someone has asafe, stable place to live, treatment becomes realistic.

Healthreform conversations should include housing development, rental assistance and eviction prevention programs. Healthsystemsshould treat housing partnershipsascore communityhealth strategies, not peripheral initiatives. Lawmakers should evaluate budgetswith aclear understanding that housing stability reduces longtermstrain on hospitals, jails and statefunded institutions. The bottom line: Health begins long before anyone enters aclinic. If Louisianaisserious about improving outcomes, lowering costs and building stronger communities, we must treat housing as foundational health infrastructure.

CASEY GUIDRY CEO,StartCorporation

IhopeGov.JeffLandry eats eggs, because alot of them have been cracked on his head. The Kelly/Kiffin egg wasfirst. The eggcracked open on Landry’shead when he orchestratedthe firing of LSU football coach BrianKelly (though he deniesit). Landry said LSU’sathletic director was incompetent to pickthe next coachsince he paid Kelly $100 million for10years. Landry said he or President DonaldTrump was more competent to pickLSU’scoachand proclaimed the coach’s salary must be performance-based, he said! No big salary! No big buyout! A hastily formedcommittee began “the search”tohire Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin became LSU coach for $91 millionover sevenyears, with an 80% buyout. Performance?Whatperformance? Ignore the additional $13 million peryear thatKiffin’sassistant coaches andstaff are paid compared to $9 millionayear to Kelly’sassistants andstaff. This eggisstill dripping offLandry’s chin. ThenGreenland’segg cracked on Landry’shead.Landry said Trump askedhim to be an envoy to brokera deal with Greenland to become U.S. territory (though Greenland made it clear it had no interest). Trump said Landry askedfor the task. Landry said he would use “Cajun cuisine” diplomacytoget Greenland to accept. Greenland said Cajuns had America’sfourth-highest obesity rate,sonothanks. Landry said he was invited to Greenland’sbiggest dogsledrace. The invite was rescinded when the dogs found outand threatened to strike ThenTrump droppedhis interestinGreenland but left Landry scrambling to explain why he didn’tknowit. Governor,avoid Easter eggs. Dem eggs be hard-boiled an’ll hurt yo’head!

CHARLES MOSLEY

Morgan City

Indictmentsshouldmake former EBRmayor nervous

Is Sharon Weston Broome getting nervous? Maybe she should be

The former East Baton Rouge mayorpresident has, for months, been at a safe distance from the corruption scandal roiling city-parish government Butnot anymore. Last week,those troubles landedright in her inner circle. Courtney Scott, oneofthe Broome administration’s top staffers, was indicted alongside acity contractor on araft of corruption counts. Allegedly, Scotttook almost $200,000 from city contractor VeronicaMathis, whose company was paid more than $700,000 as part of the Mayor’sHealthyCityInitiative, asignatureBroomeprogram. Scott faces nine counts, Mathis eight. Per reporting by this newspaper’s Patrick Sloan-Turner,Scottisallegedto have used the money to pay offamortgage and credit cards If what is alleged is what happened, Scott and Mathis wereengagedin some old-fashioned, down-and-dirty corruption. This isn’tincompetence or negligence. This was ascheme to steal from taxpayers.

It’snot hard to see the temptation. Most of the money for theHealthyCity Initiative came from American RescuePlan dollars doled out to cities and parishes as apandemic bailout. East Baton Rouge Parish got more than $100 million. With that much money flowing, it may have seemed unlikely that anyone would do aclose check on what,given thescale of the aid, was arelatively paltry amount. Scott and Mathismay

have thoughtnoone would notice a few hundred thousand for which it was tough to find theproduct Butinvestigators did come snoopingaround, checking receipts andexamining records. An investigation that began with the FBI eventually was handed off to Attorney General Liz Murrill’soffice.

Anditgrew.Scott and Mathis arejust the latest indictments in an expanding roster of those facingcharges. Council member Cleve Dunn,formerCATSadministrator Pearlina Thomas anda handful of contractorshave alsobeen charged. Thomas and one of the contractors have already pleaded not guilty. And of course, all of the accused are presumedinnocent until proven guilty So far, Broome has not been implicated in anyway

Butjust knowing that investigators are sniffingaround in the financial recordsofher top staff should be enough to set somenerves jangling. Even if sheis convinced she has done nothingwrong,it’snot hard to imagine her mind goingback andwondering if she really dotted every i, crossed every tand kept every record down to the penny If she didn’t,the Republican Murrill’s officewouldprobably delight in finding somethingthey could hang on the Democrat Broome.

And with Scott facing charges,Murrill may lean on her to flip and give up others whomay have been playing hide andseek with taxpayer money

But even if Broome escapes this entireepisode with any criminal charges or even hints, it may not matter.Hav-

ing atop aide found guilty of corruption will be enough for many At thevery best, she didn’t see bad actions going on at the highest levels of her administration. Innocent of any criminal acts, she will still be guilty of bad judgment

The Broome administration wasn’taperfect one by any means. There were missteps, especially in thecity police departmentand her intense but ultimately futile fight against the formation of thecity of St. George. Butthere were wins,too: Broome started her first terminearly 2017, monthsafter one of themost tumultuous years in Baton Rouge’shistory,one that featured floods, thekilling of Alton Sterling, protestsand the ambush of police officers by agunman. She kept thecity-parish together as much as possible during thepandemic. In both situations, she earned plauditsfor her steady hand. In other words, she might have been happy to have thedebate about her legacy be about the political decisions she made. ButifScott, Mathis and others are eventually found guilty,that conversation will be about the corruption in her administration.

Every time Murrill’steam emerges from thecourthouse and agrand jury hands up another charging document, thereputation of everyone in governmentduring that period takes another hit That alone should be enough to make Broome jittery

Email Faimon A. Roberts III at froberts@theadvocate.com.

Trumptariffs tossed;Constitutionupheld

So much for the notion that theSupreme Court, withits 6-3 majorityof justices appointedbyRepublican presidents, was going to be arubberstamp for President Donald Trump. That is a frequently voiced chargebypartisan Democrats, and afear of many ambivalentvoters who find manyof Trump’spolicies agreeable but worry about his overreach on policy and personnel. That’sone political meme refuted by the court’sLearning Resources v. Trump decisionlast Friday, announcedafter more than the expected delay for the drafting of concurring opinions. The court struck down Trump’s beloved tariffs, with only one Republican-appointed justice taking the president’sside while the majority consisted of three Republican-appointed and three Democratic-appointed justices. Such aresult should not have surprised those with some appreciation of Supreme Court history. Franklin Roosevelt, after seeing several of his New Deal programs ruled unconstitutional, and after unsuccessfully urging Congress to pack the court with new justices, finally ended up fillingeightof the court’snine seats.

That didn’tstop abench of Democratic appointees from disapprovingof Democratic President Harry Truman’s seizure of the nation’ssteel plants during the Korean War, in acase, Youngstown Sheet &Tube v. Sawyer, cited 15 times by the Learning Resources justices.

Justices newly appointed in times when Supreme Court decisions are subjects of partisandisputes tend to agree on contemporaryissues. But in time, new problems arise, to which they turn out to have differences. And even animosity: Some of the Roosevelt appointees even stopped speakingto each other

One such issue brought forward by Trump’selection and reelection is the tariff. There’sastrong argument that the president’sview that tradedeficits impoverish the country and tariffs enrich it is delusional. Alexander Hamilton backed tariffs not so much to foster infant industries but becausethey were the easiest taxtocollect with the 18th-century technology Learning Resources, as anti-Trump conservative David French wrotein The New York Times, “may proveto be the most important Supreme Court

LETTERS TO THEEDITORARE

case this century,” because it fortifies the“major questions doctrine,” celebrated in Justice Neil Gorsuch’s extraordinary 46-page concurrence.

Themajor questions doctrine is drawn from the constitutional architecture: Article Iauthorizes Congress to pass laws, Article II authorizes the presidenttotake care that they be faithfully executed. It follows that a presidentcan’trummagearound in the statute books, searching for somelanguage —or, as in this case, two words separated by 16 words —that somehow can beinterpreted, though no one has interpreted them that way before, to authorize him to do what he wants to do. On major questions, it must be clear Congress has already done that The Supreme Court, with majorities made up ofRepublican appointees, usedthe major questions doctrine to overturn major Biden administration policies —cancellation of student loans (based on authorization to “waive or modify” them), eviction moratorium (based on preventing“transmission of communicable diseases”) and vaccine mandate(based on “safety and healthy work conditions”).

In a46-page concurring opinion, Gorsuch argues that his three Democraticappointed colleagues are wielding the majorquestions doctrine against the Trump tariffs, though they say they’re not, and they were unwilling to use it against Biden policies. He argues the three dissenting Republican-appointed justices should have agreed that the majorquestions doctrine requires

overturning the tariffs. He argues that Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whovoted to overturn tariffs, should have relied moreexplicitly on the doctrine.

Is this evidence of thekind of discord that divided theRoosevelt-appointed justices so manyyears ago? Maybe, and the justices don’tseem as collegial now as they did before someone —a liberal justice’slaw clerk? —leaked a draft of Justice Samuel Alito’sopinion overturning Roe v. Wade.

Butthe thrust of Gorsuch’sconcurrence is that thejustices are functionally in agreement with the major questions doctrine, even if they’re uncomfortable saying so. Perhaps it was written to undercut arguments by the liberal law professoriate that themajor questionsdoctrine is defunct.

Meanwhile, theTrumpadministration may search the statute books for verbiageitcan usetojustify somelimited tariff authority,just as the Biden administration searched the statute books to find verbiage to justify some limited student loan forgiveness.

Butthe SupremeCourt, regardless of partisan labels, seems ready to use themajor questions doctrine to limit thebillions of dollars that can be raised or spent without some clear authorization in laws passed by Congress. And someday apresident will figure out how to persuade Congress to pass laws authorizing all or some of what she or he wants.

Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

If you’re in an industry ripe fordisruption by artificial intelligence, thinking about what’s coming inspires strong emotions. Like panic. And outrage. If you’re acollege-educated professional, the economy has worked well foryou over the past fewdecades. As with anything that has lasted foralong time, this seemslike the natural order of things —anentitlement, not chronological luck. And to be fair,you didn’tjust luck out by having the kinds of natural aptitudes that were highly remunerative in apostindustrial society Youalso worked hard to develop those aptitudes into something the market would reward. Now, amachine might steal what you earned. This doesn’tjust feel bad. It feels like aviolation.

These are what the gentle-parenting folks call “big feelings.” Such feelings are particularly big among journalists, because our industry is already suffering badly from tech-induced disruption. We’re not in the mood forany moretech revolutions, thank you very much, and given our influence over the discourse, our dour moodstend to leach into the national psyche.

But we’re hardly the only people worried. Anyone whose job primarily involves data analysis, software coding or writing has to ask themselveswhether their job could eventually be automated away,because their bosses are asking that question.

All that raw emotion leftpeople vulnerable last weekend when alittle-knownfirm,Citrini Research, suggested the economy might be headed foranAI-induced free fall. It went viral, and next thing you know,the stock market washaving convulsions even though the scenario madelittle sense.

Iwon’tbelabor the flawsbehind the Citrini claims because Icovered someofthem in a recent column, and if you want Citrini-specific critiques, you can read excellent ones from Paul Krugman, Tyler Cowen or Josh Barro. But Idoubt this will be the last timethat elites’ anxiety about our personal futures makes people believe the economy is headed foradoom loop. As I, and others, have pointed out, this is unlikely —asituation where AI radically boosts productivity is likely to be one where incomes rise, not fall. But of course that doesn’tmean every individual will be better off. It wasgreat formost people when mass-produced textiles madeclothes much cheaper,but it was bad newsfor artisanal spinners and weavers. Mass production of readable prose, attractive images, software code or data analytics will be similarly good forhumanity but agenuine loss formany current producers.

The only difference is that the people who currently face disruption are influential elites whose private worries shape public discourse —and can movemarkets when they get out of hand. Remember that the next timeanominous prophecy circulates —orreally,whenever you read anything about AI,including this column. Itry not to mistake my problemsfor those of humanity,but no one ever succeeds at fully untangling the two.

For example, you may have read about the growing pushback against data centers, driven by AI fears. The protests are real enough, but are they really about stopping AI,oristhis just ageneral backlash against aesthetically uninspiring local development that might increase electricity or water bills? Writer Matt Yglesias suggests it’sthe latter,and Ifind that convincing. Looking at polls, Americans seem wary about AI but not enraged, and those who have used it seem cautiously optimistic. Yetthe AI backlash narrative predominates, perhaps because it’swhat speaks mostdirectly to the fears of journalists and their highly educated readers.

It’s also simply moreinteresting. “NIMBYs don’tlike development” is adog-bites-man story these days, and so is “people wantlow electricity bills.” “Grassroots rebellion against AI overlords,” on the other hand, seemsnew and fascinating. As do science fiction tales about a machine-induced Great Depression, which are waymore compelling to read than someeconomics monograph on the complex mechanics of technology diffusion.

Youshouldn’tdismiss the alarmists entirely —the details can be useful, even if the overall picture isn’tquite right. Just remember that my problemswon’tnecessarily be your problems. And remember,too, how limited our imaginations are in the face of atrue technological revolution: Neither 18th-century artisans nor their industrial rivals could have deduced the five-day workweek, the interstate highway or the rise of masshigher education from the operations of aprimitive textile mill. Whatever is coming, it will almost certainly be weirder and moresurprising than any doom-filled prophecy or utopian fantasy you’ll read today MeganMcArdle is on X. @asymmetricinfo.

Adjusting the throttle

Pelicans rookie Fears continues to evolve as game slows down

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Even when you’re one of the quickest guards in the NBA, sometimes you need things to slow down.

For Pelicans’ rookie point guard Jeremiah Fears, things have started to slow down. It has helped him put up the type of numbers he’s put up on the Pelicans’ current road trip.

Fears is averaging 19.3 points, 4.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds over the past three games.

He’ll try to continue his upward trend Tuesday night when the Pelicans (19-43)

play the Los Angeles Lakers (36-24) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Fears, selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 draft, is coming off arguably the two best games of his rookie year on back-to-back nights. In Saturday’s win over the Utah Jazz, he recorded the second double-double of his career, finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. The 11 rebounds were a career-high.

The 6-foot-3 Fears followed that up Sunday by scoring a career-high 28 points in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“It’s just my pace,” said Fears, a for-

guard Mikaylah Williams drives around Tennessee guard Deniya Prawl in the fourth quarter on Thursday at the Pete Maravich Assembly

REED DARCEY

Hoosiers keep making history

BY MICHAEL MAROT AP sportswriter

INDIANAPOLIS The national champion Indiana Hoosiers just keep making history Less than two months after winning their first national championship and becoming the first major college football team to go 16-0 since the 1890s, the Hoosiers made themselves right at home during the NFL’s annual scouting combine.

Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, likely to be the No. 1 overall pick in April, led a school-record nineplayer contingent an hour north of campus, a far larger group than usually heads to Indy

“It’s amazing, because a couple years ago, I don’t think we had anybody come here,” said safety Louis Moore, who started his career with the Hoosiers and returned last fall after spending the 2024 season at Ole Miss. “So, the fact that we’ve got nine here, it’s something special.”

mer Oklahoma star “Two months ago I was just trying to use my speed (So I had to) learn when to use speed and when to attack and get downhill and take angles and attack spots and know where you’re trying to get on the floor

And that includes getting to the 3-point line and knocking down shots. Against the Clippers on Sunday, he shot 10 of 15 from the floor and went 5 for 6 on 3-pointers. The five 3-pointers were the most he’s made as an NBA player.

Fears is the only Pelicans’ player to play in all 62 games. He came off the

How

BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Coach Matt McMahon’s fourth season leading LSU hasn’t gone as well as the program and fans had hoped. LSU (15-14, 3-13 SEC) is tied for last in the Southeastern Conference ahead of its second-to-last game of the season against Auburn (15-14, 6-10) at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Neville Arena in Alabama. After returning two players and losing seven to the transfer portal, LSU’s new group is in the same place it was last year Like last season, McMahon’s team has three conference wins and little to no chance of accomplishing its goal: earning an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since the 2021-22 season. A factor in the team’s descent after a 12-1 start in nonconference play was the season-ending injuries to a pair of significant players. Dedan Thomas, the team’s leader in points and assists, reaggravated a left foot injury and had to have surgery after playing three games in SEC play Jalen Reed, LSU’s longest tenured player as a redshirt junior, had a season-ending left Achilles injury in the sixth

of

Two years ago, linebacker Aaron Casey was Indiana’s lone representative Last year, it was only quarterback Kurtis Rourke and defensive lineman CJ West And even though the Hoosiers still fell behind Ohio State (15), Texas and Georgia (14), Oregon (12), Ole Miss and South Carolina (11) and national runner-up Miami (10), it’s clear the Hoosiers are a program on the march with yet another strong incoming transfer class and 2025 Big Ten offensive lineman of the year Carter Smith returning to school.

In April, they could break another school record — for players selected in a draft. Indiana had seven chosen in 1976 and six chosen in 1944. And receiver Elijah Sarratt said he believes Indiana’s season has prepared them well for what comes next.

“That was my first time playing (16) games in the season, so I kind of played an NFL season,” he said. “But going against those powerhouses that you

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LSU’s Chio piles up No. 1 rankings

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

Check out the top of the women’s college gymnastics rankings and you’ll probably find Kailin Chio’s name there.

The LSU gymnast is ranked No 1 in three of five major categories: She’s the nation’s top-ranked all-arounder, having taken over that spot this week from UCLA’s Jordan Chiles, and remains No. 1 on vault and balance beam Chio is also tied for seventh on floor and tied for 22nd on uneven bars.

As a team, the Tigers (10-2-1, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) are still ranked No 2 nationally behind SEC rival Oklahoma but closed the gap on the Sooners this week. A week ago, LSU trailed Oklahoma 197.938-197.735, but Monday OU’s lead was 197.943197.836 over the Tigers.

LSU remains No. 1 as a team on floor, No. 2 on vault and bars and is No. 3 on beam.

All the numbers support LSU coach Jay Clark’s argument that the Tigers are more than just their star sophomore.

“We all love the success Chio is having,” Clark said Monday “We love her as a person. We love having her on our team. But she is part of our team, not a one-man band.”

This past weekend was a banner one for Chio and the Tigers.

On Friday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, LSU held off No. 3 Alabama 197.975-197.600 in an SEC dual meet. Sunday in the Podium Challenge at the Raising Cane’s River Center LSU widened

are National Qualifying Scores

The average is determined by taking a gymnast’s or team’s season scores, throwing out the high and low marks and averaging the rest. Eventually, this will include a team or athlete’s lowest five home scores if there are six or more and all their road scores.

Before this season, NQS was calculated by taking six scores, including at least three road meets, dropping the highest score and averaging the remaining five.

Clark said he wants all scores counted but favors this new formula because it includes more of the season.

“It’s closer to what I’ve advocated for,” Clark said. “Before we were counting about 50%, so it’s better It puts more emphasis on away scores.”

LSU travels to face No. 4 Florida at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Tigers’ final SEC regular-season road meet. The meet will be televised on the SEC Network.

Ex-Saints CB Lattimore to be cut by Commanders

Just 16 months after being traded, former New Orleans Saints star cornerback Marshon Lattimore has been told he will be cut by the Washington Commanders, according to a Monday report.

“Commanders have informed former Pro-Bowl CB Marshon Lattimore that they intend to release him before the new league year begins,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported, “a move that will save the team $18.5 million in salary cap space, per sources.”

The Saints traded Lattimore and a fifth-round draft pick to Washington before the trade deadline during the 2024 season.

Lattimore finished last season with 16 solo tackles, one interception and seven pass deflections in nine games. He tore his ACL in November against the Seahawks.

Lions trade RB to Texans for lineman, draft picks

The Detroit Lions traded running back David Montgomery to the Houston Texans for offensive lineman Juice Scruggs along with fourth- and seventh-round picks, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Detroit dealt a veteran running back who wanted more carries for much-needed depth on the offensive line and extra selections in next month’s NFL draft.

Montgomery 28, finished with career lows in rushing attempts (158) and yards rushing (716). He still scored eight touchdowns and his 4.5 yards per carry trailed only his career-best 4.6 yards per attempt in 2023 when he had 1,015 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground during his debut season in Detroit.

Texans send OT to Browns for fifth-round draft pick

the gap with a 198.200-197.650 win over the Crimson Tide, the Tigers’ highest road score of 2026. No. 18 North Carolina was third at 195.950, while No. 30 Arizona was at 195.000. Chio won or shared first place in four events Friday, including the all-around (39.800) and beam, where she posted a perfect 10. Sunday she didn’t compete as a four-event all-arounder for the first time this season, skipping floor but still recorded another

10.0 beam score. It was the fourth perfect 10 in the past three meets for Chio, who now has an NCAA-best six 10s this season. It was also the third straight time she had had a 10 beam, believed to be the first LSU gymnast since Jennifer Wood in 1995 on vault to have a 10 on one event in three straight meets.

LSU’s Konnor McClain is tied for ninth on bars, while Kaliya Lincoln is also tied for 10th on floor

What is NQS?

The season averages being used in the second half of the season

Celebrations

The Tigers have been getting more and more elaborate in their post-event celebrations lately Senior Ashley Cowan was a prime example Sunday, pretending to dole out imaginary dollar bills after scoring a 9.925 on bars.

“The last couple of meets we talked about having more fun out there,” Chio said. “They’re enjoying themselves. Seeing Ashley after bars, she’s so not like that To see her do that is amazing.” Clark half-threatened to clamp down on the celebrations, but was smiling when he did so.

No. 3 Michigan needing guards to fill gap

Big Ten champ loses point guard to injury

BY LARRY LAGE Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 3 Michigan

lost the best backup point guard in college basketball, according to coach Dusty May when L.J. Cason tore a knee ligament as the team clinched an outright Big Ten title with a win at No. 10 Illinois.

The Wolverines will certainly miss the smooth-shooting sophomore, who averaged 8.4 points and more than one 3-pointer per game, but May said the injury will give guards an opportunity to play larger roles.

Starting point guard Elliot Cadeau plays about 25 minutes a game a number that may increase if he can avoid foul trouble.

“This will force Elliot to be much more solid with his defense and decision-making,” May said.

“He doesn’t have that insurance anymore.

in the

“L.J. came in and carried the load several games.”

Cason was injured on Friday in a 14-point win over the Fighting

Illini, and the team announced the next day he needed season-ending surgery He scored in double digits five times in February, includ-

ing a career-high 18 points against Northwestern, and had at least seven points in every game last month.

Freshman Trey McKenney, sixth-year player Nimari Burnett and senior Roddy Gayle each average about 20 minutes a game — and all of them will have a chance to be on the court more without Cason.

“We look at this as another challenge that’s also an opportunity for guys to play a little bit more, to play longer periods, play through a mistake, play a little bit different role,” May said. “We do feel like these guys are a lot better than they were earlier in this year and so we’re prepared to handle whatever.”

The Wolverines will close the regular season at Iowa on Thursday night and at home against rival Michigan State on Sunday They will play in the Big Ten tournament next week in Chicago, hoping to win it and perhaps secure a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

No. 1 Duke nabs ACC title with win at NC State

Star freshman Boozer scores 26 points as Blue Devils shoot 55.2%

BY AARON BEARD Associated Press

on Monday night, securing the outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

The Blue Devils (28-2, 16-1) clinched the No. 1 seed for next week’s ACC Tournament with a weekend rout of No. 13 Virginia. Duke followed that by overwhelming the Wolfpack, both by hitting from outside against N.C. State’s zone and then getting into the paint area that has become a trademark strength. Boozer finished 8 for 10 from the field and 9 for 11 from the foul line while grabbing nine rebounds — along with accumulating multiple long, thick scratches wrapping around his right shoulder amid physical second-half play

Dame Sarr added 14 of his 16 points before halftime for Duke, which made 11 of 28 3-pointers.

The Blue Devils ran off a 9-0 burst to push to a double-digit lead late in the first half, followed by getting opposite corner 3s — Sarr from the right side, then Nik Khamenia from the left — for a 47-30 halftime lead.

Duke made its last five shots before halftime, then hit its first five out of the break to eliminate any lingering doubt, including a 3-pointer from Isaiah Evans that made it 56-32 at the 17:32 mark. Darrion Williams had 17 points for the Wolfpack (19-11, 10-7),

who continued a late-season slide in coach Will Wade’s debut season. N.C. State shot 35.4% and made 7 of 29 3s en route to a fifth loss in six games, a run that includes a 41-point defeat at thenNo. 24 Louisville and last week’s 29-point loss at Virginia Up next

Duke: The Blue Devils can avenge their lone league loss when they host 17th-ranked North Carolina in Saturday’s regular-season finale between the longtime rivals.

N.C. State: Stanford visits the Wolfpack on Saturday to close the regular season.

The Cleveland Browns have agreed to acquire offensive tackle Tytus Howard from the Houston Texans for a fifth-round pick, a person familiar with the move told The Associated Press on Monday

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the teams have not announced the deal, which can not become official until the start of the NFL’s new league year on March 11.

Howard, who will be going into his eighth season, is also expected to get a three-year extension worth $63 million.

He was a first-round pick by Houston in 2019 and has 93 regular-season starts. Howard is expected to take over at right tackle, but has also played at left tackle and right guard.

U.S. captain reveals she played with a torn MCL

NEW YORK U.S. women’s hockey gold medal-winning captain Hilary Knight revealed Monday in a television appearance that she played in Milan with a torn medial collateral ligament in one of her knees. Knight, playing at what she said was her final Olympics at 36, tied the final against Canada with just over two minutes left in regulation.

Knight and U.S. men’s gold medal-winning players Jack and Quinn Hughes were set to appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Monday night That is coming 48 hours since their memorable cameo alongside women’s golden goal scorer Megan Keller on “Saturday Night Live.”

Duke extends poll record; UConn unanimous No. 1

Duke is No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for the second straight week, extending its all-time record with the program’s 149th appearance in the top spot. The Blue Devils (28-2) received 55 of 59 first-place votes in Monday’s poll. No 2 Arizona received four firstplace votes after clinching a share of the Big 12 regular-season title. Michigan, UConn and Florida rounded out the top five. In the AP women’s Top 25 poll. UConn is still the unanimous No. 1 choice and heads into the postseason undefeated. The Huskies (31-0) received all 31 first-place votes in Monday’s poll from a national media panel. The top nine were unchanged with UCLA, South Carolina and Texas following the Huskies. Vanderbilt and LSU were next followed by Oklahoma, Michigan and Iowa.

ASSOCIATED PRESS ROSS D FRANKLIN

Giants ace Webb will start in WBC opener against Brazil

BY DAVID BRANDT AP baseball writer

PHOENIX — San Francisco Giants

ace Logan Webb will start on the mound for Team USA in its first World Baseball Classic game Friday night against Brazil, manager Mark DeRosa said Monday DeRosa added that two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal is expected to start Saturday against Britain, followed by NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes versus Mexico on

Monday New York Mets right-hander No-

lan McLean is tentatively scheduled to start on Tuesday in the final pool-play game against Italy even though he’s dealing with an illness and wasn’t with the U.S. team for Monday’s practice.

“It’s set up,” DeRosa said.

“There are obviously guardrails for the tournament to begin with, pitch-count wise, but there’s also guardrails for guys having to throw on certain days to get ready for their team’s

opening day.”

The U.S. will play two exhibtion games in Arizona on Tuesday and Wednesday before traveling to Houston for the WBC opener against Brazil. Skenes will start Tuesday’s game against the Giants. DeRosa said Matthew Boyd, Gabe Speier, David Bednar, Griffin Jax and Mason Miller will also take the mound. Skubal is expected to make just one start for the U.S. before rejoining the Detroit Tigers for the remainder of spring training.

A’s, Giants have the best robot-ump challenge rates in the first 10 days

The Associated Press

NEW YORK The Athletics had the highest success rate using the robot-umpire system to overturn ball/strike calls during the first 10 days of spring training, winning 69.2% of challenges as teams prepared for its regular-season debut March 25. San Francisco was second at 66.7%, followed by Cincinnati, Miami and San Diego at 61.9% each, Major League Baseball said Monday The World Series champion Dodgers had the lowest rate, winning 21.4% of appeals to the Automated Ball-Strike System. Baltimore was at 25%, the New York Mets at 35.3% and Texas at 38.1%.

It’s an OPS world in MLB with batting average in background

BY JAY COHEN AP baseball writer

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Batting average

was a priority for Andrew Benintendi when he first broke into the major leagues in 2016. He batted .312 in the minors on the way to his debut.

Going into his fourth season with the Chicago White Sox and 11th overall, he is more focused on his OPS and power numbers.

“The game kind of changes where the money is, I guess,” Benintendi said. “So players obviously will chase that.”

The significance of batting average has been in decline for years, replaced by on-base percentage and slugging percentage, along with the OPS metric that combines the two. Batting average treats all hits as the same, while OPS accounts for power and other methods of reaching base.

But the diminished importance of what was once one of the majors’ marquee statistics was thrown into sharp relief by the free agency of Luis Arraez over the winter Arraez, a three-time batting champion who turns 29 in April, hit a career-low .292 with eight homers and 61 RBIs in 154 games for San Diego last season. The infielder also led the NL in hits for the second straight year But he doesn’t hit for power or walk very much, and he has defensive limitations.

So, even with his .317 career batting average tops among active qualified players — Arraez was on the market until right before spring training, when he agreed to a $12 million, one-year deal with San Francisco. Arraez said he had some multiyear offers, but the Giants gave him an opportunity to play second base.

“I don’t care who (is throwing). I don’t care if he’s a Cy Young (Award winner),” he said. “I have a bat, and I want to go up there and compete.”

The MLB-wide batting average has remained fairly steady since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. It was .248 in 2023 marking a successful debut for a package of rule changes that included a pitch clock, bigger bases and limits on infield shifts .243 in 2024 and .245 last year, according to Sportradar

While New York Yankees star Aaron Judge won the 2025 AL batting title with a .331 average, just seven qualified big leaguers hit .300 or better, matching the previous year for the fewest since a record-low six in 1968. Philadelphia’s Trea Turner won the NL batting title with a recordlow .304 average.

“We look at more of the advanced metrics and the expected outcomes based on the quality of the at-bat, the process metrics, but you can start with batting average and say this guy’s do-

ing something well,” said Chris Young, the president of baseball operations for the Texas Rangers.

“It’s a preliminary indicator, but we dig pretty deep in terms of understanding the profile of a player and what we can expect and predict.”

Batting average is “not something that we look at at the beginning of an evaluation,” said Jed Hoyer, the president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs.

“I think there’s a lot of things that are much more important,” Hoyer said, “but I do think that a guy like a Nico Hoerner or Luis Arraez, I do think in a world that values a strikeout, in a world that has so much incredible stuff, I think that the players that can truly put the ball in play at an elite level, I do think there’s something to that.” Hoerner hit .297 for the Cubs last year helping the team reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He batted a team-high .371 with runners in scoring position.

The 28-year-old Hoerner, who is going into the last year of his contract, said he thinks players still take some pride in their batting average.

“I think it’s telling that if you ask the player what he hit last year, he still understands that that’s batting average right?” Hoerner said. “They don’t say like, oh, I hit .840 OPS. I hit .270 or whatever it is.

“Players are aware of what’s valued and what gets them on the field and yeah, I don’t think batting average is particularly high on that list. But I do think it is a reflection of quality of contact that guys make.”

It has changed the way players like Benintendi approach their game. From 2016-23, he hit 276 and averaged 14.1 homers per 162 games. In two years since, he is batting .234 and averaging 25.8 homers per 162 games.

“I think it’s more slug, OPS is what outweighs batting average now,” Benintendi said, “because say you hit .250 but you have 50 homers, would you rather have that or a guy who hits .315 with 10 homers? So I mean it’s kind of give and take depending on the player.”

The future of batting average also belongs to the game’s youngest players, and it still holds some allure to them as well.

Cincinnati infielder Sal Stewart, one of the preseason favorites for NL Rookie of the Year, hit .309 over two minor league stops last year before making his Reds debut in September Stewart said batting average didn’t come up very often during his development process, but it means something to him.

“I mean I’m not like, ‘Oh average is the king,’ you know, but I look into it,” he said. “But I really like on-base the most.”

MLB’s overall success rate was 51.3%, with an average of 2.3 challenges per game. The New York Yankees averaged the most challenges at 3.8 per game, winning 52.6% Minnesota was second at 3.6 (winning 58.3%), followed by Boston at 3.2 (55.2%) and Colorado (55.6%) and San Francisco at 3.0. Baltimore averaged the fewest challenges at 1.2. The Dodgers were at 1.4 and Detroit was at 1.5 (46.7%).

LSU MEN

Continued from page 1C

Corey Chest, Ole Miss: Chest, a New Orleans native, is averaging 2.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 14 minutes. The Rebels, who are 12-17 and 4-12 in the SEC, gave the redshirt sophomore his fourth start of the season in the Tigers’ 106-99 double overtime win on Feb. 25. The 6-8 forward played 26 games for LSU last year and averaged 6.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 20.1 minutes per game.

MLB experimented with ABS during spring training last year and teams won 52.2% of their ball/ strike challenges (617 of 1,182) MLB began testing in the minor leagues in 2019. Each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game. A team re-

Daimion Collins, South Florida: The 6-9 forward was LSU’s starting center for 22 games last year after Reed’s season-ending knee injury Collins averaged 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. This year, he’s made one start for USF (21-8, 13-3 American) and has appeared in 28 games. The redshirt senior is putting up 4.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 14.8 minutes for the top team in the conference. The Bulls are 48th in the NET Rankings, the NCAA’s measurement tool to evaluate teams.

Curtis Givens, Memphis: The sophomore point guard has started 14 of 22 games and is playing 25.1

tains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season. A team out of challenges for a game tied after nine innings would get one additional challenge in each extra inning.

minutes for his hometown team. Givens leads Memphis (12-7, 7-9 American) in 3-point shooting at 37.7% while scoring 9.4 points in 25.1 minutes. He is also shooting 43.6% from the field and dishing 2.2 assists. With LSU last season, he averaged 4.8 points on 26.9% shooting overall and 1.6 assists in 18.2 minutes. Vyctorius Miller, Oklahoma State: Miller was LSU’s top freshman scorer last year with 8.9 points on 44.7% field-goal shooting and 31.8% from the 3-point line in 19 minutes. The 6-5 sophomore guard for Oklahoma State is the team’s third-leading scorer with 11.9 points, start-

ing 24 of 27 games. Miller is shooting 43.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc and getting 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He’s also the only transfer from LSU to have a 30-point game this season. Tyrell Ward, VCU: Ward stepped away from LSU last season for mental health reasons and never played. The 6-6 junior wing is now a contributor on the secondbest team in the Atlantic 10. Ward, in 24 games all off the bench, is averaging 6.3 points, shooting 49% shooting overall and 32% from the 3-point line, and grabbing 2.1 rebounds in 13.3 minutes. He has

scored 15 points in three games for VCU (22-7, 13-3 A-10), which is 47th in the NET Mike Williams, Seton Hall: Williams played 24 games and made no starts for LSU last year, averaging 4.0 points on 31.3% shooting overall and 1.4 rebounds in 11.2 minutes. The 6-3 junior guard has started 27 of 29 games for the Pirates and is scoring 7.0 points on 37.3% shooting overall and 35% from the 3-point line. Williams, in 20.1 minutes, is also getting 2.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 steals. Seton Hall (19-9, 9-9 Big East) is fourth in its conference and 56th in the NET

Combinebuzzcenteredon players whocould be on move

BY ROBMAADDI AP pro football writer

While college players take center stage at the NFL scouting combine, teams are busy preparing their next moves along withevaluating potential draft picks.

Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is the consensus choice for the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 1overall and it’suncertain whether another quarterback will be selected in the first round. But there wasplenty of speculation about QBs changing teams during ajam-packed weekinIndianapolis.

Kirk Cousins already wasinformed by the Atlanta Falcons that he’ll be released when the new league year opens on March 11. The Miami Dolphins may part with TuaTagovailoa and could have to absorb a$99.2 million cap hit in dead money that couldbe spread across two seasons witha post-June 1release.

Kyler Murray could be looking for anew teamafter seven seasons in Arizona. The Cardinalsowe him $36.8 million in fully guaranteed salary this year.Another $19.5 million would be guaranteed in 2027 if he’sonthe rosteronthe third day of the league year

Three-time Pro Bowlwideout

A.J. Brown is acandidatefor a

LSU WOMEN

Continued from page1C Sunday in awin at Mississippi State.

“I used severallineups,” Mulkey said. “I went small, and that’s alot of the reason why Mikaylahnever came out.”

Yes, you heard her right. Williams played all 40 minutes of the No. 6Tigers’ regular-season finale,finishing with 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, acareer-high 15 rebounds, four assists and asteal. LSU fell into acouple scoring ruts in the win,and the Bossier City native pulled them outofboth.

Williams posted only one double-double across her first 71 careergames. Nowshe hasthree double-doubles in eachofthe threecontests she’splayed since Mulkey left her on the bench for the last 20 minutes of the Tigers’ win over the Rebels on Feb. 19.

HOOSIERS

Continued from page1C

go against in the playoffs, startingwith Ohio State in the Big Tenchampionship and then going from Alabama, Oregon, toMiami. Every weekendinthe NFL, you’re playing agreatteam, ateam that wants to win.”

Making astatement

There’slittle doubt KC Concepcion of Texas A&M is one of the draft’smost skilled receivers. But he also wants to serve as an example for others with speech impediments.OnMonday, Concepcion used his social mediaaccounttoaddress his interviews thisweekinIndianapolis, explaining he’shad astutter since he can remember talking.

trade, even though thePhiladelphia Eagleswon aSuperBowl withhim andwould prefer to keep him.

The Raiders are willingtolisten to offers for five-time ProBowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby,though general manager John Spytek said they wanthim back.

MikeEvans,asix-time ProBowl wideout with theTampa BayBuccaneers, plans to test free agency and there’sapossibilityhemay get an offer hecan’t refuse.

QB class

Mendoza, who ledIndiana to its first national championship, didn’t work out at the combine. He spoke to reporters and made the interviewrounds.

The next quarterback selected after Mendoza may have to waita while. Alabama’sTySimpson had an impressiveday at thecombine. He’s aone-year starter whoneeds more experience buthis potential makes himapotential first-round pick.

LSU’s GarrettNussmeierand Miami’sCarson Beck raisedtheir stock at the combine. Arkansas’ Taylen Green showed off hisathleticism andran a4.36 40-yard dash.

Clemson’sCade Klubnik and PennState’sDrew Allar had strong throwing performances.

March is here, and Williams has beguntoplaythe best basketball of her season —and possibly her career

“I justthink she’splaying harder in practice,” Mulkey said. “I thinkshe’s playingharderinthe games.Sometimeswhenyou get older,you becomea junior anda senior,it’snot that you coast, you try to pace yourself, and Idon’t want her to pace herself. Ithink if you go hard every possession, it becomes apart of who you are.”

Whysit Williams for half of the OleMissgame? Mulkeydeclined to offer insight into the move afterLSU throttledMissouri on Feb 22, saying instead that “it doesn’t matter why Idid it.”

But it sure does look like it worked.

In the 16 minutesshe played against theRebels,Williams missed fiveshots,turned theball over four times and failed to grab asingle rebound. She was holding onto theball andsettlingfor contested looks. LSU’shalfcourt of-

“Thisisa part of me.Thisis who Iam. Icannot control this,” he wroteinpart. “I want to be a role model for those who may be scared to speak up who may be afraid and not confident in yourself. Istandwithyou. This weekendhas taught me alot about myself and people out hereinthe world. Iappreciateeveryone who supports me and has reachedout to me afterthese interviews.”

Rising n EliStowers. The quarterbackturned-tight end put hisathleticism on full display in Indy with a 451/2-inch vertical jump that wasn’t just thebest of the weekend but thebest on the NFL’s official alltime chart. He also matched wide receiver TedHurst with thebest broad jumpofthe week,11feet, 3 inches. n TheStyles brothers.Sonny,

23XI team delivering perfectstart to season

BY JIM VERTUNO AP sportswriter

AUSTIN, Texas Michael Jordan calls Denny Hamlin the “mastermind” behind their 23XINASCAR racing team. Hamlincalls their co-ownership a“perfect partnership.” The team has been nothing shy of perfect behind driver Tyler Reddick so farearly in 2026. Reddick became thefirstdriver in Cup Series history to win thefirst three races of the season Sunday.Hestartedthe first road course race of the year from pole position, then held off hardcharging Shane vanGisbergen for the victory at theCircuitof theAmericas When Reddick’sToyotazoomed across the finish line, Jordan was celebrating with the pit crew as the basketballHallofFamer and six-timeNBA champion exchanged high-fives and hugs. Reddick has been seeing alot of postrace smiles from Jordan —after he won theDaytona500 and thenagain in Atlanta.Reddick said Jordan reminded him last week that he “doesthings in threes,” referring to Jordan’s NBAchampionships clusters with the Chicago Bulls.

“I was really glad to live up to that standard,” Reddick said.

through NASCAR history

Jordan and Hamlin took on NASCAR with afederal antitrust lawsuit. The settlement in December was considered amajor legal victory that secured a permanent franchise-style model andensuredthe team would remain in business forthe longterm

Jordan gives Hamlin the credit forbuildingthe race-winning team on the track, specifically noting Hamlin’spursuit of Reddick as adriver

“He’sthe mastermind,” Jordan said. “I just putupthe money Denny’sdone an incredible job building this team.”

Hamlin gave thecompliment right back.

“It’saperfect partnership,” Hamlin said. “This doesn’twork out if he doesn’tgive me alot of autonomy.”

Hamlin, who also drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, said he wantedto be as hands-onaspossible when building the team

“I wanted to make sure if it failed it wasbecause of something Idid,” Hamlin said. “This team had three employees working at. We hadzero. We didn’tbuy ateam, we just built it.”

BringinginReddickhas proven almost priceless.

Edge rushers

It’s adeep group with several first-round candidates.This is a premiumposition for NFL teams, who place high value on guys who can pressure quarterbacks. The past two SuperBowlssaw dominant defensive performances, only increasingthe need for elitetalent along the front four TexasTech’sDavid Bailey,Ohio State’sArvell Reeseand Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr.shouldbetop-10 picks. Auburn’sKeldric Faulk, Texas A&M’sCashius Howell and Miami’sAkheem Mesidorare among theguys who can be picked in the first round.

Wide receivers

There’salot of depthataposition where teams are alwayslooking for playmakers. OhioState’s Carnell Tate leads the pack andshouldgointhe top 10. USC’sMakai Lemon,Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, Indiana’sOmarCooper Jr., Washington’sDenzel Boston and Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion are among the first-round talent. Notre Dame’sMalachi Fields, Tennessee, Chris Brazzell II and Georgia’sZachariah Branchwill draw plentyofattention. This receiver class is so deep there could be undrafted players who make an impact.

fense, as aresult, started to stall. Now things are running abit more smoothly for the Tigers. They hung 108 pointsonMissouri, then followed that outburst with an 89-pointshowing in awin over Tennessee. LSU may have turned theballover20times against Mississippi State, butitalsoshot 46%from thefieldand drained fiveofthe 14 shots it took from beyond the arc. In those three games, Williams averaged 19.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and2.3 steals while shooting 50% from the field.

Mississippi State coach SamPurcellcalledWilliams a “smooth operator” last season when she dropped 22 points on his Bulldogs in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.OnSunday, he offered thatsame description notlongafter he called hera “special player.”

“Whatseparates her,” Purcell said, “is herhigh release and her elite handles.”

the linebacker,wasn’t farbehind Stowerswitha431/2-inchvertical, an 11-2 broad jump anda time of 4.46 seconds in the40-yarddash after measuring in at 6-5, 244 pounds. Lorenzo, the safety,had a 4.27-second 40, the best at his position and the second best all week.

n Mike Washington. Though formerNotre Dame stars Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price did nothing to hurt the likelihoodthey’ll be the first two running backs selected in April, Washington made his case for being thethird with thetop 40 time amongthe backs, 4.33 seconds. n D’Angelo Ponds.The top cover cornerback for national champion Indiana has grown accustomed to hearing doubters questioning his size, 5-9, 182 pounds.But his speed andexplosivenesshaveallowed him to win battles against someofthe nation’stop receiv-

Jordan’shaving so much fun, he now wants to go forfour

“I’m going to Phoenix,” Jordan said, noting the nextrace on the calendar And why not?The team is having alot of fun on its march

The 30-year-old driver raced to his first win with 23XIatCOTAin 2023. He was second at Daytona in 2025, but aseason that started with such promise ended winless. Nowheseems unbeatable.

“Whata dream start for those guys,” Hamlin said.

Williams has always been able to score. What’sdifferent now about hergameisher defense and her rebounding. She’scorralled 32 rebounds in just herpast three games. That’salmost half as many as she pulled down in the 16 SEC matchups LSU played last season (65).

Williams hasnow also tallied more steals in 30 games this year (40) than she did in 37 last year Mulkey won’thesitate to slide the 6-foot Williams down into the post, in part because she’sproven she can be an effective glass cleaner.OnSunday, she spent 13 minutes at the 4, and the Tigers outscored Mississippi State 27-18 across thosestretches.

“She’sgot the strength to battle in there for rebounds against biggerplayers,” Mulkey said, “so I’m not surprised.I mean,asI said earlier in the year,Mikaylahhas takenher game to awhole another level.” Now it’stime to see if Williams can keep playing as well as she is

ers. He showed scouts whyhe’sso good with a431/2-inch vertical jump at the combine. He’ll run the 40 at his pro day on April 1.

Falling

n Nick Singleton. It’s unusual foracombine invitee to arrive with akneescooter and awalking boot,but that was the case for the former PennState running back after breaking abone in his right foot during Senior Bowlweek. It’s unclearifhe’ll be healthyenough to participate at Penn State’spro day,though Singleton still hopes to schedule afull workout before thedraft n Carnell Tate.The formerOhio Statestar is expectedtobeone of the first receivers taken April 23. But scouts certainly didn’texpect him to produce an official timeof 4.53 seconds in the 40-yard dash. While there were reports some

nowonceLSU begins its postseasonrun.

When the Tigers play their first SEC Tournament matchup on Friday, they’ll still have an outside shot at landing aNo. 1seed in the NCAA Tournament.Theywill, though, likely have to win the whole thing to moveback into contention forone of thosecoveted spotsinthe bracket, which means they’ll have to knock offSouth Carolina, Texas and Vanderbilt

It’s difficult.But notimpossible,especially because Williams bounced backfromher abbreviatedoutingagainst Ole Miss and figured out how to playsome of thebestbasketball of hercareer in LSU’sthreesubsequent games. “I think it was just me realizing that Ihad to come on,” Williams said, “because Mississippi State was playing really good basketball, andIhad to getstartedand be that spark so the rest of the team could come on.”

teams clocked Tate in the4.45 to 4.47-secondrange,atleastTate will have asecond chance to make afirst impression. n LeeHunter. The massive defensive tackle from Texas Tech entered combine week projected to be one of the top choices at his position. His workout left some doubt.After running thesecondworst 40 among all defensive linemen (5.18 seconds), he posted the shortest vertical jump (211/2 inches)and tied for theworst broad jump (8-4) amongdefensive linemen n Diego Pavia. Nobody can question the productivity or toughness of theHeismanTrophy runnerup. The bigger concern for the 24-year-old former Vanderbilt quarterbackissize.Hemeasured in at 5-10, 207 pounds, aframethat could make teams think twice before selecting him.

THE VARSITY ZONE

East Feliciana girls fall in semifinal

BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

The result didn’t go East Felici-

ana’s way in its semifinal against Midland but Tigers coach Tyrese Chambers still saw positives in the game.

“A lot of people said we wouldn’t make it this far,” Chambers said about the school’s first semifinals appearance. “Just to be here and enjoy this experience is in itself.”

The Rebels took a double-digit lead after a close first quarter and never looked back. Midland led for nearly the entire game.

Midland (26-7) defeated East Feliciana 73-43 Monday night at the University Center in Hammond to move on to the girls Division IV nonselect title game. Chambers thought his squad didn’t play its best game He pointed to his team’s inability to execute.

“I think we did not execute, and some of it, it may be on me for not making sure my players had the full understanding of what I was asking them to do,” he said.

Size played a factor after Midland outrebounded East Feliciana 49 to 26, which also led to 20 second-chance points.

“They’ve got some big bodies that we don’t have,” Chambers said “I don’t think we did a good job of boxing out. It was just the second-chance effort. I think fa-

tigue factor may have set in.”

Midland held an 18-15 lead after the first quarter The Tigers shot 5-of-8 from the field and made five free throws to keep it close.

East Feliciana guard Kariah Dunn had seven points in the first quarter

The Tigers entered a four-minute scoring drought during the second quarter The Rebels capitalized with a 7-0 run during the defensive stand to take a ninepoint lead.

Small forward Jakaylin Jarrell ended the offensive dry spell with a free throw Guard Joshayla Selders got a put-back layup to go to cut the deficit to six points.

Midland forward Tora Savoy pushed the advantage back to eight points after the Rebels got several offensive rebounds, and she drove to the cup for a layup.

Her basket sparked an 8-0 run to end the first half Midland led 3319 at the break.

The Rebels led the Tigers 21 to 12 in rebounds in the first half.

Midland tallied 20 points in the paint and nine second-chance points in the first half.

Camri Primeaux opened the third with a triple to stretch the Rebels’ lead to 17 points.

The lead reached 26 points late in the third as the Rebels continued to attack the basket and find points at the charity stripe.

East Feliciana (16-11) shot just

1-of-9 from the field to close the third. Midland took advantage, making five shots in a row to take a 56-29 lead after three.

The Tigers shot just 3-of-18 combined in the second and

third quarters after a hot start from the floor in the first. Midland shot 14-of-29 from the field over that period, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Rebels finished the game

with four players scoring in double figures. Molli Thibodeaux and Primeaux each scored 21 points in the win.

Dunn finished with 18 points to lead the Tigers.

Girls tennis

Dunham 5, Ascension Catholic 0

Singles

1. Bella Dupont (Dunham) def Grace Truxillo (ACHS) 6-2,6-1 2. Campbell Banks (Dunham) def Ava Boudreaux (ACHS) 6-3,6-4

Doubles 1. Ivanna Bonkachi/Elizabeth Ortiz(Dunham) def Halle Gomez/Celia Gordon (ACHS) 6-4,6-3 2. Kate Adams/Bailey Adams(Dunham) def Lillian Simoneaux/Peyton Crochet (ACHS) 6-0,6-0 3. Tori Turner/Bella Temple (Dunham) def Olivia Diaz/Dixie Leader (ACHS) 6-1,6-3 Boys tennis

Dunham 5, Ascension Catholic 0

Thursday Teamresults: 1. Zachary 104, 2. Prairieville 109, 3. Dutchtown 111, 4. Baton Rouge High 114 Individuals: 1. Ella Nugent (Zachary) 43, T2. Londyn Sanchez (Baton Rouge High) 54, T2. Micah Cline (Prairieville) 54, T4. Alexandria Trepagnier (Dutchtown) 55, T4, Kaylynn Coursey-Badeaux (Dutchtown) 55, T4. Charleigh Gauthreaux (Prairieville) 55.

Singles 1. Jackson Simpson(Dunham) def Clerance Savoie (ACHS) 6-4,7-6 (2) 2. Parker Allee (Dunham) def William Graves (ACHS) 3-6,6-4,11-9 3. Hayden Cowen (Dunham) def Collin Crochet (ACHS)

Doubles 1. Chris Oliver/Lucian Pham (Dunham) def Colt St. Germain/Christopher Grovois(ACHS) 6-0,6-0 2. Bennett Lasseigne/Adam Neishwat (Dunham) def Austin St. Germain/Cameron Breaux (ACHS) 6-1,6-0

Southern men, women set for Alabama road games

BY CHARLES SALZER

Contributing writer

As the Southwestern Athletic Conference enters its final week of regular-season play, the Southern men’s and women’s teams are both looking to improve their position for the league’s postseason tournament. The Southern women (1611, 12-4) are currently third in the SWAC standings, three games behind leader Alabama A&M. The Jaguars are just one game behind Alcorn State, but a pair of road wins this week would give them a shot at second. A top-two finish would also give Southern a chance for a day off between the quarterfinals and semifinals in a revamped SWAC tournament that begins next week. The top four teams start play in the quarterfinals, but the top two would have an extra day off if they advance to the semifinals.

For now, Southern’s task is to win a pair of men’s and women’s doubleheaders in three days. The SU men are at Alabama State on Tuesday and Alabama A&M on

FEARS

Continued from page 1C

JOHNSON

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL

Southern women’s coach Carlos Funchess yells for his players to get back on defense during a game against Prairie View on Jan. 1 at the F.G. Clark Activity Center

Wednesday The women play at 6 p.m Tuesday and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, with the men’s games following about 30 minutes after each of those. For now, Southern’s task is to win a pair of men’s and women’s doubleheaders in

three days. The Jaguars are at Alabama State on Tuesday, where the women tip off at 5:30 p.m. On Wednesday, the women get things started at 6 p.m. The men’s game will follow about 30 minutes after the completion of the women’s games.

All four games will be webcast on SWAC TV

“Everybody is jockeying for positioning as far as seeding goes,” Southern women’s coach Carlos Funchess said. “Alcorn has the tiebreaker on us, so we want to at least get that

three seed.” In ASU and A&M, the Southern women face two teams that won games in Baton Rouge last month by a combined six points Southern has won five straight since those two losses.

“We had some opportunities in those games, but we had breakdowns on both ends of the court that really cost us. We need to keep improving and not beat ourselves,” Funchess said.

Southern’s men (13-16, 9-7) are one of five teams that have seven SWAC losses. Depending on how the week’s schedule plays out, the Jaguars could finish anywhere from second to sixth in the final standings.

The Jaguars are coming off of a pair of home losses 82-71 to Florida A&M and 82-79 to Bethune-Cookman.

Southern was short-handed in both games with guard Joe Manning and post player Malek Abdelgowad sidelined by injuries. Also unavailable was forward Damariee Jones, whose father died last week.

Abdelgowad did not make the trip to Alabama, but

Jones is expected back while Manning may be available for limited action. Jones is the team’s second-leading rebounder while Manning saw playing in every game before injuring his foot in practice.

Southern’s closing week begins with Alabama State, a team it edged 69-68 in Baton Rouge, when Fazl Oshode sank a long 3-pointer with nine seconds left.

“We beat them by one, and they’re coming off a huge win,” Southern men’s coach Kevin Johnson said. “They just beat Alabama A&M by one so I can imagine emotions will be running a little high.” Southern has a chance at a top-two placing, but the likely scenario will be a finish that would have them opening the tournament with a quarterfinal game on Thursday They would need to win three games on consecutive days to win the tournament championship and earn the league’s automatic NCAA bid.

“We’re just trying to get healthy going into the tournament,” Johnson said.

bench in the first two games of the season, then started 44 straight games before interim coach James Borrego decided to bring him off the bench again. He’s played that bench role for the past 16 games

“Just being able to adjust on the

fly,” Fears said about the key to coming off the bench. “Getting out there and getting a feel for the game early Seeing my first shot go in and seeing my teammates continue to uplift me.”

It took some adjusting, but he’s been playing some of his ball ever since.

“I think he’s been really good recently,” Borrego said. “The two Utah games and then (Sunday against the Clippers.) Big shots, big plays. I love to see his growth. He’s headed in the right direction.” What has led to the improvement? “It’s the decision making,” Borrego said. “As the point guard, you’re going to make multiple decisions throughout a game. It’s the No. 1 thing you have to do. Taking care of the ball. Understanding time, score, situation and management of the game, but still utiliz-

ing your aggression and still making plays off that aggression.” Fears said he has learned from veterans Dejounte Murray and Jordan Poole. They have given him pointers on life in the NBA both on and off the court. He admits there is room for improvement. He committed five turnovers Sunday It was the fifth time this season he’s had that many turnovers in a game. He had six in a game against the Washington Wizards. “The last couple games, I’ve been turning it over too much,” Fears said. “I’ll watch some extra film and take care of the ball.” Fears has just 20 games remaining in his rookie season. His goals for the rest of the way are simple. “Just continue to play your game,”

Iran’s World Cup status in U.S. in doubt

BY GRAHAM DUNBAR

AP sports writer

GENEVA Iran’s place at the men’s World Cup in three months was put in doubt Monday amid an escalating Middle East conflict sparked by the soccer tournament’s co-host the United States.

Iran is due to play its three group stage games in the U.S. two in Inglewood, California, then in Seattle — from June 15-26 Cities in Canada and Mexico also will host some of the 104 games.

The U.S. and Israel have targeted Iran in coordinated attacks since Saturday that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens more senior officials.

It provoked an Iranian response that aimed missiles at U.S. allies including 2022 World Cup host Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which FIFA has picked to stage the 2034 edition.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” said Iran’s top soccer official Mehdi Taj, a vice president of the Asian Football Confederation.

It is unclear if the state-backed Iranian soccer federation could refuse to send its team to the 48-nation tournament that starts June 11, or the U.S. government could effectively block the team.

FIFA has declined comment since Saturday, when secretary general Mattias Grafström said it would “monitor developments around all issues around the world.”

The White House’s top official overseeing World Cup preparations, Andrew Guiliani, seemed unconcerned Saturday in a social media post.

“We’ll deal with soccer games tomorrow,” Guiliani wrote about Iran, “tonight, we celebrate their opportunity for freedom.”

Here is a look at the issues in play:

Asian soccer power

Iran has one of the best national teams in Asia and has qualified for six of the past eight World Cups It is No. 20 in the FIFA world rankings of 211 teams, and has not been lower than No. 24 since the last World Cup in Qatar Iran was among the secondseeded teams in the World Cup draw held in Washington, D.C. in December, minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump was presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.

Though Taj and other Iranian soccer officials were denied visas

to enter the U.S., the draw outcome was favorable for Iran, especially in the expanded format where most third-place teams advance to the knockout rounds.

Iran starts against low-ranked New Zealand, then plays one of the weaker top-seeded nations, Belgium, and finishes against Egypt.

Iran is likely to be supported in stadiums by its diaspora in the U.S., though residents of the Middle East nation are subject to a ban on entering the country

Trump’s government has promised exemptions from its travels bans for athletes and coaches arriving for major sports events like the World Cup.

Politics around Iran inside World Cup stadiums is nothing new. Protests over domestic issues were

aired by Iran fans at the last World Cup.

The FIFA rules

FIFA’s World Cup regulations envisage a team withdrawing, or being excluded, from the tournament though the legal language is vague.

In that scenario, according to Article 6.7, “FIFA shall decide on the matter at its sole discretion and take whatever action is deemed necessary.”

“FIFA may decide to replace the Participating Member Association in question with another association,” the rules say That legal framing seems to give FIFA president Gianni Infantino wide powers to shape any decision relating to Iran.

Just 18 months ago, the decision announced by Infantino to add Lionel Messi’s team Inter Miami to the 2025 Club World Cup lineup appeared to have no basis in formal tournament rules.

Consequences of withdrawing

Should Iran pull out of the World Cup — still hugely speculative — its soccer federation would forfeit at least $10.5 million.

FIFA pays $9 million in prize money to each of the 16 federations whose teams fail to advance from the group stage, and all 48 qualified teams get $1.5 million “to cover preparation costs.”

The Iranian federation also would face disciplinary fines from FIFA — at least 250,000 Swiss francs ($321,000) for withdrawing up to 30 days before the tournament, and at least 500,000 Swiss francs ($642,000) if the decision is in the last month before kickoff.

Iran would risk being excluded by FIFA from qualifying for the next World Cup in 2030 as well.

SCOREBOARD

Sunday’s games Tulane 11, Eastern Kentucky 3 UNO 12, Stephen F. Austin 6 Northwestern State 5, Southeastern 4 UL 4, California-San Diego 3 Morehead State 8, Southern 7 LSU 3, Dartmouth 0 Nicholls 3, McNeese 2

Monday’s games Northeastern 13, LSU 10 Tuesday’s games McNeese at Southern, 6 p.m. Southeastern at ULM, 6 p.m. Tulane at Nicholls, 6 p.m. Jackson State at UNO, 6:30 p.m.

College basketball

Men’s

3-7 3-6 4-8 0 2 9 Matkovic 14:14 0-2 4-4 2-5 3 2 4 Hawkins 4:16 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Peavy 4:16 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 24040-8925-3014-41 22 21 117 Percentages: FG .449, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 12-33, .364 (Fears 5-6, Murphy III 4-10, Bey 2-5, Murray 1-3 Hawkins 0-1, McGowens 0-1, Peavy 0-1, Queen 0-1, Matkovic 0-2, Jones 0-3). Team Rebounds: 13. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 4 (Fears 2, Missi, Queen)

Turnovers: 16 (Fears 5, Murphy III 3, Queen 3 Murray 2, Jordan, McGowens, Missi) Steals: 6 (Murphy III 2, Queen 2, Missi, Murray). Technical Fouls: None. FG FT Reb LAC Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS Collins 24:35 5-14 4-4 4-7 1 3 15 Leonard 29:21 8-18 6-7 0-3 5 1 23 Lopez 25:40 6-9 0-0 0-7 3 4 16 Dunn 21:55 4-5 0-0 1-3 4 0 9 Jones Jr. 28:13 6-9 2-2 1-2 0 2 17 Miller 32:13 5-6 8-11 1-2 8 2 19 Mathurin 25:00 4-13 1-2 3-5 1 1 9 Batum 20:21 3-5 0-0 0-3 4 1 9 Niederhsr 19:54 2-3 3-3 0-6 0 5 7 Christie 4:16 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2 Jackson 4:16 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 2 Sanders 4:16 3-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 9 Totals 240:0048-8924-2910-38 29 22 137 Percentages: FG .539, FT .828. 3-Point Goals: 17-36, .472 (Lopez 4-6, Jones Jr. 3-4, Sanders 3-4, Batum 3-5, Miller 1-1, Dunn 1-2, Collins 1-4, Leonard 1-7, Mathurin 0-3). Team Rebounds: 8. Team Turnovers: 1. Blocked Shots: 3 (Jackson, Mathurin, Niederhauser). Turnovers: 8 (Collins 2, Leonard 2, Christie, Dunn, Lopez, Mathurin). Steals: 11 (Dunn 3, Miller 3, Collins 2, Christie, Leonard, Lopez). Technical Fouls: None. New Orleans 32 38 24 23 — 117 L.A. Clippers 43 33 31 30 137 A_17,003 (18,000). T_2:20. College softball

State scores, schedule Sunday’s games Sam Houston 3, Southeastern 2 Nicholls 8, Memphis 7 Oklahoma 9, Southeastern 1 Texas A&M 5, UL 1 Monday’s games

None scheduled. Tuesday’s games Southern at Dillard (DH), 1 p.m. Nicholls at South Alabama, 5 p.m.

College baseball

State scores, schedule

Next in line

Iran was a fast World Cup qualifier last March, earning one of eight guaranteed places allocated to the Asian Football Confederation. Should Iran pull out, the likely replacement from Asia should be Iraq or the United Arab Emirates. Iraq and the UAE were effectively the ninth and 10th-ranked Asian teams through the various qualifying groups and advanced to a two-leg playoff last November.

Iraq won 3-2 on aggregate — eliminating the UAE to advance to the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico and, on March 31, it is scheduled to play an elimination game against Bolivia or Suriname with a World Cup place at stake.

One possible element of uncertainty is the language of the World Cup tournament rules.

FIFA wrote that it can decide to replace a withdrawn team “with another association,” though without specifying the replacement must come from the same continental confederation.

Precedent of a late replacement

Denmark famously won the 1992 European Championship after getting a late invitation from UEFA, European soccer’s ruling body

Yugoslavia won a qualifying group ahead of the Danes but was removed by UEFA less than two weeks before the tournament because of a United Nations sanctions resolution during the widening Balkans conflict.

Teams have previously refused to travel to a World Cup, though not in the modern era.

Just 13 teams instead of 16 took part in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, with India and Scotland among teams declining a place.

69.471. 8, Shane Lowry, 69.570. 9, Chris Gotterup, 69.651. 10, Si Woo Kim, 69.715. Driving Distance 1, Michael Brennan, 329.4. 2, Gary Woodland, 327.7. 3, Aldrich Potgieter, 325.8. 4, Rasmus Hojgaard, 322.9. 5, Chris Gotterup, 322. 6, Jesper Svensson, 321.8. 7, Min Woo Lee, 319.9. 8, Jake Knapp, 319.4. 9, Isaiah Salinda, 319.2. 10, Nicolai Hojgaard, 318.8. Driving Accuracy Percentage 1, Lucas Glover, 77.38%. 2, Joel Dahmen, 77.04%. 3, Chan Kim, 74.49%. 4, Andrew Putnam, 72.32%. 5, Si Woo Kim, 72.02%. 6, Corey Conners, 70.92%. 7, Matt Fitzpatrick, 70.54%. 8, Kensei Hirata, 70.17%. 9, David Lipsky, 70.00%. 10, Collin Morikawa, 68.37%. Greens in Regulation Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. Total Driving 1, Min Woo Lee, 25. 2, Blades Brown, 29. 3, David Ford, 50. 4, Adam Scott, 58. 5, Jimmy Stanger, 65. 6, Michael Thorbjornsen, 70. 7, William Mouw, 74. 8, Jordan Smith, 77. 9, Collin Morikawa, 80. 10, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, 83. SG-Putting 1, Jacob Bridgeman, 1.276. 2, Zach Johnson, 1.232. 3, Kris Ventura, 1.181. 4, Jake Knapp, 1.095. 5, Davis Riley, 1.021. 6, Matthieu Pavon, 1.005. 7, Sam Ryder, .992. 8, Vince Whaley, .977. 9, Seamus Power, .972. 10, Robert MacIntyre, .934. Birdie Average 1, Scottie Scheffler, 5.88. 2, Jacob Bridgeman, 5.5. 3, David Lipsky, 5.4. 4, Rory McIlroy 5.38. 5, Tommy Fleetwood, 5.25. 6, Ricky Castillo, 5.19. 7 (tie), Pierceson Coody and Will Zalatoris, 5.17. 9, 2 tied with 5.08. Eagles (Holes per) 1, Keegan

Don’t throw shade

Be wary as freeze damage canmimic diseasesymptoms in palm species

GARDEN NEWS

For along time in Louisiana, the biggest risk that came with growing palms was incurring freeze damage in the winter In the past decade, however, two diseases have emerged as new threats to thesebeautiful tropical plants. The diseases —lethal bronzing and lethalyellowing —are closely related and affect several palm species. They’ve been reported in parishes acrosssouthern Louisiana, with infectionsconcentrated in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas.

“Both those diseases are terminal,” said LSU AgCenter plant doctor Raj Singh. “But they don’tproduce unique symptoms so that you can easily separate them from abiotic disorders like freeze injury.” Lethal bronzing and lethal yellowing cause palms’fronds to turn brown. This is where things get confusing: It’sperfectly normal for palms to exhibit similar symptoms following freezing temperatures and as older fronds die off.

“A lot of palms have been sacrificed because ahomeowner or landscaper thoughtthey had adisease that was actually freeze damage,” Singh said. Wondering whether your palm has adisease —orifit was simply affected by recent freezes? There are afew telltalesigns of lethal bronzing and lethal yellowing:

n Speed: Palms infectedwith these diseases turn brown and die quickly.There is no transition period from green to yellow to brown, Singh said; instead, fronds become brown almost immediately Palms succumb to the infection within three to five monthsof the onset of symptoms. Cold injury,bycontrast, often appears in stagesbeginning seven to 10 daysafter afreeze.

n Lower canopy separation: Infected palms’ lower fronds turn brown, droop and separate from the upper canopy “The top of the palm willlook like amushroom,” Singh said. “In the case of afreeze, the entire palm canopy exposed to cold temperature turns tan to brown.”

n Dead spear leaf: The young, unopened frond at the top of apalm is known as the spear leaf. “If you see the

GROWING MINDS

Howmuchspace does asalad

Southern University’s

TBY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

he mini hydroponicsfarm in Southern University’s cafeteria is small but mighty.About 10 paces away,itfeeds the salad bar that’sfrequented by students, staff and visitors.

Hydroponics, amethod of growingplantswithout soil, is what the SouthernUniversity Ag Center usestogrow fresh produce in tiny spaces while teaching new generations about nutrition, plant cycles and space utilization.

Stephanie Elwood, ahorticulture specialist at Southern University, oversees the mini farm along with graduate studentGerrick Breaux to grow microgreens, parsley,basil, kale and lettuce.

“Theyharvestthe microgreens or the lettuce, andthey put it 10 feet away right here intothe salad bar,” Elwood said. “You can’tget any fresher than that.” Farm to plate

As Breaux pursues his doctorate in toxicology at the university, he visitsthe cafeteria as many as three to four times aweek to har-

Local restaurateur TamNguyen points to atall poster of aVietnamese woman inside of his newrestaurant, Nammìi Asian Kitchen, setto open in March.

vest and feed the plants. He’s been at it for two years. He cuts the herbs and hands them directly to thechef, who uses them wherever needed.Hegives the lettuce and kale to an employee in the kitchen who washes it and places it on the salad bar

Each tray contains about 100 plants, meaning the machine has been hometoabout 2,000 plants across 20 seasons since being in

thecafeteria,Elwood said. The machineusesanapp that connectsto Elwood and Breaux’sphones, making the process easy to track.

“Ittells you when to clean, when to plant, when to harvest,” Elwood said. “It tells you when the pH is off. It tellsyou when thenutrients are off. It’s very user-friendly.”

ForBreaux, caring forthe mini

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

Make thebed simply,quickly

Dear Heloise: Regarding the widower who doesn’tlike walking around the bed to center the top sheet, here’s asimple solution that saves time and steps: Get apermanent marker in acolor that is similar to your bedding. Make two small guide marks —one at the top edge (which is covered when the sheet folds) and another halfway down the side. Use these marks to quicklyline up the sheet,avoiding trips around thebed. If you live alone, acouple of small inch-long marks on the mattress edge shouldn’t bother anyone. They’ll be hidden once the bed is made, and it makes the process much smoother.Hope this hint helps! Ihave found so many useful ideas in your column and am happy to share one in return.

S.,inDeshler,Ohio

By The Associated Press

Hints from Heloise

tier holdsadifferent category,makingeveryitem visibleand easy to grab. Each tier also holds separate parts: beaters anddoughhooksin one, pressure-cooker accessories in another,and processor blades and discs in the third. With everythingvisible and easy to grab, there’s no more rummaging for theright attachment!

This simple change keeps my countertops clutter-free and makes cooking andbakingmuch more convenient. It’sagreat example of how repurposing an item that you alreadyown can save bothspaceand frustration

—Carole Rowland, in California

Lemonboard refresh

—Karen

Kitchenstorage solution

Dear Heloise: Yourecently asked for ideas on repurposing everydayhousehold items, and I’d like to share one that has made my kitchen much more organized:I repurposedathree-tiered, hanging vegetable strainer to organize attachments for my Instant Pot, stand mixer and food processor.Each

Dear Heloise: After chopping onions or mincinggarlic, a stubborn smell can cling to your wooden cutting board long after you’ve washed it. Trycleaning thecutting board with warm, soapy water.Then sprinklecoarse salt on it andrub it with half afresh lemon,squeezing gently.The saltlifts residue and lightstains, while the lemon neutralizes odors.

Fortougher smells, let the mixture sit for 5minutes before rinsing and drying. This deodorizes and

refreshes thewood without harsh chemicals. Once the board is completely dry,use aclean cloth to rub asmall amount of food-grade mineral oil onto the wood. This step helps prevent cracking and keeps theboard looking its best.

Sometimes the simplest solutions work beautifully —just lemon and salt!

Anne Lawson, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky

Watering orchids

Dear Heloise: Don’twater orchids with ice cubes —orchids aretropical, and cold shocks their roots. Water collecting at the bottom can causerot. Orchids need dry rootsbetween waterings To water an orchid, do this: Onceaweek, remove it from itscachepot, place it in the sink, and soak it thoroughly in room-temperature water.Let it drain fully,then return it to itscontainer Orchids prefer agood soak, followed by proper drainage —not constant moisture. Trust me, I’ve successfully grown beautiful orchids for years using this method!Iloved your mother’s column, Heloise, and read yours faithfully, too! —Margi,inColorado Springs, Colorado

Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Astudent fixing their plateat the salad bar walks by themini

SouthernUniversity’sMayberry DiningHall. Greens from thefarmare addedtothe salad bar or used by the kitchen after harvests.

GARDEN

Continued from page1D

farm is areset from his studies. He strolls to the cafeteria from his department building, sometimes taking the longer route when it feels right.

“It’sagrounding kind of thing for me, like areset from my busy lifestyle,” he said. “You know those people who trim bonsai trees and stuff like that to calm them? It’slike my calming thing of the day.”

Learning with littles

At the on-campus day care, children from ages 2 to 4gaze up at the 4-foot-tall hydroponic towergrowing lettuce and dinosaur kale.

“Beingable to expose them to this and let them be able to watch it grow right before their eyes,” said garden specialist Cornelius Jackson at the Southern University Ag Center.“Being able to come in there, see the lights on, see the plants

KITCHEN

Continued from page1D

Vietnam,” Nguyen said. “We love those times. We went back to Vietnam acouple months ago, and we love it.” Menu andhours

The menu will feature dishes likeegg rolls, shaken beef rice plates, dumplings, stir fries, bone broths with egg or rice noodles. There will also be bò né, aVietnamese breakfast dish with eggs, beefand sausage, Nguyen said.

The bar will serve Vietnamese beer,aswell as wine and specialty Asian cocktails.

Once the restaurant opens in March, the hours will be

growing every day, hearthe water splashing ” After aharvest, the day carechefwill preparetortilla wraps packed with lettuce, cheese and ham, allowing the toddlers to eat the plant they watched growfor thepastthreeto four weeks.

Thetower has been around forabout twoyears, part of an initiative from Southern’s Ag Center thatplaces community gardens (including hydroponics andtraditional, soil-based gardens) in Baton Rougeschools and child development centers. So far, Jackson has broughthydroponic gardens to about 10 places.

Many people don’thave the space to grow aregular garden, Jacksonsaid, sothe hydroponic towers are useful.

“These hydroponic towers allowpeopletomaximize the minimum space and get maximum output by beingableto just growinanupright tower that only requires water, nutrient solution anda rockwool, which is amakeshift

11 a.m. to 9p.m. Mondays throughSaturdaysand closed Sundays.

Sneakpeekinside

Nguyen was bornin Vietnamin1986, andafter arecent visit back home, he decided to open therestaurant in honor of his roots. The interior design drawsfrom this inspiration

“The music, the dressing, the culture, the people,”he said. “Wefall in love withit. That’swhy wewanttobring that back to the customer to feel that when they come here.”

One of thefirst thingscustomers will seeupon enteringisa nearly 8-foot-tall poster of awoman wearing atraditional Vietnamese

Today is Tuesday, March 3, the62nd day of 2026. There are 303 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On March 3, 1991, motoristRodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after ahigh-speed chase in a scene captured on amateur video that sparked public outrage. (The subsequent acquittal of four officers of felony assault and other charges in April 1992 triggered days of rioting and dozens of deaths in Los Angeles.)

Also on this date: In 1845, Florida became aU.S. state. In 1849, Congress established the U.S.Department of the Interior In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the act creating the National Academy of Sciences. In 1931, President Her-

bert Hoover signed abill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in acrush of bodies at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which wasbeing used as awartime air raid shelter

In 1945, Allied troops fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World WarIIafter amonthlong battle that destroyed much of the city

In 1969, Apollo 9blasted off from Cape Kennedy on amission to test NASA’s lunar module.

In 2005, millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly aplane around the world solo without stopping or refueling, landing in Salina, Kansas, where he took off 67 hours earlier In 2022, OxyContin mak-

er Purdue Pharma reached anationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members whoown the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in adeal intended to stanch aflood of lawsuits.

Today’sbirthdays: Filmmaker George Miller is 81. SingerJennifer Warnesis79. Author Ron Chernowis77. Football Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar is 74. Musician Robyn Hitchcockis73. ActorMiranda Richardson is 68. Radio personality Ira Glass is 67. Olympic track andfieldgoldmedalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 64. Rapper-actor Tone Locis60. Hockey Hall of Famer BrianLeetch is 58. ActorJulie Bowenis56. ActorDavid Faustino is 52. ActorJessicaBiel is 44. SingerCamila Cabello is 29. NBA forward Jayson Tatum is 28.

‘The LouisianaStrawberry’ tells storyofberry throughout region

Staff report

As strawberry season in Louisiana picks up, Louisiana Public Broadcasting will debut anew independent documentaryabout thesweet treat, aboost to theregion’seconomy

“The LouisianaStrawberry,” from independent filmmaker and Hammond native Paul Catalanotto, will air at 7p.m. Tuesday on LPB stations statewide.

“The Louisiana Strawberry” exploresthe history of thecrop,the farmerswho sustain it, and the cultural traditions thathave grown alongside it. From family farmstothe Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, the

PALMS

Continuedfrom page1D

soil,”Jackson said. Someonecan grow broccoli in theirclosetorproduce5 pounds of greens in acorner of their house.

“For the nutritional aspect of it,” Jackson said, “allowing them to actually taste these vegetables and do theirown little activities;Ithink that’ssomething they’re going to remember for alifetime.”

Focusofnutrition

When Breaux performs hisminifarmrituals,sometimes curious cafeteriagoersask what he’s doing, allowinghim theopportunity to teach themabout hydroponics. It’ssomething he’spassionate about, and providing fresh food and sustainable practices to the community is his goal.

“That’smymain focus nutrition,” Breaux said.“At the end of the day, when I’m finished with school, my whole thing is to find away to provide the best nutrition possible. Alot of that is teaching people to be selfsustainable.”

dress, called ao dai. Behind her is abustling street in Vietnam. Nguyen contracted aVietnam-based artist to create the artwork.

Nguyenalso plans on stringing colorful paper lanterns in the dining space that holds40seats, and Asian musicwill play on thespeakers for further ambiance.

Thebuildinghas been underrenovation forthe past five months, Nguyen said. His team added newflooring, plumbing and electrical work.

“Welove the restaurant environment,” he said.

“Cooking for people, bringing back memories when they eat the food.The decoration, all of that. That’s what we want.”

spear leaf is dead, that meansthe palm is definitely infected with one or the other disease,”Singh said While theseclues can point towardalethal bronzing or lethalyellowing infection, they’re not enough to definitively say apalm is infected. To do that, you’ll need to send in asample to theAgCenter Plant Diagnostic Center,which Singh oversees.

It’sworth taking this extra step to figure outfor sure whether one of these diseases or adifferent ailment or an abioticstressor is in play.Freeze-damaged palmssometimes —but not always —can recover with propercareand don’tnecessarily havetoberemoved from thelandscape.

Apalmstrickenwith lethal bronzing or lethal yellowing, on the other hand, needstobetaken down immediately. This can help

program captures how agriculture, community and heritageintersect in Tangipahoa Parish and beyond.

Throughthe voices of past andpresent growers, thedocumentaryhighlights both the pride and the pressuresofmodernfarming.

Theirstoriesreveal how knowledge,resilience and tradition have allowed the strawberry industry to endure acrossgenerations, shaping not only alocal economy but asharedcultural identity

“The documentary is first andforemost astory about thefarmers who worktirelessly to growthe fruit and bring it from their fields to our tables,” Catalanotto

prevent diseasespread to nearby palms,and theinfected palm will die soon anyway

“Once the palm is infected,there is no cure,” Singh said.

Preventive treatments areavailable to help healthy palmsresist phytoplasma infection, which is

said. “The strawberry is morethan acrop;itispart of our cultural identity,as essential to who we are as crawfish.”

Developed over the past year in closecollaboration with LPB, Catalanotto worked alongside LPB DirectorofProgramming Jason Viso, who served as a creative consultant in shaping the film’s narrative and storytelling approach.

“As aLouisiana filmmaker,premiering on LPB is asignificant milestone,” Catalanotto said. “It gives the film aplatform to move from aregional audience to statewide attention, sharing the story with communities across Louisiana.”

transmitted and spread by asmall leafhopper insect called Haplaxius crudus.

“They will feed on the phloem of the palm, and while they’re feeding, they will transmit the phytoplasma into the phloem system of the plant,” Singh said. The phytoplasmahamperstranslocation of nutrients inside the palm,essentially starving it to death. If you’re interestedin growingpalms, youcan be careful in choosing species as another preventive measure. CanaryIslanddate palms, Chinese fan palms, Chinese windmill palms, medjool date palms, queen palms and silver date palms are allsusceptibletolethal bronzing and lethal yellowing. Sabal, or cabbage, palmsare abit moretolerantofthese diseases than other species.

Youcan find more information about these diseases and learn how to submit samples to the Plant Diagnostic Center by visiting www.LSUAgCenter.com/ PlantDiagnosticCenter

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) The more you interact with others, the better. Participating in community events will help you expand your plans and initiate new ones.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Keep your plans to yourself. Preparation will promote a better lifestyle. Consider where to funnel your time and energy to ensure that you get the most out of it.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Focus on how you can use your time to help others or support a cause that concerns you. The people you meet and the opportunities that arise will change how you live and do things.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Empty promises will backfire and add to your stress. Focus on researching, honing skills and looking for ways to show off what you have to offer.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) An open and direct attitude will help you get ahead personally and professionally. Home and self-improvements will make a difference to how you think, live and feel about the future.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Dig in, and don't stop until you are satisfied with your progress. Discipline, open-mindedness and finding meaning in what you do will be rewarding and offer insight.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Take the initiative, follow your heart and put your plans in motion. Communication will bring you closer to your dreams and

to those who want to help you reach them.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Say what's on your mind and follow through on your words. Having the drive to finish what you start will attract attention and the support you need to exploit your talents.

scoRPIo (oct 24-nov. 22) The coast is clear for you to promote what you can do. Social events will offer you an opportunity to practice your spiel on those you trust to critique you with kindness and positive suggestions.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Discussions will spin out of control if you aren't careful about what you say or do. Take time to rethink your plans before you proceed. Be resourceful.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Financial growth is evident through wise investments and budgeting. Verify information before you participate in an offer that comes your way. Not everyone will have your best interests at heart.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) A high energy level will help you make personal changes. A job opportunity or partnership looks rewarding. Your unique concepts will attract attention and positive changes.

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

McMeel Syndication

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

This week, we are looking at counting —arguablythe mostimportant factor forsuccessatthe game. And when you areondefense,you will sometimes need partner to give you acount signal so that youcanworkouthowmanycardsdeclarer has in the suit— as in thisdeal

In threeno-trump, declarer starts with onlyfivetop tricks:three spades and twodiamonds. He needs to get the rounded suits going. So, after taking the firsttrick with hisspade king, he leads the club king.

East wantstotakehis club ace when South is playing his last club. So West mustgive acount signal.Since West has an even number of clubs, he should go high-low, playing first the five (or eight, but Ilike second-highest fromfour), then thetwo. This will tellEasttotake the second clubtrick. (If West has only two clubs, Southhas four and holding up twicewould not help.)

East leads back his second spade to declarer’s ace. South, needing to get into the dummy, leadsthe heartking. West plays hisnine, starting ahigh-low with adoubleton. East,aware of what is happening, holds up his ace.

South will probably tryalow heartto dummy’s queen, but East wins with his ace and shifts to the diamond jack (or leadsbacktheheart10),andthecontract is dead.

Finally, note that at trick one, East shouldplayhis spade three, adiscouraging signal denying helpinspades.But adefender does not signal attitude when declarer leads asuit (except perhaps to play the top of touching honors). ©2026 by NEA,Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed toDAy’s WoRD MARoons: muh-ROONS: Leaves in isolation.

Average mark15words

Timelimit 25 minutes

Can you find 21 or morewords in MAROONS?

yEstERDAy’s WoRD —sPAcIous

cuss oasis opus

and not hearers only,

CEMETERY PLOTS Primeburialplots in Roselawn Memorial Park.3 plotsfor $15,000 forall 3with2 add'lplots forfree (total of 5prime plots).Callfor details &pictures. 850-232-9917

p gov/resources/rfps-rsiqscontracts/bids/. Printed copies canalsobeob‐tained from:

COASTALPROTECTION ANDRESTORATION AUTHORITY(CPRA) 150Terrace Avenue BatonRouge,LA70802 Attn:Kayla Causey E-mail: cpra.bidding@la.gov Phone: (225) 342-9421 Fax: (225) 800-5599

Allbidsshall be accom‐panied by bidsecurityin an amount of five per‐cent (5.0%) of thesum of thebasebid andall al‐ternates.The form of this security shallbeasstated in the Instructions to Bidders included in theBid Docu‐mentsfor this project.

ThesuccessfulBidder shallberequiredtofur‐nish aPerformance and PaymentBondwritten as describedinthe Instruc‐tionstoBidders included in theBid Docu‐mentsfor this project.

A NON-MANDATORY PREBIDCONFERENCEWILLBE HELD at 10:00 AM on Thursday March19, 2026 viaMi‐crosoft TeamsWebinar Youmay register forthe pre-bidmeetingvia Mi‐crosoft Teamsat: https://events teams.microsoft.com/ event/3413c3ce-09ac4574-b230-209d31bc878 c@6a48ab1d-e8a1-4d6e9c0967bd46aa9fc5.The infor‐

mation to access meet‐ingaudio throughcom‐puter, phone, or other device will be provided afterregistering throughthe linkabove ContactKevin Beyerat (225) 329-1712 with any questionsorissuesre‐latedtothe webinarlink.

Thejob site is located within theDelta National Wildlife Refuge (man‐aged by theU.S.Fish & Wildlife Service) andthe Pass-A-Loutre Wildlife Management Area (managed by the LouisianaDepartmentof Wildlife andFisheries). Access to theproject area is onlyaccessible by boat.Contractors shall be responsiblefor pro‐viding theirown boat andany rental andboat launching fees Bids shallbeaccepted from Contractorswho arelicensedunder LA R.S. 37:2150-2192 forthe classification HeavyCon‐struction, Subclassification:Dredg‐ingand OilField Con‐structionand/orSpe‐cialty Classification: CoastalRestoration & Habitat Enhancement. In accor‐dancewithLA. R.S. 37:2165(C),anyoneob‐jectingtothe classifica‐tion must send acerti‐fied letter to both th‐eLouisiana StateLicens‐ingBoard forContractors andthe CPRA at thead‐dresslistedabove.The letter must be received no laterthanten (10)

workingdaysprior to the dayonwhich bids areto be opened Bidder is required to comply with provisions andrequirementsofLA R.S.38:2212(B)(5). No bid maybewithdrawn for a period offorty-five (45) calendar days afterre‐ceiptofbids, except under theprovisionsof LA.R.S.38:2214. TheOwner reserves the righttorejectany andall bids forjustcause.Inac‐cordance with La.R.S 38:2212(B)(1), theprovi‐sionsand requirements of this Section; andthose stated in thebidding documentsshall notbe waivedbyany entity When this projectis fi‐nanced either partially or entirely with StateBonds or financed in wholeorin part by federalorother fundswhich arenot readilyavailable at the time bids arereceived, theaward of this Con‐tractiscontingentupon thegrantingoflines of credit,orthe sale of bondsbythe Bond Com‐missionorthe availabil‐ityoffederal or other funds. TheState shall incurnoobligationtothe Contractor until theContractbe‐tween Ownerand Con‐tractorisfully executed CoastalProtectionand RestorationAuthority is aparticipant in theSmall Entrepreneurship (SE) Program(theHudsonIni‐i i ) d h

g tiative) and theVeteranOwnedand Service-Con‐nected Disabled VeteranOwned(LaVet) SmallEn‐trepreneurshipsPro‐gram.Bidders are encouraged to consider participation. Informa‐tion is availablefrom CoastalProtectionand RestorationAuthority or on itswebsite at http://www.coastal.la. gov/ STATEOFLOUISIANA COASTALPROTECTION ANDRESTORATION AUTHORITY MICHAELHARE, EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR 178150 Feb. 24, March3 10, 3t $221.50

the studentaccidentinsur‐ance programand athlet‐icsinsurance program forthe Southern Univer‐sity System (Southern University BatonRouge Southern University Law Center,SouthernUniver‐sity NewOrleans and Southern University Shreveport). Thesuc‐cessfulcarrier must work with thelocal Bro‐ker. Thesuccessfulbid‐dermustcomplywithall stateand federallaws

applicable to theissuing of acontractunder this RFP. Inquiries will be ac‐cepted until March 12 2026, by 5:00 p m In‐quiries shall be submit‐ted to Mike Tucker at mike tucker@alliantcom

Response to inquiries is March 16 2026 by 5:00 PM Proposals shall be re‐ceivedno later than 10:30 AM on March 23 2026 Bidders are Proposals will be ac‐knowledged/opened in the Purchasing Depart‐ment

Anypersonrequiring specialaccommodation should notify thePur‐chasingOffice of the type(s)ofaccommoda‐tion required notless than seven(7) days be‐fore thebid opening date.Additionalcontact is WilbertRossett, South‐ernUniversitySafetyDe‐partment at wilbert. rossett@sus.eduor225771-3101.

Bids maybewithdrawn by written, telegraphicor faxnoticereceivedatthe addressdesignatedin theInvitationtoBid prior to thetimeset forbid opening, as recorded by date stamp at thePur‐chasingOffice.Bidsre‐ceived afterclosing time will be returned un‐opened.Evidenceofau‐h i b i h bid

p thority to submitthe bid shallberequiredinac‐cordance with R.S. 38:2212(a)(1)(c) and/or R.S. 39:1594(c)(2)(d).The University reserves the righttoaward allordone andtorejectall bids and to waiveany informali‐ties incidental thereto. Thepublicentitymay re‐ject allbidsfor just cause. TheSouthernUniversity System isaparticipant in theLouisianafor the SmallEntrepreneurships Program (the Hudson Ini‐tiative)andtheLouisiana Initiative forVeterans andService-Connected Disabled