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LSU BLOWS PAST TEXAS TECH TO SECURE FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TRIP TO SWEET 16 1B
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T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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M o n d ay, M a r c h 23, 2026
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Belaire High eyes later start time
State’s Medicaid rolls are dropping Providers say patients are going to suffer BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE staff writer
sTAFF PHoTos By JAVIER GALLEGos
students make their way toward the exit after the final bell at Belaire Magnet High school on Tuesday. The school may change its start time to better align with student learning, following a pilot program with two other public high schools in the district.
50 BR schools to have changed schedules by fall 2028 BY CHARLES LUSSIER staff writer
Belaire Magnet High School may soon become the third Baton Rouge public high school to shift its start times to better align with when children learn, based on research on their sleep patterns. Some faculty and parents, however, are raising concerns that the new start times so far are falling short of promises and are having unintended downsides. Belaire, home to almost 600 students, would follow in the footsteps of Capitol High and Glen Oaks High. Those schools, along with four feeder schools, dramatically altered their daily schedules in August, with middle and high school students beginning classes much later than they have in the past. Results from the first semester of this six-school
New nonstop flights to Destin and Fort Walton Beach are expected to bring more tourists to the popular beach vacation spots on the Florida Panhandle. AssoCIATED PREss FILE PHoTo By PHELAN M. EBENHACK
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on the ground to understand how we can do this better,” Cole said. The latest schedule would go into effect in 12 schools this coming August. He says the new schedule reflects what’s been learned so far from the pilot. Middle and high schools would start the day 80 minutes later than the normal district start time, at 8:30 a.m., while elementary schools would start 40 minutes earlier, at 7:45 a.m. They would end their days students look at the front board while learning a lesson in at 3:40 p.m. and 2:55 p.m., shauntelle Moses’ social studies class at Belaire Magnet respectively. High school on Tuesday. The 12 schools include the six in the pilot and five pilot program were mixed, district by fall 2028. The that feed into Belaire High. according to a recent report next step is to add Belaire Those schools would adjust the schedule they implefrom a consultant hired by and its five feeder schools. “We have a ton of quan- mented seven months ago, the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. But that has titative data from around starting and ending their not dimmed the enthusiasm the country that tell us that days a few minutes earlier of Superintendent LaMont later start times are best than they do now. Cole, who plans to change for kids, but we still want to start times across the entire hear from people with boots ä see START TIME, page 4A
For months, around half of the 147 beds at one of New Orleans’ largest addiction treatment facilities have sat empty. It’s not because there’s no demand. In fact, the waitlist for the Odyssey House Louisiana’s Broadmoor building runs dozens of names long. It’s because the facility cannot treat the growing number of people arriving at its doors without health insurance. It’s a problem health care facilities are confronting across the state, as roughly half a million Louisianans have lost coverage through Medicaid since 2023. More are continuing to fall off the rolls each month, as the Louisiana Department of Health has ramped up eligibility checks ahead of federal requirements that will take effect across the country next year. Treatment providers and advocates say the changes have barred low-income people from receiving needed health care and are threatening the bottom line of health centers that rely on Medicaid payments. “It is having real-time effects and is a reason why people are not able to access the health care they need,” said Raegan Carter, director of health policy at the Louisiana Primary Care Association, which represents Odyssey House and dozens of other community health centers across the state. “If our uninsured numbers increase, if we begin to serve even more uninsured patients … we may end up closing health centers.” Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein, who took over the department in April, has said the
ä see MEDICAID, page 5A
sTAFF PHoTo By soPHIA GERMER
A sign on a door reminds Medicaid members to stay covered at odyssey House Louisiana in New orleans on Thursday.
‘We have been discovered’ Fort Walton Beach is ready for tourism surge as more flights are added
tourists is arriving. Five nonstop flights from cities around the country will start landing at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport this spring and summer. And now that Allegiant Air built a new $11 million conBY MARTHA SANCHEZ course a few years ago, many tourists are flying in. staff writer New hotels are rising. Restaurants are The shores of Fort Walton Beach, Flori- hiring. “We have been discovered,” said Carolyn da, have long been a drive-in destination, a place where packed family cars arrive Ketchel, who represents the area on the on summer break, just across the bay ä see BEACH, page 5A from bustling Destin. But a new class of
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