The Acadiana Advocate 04-25-2026

‘A joyful presence’

Martha Odom, Lafayette teen killed in mall shooting, remembered for her infectious enthusiasm

BY ANDREA GALLO Staff writer

She was a writer, a dancer, a Dr Pepper enthusiast.

Martha Odom, 17, died after being caught in the crossfire of a shooting Thursday at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Odom, a senior at Ascension Episcopal School in Youngsville, visited the mall with friends for their “senior skip day” as graduation approached in just a few weeks.

Odom planned to attend Sewanee, also known as the University of the South, where she was going to study English and creative writing. Instead, she and two other classmates from Ascension Episcopal were hit in the crossfire in a food court shooting that police say happened when two groups started arguing and drew guns.

She died from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to the Coroner’s Office. Police announced the arrest Friday of Markel Lee, also 17, who was booked with first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder, and ille-

service at Ascension Episcopal and left flower bouquets in her parking spot on what was supposed to be the final day of “senior week” celebrating their last few days of school. She leaves behind her parents and a younger sister

Odom was an overachiever: captain of the girls’ soccer team at her school, editor of the student newspaper, a teacher at her dance studio. She won first place last year in the Lafayette Public Library’s “Writes of Spring” contest and second place this year

One arrested, one at large in shooting

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER

Police booked a teenage suspect Friday in the mass shooting at the Mall of Louisiana a day earlier and released a photo of a second person wanted for questioning in the crime which killed a 17-year-old girl and injured five others. Markel Lee, 17, is the first suspect identified by law enforcement since the shooting. Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse said at a news conference that Lee turned himself in earlier Friday and was booked with first-degree murder five counts of attempted first-degree murder, and illegal use of a weapon.

Morse said at least one unidentified suspect remains at large and asked for the public’s help in identifying and locating him.

Lee

“It’s really early in the investigation still,” Morse said. “We have to give the detectives time to do their job when they’re combing through that much evidence and surveillance video.”

It is unclear how many shooters were involved, as well as how many other people might have played a role.

gal use of a weapon. They also released a photo of another suspect they believe was involved in the shooting as well.

Another victim, Donnie Guillory, remains in critical condition, police said Friday After Odom’s name became public Friday morning, an outpouring of tributes followed. Her classmates held a prayer

“Her classmates, Ascension faculty, and our Blue Gator families remember Martha as a joyful presence whose kindness and infectious enthusiasm brought light to all who knew her,” her school shared on social media. The other two Ascension Episcopal students who were shot are recovering from injuries, and two more students were at the mall during the shooting, but not injured.

Odom planned to spend her summer before college at Ballet Austin’s summer intensive, a chance to “train in the timeless

See JOYFUL, page 4A

Martha Odom, a 17-year-old Lafayette high school student, died after being shot in the chest. Of the five others shot, four have been released from the hospital and one, 43-year-old Donnie Guillory, remains in critical condition, authorities said Friday In the immediate hours following the shooting, four persons of interest turned themselves in to Baton Rouge police but were later released, Morse said.

Livingston Parish sheriff’s deputies also arrested a man while

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Festival International kicks off with big energy

Evening’s crowd ‘better than ever’

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

As the sun set across Jefferson Street on the opening night of Festival International de Louisiane, Novalima rocked the Scène Ochsner Lafayette General Fais Do Do stage in front of a jiving, elated crowd. The Afro-Peruvian band felt at times like they were part of the crowd, attending their own show — dancing along, bopping beach balls back into the audience, and inviting the crowd to come up and meet them after the set.

“It was a great show,” said Novalima member Grimaldo Del Solar, who said the band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their hit album “Afro.” “We started during the day, and as it got darker, people got happier It’s just amazing. We never thought we’d be touring the world.”

It’s Festival International’s 40th year, and the event has evolved into a key stop for international bands looking to break into the United States touring scene — while Louisiana acts gain access to global connections. Thursday night’s set list included the funky sounds of Sinkane, a Sudanese-American act, followed by Louisiana star Zachary Richard, who performed a new ballad he co-wrote with Lafayette veteran Barry Guidry, called

“Heart Like an Eagle.”

“I’m just so emotionally moved,” said Guidry, who was honored on stage with Richard. “This has been such a positive experience, and the response from the crowd was ecstatic.”

That feeling moved from stage to stage, from Jourdan Thibodeaux’s high-energy opening act at Scène Fais Do Do, to shows from Doctor Nativo, The Revelers, Subatomic Sound System, $ideQue$t and Bas Clas. Longtime Festival International volunteer Alan Broussard, working security at Scène Ochsner Lafayette General Fais Do Do, said the evening’s crowd felt “better than ever,” — a sentiment supported by Festival attendee Jeremiah

ä See FESTIVAL, page 4A

Camp Mystic could be denied license to reopen DALLAS Camp Mystic could be denied a license to reopen this summer after Texas authorities found the camp’s emergency plan falls short of the state’s new requirements.

In a letter obtained by The Dallas Morning News this week, the Texas Department of State Health said the camp’s emergency plan needs substantial revisions for it to receive a license. An attorney for the camp did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The state listed numerous areas of the camp’s emergency plans deemed incomplete, insufficient or missing. For example, maps submitted by the camp did not make clear where the cabins are located in relation to the flood plain, the state said It also found the camp’s emergency plans for wildfires, medical emergencies and epidemics insufficient.

Texas lawmakers passed new summer camp safety laws last year following the July flood that killed 27 children and counselors at the all-girls’ camp

The camp has 45 days to address the issues and resubmit an emergency plan, according to the letter

Family of Boulder fire attack suspect released DENVER The wife and five children of the man charged with carrying out a terror attack last year have been released from immigration custody, their attorney said in a social media post Thursday

The family’s release comes days after a federal judge ordered them freed from the detention facility in Dilley, Texas, where they had been held for 10 months. Immigration authorities detained Hayam El Gamal, the wife of Mohamed Soliman, and the couple’s five children soon after Soliman was arrested in the June 1 terror attack in Boulder. Soliman is accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to burn people who had gathered on Boulder’s Pearl Street mall for a weekly demonstration urging the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Witnesses said Soliman shouted, “Free Palestine” during the attack, which is being prosecuted in both state and federal court. Karen Diamond, 82, died on June 25 from injuries sustained in the attack.

Soliman, who was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the U.S in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023. He overstayed his visa and sought political asylum in September 2022.

Court overturns $8.2M verdict for Roy Moore

MONTGOMERY, Ala An appeals court on Friday reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Alabama politician Roy Moore, who sued a super PAC over a 2017 political ad detailing misconduct accusations against him.

The panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Moore failed to prove the organization acted with malice, one of the legal standards for cases involving public figures. The three-judge panel vacated the defamation verdict and ordered the trial judge to enter a summary judgment in favor of Senate Majority PAC. Moore, a former Republican judge known for his hard-line stances opposing same-sex marriage and supporting the public display of the Ten Commandments, lost the 2017 Senate race after his campaign was rocked by misconduct allegations against him. Leigh Corfman said that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney Moore denied the accusation. Other women said Moore dated them, or asked them out on dates, when they were older teens. The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements and partial quotes from news articles, falsely implied he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall.

Envoys dispatched to Pakistan

Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to meet Iran’s foreign minister

BY MUNIR AHMED, JON GAMBRELL and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press

ISLAMABAD President Donald Trump is sending his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan to meet with Iran’s foreign minister, the White House said Friday, as officials in the South Asian nation pushed to revive ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran. The talks planned for Saturday come as much of the world is on edge over a war that has snarled crucial energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the global economic picture and left thousands dead across the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad late Friday Earlier on social me-

dia, he wrote that he was traveling to Pakistan on a trip focused on “bilateral matters and regional developments.” He didn’t specify who he would meet.

Araghchi and the two Trump envoys held hours of indirect talks in Geneva on Feb 27 over Tehran’s nuclear program, but walked away without a deal. The next day, Israel and the United States started the war against Iran.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News Channel that the president decided to send Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan “to hear the Iranians out.”

“We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days,” Leavitt said. She did not offer any details about what U.S officials were hearing.

Islamabad has sought to reinject momentum into the negotiations between Iran and the United States, which did not resume this week as had been expected.

Jones Act waiver extended

Separately Friday, the White House said Trump issued a 90-day extension to the Jones Act waiver, making it easier for non-American vessels to transport oil and natural gas.

He first announced a 60-day waiver in March in a move intended to stabilize energy prices and ease oil and gas shipments to the U.S. following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“New data compiled since the initial waiver was issued revealed that significantly more supply was able to reach U.S. ports faster,” the White House post on social media said.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, retreated on the news, vacillating between $103 a barrel and more than $107 still early 50% higher than where it was on Feb. 28, when the war began.

The squeeze on shipments through the strait has rippled through global maritime trade

BY ALLEN G BREED Associated Press

Virginia Commonwealth University will spend $3.6 million on a memorial for dozens of people, most of African descent, whose bodies were stolen from their graves, dissected by medical students and then dumped in a forgotten well.

The Richmond school’s board of visitors voted Friday to fund what VCU calls the East Marshall Street Well Project, an effort to right wrongs committed more than a century ago. Construction of the memorial and burial site are expected to start in summer of 2027.

“Years ago, VCU initiated this journey because we recognized a profound obligation to restore the human dignity of the people who were not afforded respect in their physical existence,” VCU

President Michael Rao said in a story about the effort posted on the school’s website. “The East Marshall Street Well Project’s sacred mission is to ensure every life is honored with the permanence and reverence they deserve.”

The circular memorial will feature a “unity chamber” inspired by the Toguna structures of Dogon culture in West Africa. Its design is intended to encourage humility and thoughtful discussion by purposefully having a low roof to facilitate seated reflection,” said Stephen Davenport, assistant vice president for social and economic development in the VCU Division of Community Engagement and the administrative lead for the project

Workers in 1994 uncovered a bricklined well containing human bones during construction of the Kontos Medical Sciences Building on the VCU medical center campus. Sifting through mud, researchers also found hair and skin, as well as remnants of leather shoes and glass bottles.

Based on archival records from the Medical College of Virginia, researchers believe the remains were dumped in the well between the 1840s and 1860s.

“A preliminary anthropological analysis of the recovered human remains showed some postmortem signs of dissection and amputation consistent with anatomical training and surgical procedure practice,” VCU researchers concluded in a paper published this year “The constant demand for cadavers led to routine grave robbing practices, mainly targeting African American burial grounds, to supply the medical school.”

Archaeologists were given a short time to examine the burial site after the 1994 discovery Before construction continued, the remains were removed by backhoes and sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Initial analysis estimated that a minimum of 44 adults and nine children were recovered from the well.

DNA study results released in February identified at least 43 distinct adults and three juveniles of “predominantly African heritage,” most likely from Central-West Africa Several sets of remains bore traces of European ancestry

BY CLAUDIA LAUER and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press

The body of one of the two Bangladeshi doctoral students missing from the University of South Florida was found on a bridge over Tampa Bay, and his roommate has been taken into custody, law enforcement authorities said Friday Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Nahida Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said. Limon’s roommate in an off-campus apartment, Hisham Saleh Abugharbeih, 26, was taken into custody at his family’s home nearby on preliminary charges that include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery

Officers encountered Abugharbeih as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family’s home, just north of the campus, and were able to remove his relatives to safety But then he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. A SWAT team responded, along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators, before Abugarbeih came out with his hands up wearing nothing but a blue towel. Limon and Bristy, both 27, were a couple, considering marriage, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon, who was studying geography environmental science and policy was last seen at his home in an apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbeih. Bristy, who was studying chemical engineering and lived on campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.

flows, including through the Panama Canal nearly halfway around the world.

Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts Pakistan has been trying to get U.S. and Iranian officials back to the table after Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran, honoring Islamabad’s request for more time for diplomatic outreach.

That hasn’t lowered tensions in the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped during peacetime.

Iran has kept its stranglehold on traffic through the strait, attacking three ships earlier this week, while the U.S. is maintaining a blockade on Iranian ports and Trump has ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines.

Washington already has three aircraft carriers in the region, in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Red Sea..

Trump’s

asylum

ban at the border illegal, court rules

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON An appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access at the southern border of the U.S., a key pillar of the Republican president’s plan to crack down on migration.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that immigration laws give people the right to apply for asylum at the border and the president can’t circumvent that.

The court opinion stems from action taken by Trump on Inauguration Day 2025, when he declared that the situation at the southern border constituted an invasion of America and that he was “suspending the physical entry” of migrants and their ability to seek asylum until he decides it is over

The panel concluded that the Immigration and Nationality Act doesn’t authorize the president to remove the plaintiffs under “procedures of his own making,” allow him to suspend plaintiffs’ right to apply for asylum or curtail procedures for adjudicating their antitorture claims.

“The power by proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of specified foreign individuals into the United States does not contain implicit authority to override the INA’s mandatory process to summarily remove foreign individuals,” wrote Judge J. Michelle Childs, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden.

The administration can ask the full appeals court to reconsider the ruling or go to the Supreme Court. The order doesn’t formally take effect until after the court considers any request to reconsider

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DOJ drops criminal probe of Fed chair Powell

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Justice Department has ended its investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, clearing a major roadblock to the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as his successor U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro said on X Friday that her office was ending its probe into the Fed’s extensive building renovations because the Fed’s inspector general would scrutinize them instead.

The move could lead to a swift confirmation vote by the Senate for Warsh, a former top Fed official whom President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated in January to replace Powell. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., had said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking

his confirmation. Republicans praised Warsh during a Tuesday hearing even as Democrats questioned his independence from Trump, the lack of transparency around some of his financial holdings, and what they said was his flip-flopping on interest rates. Still, Trump’s previous appointment to the Fed’s board of governors, Stephen Miran, was approved by the full Senate just 13 days after his nomination.

Investigation lacked evidence Pirro’s investigation focused on a $2.5 billion building renovation that Trump criticized sharply last year for its cost overruns. Trump visited the building last July and on camera presented to Powell an inflated cost estimate, which Powell corrected as the two stood at the construction site in hard hats.

Earlier estimates for the project had put the cost at $1.9 billion. The investigation also covered Powell’s brief testimony about the renovation before the Senate Banking Committee last June.

The probe was among several undertaken by the Justice De-

partment into Trump’s perceived adversaries. For months it had failed to gain traction as prosecutors struggled to articulate a basis to suspect criminal conduct Other efforts by the department to prosecute Trump’s adversaries, including New York state Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, and former FBI Director James Comey, have also been unsuccessful.

A prosecutor handling the Powell case conceded at a closed-door court hearing in March that the government hadn’t found any evidence of a crime, and a judge subsequently quashed subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve. The judge, James Boasberg, said prosecutors had produced “essentially zero evidence” to suspect Powell of a crime. Boasberg branded prosecutors’ justification for the subpoenas as “thin and unsubstantiated.”

The investigation was the most brazen attempt yet by the Trump administration to pressure the Fed to cut its short-term interest rate, which indirectly affects other borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and business loans. Trump has obsessively attacked Powell for

not cutting the rate from its current level of about 3.6% to 1%, a level that no Fed official supports. Powell says it was intimidation

Instead, Fed policymakers, including Powell, have said they want to keep rates unchanged while they evaluate the impact of the Iran war, which has sent gas prices soaring, pushing up inflation. The increase could be a onetime shift but could also lead to more sustained inflation. The Fed seeks to restrain rising prices by keeping interest rates high, cooling borrowing and spending. Powell said in January that the investigation was not really about the renovation or his testimony but “is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

More recently prosecutors made an unannounced visit to a construction site at the Fed’s headquarters but were turned away, drawing a rebuke from a defense attorney in the case who called the maneuver

“not appropriate.”

Warsh promises independence

Warsh said during a hearing by the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that he never promised the White House that he would cut interest rates, even as the president renewed his calls for the central bank to do so.

“The president never once asked me to commit to any particular interest rate decision, period,”

Warsh

Warsh said under questioning by the Senate Banking Committee. “Nor would I ever agree to do so if he had.”

Trump has taken other unprecedented steps to try to pressure the Fed, including an attempt last August to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Fed’s governing board, who was appointed by Biden. Yet courts have temporarily blocked the firing, and, at an oral argument in January, the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to the argument that Cook should keep her job.

DOJ to allow use of firing squads for capital punishment

Administration moves to ramp up capital punishment cases

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said Friday The Justice Department is also reauthorizing the use of singledrug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry

out 13 executions during the first Trump administration more than under any president in modern history The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering. The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

The federal government has not previously included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho Mississippi, Okla-

homa, South Carolina, and Utah.

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted by Bill Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s, the last time federal executions were carried out before Trump’s first term in office.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in the final days of the Biden administration withdrew the pentobarbital lethal injection policy after a government review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty” about whether its use causes unnecessary pain and suffering.”

In 2020, under Barr’s leadership, the Justice Department published a rule in the Federal Register to

allow the federal government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.” A number of states allow other methods of execution including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.

The Trump administration, in a report released Friday, said the Biden administration “got the standard and the science wrong.” The Biden administration’s findings, among other things, “failed to address the overwhelming evidence” that an injected with pentobarbital quickly “quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain,” the report said.

Soldier charged for prediction market bets on Maduro granted bond

BY GARY D ROBERTSON Associated Press

RALEIGH,N.C.

A U.S special forces soldier was granted bond Friday on charges that he used classified information about the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to win more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket, a federal magistrate said Friday

The magistrate in North Carolina who authorized Gannon Ken Van Dyke’s release told him to report to a New York federal courthouse by Tuesday to continue his case there.

Bearded with arm tattoos, Van Dyke said little during the nearly hourlong hearing, during which he was appointed a federal public defender who declined to comment afterward. The $250,000 unsecured bond did not require Van Dyke to put up any money. Federal prosecutors say Van Dyke used his access to classified information about the operation to capture Maduro in January to win money on Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets. The sites allow people to trade on almost anything — from the Super Bowl to U.S. elections and the winners of the TV reality shows. Van Dyke, who is stationed

at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, was charged Thursday with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction.

He could face up to 10 years on four of the criminal counts, and up to 20 years on a fifth, the government said Friday

Van Dyke, 38, was involved for about a month in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro, according to the New York federal prosecutor’s office. He signed nondisclosure agreements promising to not divulge “any classified or sensitive information” related to the operations, but prosecutors say he used what he knew to make a series of bets related to Maduro being out of power by Jan. 31.

“This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit off of a righteous military operation,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said in a post on X that the company flagged the suspicious activity, turned it over to the government and cooperated with the investigation.

Massive profits from welltimed bets aroused public attention days after the raid in Venezuela and brought bipartisan calls for stricter regulation of the markets.

The sudden rise of these markets has led to growing scrutiny by Congress and state governments. Some lawmakers alarmed by highly specific, well-timed trades have pushed for guardrails against insider trading.

The Trump administration has been supportive of the industry’s expansion. The president’s eldest son is an adviser for both Polymarket and its main competitor, Kalshi, and is a Polymarket investor Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, is launching its own prediction market called Truth Predict.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, announced Thursday that it had filed a parallel complaint against Van Dyke.

That complaint alleges that Van Dyke moved $35,000 from his personal bank account into a cryptocurrency exchange account on Dec. 26 a little over a week before U.S. forces flew into Caracas and seized Maduro.

Van Dyke made a series of bets on when Maduro might be removed from power according to the complaint. He

N.O.-based AP photographer who captured assassination attempt on James Meredith dies

BY KEVIN MCGILL and JEFF AMY Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Former Associated Press

photographer Jack Thornell, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of a shotgun-felled James Meredith looking back toward his would-be assassin on a Mississippi highway in 1966 became an enduring image of the Civil Rights Movement, has died. He was 86. Thornell died Thursday at a hospital in Metairie from complications from kidney disease, his son Jay said Friday He worked for the AP from 1964 to 2004 and had a variety of assignments over the years, photographing politicians, natural disasters, crime scenes But the struggle for racial justice punctuated Thornell’s wire service career from the beginning He covered the integration of a Mississippi Gulf Coast school on his first day of work for the AP New Orleans bureau

In June 1966, Thornell, then 26, was assigned to cover a civil rights march led by

Meredith, who had already made history by integrating the University of Mississippi in 1962, and was mounting a “March Against Fear” through the state encouraging Black residents to register and vote.

Meredith was walking on U.S. Highway 51 near Hernando, Mississippi, and Thornell and a rival photographer were in a car parked roadside, when the sound of the first shotgun blast sent them scrambling.

One resulting Thornell image remains a sobering photographic reminder of the violent resistance to desegregation. It shows a wounded Meredith grimacing in agony as he dragged himself to the road’s edge. Along with it was the Pulitzer-winning photo Thornell didn’t initially realize he had captured: Meredith is on the ground at the edge of the highway with arms extended and hands on the pavement — it’s unclear if he is still falling or pushing

placed those bets between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2, with the vast majority occurring the night of Jan. 2 — just hours before

JOYFUL

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art of dance,” she wrotein the studentnewspaper.She danced at The Ballet Studio and Lafayette Ballet Theatre, who described her as a “joyful, young student.”

Ali Mejia, 15, who dances at The Ballet Studio, said she lookeduptoOdom and described her as kind and always smiling.

“If anyone washavinga bad day,” she said, “she was therefor you, even if she didn’tknow you well.”

Odom’sfamily visited New York City over spring break, and she wroteabout how much she enjoyed eating at Raising Cane’sinTimes Square, attending Easter services at The Church of St Mary the Virgin, going to a New York Rangers’ hockey game andseeing several Broadway musicals, including “The Outsiders” and “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” She was an avid fan of the arts and frequently appearedin schoolplays and musicals. In other writings for the student newspaper,Odom shared her observations about Taylor Swift (“captivating, empowering”), being adebutante late last year (“had the time of my life”) and how much her soccer team had improved (“the soccer team is afamily”)

When she was named “Gator of the month” at the beginning of the school year, she did an interview that her schoolreposted to social media Friday.She answered rapid-firequestions about her preferences: apink ribbon tied in her hair,dogs over cats, summer overwinter,books over movies. She also took sharp interest in journalism and shared her fears about the press losing independence. In one

“The Odomfamilyand mine have been friends for decades. There are no wordsfor thedevastating loss of innocentlife. I’m praying for her,her family and friends, and the entire Lafayette community during this heartbreakingtime.”

LIZ MURRILL, Louisiana attorneygeneral

studentnewspaper piece, shewroteabout the inaccurate portrayals of journalists as lead characters in rom-coms,including“13 Goingon30” and “27 Dresses.”

“What did rom-coms get wrong aboutjournalists? Theirdrive,” she wrote. “It takes grit to unearth the informationinanarticle. It takes bravery to be that bridge between the people and their government. A lack of thatgritleadstoan epidemic of self-censorship, where writers hesitateto publish critical worksfor fear of penalties.”

BBR Creative, the Lafayette-based marketing andadvertising agency where Odom’s mom works, said Friday that they were holding the family in their thoughts“as they face an unimaginable loss.” Ascension Episcopal also asked for continued prayersfor Odom

and her classmates.

LouisianaAttorney General Liz Murrill, aLafayette native, posted on social mediaabout herconnection to theOdom family,asshe and other state political andlaw enforcement leaderscalled for accountability for those responsible for Odom’s death.

“The Odom family and mine have been friendsfor decades,” Murrill wrote.

“There are no words for the devastating lossofinnocent life. I’m praying for her,her family andfriends, andthe entire Lafayette community during this heartbreaking time.”

Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca offered prayers for victims, first responders, healing and peace.

“Our prayers are with thosewho were critically injured, allwho were harmed, andevery family whoselives have beensuddenly and painfully shakenbythis act of violence, especially those who have lost aloved one,” Duca said in astatement.

Odom summed up her beliefs in aPsalm from the Bible she sharedinher Instagram biography

“Behold,” readsPsalm 133:1that she cited. “How good and pleasant it is when God’speople live together in unity.”

Staff writers Claire Taylor and Kristin Askelsoncontributed tothis report.

FESTIVAL

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McVay,who said he is from Lafayette and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida. His family stood closetothe stageduring Novalima’sset,surrounded by childrenexperiencing the funalongside their community “It’ssonice to gettosee things from outside of theculturethatyou’reusedto,” McVaynoted. “It’sagreat thing to experience in your hometown.”

Festival International’s opening ceremony happened at Scène LUS Internationale, where thefestival’smultigenerational and multicultural history was honored. Local school children stood alongside Festival founders and past presidents, Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Boulet, Festival executive director Scott Feehan, and zydeco star Terrence Simien, whosang the national anthem.

Lafayette CityCouncilmember Kenneth Boudreauxstated on stagethat“there’sno greater global ambassador for the city of Lafayette than Festival International,” and looking out over thecrowd— showing off Festival International gear,drinking Festival punchand eating Festivalcrawfish boats the event’sdeep roots were well on display Festival International de Louisianewill takeplace in downtown Lafayette through Sunday.The full 2026 schedule includescountry bluegrass band Country Gongbang from South Korea, GIVERS fromLouisiana, and France/Guadeloupe band Delgres, with dozensoffood vendors, artand merchbooths, local and international bands, and thousands of attendees from all over the world.

Governor lays blame for mall shooting on judges

Landry calls on Legislature to review sentencing laws

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

After a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana left a teenage bystander dead and five others wounded, Gov Jeff Landry ramped up his attacks on judges he says are being too lenient — especially with juveniles.

“Judges hold enormous power, but they are not social workers with a gavel. They are the final gatekeepers of public safety,” he said during a news conference Friday at the Baton Rouge Police Department. “Let me be clear: Judges who continuously release violent offenders back on our streets, who fail to use the full authority of their office to protect the public, are going to be held accountable.”

The statements come as Landry and Republican state lawmakers are supporting a bill that would give the Legislature more power to remove judges Republicans also are advancing legislation that would increase how much time of-

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investigating the mall shooting. Authorities later said he was booked on counts unrelated to the shooting, adding at the time that they had no evidence tying him to the shooting.

At Friday’s news conference, Morse said the four persons of interest who were released are still being looked at and could later be charged.

“They were definitely involved in some way or the other,” Morse said. “They refused to answer questions. They lawyered up We didn’t have anything else to be able to hold them.”

ficials can keep youth in jail pretrial and let prosecutors decide whether criminal cases that go to bench trials should be assigned new judges.

“When judges refuse to enforce boundaries or consequences, they’re not rehabilitating anyone,” Landry continued. “What they’re doing is abandoning young people until a tragedy like this becomes inevitable. And you know what, that’s not justice. That’s negligence that’s masquerading around as mercy.”

Landry did not raise specific concerns about how judges handled any suspects in the Mall of Louisiana shooting. Asked whether he had any, Landry said the press does “a great job of investigating all kinds of information, and the courthouse is full of data.”

The governor also said the continual failure of the court system made the mass shooting possible.

“The continual action of that has led to this case, but yet no one is out there holding those judges accountable,” he said. “It would not surprise me if the people who are involved in this, before it’s all over, don’t have an extremely lengthy rap sheet.”

The chief said he hopes that ballistic evidence and DNA will reveal more about their connection to the shooting. It is unclear whether cases involve detailed evidence that takes time to investigate.

Authorities announced the arrest of one suspect in connection with the shooting, 17-year-old Markel Lee. Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse said Lee had an “extensive criminal history in the juvenile court system.”

In addition to casting blame for juvenile crime on judges, Landry said parents need to be held accountable for failing kids at home.

And he called on the Legislature to review Louisiana’s sentencing laws, two years after he successfully pushed it to pass a slew of ‘tough-on-crime’ measures that lengthened prison stays and slashed parole opportunities.

“I’m asking the Legislature to go back and look at the laws. In fact people that go into common places and decide to engage in that kind of violence, we should put them away for life. I’m done with them. It doesn’t matter how old they are,” Landry said. “We got 18,000 acres at Angola. If it’s up to me, I’d send them all there for the rest of their lives.”

Landry’s policies have been panned by criminal justice advocates who point out that the state already has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country

“When judges refuse to enforce boundaries or consequences, they’re not rehabilitating anyone,” Landry said. “What they’re doing is abandoning young people, until a tragedy like this becomes inevitable And you know what? That’s not justice, that’s negligence.”

State Sen. Rick Edmonds, a congressional candidate, said he has called for federal law enforcement to come to Baton Rouge. Last year, discussions surrounding a possible National Guard presence in Baton Rouge surged after Landry publicly requested the activation of 1,000 troops from the federal government.

Moore pointed out that Baton Rouge has its own unique problems that do not necessarily mirror other cities where troops have been deployed to patrol the streets.

Mayor-President Sid Ed

A broader push against judges

Landry has long criticized judges he says are letting violent offenders off easy allowing them to commit crimes again.

This year, Landry made “judicial accountability” a centerpiece of his “State of the State” speech and his legislative agenda. He has backed Senate Bill 123 by Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, which aims to give the Legislature the authority to remove judges it deems incompetent. Louisiana voters would need to approve the measure, as it requires changing the state constitution.

SB123 passed the Senate and needs to be greenlit by the House & Governmental Affairs Committee.

Morris also has sponsored a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would require a prosecutor’s approval for a defendant to opt out of a jury trial. That measure, Senate Bill 97, has passed the Senate and now needs House approval.

And House Bill 310 by state Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, would automatically reassign criminal cases to new judges when defen-

dants waive jury trials, unless prosecutors intervene. Proponents have argued the change would prevent defendants from opting for bench trials because they believe they have favorable judges. But critics argue criminal cases are randomly assigned in the first place, and they say the new rule would let prosecutors “judge shop” instead, and clog up courts.

The House initially rejected the bill in a tight vote, but it took up the measure a second time on Tuesday

The bill passed 57-36, after several Republican members changed their votes.

Carlson has said he brought the bill in part because he believes some judges acquit defendants even when the evidence proves they are guilty

Another measure, House Bill 140 by state Rep. Vincent Cox, R-Gretna, would give prosecutors more time to bring cases against juvenile defendants. That means youth could be held in detention longer

That bill passed the House on Monday after Cox scaled it back following an uproar from defense attorneys. It now heads to the Senate.

After afew storms and windyconditions thismorning,expect a mostly sunnytopartlycloudy, warm, humid and breezy afternoon with achance of rain. Whilethe worstofthe rain will be during the early morning,wemay also seeafew storms in the late afternoon. Temperatures will rise to the mid-80s,which is aboveaverage. Windswill be out of the southwestat10to15mph.Ifyou’re sneezing alot, that might be becausethe grass pollen is “high,”but dust and dander is also “veryhigh.” Also, the UVIisapproaching “veryhigh.

At least40homes damaged butno deaths reported

BY SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

ENID,Okla. Raeann Hunt scrambled to her cellar as atornado bore downonher Oklahomacommunity.“It is headed right for us,” she recalled thinking,asshe peeked outside, unable to contain her curiosity

Huddled inside the dark8-by-8 foot concrete shelter withher husband,brother-in-law anda neighbor,she heard roaring, metal slapping on the door andglassbreaking

Afterward, they emerged unscathed, but found the windows smashed out of the one-story brick home in Enid and the roof badly damaged. The scene was repeated Thursday night across the city of about 50,000 people about 85 miles north of Oklahoma City as theEF4 tornado hit. It was on the groundfor 9miles,packingwinds of 170to 175 mph and measuring 500 yards across at its widest, said Rick Smith, ameteorologist with the National Weather Service.

For those 30 to 40 minutes, at least 40 homes were damaged,

some blown off their foundations.

Butnoone waskilled and only minorinjuries were reported.

“People around here have a plan,” Hunt explained, noting that residents of this tornado-alley state are trained to either take shelterina room near thecenter of their home or get underground.

Basements aren’tcommon in Oklahoma because of the red clay soil and elevated water tables that make it difficult and expensive to installthem, but manyhomes like Hunt’s —have storm cellars or safe roomswith reinforced concrete walls where people can take cover

People here also know to flip on the TV and set up weather alerts on their phones —particularly in thespringtime, when theriskof violent twisters is highest

“Especially in Oklahoma, we have great meteorologists,” said Justin HuntofEnid, who described the storm’saftermath as a “disaster.”

Stormleavesrubbleinits wake

Commercial buildings just south of the city were turned into apile of twisted metal, splintered wood and insulation by powerful winds that pushed the buildings completely off the concrete foundations.

The tornado knocked down

BY EMILIE MEGNIEN and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

NAHUNTA, Ga. Avolunteer firefighter died battling awildfire in northern Florida whilemore than 120 homes have been destroyed in southeast Georgia and thousands more remainthreatened by two large blazes, one of which investigators suspect was sparked by an aluminum party balloon touching power lines, officialssaid Friday An unusually large numberof wildfires are burningthis spring across the Southeast, wherescientists say the threat of firehas been amplified by acombination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees still littering some forests afterbeing

toppledbyHurricane Helene in 2024.

In northern Florida, theNassau CountySheriff’s Office said Friday that volunteer firefighter

James “Kevin”Crews suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressinga brushfire.

Crews was rushed to ahospital wherehedied Thursday evening, according to anewsrelease posted to social media.

“Kevin was the epitome of courage and dedication,”Hilliard Volunteer Fire Chief Jerry Johnson saidina statement.“Hissacrifice will never beforgotten.”

‘Noway to stop this’without rain

After getting afirsthand look at firefightingefforts in southeast Georgia, Gov.Brian Kemp told re-

Violenttornado tearsthrough Oklahoma town

day morning salvaging what was left of hisson Joseph’swoodworking shop just south of thecity,along with some family members anda groupofvolunteerswho traveled from Kansas to help with cleanup.

“The tornado just swung right through here and just hit us directly,” Lamerton said,pointing to agiant mess of splintered wood beams, furniture, debris and heavy machinery that was pushed into amassive pile at the edge of thebuilding’sfoundation. “We’ve got stuff on the property we can’t even find.”

wasn’taloss of life.”

utility poles and left power lines wrapped with huge chunks of debris. Ahome hadpart of itsmetal roof torn off and trees wereleft strippedofbarkand limbs.Atanother home, asection of onewall hadpeeledaway to revealthe interior of the homewith some furniture still in place.

“Usually whenwecometoa neighborhood that’sbeen hit this bad, there’sone or two deaths,” Oklahoma Gov.Kevin Stitt said during anews conference Friday.“We’re just so thankful there

People pick throughrubble Police and fire departments and theOklahomaHighway Patrol conducted multiplehome searches, rescuing some trapped residents, Enid Mayor David Mason said Friday

“Supplies have poured in already,” Mason posted online. “This is whoEnidisinchallenging moments —wecontinue to show up for one another.”

DaveLamerton of Enid spent Fri-

AirForce base is damaged Fences andsomeequipment were knocked down at nearby Vance Air Force Base, about 80 miles north of OklahomaCity.The base was closed until further notice “due to ongoing power andwater restorationefforts,”itposted online Friday Everyone assigned to thebase has beenaccounted for and no injuries werereported, 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs Chief Ashley D. Hendricks said in an email Friday In Kearney,Missouri, north of Kansas City,officials reported downed trees, debris blocking roadways anddamage to homes on Thursday night afterstorms passed through the area.

porters that state officials believe 87 homes burned in rural Brantley County this week are themost ever destroyed by asingle wildfire in the state’shistory

An additional 35 homes have been losttoalarger fireburning in sparsely populated Clinch and Echols countiesnear theFlorida state line, Kemp said. That blaze has burned about 50 square miles, an area twice the size of Manhattan. Kemp said investigators suspect theBrantley County fire was sparked by an aluminum party balloon that touched livepower lines,creating an electrical arc that sparked flames on the ground.

Spread across more than11 square miles andstill growing, the BrantleyCountyblaze was 15% contained Friday, the Georgia

Forestry Commissionsaid. An estimated 4,000 homes in the county were under evacuation orders Friday,said commission spokesperson SethHawkins.

“There’snoway to stop this fire,” Kemp said. “They’re having to contain the flanks andthe back of it and then, hopefully,weget a change in the weather.” No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia. Firefighters are battlingmore than 150 other wildfires in Georgiaand Florida that have sent smoky haze into places farfrom the flames, triggering airquality warnings forsome cities.

‘I’m oneofthe luckyones’ Michael Gibson was at hisjob Thursdayatachicken feed pro-

ducer when his fiancee called urging him to comehome. By the time he arrived, firefighters were already on the road where Gibson, his fiancee and their four children lived. He said he took his family to safety and tried to return to salvage belongings, but police stopped him Gibson said thefireconsumed his mobile home andone beside it where his fiancée’sbrother lived. His family has been staying in a camper on arelative’sproperty

“We’velosteverything, but I’m one of the lucky ones,” Gibson said Friday.“We’ve been prepared to leave. And I’m

Climate change suit bill moves forward

BY DAVID J MITCHELL

Staff writer

A bill that would bar lawsuits seeking to hold oil and gas companies liable for damages from global climate change easily cleared

a key committee in the Louisiana Legislature on Thursday State Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, the sponsor of House Bill 804, explained that his bill is an attempt to prevent these kinds of suits from being filed in

state courts before a legal effort he says has gained momentum in other states arrives in Louisiana.

Geymann told the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee that up to 40 cases have been brought across the country,

primarily by local municipalities against U.S. oil and gas companies. The bill would also apply to other

He noted the example of the family of a Seattle, Washington, woman who sued oil companies last year in a wrongful

case after she died during a

Geymann called that suit and others like it “absurd” because they’re

GAINING SOUND

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

Lawmakers pause bill adding exemptions to records laws

Measure would have limited public information

BY ANDREA GALLO Staff writer

A legislative House committee on Thursday pumped the brakes on a bill that would add several exemptions for universities to Louisiana’s public records laws, saying the proposed law needed to be reworked.

Senate Bill 289, from Sen. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, could limit how much information the public can receive about who’s in the running for top leadership positions at universities, as well

as wall off donor information from the public.

While Abraham’s original bill would have kept university presidential search records entirely secret, he added a handful of amendments during Thursday’s House and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. They included changes that would require universities to reveal at least three finalists for top jobs, as well as limit the number of jobs that the new law would affect.

Originally, the bill said universities could hold secret searches for positions “including but not limited to” university presidents, chancellors, senior vice chancellors and

athletic coaches. Abraham stripped that phrase from the bill, designating those as the only positions where universities could block public release. He said he also decided to spell out that universities would have to name at least three finalists after hearing that some universities including LSU and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette — have named lone finalists for top jobs.

“It’s much more transparent that way,” Abraham said. Still, the amendments were not enough to persuade state representatives to move the

Crawfish breadhas deep rootsinMarksville

BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer

MARKSVILLE— Three days until Jazz Fest,the calendar on the wall warned. Akitchen timer blared. But John Ed Laborde calmly began another batch of dough the same way he begins every batchofdough that becomes,eventually, the base of his legendary crawfish bread. He scooped the flour and the yeast. He flipped on the mixer and,after it got going, added the oil. He nudged. He tasted. He smiled. Then he turned his attention to the next step, then the next, trying not to let himself think too far ahead in the logistical feat before him. Bringing eight days’ worth of crawfish bread from this humble plant in Avoyelles Parish to the New Orleans Jazz &Heritage Festival involves five weeks of preparation, some 4,500 pounds of crawfish, ninehulking convection ovens, hundreds of sheet pans and multiple 3-hour drives. This year,italso involved amassing peeledcrawfish amid aworker shortage. And, on the fest’sfirstmorning, dealing with an oven on the fritz.

was selling sausagebread in grocery stores across the parish andinShreveport, BatonRouge and New Orleans

“I am giving it the old American try,”hetold the reporter,“but Iamworking harder now than when Idid for the drug company.”

Laborde came up with crawfish bread, acalzone-like creation, in the mid-1980s, afterCajun cuisine won fans at the World’sFair.Hegot into Jazz Fest— becominga hit, thenatradition. He missed just one year,2023, after the fest’s administration made some changes to the food vendors’ contracts that Laborde couldn’tstomach.

teacher gave him the recipe, decades ago, for the dough. The manager of afuneral home, afrequent partner,is hisbest friend. Three generations of one Marksvillefamily have worked for him in the kitchen. Then there’shis family: One of his sons, Nicholas, handlesPanaroma Foods’online presence, from shipping to Facebook videos.

His other son, Christopher,a retired National Guard mechanic, handles the equipment, including the bum oven.His stepdaughter, Elizabeth Mayeaux, does the bookkeeping and takesthe catering orders.

‘You cansellthis!’

It started with sausage bread.

He missed it. And fans missed him, too, showing up in Marksville wearing Jazz Festshirts.

just different —you have to be in your business,” said James Bernard, founder of J Bernard Seafood. Since Bernard sold crawfish outofhis truck, he’s been supplying Laborde. The two have become friends, too, chatting aboutthe strugglesofowning asmall business.

Threeyears ago, Bernard built anew crawfish peeling plant with space for175 workers. But this year,because of delays in the H-2B temporary work visa program,just afew dozen people are peeling.

Getting Laborde the cooked crawfish tailmeat he’d need forJazzFestwas “top priority,”Bernard said. “Wehad his tucked away.”

‘WhenIstart to getnervous’

But Laborde, 67, is quick to laugh, even as he’sonhis knees, handing over ascrewdriver Over decades of slinging bread at the fest and catering events in the parish,he has built ateam he can count on, acommunity thathas his back. His high school theater

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“What size jambalaya?” she asked acaller on Monday, marking aform. They all try to keep Laborde from answering the phone. Because they know that he’ll agree to another wedding, another luncheon. But as arule, the company won’tturndown afuneral.

“When somebody passes away,you do it,” he said, shrugging, “whether Jazz Fest is tomorrowornot.”

Laborde was in his 20s,living in Lafayette and selling antidepressantsfor adrug company when he began baking sausage bread for his friends, also salespeople.

“And salesmen being what they are, they said, ‘You can sell this!’”

So he did, on the side.He’d been bored at work, meeting his weekly quotabyWednesday.Eventually he talked to his boss, whoencouraged him to follow this path and told him: His leaving would be like ahand pulling from abucketofwater,Laborde said, chuckling.

They’d fillinbehindhim, as if he were never there.

Afaded newspaper article hanging from his woodpaneled office tells the story of “26-year-old JohnEd Laborde of Marksville,betterknown as ‘The Man with the Pan.’” He brought asample to the district manager of Kroger He blew insulation into his aunt’s9-year-old van, turning it into amakeshift frozen food vehicle that, somehow, passed inspection. Soon, he

“I was really low,” he said. “I couldn’teven go fishing.”

So in 2024, after some negotiation, he returned.

Most days, Laborde arrivesatthe Marksville plant, which flies theJazzFestflag, at 3:30 a.m. He bakes cinnamonrolls andchats with the few customers who stop by to talk fishing or politics. (Laborde was mayor from 1994 to 1998, anda council member before that.) They included aplumber,onarecentMonday,and apairof construction workers.

By 7a.m., when his employeesclocked in,he’dreadied thefirst batches dough to be rolled, filled, baked, wrapped and frozen.

The companybought a dough divider. But much of the work is still done by hand. And Laborde still mixes each batch.

“Whatwedo, he do just the same,” saidTrineseBryan, 56, who has worked at Panaroma either part- or fulltime for 15 years. That includes wrappingbread, she said, and washing dishes “Being in the country,it’s

They’d left Marksville just after 4onThursday morning.

By 8:30, the team was unloading at the Fair Grounds, behind theirbooth in Food Area 1. Equipment andextension cords, foil sheets and paper towels.

At 9:10, they lit the ovens.

“This is when Istart to get nervous,” Laborde said, still smiling, his hand on one of the ovens in the booth’sback.

“It’snot gonna warmany faster with your hand on it,” said hisfriend Ryan Bordelon, thefuneral home manager By this point, Laborde had put $140,000 intoJazzFest and, basedonpastyears, he might notsellthatmuch crawfish, shrimp and sausage bread, for $11.50 apiece, until the fifth or sixth day. Laborde has never lost money on the festival, he said. But some years, especially the rainyones, things are tight. So it’sarisk, always.

“I’ve got somebills I’ve gotta pay,” he said. “The propane man, thedieselman Everybody’slooking for me next week.”

The group, whichwas formedlastyear,revealed thedata during LRTC Day at Innovate South as acomprehensivedata resource dedicated to understanding Acadiana’s technology sector Powered by labormarket data from Lightcast, it provides atrackable view of theregion’stechworkforce, including employment, wages, jobgrowth andin-demand skills.It wasofficially revealed during afireside chat at LRTC DayatInnovate South. “A year ago, we launched the LRTC on asimple belief that Acadiana’s tech communityneeded ahome,” saidChair Ben Johnson, CEOofTechneauxTechnology Services. “One year in,wehave that community,and now we have the data to back it up. This dashboardgives us somethingwe’venever hadbefore: ashared, honest picture of where we stand.” Other data shows the strengthofthe industry in Acadiana, including: n 6,218 jobs in the region, including 3,917 in Lafayette Parish.

n Overall jobs areup 13% since2010, but software developerroles are up 77% since 2020.

n More than two-thirds of jobs in the region are in manufacturing, energy, government or other fields not in the information and professional services sector The dashboard, available at lafayettetechdashboard .com, is astarting point for the industry in the region and itsimpact on the local economy,said Vice Chair Will LaBar,vicepresident of consulting services at CGI.

Late last year,detectives reviewing the cold case worked with the Acadiana Crime Lab to reexamine and retest evidence, resulting in asuccessful DNA match that identified the suspect as Dronet. Dronet was already being held at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on an unrelated domestic abuse charge and violation of protective order charge during the time of hisarrest.

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bill forward. They questioned its potential negative implications.

“What areas can we finda way to make this cleaner?” asked state Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria. “Because as an ethicsbody,we

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greenhouse gas emissionsof entire U.S. economic sectors on individual damages

“No. 1, you can’tfigure out who was to blame. Youcan’t find the emission. Youcan’t identifyit, so you just sue everyone,” said Geymann who chairs the committee.

The woman who triggered the Washington suit, Julie Leon, died from heatstroke in June 2021 when temperatures peaked at 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

Filedlast year in state court, her suit seeksdamages from ExxonMobil, Chevron and other companies, accusing them of spending decades misleading the public about climate change, as the companies continued to produce and burn fossil fuels, according to news accounts

“Tomake an arrest in this case after decades without answersreflects thevalue of attentiontodetail, sus-

don’twant peopletobeinthe dark.”

He said he was worried about “dark money” affecting universities. He said lawmakers needed to balance the public interest with protecting universities.

ScottSternberg, aFirst Amendment attorney,testifiedthatAbraham’samendmentsimproved thebill, but still questioned why thebill

tained commitment and the impact of taking afresh look at the evidence,”said Sheriff Mark Garber.“Advances in technology also playedanimportantrole, allowing investigators to reexamine key pieces of evidence in new ways. That combination ultimately madethe difference. I’m proud of theprofessional-

was necessary.Sternberg often represents The TimesPicayune| The Advocatein lawsuits, and was one of the attorneys who suedLSU in 2013 over itssecretive presidential search. That lawsuit endedwith an appealscourt rulingthat LSUhad to release names of finalists.

“Wespend alot of money on higher education in this state,and we pay these folks

ism andpersistence of our detectives that led to this outcome andtofinally beingabletoprovide closure in this case.”

On Dec. 2, 1994, LPSO responded to areport of a stabbing in the4200 block of Cameron Street. Meche, the victim, was taken to alocal hospital, where he later died from his injuries

alot of money,” Sternberg testified. “Determining how that person was selected is getting harderand harder for the public.”

Abraham said he worriesthat applicant pools are less qualified for university presidentialjobsbecause candidatesfeartheir names being made public. He also said that donors to university foundations are given ano-

concern.”

Meche was aMarine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam and owned Perry’sBarberShopinRayne. Dronet was arrested in Texasbackin1995inconnection witharmed robbery in Abbeville.In1994,hewas arrestedfor marijuana possession.

Dronet does notappearon Lafayette jail rosters.

nymity if they request it,but that if universities want donorinformation transferred over,itcould then become public

“The donations are where you’re losing me,” said state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia.

Beaullieu, thecommittee chair, later advisedAbraham to workwithopponents to rewritethe bill.

“Tome, the biggest takeaway is we have an as-is understanding of where we’re at,” he said. “If you’reabletodothat, you can start to build aplan, enroll people in theplanand get everyone rowing in the same direction. Iwas just superexcitedtohavethis line of sight.It’sincredible.”

Since its founding, the LRTC hashosted seven events thathaveattracted hundreds, launched a project-basedlearning program to connect 58 students with 32 industry mentors and made other effortstosupportthe industry

The initiative emerged from One Acadiana’sLeadership Exchange and is supported by theLafayette Economic Development Authority,Opportunity Machine and One Acadiana.

Several other legislators on thepanel echoed Geymann’sthoughts about what theysaw as aweak and overlylitigious attemptto connect purported climate change impacts with individual companies.

State Rep. TimKerner,RLafitte,said he was the mayor of Lafitte, acoastal fishingcommunity,for years and repeatedlyhad to recoverfrom hurricanesand other storms but wouldn’t have ever attempted to bring such asuit.

The first version of Geymann’s bill hadraisedconcerns that its language would unintentionally relieve industriesofliability for other emissions and for accidental releases. An amended version adopted without oppositionclarified it only applies to suits tied to climate change damage. The changes alsoremoved specificconditions theoriginal bill had set up to allow aclimate change suit to go forward and instead simply barred that kind of suit

Earlier suits brought by state and municipal governments have relied on similar legal reasoning. Maui County in Hawaii sued major oil companies in 2020, alleging increasing wildfire risk. Twoyears after the 2023 wildfires devastated Maui the county sued and won a court ruling that beat back a preemptive U.S. Justice Department lawsuit attempting to prevent thestate from bringing the case, according to Columbia LawSchool’s Sabin Center for Climate ChangeLaw In other cases, similar suits have been dismissed, including one brought by theNorthCarolina town of Carrboro against the utility DukeEnergy ‘Deepconcern’

Known as theLouisiana Energy Protection Act, the bill drewwidespread supportfrom groups that advocate for the state’soil and gas, chemicalindustries, and agricultural interests.

These groups arguedallowing suchlitigation would create newcosts for their industries, hamper economic growth andinvestment, andrepresent an improper attempttoset national energy policy through the courts.

“These lawsuitswillnot solve climate change.They will notimprove theenvironment. What they will do is raise costs and make it harderfor employ(ers) to invest and createjobs in this state,” saidDavid Cresson,president and chief executive officer of theLouisiana Chemistry Association.

Speaking for the Sierra Club’sLouisiana-based DeltaChapter,Peter Robins-Brown said the group opposed the bill because it would eliminate suits that could be a“tool” for spurring action on climate change globally

“This would remove one of thetools fromthe toolboxoftryingtofightback against climate change,” said Robins-Brown, who is alsoexecutive director of the Louisiana Progress advocacy group. He added that it was causing “deep

Decades of science have establishedthatthe burning of fossil fuels and other human-made introductions of greenhouse gasesinto the atmosphere have ledtoa 1.98-degree Fahrenheit rise in global temperatures between themid-19thcentury and2020, thelatestestimate of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded.

Thatrise, whichissharper than natural changes that occurredfor millions of years prior,iscontributing to greater weatherextremes and is projected to continue to raise sea levels andinundate coastalareas, according to the IPCC, an armofthe UnitedNations.

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Intel has best day since 1987 after profit report

NEW YORK A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report led the U.S stock market to records Friday while oil prices kept yo-yoing in the wait for what’s next with the Iran war Intel led the way and roared past its 2000 peak during the dot-com boom to an all-time high. It soared 23.6% for its best day since 1987 after reporting much stronger results for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of artificial-intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel’s chips and products, and the company’s forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts’ estimates. Such strong profit reports have helped Wall Street rally to records, and the S&P 500 has leaped nearly 13% in a little under a month. Hopes have also built in financial markets that the United States and Iran can find a way to avoid a worstcase scenario for the global economy because of their war Procter & Gamble rose 2.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said it saw broad-based growth across regions and products, which include Bounty paper towels and Tide detergent. That helped offset a drop of 25.5% for Charter Communications, whose profit for the latest quarter came in weaker than analysts expected. It lost 120,000 internet customers during the three months, more than some analysts expected.

Norfolk Southern’s profit falls 27%

Norfolk Southern railroad’s first-quarter profit fell 27% because it didn’t collect big insurance payments related to the East Palestine Ohio, derailment and its planned merger with Union Pacific added to its costs. The Atlanta-based railroad said Friday that it earned $547 million or $2.43 per share. That’s down from $750 million, or $3.31 per share, a year ago. The disastrous derailment in the small town on the OhioPennsylvania border has generally boosted earnings in recent quarters as the railroad collected insurance payments, but that wasn’t the case this time, so it combined with planning costs related to the merger, earnings per share were reduced by 22 cents. Last year’s results were also helped by some land sales.

CEO Mark George said the railroad also dealt with the uncertain economy that reduced the shipments it delivered by 1%, along with severe weather and rapidly rising fuel costs.

The railroad’s revenue was relatively flat at just under $3 billion. But its expenses jumped 15% when insurance payments from the derailment added $185 million to Norfolk Southern’s bottom line.

Stellantis deploying gun-sniffing K-9 units

Stellantis NV is deploying firearm-sniffing dogs at several auto plants, a move that’s raised concerns at one major factory over potentially creating a “prisonlike” atmosphere that could impact worker morale.

The K-9 units have already been working without issue for months at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Michigan, where the Ram 1500 pickup is made a local union leader confirmed. They are next headed to the Detroit Assembly Complex’s Mack plant, where the Jeep Grand Cherokee is built, according to a company statement.

The dogs and their handlers are there to “support workplace safety and employee wellbeing,” the Stellantis statement said, and were picked for their ability to work comfortably in a manufacturing environment.

Other major Stellantis plants are expecting to soon have K-9 units patrolling entrances, factory floors and parking lots — a move that several workers and United Auto Workers officials described as unusual.

Panama Canal reroute costing $4M

Businesses dodging ongoing chaos in Strait of Hormuz

BY ALMA SOLÍS and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press

PANAMA CITY Businesses have doled out as much as $4 million for last-minute plans to move boats through the Panama Canal in recent weeks, the Panama Canal Authority says, as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz generates a seismic shift in global trade flows

While passage through the canal usually comes at a flat rate via reservations, companies without one

can cross by paying an additional fee in an auction for slots, which are awarded to the highest bidder, rather than waiting for days off the coast of Panama City

The demand for slots skyrocketed and the price ballooned in recent weeks as Iran and the United States have bottlenecked the strait. Ships have increasingly traveled through the Panama Canal as shipments are rerouted and buyers purchase from other countries to avoid commerce through now-treacherous Middle Eastern waterway

“With all the bombings, the missiles, the drones companies are saying it’s safer and less expensive to cross through the Panama Canal,” said Rodrigo Noriega, a lawyer and analyst in Panama City. “All of this

is affecting global supply chains.”

Meanwhile, Panama’s government is “maximizing what it can earn from the Panama Canal,” Noriega said.

The average price to cross through the canal ranges between $300,000 and $400,000 depending on the vessel. Previously, to get an earlier crossing, businesses would pay an additional $250,000 to $300,000.

In recent weeks, the average additional cost has jumped to around $425,000.

Ricaurte Vásquez, the canal’s administrator, said one company that he would not name paid an extra $4 million when its fuel vessel had to change its destination because of ongoing geopolitical tensions.

“It was a ship carrying fuel to Eu-

rope and they redirected it to Singapore, and it needed to get there because Singapore is running out of fuel,” he said.

Other oil companies paid an excess of $3 million in addition to the crossing fee to accelerate their passage in the face of soaring oil prices.

The extra fees are becoming so high not because ships are piling up at the canal, but rather because of last-minute shifts and greater urgency for vessels to pass through in the wake of broader trade chaos, Vásquez said. He emphasized that these costs were temporarily being shouldered by companies based on their level of urgency “They decide how high to go on the price,” Vásquez said.

Chinese carmakers flaunt tech

Top automakers showcase latest models in Beijing

BY HAN GUAN NG and CHAN HO-HIM Associated Press

BEIJING China’s top automakers are showcasing their latest models and technologies from intelligent driving to ultrafast charging in Beijing as they compete with global rivals in overseas markets

Analysts say the biennial auto show in China’s capital, which opened to media on Friday, shows how its auto industry is setting the global pace for cutting-edge technologies in areas such as electric vehicles and batteries, eclipsing many foreign brands that used to dominate the global market.

More than 1,450 vehicles are on display at this year’s show, including 181 global debuts.

The show runs until May 3.

Intelligent driving, fast charging

Chinese EV maker XPeng is showing off its latest GX model, a six-seater SUV with a third row seats that can lie completely flat, among other new displays and technologies.

Huge crowds gathered for a presentation by its founder and CEO He Xiaopeng, who described more high-tech aspects of the vehicle.

“When you’re driving on the highway you fall asleep, or if you feel unwell and can no longer control the vehicle, the system can detect the situation, pull over automatically and alert emergency services,” He said “Many people who have tried it say it’s amazing.”

Chinese EV maker BYD showcased its new generation of the fast charging “blade” EV battery, first unveiled last month, which can achieve a near full charge in nine minutes, at the auto show, as well as demonstrated charging under the low temperature of minus 30 degree Celsius. Also showcased by Yijing, a EV joint venture between Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor Corp. and technology giant Huawei, was the X9, their flagship six-seat SUV.

According to Chairman Wang Junjun, the new model will features some of the latest auto technology, including a next-generation Qiankun intelligent driving system and a new HarmonyOS cockpit and operating system developed by Huawei.

Ahead of the show, Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled on Tuesday a new version of its “Shenxing” battery, which can be charged from 10% to 98% in only about six-and-a-half minutes.

China’s ‘aggressive’ advancements

The auto show showcases the “speed and aggressiveness of advancement” among Chinese automakers, said Tu Le, managing director of consultancy Sino Auto Insights. “It

just reinforces that the Chinese — whether in EVs, batteries, intelligent driving — are setting the pace for all these important sectors,” he said.

“China has become one of the fastestmoving markets for deploying and iterating new vehicle technologies, giving consumers early access to some of the most advanced features,” said Chris Liu, a senior analyst at research and advisory group Omdia China has become the world’s biggest car exporter, benefiting from its ability to reap cost advantages from its huge scale as well as significant government subsidies and support that helped automakers to rapidly scale up and more quickly rolling out new models and technologies than their foreign competitors.

But Chinese automakers has been facing immense pressure from ferocious price wars over the past months. This year, the government has scaled back subsidies encouraging drivers to switch to EVs and plug-in hybrids, weighing on domestic demand.

Sales of passenger cars in China dropped 23% in the January-March quarter from a year earlier to around 4 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. But exports jumped 63% to almost 2 million vehicles as Chinese cars made inroads in regions like Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Omdia forecasts China’s passenger vehicle exports will grow by around 14% year-onyear in 2026. The hypercompetitive Chinese market have pulled vehicle prices down by a fifth

over the past two years, according to a report this week by consultancy AlixPartners. Few new tech expected to be exported

Few of the new technologies showcased at the auto show may be exported to overseas markets in the short term due to regulatory and safety challenges, Liu said. But they signal “capabilities that can be refined and adapted for global markets over time.”

Even as foreign automakers have been losing market share in recent years in China, some are staging a comeback, with Volkswagen Group announcing on Tuesday plans for installing “agentic” AI into its vehicles for China. It also unveiled new EV models for the Chinese market, including the new UNYX 09 electric sedan co-developed with XPeng.

While the foreign car brands may try to “stabilize” their market share in China, “gaining back a significant market share they had before is, to my perspective, not realistic,” said Andreas Radics, managing director at Berylls by AlixPartners specialized in the automotive industry

Meanwhile, given the growing demand and often better profitability in overseas markets, Chinese automakers have been shifting from exporting cars from China to building more factories overseas, including in Hungary and Turkey, to increase supplies abroad and avert trade friction.

Chinese carmakers are likely to almost triple their overseas production by 2030 to 3.4 million vehicles from 1.2 million last year, according to AlixPartners estimates.

Chinese startup shook up world markets last year

BY CHAN HO-HIM and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press

HONG KONG — DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that shook world markets last year, launched preview versions of its latest major update Friday as the AI rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up.

DeepSeek’s V4 has been keenly anticipated by users looking to test how it compares to U.S. competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s

Gemini. Anthropic and OpenAI have accused DeepSeek of unfairly building its technology off their own.

Some industry analysts had expected the new model to arrive more than two months earlier at the start of the Lunar New Year

DeepSeek says the new V4 open-source models, which include “pro” and “flash” versions, have big improvements in knowledge, reasoning and in their “agentic” capabilities — the ability to perform complex tasks and workflows autonomously. Another big change is they are supported in part by computer chips made by Chinese tech giant Huawei, reducing DeepSeek’s reliance on U.S. chipmakers like

Nvidia. V4 is a successor to V3, an AI model that DeepSeek released in late 2024. But it was DeepSeek’s specialized “reasoning” AI model, called R1, that took markets by surprise with its release in January 2025. DeepSeek claimed it was more cost-effective than OpenAI’s similar model and it became a symbol of how China was catching up with the U.S. in technological advancements. DeepSeek said the “V4 Pro Max” version has “superior performance” in terms of standard reasoning benchmarks relative to OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 model and Google’s Gemini 3.0-Pro. It falls “marginally” short of GPT-5.4 and Gemini 3.1-Pro, it said. Deep-

Seek’s release came hours after OpenAI released its new GPT-5.5 model on Thursday In terms of “agentic” capabilities, the Chinese company said the V4 “pro” version could outperform Claude’s Sonnet 4.5 and approaches the level of Claude’s Opus 4.5 model based on its own evaluation.

The “flash” version of V4 performs on a par with the “pro” version on simple agent tasks and has reasoning capabilities closely approaching it, DeepSeek said.

“Based on the benchmark results, it does appear DeepSeek V4 is going to be very competitive against its U.S. rivals,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia.

Trumpneeds to be careful in feud with pope

Ron Faucheux

The pope and the president walk into abar No,thisisn’tthe start of ajoke. It’s noteven about who’s right or wrong on the warinIran.It’sabout how President DonaldTrump’srecent attacks on Pope LeoXIV havehurt the president’sstanding with the American people. Echoing popes throughout history, Leo hasurged theuse of diplomacy to keepaninternationalconflict fromspiralinginto awiderwar.“Work forpeace” and rejectthe “madness of war,” he said Trump took the pope’sremarks personally In response, he wrote,“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” criticizing Leoas if he were an electionopponent. Using campaign-style rhetoric,healso wentafter the pope for being “tooliberal.” The drama escalated when Trump posted an image of himselfasaChrist-like figure amove that 71% of Americans disliked, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll.

Then Vice President JD Vancegot into theact.At a Turning Point USA event in Georgia,hesaid he“kind of” likes itwhen the pope comments on politicalissues such as immigration, abortion, war and peace. Thenhesternly instructed thepope to “be careful whenhetalksabout matters of theology.” Huh?

Perhaps Vance shouldbemore carefulwhen he talks aboutthese matters, especially with this pope.Leo has taught canonlaw,served as an ecclesiastical court judge and led the worldwide Augustinianorder.Wouldn’tyou assume thepopeisalreadypretty well versedontheology, including St. Augustine’stheory ofa“just war”?

PerhapsTrump should explain to the Americanpeople why the conflict with Iran meets the standards of ajust war.Ifhedid, maybe his poll numbers would go up. Right or wrong, most Americans are unhappy with the war:only31% approveofit, andjust 34% support thepresident’shandling of it.Bya two-to-one margin, U.S. adults are more likely to approve the pope’s statements than to disapprove Trump’sfavorable rating among U.S. votersis43%;Pope Leo’sratingis61%.

In 2024, Trump beat Kamala Harrisbya 20-pointmargin among Catholicvoters, accordingtoexitpolling. That was crucialtohis election,and Catholic voters willbecrucial in the next one.

But let’sbeclear: This doesnot mean that Catholicsnecessarily agreewith all the pope’s public statements, nor does it mean that non-Catholics disagree with them. It also doesn’tmean that aU.S. president should seek the pope’s approval before he pursues policygoals; John Kennedy made that clear when he became the firstCatholic president Still, itdoes apresident no goodwhendisagreementwith asitting pope sinks into apolitical mud fight.Historically presidents have understoodthis.

In 1848, President JamesK.Polkasked Congresstoestablish diplomatic relations with the PapalStates while Pius IX was pope. WoodrowWilson was thefirst president to meetapope, Benedict XV.Franklin Rooseveltappointeda personal envoy to PiusXII. Dwight Eisenhower met John XXIII,helping normalize face-to-face engagement.Kennedymet both John XXIII and Paul VI and was careful not to appear subservient to either.Lyndon Johnson and Paul VI were friendly but often disagreed overpeace effortsinVietnam. Richard Nixon was the third president to meetPaul VI, and GeraldFord the fourth.

John Paul II was the first pope to visit the White House, doing so during Jimmy Carter’spresidency.RonaldReagan’srelationship with John Paul IIisoftenconsidered the most consequential; both workedtolimit Soviet powerand support Poland’s freedom.

Recent Democratic presidents —Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the second Catholic president —had cordial relations with reigning popes,though theyhad serious differences over abortionand family issues. GeorgeW Bush and Benedict XVI disagreed overthe IraqWar Trump was the firstmodernpresident to publicly feud with apope. He didn’thesitate to attack Francis, especially on immigration and climate issues.Trump calledthe pope’s views “disgraceful” and accusedhim of being a“pawn” of theMexican government.

Trump’ssupporters are correct to saythe president has a right to defend his policies. But howhedoes it alsomatters. Startinganunnecessary fight withthe pope couldweaken public support forhis agenda and that could undermine his party’schances in November’selections. That’swhy,for Trump and his allies, this matterisnojoke.

Ron Faucheux is anonpartisan politicalanalyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana

Don’t shield audience from Trump’scrude language

On your April6frontpage, you headlined “Trump(‘s) ...fiery new threat againstIran”but failed to describe what was saidbyPresident Donald Trump that warranted thedescription of “fiery.”

Your incompletereport was surprising, as Ialways expect the complete story from this newspaper.Inthis instance, your omission failed to notify your readers of theshocking language used by the president,revealing his unsuitabilityfor his position again.

Not quoting Trump’s“fiery” language may have been an attempt to downplay his coarse responses in critical situations, which were

widely reproduced. Or perhaps it was an attempt to shield your readers from his vulgarity? If the latter,permit me to note thatalmost all television andmost print media have usedverbatim the vulgar words utteredbyTrump (theF-wordand others) that, unfortunately,are usedrepeatedly in the public domain.

Whatever your intention, your incomplete descriptionhas deprived your readers again of more evidence of Trump’sinability to deal carefully,coolly andcapably with thecrises of ourworld.

ELLEN AND STAN KESSLER Metairie

3-year degree astepinthe wrongdirection

Iread your March 29 article “Higher ed leaders OK three-year bachelor’s degree” by reducing Louisiana colleges’long-existing four-year bachelor’sdegree programs to three years.

On that very same day,the New York Times reported that “The economics of degrees have changed.” Andthat “too many graduatefrom colleges with uselessdegrees.”

Several days later,onApril 2, you reported that “UNO to see some academic changes” by eliminating andreducing aselected number of courses, programs and even whole

departments. While Louisiana ranks among thebottom three states (along with Mississippi and West Virginia)in higher education, ourso-called “education leaders” persist in “reforms” that, over the intermediate and long term, result in lowering our ranking evenmore.

The bestinterpretation is that while Louisiana hasmade progress in some academic areas, it continues to struggle with overall proficiency rates and long-term student outcomes.

PHILIP MONTELEPRE NewOrleans

Anothergreat year to be part of Crescent City Classic

Iamwriting to thank all those involved with organizing the Crescent City Classic for theflawless execution of the 48th event on April 4. As a‘Yattransplant to theRed Stick who ran in thefirst CCC, Istill come back every year for this fun run from Champions Square by Caesars Superdomethrough downtown New Orleansand theFrench Market area, and then proceeding

down Esplanade Avenue with an end at the beautiful City Park. This year,itwas great to run as acharityrunner for “Ainsley’sAngels” team and to see friends and members of other teams that I’ve run with in the past, like the “New OrleansMusician’s Clinic Team” and “Team Steve Gleason.” Geaux CCC!

KEITH HORCASITAS Baton Rouge

Cassidy’sTV messagefalls flat

Sen. Bill Cassidy’sTVadurges us to “call Dr.Cassidy and thank him”for his work with President Donald Trumpingetting afentanyl law passed. Ifind the message to be arrogant. We need to call Cassidy and thank him fordoing his job? Doeshethank his refuse collector fortaking out his trash? Does he thank the folks cooking his meals at restaurants? We thank people when they do an exceptional job, not simply when they’re doing the minimum.Cassidy,inmyopinion, hasn’tdone anything exceptional since he becameasenator.That said, I’ll have to hold my nose and vote forhim in November simply because he’s“the devil Iknow.” What amess.

JOHN SINGLETON Baton Rouge

Don’tignorebillon

toxicpollutants

Senate Bill 356, currently before the Louisiana Legislature, is an important bill to pass. The bill, which should be heard in the Senate Environmental Quality committee, requires certain industrial facilities to monitor toxic pollutants. This well-written bill will save the industry and the state significant money and will improve the health of Louisianans.

MARION FREISTADT NewOrleans

LSUshouldremembercoaches are also supposed to be role models

Are we that desperate in Louisiana? Icould hardly believe my eyes when Isaw that LSU rehired Will Wade as its new basketball coach. According to the newspaper,he wasfound guilty of multiple serious NCAA violations, including improper payments and unethical conduct. He also made payments to the fiancee of aplayer and failed to produce requested documents. He received a10gamesuspension to start

the 2023-24 season. All of this information was published. Sadly,this is the person LSU hired not only to lead its basketball team,but to be arole model to the young men and women that he will come in contact with as acoach. With the thousands of good men and womenwilling to coach at LSU, how could they settle foranything less?

KIMMINOR NewOrleans

Cajuns

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Saints beef

defense with pick of Georgia DT Miller

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

After using their first-round pick to add an offensive playmaker, the New Orleans Saints kicked off Day 2 by investing in the trenches with Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller

ä NFL draft Rounds 4-7

11 A..M. SATURDAy ABC, ESPN, NFLN

The 6-foot-4, 321-pound Miller excelled as a run defender, anchoring a defense that finished the 2025 season as the nation’s No. 4 run defense. He has a stout frame and a big reach, with an 80-inch wingspan. And the Georgia native is also, apparently, persuasive. After the Saints selected him, he quickly pivoted to changing his family’s long-held rooting interests.

“They gotta convert,” Miller said of his family, who supported the division rival Atlanta Falcons. “They are dirty birds fans, but they ain’t dirty birds no more.”

Originally a four-star recruit, Miller spent his entire college career at Georgia — opting to stay with the Bulldogs after redshirting as a true freshman. He cracked the starting lineup in his redshirt freshman season, then started 24 of his final 26 games. He considered entering the NFL draft after his redshirt sophomore season, but he

set to

show off progress during Red-White game

UL starting quarterback Lunch Winfield will participate in the annual Red-White spring game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium.

Just don’t expect to see him get tackled.

Last year, all of the UL quarterbacks were live in the spring game, but only the backups — Daniel Beale, Sam Altmann and Coleman Carter will be this time around.

“They’ve been live in every scrimmage that we’ve had, which has been good for them,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “They need that. Like I said, a little bit of it with some young guys on the offensive line, they had some pressure — a little bit in their face, and they’ve had to stand in there And some of the things that, you know, stand in there and make throws, standing there and take hits.”

The format will be two 20-minute halves with no live kicking. The ball will be placed at the 30 after scores.

“We just want to get enough where those guys get to play and kind of get to go out there and get in the rhythm a little bit,” Desormeaux said. “It’ll be pretty short, sweet and to the point. The bulk of the work is done.”

Because of injuries and other depth-chart issues, there will be some positions with crossover players who play on both teams when necessary

“We’ll try to split it up as evenly as possible,” Desormeaux said. “There will be some of that stuff that will be a little bit different, but really we’re just looking forward to letting the guys go out there one more time this spring.”

Among the top players missing from the spring game

These Tigers having splendid spring

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

LSU’s first spring practices under coach Lane Kiffin are almost over

The Tigers scheduled 15 practices from March 24 through Saturday, and they’ve been using that time to turn a mishmash group of returners, freshmen and transfers into one cohesive unit After one of the earlier sessions, Kiffin likened his offense to an “expansion team ” There’s lots of new faces — and not much time to get them all on the same page. Who from the group has stood out from the rest?

Here’s an alphabetical list of 10 players who have caught our eye during spring practices so far

S • TY BENEFIELD Benefield was one of the early standouts, and he didn’t even have to make any plays in team drills. He just looks the part. The Boise State transfer led Mountain West safeties in tackles for loss (8.5) last season, and it’s not hard to see why He’s long, tall and rangy LSU is lining him up at free safety next to Tamarcus Cooley, but he could play down in the box at times next season. Kiffin seems open to moving

his top three safeties around the field.

LG • BO BORDELON Bordelon is a fifth-year senior who’s started only one game, yet he’s spent all of spring as the first-team left guard. The Tigers haven’t put anyone else at that spot so far which means he’ll begin preseason camp as the favorite to land that starting job. It’s a surprise. Last year, Bordelon was a tackle who saw the field only when LSU used jumbo sets. Kiffin and his staff seem to think he can do more.

QB LANDEN CLARK Clark, a transfer quarterback from Division II Elon, is Kiffin’s developmental project. In the spring, he’s traded firstteam reps with Southern Cal transfer Husan Longstreet while starter Sam Leavitt (foot) is sidelined Those reps have been valuable for the redshirt sophomore, who’s made steady progress since the Tigers opened practice. He can scramble, and he’s flashed some downfield accuracy, too.

RT WESTON DAVIS Davis started at right tackle for LSU last season, but he had a rough year Only three SEC offensive linemen allowed more pressures than he did (33), according to Pro Football Focus. Davis decided

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSU’s worst fear on the mound has become true.

Cooper Moore is out for the year The junior right-hander, who exited his start against Oklahoma on March 20 and hasn’t returned since, will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a fracture in his right elbow, LSU coach Jay Johnson confirmed to The Advocate on Monday

ä Extras in Starkville: LSU at Mississippi St.ended after this edition went to press.For game coverage,visit theadvocate.com

Basically, Moore has a stress fracture at the tip of his elbow Johnson said he’ll need fourto-five months to recover from the injury

“The thought was he could throw through it,” Johnson said on his radio show, “but what this does is it allows him to recoup a medical redshirt and allows him to still be a junior next year.”

The big question remaining for Moore is whether he’ll be back in the purple and gold next season. The Kansas transfer is drafteligible in July, even if Johnson said Monday that he will be back in 2027.

7:55

3p.m.

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4p.m. Texas A&M at Florida SECN

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7p.m. Texas at Vanderbilt SECN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

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11 a.m. Clemson at DukeESPN2

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1p.m. Penn St. at Illinois BTN

1:30 p.m. Georgia at Oklahoma ESPN2

ROTATION

Continued from page1C

“He’ll be back and pitching for LSU next year,” Johnson said, “and he’ll still have the junior leverage type deal in the draft.”

The risk of taking Moore in the draft is substantial because of his injury and the fact that he threw only eight innings in Southeastern Conference play.But he did have an impressive campaign last season at Kansas, and he posted a 3.38 ERA thisyear with justseven walks in 32 innings before getting hurt Moore doesn’thavethe biggest frame and isn’tthe hardest thrower on the staff, but he pounds the strike zone and has one of thebest changeups on the team. That skill set wassupposedtobeasteadying force for ayoung rotation this season.

“There’snot as many spots in pro baseball, and if he’snot able to pitch, it harms that,” Johnson said Tuesday.“Iguess somebody could

SAINTS

Continued from page1C

returned to Georgiaand solidified himself as aprospect,earning first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors as asenior

“It was the best decisionIever made,” Miller said. “I could’veleft for the NFL last year,but that was the easy way out for me. Iwanted to be challenged. Iwanted to come back andsee howI can be better in college.”

As aplayer,Miller had acolorful description for his playingstyle.

“I want to run through some-

TIGERS

Continued from page1C

to return to the Tigers forhis redshirt sophomore year,and now he’sholding off afew transfers for his starting spot. LSU hasn’t putanyoneelsethereinpractices open to reporters.Kiffinsaid Tuesday that Davis has a“high ceiling” and that he’s“done agood job” so far

•DEUCE GERALDS

DT

LSU has afew veteranswho can shore up the defensive line, but a freshman has run ahead of two of them in spring practices. Geralds signed with the Tigers as one of the nation’stop-60 recruits, according to 247Sports composite rankings, and now it looks like he’s in line for amajor roleright away LSU has been rotating its starting defensivetacklesinteamdrills, but Geralds and Auburntransfer Malik Blocton usually have been the firsttwo on the field.

•JACKSON HARRIS

WR

LSU has abunch of newcomers at wide receiver but no clear No. 1target. Can Harrisstep into that role? The Hawaii transfercaught three touchdowns in the second spring scrimmage in Tiger Stadium, flashing an ability to pick up yards after the catchand bring down toughgrabs against tight coverage. He has size (6-foot-2, 202 pounds) and speed, but time will tell whether he’ll havea startingrole.Several wideouts could emerge.

RB

•DILIN JONES Jones has run aheadofboth Harlem Berry and Caden Durham in spring practices. Things could change in August, and LSU is expected to use arotation of running backs anyway,but it’s clear thatJones hasimpressed Kiffinand the coaching staff. The 5-11, 211-pound tailbacktrans-

2p.m. North Carolina at Virginia Tech ACCN

4p.m. Florida St. at GeorgiaTech ACCN

4p.m. TexasTech at Arizona St. ESPN2

5p.m. UCLA at Washington BTN GOLF

noon PGATour:Zurich ClassicGOLF

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2:30 p.m. Oklahoma City at Phoenix NBC

5p.m. Newyork at Atlanta NBC 7:30 p.m. Denver at Minnesota ABC

take him,but you’re taking him with nopitching onthe horizon.

“I know our conversations, and that’sall Ican gooff of.”

LSU would benefitfrom having Mooreback for the same reasons that he wasvaluabletothe Tigers this season.The trio of sophomore right-hander Casan Evans, Moore and sophomore right-handerWilliam Schmidt gave LSUits deepest starting rotation in Johnson’s tenure —three true starters for aprogram that usually operates with only two.

Nextyear,LSU will hope Schmidtand Evans take steps forward in their development. Both have showed flashes of their immense potential this season.

Schmidt has 67 strikeouts in 50 innings.Evans has 76 strikeouts in 522/3 innings Finding consistency next season will be the keytotheir success. Evanshas a5.47ERA, while Schmidt gaveupseven earned runs in his last start against Texas A&M.

“I think if we get alittle bit more out of our starters, not alot more,”

body’sface,” Miller said. “I seek physicality,I wantphysicality. This is what Iwas taught,it’show I’ve always been and that’s… what Ilive by.”

New Orleans opted to take Miller —considered by some to be a potential first-rounder —rather than bolstering other needs on defense, such as edge rusher or slot corner

But while there’snot aclear need now at defensive tackle, Miller is aninvestment in the future. While both starters from last year’s unit —Nathan Shepherdand Davon Godchaux —are returningfor 2026, both areinto their 30s and entering the final

NFL

11 a.m. NFLDraft: Rounds 4-7 ABC, ESPN NHL

2p.m.CarolinaatOttawa TBS

4:30 p.m.DallasatMinnesota TBS

7p.m.Pittsburgh at Philadelphia TBS

MEN’S SOCCER

9a.m.Crystal Palace at Liverpool NBCSN

9a.m.Tottenham at Wolverhampton USA

11:30 a.m.NewcastleatArsenal USA

3:30 p.m.LAFCatMinnesota United FOX

6p.m.Rhode Island at HartfordCBSSN

8p.m.ClubLeónFCatToluca CBSSN

10 p.m.Atlas at Club América CBSSN

WOMEN’S SOCCER

11:10 a.m.Barcelona at Bayern Munich CBSSN

noon BayFCatGotham FC CBS

5:30 p.m.Boston at ChicagoION

7:45 p.m.San DiegoatDenverION UFL

6p.m.St. Louis at Orlando ESPN

Johnson said, “(combined) with that contribution(from the bullpen),we’re going to be in games.”

Given that LSU will need to replace mostofits lineup next season, it’sapromising sign for Johnson that his starting rotation may be set for2027. Starting pitching is what won LSUanational championship last season, and it has guidedthe programthrough its highest highs since 2023, when the Tigersarguably had thebest collegepitcher of his generation in PaulSkenes.

Moore’sinjury,and Evans and Schmidt’sgrowing pains have resulted in LSUtaking astepback in that department this year.But for 2027, Johnson potentially has found himselfinanunprecedented spotwithhis starting rotation since he’sarrived in Baton Rouge —all three arms coming back for another year

Email Koki Rileyatkoki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/ lsunewsletter

year of their contract. The Saints also appeared to add another positive personality to their locker room. “He’s always got abig smile on his face,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said during theteam’spro daythis spring. “He lovesfootball. Ithink that’sthe overarching theme of alot of teams; he’s been very talkativeinmeetings. He’s got abig personality,and Ithink it comes naturally to him.He’sbeen agreat asset for us.”

Miller joins an impressive list of Georgia defensive linemen who have been drafted high in recent years, including first-round picks JalenCarter, Travon Walker,Jor-

dan Davis andDevonta Wyatt. Georgia playedinthe Sugar Bowl twice during Miller’stime there, and through that time he gained an appreciation of the city —somuch so that he had told someone before thedraftthathe needed to makehis wayback for Mardi Gras.

Buthe’salso got abit of ascore to settle in NewOrleans.

“Welost the Sugar Bowltwo times in arow,” Millersaid. “So trust me, Igot abad taste in my mouth. We’re going to turn that around for sure.”

Email Luke Johnsonat ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

LSU widereceiver Phillip Wright makes acatch during spring practice

practicefacility

ferred in from Wisconsin, where he rushed 76 times for 300 yards andtwo touchdownsasa redshirt freshman in 2025 before atoe injury ended hisseason after seven games.

LT •JORDAN SEATON Seaton made this listonly because he recentlyunderwent a physicaltransformation, andnow he looks even leaner and meaner than he didwhen he starredat Colorado. Will his newphysique allow him totap into more mobility? Andwill thatadded athleticism help LSU run the ball? It’s tough to tell in spring practice because the Tigers aren’ttackling yet, but it’seasy to envision the possibilities that the transfer por-

tal’stop offensive lineman brings with him to Baton Rouge.

WR •WINSTONWATKINS Watkins, atrue sophomore, might be primed for abreakout year.Healready knows Kiffin’s offense, which gives him an edge over the other wideoutswho have been jockeyingfor snaps in spring practices. The Ole Miss transferisaslotreceiver,and he’s shown that he knowshow to create separation on his underneathroutes. In the second scrimmage LSUheldinTiger Stadium, Watkins caught ateamhigh 10 passes. He was all over thefield.

WR •PHILLIPWRIGHT

Don’t overlook Wright, the

only wide receiver who reupped with LSUthrough the coaching change. The Destrehan product canfly,and he’s shown offhis speed afew times in spring practices.The problem for Wright is thatthe Tigers signedthree veteran wideouts who already have proven that they can burndefenses over the top: Jayce Brown (Kansas State), TreBrown (Old Dominion) and Harris (Hawaii). TreBrown sat outspring with an apparent foot injury,giving Wright an opportunity to push for snaps.Itlooks like he took advantageofit.

Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

Alcaraz to miss French Open with wrist injury

MADRID Carlos Alcaraz won’tplay for athird successive French Open title due to aright wristinjury Alcaraz posted on XonFriday that he alsowould notappear in thepreceding Italian OpeninRome, where he alsowon lastyear No. 2-rankedAlcaraz wasinjured at the Barcelona Open this month during hisfirst-round win andwithdrewthe day after He pulled out of this week’s MadridOpenand attendedthe Laureus WorldSportsAwards in theSpanish capital on Mondaywith hiswrist immobilized.Alcaraz was named world sportsman of the year at the gala Alcarazconfirmed he wasanogo for Paris after undergoing more medical tests on Friday.

The French Open opens on May 18

Arkansas to drop men’s, women’stennisprograms

FAYETTEVILLE,Ark. Arkansasisdropping its men’sand women’s tennis programs following the2026 season forfinancialreasons.

“The landscape of college athletics continues to evolve, requiring us to make challenging choices as we balance competitive opportunities, resources and the long-term sustainability of ourdepartment,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said in astatementFriday. “Ultimately,weconcluded that we are unable to provide the level of support necessary forour tennis programs to consistently compete in the SEC and nationally at the standard ourstudent-athletes,coaches alumniand supporters deserve.” Discontinuation of the tennis teams leaves Arkansas with 17 sponsored sports.

Furyk is returning as U.S. Ryder Cup captainfor 2027

HOUSTON Jim Furyk is returning as U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland as the Americans trytoget back on track against aEuropean team that has dominated the last three decades.

The PGAofAmerica on Fridayafternoon confirmedanAssociated Press report on Furyk’s selection, which makes him the fourth U.S. captain to get asecond chance dating to 1979, considered the modern era of the Ryder Cup when continental Europebecame part of it.

The Ryder Cup committeechose Furyk once Tiger Woods removed himself fromcompetition after his March 27 arrest on suspicion of DUI.

Furyk wasthe 2018 captain in Paris, a17 ½-10 ½ winbyEurope.

Francetostep downaschief executive officerofNASCAR

CHARLOTTE,N.C.— NASCAR majority ownerJim France is stepping down as chief executive and will be replaced by president Steve O’Donnell, according to multiple reports.

Francewill remain as NASCAR’s chairman and his majority ownership stake will not change. O’Donnell will be the first person outside the France family to hold the CEO title of NASCAR. Bill France Sr.founded the United States’ mostpopular racing series in 1948 and always had afamily member in thetop role priortothe changesexpected to be announced at TalladegaSuperspeedway in Alabama on Saturday Ben Kennedy,France’sgreatnephew,will be promoted to chief operating officer

Raptors’ Quickleytomiss rest of 1st-round series vs. Cavs TORONTO— Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley aggravated his strained right hamstring while working his wayback from the injury andwill notbeavailable during Toronto’sfirst-round playoff series against Cleveland, the team said Friday Quickley averaged 16.4 points, acareer-high 5.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 70 games in the regular season. He scored at least 20 points in 20 games and recorded eight double-doubles. After missing several lateseason games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, Quickley injured his hamstring in Toronto’sregular-season finale against Brooklyn. Jamal Shead hasstarted in Quickley’splace against the Cavaliers.

TerryRobinson

FAITH MATTERS

Minister shares life story, lessons

To know Brusly minister Eva Lloyd Collins’ life story is to understand the foundation that hasshaped her into astrong woman of faith.

That foundation is reflected in the title of her new book, “My LifeStory: Memories Living Southwest of Button River” (Hawes and Jenkins Publishing), areference to the area southwest of Kentwood where Collins grew up.

Collins, 79, shares a story that is sometimes humorous and engaging andat other times deeply personal, provocative and even abit uncomfortable.

While “My Life” may not be classified strictlyasafaithbasedbook, it offers meaningful insight into the experiences that have informedher spiritual journey.Collins, who has been in the ministry for30 years, is amember of theIsraelite Baptist Church in Brusly “The church was agreat part of my upbringing. Ifound solace in God’sWord,friendship and fellowship that was genuine,” writes Collins.

“The companyitself has not only made me amore confident performer, but it’salso helpedme becomeamore well-rounded person and abetter teacher.”

MARy-BETH BLANCHARD-LOFTIN,on theLouisiana Shakespeare Company

Collins begins with vivid reflections on her childhood, drawing readers into her early lifegrounded by Christian principles.

Her father exemplified alife of service by planting acres of produce and sharing with others.

“My daddy used to always say everything comes from God, and don’tmake aGod of anything. Now Irealize that my daddy plowed, planted and cared for his garden and fields, but it was God who gave the increase,” she writes.

She effusively extolsthe godly women mentorswho helped shapeher upbringing, including her mother,aunts and numerous educators —among them music and Sunday school teachers —who sparked her interest in reading and writing and sparkedher desire to pursue acareer in education

From there,Collins captures attention with stories from her collegeexperiences at Southern University,where she earned her undergraduateand graduate degrees in education.

She then transitions into thebeginnings of her 33-year career in public education, highlighting the dedication and perseverance that defined her professional life. Though semiretired, Collins remains active withatutoring business.

The remainder of the 113page book shifts in structure with acollection of poems, songs, devotionals and class assignments from her time at Christian Bible College, where ä See MATTERS, page 6C

MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING

TheLouisiana ShakespeareFestival brings ‘The Bard’toBaton Rouge

BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer

Taking Shakespeare to the streets is one of themain missions of the LouisianaShakespeare Company, and they’rebringing “The Bard” to downtown Baton Rouge 10 a.m. to 2p.m. May 9atthe Capitol Park Museum forthe secondannual Louisiana Shakespeare Festival.

The festival will include short scenes from the2025-2026 season, library programscenes, sword and hand-to-hand combat demonstrations,STEM ink-making experiences, Renaissance dance, an Elizabethancostume exhibitand aseason preview of the company’s upcoming productions.

Jennifer Bouquet, the talented theater teacher at Glasgow Middle School and oneofthe foundersof the Louisiana Shakespeare Company,says the four-hour festival is afree day of Shakespeare.

“Ourmotto for the companyis that Shakespearebelongs to everybody,”Bouquet said,“andwe intentionally use thatword ‘belongs’ becausenot everybodyis

into Shakespeare, and that’sOK. Bouquet, Katy Truluckand Liz Odom-Dalton founded the Louisiana Shakespeare Company in September of 2023. By December, theyhad their 501(c)(3) status and premiered the company.Through free library programming, theater productions and the festival, the

company provides accesstoShakespeare in Baton Rouge.

“Whenpeoplethink of Shakespeare, they automatically get triggeredbecause theythink of English class. But, if you’ve never hada fair shot at understanding

ä See FESTIVAL, page 6C

Psst:Peopledon’t want to go to your kid’sparty anyway

Dear Miss Manners: Iamplanning abirthday party for my 3-yearold daughter.Last year, for her second birthday, we did asmall event at home, and she was pleased about it. Ionly invited friends from her day care to make it special for her For her first birthday, Iinvited her friends and their parents to our home. Ialso invited her day care teachers. But it was a lot of preparation to do on my own, and the guests were not really friends of ours. Also,the day care staff sat with the par-

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

ents, which affected the social scene foreveryone. Iwas really busy with all the activities for kids, and also with the cake and food. Even though my daughter really enjoyed the party,itlacked social value. For this year,wehave booked akids’ venue for the party and are carefully choosing people to invite, rather than ask every colleague and acquaintance of ours. For instance, Ichosenot to invite some friends of my husband’sbecause Ididn’twant it to be areunion for them. ButIam

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Saturday, April 25, the 115th day of

2026. There are 250 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On April 25, 1898, the United States Congress declared war against Spain. The 16-week Spanish-American War resulted in an American victory,after which the U.S. took possession of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam. Also on this date: In 1507, aworld map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller contained the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

In 1859, ground was broken in Egypt for construction of the Suez Canal.

In 1915, during World WarI,Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war In 1945, during World WarII, delegates from 50 countries opened aconference in San Francisco to create the Charter of the United Nations.

In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to commercial traffic, connecting all five Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery

(It was later discovered that the telescope’sprimary mirror was flawed, requiring the installation of corrective components to achieve optimal focus.) In 2014, city officials in Flint, Michigan, changed the sourceofits water supply fromLake Huron (provided by the city of Detroit) to the Flint River in acost-cutting move Theriver water exposed Flint residents to dangerouslevelsof lead and bacteria, leading to apublic health crisis that took five years to resolve.

In 2015, amagnitude7.8 earthquake rocked Nepal, killing nearly 9,000people, injuring more than 22,000 othersand damaging some 1million houses and buildings.

In 2022, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, promising amorelenient approach to policing content on the social media platform that he would rebrand asX

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Al Pacino is 86. MusicianproducerBjörnUlvaeus (ABBA) is 81. Actor Talia Shireis80. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is 64. Actor Hank Azaria is 62. Sportscaster Joe Buck is 57. ActorGina Torres is 57. ActorRenée Zellweger is 57. Actor Jason Lee is 56. Basketball Hall of Famer TimDuncanis 50. Singer and actor Sara Paxton is 38.NFL safety Jordan Poyer is 35. Actor Allisyn Snyder is 30.

RELIGION BRIEFS

FROM STAFFREPORTS

Sounds of CommUNITY Concert

The Annual Sounds of CommUNITY Concertof theInterfaithFederation of Greater Baton Rouge will take place at 3p.m. Sunday at Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 185 Eddie Robinson Dr., Baton Rouge. The concert will feature awide variety of cultures and faith musical performing groups and soloists. The event is free and open to the public. Rev.Fred Jeff Smith of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church will make introductory remarks. This year’stheme is dedicated to the federation’s mission of Unity,Justice and Pease, according to Errin Gaines, Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge board of directors president. This concert series was established in 1991 by the late Rev Charles T. Smith, who was pastor at Shiloh.

The Interfaith Federation board of directors invites all congregations to attend and reminds the community of theimportance of bringing the interfaith community together

“Music and art are ways that we express ourselves andour faith, no matter our tradition,” said Gaines

Participating congregations include Shiloh, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,Heritage Choir,Trinity Episcopal Church, Living Faith ChristianCenter,Episco-

having alot of nervousness and cannot stop thinking about who to invite. Idonot want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but at thesame time, Idon’twant our efforts to go in vain. Idon’twant to lose social statusatthis party again. Ineed some guidance on navigating thesocial dynamics of a birthday party.How do Ibalance inviting people who arehelpful to me as friends with inviting people who have moresocial value?

Gentle reader: How about not using your 3-year-old daughter’s birthday as away to further your own social clout?

FESTIVAL

Continuedfrom page5C

Shakespeareorbeing exposed to good Shakespeare, you don’tknow if it belongs to you,”Bouquet said.

This year,the company is expanding the festival to include more vendors like CavalierHouse Books and Loveday Funck Art. And they arestill acceptingmore vendor applications.

Festival happenings

Mary-BethBlanchard-Loftin, the elementary theater teacher at Math, Science andArtsAcademy-WestElementary School, has been amember of thecompany since starring as Viola in the first production, “Twelfth Night,” in 2024.

She says herfavorite part of the festival is showing parts of the past season’s plays, which will be scenes from “The Tempest” and “Comedy of Errors.” These scenes allowpeople who couldn’tcome to theshows to seelittlesnippetsofthe plays.

Ahistorical hands-on activity for childrenand adults is the “WriteLike Shakespeare” ink-makingexperience, ledbyNathalie Roy, Latinand Roman Technologyteacher at GlasgowMiddle School.Roy will teach festivalgoers how to make oak gall ink, also known as iron gall ink, through aprocessshe uses in her Roman Tech classes.

“This ink was usedfrom the classical periodupuntilthe 1800s.Shakespeare likely used this ink to write his plays andpoems.Ithas severalconnections to periods in history,” Roy said.

The experience will include making the ink, writing witha quill and erasing with asponge. Each person will take home aquill, acontainer of ink and theirwriting.

pal Church of the Nativity and others.

Donationswill be accepted to support the ongoing work of thefederation’s Holy Grill and the children’sKids Café initiative. No registration is necessary Go to ifedgbr.com for more information.

Mother’sDay at St. James Baptist

St.James Baptist Church, 1105N.44thSt., Baton Rouge, will hold aspecial Mother’s Day celebration at 8a.m.Sunday,May 10. The Youth&Children’s Ministry will highlight “The Value &Victorious View of Godly Mothers.” Breakfastwill be served following the worship experience

Thepublic is invited Free gospel concert on May1

The Rev.MikeVaughn will lead a“Southern and Country Gospel Fest” at 5:30 p.m. Friday,May 1, at Good News Fellowship Church, 13101 La. 442 West, Tickfaw Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and singing will start at 6:30 p.m. with Vaughn, followed by Danny Ray Bishop of Magee, Mississippi, at 7:30 p.m. This is afree concert,but aloveofferingwill be received. Aconcession stand will servedesserts. For further information, contact Barbara Vaughn at (985) 974-0507 or mvmgoodnews.com.

Youseemed to state that as a goal at the beginning andthen we quickly lost the plot. Using family events to network is unseemly,ifall toocommon It leads to awkwardinteractions such as you describe, whenreally the focus should be on the children. Social value should not be measured by achild’sbirthday party.(Or batmitzvah. Or quinceanera. Or wedding.) Your child’sfriends andtheir parents are the only ones who should be invited.

Dear Miss Manners: Ihaveaclose friend who is obsessively on her phone at restaurants and concerts —she checks her so-

cial media feeds constantly.My daughter-in-lawiseven worse: She is on social media openly during family gatherings. Iam appalledbyboth, but at alossas to howIcan politely ask for their full attention.

Gentle reader: Invite themout together.Theywill have so much to nottalkabout.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St Kansas City,MO 64106.

Bouquetand BlanchardLoftin are excited to share company-made trailers of the upcoming 2026-2027 season. This year,they will premiere the entire season with posters anddates at 11 a.m. May 9atthe festival. The company will also performtheirchildren’slibrarydemonstrations led by Courtney Calato, who hasyearsofchildren’stheater experienceand stunt performance.

Productionsprovide access WhenBouquet, OdomDalton and Truluck founded the company,itwas most important to them to reach kids andoffer freeShakespeare in away thatkids could grasp. The first order of business was to start alibrary programatthe East Baton Rouge ParishDelmont Gardens library for children 5to11. They wrote an original script that included “Romeo

and Juliet” scenes and went once amonth forsix months. They started with onechild and finished the term with 21.

Calato is thehead of educationfor thecompany, and she adapts the plays into fun, interactive 30-minute shows that are 50% narration and 50% Shakespeare.

“Because it’sacommunity program, not onlyare we trying to promote literacy andintroducekids to these characters and these plot lines at an early age, we also provide snacksand water for any person that attends these little performances,” Bouquet said.

Thecompany has also startedpreparing forthe Shakes Squad Summer Camp, acampfor young performers ages 12 to 17 from June 8to12.

Over the course of aweek, students will explore Shakespeare’slanguage through audition workshops, ensemble-building theater games,

movement-based storytelling andcoached monologue and scenework. On the last dayofcamp,performers will present monologues and short scenes fortheir familiesinthe ShakesSquad Showcase. Blanchard-Loftin knows firsthand howthe company can impact aperformer.She drives from Plaquemine to be part of the Louisiana Shakespeare Company “I will gladly drive the hour to go and spend time andperform withthese people,” she said. “The companyitself has not only made me amore confident performer,but it’salso helped me become amore well-rounded person and a betterteacher.” For moreinformation, visit lashakes.org or the Louisiana Shakespeare Company Facebook or Instagram page.

Email Joy Holdenatjoy holden@theadvocate.com.

CHANNEL

Continuedfrom page5C SCREENSHOTFROMHENRyTURNER.TV

festivals in Baton Rouge n Thenew half-hour series “Have YouSeen My Video?”, hosted by HenryTurner Jr and produced by Turner Film Studios,features domestic andinternational music videos of various genres. Some of themoderncountry acts include Celeste Marie andUncle Rayno.Reggae artists are Michael Black, Ben Hunter and Jeff Gebre. To submit your music video, visit https://hitcitydigital. wixsite.com/hlrtv Both shows feature original, multi-genremusic and are scheduledfor Monday through Friday,along with theDon Corenlius’ “Soul Train,” amusic-dance show which first aired from 1971 to 2006.

MATTERS

Continuedfrom page5C

Baton Rougeblues artists Miss Mamie and Smokehouse Porter are featured in an episode of ‘Henry’sListening Room.’ Mamie Porter died in 2025. she graduated with adegree in Christian education. Each piece offers readers awindow into Collins’ thoughts, joys, challenges, personal reflections and faith. Readers may particularly enjoy Collins’ short selections“IBelieve,” “TheBaby’sBottom,” “In Him” and her powerful meditation on Romans3

The channel’sclassic comedies will have blast-fromthe-past stars like Buddy Epsen, Louisiana’sDonna Douglas, Don Adams, Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors, Lorne Greene and Michael Landon, among others.

Documentaries will include “Music Dreams: An AmericanStory” and“We’re Going Down to the Mardi Gras.”

Despite being arelatively quick and pleasant read, “My Life Story” had afew difficult moments.Collins recountsbeing raped at age 14 in her mother’s bedroom by aneighbor while she was homealone. Collins’ strong writing skills were evident in the detailed manner in which she described thetraumatic incident with a“grown man.” “I could not run away because he had armslike antennae that reached out

Look forclassic cartoons from 7a.m.to1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday,followed by vintage filmsstarring John Travolta, Bruce Lee, Richard Lawson,JohnWayne,Burt Lancaster and Terence Hill.

and caught me. Icouldn’t fight because his upper torso waslike araging bull pressing against its prey,” she writes. “I screamed and begged him to stop. He continued until Icouldn’t scream anymore. Ifelt so scared, so violated, and betrayed.” Collins said she suppressed that momentfor decades and finally found strength through faith. She shares adifficult lesson on finding liberation through forgiveness.

Currentpodcasts are “Geaux Play ESports,” hosted by Christopher Turner “I am overwhelmed with the power of television. Ibelieve we have been giventhe power to make new TV stars with our original shows and plan to make as many as I can,” Turner said. Henry Turner Jr.has been in the music industry for morethan 40 years. He is the founderofHenry Turner Jr.Listening Room Foundation, Henry TurnerJr.’s Listening Room and the band Henry Turner Jr.&Flavor Production beganon “Henry’sListening Room” in 2022. The show originally ran in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and is currently in national and international syndication. For the programming schedule and moreinformation, visit Henry Turner TV at www.henryturner.tv

“Thank God forJesus. Today Iamable to forgive the molester because Ihave Jesus in my life. The molester died without ever saying he wassorry,” she writes. “I thank God that he has plans formeinspite of my past.” And thank you, Minister Collins, forsharing your lifestory of hope, instructions, encouragement and wisdom

Contact Terry Robinsonat terryrobinson622@gmail. com.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Think before you react Use your intelligence and call on experts to back your claims. Preparation is essential if you want to take care of matters quickly and efficiently.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Call the shots and make things happen. Make physical changes that enrich your life and boost your confidence. Rearrange your living space to accommodate your needs, and you'll flourish.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Forget about what others are doing and concentrate on what's best for you. Protect your reputation, position and your peace of mind. Put your emotions aside and let facts and figures dictate how you proceed.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Turn your dream into a reality. Gather information and set aside what you need financially, physically and emotionally to finish what you start. Socialize, use charm and explore the possibilities.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Make physical changes for the right reason. Refuse to be coerced into altering your looks to appease someone else. Avoid unnecessary costs and expensive entertainment.

LIBRA (sept. 23-Oct. 23) Learn from your experiences, and don't make the same mistake twice. Rely on your instincts and people with your best interests at heart to get you where you want to go.

scORPIO (Oct. 24-nov. 22) You need to distance yourself from the hustle and bustle and give yourself time to think.

Refuse to let emotions lead you astray or cost you financially. You can't buy love.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Put your differences with someone aside and get your emotions under control A change at home will influence your personal preferences. Acceptance and productivity are your path to peace of mind and happiness.

cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Be careful with whom you share information and personal thoughts. Stick close to home and put your energy into self-preservation and taking better care of yourself.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Changing your location or rearranging your space to meet your demands will ease stress. Don't hibernate when interactions will bring out the best in you and attract someone interesting.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Relax and watch the world go by. Refuse to buy into someone else's dream when you have your own plans to make. Simplify your life and let go of what causes you grief.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Participate; be a player, a mover and a shaker. Let your quick wit and engaging appeal resonate throughout whatever room you enter. Pump it up, and you won't be disappointed.

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

FAMILY CIrCUS

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placingpuzzle basedona 9x9 grid with severalgiven numbers. The object is to place thenumbers 1to9inthe emptysquares so that each row, each column andeach3x3 boxcontainsthe samenumber onlyonce. The difficultylevelofthe Sudoku increasesfromMonday to Sunday

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS

TimeS CroSSword

By PHILLIP ALDER

Henry David Thoreau,awriterwho, inter alia,railedagainst taxes, said, “A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince.”

Here is adeal in which an opponent’s bidding helps declarer to find the winning line of play. South is in three no-trump. West leads the spade queen.What should declarer do?

When West’sone-spade opening was passed around to South, he made atakeout double. Westrebid in his second fivecard suit. Then North bravely advanced withthree clubs.And South took ashotat threeno-trump,knowingitwasextremely unlikely that this contractwould fail andfive clubs would succeed.

Declarer starts with sixtop tricks: two spades, two hearts and twoclubs.Ifhe can play the clubs without loss, he will be home. But who has the club queen?

There are only 15 high-card points missing, which might lead South to thinkWestholdsthatkeycard.However, West’sbidding suggests that East is the favoritebecause West hassomanymore spades and diamonds than East

To try to cover all bases, declarer should lead the club jack from his hand.

First,ifWesthas queen-doubleton, he might cover. And in case West is void of clubs, South is unblocking the suit. Here, when West discards, declarer wins with dummy’s king, runs the club nine, plays aclub to his 10, and cashes the club ace. Then South leads aheart to dummy’s ace and cashes the last club. With two majorsuit winners still nestlinginhis hand, the contract is home. ©2026 by NEA, Inc dist. By AndrewsMcMeel

wuzzles

Bridge EachWuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name,place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Syndication

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIOns: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Wordsthat acquire four lettersbythe addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additionalwords madebyadding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexuallyexplicit wordsare not allowed.

tODAy’sWORD LAunDER: LAWN-der: To wash something in water

Average mark 35 words Time limit45minutes

Canyou find 44 or morewords in LAUNDER?

yEstERDAy’sWORD —IMMEDIAcy

iced idea idem imam mace made maid maim maimed mead media medic mica mice midi mime mimic dace dame decay dice dicey dime aced acid acme aide aimed amid came

thought

your speech, and was afraid: OLord, reviveyour work in the middleofthe years, in the middle of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” Habakkuk 3:2