The Acadiana Advocate 03-27-2026

Indicted ex-LDWF chief may change plea

Move could mean deal accepted in bribery case

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Former Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet may be changing his plea to guilty on at least one count in a federal bribery case that prompted him to resign from his post in 2023.

Montoucet entered a not guilty plea in June in federal court in Lafayette. He was indicted in May for his role in a kickback scheme involving a statewide contract for online hunting and fishing courses.

His trial was set to begin May 11.

But U.S. District Judge David Joseph on Wednesday scheduled a change of plea hearing for March 31, suggesting Montoucet may have accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors and will change his plea to guilty on at least one of the charges. Montoucet is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud, three

See PLEA, page 4A

Broussard charter school gets OK

Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy in youngsville is one of two charter schools that the Lafayette

The group has voted to build a new school in Broussard.

900-seat facility would serve K-8th graders

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Focus would be on diet and

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

State lawmakers have moved forward with a bill that would create a new Office of Health and Nutrition within the Louisiana Department of Health, part of a bigger push to focus on diet and exercise to move the needle on the state’s poor health metrics.

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools. The Lafayette Charter Foundation oversees Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy and Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy.

Jared Labue, who is married to Lafayette Parish School Board member Kate Labue, voted against the new project, citing budget and staffing concerns, according to unofficial minutes viewed by The

The Lafayette Charter Foundation voted at a special meeting last week to build a new school in Broussard. The nonprofit governance board voted 5-2-1 to move forward with a 900-seat school serving kindergarten through eighth grade students.

Acadiana Advocate. Board member Kim Vavasseur abstained.

The school, like the other two Lafayette charters overseen by the foundation, would be run in agreement with Charter Schools USA, a for-profit education management company based in Florida that runs charter schools in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.

A lease agreement is forthcoming and

ä See CHARTER, page 4A

The prodigal son returns. Will Wade is once again the LSU men’s basketball coach after being fired four years ago. It’s unconventional, to say the least. It’s unprecedented, at least at LSU. You could even say it’s unseemly, especially since he’s leaving NC State after one brief season on Tobacco Road. No matter, at least for this man and this school. The heart wants what it wants. LSU never fell out of love with Wade. He clearly never fell out of love with LSU and Louisiana, even after he was sent packing in 2022 following a very public recruiting scandal.

The proposal, Senate Bill 219 by state Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, cleared the Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday without objection.

The bill would create a new office under the direct supervision of the health secretary and led by an executive director, with authority to coordinate programs that already exist across the department.

“This was not an easy decision,” Wade posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “But the opportunity to return to Louisiana State University is deeply personal. It’s a chance to go home — to a place that means a great deal to me and my family.”

Even in the transfer portal era, with coaches and players jumping ship annually, I frankly never thought this day would come. It certainly would not have come if William Tate was still LSU’s president and Scott Woodward was still LSU’s athletic director. Still, you never say never. Wade didn’t. He

Treasury to put Trump’s signature on currency

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department is working on plans to put President Donald Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, the agency announced on Thursday.

The move would be a first for a sitting president. The news was first reported by Vanity Fair.

It’s the latest instance of Trump putting his name and likeness on American cultural institutions, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes.

The plans come in tandem with an ongoing effort to get Trump’s face on a coin.

Earlier this month, a federal arts commission approved the final design for a 24-karat gold commemorative coin bearing Trump’s image to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday on July 4.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s signature would also appear on the currency, according to a Treasury news release.

U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement that printing Trump’s signature on the American currency “is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”

Education headquarters will relocate in D.C.

WASHINGTON — The Education Department will relocate from its headquarters to a smaller Washington office as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency, officials said Thursday.

The agency has seen its ranks thinned by mass layoffs since President Donald Trump took office and its headquarters building has been 70% vacant, the Education Department said. In its place, the Energy Department will assume the lease in the building.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon hailed it as a milestone in the administration’s efforts to shutter the agency, which Trump ordered to close a year ago this month.

The Education Department’s relocation to another office space in Washington is planned for August.

Administration officials said the move would save taxpayers money by eliminating wasted space and avoiding the need for maintenance needed on the Energy Department’s current headquarters building.

SeaWorld’s parent sued over wheeled-walker ban

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Department of Justice on Thursday sued the parent company of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks, claiming that a ban on wheeled walkers with seats at its parks violates civil rights law by discriminating against people with disabilities.

The Department’s Civil Rights Division asked for a jury trial in Orlando to determine if United Parks & Resorts violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The complaint said the company needs to change the parks’ policies for the wheeled walkers, known as rollators, and also sought an award of damages for visitors who haven’t been allowed to use them since the ban was implemented last November in at least three parks in Orlando and Tampa.

The DOJ complaint said that several visitors with wheeled walkers, including two veterans with mobility disabilities, were stopped at security and prevented from bringing them inside the park.

Judge weighs Maduro’s legal costs

Administration barred Venezuela from paying

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ and REGINA GARCIA CANO Associated Press

NEW YORK — A U.S. judge pressed the Trump administration Thursday about its basis for barring Venezuela’s government from paying former President Nicolás Maduro’s legal fees in the drug trafficking case that has put him behind bars in New York.

As Maduro and Cilia Flores, his wife and co-defendant, looked on in beige jail uniforms, his lawyers argued that the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government money from being used for the couple’s legal costs.

The U.S. government hasn’t let the funds flow because of sanctions against the South American

country.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein questioned why the prosecution’s argument still stands, now that U.S. and Venezuelan relations have warmed.

Since Maduro’s capture by U.S. military forces in January, Venezuela and the U.S. have reestablished diplomatic relations, Washington has eased economic sanctions on Venezuela’s crucial oil industry, and the U.S. has dispatched a chargé d’affaires to Caracas.

“We have changed the situation in Venezuela,” Hellerstein observed, suggesting that the argument for continuing to block the defense funds has changed with it: “The current paramount goal and need and constitutional right is the right to defense.”

He didn’t issue a ruling, however, nor say when he will.

As supporters and opponents rallied outside, Maduro and Flores made their first court appearance since a January arraignment at

which he declared: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Flores has also pleaded not guilty.

A 25-page indictment accused Maduro and others of working with drug cartels and members of the military to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. He and Flores also are accused of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their trafficking operation. If convicted, they face life in prison.

Maduro and Flores remain jailed in Brooklyn, and neither has asked to be released on bail. Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date.

Rallies held before court hearing

In a noisy scene outside the Manhattan courthouse, contrasting groups of demonstrators chanted, blew horns and beat drums and cowbells. Among Maduro critics,

Cherry blossoms send burst of pink into D.C.

BY MEG KINNARD Associated Press

It’s finally peak bloom for the airy pink cherry blossoms in Washington, a welcome sign of spring in a city of concrete and granite continuously weighed down by the necessary heft of the nation’s decision-making.

The thousands of blooming cherry trees that adorn the nation’s capital have burst into ephemeral blossoms, the arrival of which marks the unofficial beginning of Washington’s tourist season. It’s a fleeting window, though, with the delicate blooms at the mercy of weather shifts.

According to the National Park Service, which cares for the 3,500 cherry trees across the city, peak bloom date is defined as the day on which 70% of the Yoshino Cherry blossoms are open. This year, it’s right on time, typically happening between the last week of March and the first week of April, although it’s happened as early as March 15 and as late as April 18.

Aside from the bloom of the flowering trees themselves, there’s also the fourweek National Cherry Blossom Festival, which began March 20 and runs through April 12 and includes musical performances, Japanese cultural events and a fireworks display.

Last year, according to festival organizers, more than 1.6 million people from across the world attended festival events, and a bloom cam garnered more than 2.3 million views.

According to the park service, the Yoshino trees typically bloom for several days, and it’s best if the weather is cool and calm during that time.

Even one rainy or windy day can bring a swift end to the ephemeral light pink

glow along the Tidal Basin and other sites throughout the city, jettisoning the petals altogether.

It’s good that there wasn’t a late frost, though, because that could have stopped the trees from even blooming at all.

History of the cherry blossoms

The cherry blossoms date back to a 1912 gift of 3,000 trees from the mayor of Tokyo, and the Japanese government remains involved in their care and in the annual festival celebrations.

In 2024, Fumito Miyake, minister for public affairs at the Japanese Embassy, said his government’s decision to contribute an additional 250 trees would be a “birthday present” in advance of this summer’s celebration for the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Again this year, visitors are contending with a somewhat restricted blossom appreciation area at the Tidal Basin, home to the highest concentration of the trees. With the National Park Service still in the midst of a three-year renovation project to shore up the basin’s aging seawall in time for this summer’s anniversary, parts of the basin are fenced off.

More than 100 of the trees had to be cut down as part of that project and will be replanted.

What about Stumpy?

Devotees of Stumpy — the gnarled tree that became an internet celebrity — will not be able to visit the icon in person. Stumpy was one of the trees cleared for the renovations, but Stumpy clones live on, waiting to be planted when the work is done.

Last year, organizers added an event to honor the city’s most famous tree — a memorial pedal-boat race.

U.S. eases Belarus sanctions to help farmers

Fertilizer prices have soared since war began

BY FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

one person waved a sign reading “Maduro rot in prison.” On the other side of a metal barrier, people held signs reading “Free President Maduro.”

In Caracas, hundreds of people gathered at a plaza, including ruling party supporters, state employees and civilian militia members. Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, continue to enjoy some support in Venezuela, with murals and billboards across Caracas demanding their return. But while Maduro’s ruling party remains in power, he has slowly been erased from the government of Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president. Rodríguez has replaced senior officials including Maduro’s faithful defense minister and attorney general. She has reorganized agencies, appointed ambassadors and eliminated tenets of the selfproclaimed socialist movement that has ruled Venezuela for more than two decades.

Oscars relocating to downtown L.A.

BY ANDREW DALTON Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The Oscars are leaving Hollywood. In 2029, the year the telecast moves from ABC to YouTube, the ceremony itself will move from its longtime home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles and the Peacock Theater, 9 miles away. The Academy announced Thursday that it has reached a 10year agreement with AEG, which operates the L.A. Live complex where the Peacock Theater sits. It’s a surprising move, given that the Dolby was developed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself, expressly as a home for the Oscars.

The ceremony has been held there since 2002 and has provided an especially steady home for the Oscars, which have never stayed in a single venue for such a long stretch. The awards bounced between various L.A. hotels in its early years, before moving up to theaters in the mid-1940s.

The downtown Dorothy

Chandler Pavilion, a fine arts facility that is home to the L.A. Opera, became heavily identified with the Oscars when it hosted the ceremony from 1968 to 1986. The ceremony then alternated between the Chandler and the Shrine Auditorium, next to the University of Southern California, until the longterm move to Hollywood. The Dolby will continue to host the show as it airs in its final years on ABC, concluding with the 100th Academy Awards in 2028. The Peacock Theater is next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings. The theater has hosted the Emmy Awards nearly every year since 2008 and, in recent years, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

The academy says in its announcement that, under its agreement, AEG will make major upgrades to the theater and its tech setup, and will “collaborate closely with the Academy to incorporate bespoke design elements needed to accommodate the Oscars ceremony.”

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President Donald Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday that he plans to roll out a “variety” of policies “to support American farmers” as his administration wages war in the Middle East.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday announced it had eased restrictions on a group of Belarus-linked financial and potash companies in the latest sign of improving ties between the country’s autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, and Washington. The war with Iran has largely stopped the export of nitrogen fertilizers manufactured in the Persian Gulf and limited farmers’ access to key fertilizer ingredients. The skyrocketing cost of fertilizer has left some U.S. farmers unable to obtain it at any price.

Earlier this month, Lukashenko met with Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington to ease some U.S. penalties. Coale told reporters at the time that the U.S. would lift sanctions imposed on two Belarusian state banks and the Finance Ministry and would remove the top Belarusian producers of potash, a type of fertilizer, from the sanctions list.

CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Trump projects confidence, but exit plan murky

BY KEVIN RECTOR and ANA CEBALLOS Los Angeles Times (TNS)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday continued projecting confidence in the U.S. war effort in Iran, suggesting online and during a highlevel Cabinet meeting that Iran has been “obliterated,” that its leaders were “begging” for a deal, and that the United States is “roaming free” over Iran and “NEEDS NOTHING” from its European allies.

His description of the war as all but finished — he actually said “we’ve won” — stood in contrast to the facts on the ground, where Iran continued to launch attacks and threaten oil tanker traffic in the vital Strait of Hormuz, and the United States continued sending troops and warships to what is already the largest U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in decades.

Trump’s framing of the conflict also contrasted with that of Iranian officials, who have remained publicly defiant, downplayed negotiations and outwardly rejected several of Trump’s conditions for ending the war — as Trump himself acknowledged, accusing them of saying one thing in private and another in public.

“They better get serious soon, before it is too late,” the president wrote on social media, “because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty.”

“They are begging to make a deal, not me,” Trump reiterated later Thursday, while hosting his first Cabinet meeting since the war began. “Anybody that sees what is happening understands why they are begging to make a deal.”

Trump asserted that Iran’s military capabilities have been destroyed, and that the American mission is “ahead of schedule.” He said American forces were operating without opposition over Iran.

Trump’s outward confidence, a defining feature of the war campaign that has

been consistently echoed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other administration loyalists, continued despite growing concerns this week in Congress — and not only from Democrats.

War briefing reaction

Several Republicans emerged from a classified war briefing Wednesday clearly frustrated with the administration for not providing a clearer picture of the path out of the now monthlong war, or clear answers on whether it planned to deploy ground troops.

“We want to know more about what’s going on,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, RAla., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “We’re just not getting enough answers.”

“I can see why he might have said that,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Democrats have hammered the president — contrasting the war and its massive budget with rising fuel costs for average Americans and lamenting the deaths of U.S. service members.

“Thirteen American lives lost and tens of billions of taxpayer dollars spent in just three weeks since Don-

ald Trump plunged us into war without congressional authorization. There is still no plan, no clear justification, and no end in sight,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said. “Americans called for lower prices, not endless wars.”

For weeks, Trump, Hegseth and other war leaders such as Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have focused on U.S. wins in the conflict — tallying up Iran’s sunken ships and grounded planes, assassinated leaders and undermined missile capabilities.

In recent days, Trump has suggested that, because of those wins, Iran is buckling. He has said the U.S. is push-

ing a 15-point plan that will forever block Iran from developing a nuclear weapon or threatening the U.S. or its allies. And he and others in his administration have accused the media of ignoring battlefield wins to harp on losses instead.

Israel continues airstrikes Israel, America’s major partner in the conflict, has projected similar confidence while showing no signs of slowing its attacks on Iran.

On Thursday it announced it had killed several senior Iranian naval commanders, including Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary

Guard Corps’ navy.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the deaths should send a “clear message” that Israel will continue to hunt down top Iranian military officials. Iran did not immediately acknowledge Tangsiri’s death.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, praised Tangsiri’s killing, said U.S. strikes would continue, and called on Iranian fighters to “immediately abandon their post and return home to avoid further risk of unnecessary injury or death.”

Meanwhile, death, destruction and environmental and economic damage from the war spread far beyond Iran, where officials recently increased their estimated death toll to nearly 2,000.

Israel was fighting off a barrage of incoming missiles Thursday, with booms heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and an impact reported in the central town of Kafr Qassem. Israel was also continuing its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the death toll had risen to 1,116, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Tahsin al Khafaj on Thursday said 23 people had been wounded in a Wednesday strike on a military clinic in western Iraq’s Anbar province.

Thousands of additional U.S. troops are on their way to the region, while many of the tens of thousands already stationed there have been displaced into hotels and other temporary housing — diminishing their war-fighting capabilities — by ongoing Iranian attacks that have left the 13 regional military bases they normally live on “all but uninhabitable,” The New York Times reported.

Iran announced Thursday that it had launched drone and missile attacks on a U.S. military base in Kuwait and a separate air base used by American forces in Saudi Arabia.

Trump blasts NATO allies

The distance between

U.S. and Iranian messaging about the war and their negotiations to end it — which foreign officials have said are occurring through intermediaries — has contributed to the tensions and the reluctance of allies to get involved, with some citing similar frustrations as Republicans in Congress this week. Many allies have largely stayed out of the conflict despite Trump vacillating between demanding their help and insisting it isn’t necessary.

In one of his posts to social media Thursday morning, Trump blasted allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, for having “DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP” in the conflict, and said the U.S. would “never forget.” Asked during his Cabinet meeting about his desire to end the war soon, Trump said he was “the opposite of desperate” — “I don’t care,” he said — and that there “are other targets that we want to hit before we leave.” Trump said that when the “right deal” is made with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen — while insisting that Iran no longer has any “mine droppers” that would threaten merchant vessels passing through the key oil route.

Steve Witkoff, one of Trump’s top advisers leading the negotiations in the Middle East, said the Iranians were looking for an “off-ramp,” that Pakistan is serving as a mediator between Washington and Tehran, and that the 15-point plan Trump had mentioned “forms the framework for a peace deal.” Trump has declined to say whom Washington is negotiating with in Iran, but described them as “very smart,” “not fools,” and “very lousy fighters, but great negotiators.”

Asked if he intended to send U.S. troops into Iran to take its enriched uranium, he called it a “ridiculous question” that he wouldn’t answer.

Iran formalizing grip on Strait of Hormuz with ‘toll booth’

BY DAVID McHUGH and JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany — Iran appears to be setting itself up as the gatekeeper for the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important artery for oil shipments. The move could cement Tehran’s de facto chokehold over the crucial waterway and formalize its ability to keep its own oil flowing to China.

Iranian communications to the United Nations maritime authority and the experience of ships transiting the strait suggest the creation of something akin to a “toll booth.” Ships must enter Iranian waters and be vetted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. At least two vessels have paid for passage.

Traffic through the strait has fallen by 90% since the start of the Iran war, sending global oil prices skyrocketing and inflicting alarming shortages on the Asian nations that get their oil from Persian Gulf countries via the strait.

Only about 150 vessels, including tankers and container ships, have transited since March 1, ac-

cording to Lloyd’s List Intelligence shipping information firm. That’s a little more than one day’s normal traffic before the war. Iran’s Kharg Island terminal loaded 1.6 million barrels in March — largely unchanged from prewar monthly loading totals, according to data and analytic firm Kpler. Most of the customers are small, private refineries in China that don’t care about U.S. sanctions.

A majority of the ships that have made it through in recent weeks headed east, out of the Gulf; Iranaffiliated ships accounted for 24% of transits, Greece 18%, and China 10% counted by ownership or flag registration. Yet on closer examination, vessels connected to Iran accounted for 60% of transits during the first part of the war and in the last few days, some 90%.

About half of the vessels turn off radio identification systems that show their location before going through, and reappear on the other side in the Gulf of Oman. There’s a reason for their reluctance and caution. At least 18 ships have been hit and at least seven crew members have been killed, according to the U.N.’s International Maritime Or-

ganization, which tracks maritime security. It did not specify which nation attacked the vessels.

Tolls are paid in China’s currency

“Iran’s IRGC has imposed a de facto ‘toll booth’ regime in the Strait of Hormuz,” says shipping information firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Normally ships use a two-lane shipping channel in the middle of the strait. But increasingly, vessels are taking a different route, to the north around Larak Island, placing them in Iran’s territorial waters and closer to the Iranian coastline.

Entities that want their vessels to safely pass through must submit their details to what Lloyd’s List Intelligence refers to as “approved intermediaries” of the Revolutionary Guard, including the cargo, owners, destination and a complete crew list. Approved vessels receive a code and are escorted by an IRGC vessel. Oil is prioritized and vessels are subject to “geopolitical vetting,” Lloyd’s said.

“While not all ships are paying a direct toll, at least two vessels have and the payment is settled in yuan,” Lloyd’s List said, referring

to the Chinese currency.

Some ships appear to have been allowed through following diplomatic pressure. Two Indian vessels loaded with liquid petroleum gas have been able to pass, according to Lloyd’s.

Setting up a permanent system

On Tuesday, the IMO received a letter from the Iranian government saying it “had implemented a set of precautionary measures aimed at preserving maritime safety and security.” The letter claimed Iran was acting within the principles of international law.

Iran’s parliament appears to be working on a bill to formalize fees for some ships in the Strait of Hormuz, local media reported.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, quoted lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi saying “parliament is pursuing a plan to formally codify Iran’s sovereignty, control and oversight over the Strait of Hormuz, while also creating a source of revenue through the collection of fees.”

The IMO has condemned the attacks on vessels and called for

an internationally coordinated approach to secure passage through the strait that respects freedom of navigation.

May violate international law

Article 19 of the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty states that countries must allow “innocent passage” of peaceful, law-abiding vessels in their territorial waters.

“There’s no provision in international law anywhere to set up a toll booth and shake down shipping. … This is Iran using the element that they have right now, which is control of the Strait of Hormuz,” said Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina.

The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, said Iran’s collection of fees for passage is “an aggression and a violation of the United Nations agreement on the law of the sea.”

Such payments likely run afoul of American and European sanctions on the Guard, a key power center within Iran that controls its ballistic missile arsenal and was key in suppressing protests in January.

wiretap, it’s hard to say otherwise. And he always had as soft a spot in his heart for this place as it did for him.

Four years can be a long time. In that time, circumstances at LSU changed enormously. LSU almost simultaneously brought in Wade Rousse to be its new president — he was, of course, Wade’s boss in his two seasons at McNeese State — and hired Verge Ausberry to be the athletic director. Their hiring of Lane Kiffin now almost seems a quaint and distant memory.

Speaking of the McNeese connection, before officially announcing Wade was its hire, LSU publicized its hiring of former McNeese athletic director Heath Schroyer to be its (long title, bear with me) senior deputy director of athletics/executive director of external relations for the LSU system.

In the context of LSU basketball, Schroyer will oversee the sport. What that means exactly for Ausberry is slightly unclear, but Schroyer’s role sounds quite similar to Ausberry’s when he was Woodward’s chief consigliere.

Legions of LSU basketball fans who carried a torch for Wade while he was away are obviously delighted today. Though I think many of them probably have a romanticized vision of the first Wade era at LSU, he definitely had success: an average of 21 victories per year, with one SEC

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“We’ve never put together the cause and effect of food policy with our chronic disease prevention and treatment policy,” said LDH Secretary Bruce Greenstein. “To bring what was once buried in bureaucracy up to the top to really put a focus on it — that’s what this is about.”

The office would coordinate efforts related to nutrition, health care access, chronic disease prevention and physical fitness, reflecting a broader shift toward

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counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He could plead guilty to one or more of the charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping other charges.

If convicted on all charges, Montoucet — who is in his late 70s — could face up to five years in prison for conspiracy, up to 20 years in prison on each of the three wire fraud charges and up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to commit money laundering charge. Montoucet is accused of working with former Youngsville resident Dusty Guidry to award a company owned by Lafayette businessman Leonard Franques a lucrative LDWF contract to provide online classes sportsmen take to resolve citations.

According to the indict -

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the foundation has been in talks with the city of Broussard about the school, according to unofficial meeting minutes. There was no public comment about the project. The foundation did discuss the closure of Comeaux High School, according to minutes, but the minutes did not detail that discussion.

The Lafayette Parish School Board voted 5-2 less than a week before the Charter Foundation’s special meeting to take Comeaux High School offline at the end of the school year and rezone its nearly 700 students. The campus would then be transformed into the Ovey Comeaux Workforce Innovation Academy by the start of the 2028-29 school year. It would house the district’s career center, E.J. Sam Ac-

regular-season title, three NCAA appearances plus the NIT his first season. His 2019-20 LSU team would have earned an NCAA bid (they were 21-10 and tied for second in the SEC) but the pandemic canceled the postseason.

In some respects, LSU basketball is for many LSU fans the bridge between football and baseball. Wade has shown he can build a mighty entertaining bridge in that gap. Two-hundred and sixtysix wins in 12 seasons total, zero losing seasons and eight NCAA appearances in his last nine nonCOVID campaigns between VCU, LSU, McNeese and NC State. That said, LSU is now 20 years removed from its most recent Fi-

prevention-focused health policy that aligns with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. under President Donald Trump’s administration. That includes the Bureau of Chronic Disease and Public Health Access and the Bureau of Nutrition Services, which oversee initiatives tied to diabetes prevention and management, oral health, asthma control, cardiovascular disease, tobacco cessation, healthy aging and school-based health environments.

The bill would also move the state’s “Well Spot” designation

program, which recognizes workplaces and community spaces that meet wellness benchmarks, into the new office.

The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, or WIC, would shift into the office, along with the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a 15-member group that includes physicians, educators, trainers and other health professionals aiming to improve physical activity.

State health officials testifying on Wednesday said that the plan does not create new costs but instead allows them to shift funding and staff. Louisiana continues to face some

nal Four appearance and is on its fourth (or fifth, depending on how you look at it) coach since then. Can Wade move what traditionally has been a rags-or-riches program closer to that lofty goal?

That remains to be seen, but there’s no question it will be riveting to watch. A few words must be said about

of the highest rates of chronic disease in the country, ranking fourth among states. Lawmakers cited high rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes as major drivers of health care costs and poor outcomes.

Lawmakers also added an amendment tying the new office’s work to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, requiring coordination with other state offices to reduce risk.

Advocates and researchers told lawmakers that diet, exercise and chronic disease management play a big role in the risk of brain degenerative diseases in later life. Addressing them could help Loui-

ment, from Nov. 10, 2021, until June 10, 2022, LDWF received $454,174 from the contract signed by Montoucet, of which $122,508 was held as a kickback to be paid to Montoucet after he left office.

As part of the deal, after Montoucet left office Franques would hire him and pay the kickback money as a signing bonus, according to the indictment. He was scheduled to leave office in January 2024 at the end of the term of Gov. John Bel Edwards, who appointed him. Guidry, 54, the alleged architect of the LDWF scheme and another involving the District Attorney’s Office in Lafayette, pleaded guilty to three federal charges in April 2023 and is serving time in a federal prison in Talladega, Alabama. His release date is March 21, 2029. Franques, 65, also pleaded guilty in January 2024 as part of a plea agreement to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United

celerated Academy and use the athletic facilities for the district’s sports needs. The board argued it was necessary because enrollment has been declining at Comeaux and the Career Center has a 450-student waitlist. And both facilities are aging and in major need of repair. The decision to close Comeaux has received major backlash from Comeaux students, families and its supporters. A lawsuit has been filed to halt the closure, arguing the board didn’t follow proper policy. Most of the students who live in Broussard who are zoned for Comeaux High would be rezoned to Southside High, which is already at capacity, according to previously reported enrollment and capacity numbers.

Lafayette Parish Schools Superintendent Francis Touchet said that will be solved by allowing teachers to roam from classroom to classroom during another teacher’s planning period.

States and is serving time in a federal prison in Oakdale. His scheduled release date is Oct 23, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Former Assistant District Attorney Gary Haynes, 68, of Lafayette was convicted Sept. 18 on two counts of using a cellphone in interstate commerce in aid of a bribery, and on single counts of conspiracy to engage in bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, conspiring to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice. He is serving seven years in federal prison. He worked with Guidry to direct defendants to programs operated by Franques’ company, similar to the LDWF scheme. Haynes and Guidry received kickbacks for directing people to Franques’ company.

Haynes is in federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky. His release date is Nov. 18, 2031.

The growth of charter schools in the Acadiana area has created financial strains for LPSS. Per-pupil funding follows students to charter schools, even if they later reenroll in a public school after the official count date. Charter schools also receive a portion of collected sales and property taxes designated for schools. It is originally distributed to the district and gets diverted by the state to the appropriate charter school. Charter schools aren’t restricted to the conditions voters imposed on those funds, but local districts are still accountable for those dedications.

During the Lafayette Charter Foundation meeting, the board unanimously approved expanding LRCA by constructing a new building for students in grades 3-5.

Contact Ashley White at ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

Matt McMahon, LSU’s now former coach.

McMahon was dealt a tough hand at LSU: a literally empty roster after Wade’s firing plus a litany of injuries to key players. In the end, though, you are what your record says you are. McMahon was 60-70 in four seasons, but only 17-55 in the SEC, 18-59 if you count his 1-4 mark in the SEC tournament. Forty of those SEC losses were by double digits. He doesn’t have the worst record in LSU basketball history, but unfortunately, it’s among the worst. Most Power Four schools would have fired him.

That said, McMahon deserved a more respectful exit than he got. We can debate his chops as a coach on the major college level (he won big at Murray State before taking the LSU job), but McMahon is by all accounts a decent human being whose four years here were without a hint of scandal. Wade put out the above statement that he was returning before LSU said it was letting McMahon go. LSU could have taken a day to announce Matt’s firing before the Wade news became official.

Of course, these transitions are almost always messy affairs. In the end, LSU needed to make a change, got THE man it wanted to be its coach, and now moves forward.

I’m betting that McMahon finds another job and prospers.

I’m betting even bigger that LSU and Wade do as well.

Email Scott Rabalais at srabalais@theadvocate.com.

sianans live a better quality of life for longer.

“We’re not talking about forcing someone to get on a treadmill for three hours a day and eat tofu at every meal,” said Owen Carmichael, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

“You go to a pretty good place with your diet by sitting down to a plate of Louisiana-grown brown rice, Louisiana-raised grilled shrimp and a couple of Louisiana-grown satsumas. This is really achievable for seniors in our state.”

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate.com.

Trump says he’ll sign order to pay TSA agents

BY LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday he would sign an emergency order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration agents as Congress struggles to reach a deal to end the budget impasse that has jammed airports and left workers without paychecks.

Trump announced his decision in a social media post saying he wanted to quickly stop the “Chaos at the Airports.”

“It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!” the president posted.

With pressure mounting, the White House had floated the extraordinary move of invoking a national emergency to pay TSA workers while senators reviewed a “last and final” offer to end the funding impasse that has jammed airports and disrupted travel.

Democrats have been refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security as they demand changes to rein in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations. Trump during an event at the White House warned he would step in if Congress failed to act.

The Senate came to a standstill and senators, ready to leave town for their own spring break, prepared to stay all night to reach a deal.

“Enough is enough,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., as he announced he had given the final offer to the Democrats.

Thune did not disclose details of the new framework, but he said that it picked up on what had been the Republican offer over the weekend, before talks with the White House and Democrats had broken off. “Hopefully … there will be some finality in this real soon,” Thune said.

The shutdown of funding for DHS, now in its 41st day, has resulted in travel disruptions, missed paychecks and even warnings of airport closures. TSA workers are coming up on their second missed paycheck Friday, with thousands refusing to show up for work.

Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of its nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have now quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on

Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.

Trump, who has largely left the issue to Congress to resolve, threatened to send the National Guard to airports, in addition his deployment of ICE agents who are now checking travelers IDs — a development drawing concerns.

The White House is considering a menu of options, including declaring a national emergency to pay the TSA workers, a move that would be a politically fraught and almost certain to face legal challenges.

“They need to end this shutdown immediately or we’ll have to take drastic measures,” Trump said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Melissa Gates said she would not make her flight to Baton Rouge, after waiting more than 21/2 hours and still not reaching the security checkpoint. She said no other flights were available until Friday.

“I should have just driven, right?” Gates said. “Five hours would have been hilarious next to this.”

‘Last and final’ offer on the table

Senators retreated to privately discuss the latest offer as a core group of more than 10 senators, Democrats and Republicans, worked to hammer out the details.

“I think we all realize we’re not going anywhere until this is done,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.

Democrats argue the GOP proposals have not gone far enough at putting guardrails on officers from ICE, Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies who are engaged in the immigration sweeps, particularly after the deaths of two Americans protesting the actions in Minneapolis.

They want federal agents to wear identification, remove their face masks and refrain from conducting raids around schools, churches or other sensitive places.

Republicans said after a private lunch meeting that there were other options than invoking the national emergency.

“The president may well decide that, but I don’t know,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, who said there was funding elsewhere that can be legally used to pay TSA as well as the Coast Guard.

Over the weekend, talks with the White House, including with border czar Tom Homan, appeared to be making progress toward a deal, including on several items Democrats had been demanding, such as the IDs and limits on raids at sensitive places.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said they needed to see real changes. “We’ve been talking about ICE reforms from Day 1,” he said. Any deal will almost certainly need to involve a compromise as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt. Conservative Republicans have panned their own GOP proposals, demanding full funding for immigration operations and skeptical of the promise from leaders that they would address Trump’s proof-of-citizenship voting bill in a subsequent legislative package.

TSA workers endure hardships

“This is a dire situation,” the acting TSA administrator, Ha Nguyen McNeill, testified at a House hearing Wednesday.

She described the multiple hardships facing unpaid TSA workers — piling up bills and eviction notices, even plasma donations to make ends meet — and warned of potential airport closures if more employees refuse to come to work.

“At this point, we have to look at all options on the table,” she said.

McNeil also said TSA officers working at the nation’s airports have experienced a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began.

“This is unacceptable,” McNeill said.

By The Associated Press

The back doors of Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home were found propped open and her phone and purse were still at the home when the 84-year-old disappeared, daughter Savannah Guthrie said in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC’s “Today,” her first since her mother’s apparent abduction. Given the tremendous pain their mother suffered from, Savannah Guthrie said she and her siblings

knew it wasn’t a case of a person wandering off. Then there were the propped doors, blood on the front doorstep and a camera yanked off.

“So we were saying, ‘This is not OK,’ ” Guthrie said. “‘Something is very wrong here.”

Her brother immediately realized that their mother had been kidnapped for ransom.

“I said, ‘What?’ And then, I mean, it sounds so, like, how dumb could I be? But I just, I didn’t want to be-

lieve. I just said, ‘Do you think because of me?’ ” Guthrie recounted, choking up and wiping away tears.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but, yeah, maybe.’ ” Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1. Authorities believe the 84-year-old was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will. The FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man who was outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson on the night she vanished. The Guth-

LaGuardia runway reopens days after crash

BY PHILIP MARCELO and ROB GILLIES Associated Press

NEW YORK

— The runway where two pilots died in a collision between a jet and a fire truck reopened Thursday morning at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which had been operating at limited capacity all week as investigators examined the wreckage and work crews cleaned up debris.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the tarmac resumed operations at around 10 a.m. after the runway and its associated infrastructure were “repaired, inspected, and confirmed” to meet Federal Aviation Administration regulations for safe operation.

The agency, which oversees the region’s airports, said reopening the second of two runways at LaGuardia, one of the busiest airports in the nation, will help “restore

full operational capacity.”

LaGuardia continues to register the most delays and cancellations among airports in the country with more than 300 canceled in the last 24 hours, according to Flight Aware, a flight tracking website.

The bodies of the two Air Canada pilots, meanwhile, were being repatriated to Canada.

The remains of the first officer, Mackenzie Gunther, arrived Thursday at Ottawa International Airport. Capt. Antoine Forest’s body was being flow to Montréal Trudeau International Airport, according to The Air Line Pilots Association.

Forest’s death has sparked an outpouring of sympathy in his hometown of Coteaudu-Lac, Quebec, southwest of Montreal. Gunther, 30, and Forest, 24, died when their Air Canada plane collided with a firetruck after landing at the airport.

rie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of their mother.

The longtime “Today” show coanchor said in the interview that they don’t know that their mother was taken because of her, but acknowledged that it would make sense.

“Which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me. And I just say, ‘I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry,’ ” Guthrie said. “If it

is me, I’m so sorry.”

Some of the purported ransom notes were fake, Savannah Guthrie said, but she believed the two notes that she and her siblings responded to were real. But the circumstances were surreal.

“How is it possible that we are having to make a video speaking to a kidnapper who took an 84-yearold woman in the dead of night, in her pajamas, with no shoes, without her medicine?” Savannah Guthrie asked.

The destroyed Air Canada plane and the fire truck were towed from the crash site Wednesday as the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation.

The agency said Thursday that the truck has been placed in an undisclosed, secure location and deferred to questions about the status of the plane to Air Canada, which didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The airline has said the plane would be placed in a hangar and that it would soon begin the process of reuniting passengers with their baggage and personal belongings.

The crash happened late Sunday night as an Air Canada regional jet arriving from Montreal and carrying 76 people struck an airport fire truck that had initially been cleared to cross the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard another plane.

State considers psychedelic research

Lawmakers propose bill to use opioid settlement money

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

Louisiana lawmakers are advancing a proposal that would allow opioid settlement dollars to be used to fund clinical research into psychedelic-assisted therapy, unlocking a new avenue for clinical trial research and access to plant-

derived drugs that have typically only been available outside the U.S. Senate Bill 43, sponsored by state Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, would create the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Program within the Louisiana Department of Health to support studies using substances such as psilocybin and

ibogaine.

2026

LEGISLATURE

The bill would also allow parishes to use opioid settlement funds to enroll eligible residents in those studies. Louisiana is set to receive

roughly $600 million through 2038 from pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis.

A state agreement stipulates the funds must be used for evidencebased, forward-looking strategies, programming, and services aimed at addressing substance use disor ders.

McMath pointed out during a

Wednesday committee hearing that much of the settlement money is untouched.

“The vast majority of those funds have yet to be spent,” McMath said. “There’s an avenue here that we could create to utilize unspent

ä See BILL, page 4B

THE FLOWERS THAT BE

Two Lafayette men arrested in connection with homicide

New festival highlights La. irises

Two-day event will be in New Iberia, Lafayette

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

There’s something about the Louisiana iris that brings joy this time of year.

Beloved for their elegant beauty and spectacular colors, Louisiana’s five native iris species — with hundreds of additional cultivars — thrive in wetlands and gardens and along rivers, and bloom in a riot of color in early spring. The Louisiana iris is also the official state wildflower. The city of New Iberia has created a new festival to bring people to see this year’s iris bloom along the Bayou Teche. Acadiana’s Louisiana Iris Festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in New Iberia City Park, and the festival will move to Moncus Park in Lafayette on Sunday, where people can tour one of the largest collections of cultivated Louisiana irises in the United States. Saturday attendees in New Iberia will interact with native plant vendors and Garden Club demonstrations, with music and food in the park. Sunday’s events in Moncus Park will feature tours through the iris zone, with crafts, hands-on learning, a plant sale and more live

offers

classes and local flavor

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Coffee lovers will have a chance to sample and explore with more than a dozen specialty coffee roasters as they showcase their brews at the second annual Lafayette Coffee Festival.

St. Landry jury convicts man in 2020 murder

A St. Landry Parish jury on Thursday found Nicholas Aymond, 30, of Lafayette, guilty in connection with the April 2, 2020, death of Stanley Aultman

Two Lafayette men have been arrested in connection with a Monday night homicide. Ar’travian Harris, 20, and De’Mondrick Amos, 17, were arrested and booked on warrants for second-degree murder, Cpl. Ken Handy, public information office with the Lafayette Police Department, said in a news release. The victim was identified Tuesday as Travis Griffin, 16, of Lafayette. Around 10:15 p.m. Monday, LPD officers responded to the 400 block of East Cedar Street in reference to a shooting. Officers found Griffin in the roadway, deceased, having suffered a gunshot wound, Handy wrote.

II, 64, also of Lafayette. St. Landry Parish District Attorney Chad Pitre, of the 27th Judicial District, said the jury’s decision was unanimous. Aymond was found guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor. Sentencing is set for May 14. Aultman was found dead on La. 359 near Washington. His family told detectives that Aultman left in his car with Aymond to go to the store but never returned. Prosecutors and detectives determined that Aultman left

his Lafayette home on April 2, 2020, to bring Aymond to the store, Pitre said in a news release. Evidence, he said, showed the two men driving to La. 359 in the Washington area where Aymond allegedly shot Aultman three times, threw his body out of the car and rolled over Aultman several times before driving to meet his girlfriend about 10 minutes away.

Fenton police located Aultman’s vehicle abandoned in a rural area with blood stains and a bullet hole. They found Aymond not far away.

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the McElligott Club at Cajun Field. The one-day event celebrates the local coffee industry and offers attendees an opportunity to learn more about roasting and brewing while enjoying samples. General admission is $12 and includes access to a variety of coffee classes and demonstrations. Sessions will cover topics such as the coffee flavor wheel, cold coffee extraction, flavoring techniques and home roasting, led by local experts including Gerald Duhon

OPINION

When it comes to cancer, preventive care is essential

At 47 years old, my world as I knew it was completely flipped upside down.

The words “you have breast cancer” suddenly touched every part of my life. I had to step away from a statewide race for state treasurer, my family and I faced difficult and uncertain days, and I was forced to quickly reprioritize what mattered most. I spent the next five months undergoing chemotherapy treatment, determined to fight and hopeful for the future. Now, almost 10 years later, I am proud to say I am cancer-free.

My cancer journey taught me many lessons, one of which is that cancer does not discriminate. It

does not care if you are a parent, if your career is gaining momentum or if you feel healthier than ever. That is why educating yourself about symptoms and staying current on recommended screenings is so important. As we observe National Colorectal Cancer Month in March, I encourage everyone to prioritize their health, starting with scheduling your routine cancer screenings.

When we think of a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, nutritious food and adequate sleep often come to mind. While these habits are essential, preventive care, including regular cancer screenings, is just as critical to

long-term health. Unfortunately, the reality is that many Americans are not up to date on their recommended cancer screenings.

A MedStar Health survey found that 60% of women aged 40 and over are not following the American College of Radiology’s recommendation for annual mammograms if they are at average risk.

More than 50 million people, 1 out 3 eligible Americans, are not up to date on their colorectal cancer screenings, often due to the discomfort of traditional screening methods. More importantly, here at home, Louisiana ranks third in the nation for colorectal cancer incidence, and it is the second leading cause of cancerrelated deaths.

For a stronger workforce in La., reform in Legislature is needed

Louisiana’s recent tax reforms have improved the state’s competitiveness, but lasting economic growth will stall without a stronger workforce. That is why enacting policies to help businesses meet their workforce needs must start now.

Across industries, employers continue to report difficulty finding workers with the skills required for their jobs. At the same time, many Louisianans struggle to connect with opportunities that offer good-paying jobs and long-term career paths.

This disconnect is the reason Public Affairs Research Council and Leaders for a Better Louisiana are joining forces to call for the state’s renewed and sustained focus on workforce development, particularly in the ongoing legislative session.

I understand the hesitation. Life gets busy, and preventive care often falls to the bottom of the list. Screenings may feel inconvenient, uncomfortable and even gross, but they are far less disruptive than a late-stage diagnosis.

As a cancer survivor, I can say with certainty that a cancer diagnosis is far more challenging than any screening.

And with the introduction of less invasive technologies, completing recommended cancer screenings is becoming more accessible than ever. We know it is highly treatable when caught early.

National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and other awareness months exist to re-

PROVIDED PHOTO

An instructor at Nunez Community College in Chalmette demonstrates safety techniques for students in its wind energy technology program.

This is not simply a labor shortage. It is a persistent mismatch between the needs of businesses and the preparation, awareness and mobility of our workforce.

If Louisiana wants to fully capitalize on its economic reforms, infrastructure investments and emerging industries, we must strengthen the systems that connect education and training to the needs of employers.

The challenge is visible in the data.

Louisiana’s labor force participation rate hovers around 58% — 43rd worst among states and several points below the national average. That gap represents over 100,000 working-age adults who are neither working nor actively seeking work. Even modest improvements would translate into significant gains for families, businesses and the state’s economy.

At the same time, the state reports roughly 124,000 jobs open statewide, compared with about 88,000 individuals actively seeking employment. This imbalance reflects issues involving workforce solutions for employers, skills relevance and alignment in education and the ability of individuals to navigate from education or training into the available jobs.

These pressures are unfolding at a pivotal moment for Louisiana’s economy.

The state has seen significant jobs announcements and capital investment in recent years across manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors. While these projects create opportunity, these announcements alone do not guarantee broad-based prosperity. Without a workforce prepared at the necessary scale with the right skills or employers able to address their talent shortages, Louisiana risks constraining growth and limiting the benefits of that investment.

This is not a failure of workers or employers: It is a systems challenge.

Louisiana’s workforce development, education and economic development efforts often don’t operate in alignment. Students struggle to understand how academic choices connect to careers. Employers struggle to find training partners responsive to rapidly changing skill needs. Workforce programs are difficult to navigate, fragmented across agencies and inconsistent in their coordination.

Improving outcomes requires strengthening these connections. Better career counseling can help stu-

dents make informed decisions about education and training pathways. Clearer workforce signals can help institutions align programs with high-demand fields. Stronger partnerships among business, higher education and workforce agencies can accelerate the transition from classroom to career.

Louisiana already has examples of progress to build upon.

The M.J. Foster Promise Program is funding working-age adults to earn credentials in high-demand fields. Industry partnerships, apprenticeships and technical training programs are expanding in key sectors. Regional collaborations are demonstrating how employers and educators can work together to meet workforce needs. These efforts show that targeted investments and intentional alignment can produce real results.

But isolated successes are not enough. Louisiana must scale what works and remove barriers that limit participation.

That means simplifying how individuals access education and training, strengthening coordination across agencies and institutions, improving transparency around outcomes and ensuring accountability for results. Workforce development should function as an integrated strategy, not a collection of disconnected programs.

The stakes extend beyond economic development. Workforce policy is also economic mobility policy. When Louisianans can access training that leads to stable, well-paying careers, families benefit. Communities benefit. Employers benefit. The state benefits. Conversely, when individuals remain disconnected from opportunity, the consequences are felt in lower incomes, reduced growth and widening inequality. Louisiana has meaningful economic opportunity ahead. The question is whether the state can connect its people to that growth at the scale required. Workforce development is the bridge between economic development and shared prosperity for Louisiana families. We believe that workforce reform is one of the urgent issues Louisiana leaders must address during the 2026 legislative session.

Steven Procopio is president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. Barry Erwin is the chief policy officer of Leaders for a Better Louisiana.

mind us that early detection saves lives. Awareness alone is not enough; action is what makes the difference.

Take time to learn which cancer screenings are recommended for your age and risk level. Talk with your physician about your testing options.

Give yourself the best possible chance against cancer by prioritizing early and timely cancer screenings.

Your health matters. Take action to protect it.

Julie Stokes is founder of Ellevate Louisiana and Survivor’s Cancer Action Network and a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Universal pre-K4 gives kids chances that they deserve

As a career educator and now a superintendent, I’ve spent my career witnessing firsthand the transformative power of education. But one lesson stands out above all: The earlier we engage children in structured learning, the stronger their foundation for lifelong success. Research consistently shows that children who attend high-quality preK programs get a meaningful head start in learning. A multistate study by the National Institute for Early Education Research found that children who participated in pre-K entered kindergarten with stronger language, literacy and math skills. Through play and meaningful interactions, early learning environments help children build these essential skills while developing confidence and enthusiasm for school. Most importantly, these programs help children feel confident and ready to participate in school, socially and academically.

low routines, manage their emotions and work positively with peers and adults, skills that support healthy social and emotional growth. Alongside academic learning, students build confidence, independence and a love of learning, all of which make the transition to kindergarten smoother and more successful.

During the 2023-2024 school year, nearly 19,515 Louisiana children were enrolled in publicly funded pre-K programs. That’s a great start, but far too many families still face barriers to access. By expanding pre-K4, we are making sure that every 4-year-old in our community has the chance to start school with confidence and excitement about learning.

Studies show that children from lower-income families and those learning English as a second language often see some of the biggest benefits from pre-K, which means expanding access is not just a good idea, it’s the right thing to do.

In St. Charles Parish Public Schools, thanks to the school board’s foresight and commitment, pre-K4 enrollment is now open to every child in the parish. Classrooms are led by certified educators who understand just how important these early years are. Children learn how to fol-

Even long-term research confirms the lasting impact of high-quality pre-K. A 20year study by Georgetown University followed children who attended Tulsa’s universal pre-K program and found that the benefits extend far past kindergarten. Students were more likely to stay on track academically through high school, take advanced courses, graduate on time and enroll in college. Studies like this reaffirm what we see in our classrooms every day: Early learning shapes children’s futures, equipping them with the skills and habits they need to thrive throughout school and into adulthood. Every child deserves a jumpstart on learning, and every family deserves the support to make that possible. Programs like pre-K4 are more than just a head start in academics; they’re an investment in our children, our families and our entire community. I can’t overstate how important these early opportunities are. When children develop confidence, independence and a love of learning early on, those traits stay with them throughout their educational journey. I am so grateful to our families, educators and community partners who continue to make our schools a place where children can discover who they are and what they can achieve. Together, we can ensure that every child starts their educational journey with the support, confidence and opportunities they deserve.

Ken Oertling is superintendent of St. Charles Parish schools.

COMMENTARY

Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city

military campaign in Tehran, Iran, on March 7.

ISSUE OF THE WEEK IRAN WAR

As the war in Iran drags on, polls show the American public is growing more skeptical of its aims. President Donald Trump has tried to reassure the country that the U.S. is winning and the war will be over soon. This week, he said that talks have begun with Iran to reach a deal, but Iranians have denied that there are any negotiations under way. What is the political fallout for the president and the Republican Party if the war doesn’t end quickly? Here are two perspectives:

To quiet all the critics, Trump needs short war

How many times has President Donald Trump said that the war in Iran, now entering its fourth week, will be brief? Many. I asked Grok for 20 examples of Trump promising a short war, and got a list very quickly. Here are a few:

“This war will be over very soon.”

“I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion.”

“We’re getting very close to finishing ... it is going to be ended soon.”

“We’re way ahead of schedule ... it won’t be much longer.”

“We projected four to five weeks ... but we’re substantially ahead of schedule.”

“It’s going to be ended soon ... we’re getting very close.”

No president wants to promise the public years of war. But why has Trump pledged brevity so early and so often, beginning almost the moment the war began? After all, polls from the first U.S.Israeli attack on Iran showed that, while there was significant public opposition to the war, support among Trump’s supporters was high. It has stayed that way.

The fear, of course, was that voters would take Trump’s campaign vow not to take the nation to war — “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars,” he promised on the night of his comeback win in November 2024 — and apply it to the situation in Iran. But so far at least, Trump’s supporters have stuck with him on the new war.

Of course, campaign Trump vowed even more often to stay out of what he called endless wars. But endless clearly means endless, or at least protracted, conflicts. Trump obviously feels he can use the military for quick strikes, like the June 2025 bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities or the January 2026 operation in Venezuela. They were brief and effective uses of U.S. military power, and are in no sense endless engagements.

The political problem for Trump is that at some point, a brief and effective use of U.S. military power becomes something more than that. Yes, a conflict would have to go on for a long time before it qualifies as endless. But at the moment, Trump is deeply worried about the war’s economic effects; a war does not have to be endless to do a lot of damage to the

U.S. and world economies. In addition, Trump has to worry about that point at which the Iran war takes its place as a major, largescale war —- not a quick hit but Gulf War III, after wars in the region pursued by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and President George W. Bush in 2003. Trump surely would not like to be in those presidents’ company as a Persian Gulf warrior. Neither would Vice President JD Vance, a vehement critic of Iraq-style wars and Trump’s possible 2028 successor. At a midterm campaign appearance in Michigan last week, Vance quoted Trump to stress that the war-related energy price increases will be a “temporary blip.” And Vance added: “Nobody likes war, right? And I guarantee you the president of the United States is not interested in getting us in the kind of long-term quagmires that we’ve seen in years past.”

There is concern in those words. This war, even now, will have consequences. After joining Israel in such a broadbased attack, U.S. forces cannot just disappear. For example, a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by two veteran foreign policy analysts notes, “If Trump wins this war politically and militarily, victory will entail new burdens. The security of the Persian Gulf will be America’s responsibility ... American destroyers circulating permanently in the Gulf is a likely future.”

That’s not the kind of thing the Trump political base will be delighted to hear, even if they approve of the war’s first days. The needle Trump needs to thread is to minimize those “new burdens” so that he can say to his supporters that U.S. forces got in quickly, fixed the problem, and got out quickly. Whether that is plausible or not is another question.

Until then, Trump continues to promise a quick war. How many defenders of the war have answered critics by saying, “Hold on, it’s only been a week,” or two weeks, or three weeks? Indeed, it hasn’t been long. But it’s been long enough for the White House to be worried.

Email Byron York at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.

Iran not the jaunt White House is trying to sell

Here we go again.

What else can one say to the stream of misinformation and disinformation flowing out of the White House and Pentagon since the war with Iran broke out?

We have grown wearily familiar with President Donald Trump’s cavalier relationship with the facts. Combine that with his tendency to snatch words out of the air, appropriately or not, and you come up with a jumble of head-scratchers.

might be draft bait.

A leading example is his repeated oddball description of the Iran war as an “excursion,” which caused brows to furrow and eyeballs to roll in newsrooms around the planet. Excursion? Does the president know the true meaning of the word?

Ten days into the war, Trump summed up the situation this way to reporters: “We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion. How good is our military, right? Amazing. How good? Short term. Short term.”

Right. The war had already killed a halfdozen American troops and injured about 150.

Then there’s the Tomahawk missile that flattened an Iranian elementary school, killing at least 175 civilians, most of them children.

This is some excursion.

Predictably, the war has shaken up the already unstable Middle East and driven oil prices skyward. Some industry experts are calling it the largest oil shock in history. But Trump dismissed that as something he’d already thought of.

“We figured oil prices would go up, which they will. They’ll also come down,” he said on March 7. “They’ll come down very fast.”

Brent crude traded above $100 a barrel in recent days, and some observers see it surging much higher if the war starts spiraling.

As I write this, the Iranian military isn’t quite ready for the excursion to be over.

The growing war concerns caused me to flash back to an earlier era, when an excursion in Southeast Asia to help a friend with their colonial problems became the Vietnam War.

I remember it vividly because I happened to be in college and of age for conscription. We used to say on campus, nothing concentrates the mind like the realization that you

If you’re too young to remember, take it from me. Furor over the draft became a leading reason why Americans have not had a draft since then.

Other reminders of the Vietnam era are all the hazy spitball takes on just what the nature and duration of our commitment is.

Asked in early March how long this excursion might take, the president offered that it could take four to five weeks. Days later, he bragged that Iran had better watch out because the U.S. had “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and that it could fight a war “forever.”

Later, he put aside his initial four-to-fiveweek estimate and declared, “whatever it takes.”

Trump and Co. have also been mendacious. Trump claimed that Iran had bombed the elementary school. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell blamed Iran for using the school as a “human shield” for its missile and drone launchers.

But as the New York Times reported, an ongoing military investigation suggests the Feb. 28 airstrike on the school “was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base.”

Officers at U.S. Central Command apparently “created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency.”

In other words, as many of my fellow veterans (Yes, Uncle Sam’s draft finally got me) understand all too well, the tragedy stemmed from a bad old-fashioned SNAFU. “Situation Normal, All Fouled Up,” as we would say in the linguistically cleaned-up version. That’s what happens when you go on an excursion with gunboats and cruise missiles. Some folks get caught up in the glory, others marvel at the flash-bang technologies. But, as much as the weapons of war may change, they tend to slaughter a lot of innocents along with enemy combatants. What Trump is presenting as a little excursion is, for Iran, an existential struggle. Whatever one thinks of the U.S.’s capability to take out the mullahs and their military, they seem to have the power to take a great deal down with them.

Email Clarence Page at clarence47page@ gmail.com.

opioid funds — and obviously the state’s going to continue to receive more funding — to put that to good use in this type of psychedelicassisted treatment.”

A state audit released last year showed that only about $8.6 million of almost $100 million distributed had been used by less than a third of parishes as of late 2024. Under the proposal, the program would partner with academic health centers to conduct clinical studies on psychedelic-assisted therapy for opioid use disorder, co-occurring substance use disorders and treatmentresistant mental health conditions.

The treatments would not be legalized for general use. The clinical trials would require authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, and the bill requires that any administration of psychedelic substances occur in controlled clinical settings under federal and state oversight, including FDA investigational drug approval, DEA Schedule I research registration and institutional review board approval.

Patients would be identified through Louisiana’s human service districts and authorities, and would receive structured psychotherapy before and after administration of the drug.

Details of how much settlement money could go to patients and centers involved in the program are still being worked out, McMath said.

Ibogaine and psilocybin

The bill focuses on two psychedelic substances — ibogaine and psilocybin — that are drawing attention in the medical field but have typically not been widely studied because of tight federal controls on illegal substances.

Psilocybin — the active psychedelic in what are sometimes called “‘shrooms” or “magic mushrooms” — is a compound found in certain mushrooms. People who eat it can experience altered perception and potentially intense emotions. It has been studied for its potential to treat depression, anxiety and substance use disorders in controlled therapeutic settings. At least three states offer legal psilocybin therapy, and many others have recently passed legislation to make it easier to study and distrib-

IRISES

Continued from page 1B

music and food trucks. Acadiana’s Louisiana Iris Festival is free to attend.

New Iberia Mayor Freddie DeCourt said this festival is another opportunity to highlight the community as a tourist destination, while further developing assets that connect the area to what makes south Louisiana special.

“At first, the focus was on the Bayou Teche itself, because it’s a national paddle trail and the center of our community,” said DeCourt.

COFFEE

Continued from page 1B

of CC’s Coffeehouse, Ian Lacour of Tasty Coffee and Chris Pickle of Reve Coffee. Area baristas will also host live brewing demonstrations throughout the day.

More than 1,000 attendees participated in last year’s festival and a similar turnout is expected this year, according to cofounder Kevin Richards.

“Our event celebrates where our coffee has been and seeks to elevate where we can take Louisiana coffee in the future,” Richards said. The Lafayette Coffee Festival was created after the success of the New Orleans Coffee Festival,

ute in clinical trials.

Ibogaine is derived from a plant found in central Africa where it has historically been used in spiritual rituals. In the immediate hours after taking the pill, symptoms like visions, vomiting and loss of muscle coordination are common. It has been studied for its potential to interrupt addiction, particularly opioid dependence, and traumatic brain injury.

Both substances are currently classified as Schedule I drugs under the federal Controlled Substances Act — the same category as drugs like heroin — meaning they are considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

That classification makes them illegal for general use and limits research to tightly regulated clinical trials approved by federal agencies.

In small studies, ibogaine has been shown to help roughly one-third to twothirds of patients get sober with just a single dose. But it has not been rigorously studied in clinical trials using control groups that receive a placebo. It also comes with risks to the heart that have at times led to death over the last several decades.

Early clinical trials suggest psilocybin may help reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety and substance use disorders when combined with therapy, and improve mood by altering brain activity and promoting new neural connections, though researchers say more large-scale studies are needed.

At LSU Health Shreveport, researchers are currently studying psilocybin as a possible treatment for methamphetamine addiction.

‘Life-altering’ effects

Several veterans testified in support of the bill on Wednesday, describing the treatments as transformative for conditions like traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress.

Retired Louisiana National Guard Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis told lawmakers he spent nearly two decades sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Many returned with lasting mental health challenges, Curtis included.

“We tried, but we fell very short,” Curtis said of traditional treatments for PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

Veterans entered what he called a “death spiral” as they struggled with family issues, substance use and

“We’ve focused on building the value with some marinas and access points, a kayak dock — those things got all of us really appreciating our history with the bayou. From that, there was a suggestion about planting native irises.”

Gary Salathe, with the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative, helped the city identify the best spots for planting native species, and DeCourt said the blooms are doing really well and should be lovely this weekend. Said DeCourt, “We’re going to use this first year as a platform to try to get more private citizens who live on

founded three years ago by Richards and his business partner Jim Currie. The two-day festival show in New Orleans focuses on connecting Louisiana coffee professionals with global industry leaders, while the Lafayette event emphasizes consumer experience, giving attendees a hands-on opportunity to engage with coffee culture. Richards says he sees the festival as a culinary celebration. “We have great coffee producers in southwest Louisiana, and our local coffee roasters are continuously improving their flavor profiles.”

Participating exhibitors include Billy’s Coffee, Rue de Café, Coffee:30, Jet Coffee, Reve Coffee, 7 Brew, Bayou Barista, Louisiana Bean, CC’s Coffeehouse, Community Coffee,

reintegration.

Curtis and his son traveled to Mexico for ibogaine treatment.

“It was life-altering,” he said, describing the experience as “like flipping a light switch on.”

His son, Nick Curtis, told lawmakers he turned to ibogaine after suffering two traumatic brain injuries that left him with memory loss, impaired speech and an inability to work.

“I was at the end of my rope,” he said, crediting ibogaine with a return to function. “My wife has a husband, my kids have a father again.”

Supporters said the treatments could be an alternative for patients who have not responded to existing care, particularly in a state with some of the highest overdose deaths in the nation.

“In my opinion, there are no other treatments on the horizon more potentially transformative for psychiatric care than these medicines, when safely given in clinical and research settings and when this appropriate science is done,” said Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Tulane University and former coroner of Orleans Parish.

Funding questions

A legislative fiscal analysis estimates the program would cost the state about $110,433 in its first year, with total costs projected at roughly $707,000 over five years.

Committee amendments expanded the bill to allow academic health centers to partner with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to develop ibogaine as a potential FDA-approved medication, including outlining how any intellectual property revenue would be shared with the state.

“What we’re really trying to do here is make sure that we ease the restrictions on the access in Louisiana so that these people don’t have to go down to Tijuana,” McMath said. “And that Louisiana takes part in the development of an FDAapproved drug, so that this becomes accepted nationwide, not just in a clinical trial setting.”

The bill sailed through committee without objections and now scheduled for a floor vote on March 30. If approved, the program would take effect Aug. 1, 2026.

Email Emily Woodruff at ewoodruff@theadvocate. com.

the bayou to begin to plant these native irises.

“I’m planning to do some more spots by the kayak dock, and by a pump station the city owns on Bayou Teche. I have some property downtown where I’m gonna let them plant. So we’re going to continue these efforts to get quite a few stands of native irises, which honors our state flower and history, but also keeps the bayou into play, which is great for tourism — and tourism is economic development.”

Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

HTeaO, MatchaMoto, Dr. Seitan’s, Louisiana Certified, Josey’s Goods, Beanline, Borden Dairy, Tasty Coffee and Lucia Bakehouse. Tickets are available online, at local locations for Reve Coffee and CC’s Coffeehouse or at the door.

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Norwood,JohnMartel

JohnMartelNorwood, 77,longtimeprofessorat theUniversityofArkansas atFayetteville,passed awayonFebruary15,2026, inNewOrleans.Hedied fromcomplicationsfrom dementia.Hewasbornon January11,1949toColvin GambleNorwood,Sr. ("Pete")andDorothyElise PecotNorwood("Dot") andraisedinFranklin, Louisianawithhissiblings CarolAnnCramKilburn andColvinGamble Norwood,Jr.("Woody"). Johngraduatedfrom HansonMemorialHigh Schoolin1966atthetopof hisclass.Hewasawarded aBachelorofArtsdegree in1970fromLSUinBaton RougeandJurisDoctordegreefromTulaneLaw Schoolin1973.In1977John returnedtoLSUtoearnhis MBA. Afewmonthsbeforehe wastograduatefromlaw school,henoticedapostingfromNortheast LouisianaUniversityin Monroe(NLU)seekingarecentJDtoteachbusiness law.Heappliedforandgot thejob,beginningacareer thatbroughthimimmense personalsatisfactionas wellashighmarksfrom hisstudents. In1981Johnaccepteda positionteachingbusiness lawintheBusinessSchool attheUniversityof Arkansas,whereheplayed apivotalroleindeveloping theHonorsprogramand mentoringstudents.Many studentshaveexpressed theirgratitude,acknowledginghisguidanceand influenceontheircareers. Thewinnerofseveral teachingawardsoverthe years,Johnlovedhisprofession,approachingit fromthestartwithenthusiasmanddedication.John retiredin2021after40 yearsattheUniversityof Arkansas. Burialwillbeprivatein thefamilycemeteryin Franklin. Colleagues,students andfriendsareinvitedto attendaCelebrationofLife inhonorofProfessorJohn Norwood.Thiseventwill beheldApril17,2026,in Fayettevilleat2:30pmin theReynoldsCenter AuditoriumattheWalton CollegeofBusinessonthe UniversityofArkansas campus.

yearsattheUniversityof Arkansas. Burialwillbeprivatein thefamilycemeteryin Franklin. Colleagues,students andfriendsareinvitedto attendaCelebrationofLife inhonorofProfessorJohn Norwood.Thiseventwill beheldApril17,2026,in Fayettevilleat2:30pmin theReynoldsCenter AuditoriumattheWalton CollegeofBusinessonthe UniversityofArkansas campus.

AlineAnnSmithScott diedinShreveport SaturdayMarch21,2026at theageof95.Shehad residedinLafayette,La.for manyyears. Alinewasbornin ShreveportonJuly2,1930 toFelixA.andGladys HebertSmith.Shewasa 1948graduateofSt. VincentAcademy.She marriedGeorgeR.Scottin 1950;andtheylivedin Shreveportuntil1974when theymovedtoLafayette. Theyhad5children.

Alinewasawonderful homemaker,anexcellent cookandanavidgardener. ShewasamemberofSt. Mary'sCatholicChurchin Lafayettefor50yearsand servedasamemberofthe AltarSocietyandofthe choir;shewasproudto havetravelledwiththe choirtoRometosingfor thePope.Shelovedplayingcards,particularly Bourre.SheandDadtravelledextensivelyacross AmericaandinEurope,oftenwithfriendsandrelatives.

Alinelovedtolaughand hadagreatsenseofhumor.Momwaslotsoffun! Shewasawonderfulwife andagreatmomand grandmotherandwas muchlovedbyall.Shewill besorelymissed.

Momisprecededin deathbyherhusbandof63 years,GeorgeR.Scott,her parents,hersisterBessie Lay,andhergrandson DavidJohnson. Sheissurvivedbyher daughtersandtheirhusbands:AliciaandCliff JohnsonofRinggold,Susan ScottandRobRylandof Shreveport,EllenScottand SteveJonesofShreveport; hersonsandtheirwives: MarkandMaryJaneScott ofLafayette,LAandPaul andSusanScottof ThousandOaks,CA;grandchildren:JeniBogan,Zach andLaurenScott,Kateand LizRyland,MadelineScott, Stevie,SarahandMelissa Jones;andtengreat grandchildren. Visitationwillbeheldat CenturiesMemorial FuneralHome,8801 MansfieldRd,Shreveport onMarch29,2026from4 pmto7pm.AMassof ChristianBurialwillbe heldonMarch30,2026ata 10:00a.m.atSt.Elizabeth AnnSetonCatholicChurch, 522E.Flournoy-LucasRd, Shreveport,withpastor Msgr.RothellPricecelebrant,followedbyinternmentatCenturies MemorialPark.Seefull obituaryathttps://www.di gnitymemorial.com/

grandchildren. Visitationwillbeheldat CenturiesMemorial FuneralHome,8801 MansfieldRd,Shreveport onMarch29,2026from4 pmto7pm.AMassof ChristianBurialwillbe heldonMarch30,2026ata 10:00a.m.atSt.Elizabeth AnnSetonCatholicChurch, 522E.Flournoy-LucasRd, Shreveport,withpastor Msgr.RothellPricecelebrant,followedbyinternmentatCenturies MemorialPark.Seefull obituaryathttps://www.di gnitymemorial.com/

ErnestHolmesSmart, Jr.,100.Visitationwillbe observedatFountain MemorialFuneralHomein LafayetteonSaturday, March28,2026,from8:30 amuntiltheMemorial Serviceat10:45am.Online obituaryandguestbook maybeviewedatwww.fou ntainmemorialfuneralhom e.com.FountainMemorial FuneralHomeand Cemetery,1010PandoraSt. 337-981-7098isinchargeof arrangements.

‘What can I do to be better?’

Johnson’s rocky summer under coach Lawson helped ignite her leadership skills

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Over the summer, when she was playing on a USA Basketball team, Flau’jae Johnson jotted down notes in a journal. Some of them were about basketball. She diagrammed a few of coach Kara Lawson’s plays, for example.

But others took on a more personal tone. They were about Johnson’s goals and ambitions. About where she was in her career and where she wanted to go. About how she had hit a bit of a roadblock when she couldn’t crack Lawson’s rotation — and how she was confronting that humbling experience ahead

of her senior season. “I didn’t lose my confidence,” Johnson said. “I more so just found more things to get better at.”

Johnson knows what she wrote down because she recently looked back at those notes, not long before the LSU women’s basketball team flew out to the West Coast to face Lawson’s Duke program in the Sweet 16. That game, which tips off at 9 p.m. Friday on ESPN, will give the star LSU senior a second and final chance to show Lawson that she perhaps should’ve seen a bit more run last July at the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in

Chile. Her first opportunity came in December, when the No. 2-seeded Tigers (29-5) beat Duke in Durham, North Carolina.

Over the summer, Johnson expected to play some kind of on-court role with Team USA. After all, she had led LSU to the Elite Eight in back-to-back years. She was one of the top players in the SEC. She was an All-American, too. Surely she’d have an opportunity to help her country win a gold medal.

But then Lawson decided to leave Johnson on the bench for her group’s two most critical games, choosing instead to put other star

Former Cajuns put best foot forward at pro day

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

For 13 former UL Ragin’ Cajuns, Wednesday was more than a reunion with old teammates in the Moncla indoor facility.

It was one final chance to impress NFL teams with their athletic ability at UL’s pro day.

Most project linebacker Jaden Dugger as UL’s best chance to get someone drafted next month.

Dugger transferred to UL from Georgetown and played two seasons in Lafayette. In 2024, Dugger played outside linebacker with 37 tackles and four stops behind the line.

The coaching staff moved him inside this past season and the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder flourished with 125 total tackles, 13 stops behind the line and four sacks.

“I feel like when I’m playing now is a combination of everything I did, so I feel like that made me such a better player,” said Dugger, who played in the East-West Shrine Game. “Having that experience and just playing it. At the time, I might have not liked it, but it prepared me for who I am today.” During the all-star game, Dugger was able to see the big picture.

“It was great — me with a lot of scouts and a lot of new players that you see on TV, finally getting to meet them,” said Dugger, who played safety at Georgetown. “Then seeing all the cool logos on the helmets and going against those guys that you don’t get to play against, so it was a great experience. I feel like I learned so much and I got so much better.” Dugger has been training in Fort Myers, Florida. The other Cajun with the next best chance of playing at a higher level is defensive back Trae Tomlinson.

In addition to NFL scouts, there were scouts from three different CFL teams in

In unprecedented move, LSU lures formerly fired coach Will Wade back to basketball program, fires McMahon

WADE RETURNS

ormer North Carolina State coach Will Wade looks on

Wade is returning to Baton Rouge to coach LSU.

BY TOYLOY BROWN and SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writers

A new but familiar name will be LSU’s next men’s basketball coach.

The university is firing Matt McMahon and signing North Carolina State’s Will Wade to a seven-year contract, The Advocate confirmed Thursday through multiple sources with knowledge of the move.

“It’s signed, sealed and delivered,” said a high-level LSU source who asked to remain anonymous before the school’s official announcement.

LSU’s new coach released a statement, thanking NC State’s athletic director, Boo Corrigan, and the rest of the athletic administration and announcing his move to LSU.

“This was not an easy decision, because of how much respect and appreciation I have for this program and this

university,” Wade said. “But the opportunity to return to Louisiana State University is deeply personal. It’s a chance to go home — to a place that means a great deal to me and my family.”

NC State’s athletic director addressed reporters Thursday and said LSU paid $4 million for Wade’s buyout. The number was agreed upon, as it was originally $5 million. That price tag would have dropped to $3 million if LSU had hired Wade after April 1. LSU still has to pay McMahon roughly $8 million for his buyout.

Wade is expected to fly from North Carolina to Baton Rouge on Thursday as he returns to the school that fired him in 2022.

Wade is returning to Baton Rouge after leading LSU (2017-22) to three NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons, with an overall record of 105-51 and a

ä See LSU, page 3C

UL facing critical Sun Belt series vs.

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

In some ways, the UL Ragin’ Cajuns and the UL-Monroe Warhawks almost aren’t playing the same game.

Sure, it’s baseball, but two very different approaches square off in a critical Sun Belt series starting at 6 p.m. Friday at Russo Park. The visiting Warhawks are hitting .324 as a team with 232 runs scored. That’s almost 100 more runs scored than the Cajuns, who are hitting .253 with 138 runs scored on the season.

UL’s ERA skyrocketed last weekend at Texas State, but is still a 4.78 — compared to a 6.58 team ERA for ULM.

Something’s got to give when the two state rivals meet this weekend. The Warhawks enter in third place at 14-12 and 4-2, while UL is currently tied for 10th at 1-8 and 2-4.

In an interesting scenario, ULM swept Texas State in blowout fashion before the Bobcats swept UL last weekend in San Marcos, Texas. Now the Cajuns and Warhawks meet. There’s little doubt the Cajuns’ hitting must improve in a hurry.

Talking about a critical stretch in the Texas State series, UL coach Matt Deggs said, “I think we went three outs in about five or six pitches. Those are killers, because you never have a chance to get momentum back. As an offense, you’ve got to be able to function better than that.” Even in Tuesday’s 9-3 bounce-back home win over Southeastern, Deggs saw

Habetz, Cajuns travel to face ULM

UL coach looking to bring bring ‘fight’ to the Warhawks

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Since Alyson Habetz took over UL’s softball program, it’s been an uphill climb.

The former Cajuns’ first baseman hasn’t been able to take a deep breath while feeling her team was ahead of the game.

And while this roller-coaster campaign hasn’t let Habetz feel at ease, UL’s first chance of seeing the other side could come this weekend with a three-game series at UL-Monroe — starting with 6 p.m. Friday game in Monroe.

The Cajuns (20-13, 3-3 Sun Belt Conference) and Warhawks (19-17, 3-3) are a game out of a three-way tie for second place in the SBC between Southern Miss, South Alabama and Coastal Carolina.

“Yeah, it’s a really big weekend,” Habetz said. “Playing there for one thing on their all-turf field, which is a little different is one thing, and the fact that they’re good.”

Habetz is ready to fight and she’s hoping her team is as well.

Earlier this week, she revealed the process of trying to toughen up her players.

“Holding someone accountable means two things,” Habetz said. “No. 1, I want to win, and No. 2, I think you’re better. It’s not calling you out — it’s calling you up.

“I don’t have to be perfect to do that. I just want to win, and I know you’re better, so anybody can do that. I think once they start to do that more, things are going to change.”

In other words, if the cleanup hitter pops out with a runner on third and one out, it doesn’t mean the leadoff hitter who popped up in the previous inning can’t discuss it

ä UL at UL-Monroe.

6 PM. FRIDAY, ESPN+

with her.

“If I get up and I pop up a ball, and the next person gets up and pops up, I can still get in her face and say, ‘Let’s go, you’re better. And I am, too.’ ”

Habetz said it’s not pointing fingers in the traditional sense. It’s not “calling out” a teammate, it’s “calling up” a teammate.

It’s battling, being ultra-competitive and not accepting failure without a fight.

Habetz also seems ready to spar with critics on her use of the bunt.

“I understand the stats that say you don’t give up an out to move a runner,” Habetz said. “I get that. I get that data. However, what that data does not take in account is I never really want to give up an out. I don’t. And when I’m bun-

ting, even “sacrifice bunts” aren’t necessarily sacrifices. Most of the time they’re not.”

Habetz looks at it as the game within the game, depending on how the defense is playing.

“When a defense says, ‘Hey, all you have to do is hit a ground ball past our pitcher and you’re safe,’ to me, you take it,” Habetz said. “To me, the stats show you’re going to fail more times than you succeed in hitting. Hitting is hard. It’s the most difficult thing to do in all in sports.”

She remembers the National Player of the Year Keiliani Ricketts of Oklahoma bunting to beat Alabama in the Women’s College World Series because the Crimson Tide was playing back defensively.

“I will never forget that,” she said. “(Ricketts) led the nation in homers and we’re back and they (bunted) with the Player of the Year, and she wasn’t a fast run-

ner. ... It’s just taking advantage of what the defense gives you. You just have to execute.”

Now it’s a matter of Habetz’s team taking the fight to the Warhawks.

ULM has lost twice to McNeese, lost two of three to Texas and won two of three against South Alabama. It is batting .282 with 141 runs, 17 homers and 49 stolen bases.

Leading the way for the Warhawks are Morgan Broussard (.352, four HRs, 24 RBIs), Meagan Broussard (.333, 19 RBIs) and Hollie Thomas (.329, five HRs, 22 RBIs).

The top three pitchers are Ashanti McDade (7-8, 2.79 ERA, 801/3 IP, 42 strikeouts), Dakota Lake (4-4, 3.38, 391/3, 31 Ks) and Skylar Waggoner (5-3, 2.63, 771/3, 56 Ks).

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

LSU’s Reed, Zipper to enter transfer portal

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Not long after Will Wade announced that he’ll return to coach LSU basketball on Thursday, two LSU players announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal. Forward Jalen Reed and guard Ron Zipper will enter the portal, according to On3 and 247Sports, respectively.

In Reed’s case, the redshirt junior is reportedly still open to returning to the Tigers. The 6-foot-10 big was the first recruit that nowfired coach Matt McMahon brought to the program in the 2022 recruiting class. Reed suffered a season-ending left Achilles tendon injury in the sixth game of this season. He averaged 11 points on 60.6% shooting and 6.0 rebounds in the first five games. During his true junior year in 2024-25, he suffered a seasonending ACL tear during the eighth

LSU forward Jalen Reed runs upcourt against Tarleton State on Nov. 5 at the PMAC. Reed suffered a season-ending left Achilles tendon injury in the sixth game of this season.

game of the season. He was averaging 12.4 points on 59.6% shooting and 7.4 rebounds in seven games before going down. Those figures would’ve made him the team’s second-leading scorer and leading

rebounder that season.

The 23-year-old Zipper came to LSU as a freshman last May. Before arriving in Baton Rouge, he played professionally in Israel. The 6-5 guard only appeared in

nine games in his only season at LSU. Zipper was unable to earn a consistent spot in the rotation, playing 33 total minutes and making 5 of 14 field goals. His best game was a seven-point outing in a 24-point loss to Texas Tech.

The first player for LSU who shared the intention to enter the portal was top player Dedan Thomas Jr.; his dad, Dedan Thomas Sr., told The Advocate on Wednesday.

The junior point guard played 16 games in his lone season with the Tigers, averaging 15.3 points and a team-leading 6.5 assists. He played only three SEC games before having season-ending foot surgery in February.

Thomas, who transferred to LSU from UNLV, injured his left foot on Jan. 2, the day before the Southeastern Conference opener, and reaggravated it on Jan. 28 in a 14-point home loss to Mississippi State.

The transfer portal window officially opens on April 7.

Duke guard Foster to make return against St. John’s WASHINGTON — Duke coach Jon Scheyer said point guard Caleb Foster will try to play in Friday night’s Sweet 16 matchup against St. John’s.

Foster broke his right foot in Duke’s regular-season finale and missed the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the topseeded Blue Devils. He was on the court Thursday during the portion of practice open to reporters, but that largely consisted of stretching and a bit of shooting. It was hard to tell how mobile Foster might be. Foster is averaging 8.5 points per game this season. He’s made 30 starts.

The short-handed Blue Devils struggled in their NCAA Tournament opener against Siena, and it took some time for them to pull away from TCU as well.

Gibbs Racing alleges Spire cheated with stolen data

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Joe Gibbs Racing accused rival NASCAR team Spire Motorsports of cheating by hiring its former competition director and using stolen intellectual property to improve its organization.

The accusation was made in federal court Thursday in JGR’s pursuit to prevent Chris Gabehart from working for Spire. The racing organization founded by NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs is suing Gabehart and Spire in the Western District of North Carolina alleging Gabehart illegally took JGR data to Spire to make himself a more valuable employee.

Tom Melsheimer, attorney for JGR, alleged Thursday that Spire was motivated to improve after scoring just one Cup Series victory since its 2018 inception.

Rans receiver Nacua sued for antisemitic remark

LOS ANGELES — Star Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua has been sued for assault and battery by a woman who says he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder on New Year’s Eve. The civil lawsuit was filed this week in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. The suit also cites gender violence and negligence.

Plaintiff Madison Atiabi and her attorney, Joseph Kar, claim Nacua made an antisemitic exclamation that emotionally distressed her when they were together in Century City. She says Nacua bit her and left teeth marks on her shoulder when they were in a van together later in the night.

Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, has already strongly denied Nacua made any antisemitic statements.

Transgender women are banned from 2028 Olympics

LOS ANGELES — Transgender women athletes will be excluded from the Olympics beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games after the International Olympic Committee implemented a new eligibility policy on Thursday.

Eligibility for women’s competition will be determined by a onetime, mandatory genetics test, according to the IOC. The test requires screening through saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Games, and it is unclear if any transgender women currently compete at an Olympic level.

The eligibility policy approved by the IOC is not retroactive and does not apply to recreational sports programs.

Falcons sign running backs Robinson and Goodson

stretches at the plate he didn’t like.

“We’ve got to get back to doing or learn to do is make outs the right way,” he added. “I know that sounds funny, but there’s a lot of rollovers and a lot of flares, and that’s what amateur hitters do, or average hitters.

“I don’t think we’re average, and I know that we have a lot of talent, so that’s approach-related,

that’s timing-related. When you can get to making outs where it’s in the air to your pull side and it’s low and hard the other way, and it’s on a line through the middle, that’s great … you’re going to hit.”

UL’s lineups could be interesting to monitor over the weekend. Right

fielder Donovan LaSalle has been out because of food poisoning. Also, Deggs inserted two new freshmen starters in the outfield — Josh Lim and Jayce LaCava — and they immediately powered UL’s offense. Lim hit a three-run homer and LaCava got two hits and drove in two runs.

ULM’s rotation in last weekend’s 1-2 series loss at South Alabama included: Adam Broadnax (1-1, 3.76, 26.1 IP, 28 K), Brandt Corley (1-1, 6.49, 26.1 IP, 29 K) and JC Dermody (4-1, 6.75, 28 IP 27 K).

Meanwhile, Deggs hinted at tweaking his weekend rotation of Sawyer Pruitt (2-1, 1.42, 38 IP, 41 K), Andrew Herrmann (3-1, 3.20, 39.1 IP, 49 K) and JR Tollett (4-1 ,7.88, 32 IP, 31 K). One option is moving Ty Roman (2-2, 5.97, 31 IP, 34 K) back to the weekend. Something else that must improve is the middle relief options. After shining early on, right-

hander Garret Carter (1-0, 7.24) has struggled of late. “Garret has all the ability in the world,” Deggs said. “He’s more incapable of doing it. He’s just in a tough spot right now. It’s just confidence-wise and getting ahead, and then when he does, throw it in there, it’s getting turned around. It’s about executing pitches at this level.

“It doesn’t matter how hard you throw. You see that every night. Watching these young kids play, they can turn around 95 with the best of them. You’ve got to be able to locate and you have to have a second pitch.”

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons signed running back Brian Robinson Jr. on Thursday, giving starter Bijan Robinson a new backup. The Falcons added more depth at running back by also signing Tyler Goodson.

The depth at the position was lost after losing former backup Tyler Allgeier.

Robinson started 37 games in three seasons with Washington, rushing for more than 700 yards each season. He ran for 15 touchdowns in the three seasons with Washington. Robinson also has 73 receptions for 612 yards and five touchdowns in his career.

Goodson, a native of Suwanee, Georgia, has rushed for 264 yards with one touchdown in three seasons with Indianapolis.

PRO DAY

Continued from page 1C

Lafayette on Wednesday looking at Tomlinson’s ability.

CFL rules state each team’s 45man roster must have at least 21 native Canadian players.

“If you’re a Division I player, it’s highly likely to get drafted to a CFL team,” Tomlinson said. “So yeah, there was 3 teams and I was very happy to see them here because, you know, I can potentially go play be playing up north too as well, so very excited.”

Tomlinson showed why that should include him with a 36-inch vertical and 10-2 broad jump and a 4.47 in the 40.

“I think I did pretty well,” Tomlinson said. “I was actually quite banged up heading into the Pro Day and, you know, with God’s grace and adrenaline. I felt pretty well.”

For safety, Tyree Skipper, who spent six years at UL, it was a special farewell day.

“So just playing that, they made me come, they let me come back,” he said. “So it was a blessing to strap up, you know, so I love it. I love the game and I love the Cajuns. So it was a blessing.” Skipper is confident he can play any of multiple safety roles at the next level if given a chance.

“I could do the box, it’s on tape,” Skipper said. “I go play high, catch picks. I could do it also. Whatever they need me, I’m going to fill in, man.

I’m going to adjust. I’m going to adjust to the circumstances.”

Continued from page 1C

guards such as Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, TCU’s Olivia Miles, Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes and UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens into her rotation — all ahead of Johnson.

Coach Kim Mulkey said in December that she had to rebuild Johnson’s confidence once she left Chile and returned to LSU. Johnson, she said, had the Tigers’ game against the Blue Devils (268) “circled.”

SCOREBOARD

Sunday Duke-St. John’s winner vs. UConn-Michigan St. winner, TBA SOUTH REGIONAL

Regional semifinals Thursday Nebraska vs. Iowa, n Houston vs. Illinois, n

Regional championship Saturday Nebraska-Iowa winner vs. Houston-Illinois

winner, TBA MIDWEST REGIONAL

Regional semifinals

Friday

Michigan vs. Alabama, 6:35 p.m.

Iowa St. vs. Tennessee, 9:10 p.m.

Regional championship

Sunday Michigan-Alabama winner vs. Iowa St.Tennessee winner, TBA WEST REGIONAL

Regional semifinals

Thursday

Arizona vs. Arkansas, n

Purdue vs. Texas, n

Regional championship

Saturday Arizona-Arkansas winner vs. Purdue-Texas winner, TBA FINAL FOUR

At Lucas Oil Stadium

Indianapolis

National semifinals Saturday, April 4

TBD vs. TBD, TBA TBD vs. TBD, TBA

National championship Monday, April 6

Semifinal winners, 7:30 p.m.

NIT men’s glance

Tuesday’s score Tulsa 83, Wichita St. 79 Wednesday’s games Illinois St. 61, Dayton 55 Auburn 75, Nevada 69

Semifinals Thursday, April 2 At Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis Tulsa vs. New Mexico, 6 p.m.

Auburn vs. Illinois St., 8:30 p.m.

Championship Sunday, April 5 At Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis Auburn-Illinois St. winner vs. Tulsa-New Mexico winner, 7 p.m. NCAA Women’s

0-0) at L.A. Dodgers (Sheehan 0-0), 9:10 p.m.

Duke vs. St. John’s, 6:10 p.m. UConn vs. Michigan St., 8:45 p.m. Regional championship

After a career with the Cajuns filled with injuries and surgeries, it was just nice for offensive lineman Jax Harrington to look and feel healthy while performing.

“It’s always a blessing to come in here, compete, especially for this program, “ Harrington said. “To have that red and black on, it’s always a blessing.

“Like you said, with all the injuries, I never take these things for granted. It was a blessing to feel as good as I felt. I came in, didn’t none of those injuries prevent me from performing at my best today.”

Defensive end Jordan Lawson — another longtime Cajun performer — is hoping he did enough to impress scouts.

“I really wanted to show that first 10 yards out of the 40, getting out of my stands and being explosive with the couple of steps,” Lawsons said. “Obviously, for me, playing edge, they want to see that change of direction … so that was big for me.”

Lawson has 161 career tackles, 35 stops behind the line and 18 sacks, including 52 stops, 15 behind the line and five sacks as a senior.

“Just good football IQ, and good motor,” said Lawson, who said he’s up to 255 pounds. “I’m willing to play really hard down the stretch for a quarter and still having the same type of motor and energy that I had in the first quarter.

“I think that’s going to be big on any level. So just excited to be able to showcase that on next level.”

3-point tries. When she drained one of those long-range looks late in the fourth quarter, she chirped at Lawson on her way back down the floor.

Johnson posted on social media after the game that she was “fired up in the moment” but that she has “nothing but the utmost respect” for Lawson, who she called “a legend.” The next day, she also released a short documentary on her YouTube channel that contained behind-the-scenes footage of her sobbing in her hotel room in Chile.

LSU

Continued from page 1C

Southeastern Conference record of 56-33.

LSU is also hiring McNeese State athletic director Heath Schroyer as senior deputy athletic director and executive director of external relations for the LSU System, LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry announced.

Schroyer’s hire was viewed as an important step to lure Wade back to Baton Rouge, according to multiple sources. After Wade was fired for cause by LSU in spring 2022 because of multiple allegations of NCAA Level I violations, Schroyer hired him as the Cowboys’ coach a year later.

Schroyer took over the McNeese State athletic department in 2021 following a three-year run as the program’s men’s basketball coach.

“When Verge Ausberry shared his vision for LSU athletics with me, I knew I wanted to be part of this team,” Schroyer said in a statement. “Verge is a leader that I respect, and I am excited to work alongside him. My experience and commitment to collegiate athletics have prepared me for this amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to get to work at LSU.”

Since Wade’s departure, LSU hasn’t won at least 20 games or made an NCAA Tournament appearance. In the past four seasons under coach McMahon, the Tigers were ranked in the bottom two of the SEC three times.

Wade was fired on March 12, 2022, which was four days after

coaching all the players,” Lawson said. “All 12 players. Putting a team together and practicing within 10 days and then going to play a tournament. And our college players did an incredible job playing against teams that had pro players on (them) and were able to win the gold. So just really proud of that group.”

the university received a detailed 17-page notice of allegations from the NCAA.

The notice of allegations outlined 11 violations, including eight Level I violations — seven of which solely pertain to men’s basketball. Wade was tied to six of the seven allegations within the men’s basketball program. Then-associate head coach, Bill Armstrong, who was also fired, was accused of one Level I violation and one Level II violation.

These violations included prohibited cash payments to recruits and a failure to cooperate with the investigation. One of the wrongful recruiting actions by Wade, the NCAA found, was paying money to an unnamed former fiancée of an LSU athlete in exchange for her silence regarding the payments to players.

“When Verge Ausberry shared his vision for LSU athletics with me, I knew I wanted to be part of this team.”

HEATH SCHROYER, new LSU senior deputy athletic director

Wade was first suspended at the end of the 2018-19 season after Yahoo Sports detailed a wiretapped conversation between him and now-convicted middleman Christian Dawkins, regarding making a “strong-a** offer” he made in the recruitment of former LSU guard and Baton Rouge native Javonte Smart in 2017.

Former LSU President William F. Tate IV and former athletic director Scott Woodward said in a joint statement that the move to “terminate coach Wade and coach Armstrong is not an acknowledgement of agreement with any of the allegations.”

about it before we played Duke. I was just asked that question after the game.”

“We can no longer subject our university, department of athletics, and — most importantly — our student-athletes, to this taxing and already-lengthy process without taking action,” they wrote. “Our responsibility to protect and promote the integrity and well-being of our entire institution and our student-athletes will always be paramount.”

Wade was ultimately given a two-year show-cause penalty and a 10-game suspension for three Level I violations in June 2023 ahead of his first season with McNeese. LSU’s punishment included a reduction in scholarships by one over during the 202324 season and by one over the 2024-25 season.

In Wade’s lone season at NC State, the Wolfpack were 20-14 and 10-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was seventh in the 18-team ACC and was a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing 68-66 in the First Four.

This past season, LSU (15-17, 3-15 SEC) finished last in the SEC. McMahon ends his tenure with a 60-70 overall record. His best season with LSU was his second, finishing 17-16 overall and 9-9 in the SEC, tied for eighth in the standings, during the 2023-24 season. In the three other years combined, the Tigers won seven total conference games. McMahon’s record against SEC teams was 17-55, plus 1-4 in the SEC Tournament.

And when that matchup rolled around, Johnson turned in one of the best performances of her senior year. She tallied a game-high 18 points after hitting seven of her 11 field goals and three of her four

Lawson declined to answer a question Thursday about coaching Johnson over the summer. She instead directed reporters to the comments she offered in December, when she said that her experience with the national team was “a good one.” “Not just coaching Flau’jae but

Mulkey said Thursday that she answered honestly when she was asked in December about Johnson’s experience with Team USA. She understood Lawson’s dilemma. She said then that players on uber-talented teams aren’t going to “always be happy and content.” Someone usually has to sacrifice something.

“I don’t even know if Flau’jae even thinks about it anymore,” Mulkey said. “We certainly haven’t talked about it. We didn’t talk

Since then, Johnson has figured out a way to help Mikaylah Williams lead LSU back to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. She almost willed the Tigers to an elusive win over South Carolina on Feb. 14. Then, five days later, she teamed up with MiLaysia Fulwiley to lead LSU to a come-from-behind win over Ole Miss — a victory that helped the Tigers solidify their NCAA Tournament seeding. When those games arrived, Johnson scored 20 points in a first-round win over No. 15 seed Jacksonville, then added 24 in a second-round bludgeoning of No. 7 seed Texas Tech. That game was the last one she’ll play in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and she made it a memorable night.

Mulkey said Johnson has also used the time to improve as a leader. She’s more vocal now than she was before she played for Team USA last summer. Natural growth can explain part of that development. That humbling summer she spent with Lawson on Team USA may have been a factor as well. “She’s never really wanted to embrace being a leader,” Mulkey said. “She just kind of wants to do good and be a good player and a good person. And sometimes you have to be a leader. And I think she’s embraced it this year. Said Johnson: “That’s how you got to think about it, in that aspect. What can I do to be better?” {span}Email Reed Darcey at{/ span} {span}reed.darcey@ LSU

Travis on tour

Louisiana country artist James Dupré and country superstar Randy Travis’ band will perform Travis’ greatest hits in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the River Center Theatre for Performing Arts as part of the “Randy Travis: More Life Tour.” Travis will make a special appearance. Tickets are $60.70 and up. raisingcanesrivercenter.com.

LIVING

LeAnn Rimes to sing at Manship gala

BY JUDY BERGERON Staff writer

Tickets are now on sale to the general public for the Manship Theatre’s Red Carpet Gala featuring country singer-songwriter LeAnn Rimes on April 16. Prior to Monday, the tickets had only been available to Manship Theatre members and sponsors.

“The Manship Theatre Red Carpet Gala is our annual fundraiser that supports the theatre’s mission to enrich the lives of audiences of all ages by presenting world-renowned performers on our stage,” a news release states.

Mississippi native Rimes, 43, grew up in Texas and gained fame at the age of 14 with her top 10 Billboard hit, “Blue.” She became the youngest winner of the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1997. She crossed into other genres, including contemporary Christian and pop, with hits such as “How Do I Live,” “I Need You” and “Can’t Fight the Moonlight.” Rimes has had several TV roles, the latest as Dixie Bennings in ABC’s “9-1-1: Nashville.”

The all-inclusive gala from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. offers a meal by Mansurs on the Boulevard and drinks throughout the evening, followed by an intimate performance with Rimes. Tickets start at $250 at manshiptheatre.org. Those interested in sponsoring the gala can email sponsor@manshiptheatre.org.

BY JOHN WIRT | Contributing writer

Zach Bryan performs the first “Death Valley Live” concert Saturday at LSU’s Tiger Stadium, he’ll become one-third of an elite trio of stars who single-handedly headlined a massive musical event at the college football landmark. Garth Brooks appeared at the sold-out stadium in 2022, performing for 102,000 fans. The audience eruption he ignited with his 1994 hit, “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” produced a small earthquake that registered on a seismograph in LSU’s geosciences department.

Taylor Swift twice preceded Brooks at Tiger Stadium, appearing there in 2010 and 2015. Just 20 years old during her first appearance there for Bayou Country Superfest, the soon-to-be-a-superstar Swift returned in 2015 for the first stadium-headlining show of her career in Death Valley. Bryan, who turns 29 years old on April 2, has been a stadium attraction for two years, and most of the dates on his international “With Heaven on Tour” schedule also are at stadiums. His previous stadium appearances include a 2024 show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

ä See BRYAN, page 6C

A singer-songwriter from the small town of Oologah, Oklahoma, Bryan has sold millions of albums and singles since he independently released his album debut in 2019. In January, his latest album, “With Heaven on Top,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, repeating the chart-topping popularity of his self-titled 2023 album. In 2015, while serving in the U.S. Navy, Bryan began posting videos of himself performing his songs on YouTube. He’d been writing songs since he was 14.

“We started making these dumb songs up, me and my buddies sitting around,” he told The Oklahoman newspaper. “I never really expected to be a musician, ever, but I always wanted to write songs. That’s what I wanted to do: I wanted to be a songwriter.”

Bryan followed a family tradition by enlisting in the U.S. Navy at 17. During his seven-year hitch, he wrote songs in his spare time, building the stockpile of material that appeared on his early indie recordings.

Bryan credits a Navy cohort for encouraging him to pursue music. He recalled that advice in an interview with the Apple Music program Today’s Country Radio: “He was like, ‘Dude, you have to do this. If you don’t do this, millions of people who strive every day to do this are going to be disappointed that you wasted this chance.’ ”

In April 2021, Bryan made his Grand Ole Opry debut, taking that famous country music stage while still in the Navy. That year saw him honorably discharged, signing with Warner Bros. Records, and launching his “Ain’t for Tamin’ ” tour.

Warner Bros. Records released Bryan’s major album debut, “American Heartbreak,” in May 2022. It achieved a No. 5 debut on the Billboard 200. The single

Continued from page 5C

Friday. Spaces are $250 for the weekend. Specific spaces are not reserved.

n Day-of-concert paid parking will be limited due to baseball and softball events. Lots available for event day sales will be marked with signage indicating pricing. Follow the direction of officers and personnel when parking.

n The following lots and their opening times are: Lots 408, 409 and 411, 5 p.m.; all other event day lots will open at noon unless otherwise noted.

n Free parking is available in the levee lots, Hayfield lot, lots located east of Highland Road (Parker Coliseum), and lots north of campus near Spruce Hall.

n Free ADA parking with a shuttle is available in Lot 406 off of Skip Bertman Drive. After the concert, the shuttle will pick up in front of Nicholson Gateway.

n Pre-paid lots will open at

PROVIDED PHOTO

After opening for Zach Bryan’s stadium shows in March and April, folk-rock band Caamp will join Mumford & Sons for the British folk-rock group’s ‘Prizefighter European Tour’ in July.

“Something in the Orange” hit No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative charts, as well as charting 66 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 10.

More hits followed, including Bryan’s self-titled fourth album’s No. 1 Billboard 200 chart position; a No. 1 duet with Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything”; and this year’s chart-topping “Heaven on the Top.”

A prolific songwriter, Bryan sees writing songs as his foundation.

“Songwriting is such a massive part of this,” he has said. “If you’re missing out on it, what the hell are you doing? You’re just performing. You’re an actor.”

In 2022, Bryan gave one of his rare interviews to The New York Times. He told the newspaper that he didn’t want to be pegged a country act.

“I think people understand that I’m not that,” he said. “I want to be in that Springsteen, Kings of Leon, Ed Sheeran atthe-very-beginning space.”

Speaking of his then rising fame, Bryan assumed humble stance. “People feel entitled to be famous and rich,” he said. “I’m like, ‘dude, you could be digging ditches, bro’.”

Caamp

A popular folk-rock band from Athens, Ohio, Caamp

noon on Saturday. Pre-paid passes range from $40-$50 per vehicle, and there will be a limit of two passes per account. Paid ADA spaces are also available.

WHAT YOU CAN BRING

n Clear bags and backpacks only, no larger than 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches

n Plastic zip-top bag

n Small clutch purse

n Seat cushion n Medical items

n Water bottle

n Empty drink containers

WHAT YOU CAN’T BRING

n Outside food or beverages

n Ice chests or cameras

n Video cameras, selfie sticks or tripods

n Oversized chair backs or large items

n Noisemakers n Bikes, skateboards or scooters

n Umbrellas n Weapons n Inflatables n Animals (except service animals)

n Flags, signs or banners

is opening for Zach Bryan’s stadium shows in March and April before joining Mumford & Sons for the British folk-rock group’s “Prizefighter European Tour” in July.

Caamp released its fifth album, “Copper Changes Color,” last year. Garden & Gun magazine praised the album’s “Strokes-like strut, all clanging electric guitars at a punchy clip” and “trademark folk and delicate banjo beneath (Taylor) Meier’s distinctive baritone.”

“Copper Changes Color” debuted at No. 1 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart, and the single “Mistakes” became Caamp’s fifth Adult Alternative Airplay No. 1 song.

JR Carroll

The keyboardist in fellow Oklahoman Zach Bryan’s band for the past two years, JR Carroll released his debut album, “Dark Cloud,” in late 2024.

“I’m not trying to market myself to a wider audience,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “I am happy where I’m at. I’m respected by the people who I wanted to be respected by when I started this. If it grows, that’s great, and I will be a good steward of whatever becomes of that, but I already have a job that keeps me busy all year.”

Email John Wirt at j_wirt@ msn.com.

n Illegal drugs

RESTROOM LOCATIONS

n A restroom trailer, satellite restrooms and portable restrooms will be located throughout the concert and parking areas.

CONCESSION LOCATIONS

n East Stadium lower, middle, top and upper deck levels

n South Stadium lower, top and upper deck levels

n West Stadium lower, middle, top and upper deck levels

ALSO WORTH NOTING

n Will call windows open at 2 p.m. at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office (first floor of the LSU Athletics Administration Building)

n Gates open at 5 p.m.

Fans will pass through metal detectors prior to entry.

n The sale of alcoholic beverages will end at 10:30 p.m.

n LSU is a tobacco-free campus (no smoking or vaping)

All information provided by lsusports.net.

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday, March 27, the 86th day of 2026. There are 279 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 27, 2022, Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock onstage at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony; Smith won the Oscar for best actor just minutes later. (Smith later resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received a 10year ban from the Oscars.)

Also on this date:

In 1794, Congress approved the “Act to provide a Naval Armament” of six armed ships, which provided the foundation of the permanent U.S. Navy.

In 1964, Alaska was hit by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake (still the strongest on record in North America) and tsunamis that together

TODAY IN HISTORY

claimed over 130 lives.

In 1968, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, died when his MiG15 jet crashed during a routine training flight near Moscow; he was 34.

In 1973, “The Godfather” won the Academy Award for best picture of 1972, but its star, Marlon Brando, refused to accept his Oscar for best actor and, in what would become one of the Oscars’ most famous moments, sent in his place actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who spoke out about the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood.

In 1975, construction began on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; the 800-mile pipeline was completed just over two years later.

In 2016, an Easter Sunday bombing attack at a park in Lahore, Pakistan, killed at

least 69 people and wounded hundreds more. Authorities said a militant group claimed responsibility and deliberately targeted the Christian community. In 2023, a former student shot through the doors of the private Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, killing three children and three adults in an elaborately planned mass shooting at the Christian school. Two responding officers shot and killed the 28-year-old attacker. Today’s birthdays: Actor Michael York is 84. Film director Quentin Tarantino is 63. Singer Mariah Carey is 57. Actor Pauley Perrette is 57. Actor

SHOWS TO WATCH — ACADIANA AREA

6 p.m.

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC: Cane River Pecan Company Pie Bar, New Iberia, 5 p.m.

ISAAC LEJEUNE: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

JACK WOODSON: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Naq’s-nDuson, Duson, 6 p.m.

NICKI NEEDHAM: Adopted Dog Brewing, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY NIGHT JAM: La Maison de Begnaud, Scott, 6 p.m.

DOYLE TAUZIN: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

THE CAST: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

JACOB RHYMES

COMBO: Whiskey and Vine, Lafayette, 7 p.m.

JAKE KNOTT AND THE UNWOUND: Silver Slipper, Arnaudville, 7 p.m.

THE DEBTORS: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: The Barrel of Broussard, Broussard, 8 p.m.

VERMILLIONAIRES: Rock ‘n’ Bowl de Lafayette, Lafayette, 9 p.m.

SATURDAY

TROY LEJEUNE BAND: Fred’s, Mamou, 8 a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Moncus Park, Lafayette, 9 a.m.

SATURDAY MORNING

JAM SESSIONS: The Savoy Music Center, Eunice, 9 a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

LAFAYETTE HOLI FESTIVAL: Girard Park, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

CAJUN FRENCH MUSIC JAM: Vermilionville Living History Museum & Folklife Park, Lafayette, 1 p.m.

CAJUN JAM SESSION: Touchet’s Bar, Maurice, 2 p.m.

ABI CLAIR: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

AUDREY BROUSSARD: Charley G’s

Bergeron

Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

BOBBY DWYER AND HONKY TONK NONC: Agave, Youngsville, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza & Brewery, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

ROUGAROU STOMP: Adopted Dog Brewing, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

DAVE BRUCE MUSIC: Tap Room, Youngsville, 6:30 p.m.

RAIKWON GREEN: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m. THE CAST: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

NATE BARGATZE: “BIG DUMB EYES TOUR” (COMEDY): Cajundome, 7 p.m. JC MELANCON: Silver Slipper, Arnaudville, 7 p.m. JUST US JAZZ: Whiskey and Vine, Lafayette, 7 p.m. THE JOSH MENDOZA

EXPERIENCE: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m. JAMIE BERGERON AND THE KICKIN’ CAJUNS: Lakeview Park, Eunice, 8 p.m.

LUKE HUVAL BAND: La Poussiere Cajun Dancehall, Breaux Bridge, 8 p.m.

MICHAEL JUAN

NUNEZ: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: The Barrel of Broussard, Broussard, 8 p.m.

T J GAUTREAUX AND LOUISIANA SOUL: Toby’s Lounge, Opelousas, 8:30 p.m.

CHASING THE HOUR-

GLASS: Whiskey Tales, Henderson, 9 p.m.

KROSSFYRE: Rock ‘n’ Bowl de Lafayette, Lafayette, 9 p.m.

SUNDAY

THE SUNDAY PEOPLE: Whiskey & Vine, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

LES FRERES MICHOT: Prejean’s, Carencro, 11:30 a.m.

BAL DU DIMANCHE — RJ & KREOLE

SMOOVE: Vermilionville Living History Museum & Folklife Park, Lafayette, 1 p.m.

CAJUN JAM: Bayou Teche Brewing, Arnaudville, 2 p.m.

JAKE SPINELLA: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

TERRY, LUKE, AND PHILIP HUVAL: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6 p.m.

SWAMP BLUES REVIVAL: Silver Slipper, Arnaudville, 7 p.m.

MONDAY

PATRICIO LATINO SOLO: Cafe Habana City, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

ALYSSA MCMURRAY: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

BLUEGRASS JAM: Cité des Arts, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY

JACK WOODSON: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m. ROB SAXY: Whiskey and Vine, Lafayette,

TERRY HUVAL & FRIENDS: Prejean’s Restaurant, Lafayette, 6 p.m.

GREENLIGHT SES-

SIONS OPEN MIC: The Jefferson Street Greenroom, Lafayette, 7 p.m.

GROOVE ROOM: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

DULCIMER JAM: St. Landry Visitor

LADIES NIGHT WITH DJ DONOVAN IN THE MIX: Cowboys Nightclub, Scott, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Naq’s-nDuson, Duson, 6 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Charley G’s Seafood Grill, Lafayette, 6 p.m. DAP MUSIC: Tap Room, Lafayette, 8 p.m. KARAOKE PARTY — PANDA ENTERTAINMENT: Black Bull, Youngsville, 8 p.m.

Compiled by Marchaund Jones. Want your venue’s music listed? Email info/photos to showstowatch@ theadvocate.com. The deadline is noon FRIDAY for the following Friday’s paper.

BUSINESS

BRIEFS FROM

WIRE REPORTS

CEO apologizes for inability to speak French

TORONTO — The chief executive of Air Canada apologized Thursday for his inability to express himself in French after politicians called for his resignation for his English-only message of condolence after Sunday’s deadly crash in New York.

“I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days,” Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement.

“Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.” Rousseau delivered his original condolence video message in English, with French subtitles.

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received hundreds of complaints about Rousseau’s video.

U.S. inflation projected to reach 4.2% this year

The Iran war’s disruption of oil exports from the Middle East will substantially boost consumer prices while also slowing growth in the United States and many other developed countries, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.

The OECD expects U.S. inflation to jump to an annual average of 4.2% this year, from about 2.6% in 2025. The increase will mainly be driven by spiking gas costs, but fertilizer exports have also been interrupted and could raise food prices in coming months, the OECD said.

Growth is expected to slip to 2% this year from 2.1% in 2025, then decline further next year to 1.7%. In 20 of the largest countries, referred to as the Group of 20, which includes Japan, Europe, and large emerging economies such as Brazil, inflation is forecast to rise to 4% from 3.4%.

Meta lays off hundreds amid fizzled plans

Meta laid off hundreds of employees Wednesday, about two months after a sweeping workforce reduction at the company.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed media reports that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based tech giant’s latest cuts hit several divisions, including the company’s flagship platform Facebook, recruiting, sales and Reality Labs, Meta’s virtual reality division.

The Reality Labs cuts, coupled with Meta’s plans to pull back on development for its immersive world app, signal a final call for those hanging out in the metaverse. During the pandemic, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went all in on the vision of a virtual world running parallel with the real world. Renaming his company from Facebook to Meta, Zuckerberg envisioned everyday users and businesses spending time as their virtual reality counterparts.

In total, Meta announced it was cutting about 10% of its 15,000-employee Reality Labs division, the organization responsible for developing the products and software behind Zuckerberg’s metaverse ambitions.

USPS seeks a temporary charge to offset costs

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service is seeking a temporary 8% charge on certain popular products to help blunt the impact of rising transportation costs.

USPS filed notice on Wednesday with the Postal Regulatory Commission seeking the price increase, which would take effect on April 26 and remain in place until Jan. 17, pending final approval. If approved, the price increase would affect Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. No other products or services would be affected, including first-class stamps, the agency said.

Wall Street has worst day of year

Nasdaq sinks 10% below record high

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK — Stocks fell sharply Thursday, and oil prices rose as doubt took over again from hope on Wall Street about a possible end to the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 slumped 1.7% for its worst day since January and is back on track for a fifth straight losing week. That stretches back to before the Iran war began, and it would be the longest such losing streak in nearly four years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 469 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.4% to fall more than 10% below its all-

time high set early this year. That’s a steep enough drop that professional investors have a name for it: a “correction.”

Stock markets likewise tumbled across much of Asia and Europe. They’re the latest flip-flops for financial markets in a week that began with big hopes after President Donald Trump said productive talks had taken place about ending the war. But Iran denied direct talks were underway and then dismissed a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire that was delivered via Pakistan.

On Thursday, the fighting continued, and thousands more U.S. troops neared the region. Iran, meanwhile, tightened its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 4.8% to settle

White House spokesman denies report of concerns from Treasury

BY HADRIANA LOWENKRON, SALEHA MOHSIN and ERIC MARTIN Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Trump administration offi-

cials are examining what a potential spike in oil prices as high as $200 a barrel would mean for the economy, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign senior officials are studying the possible fallout from extreme scenarios for the Iran war.

Modeling of how damaging a bigger jump in oil prices could be to growth prospects is part of regular assessment done during times of strain and is not a prediction, according to the people, who asked not to be identified commenting on matters that aren’t public. The effort is aimed at making sure the administration is prepared for all contingencies, including a prolonged conflict, they said.

Even before the war began, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed concern that the conflict would boost oil prices and damage economic growth, the people said. Senior Treasury officials have communicated worries to the White House about swings in oil and gasoline prices for several weeks, some of the people said.

White House spokesman Kush Desai called that account “false,” saying, “While the administration is always evaluating various pricing scenarios and economic impacts, officials are not examining the possibility of oil reaching $200 per barrel and Secretary Bessent has not been ‘worried’ about the short-term disruptions from Operation Epic Fury.”

Bessent, he said, has repeatedly “conveyed both his and the administration’s continued confidence in the long-term trajectory of the American economy and global energy markets.”

Oil prices have jumped since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, with West Texas Intermediate up about 30% at $95 a barrel. Brent crude is up almost 40% over the same period, trading around $102.

The White House said Wednesday that diplomatic efforts to end the war are still underway despite Iran’s public rejection

BY MATT OTT Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for jobless aid inched up last week as employers continue to retain workers despite a labor market that has weakened considerably in the past year.

U.S. applications for jobless aid for the week ending March 21 rose by 5,000 to 210,000 from the previous week’s 205,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s right in line with the 210,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. While weekly layoffs have remained in a healthy range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years, a number of highprofile companies have announced job cuts recently, including Morgan

at $101.89 as hopes dimmed for a potential return to normal for the strait. That’s up from roughly $70 before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 4.6% to $94.48 per barrel.

“They better get serious soon, before it is too late,” Trump said on his social media network Thursday morning about Iran’s negotiators, “because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”

Just minutes after Wall Street finished its trading for the day, Trump softened his talk a bit. He said he was delaying his threat to “obliterate” Iranian power plants to April 6, allowing more time for talks.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and

others, they are going very well.”

After that, oil prices trimmed some of their gains, and Brent crude fell back toward $100 per barrel. Treasury yields also pared their big jumps in the bond market.

On Wall Street, tech stocks were the heaviest weights on the market.

Meta Platforms fell 8%, and Alphabet sank 3.4% after each had held relatively steady the day before, when a jury found Instagram and YouTube liable in a landmark social-media addiction trial.

Other Big Tech stocks also fell, including drops of 4.2% for Nvidia and 2% for Amazon. Apple was an outlier and inched up 0.1%.

Commercial Metals fell 4.7% after the maker of steel rebar and other products reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

of President Donald Trump’s push for talks and threatened further military action if no agreement is reached.

The administration planned for the military campaign to last four to six weeks, the White House has said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said March 12 that a spike to $200 a barrel is “unlikely.”

Crude at $200 would be an enormous shock to the world economy. In inflation-adjusted terms, the price has hit that level only once in the last half-century — in 2008 just before the global financial crisis.

Even at lower levels, Bloomberg Economics forecasts that oil at $170 per barrel for a few months would push inflation higher for the U.S. and Europe and cut economic growth.

Trump has said he’s not concerned about rising energy costs, even suggesting they’re beneficial to the U.S., and predicted that oil prices will drop sharply once the war ends.

But the near-shutdown of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries as much as a fifth of global oil and gas exports, has already hit economies around the world.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said last week that the hostilities have stoked inflationary risks. Peers in Frankfurt, London and Japan are priming for interest rate hikes as soon as next month.

In the U.S., the most visible impact has been a 30% increase in retail gasoline prices, wiping away declines over the last year that Trump had touted as a key economic achievement.

The outlook for U.S. monetary policy is also increasingly muddled as the Federal Reserve watches for the impact of higher oil prices on inflation. Last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that it was too soon to gauge the effects of a surge in oil prices on the U.S. economy.

Stanley, Block, UPS and Amazon.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers unexpectedly cut 92,000 jobs in February, a sign that the labor market remains under strain. Revisions also slashed 69,000 jobs from December and January pay-

rolls, nudging the unemployment rate up to 4.4%. The surprisingly weak employment picture in February adds to the economic uncertainty over the war with Iran, which has caused oil prices to surge more than 40% and saddled business and consum-

ers with higher costs.

This comes at a time when inflation was already relatively high in the U.S.

The Commerce Department recently reported that the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge rose 2.8% in January compared with a year earlier. That’s above the Fed’s 2% target and the latest sign that prices were persistently elevated even before the Iran war caused spikes in oil and gas costs.

That persistent inflation, combined with the uncertainties brought on by the conflict in the Middle East, led the Fed to leave its benchmark lending rate alone at its last meeting. Central bank officials voted to raise the rate three times to close 2025 out of concern for a weakening job market. The U.S. job market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Divvy up your time according to importance first and preference second. A professional change will encourage greater socialization and encounters with those who enrich your life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Change begins with you. Consider what makes life easier for you and start by altering your routine and surroundings. Fine-tune your life to ensure that you excel.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Initiate an exciting project. Call an old friend and catch up, attend a reunion or sign up for something that can enrich your mind, body or soul. Refuse to let what others do or say stand in your way.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Avoid situations and people that make you feel vulnerable. Look for the good and the positive in everyone and follow your heart. Make your intentions and your feelings clear and explore what's possible.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Do whatever it takes to reach your dreams. Doing some research or making plans with someone you want to get to know better will lift your spirits and give you hope. Take advantage of an opportunity.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Use your skills, experience, fortitude and a proactive approach, and rewards will follow. Raise your awareness, and you'll find the happiness that comes from doing something that benefits others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Stick close to home and unwind and reconsider your

priorities. The drive to combine the old with the new will help you piece together a timely and doable plan.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Think big, muster up some energy and take physical action to ensure you reach your goal. Someone will push an emotional button. Don't ignore the message you receive.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Focus on home and the people and pastimes that bring you joy. An investment or purchase may pique your interest, but you should be wary. Your best return will come from home improvements that save you money.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Keep your eye on what's happening around you. Someone will get in your way or lead you astray if you give them the chance. You can have fun if you don't overdo it and know when to stop.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You are in a better position than you realize. A healthy lifestyle change will motivate you to update your look, express your feelings and follow your dreams.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Sign up for something you enjoy doing and explore the possibilities. Size up situations quickly and move on until you connect with someone who feels like a good fit.

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

nea CroSSwordS

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Denis Waitley, a motivational speaker and author, said, “The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them ... or even seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.”

A bridge player knows his goal, but unless he counts winners and losers, he will often not reach it, and partner would then be sharing the failure with him.

In this deal, South reaches seven spades. After West leads the diamond queen, what should declarer do?

Although South had only 16 high-card points, he had so many playing tricks that he was right to jump-rebid two spades, which guaranteed at least five clubs (his first-bid suit) and was game-forcing. North then used two doses of Roman Key Card Blackwood, learning first that his partner had three key cards (two aces and the spade king, or three aces), and second that he had the spade queen and club king.

South starts with only nine top tricks: four spades, two hearts, one diamond and two clubs. He needs to establish his club suit, which will generate extra club winners and more trump tricks with ruffs in the dummy. And usually in this situation, it is right to play on the side-suit first. Declarer wins with dummy’s diamond ace, plays a club to his ace, ruffs a club low on the board, returns to his hand with a trump, ruffs another club with the spade jack, draws trumps, and claims. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAY’s WoRD — BIBELots: BEE-bih-loze: Trinkets.

Average mark 29 words

Time limit 45 minutes

Can you find 37 or more words in BIBELOTS?

YEstERDAY’s WoRD — PAssWoRD

road draw drop dross

osar

Puzzle Answer today’s thought

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.” Jude 1:3

PROCEEDINGS OF THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE, STATE OF LOUISIANA, TAKEN AT A REGULAR MEETING OF MARCH 24, 2026 HELD AT 705 W.

UNIVERSITY AVENUE, LAFAYETTE, LA.

ATTENDANCE

COUNCIL: Kenneth Boudreaux (Chair District 5), Liz Hebert (Vice-

Chair District 3) Elroy Broussard (District 1), Andy Naquin (District 2) and Thomas Hooks (District 4)

ABSENT: None

COUNCIL STAFF: Joseph Gordon-Wiltz (Clerk of the Council), Cindy M. Semien (Associate Clerk for Legislative Affairs) and Kelly Comeaux (Assistant Clerk for Legislative Affairs)

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF: Monique B. Boulet (Mayor-President), Rachel Godeaux (Chief Administrative Officer), Karen Fontenot (Chief Financial Officer), Robert A. Mahtook, Jr (City-Parish Attorney) and Paul Escott (Assistant City-Parish Attor ney)

(5:32:00) COMMENCEMENT

Call to order

Chair Boudreaux called the Regular City Council Meeting of March 24, 2026 to order

AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

The Chair called upon Councilmember Naquin to cite an invocation and upon Councilmember Broussard to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

WELCOME AND CHAIR ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chair Boudreaux made the following announcements:

• Liz Hebert, District 3 is on her way and will be here shortly; Due to the Mardi Gras holiday the Council Meetings in February and March will be on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month. The meetings will retur n to the typical 1st and 3rd Tuesdays in April;

• Wished a happy birthday to Kevin Naquin, Constituent Services Advisor who celebrates his birthday on April 5th.

• Thanked Naquin for including Travis Griffin, Jr in his prayer

AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS No Council Announcements were made.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: EXECUTIVE/MAYOR-PRESIDENT’S REPORT Boulet’s announcements:

• The Legislative session is underway and there are bills that can impact Lafayette.

• Working to build the Northeast Library with a CMAR contract and will need legislative approval to do so;

• The Easter Egg Hunt and Community Kickball Bash will be March 28th at Pa Davis Park at 120 Dawn Street, all are welcome; 40th Festival Inter national Flag Raising at

EXECUTIVE SESSIONS

AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: Melanie Richard v. David Leblanc and Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Gover nment Docket No. C-20237251, Division L Mahtook explained why it is appropriate and responsible for the Council to enter into executive session regarding this matter

Motion to enter into executive session by Naquin, seconded by Broussard, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None Motion to enter into executive session was approved.

Motion to retur n from executive session by Broussard, seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None

Motion to return from executive session was approved.

Motion to accept the recommendation of Risk Management and the CityParish Attor ney; and authorizing the City-Parish Attorney to execute and deliver appropriate and necessary settlement documents, containing search terms and provisions as the City-Parish Attorney deems necessary or appropriate, to make appropriate budgetary adjustments contingent on the execution of relevant settlement documents, in connection therewith by Naquin, seconded by Broussard, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None Motion to accept recommendations was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: Mackenzie Brashier v. Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Gover nment and Clinton Joseph Docket No. C-20253466 Division L

Mahtook explained why it is appropriate and responsible for the Council to enter into executive session regarding this matter

Motion to enter into executive session by Broussard, seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None

Motion to enter into executive session was approved.

Motion to retur n from executive session by Naquin, seconded by Hooks, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None

Motion to return from executive session was approved.

Motion to accept the recommendation of Risk Management and the CityParish Attor ney; and authorizing the City-Parish Attorney to execute and deliver appropriate and necessary settlement documents, containing search terms and provisions as the City-Parish Attorney deems necessary or appropriate, to make appropriate budgetary adjustments contingent on the execution of relevant settlement documents, in connection therewith by Naquin seconded by Hebert, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None

Motion to accept recommendations was approved.

RESOLUTION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 6: CR-007-2026 A resolution of the Lafayette City Council approving the amended FY 2026 budget of the Downtown Development Authority (“DDA”), the gover ning authority of the Lafayette Centre Development District (“LCDD”), motion to adopt by Naquin, seconded by Hooks, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

Kevin Blanchard signed in to speak but only if there were questions.

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

AGENDA ITEM NO. 7: JR-006-2026 A joint resolution of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council authorizing a non-warranty cash sale of 116 Ransome Street (Assessment Number 6018571) to an adjoining landowner pursuant to La. R.S. 47:2202(B) for the price of the sale’s anticipated costs, motion to adopt by Broussard, seconded by Hebert.

Naquin made a motion to defer to April 7th, seconded by Hebert, and the vote was as follows: YEAS: Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux NAYS: Broussard

ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None Motion to defer to April 7th was approved.

Harold Ber nard announced that he completed all the documents required to acquire 116 Ransome Street. He requested the Council to vote in favor

Heather Blanchard stated that she and her husband consistently maintained 116 Ransome Street for the past year She stressed that Ber nard told her that he thought that the City maintained the property. Blanchard urged the Council to vote in opposition.

Kevin Blanchard noted that the property has been adjudicated for many years and he and his wife followed the rules to obtain the property. He stated that in February 2025 he informed LCG that he wanted to acquire 116 Ransome Street and have been taking care of the property.

Comments on the vote to defer:

Harold Ber nard stressed that the law states first come, first served. He noted that there was a tremendous investment on his part.

Heather Blanchard was called upon but passed her time to speak.

Kevin Blanchard urged the Council not to defer the resolution. He announced that he has been cutting the grass on 116 Ransome Street since February 2025. Blanchard requested to speak to each Councilmember individually if it is deferred.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 8: JR-007-2026 A joint resolution of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council authorizing a non-warranty cash sale of 211 Eleventh Street (Assessment Number 6049907) to an adjoining landowner pursuant to La. R.S. 47:2202(B) for the price of the sale’s anticipated costs, motion to adopt by Hebert, seconded by Broussard,

and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 9: JR-008-2026 A joint resolution of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council authorizing a non-warranty cash sale of 206 Carlton Drive (Assessment Number 6066849) to an adjoining landowner pursuant to La. R.S. 47:2202(B) for the price of the sale’s anticipated costs, motion to adopt by Naquin, seconded by Hebert, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None

Motion to adopt was approved.

One (1) citizen signed in support, but did not wish to speak.

REPORT AND/OR DISCUSSION ITEM

AGENDA ITEM NO. 10: LPSS Updates Francis Touchet, Jr Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent, was not present due to another commitment. A handout of LPSS accomplishments and future plans was provided to the Council.

ORDINANCES FOR FINAL ADOPTION

AGENDA ITEM NO. 11: CO-014-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council authorizing the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Gover nment to sell at public auction surplus vehicles and equipment which are no longer needed for public purposes, as per the attached list (Public Auction), motion to adopt by Broussard, seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 12: CO-015-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council authorizing the Lafayette Mayor-President to enter into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement and Act of Transfer by and between the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated gover nment and the Judice Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. concer ning the transfer of a surplus 1997 cargo truck, motion to adopt by Hebert, seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows: YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 13: CO-017-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council approving a Conditional Use Permit to allow a bar/lounge in a D (Downtown) Zoning District, Case No. 2025-2-CUP 522 Jefferson Street CUP (Conditional Use Permit), located generally north of West Vermilion Street, west of Jefferson Street, and south of West Congress Street, motion to adopt by Broussard, seconded by Naquin.

Naquin made a motion to remove Condition Item #5 of Section 2 from the body of the ordinance, seconded by Hebert. Naquin later withdrew his motion.

Boudreaux made a motion to remove Condition Item #9 from the Lafayette Zoning Commission Recommendation of Action report; the motion died due to a lack of a second.

Naquin made a motion to amend to include in the ordinance Conditions #6, #7 and #8 from the Lafayette Zoning Commission Recommendation of Action report, seconded by Broussard, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: Hebert

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to amend to include in the ordinance Conditions #6, #7 and #8 from the Lafayette Zoning Commission Recommendation of Action report was approved.

And the vote to adopt as amended was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Boudreaux

NAYS: Naquin, Hebert, Hooks

ABSENT: None

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt as amended failed.

Seven (7) citizens signed in support, but did not wish to speak.

Stephanie Cor nay Dougan noted her concer n with the change of property.

Kevin Blanchard urged the Council to decline the CUP

Candace Papillion Haynes announced that she has been deeply invested in the growth of the downtown community. She noted that her mission is to create a welcoming space to the already diverse and vibrant business community Haynes stated that they are committed to making a meaningful economic impact. She requested the Council to vote in favor

Alex Montgomery requested the Council to vote in favor

Shalin Dean stressed that the terms have been egregious. He noted that he has invested five (5) years into the Downtown area.

Nidal Balbeisi stated that there is a negative energy regarding the Downtown area.

Comments on the Amendment: Stephanie Cor nay Dougan was not present when called upon.

Kevin Blanchard requested the Council to include Condition #2 (open containers of any kind are not allowed to leave the property) from the recommendation list of the report.

Candace Papillion Haynes stated that she is good with the conditions for trash, the security plan and stipulation for a licensed security guard.

Alex Montgomery was called upon but passed his turn to speak.

Shalin Dean requested clarification for the disposal of trash and the stipulation for a licensed security guard. Boudreaux explained in detail.

Nidal Balbeisi encouraged the Council to vote in support.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 14: CO-018-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council amending the Lafayette Development Code so as to reclassify the property of Case No. 2025-30-REZ 323 Rue de Commerce Rezoning, located generally north of Industrial Parkway east

Naquin, Hebert, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 15: CO-019-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council amending the Lafayette Development Code and

Road, west of North University Avenue, and south of Dugas Road; and assigning a zoning classification of RS-1 (Residential Single-Family) (District 1), motion to adopt by Broussard seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Boudreaux

NAYS: Hooks

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 16: CO-020-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council amending the Lafayette Development Code and the official map of the City of Lafayette, providing for the annexation of additional land into the corporate limits of the City of Lafayette, Louisiana, Case No. 2026-2REZ 262 Ridge Road (Tracts 3-5) Annexation, located generally north of Ridge Road, east of South Domingue Avenue, and south of Curran Lane; and assigning a zoning classification of CH (Commercial-Heavy) (District 2), motion to adopt by Naquin, seconded by Hooks, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

Neil Bates signed in to speak, but only if there were questions.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 17: CO-021-2026 An ordinance of the Lafayette City Council amending the Lafayette Development Code so as to reclassify the property of Case No. 2026-3-REZ 1115 South Hugh Wallis Road Rezoning, located generally north of East Verot School Road, east of South Hugh Wallis Road, and south of Rue Conge Circle; being rezoned from RM-1 (Residential Mixed) to CH (Commercial Heavy), motion to adopt by Broussard, seconded by Naquin, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert

ABSTAIN: None Motion to adopt was approved.

Bret Hollier signed in to speak, but only if there were questions.

INTRODUCTORY ORDINANCES

A motion to introduce agenda items 18 thru 21, in globo, was offered by Naquin,

18.

20.

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux NAYS: None ABSENT: Hebert ABSTAIN: None Motion to introduce, in globo, was approved.

Comments for Item #21: Kevin Blanchard signed in to speak but only if there were questions.

JOINT INTRODUCTORY ORDINANCES

A motion to introduce agenda items 22 and 23, in globo, was offered by Broussard, seconded by Naquin.

22. JO-008-2026 A joint ordinance of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council amending the FY 25/26 capital budget of the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government by transferring $150,000 from the Environmental Quality fund balance to the Environmental Quality Convenience Center Project within the Capital Improvements Department, Environmental Quality Division for additional funding needed.

23. JO-009-2026 A joint ordinance of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council amending the FY 25/26 capital budget of the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government by transferring $180,000 from the Environmental Quality net income to the Dean Domingues Compost Facility within the Capital Improvements Department, Environmental Quality Division for additional funding needed.

The Chair then called for a vote to introduce the ordinances (items 22 and 23), in globo, and the vote was as follows:

YEAS: Broussard, Naquin, Hooks, Boudreaux

NAYS: None

ABSENT: Hebert ABSTAIN: None Motion to introduce, in globo, was approved.

COMMENT(S) FROM THE PUBLIC

AGENDA ITEM NO. 24: Comments from the public on any other matter(s) not on an agenda and are within the legislative power of the Lafayette City Council.

Dr Joe Abraham signed in to speak, but was not present when called upon. He provided handouts for the Council.

Donald Hargrave signed in to speak, but was not present when called upon.

Emilia Pardo announced her candidacy for Lafayette City Court Judge. She stated that she has been a prosecutor for 16 years and that she is compassionate and fair Pardo noted that the community is only as strong as the systems that are in place. She urged all to vote for her on November 3rd.

Boudreaux noted that Francis Touchet, Jr Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent, apologized for leaving the Council meeting before his presentation. Boudreaux stated that Touchet urged the Council to review the handout that he provided.

(7:47:00) ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Council, Chair Boudreaux declared the Regular Meeting adjourned.

/s/ Joseph Gordon-Wiltz JOSEPH GORDON-WILTZ, LAFAYETTE CLERK OF THE COUNCIL

Lafayette Mayor-President, the elapse of ten (10) days after receipt by the Lafayette Mayor-President without signature or veto, or upon override of a veto, whichever occurs first.

CITY ORDINANCE NO. CO-015-2026 AN ORDINANCE OF THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZING THE LAFAYETTE MAYOR-PRESIDENT TO ENTER INTO A COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOR AGREEMENT AND ACT OF TRANSFER BY AND BETWEEN THE LAFAYETTE CITY-PARISH CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT AND THE JUDICE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT, INC. CONCERNING THE TRANSFER OF A SURPLUS 1997 CARGO TRUCK

BE IT ORDAINED by the Lafayette City Council, that:

WHEREAS Article VII, Section 14(C) of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana provides that, “For a public purpose, the state and its political subdivisions. may engage in cooperative endeavors with each other, with the United States or its agencies, or with any public or private association, corporation, or individual;” and WHEREAS the Parish of Lafayette and the Judice Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Judice VFD”) have executed that certain Cooperative Endeavor Agreement for Firefighting Services in Lafayette Parish, with an effective date of November 1, 2025; and WHEREAS Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government (hereinafter referred to as “LCG”) is the owner of a 1997 cargo truck, bearing VIN AT004498ECAF (hereinafter referred to as the “Cargo Truck”); and WHEREAS, the Cargo Truck is no longer needed by LCG due to normal wear and tear mileage, and hours operated and, therefore, is considered surplus property; and

WHEREAS the Judice VFD is in need of the Cargo Truck for public safety; and

WHEREAS in consideration for the firefighting services provided by the Judice VFD within parts of the Parish of Lafayette and to promote the public health, safety and welfare of the Parish and City of Lafayette, LCG desires to convey transfer assign and deliver to the Judice VFD the Cargo Truck, subject to the terms and conditions provided in the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement attached herewith; and WHEREAS La. R.S. 33:4712 provides that before disposition of the property an ordinance must be introduced giving the reasons for the action, and fixing the terms of the contract; and WHEREAS Section 2-11(11) of the Home Rule Charter of LCG requires the adoption of an ordinance for the conveyance of property owned by LCG; and WHEREAS for the reasons noted herein, it is the opinion of the Lafayette City Council that the Cargo Truck is no longer needed for public purposes and thus, surplus property; and

WHEREAS the Lafayette City Council desires to transfer title in the Cargo Truck to the Judice VFD and deems the transfer of the Cargo Truck to the Judice VFD to be in the best interest of the citizens of City of Lafayette.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED by the Lafayette City Council, that:

SECTION 1: All of the aforedescribed “Whereas” clauses are herein adopted as part of this ordinance.

SECTION 2: The Lafayette Mayor-President is hereby authorized to transfer title in the Cargo Truck, which is movable surplus property no longer needed for a public purpose, to the Judice VFD, and to execute all documents needed to effectuate the transfer of title in the Cargo Truck to the Judice VFD, including, but not limited to, the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement and Act of Transfer in substantially the same form as attached herewith.

SECTION 3: LCG shall adhere to all requirements of State law pertaining to the disposal of surplus property no longer needed for public purposes, including, notice of this ordinance to the public, shall be adhered to.

SECTION 4: Any opposition to this ordinance shall be made in writing and filed with the Office of the Clerk of the Council within 15 days of first publication.

SECTION 5: All ordinances and resolutions, or parts thereof, in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

SECTION 6: This ordinance shall become effective upon the signature of the Lafayette Mayor-President, the elapse of ten (10) days after receipt by the Lafayette Mayor-President without signature or veto, or upon override of a veto, whichever occurs first.

* * * * CITY ORDINANCE NO. CO-018-2026 AN ORDINANCE OF THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AMENDING THE LAFAYETTE DEVELOPMENT CODE SO AS TO RECLASSIFY THE PROPERTY OF CASE NO. 2025-30-REZ 323 RUE DE COMMERCE REZONING, LOCATED GENERALLY NORTH OF INDUSTRIAL PARKWAY, EAST OF RUE BEAUREGARD, AND SOUTH OF RUE DE COMMERCE; BEING REZONED FROM CH (COMMERCIAL-HEAVY) TO CM-1 (COMMERCIAL MIXED)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Lafayette City Council, that:

SECTION 1: The Lafayette Development Code is hereby amended so as to reclassify Case No. 2025-30-REZ 323 Rue de Commerce Rezoning located generally north of Industrial Parkway, east of Rue Beauregard, and south of Rue de Commerce, the particular parcel being rezoned from CH

(Commercial-Heavy) to CM-1 (Commercial Mixed); the said parcel being shown and identified on a

a

SECTION 2: All ordinances or resolutions, or parts thereof, in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

SECTION 3: This ordinance shall become effective upon signature of the Lafayette Mayor-President, the elapse of ten (10) days after receipt by the Lafayette Mayor-President without signature or veto, or upon an override of a veto, whichever occurs first. *

CITY ORDINANCE NO. CO-019-2026 AN ORDINANCE OF THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AMENDING THE LAFAYETTE DEVELOPMENT CODE AND THE OFFICIAL MAP OF THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE, PROVIDING FOR THE ANNEXATION OF ADDITIONAL LAND INTO THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA, CASE NO. 2026-1-REZ 144 & 146 LEBESQUE ROAD (TRACT 12 & 13B) ANNEXATION, LOCATED generally NORTH OF LEBESQUE ROAD, WEST OF NORTH UNIVERSITY AVENUE, AND SOUTH OF DUGAS ROAD; AND ASSIGNING A ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF RS-1 (RESIDENTIAL SINGLE-FAMILY) (DISTRICT 1)

BE IT ORDAINED by the Lafayette City Council, that:

SECTION 1: The Lafayette Development Code and official map of the City of Lafayette are hereby amended so as to annex Case No. 2026-1-REZ 144 & 146 Lebesque Road (Tract 12 & 13B) Annexation, located generally north of Lebesque Road, west of North University Avenue, and south of Dugas Road; and assigning a zoning classification of RS-1 (Residential Single-Family). Refer to survey “Map of Proposed Extension for City of Lafayette, Louisiana, Corporate Limits, Located in Section 10, T9S-R4E”, prepared by: Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, Lafayette Utilities System; a copy is attached hereto and made a part thereof.

SECTION 2: The foregoing described property is located within Lafayette City Council District No. 1.

SECTION 3: The description of the property to be annexed is as follows: Beginning at a point on the existing City of Lafayette corporate limits, said point is the southeasterly property corner of SARAH ANN COMEAUX CLAVELLE, the northeasterly property corner of TIMOTHY PAUL DENAIS, KIMBERLY DAVID DENAIS, JOHN QUEBEDEAUX JR & MARIANNE DAVID QUEBEDEAUX, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 N University Ave, thence ±18.50 east to the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave, and the westerly road edge of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence ±935.00’ southeast along the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave, and the westerly road edge of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence a curve southwest at the corner of LA 182 University Ave and Lebesque Rd to a point, thence ±1,248.00’ west along the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd, and the northerly road edge of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence ±16.00’ north through the right-of-way of Lebesque Rd, to the southwest property corner of MARIA G ESCUTIA to a point, thence N00º01’22”W a distance of approximately 431.32’, along the westerly property line of MARIA G ESCUTIA, and the easterly property line of LOIS CARMOUCHE GUILLORY to a corner point, thence N89º48’48”E, a distance of approximately 59.98’, along the northerly property line of MARIA G ESCUTIA, and the southerly property line of KIMBERLY DAVID to a point, thence N89º48’48”E, a distance of approximately 119.90’, along the northerly property line of MARIA G ESCUTIA, and the southerly property lines of KIMBERLY DAVID & LYNETTE DAVID to a corner point, thence S00º09’20”E, a distance of approximately 431.00’, along the easterly property line of MARIA G ESCUTIA, and the westerly property line of WILSON CARMOUCHE (ESTATE) to a corner point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 119.95’, along the southerly property line of WILSON CARMOUCHE (ESTATE), and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 118.95’, along the southerly property line of CHRISTOPHER TROY LANDRY & KIERRA VONDELL FRANKLIN LANDRY, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 117.95’, along the southerly property line of DENISE NICOLE MITCHELL HUDSON & AMANDA MARIE MITCHELL, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 116.95’, along the southerly property line of MICHAEL JAMAL BABINEAUX, GERALD MARLOW SIMPKINS & NIYEMAH JOLI BABINEAUX, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 115.95’, along the southerly property line of RITA ZENO WILLIAMS & CHRISTOPHER J WILLIAMS, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 114.95’, along the southerly property line of JOSEPH CLEMENT CARMOUCHE & CHERYL MARIE RICHARD CARMOUCHE, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 182.40’, along the southerly property lines of RACHEL CORMIER, SANDRA CORMIER, RHONDA CORMIER WILMER & AMANDA LYNN CARMOUCHE COLE, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N89º55’21”E, a distance of approximately 213.60’, along the southerly property line of JANELLE CARMOUCHE PAUL (ESTATE), AUDRETA MARIE CARMOUCHE BROUSSARD, SHEILA ANN CARMOUCHE MASON & JASON PAUL CARMOUCHE, and the northerly right-of-way of Lebesque Rd to a point, thence N35º51’12”E, a distance of approximately 59.10’, along the southeasterly property line of JANELLE CARMOUCHE PAUL (ESTATE), AUDRETA MARIE CARMOUCHE BROUSSARD, SHEILA ANN CARMOUCHE MASON & JASON PAUL CARMOUCHE, to a point, thence N17º58’20”W, a distance of approximately 61.90’, along the easterly property line of JANELLE CARMOUCHE PAUL (ESTATE), AUDRETA MARIE

CARMOUCHE BROUSSARD, SHEILA ANN CARMOUCHE MASON & JASON PAUL CARMOUCHE, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N17º58’20”W a distance of approximately 111.70’, along the easterly property line of JANELLE CARMOUCHE PAUL (ESTATE), AUDRETA MARIE CARMOUCHE BROUSSARD, SHEILA ANN CARMOUCHE MASON & JASON PAUL CARMOUCHE, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N13º42’30”W a distance of approximately 111.70’, along the easterly property line of JASON P CARMOUCHE & DEBRA ANN BROWN, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N13º42’30”W a distance of approximately 111.70’, along the easterly property line of KEVIN BENJAMIN & MAURINE CARMOUCHE, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N08º12’27”W a distance of approximately 137.26’, along the easterly property line of ROSS ELLIS DAVID & ANGELICA PRIMEAUX DAVID, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N09º24’21”W a distance of approximately 30.67’, along the easterly property line of ROSS ELLIS DAVID & ANGELICA PRIMEAUX DAVID, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, thence N09º55’18”W a distance of approximately 394.91’, along the easterly property line of TIMOTHY PAUL DENAIS, KIMBERLY DAVID DENAIS, JOHN QUEBEDEAUX JR & MARIANNE DAVID QUEBEDEAUX, and the westerly right-of-way of LA 182 University Ave to a point, which is also the existing City of Lafayette corporate limits and the point of beginning, all as shown on the attached incorporation map prepared

SHEILA BARRAS ROBERTS, and the northerly property line of RANDOLPH TRUST to a corner point, thence N07º10’55”W a distance of approximately 196.74’, along the westerly property line of TISA BARRAS PATIN & SHEILA BARRAS ROBERTS, and the easterly property line of A D K INVESTMENTS INC to a point, thence N07º10’55”W a distance of approximately 29.92’, along the westerly property line of TISA BARRAS PATIN & SHEILA BARRAS ROBERTS, and the easterly property line of A D K INVESTMENTS INC to a corner point, thence N50º03’23”E, a distance of approximately 53.04’, along the northwesterly property line of TISA BARRAS PATIN & SHEILA BARRAS ROBERTS, and the southeasterly property line of MAURICE LANTIER FAMILY LLC to a corner point, which is also the existing City of Lafayette corporate limits and the point of beginning, all as shown on the attached incorporation map prepared by Lafayette City - Parish Consolidated Government - Lafayette Utilities System, dated October 2, 2025 entitled, MAP OF PROPOSED EXTENSION FOR CITY OF LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA, CORPORATE LIMITS, LOCATED IN SECTION 8,

effective upon the elapse of 30 days after publication or posting, pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute 33:173, et seq * * * * * CITY ORDINANCE NO. CO-021-2026 AN ORDINANCE OF THE LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL AMENDING

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