The Acadiana Advocate 04-02-2026

Trump says U.S. will ‘finish the job’

President says war with Iran nearing completion

BY WILL WEISSERT, JON GAMBRELL and DAVID RISING Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” offering a full-throated defense of the war Wednesday night in his first national address since the conflict began more than a month ago Trump got a wide audience and a chance to articulate clear objectives for the war after weeks of changing goals and often contra-

ä Trump lashes out at NATO over war. Page 3A

ä Kidnapped reporter known for gutsy assignments. Page 3A

dictory messages about whether he’s winding down or ready to escalate military operations — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran. But he spent much of his time repeating some of the same things he said in recent weeks, while also

suggesting that the U.S. was close to meeting its major military objectives in Iran and his estimated timeline for concluding operations was within two to three weeks He promised U.S. forces would continue to hit Iran very hard.

“For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. But in the end, those are just words if you’re not willing to take action when the time comes,” Trump said.

The president said, “In these past four weeks our armed forces

LIFTOFF

Artemis II, NASA’s first lunar voyage in decades, rockets toward the moon

BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla Four as-

tronauts embarked on a highstakes flight around the moon Wednesday humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century and the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a landing in two years.

Carrying three Americans and one Canadian, the 32-story rocket rose from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where tens of thousands gathered to witness the dawn of this new era. Crowds also jammed the surrounding roads and beaches, reminiscent of the Apollo moonshots in the 1960s and ’70s. It is NASA’s biggest step yet toward establishing a permanent lunar presence.

“On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the launch director “Good luck, Godspeed Artemis II. Let’s go.”

Artemis II set sail from the same Florida launch site that sent Apollo’s explorers to the moon so long ago The handful still alive cheered this next generation’s grand adventure as the Space Launch System rocket thundered into the early evening sky, a nearly full moon beckoning some 248,000 miles away

Five minutes into the flight, Commander Reid Wiseman saw the team’s target: “We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it,” he said from the capsule On board with him are pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen It was the most diverse lunar crew ever with the first woman, person of color and nonU.S. citizen riding in NASA’s new Orion capsule.

Tensions were high earlier in the day as hydrogen fuel started flowing into the rocket.

Permit for Atchafalaya Basin dam ruled invalid

Structure harms crawfish harvests, some say

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

The permit allowing a dam in the Atchafalaya Basin to remain in place, blocking freshwater flow to crawfish grounds, has been declared invalid by a judge. Instead of ordering the removal of the dam, however which crawfish farmers say has severely damaged some crawfish grounds and hindered boat passage, the judge stayed the matter This will allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which initially granted the permit after the dam’s construction, to rectify deficiencies. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson, of the Middle District of Louisiana, on Tuesday issued his ruling on a 2023 lawsuit filed by the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper and Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association West. In September 2021, the Miller Hunting Club, without getting a Corps permit, built a dam across Pat’s Throat, a waterway in the Atchafalaya Basin, for members to access additional hunting grounds. The dam has small culverts that let some water through, but not boats.

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

Quadruple amputee

claims self-defense

LA PLATA Md. A quadruple amputee professional cornhole player acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a passenger in his Tesla during a heated argument, his attorney said Wednesday

Dayton James Webber, 27, appeared in Charles County District Court via videoconference for the bail review Wednesday, where Judge Patrick Devine noted that he left Maryland after the March 22 shooting of 27-year-old Bradrick Michael Wells and ordered Webber to remain jailed without bail.

Webber, who was extradited from Virginia and is charged with first- and second-degree murder, hasn’t entered a plea yet and is due in court for a May 6 preliminary hearing. He also faces assault and firearm charges.

Defense attorney Andrew Jezic told the court that Webber acted in self-defense and that he anticipates “a lengthy trial” to prove it.

“The truth here is that he would have been a murder victim if he had not acted immediately in defense of his life,” Jezic said.

Taylor Swift sued over ‘Showgirl’ album cover

LOS ANGELES A lawsuit says Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” stole the spotlight from the life of a real one.

Maren Wade says in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in California that the branding of Swift’s 2025 album comes too close to her own trademark of “Confessions of a Showgirl.” That was the name of a column she wrote on backstage Sin City life in the Las Vegas Weekly starting in 2014, which she turned into a live show that she took on a national tour

“Both share the same structure, the same dominant phrase, and the same overall commercial impression,” the lawsuit says. “Both are used in overlapping markets and are directed at the same consumers.” Wade is described as a “singer, songwriter, comedian, and writer” in the lawsuit filed under her legal name, Maren Flagg, and her “Showgirl” brand encompasses performances, writing and digital media.

Rescuers give up hope for stranded whale

BERLIN Rescuers said Wednesday that they have given up hope for the humpback whale that has become stranded repeatedly off Germany’s Baltic Sea coast and now expect it to die in the inlet where it currently lies.

The whale swam into an inlet on the small island of Poel, near the port of Wismar on Tuesday and got stuck again. Last week, it was rescued from even shallower water at Timmendorfer Strand, a resort town around over 30 miles from its current location, with the help of an excavator, but it soon ran into trouble again.

In recent days, authorities have pursued a strategy of trying to give the exhausted mammal peace and quiet so that it can gather enough strength to swim away under its own steam, while sometimes approaching it with boats to motivate it to set off.

Burkard Baschek, the scientific director of the Ocean Museum Germany and the scientific coordinator of the rescue effort, said the whale was breathing at very irregular intervals on Wednesday and that drone photos showed little sign of activity in the sediment under the 39-49 foot animal. It barely reacted when approached.

The whale was a bit more active after rescuers left, “but it is not activity that gives us grounds for hope,” Baschek said at a televised news conference.

“We firmly believe that the animal will die there.”

While the whale on two previous occasions was able to gather enough strength to free itself, it is now weaker and also faces falling water levels, “and the prospects that it will free itself are very small,” he said. “The approach of maximum rest and respect for nature demands at some point that we let it go.” BRIEFS

Court hears birthright citizenship case

Justices seem poised to reject Trump’s restrictions

BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court seemed poised Wednesday to reject President Donald Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship in a momentous case that was magnified by his unparalleled presence in the courtroom.

Conservative and liberal justices questioned whether Trump’s order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens comports with either the Constitution or federal law

Arguments lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included not only Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation’s highest court, but also Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.

The case frames another test of Trump’s assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court with a conservative majority and a robust view of presidential power, which has largely ruled in the Republican president’s favor In the notable exceptions when the court has not, Trump has responded with starkly personal criticisms of the justices. A de-

fi

who is not.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally “I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,” Roberts said.

Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.

“How much of the debates around the 14th Amendment had anything to do with immigration?” Thomas asked, pointing out that the purpose of the amendment was to grant citizenship to Black people, including freed slaves.

The justices heard Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them. The restrictions have not taken effect anywhere in the country

nitive ruling is expected by early summer Trump, the media-savvy president, spent just over an hour inside a courtroom that prohibits cameras and all electronic devices for arguments made by the Republican administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer Solicitor General D. John Sauer. The president departed shortly after lawyer Cecillia Wang began her presentation in defense of broad birthright citizenship.

After court adjourned, Trump posted on Truth Social: “We are the only Country in the World STU-

PID enough to allow ‘Birthright’

Citizenship!” Actually, about three dozen countries, nearly all of them in the Americas, guarantee citizenship to children born on their territory

Trump heard Sauer face one skeptical question after another Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.

“Is this happening in the delivery room?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

Protesters take to the streets in Jerusalem

Israel OKs death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murder

BY JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press

JERUSALEM Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the embattled Palestinian territories on Tuesday, a day after Israel’s parliament passed a measure establishing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.

Palestinians young and old held sit-ins and marches in the Israelioccupied West Bank, the territory where the new law is most sweeping. The Fatah political party has called a general strike in the northern part of the West Bank for

Wednesday

The legislation orders West Bank military courts — which try only Palestinians to make the death penalty the default sentence for those convicted, except in special circumstances.

“Time is running out and silence is deadly,” read the signs carried by protesters in the central West Bank city of Nablus, which showed an animation of a prisoner wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf next to a noose. “Stop the law to execute prisoners, before it’s too late.”

The bill passed its final vote in the Israeli parliament late Monday to cheers and applause. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli firebrand minister of national security who spearheaded the push for the legislation, described the law as long overdue and a sign of strength and national pride.

The law is set to take effect in 30 days but its implementation could be delayed by pending court proceedings at Israel’s highest tribunal.

The measure is not retroactive and won’t apply to current prisoners. Still, it signaled an extreme hardening of Israeli penal policy that elicited fear from the protesters for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails — emblems of national resistance.

“You are the symbol of struggle, You are the symbol of steadfastness,” the protesters in Nablus chanted, some holding up signs with the faces of friends and family currently in Israeli prisons.

Palestinian officials released statements saying the death penalty measure violated international law and asking other countries to intervene. Amnesty International has said that the use of the death

New DNA testing links unsolved death of Utah teen to Ted Bundy

17-year-old went missing from Salt Lake City in 1974

BY HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and REBECCA BOONE Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — New DNA testing has definitively linked the unsolved death of a Utah teenager in 1974 to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, the local sheriff’s office said Wednesday Laura Ann Aime, 17, went missing Halloween night 51 years ago after she left a party alone to go to a convenience store. About a month later, her body was found by hikers on the side of a highway in American Fork Canyon Aime was bound, beaten and without clothing. Authorities said the evidence indicated that she had likely been kept alive for several days after her abduction.

Investigators long suspected that Bundy was responsible — police said he verbally acknowledged his culpability leading up to his execution in Florida in 1989 — but the case remained open until they could be certain.

Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, with at least 30 women and girls’ deaths linked to him in several states in the 1970s. His murders — which occurred in sorority houses, parks and elsewhere — set the nation on edge. Bundy’s arrest drew widespread fascination, in part because many considered him to be charming and handsome.

Investigators had carefully preserved the evidence from Aime’s case, and forensic investigators were able to analyze that evidence to select the portions that seemed most likely to have usable DNA samples Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said.

The state crime lab got new technology in 2023 that allows investigators to extract DNA from samples even if they are small, degraded from age or contain DNA from multiple people, he said. That technology allowed them to identify a single male DNA profile, which they submitted to a national law enforcement database.

Bundy’s DNA was a match, Mason said.

Aime’s family described her as a free spirit who loved the outdoors and found joy in everything she did.

“Laura Aime is the quintessential daughter of Utah County,” Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Reynolds said in a news conference earlier Wednesday. “We felt the pain the family feels when she was taken. We felt the pain that you felt this whole entire time, and we’ve had the desire to deliver to you some type of healing, we can’t really say closure.”

penalty under the new measure could violate the right to life and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as enshrined in international law

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for sanctions on Israel’s parliament and its suspension from international bodies.

“The law represents a critical turning point in the formalization of extrajudicial killings under a legal guise,” the statement said, adding that the ministry “stresses that this law, in its essence, constitutes an institutionalized policy of field executions based on discriminatory and racist standards.”

The bill’s passage was the culmination of a yearslong push by Israel’s far right to escalate punishment against Palestinians convicted of attacking Israelis.

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CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Trans-Atlantic rift widens over war

Trumplashesout at NATO allies

BY JILL LAWLESS and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press

LONDON U.S. President

Donald Trump says he’s strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, ratchetingup his criticism of European allies and exposing awider rift in the trans-Atlantic alliance this time overthe Iran war

While Trump’stalkofa possible NATO pullout dates back years, the comments to The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K., published Wednesday,were among the clearest and most disparaging yet —suggesting thatthe fracture has deepened perhaps to apoint of no return.

Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership in the allianceafter the conflict in the Middle East ends, Trump replied: “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration.”

Congress passed legislation in 2023 that would prevent any president from pulling out of NATO without its approval. The Trump administration, during his first term, had insisted the president had such authority on his own.

It’sunclearwhether Trump would challengein any way the new law,which is the first of its kind and with the NATO provision specifically championed at the time by Trump’ssecretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was aFlorida senatorat the time.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government was “fully committed to NATO” and called it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”

U.S. Sen. Mitch McCon-

done morefor them than the other way around.

AU.S.pullout would essentially spell the endof NATO,which flourished for decades underAmerican leadership.

Speaking Tuesday on Fox News, U.S.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “I do think, unfortunately,we aregoing to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for awhile is still serving that purpose.”

nell, aKentucky Republican, and Sen.Chris Coons, aDelaware Democrat,saidina jointstatement that “NATO is the most successful military alliance in history” and stressed that the Senate “will continue to support the alliance for thepeace and protectionitprovides” the UnitedStates, Europe and the world.

Many European leaders have felt political pressure over thewar,whichfaces opposition in their countries and has sent petroleum prices soaring as Iranhas effectively shutthe Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through whichabout onefifth of the world’soil passes.

“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, Iamgoing to act in theBritish national interest in allthe decisionsI make,”

StarmersaidWednesday

TheU.K.isworkingon plans that could help assuage Trump, and Starmer said military plannerswill work on apostwar security planfor thestrait.

On Thursday,British Foreign Secretary Yvette Coo-

perwill host avirtual meeting of 35 countries that have signeduptohelp ensure security forshipping in the strait —after the fighting ends.

Iulia-Sabina Joja, asenior fellow at theMiddle East Institute, alludedtoTrump’s exhortation on Tuesday for allies to “go get your own oil” —inasocial media post insisting it wasn’tAmerica’s job to secure the strait

“The Europeans are not keen to go into an active warfare situation, to so-called ‘get’their energy out of the strait,” said Joba, aformer deputy project manager at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Virginia. Long-simmering tensions within the alliancehavebubbled up again over the war As energy prices have spiked, Trumphas been desperate to getcountries to send their ships to theStrait of Hormuz. He hascalled NATO allies “cowards.”

Since his first term,Trump has urged theallies to assume greater responsibility for their own security and spend more on defense. He has argued that the U.S. has

Rubio raised questions withinterviewer Sean Hannity about whether NATO has “become aoneway street whereAmerica is simply in aposition to defend Europe —but when we need thehelpofour allies, they’regoing to deny us basingrightsand they’re going to deny us overflight.”

Thecriticism from Rubio could raise concernsinthe alliance about whether the U.S. under Trump may no longerconsider NATO as worththe time, moneyand personnel that Washington has invested in it

Theverymentionofa pullout could weaken the alliance’sdeterrence, particularly with Russia: It relies on ensuring that Russian President Vladimir Putinbelieves NATO will retaliate if he decides to oneday expand Moscow’swar in Ukraine.

NATO is built on Article5 of its founding treaty,which pledges that an attack on any one member will be met with aresponse fromthem all.

As the Iranwar has spread,missiles anddrones have been fired toward NATO memberTurkey and aBritish militarybase on Cyprus, fueling speculation about what might prompt NATO to triggerits collective securityguarantee and come to their rescue.

BY SAMYAKULLAB Associated Press

BAGHDAD American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson often worked without formal assignmentsfromeditors and on ashoestring budget, taking shared taxis to lawless corners of Iraq where militia rule outweighs governmentcontrol.

Kittleson, 49, has lived abroad for years, using Rome as her base fora timeand building a respected journalism career across the Middle East.

ing Al-Monitor,aregional newssite.

Deeply curious and selfdirected, she often embedded herselfinlocal communities, sometimesstaying with families rather than in hotels.

On Tuesday, shevanished after being forced into a carbytwo menatabusy Baghdad intersection, surveillancecamera footage showed.

“She is agreat reporter and always wants to go to areas where no onewants to go,” saidPatrizio Nissirio, aformer editor at Italian news agency ANSA, who has known Kittleson since2011, when she workedasa translator for the agency

“I said to her,‘Youdon’t need to be in awar zone to do good journalism,’ and she told me,‘Ithink my work is worth something when Iaminthose areas,’” Nissirio said.

Friendsand fellow journalists describe Kittleson as adetermined, gutsy reporter whospent over adecade reporting from Iraq, Syria and the wider Middle East for avariety of news outlets, includ-

Herindependencemeant frequently workingalone, traveling long distances and carrying heavy belongings with her at all times,while operating without the backing of alarger news organization that might have offered some protection.

The Wisconsin native is kind andspiritual, friends say,and she embraced Islam

She left Wisconsin in 1995, when she was 19, and headed first to Italy, where she went to school and worked as ananny, according to her mother, Barb Kittleson. She spent about 10 years in Italy before eventually settling in Iraq, she added. In recent weeks, Iraq has been caught in thecrossfire of the Iran warasthe only country facing strikes from both sides. Iranianbacked militias in Iraq have launched regular attacks on American facilities there since the start of the fighting.

Kittleson’smothersaid she hasnot seen herdaughterinpersonsince2002, but they exchanged emails acouple of times aweek, including on Monday, when her daughter sent her a couple of pictures.

Dangerous hydrogen leaks erupted during a countdown test earlier this year, forcing a lengthy flight delay To NASA’s relief, no significant hydrogen leaks occurred. The launch team loaded more than 700,000 gallons of fuel into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket on the pad, a smooth operation that set the stage for the Artemis II crew to board.

NASA also had to deal with some issues beforehand but was able to resolve them and allow the launch to proceed without delay, one of them related to commands not getting through to the rocket’s flighttermination system, which is needed to send a self-destruct signal in case the rocket veers off course and threatens populated areas. That issue was quickly resolved, according to NASA. It also had to troubleshoot one of the batteries in the capsule’s launch-abort system. Launch controllers scrambled to understand why the battery’s temperature was out of limit Ultimately, it didn’t prevent the launch from taking place.

The astronauts will stick close to home for the first 25 hours of their 10-day test flight, checking out the capsule in orbit around Earth before firing the main engine that will propel them to the moon

They won’t pause for a stopover or orbit the moon like Apollo 8’s first lunar visitors did so famously on Christmas Eve 1968, reading from Genesis. But they stand to become the most distant humans ever when their capsule zooms past the moon and continues another 4,000 miles beyond, before making a U-turn and tearing straight home to a splashdown in the Pacific.

Once settled in a high orbit around Earth, the astronauts plan to assume manual control and practice steering their capsule around the rocket’s detached upper stage, venturing within 33 feet.

NASA wants to know how Orion handles in case the self-flying feature fails and the pilots need to take control

PAY

Continued from page 1A

Chassion, D-Lafayette, who authored the bill, said.

Revenue sharing refers to funds paid to athletes directly out of athletic department budgets.

The original bill, filed in late February sought to make contracts with college athletes through a university’s revenue sharing program private.

But amendments added Wednesday went a step further, clarifying that dollar amounts and percentages of the pool of money allocated to specific athletes and individual sports would not be public record.

Legislators raised questions about the proposed law obfuscating how public funds are spent.

“This is really broad,” Rep. Beryl Amedee RHouma, said. “And I’m concerned that we’re expanding confidentiality so much that we’re losing necessary transparency.”

Separate from name, image and likeness deals, revenue sharing payments are public dollars, First Amendment expert and attorney Scott Sternberg said Sternberg is representing the journalists suing for the records. Sternberg also represents

PERMIT

Continued from page 1A

In October 2021, the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper notified the Corps of the dam, saying it had completely stopped navigation of the bayou and warned that the structure reduces water speed, altering the area’s hydrology Later that month, the Corps issued the hunting club a notice for violating the Rivers and Harbor Act and Clean Water Act.

After the Basinkeeper and crawfishers sent a notice in November 2021 to the Corps and landowner that they planned to file a lawsuit, the hunting club owner sought an after-the-fact permit from the Corps in January 2022.

An amazing sight in store

Four days later into the lunar flyby, the moon will appear to be the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. The astronauts will take turns peering through Orion’s windows with cameras. If the lighting is right, they should see features never before viewed through human eyes. They’ll also catch snippets of a total solar eclipse, donning eclipse glasses as the moon briefly blocks the sun from their perspective and the corona is revealed.

All of NASA’s moon plans — a surge in launches over the next several years leading to a sustainable moon base for astronauts assisted by robotic rovers and drones — hinge on Artemis II going well.

It’s been more than three years since Artemis I, the only other time NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion capsule have soared. With no one aboard, the Artemis I capsule lacked life-support equipment and other crew essentials like a water dispenser and toilet.

These systems are now making their space debut on Artemis II,

The Advocate | The TimesPicayune in some legal matters. The newspaper is not a party to the lawsuit filed against LSU.

Following the House v. NCAA settlement in 2025 that allowed schools to pay athletes directly, Louisiana passed a law that raised the state tax on online sports betting to 21.5% and funneled a quarter of those proceeds to subsidize public universities’ athletics programs.

“We’re effectively saying, ‘Sorry we know you passed this tax, but we’re not going to let you see where the revenue goes,’” Sternberg said. “In no other instance would that be OK.”

Chassion argued the exemption to public records law would protect student athletes from harassment. While presenting the amendments to the House Education Committee on Wednesday he frequently referenced his daughter, a walk-on guard for the University of Connecticut women’s basketball in 2020-21

“If my daughter happened to have made $50,000 from Insomnia Cookies as a member of the UConn women’s basketball team, I don’t want anyone knowing what she makes,” Chassion said. “It shouldn’t be public information.”

As the bill heads to the floor, the 19th Judicial Dis-

The Rivers and Harbor Act, Jackson wrote, gives the Corps several options if a permit applicant builds a project without obtaining Corps authority first. The Corps can either take legal action, require initial corrective measures, voluntarily restore the waterway or submit an after-the fact permit

The Corps granted the permit in March 2022 without visiting the site, relying on photographs submitted by the hunting club, and without knowing the waterway’s bottom elevation or whether it is navigable by fishers. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in December 2023. Jackson concluded that the Corps “reached unreasonable conclusions” about whether three conditions for building the dam were met Because the structure could

ratcheting up the risk. That’s why NASA is waiting a full day before committing Wiseman and his crew to a four-day trip to the moon and four-day journey back.

“There’s always been a lot riding on this mission,” NASA’s Lori Glaze said ahead of launch But the teams are even more “energized” now that the space agency is finally accelerating the lunar launch pace and laser-focusing on surface operations seismic changes announced recently by new administrator Jared Isaacman.

New Orleans’ key role

NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans played a key role in the Artemis program as nearly 90% of the Space Launch System, the rocket that will be propelling the four astronauts into orbit, was constructed there.

Mayor Helena Moreno said she was “incredibly proud” that the rocket was constructed in New Orleans.

“The team at Michoud is once again showing the level of innovation possible right here in New Orleans. Let this be a reminder that big things are possible in New

trict Court will also hear a case concerning whether LSU’s revenue sharing payments belong to the public record.

Journalists Piper Hutchinson, of the Louisiana Illuminator; Todd Horne, of Tiger Rag; and Chris Nakamoto, of WAFB, represented by Sternberg, filed a suit in March against LSU arguing the payments are “textbook public documents.”

“These revenue-sharing payments are made from funds comprised of Louisiana public dollars appropriated to and controlled by LSU,” the petition said.

“They represent an expenditure of public funds by a public body and are quintessential public records.”

Reached for this story, LSU spokesperson Meg Sunstrom said the university cannot comment on pending litigation but referenced its comment when the suit was filed.

“LSU has not been served with the lawsuit but believes the records are exempt from public disclosure for various reasons,” the statement said. “Releasing this information puts LSU at a competitive disadvantage on the field and runs contrary to the privacy interest of our student athletes.”

The term “competitive disadvantage” was not used in the House Education Committee meeting Wednesday,

only obtain a permit if it adhered to those conditions, he wrote, the court will vacate the permit.

But Jackson wrote that he does not have enough information to determine whether the structure actually violates the required conditions.

As a result, he denied the Basinkeeper and crawfishers’ request to prohibit the structure.

In addition, Jackson disagreed with the Basinkeeper and crawfishers, ruling that the Corps did not exceed its authority to grant general permits under the Rivers and Harbors Act or that regulations allowing after-the-fact permits also exceeded the Corps’ authority

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

than 2029. The billionaire spacewalker slid in a new Artemis III for 2027 so astronauts could practice docking their Orion capsule with a lunar lander in orbit around Earth. Astronauts’ momentous landing near the moon’s south pole shifted to Artemis IV in 2028 — two years before an anticipated Chinese crew’s arrival.

Like Apollo 13 — astronauts’ only moon landing miss — Artemis II will use a free-return, lunar flyby trajectory to get home with gravity’s tug and a minimum of gas. The gravity of both the moon and Earth will provide much if not most of the oomph to keep Orion on its out-andback, figure-eight loop.

Inherent dangers

The danger is right up there for Artemis II. NASA has refused to release its risk assessment for the mission. Managers contend it’s better than 50-50 — the usual odds for a new rocket — but how much more is murky

Orleans and when we’re all in, the sky, or even the moon, is the limit,” Moreno said in a statement.

A fresh beginning

With half the world’s population not yet born when NASA’s 12 moonwalkers left their boot prints in the gray lunar dust, Artemis offers a fresh beginning, NASA’s science mission chief Nicky Fox said earlier this week.

“There are a lot of people who don’t remember Apollo. There are generations who weren’t alive when Apollo launched. This is their Apollo,” said Fox, who was 4 when Apollo 17 closed out the era.

NASA is in it for the long haul this time. Unlike Apollo, which focused on fast flags and footprints in a breakneck race against the Soviet Union, Artemis is striving for a sustainable moon base elaborate enough to satisfy even the most hardcore science fiction fans But make no mistake: Isaacman and the Trump administration want the next boot prints to be made by Americans, not the Chinese. Until Isaacman’s program makeover, Artemis III was crawling toward a moon landing no sooner

with legislators instead emphasizing the point of athlete safety Sternberg said

The SLS rocket leaked flammable hydrogen fuel during ground tests, a recurring problem that engineers still do not completely understand. The hydrogen leaks and unrelated helium blockages stalled the flight for two months, coming on top of years of vexing delays and cost overruns. Both problems also thwarted Artemis I, whose capsule returned with excessive heat shield damage. To NASA’s relief Wednesday’s countdown was leak-free.

Beating the Soviet Union to the moon made the huge risks acceptable for Apollo, said Charlie Duke, one of only four surviving moonwalkers.

“I’m cheering you on,” Duke said in a note to Wiseman and his crew before their flight.

During a weekend news conference, Koch stressed how humanity’s path to Mars goes through the moon, the proving ground for points beyond.

“It is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on Earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination,” she said. Added Glover: “It’s the story of humanity Not Black history not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”

UNO to see some academic cuts under LSU

Several programs being eliminated, changed

BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer

After months of speculation about what the transition of the University of New Orleans to the LSU system would mean for faculty and students, LSU has revealed plans to modify or cut several academic programs. The changes will affect programs in art, international studies and education.

The announced changes include eliminating or changing five undergraduate programs and four graduate programs and are the first indication of academic shifts as UNO becomes part of LSU. The transition, which becomes official July 1, was floated in hopes of stabilizing the university, which has struggled with low enrollment and a glaring budget deficit.

LSU officials said the proposed changes were made after a “data-informed review of enrollment trends and program viability.” Some programs will be eliminated, while others will be renamed or revamped as minors.

University officials said students enrolled in programs slated to end would be able to finish their degrees, and no faculty would be laid off because of the program shifts.

“These changes are not about reducing opportunity, rather, they are about strengthening it,” UNO

President Kathy Johnson said in an email to faculty staff and students.

“We are aligning our academic portfolio with where student demand is growing and where career opportunities are strongest, while continuing to honor the disciplines that define us.”

Johnson added that the university is in the process of developing programs in high-demand fields, including engineering management, hospitality and tourism management, data science and health care management.

The following programs will be changed:

n Bachelor of Arts art history will be renamed B.A. studio art; art history will be offered as a minor

n B.A. film and theatre will be renamed B.A film arts and the

theater track will be discontinued; theatre arts will be offered as a minor

n B.A. international studies program will be discontinued; international studies will be offered as a minor

n Bachelor of Science elementary education and special education (grades 1-5) will be cut.

n B.S. mathematics will become a new B.S. in data science program.

n Master of Arts in teaching elementary education & special education (grades 1-5) will be cut.

n M.A.T secondary education & special education (grades 6-12) will be cut.

n Select theater-related tracks and concentrations from Masters of Fine Art film & theatre will be discontinued and degree will be renamed.

n M.S. in tax accounting will be cut.

Transition underway

The planned academic changes come as UNO prepares to revert to the LSU system, which governed UNO from its founding in 1958 until 2011. Last year, state legisla-

tors approved the shift, which was backed by the Board of Regents.

At public transition committee meetings this academic year, the LSU Board of Supervisors said the university was refocusing on key areas they see as connected to growing regional industries, such as health care, engineering, and tourism and hospitality

Among other things, the transition committee suggested building an on-campus hotel and culinary institute where students could get on-hand hospitality experience.

LSU President Wade Rousse hinted cuts were coming in February when he said there would be an “honest evaluation” of programs and possible cuts to ones that don’t attract students or prepare them for available jobs in the region.

UNO Senate Faculty President Christopher Summa said in a statement that program directors or faculty were consulted over changes in recent weeks.

“Our academic programs should be preserved wherever possible to best serve our students,” the statement said, “and we continue to hope that all our current pro-

grams will be allowed the chance to flourish during this transitional time of reintegration into the LSU System.”

Summa said many of the programs that would be changed had been flagged by the Board of Regents on its “low-completer” list of degrees for fewer graduates and low enrollment.

“While several programs have been implementing enhancement plans to address these issues,” Summa said, “it seems that there is increased pressure coming from the Board of Regents to act more decisively at this time.”

Notably the M.F.A. in Fine Arts and the M.A. in Romance Languages, which had both been flagged by the Board of Regents for low enrollment, were not listed among programs that would be cut or modified.

“In higher education throughout the country, institutions are adapting to changing student interests and evolving workforce demands,” Johnson said “This work ensures that LSU New Orleans is positioned to offer programs that are strong, sustainable and aligned with opportunity.”

have delivered swift, decisive overwhelming victories on the battlefield” and slammed previous decades of U.S. policy, saying previous presidents “made mistakes, and I am correcting them.”

“The situation has been going on for 47 years and should’ve been handled long before I arrived in office,” he said.

Trump also acknowledged rising oil prices and volatile financial markets, but insisted those would be temporary Polling, meanwhile, shows many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran — even as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive. Trump opted not to deliver such an address closer to when the U.S. and Israel first launched attacks, and questions remain about whether it is now too late for what he says to break through. Iranian missile fire targeted Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Israel just before Trump’s speech.

The president, in comments during an Easter lunch on Wednesday afternoon, said of Iran: “We could just take their oil. But you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate.”

“Yeah, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I prefer just to take the oil,” Trump said. “We could do it so easily. I would prefer that. But people in the country sort of say: ‘Just win. You’re winning so big Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too, because we have a lot of oil between Venezuela and our oil.”

The media was not permit-

ted to watch the president’s remarks at the lunch, but the White House uploaded video of the speech online before taking it down. The White House did not return requests for comment from The Associated Press on the video and why it was taken down.

In a social media post earlier Wednesday, Trump maintained a belligerent tone, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” The president has also said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” ensuring the security of ships passing through Hormuz, an apparent backtrack from a previous threat to attack Iran’s power grid if it didn’t open the strait by Monday In the same Easter lunch, the president reiterated some of his complaints about NATO allies for their reluctance to get involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz while suggesting that China, Japan and South Korea could also step up to reopen the waterway “Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear

force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said of efforts to reopen the strait. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”

In another morning social media post, Trump wrote that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.

Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to keep fighting. “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. We do not set any deadline for defending ourselves.”

Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by

this war?” he wrote.

Grip on Strait of Hormuz

Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict.

Thousands of additional U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And the U.S could decide to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and risky operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, experts and former government officials say

Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play

in any of these scenarios.

Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war

Where diplomacy stands

The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, including a demand for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. And in a report last week by Iranian state TV’s English-language broadcaster, an anonymous official was quoted as saying Iran had its own demands to end the fighting, including retaining sovereignty over the strait. In the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.” He warned against any U.S. attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.” In a deal ostensibly to give diplomacy a chance, U.S. officials have given “clear assurances” that Araghchi and Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won’t be targeted, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about the matter

Reese’s products to revert to classic recipes

Hershey said Wednesday it will use classic recipes for all Reese’s products starting next year a change that comes after the grandson of Reese’s founder criticized the company for shifting to cheaper ingredients.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have always been made with real milk chocolate or dark chocolate and peanut butter But a small portion of Hershey’s and Reese’s products, like mini Easter eggs, are now made with a coating that contains less chocolate Hershey said that in 2027, it will shift those products to “their classic milk chocolate and dark chocolate recipes.”

The Hershey, Pennsylvaniabased company said it will also be making other changes to its sweets portfolio next year, including transitioning to natural colors and enhancing Kit-Kat’s recipe to make it creamier The company said it plans to increase its research and development funding by 25% next year.

Software firm Oracle lays off thousands

Software giant Oracle on Tuesday started laying off workers as it looks to rein in costs and double down on artificial intelligence On LinkedIn, Oracle employees, including software engineers, account executives and program managers, shared publicly that they were affected by a mass layoff at the company and were looking for new jobs Oracle was founded in California, but moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, in 2020.

The company, which sells software and other services to help businesses manage and store data, hasn’t said publicly how many jobs were cut. CNBC, citing people familiar with the matter reported that Oracle was slashing thousands of workers As of May 2025, Oracle had 162,000 workers.

Oracle has offices throughout the world, including in California in Irvine, Santa Monica, Redwood City and Santa Clara. It’s unclear if the mass layoff also affected workers in California Oracle declined to comment.

The company is the latest tech firm to shed workers as it focuses more heavily on AI. Meta, Block, Amazon, Salesforce and other tech giants have continued to lay off their workers even as they hire for other roles and spend billions of dollars on AI data centers and products

Retail sales rose in February before war

NEWYORK — Shoppers increased their spending in February before gasoline prices spiked because of the attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel Retail sales rose a better-thanexpected 0.6% in February from a revised 0.1% decline in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday Retail analysts say it was a strong showing given that inflation has rattled American households, but that the war in Iran may have dented the psyche of consumers with spending on gasoline racing higher over the past five weeks.

“While the overall numbers are good and suggest a continued trajectory of reasonable expansion for retail, they do not reflect the problems that have arisen since the start of the Iran conflict,” wrote Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData “Since the start of March our own numbers show that consumer sentiment has soured and that rising gas prices are starting to spook consumers.”

This week the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline eclipsed $4, the first time it’s done so since 2022, and it jumped another 4 cents overnight to $4.06, according to motor club

SpaceX takes step to go public

Company files preliminary paperwork to sell shares

BY BERNARD CONDON and KEN SWEET AP business writers

NEW YORK Elon Musk’s space exploration company has filed preliminary paperwork to sell shares to the public according to two sources familiar with the filing, a blockbuster offering that would likely rank as the biggest ever and could make its founder the world’s first trillionaire.

A SpaceX IPO promises to be one

of the biggest Wall Street events of the year, with several investment banks lining up to help raise tens of billions to fund Musk’s ambitions to set up a base on the moon, put data centers the size of several football fields in orbit and possibly one day send a man to Mars.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the confidential registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SpaceX did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Exactly how much SpaceX plans to raise has not been disclosed but the figure is reportedly as much as $75 billion. At that level, the of-

fering would easily eclipse the $29 billion that Saudi Aramco raised in its 2019 IPO. The offering, coming possibly in June, could value all the shares of SpaceX at $1.5 trillion, nearly double what the company was valued in December when some minority owners sold their stakes, according to research firm Pitchbook, before an acquisition that increased its size. Musk owns 42% of the SpaceX now according to Pitchbook, though that figure will change with the IPO when new owners are issued shares. In any case, he is likely to pierce the trillion dollar mark because he is already close, with a net worth estimated by Forbes

magazine at $823 billion. In addition to making reusable rockets to hurl astronauts and hardware into orbit, SpaceX owns Starlink, the world’s largest satellite communications company The company also recently brought under its roof two other Musk businesses, social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and artificial intelligence business, xAI, in a controversial transaction because both the seller and the buyer were controlled by him.

SpaceX has become the biggest commercial launch company in its industry, responsible for sending payloads into orbit for customers across the globe, but has also benefited from big taxpayer spending.

BY MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS Associated Press

NICOSIA, Cyprus Skyrocketing oil and gas prices in Europe as a result of the ongoing Iran war won’t return to normal levels any time soon, even if peace is declared tomorrow, the European Union’s energy commissioner warned Tuesday

Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said although there are no immediate oil and gas supply shortages in the 27-member bloc, there’s pressure on diesel and jet fuel supply as well as “increasing constraints” in global gas markets that are resulting in higher electricity prices.

“What I find extremely important is to state as clearly as I can, that even if that peace is here tomorrow, still we will not go back to normal in a foreseeable future,”

Jørgensen told a news conference after a meeting of EU energy ministers.

He said the EU’s executive arm is preparing a string of measures designed to help families and businesses weather the huge spike in oil prices that have resulted

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

in about a 70% price hike for gas and 60% for oil in Europe. Since the start of the war, the EU’s bill for imported fossil fuels has jumped by 14 billion euros, according to Jørgensen.

Closely coordinated action between all EU members is necessary to “avoid fragmented national responses and disruptive signals to the markets,” he said.

The “toolbox” of measures now in the works will be unveiled “quite soon” and will include ways to make it easier for states to decouple gas prices from electricity prices, the commissioner said. He added that a tax cut on electricity, as suggested by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also being weighed.

Jørgensen said although he doesn’t foresee a repeat of the 2022 natural gas crisis where companies reaped huge profits from a massive gas price hike, a one-time “windfall tax” on such companies “is a possibility.”

There are now “good opportunities” for member states to financially support vulnerable groups or industries now under “extraordinary stress” and that the Commission

would make “these possibilities even simpler and wider,” said Jørgensen.

Jørgensen also encouraged EU members to consider the International Energy Agency’s 10-point plan which includes work from home, reduced highway speeds, encouraging public transport and increasing car sharing. He said the EU stands by its ban on Russian gas purchases, which is meant to reduce dependence on Russian gas and choke off funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Reliance on Russian gas dropped from 45% before the war to 10% now and will be reduced to zero once imports from other suppliers ramp up, especially from the U.S. The EU is looking at new energy sources from Azerbaijan, Algeria and Canada as well as smaller producers around the world.

The commissioner warned the EU should never “repeat the mistakes of the past allowing Putin to weaponize energy against us and blackmail member states.” He added that “it would be totally unacceptable” for the EU to continue buying energy that would “indirectly help finance the terrible war that Putin is conducting in Ukraine.”

saying that it has “the necessary will to end the war” as long as certain requirements are met, including “guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression.” The worry on Wall Street has been that the war may last a long time and keep oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf out of global markets, which could create a brutal blast of inflation. But hope has been quick to reverse to doubt on Wall Street, triggering manic swings back and forth for financial markets since the war with Iran began. Trump has also made statements that lifted markets, only to see the gains

quickly disappear after increasing his military threats.

Shortly before Wall Street began trading on Wednesday, Trump claimed in a post on his social media network that Iran “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!”

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or as they say back to the Stone Ages!!!”

But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, quickly called that claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.

GOP leaders announce plan to end shutdown

Johnson, Thune have plan to fund DHS

BY KEVIN FREKING and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON House Speak-

er Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan Wednesday to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, moving past a split between the two Republican leaders that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix to a record-setting partial government shutdown.

They said in a joint statement that “in the coming days” Republicans in Congress will return to a Senate plan to fund most of the department through an agreement with Democratic senators, with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans would then try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation. Neither outcome is guar-

anteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though President Donald Trump has given his support

“We appreciate and share the President’s determination to once and for all bring an end to the Democrat DHS shutdown,” said Johnson RBenton, and Thune, RS.D.

The plan represents a do-over of what senators had in mind when they passed a bipartisan funding agreement through unanimous consent last Friday. The Senate could approve similar legislation as soon as Thursday morning through unanimous consent, but even if that happens, it’s unclear how quickly the bill could move through the House. It will likely take several months for Republicans to act on the second part of Trump’s plan and pass budgeting legislation to fund ICE and Border Pa-

trol.

House Republicans refused to go along with the Senate plan last week, instead changing the bill to fund all of DHS for 60 days.

As a result, the shutdown continued as lawmakers left for their home states and congressional districts for a two-week recess. The DHS shutdown reached its 47th day on Wednesday Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, “Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making

Mullin rescinds restrictive $100K FEMA approval process

Move gives hope to disaster response efforts

BY GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA Associated Press

WASHINGTON Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday rescinded a rule that DHS expenditures over $100,000 be personally approved by his office, ending a widely criticized policy implemented by his predecessor Kristi Noem that critics said put a particular burden on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s work aiding disaster response and recovery

The decision marks the first major action by the new Homeland Security leader, sworn in last week, to change a policy implemented by Noem, whom President Donald Trump fired in March.

Mullin’s move is expected to ease a spending bottleneck that lawmakers and states said delayed disaster response and recovery funds, though those impacts are unlikely to be widely felt until after the end of the DHS shutdown, now in its 46th day A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Mullin rescinded the rule Wednesday, telling The Associated Press the secretary “re-evaluated the contract processes to make sure DHS is serving the American taxpayer efficiently.” CBS News first reported Mullin’s decision.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s move is expected to ease a spending bottleneck that lawmakers and states said delayed disaster response and recovery funds.

The spokesperson said Mullin’s action will streamline the contracting process and allocate aid more efficiently

The International Association of Emergency Managers praised Mullin’s decision. “We appreciate Secretary Mullin’s common-sense approach to this matter, and we look forward to working with him,” said Josh Morton, president of IAEM-USA. Noem issued a directive last June requiring that she personally approve any Department of Homeland Security expenditure over $100,000. Critics said the rule undermined FEMA in particular, an agency that routinely issues contracts and reimbursements well over that amount in its work preparing for and respond-

ing to natural and manmade disasters across the U.S.

The policy created “an untenable situation for emergency managers,” Morton said, and a bottleneck that also hindered mitigation and preparedness programs, “putting Americans at increased risk from disasters.”

A recently released report by Democratic members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found the approval rule had delayed at least 1,000 FEMA contracts, grants or disaster reimbursements by September

The policy came under scrutiny after news reports linked it to unstaffed call centers and delays deploying FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams to Texas during deadly floods last July, and brought sharp rebuke from some state officials and lawmakers, especially Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state is still recovering from devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in 2024.

“You’ve failed at FEMA,” Tillis told Noem at a Senate hearing the day before she was fired.

About $2.2 billion in recovery and mitigation dollars were in the DHS approval queue Wednesday, according to FEMA data seen by the AP

“It’s got a great mission, and I think people at FEMA want to do their job,” Mullin told lawmakers at his March confirmation hearing, sparking cautious hope that he would ease the tumult experienced at the agency under Noem.

Trial in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO now delayed until October

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK — A judge on Wednesday granted Luigi Mangione only a slight dela y of his federal trial in the killing of Unite dHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, moving it from September to October instead of next year, as his lawyers had wanted.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett tied her decision to the schedule of Mangione’s state murder trial, which is set to begin June 8 and take four to six weeks. She rejected a defense request to postpone the fed-

eral case until January or February 2027 so that it could then seek to delay the state case until September. Mangione’s lawyers had argued that back-to-back trials on a compressed timeline would violate his constitutional rights.

However Garnett said their proposal to push the federal case into 2027 and slot the state case in its place doesn’t “solve any of these problems because it shifts the very same problems from the summer to the fall.” Jury selection in the federal case will begin on Oct 5 instead of Sept. 8, followed by opening statements and testimony on Oct. 26 instead of Oct. 13, Garnett said.

The schedule could change again if the state trial is delayed, she said. Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty He wore leg

shackles as he entered the packed courtroom Wednesday and spoke only to confirm that he had agreed to let his lawyers speak to the judge about trial strategy and attorney-client matters in her robing room without him present. He faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case, which are set to occur two blocks apart in lower Manhattan.

“There really is no way around taking into account the events in the state case,” Garnett told lawyers at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. “Whether we like it or not, we’re at the mercy of the state case.”

However Garnett said, “I am skeptical of moving the (federal) trial wholesale into 2027 when the state trial has not been adjourned. It is a little bit of a tail wagging the dog.”

for all of Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.

“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”

It is uncertain whether Johnson could find enough support from the House to recall lawmakers back to Washington before their spring recess ends in midApril.

American families pay the price for their dysfunction.”

The announcement from the GOP leaders showed that for now, Thune and Johnson are on the same page. Their working relationship experienced a rupture late last week when Johnson — at the urging of many House Republicans rejected Thune’s plan.

The top Republicans hoping the path ahead will win over skeptical GOP colleagues, but the most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding

Meanwhile, the narrow budget package being prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a away to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to the president’s immigration enforcement agenda.

Ea rl ie r We dn es da y, Trump weighed in on the shutdown, using a social media post to seemingly call on Republicans to fund the immigration portions of DHS through a bill that

would not require Democratic support. He said he wanted the legislation on his desk by June 1. “We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,” Trump said. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries released a statement saying, “It’s time to pay TSA agents, end the airport chaos and fully fund every part of the Department of Homeland Security that does not relate to Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.” The vast majority of Homeland Security workers continue to report to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have been going without pay That led to more Transportation Security Administration agents calling out from work, causing frustrating security lines at some of the nation’s biggest airports. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay, per an executive order from Trump.

U.S. sanctions are lifted on Venezuela’s acting president

BY REGINA GARCIA CANO and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The U.S. on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to an Office of Foreign Assets Control entry on the Treasury Department website.

The newly announced sanctions relief is the latest U.S. recognition of Rodríguez as a legitimate authority in Venezuela ever since the U.S. military captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife on Jan. 3 in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

The pair have since been taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges and both have pleaded not guilty

The move allows Rodríguez to more freely work with U.S. companies and investors. Without explicitly mentioning the sanctions targeting her, Rodríguez, in a statement, expressed hope for U.S.-Venezuela relations.

“We value President Donald Trump’s decision as a step toward normalizing and strengthening relations between our countries,” she said on her Telegram channel after the Treasury’s announcement. “We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of current sanctions against our country, enabling us to build and guarantee an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our people.”

Rodríguez and her broth-

Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez will be allowed to more freely work with U.S

er, Jorge Rodríguez, were hit with U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first term for their role in allegedly undermining Venezuelan democracy

The siblings — along with other members of Maduro’s inner circle — were added to the Treasury’s list in September 2018, months after Maduro won re-election in a contest widely considered a sham because opposition politicians and parties were banned from participating.

“Maduro has given Delcy Eloina Rodríguez Gomez and Jorge Jesus Rodríguez Gomez senior positions within the Venezuelan government to help him maintain power and solidify his authoritarian rule,” Treasury said in a statement at the time.

The current Trump administration, however, chose to work with Delcy Rodríguez, instead of Venezuela’s political opposition,

after Maduro’s ouster She has since led Venezuela’s cooperation with the administration’s phased plan to turn the country around, pitching her oil-rich nation to international investors and opening the nation up to private capital, international arbitration, and scrutiny Last month, the administration recognized her as the “sole Head of State” of Venezuela in an ongoing civil case in U.S. federal court.

The U.S. has lifted sanctions on major Venezuelan industries. In March, Treasury issued a broad authorization allowing the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to U.S. companies and on global markets, a massive shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector

Acadiana Forecast

Activist vessel strikeskrill trawler

‘Attack’ happened in Antarctica’s waters

BY JOSHUAGOODMAN Associated Press

MIAMI Ashipoperated by agroup founded by anti-whalingactivistPaul Watson collided with an industrial krill trawler in Antarctica in what theship’s Norwegianowner said wasa “deliberate attack” that endangered itscrew and could’ve caused adisaster in the same environmentally sensitivewaters theactivists claim they want to protect Atwo-minute video provided to The Associated Press by the Aker QRILL Co shows the moment Tuesday when the M/V Bandero,operatedbythe Captain Paul Watson Foundation,slowly steams toward the stern of the fishing vessel, hitting its port side at aslightangle. The collision underscoresthe growing battle in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean over the future of Antarctic krill, ashrimplike crustaceancentral to the diet of whales and critical buffer to global warming that’s alsoindemandfor use in health supplements, fishmealand other products.

Aker said Wednesday that the Bandero came within centimeters of striking a

diesel tank on itsvessel, the NorwegianflaggedAntarctic Sea, andput at riska habitat teeming with multiple whale species, seals and seabirds —all feeding on theSouthern Ocean’s abundant but environmentally sensitive krill population.

The companysaid its multinational crew was shaken but unharmedand it would pursue all available legal action.

“Our crewwereput at risk in some of themost remote waters on Earth,and onlyluck avoided potential environmental damage,” Aker CEO Webjørn Barstad said in astatement.

TheCaptainPaulWatsonFoundation didnot respond to arequestfromthe AP about Aker’s accusations. Butinits own news release,itcharacterized its actions as “aggressive nonviolence.”

It said the crew,led by French activist Lamya Essemlali, managed to disrupt all krill fishing during a five-hour “direct intervention” againsttwo Aker-owned vessels. It also provided imagesshowing the crew launching giant metal net shredding devices intended to disrupt fishing. Watson himself was not on the ship, which departed Australia in February as part of what the Watson foundation called Operation Krill Wars.

“Throughout theencounter,the crew witnessed Antarctic wildlife in the sur-

rounding waters, including penguins, seals, andevena whale, underscoring what was at stake as asmall ship challengeda powerfulindustrial krill operation in astarkDavid-and-Goliath scenario,” the foundation said in astatement. Watson foundedthe global SeaShepherdconservation movement in the 1970s andfor decades won afearsome reputation for ramming vessels andother aggressive tactics in confrontations on the high seas that repeatedly landed him in jail. He was last detained in Greenland for five months in 2024 on aJapanese warrant that was later rejected by Denmark. Japan’scoast guard sought hisarrest over an encounterin2010 in whichhe was accused of orderinga captain of his shiptothrowexplosivesatwhatthe Japanese labeled awhaling research ship. While the Canadian-American citizen in the past hasdrawn support from Hollywood celebrities, his hard-line tactics have split the movement he started, with affiliates in France and Brazil rallying behind his newly created namesake foundation while SeaShepherd Global and20national affiliates focusmore on watchdog patrols on the high seas, policy action andsupporting law enforcement in poorer countrieswhere illegal fishing is rampant.

FDAapproves weight-losspill from EliLilly

BY JONEL ALECCIA Associated Press

Federal regulators on Wednesday approved Eli Lilly’s new weight-loss pill, asecond daily oral medicationtotreat obesity and other weightrelated conditions.

The Food and Drug Administration granted expedited approval to orforglipron, aGLP-1 drug that works like widely usedinjectable medicationstomimic anaturalhormone that controls appetite and feelings of fullness.

The drug, which will be branded as Foundayo, is expected to begin shipping Monday.The company said people with insurance may be able to get the drug starting at $25 per month with aLilly discount card. Prices forpeople paying cash will range between $149 per month to $349 per month, depending on the dose.

The new pill joins drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy pill, whichhas spurred morethan 600,000 prescriptions in theUnited States since it was approved in December

The FDA authorized Eli Lilly’sdrug as part of anew program aimed at cutting drug approval times. The agency said it reviewed the company’s application in 50 days.

In aclinical trial of morethan 3,000 adults with obesity,participants whoreceived the highest dose of orforglipron, 36 milligrams, lost 11.2% of their body weight about 25 pounds on average over more than 16 months.Thatcompared with a2.1% weight loss, or less than 5pounds, in patients whoreceived aplacebo, or dummy pill, according to the NewEngland Journal of Medicine. Boththe Lillyand Novo Nordiskpills resulted in less weight loss than theaverageachieved with Lilly’sinjectable Zepbound, which results in a21% averageweight loss, or Novo Nordisk’s injectable Wegovy,which averages about 15%.

Both once-daily pills promise convenience, but orforglipron is asmall-molecule GLP-1 drug that can be taken without restrictions. The Wegovy pill, apeptide, must be taken with asip of water in the morning on an empty stomach, witha 30-minute waitbefore eating or drinking.

Users of orforglipron also saw improvements in waist circumference, blood pressure,triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels, the study found. Side effects, mostly gastrointestinal issues, led between 5% and 10% of participants in the orforglipron study to discontinue treatment, compared with nearly 3% in the placebo group.

About 1in8people in the U.S. have used injectable GLP-1 drugs, according to asurvey from KFF, anonprofithealth policy research group. But manymore have trouble affording the costly shots.

The pill from Indianapolis-based Lilly will be included in aTrumpadministration deal to lower prices on GLP-1 drugs.

Family of slain 19-year-old still wants answers

One person arrested in shooting

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

More than two years after 19-year-old Madison Olivier was shot and killed in New Iberia, her family is still searching for answers and holding on to the memories she left behind.

“Every sunrise in the morning and every sunset in the afternoon, we see her,” her grandfather, Johnny Bourque, said.

“It’s like she’s still with us.”

The shooting occurred on Feb. 22, 2024, in the 400 block of Calhoun Street. Police received reports of gunshots near Calhoun and East Pershing streets. When police arrived, they found Olivier inside a vehicle with a single gunshot wound. She later died from her injuries, according to police.

A month later investigators identified Lamarson Benoit, 21, as a suspect. In March 2024, he was arrested on multiple charges, including first-degree murder attempted first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and aggravated criminal damage to property, according to the New Iberia Police Department.

“We were told early on they had a suspect in mind and were looking for him,” Bourque said Investigators also believe there may have been a second person involved in the shooting, though that individual has not been identified. Authorities said they are continuing efforts to determine who else may be responsible.

That uncertainty Bourque said, has been one of the hardest parts for the family

“The not knowing is what hurts,” he said. “Why would somebody shoot a 19-year-old girl?” Since investigators have indicated more than one person may have been in the area at the time of the shooting, Bourque said he believes that detail is key to solving the case “I feel there’s somebody out there that knows more,” he said. “Somebody knows what happened.” While the investigation continues, Olivier’s family says what matters most is who she was and not how she died.

Bourque described his granddaughter as a typical young woman who had recently graduated high school, worked regularly and enjoyed spending time with family and friends She had an older sister who recently welcomed a baby, which was a milestone the family says Olivier would have been overjoyed to be part of. She also had a dog she loved deeply

“She was sweet as can be,” Bourque said. “Madison stayed closely connected with family, and sometimes she’d just pop in. You could always count on her to walk through that door.”

Those small, everyday moments are what her family says they miss the most.

“It’s hard to imagine she’s not coming here anymore even years later,” he said.

Bourque added that he has stayed in contact with investigators over the past two years, often taking the initiative to ask for updates himself. Although the answers have been limited, he said both law enforcement and prosecutors have treated the family with respect.

“They’ve been responsive to us,” he said. “But we have to call first and we just don’t want

School Board member resigns

Desormeaux accused of not scanning grocery items

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

By

FESTIVAL FLAG DAy

ABOVE: Lafayette Parish MayorPresident Monique Boulet speaks during the Festival International flag-raising ceremony Wednesday at City Hall in Lafayette.

LEFT: Attendees take a look at prior Festival International posters on display in the atrium following the ceremony. The festival is celebrating its 40th year and currently has the posters from each year on display at City Hall.

‘I don’t take for granted how fortunate I am’

ADAM DAIGLE

Federal Credit Union. Honorees will be recognized at a banquet April 10 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Student Union Ballroom. For tickets, visit bit. ly/20under40for2026.

The Acadiana

is a

consultant

of

and a

What are one or two of your

and/or community

Farnell

ments? I am very proud of an event I planned last summer, where more than 60 of my colleagues worked together to prepare over 16,000 meals for donations to local organizations in just two hours. I was able to draw on my expertise and work with a team to create an opportunity that brought my co-

Howcan La. combat political corruption?

The guilty plea in federal courtonTuesdayby

Jack Montoucet, former headofthe Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, marks a sad end to the political careerofaone-timealligator farmer turned state politician. But it is also afamiliar story to us in Louisiana. Far toomany of our state and local officials leave office amid scandals that sometimes land them behind bars In Montoucet’scase, it was abriberyscheme that involved takingkickbacks for giving acompany alucrative contract to runonline education andother courses for LDWF.Hepleadedguilty in U.S.DistrictCourt in Lafayette to one count of conspiracy and faces up to five years in prison Montoucet, whowas appointedbyGov.John Bel Edwards in 2017, abruptly resigned from his position in April 2023 when this newspaper uncovered through apublic recordsrequest that he was the sole signer of the contract. He was months away from retirement asLDWF secretary,where he earned about $125,000 ayear, when the scheme came tolight.

Court records showed that the company was to give Montoucet money afterretirement and an all-terrain vehicle valued at around $14,000in return for his help.

All of this leads us, once again, to wonderwhy so many Louisiana politicians forgetwho it is they are elected to serve.

Of all the states, Louisiana has always ranked among the highest for public corruption. We sometimes joke about howmany ofour former governors and mayors endedupservingtime butthe truth is that corruption steals ourtax dollars, keeps ourstate from attracting businesses and saps voter confidence that those in government areservingthe public interest instead of theirown.

We note with sadness thatinour cities, former New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and former Lafayette Mayor Josh Guillory areunderindictment,and atop aide of former BatonRouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome is facing charges in akickback scheme. While these caseshave to go through the court systemand all partiesare innocentuntilprovenguilty, it is distressing that these charges exist at all.

There should be clear,bright linesthatpoliticians cannot cross. We knowthereare many good public servants who truly work everyday to make our state better.Itistheywho should be insisting thatour laws and customs reinforce transparency, accountability and integrity But that is not alwaysthe case.Too often, our politicians vote to gutpublic records laws or pushthrough projectswithout public debate. And, as revealed in arecent WWNOreport,they are increasingly being askedbyLouisiana Economic Development to sign nondisclosure agreements about upcoming projects.

Such practices open thedoor forbad actorsand inviteevengoodpeopletotolerate behavior that would be condemned in the light of day. If we ask ourselves how wecan remake our politics so that corruption isn’tsotempting,part of the answer has to be valuing sunlight, and shunning secrecy,ingovernment.

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

We cannolongeraccept adysfunctional Congress

Isn’tittime we all woke up and smelled the roses?

At one time, we entrusted those elected to public office to make decisions that would benefitall Americans —not themselves. Yettoday, Congress operates without term limits. U.S. senators may serve unlimited six-year terms, and representatives unlimited two-year terms. Recentgovernment shutdowns have disrupted the lives of Americans. In October,one of the longest shutdowns extended intoNovember In February, apartial shutdown affected Homeland Security. These events were avoidable and point to a broader failure to govern effectively Instead of working towardsolutions, elected officials too often remain divided, withlittle willingness to compromise. The consequences reach far beyond Washington. Ser-

vice memberscontinue to serve abroad, while federal employees and others affected by shutdowns are expected towork without pay,all while facing rising living costs. Public service requires responsibility,cooperation and acommitment to thepeople. Political gridlock should never result in unnecessary hardship for working families or risk to Americans. Elected officials must work together in good faith to fulfill their duties —orstep aside for those whowill. Votersalso play arole. It is importanttoevaluatethose in office, consider how long they have served, and decide whether their actions reflect effective leadership. It is time we all wake up and smell the“elected roses.”

TAMMY L. GARIG NewRoads

Glorifying hogdogsinstory waswrong

In regards to thearticle, “Hog Dogs in Action,” published March 30, how can you give front-page coverage to such adisgusting activity? Iunderstand that wild hogs are an invasive species, but according to your article, Uncle Earl’sDog Trials grooms these hogs for alifetime of terror by repeatedly being in pitswith Catahoula dogs who are bred and trained to chase, corner,bite and hold thehogs in their teeth. This is how each hog spends their lifetime —being tortured over and over their whole life because there are over 600 matchups just this year

Youfailed to mention that the tusks of wild hogs are removed for use in hog-dog baying competitions, and this is done to avoid injury or death

to thedogs. So, theorganizers take away the hogs’ only meansofdefense.

Your article says that “due to concerns about animalcruelty,hog baying is illegal in Florida and many Northern states.” It appears the newspaper has no suchconcerns about animal cruelty because you have glorified this practice by placing this article as ahugearticle with photographs tohelp illustrate the barbarism

Conversely,Iamhoping that your reporting will alert animal activists to this sickening activity,and laws can be strengthened to makethis illegal, at least in Louisiana.

JOEL D’AQUIN THIBODEAUX Baton Rouge

BlamingKamalaHarrisfor what ICEhas doneisabsurd

Supporters of the MAGA movement turn into contortionistswhen it comes to defending thepolicies and actions of the Trump administration.

Blaming Kamala Harris for the deaths of twoMinneapolis American citizens who wereexercising their First Amendment rights, as arecent letter writer did, is as ludicrous as it would be to blame everyone who vot-

ed for Donald Trump for these tragic murders. The lack of border control during the Bidenpresidencywas misguided and amistake. The immoral and at times illegal actions of the ICE agents areaperfect example of the remedy being much worse than the disease

MARK WEBER NewOrleans

Columnistdoesn’t acknowledgea progressiveChristianity

Iwould like to respond to Cal Thomas’ columnonTexas Senate candidate James Talarico. It seems his first blind spot is that progressive Christians don’t adhere to the fundamental beliefs as he does. We do. Although how we apply those beliefs is radically different in the way we approach the world. He speaks of Talarico as afalse prophet. I wrote to apastor friend concerning this accusation. These are his words, with his permission, that Iwant to share as I agree with him.

“I take seriously that Jesus said to be aware of false prophets. The problem is having aright doctrine about the resurrection, or belief in the reliability of scripture, doesn’tgive you afree pass from becoming afalse prophet. There are people on the conservative side who have afew of these key doctrines in place, but the fruit of their lives, and their political teachings, end up being bigoted, violent, racist and self-righteous. On the conservative side, there are people who are lying about other people, bearing false witness against their neighbors. Take alook at the tone of so many political conservatives, including those expressly claiming faith, and compare it to the fruits of the spirit or James 3:17-18. On top of that, there’s issues where the scripture is not razorsharp, where both progressives and conservatives act as if the basic tenets of the Democratic and Republican parties are gospel truth. The progressives are actually muchmore humble about this. Conservatives are looking at Republican Party teachings as if they have the weight of scripture, even to the point of writing people out of the kingdom of Godbecause they’re not Republican. Don’ttry that on Jesus.”

RHONDAROUYER Mandeville

Name doctorsinvolved in slammerscheme

The names of the physicians who treated the staged truck wrecks should be submitted to the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners for review Someone had to document these fake injuries for insurance claims. Iwould bet the lawyers used the same doctors who would be friendly to their clients claimed injuries. Everyone involved in this scam should be held accountable. MARYHARRIS NewOrleans

In hiring Will Wade again, LSUwades into amorass

LSU’srehiring of Will Wade,the basketball coach it fired just four years ago due to flagrant cheating,raises obvious and problematic questions. Before indulging emotional responses to those questions,let’s usesome factsand logic.

Quin Hillyer

The LSU administration andsome fans seem to think the only thing that really matters is that Wade winsgames. Many say his transgressions, largely revolvingaround illicit payments to players, are immaterial now that the SupremeCourt has ushered in theage of “name, imageand likeness” which allows massive money to flow legally throughout the sport.

Hmmm Let’sdoathought experiment. Think of another sportscheating scandal, even arelatively small one, perhaps the New England Patriots’ 2007 “Spygate” practicesinvolving secret videotaping of opposing coaches signals. There’s no doubtsuch filming could give the Patriots acompetitive advantage against opponents byletting the Pats know the opposing play calls in advance.

Now imagine that the league later changed the rules, with theideathat technology is so ubiquitousnow that every team has access,somehow or other,toopposing signals. The question is,would this rule change makethe Patriots’ cheating OK retroactively?

Logic says there’s onlyone acceptable answer: Of course not.Ifit was cheating back then, thus givinganunfair advantage, the cheating cannot be erased. It’snot the contentofthe rule that determines the wrongness; it is the very existence of the rule. If even asingle team obeyed the rule, thus suffering acompetitive disadvantage against others that brokeit, then the rule-breaking was wrong. Likewise, dealing marijuanafor major,illegal profitin1980 is no less wrong in retrospectjust because many jurisdictions now legalize marijuana. The creation of an illicit and oftenviolent underworld was harmful tosociety and surelycost lives. Current legality doesn’tretroactively expungethe sin Now,consider just how corruptly Wade acted. His violationswere exposed in not just an NCAArulesprobe but an FBI criminal investigation that earned 10 convictions, includinga sentence for the very crook Wade used as amiddleman. Wade was recorded speaking of having made “f****** a strong-ass offer” to arecruit.Separately, his text messagesspoke of payoffs to aplayer’s fiancée to keepher quietabout payments to herbeau.

The NCAA committee’sletter to LSU at thetime also said Wade approved of an assistantcoach paying arecruit $300,000, providing an apartment and car for therecruit’scousin, ascholarship for the recruit’sfriend and more. It said other evidence shows that Wade, through ajoint account with his wife, paid akey “influencer” to steer aplayer to LSU. ThenWade spent morethan two years impeding the investigation into hismisbehavior and never turned over more than half of the records required. TheNCAA wrote that a“number ofother”violations werecredibly alleged,but it couldn’t“substantiate fully”those charges specifically because of Wade’s roadblocks.

TheNCAA’s probe concluded that other programs, not to mention their school communities, were seriously harmed.Wade’s“intentional” or “reckless” conduct, said the report, “provided substantial or extensive recruiting or competitive advantages,” that “involved unethical or dishonest conductwhichseriously undermined or threatened the integrity” of the sport Just how intentional, and just how brazen? Well, the massive scheme involvingthe assistant coach’s$300,000 plus benefits to family and friends occurred,according to the report, in 2020 after theprior taperecording was public and Wade knew he was under

scrutiny Yet, apparently,hekept on cheating.

In response, Sports Illustrated’sPat Forde wroteascathing column detailing copious “collateral damage” caused by Wade and rightly lambastingLSU’s “rock-bottom depths of athletic accountability.”

Belatedly,then-universitypresident William Tate and athletic director Scott Woodward wrote in an open letter that “Our responsibilitytoprotect and promote theintegrityand well-being of our entire institution and our studentathletes will always be paramount.”

Apparently,the new regimeatLSU doesn’tbelieve integrity is paramount anymore, or that it even matters. The great scholar and essayist on “The Idea of aUniversity,”St. John Henry Newman, wrote of the importance of “the ethical character,which thecultivated intellect will form.” Someofusactually believe integrity and ethics should remain an inherent part of education, especially “higher education.” Otherwise, it’snot really education; it’sjust atwisted form of training. By hiring thevery coach it previously fired for massive cheating, Louisiana’s flagship university makes a mockeryofeducational ideals.

Email QuinHillyer at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com

Lessonsfor Iran from theVietnam War

We Americans areanimpatient lot. If we must engage in warfare, we would prefer it be wrapped up in weeks, not months, and certainly not years like World WarII, Korea and Vietnam. In those wars we had thedraft, so more Americans were engagedin fighting and watching their progress, or lack thereof.

Today,while recruiting numbers have increasedinour all-volunteer military,the taste for war among the public has declined. One of President Donald Trump’spositions that attracted voters was his promise to end wars, not start new ones. Granted, any candidate runningfor president can change his position once in office should circumstances change as they sometimes do. This is what happened to George W. Bush after 9/11, though that warwentonfar toolong and while Osama bin Laden,the architect behind the terrorist attack,was eventually killed in 2011 duringthe Obama administration, thevirus thatis fanatical Islam willcontinuetospread if it is not stopped.

Puttingatimeline on when awar will endisdangerous because if theprediction fails to come true it erodes public support, which is already low for this conflict.

take. By 1973, 60% of Americansbelieved the U.S.entrywas amistake

By September 1970, 55% of the public supported bringing all troops home by theend of 1971.

Telling truths about war

“A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will andthe public to read whatitchooses, free of anyofficial proscription,” wrote Federal District Judge Paul L. Friedman. Friedman wasexplaining his decision to overturn an egregious administration policythat effectively barred independent reporters from working inside the Pentagon. But his words have afar larger meaning whenAmerica is engaged in ahighly unpopular war that has alreadykilled 13 U.S. soldiers, wounded 200 more and blastedthe budgets of working families through skyrocketing fuel prices. In the latest Reuters poll, only 37% approve of the war and 59% disapprove, including 1in5 Republicans. Disillusioneddefectors from MAGA Nation accuse President Donald Trump of breaking his campaign promise to avoid new conflicts. Asenior intelligence official, Joe Kent, resignedinprotest, saying “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

The administration has reacted furiously by intensifying attacks on its critics. The restrictive Pentagon rules are part of awide-ranging effort by Trump and his toadies to undermine press scrutiny in the name of national security

Trump has denounced news organizations as “Highly Unpatriotic” forquestioning his conduct of the war, and even suggested that they “should be brought up on Charges for TREASON forthe dissemination of false information!”

Brendan Carr,chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has warnedbroadcast television networks that “hoaxes and news distortions” could lead to the revocationoflicenses for local stations —anempty threat, but one that Trump said he was “so thrilled to see.”

They have it exactly wrong. In time of war, national security requires more scrutiny of official actions, not less. Demanding accountability is an act of profound patriotism, an affirmationofthe nation’shighest values.

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’ssecurity requiresa free press and an informed people andthat such security is endangered by governmentalsuppression of political speech,” wrote Friedman. “That principle has preserved the nation’ssecurity for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.”

The press’ role in examining the administration’swar effort is even more vital because Trump has such atenuous connection to reality Underthe headline, “Trump Is Hiding the Truth About the WarinIran,” The New York Timeseditorial board writes: “From his first announcement of the attack on Iran on Feb. 28, President Trump has issued astream of falsehoods about the war.”

Those falsehoods started last summer, when Trump boasted that American attacks had“obliterated” Iran’sability to build nuclear weapons. That was clearly untrue —afact Trump tacitly admits now,since he’sordered new raids against Iran’sbomb-making operations.

Trump lied again 12 days into the war when he proclaimed, “We’ve won. Let me tell you, we’ve won.”

Cal Thomas

Anew Pew Research Center poll finds “Weeks intothe U.S. military campaign against Iran, majorities of Americans say striking that country was the wrong decision and disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict.” Here’s the key takeaway from the poll: “About six-in-10 Americans (61%) disapprove ofTrump’shandling of the conflict, while 37% approve.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the Iran war is expected to last “weeks, not months.” ButYemen’sHouthis, one of Iran’s proxies, launched an attack on Israel last week, their first sincethe Iran war began.

My generation used to talk about “the lessons of Vietnam.” Public opinion on that war was strongly favorable at thebeginning, but declined rapidly as American forces got bogged down and theenemypersevered. What were then called “hawks” initially supported the war Only 26% were “doves.”In1966, roughly 47% of Americanswanted to increase the fighting and believed in the dominotheory,that if Vietnam fell to the communists,surrounding nations would,too. By January 1969, as Americanswere dying in much larger numbers and Americans sawbody bags on their TV screens increase, 52% of Americans felt that entering thewar was amis-

Vietnam remains acommunist country, but signs of capitalism are more visible than before thewar began.

Members of theTrumpadministration should stop predicting when the Iran Warwill end and explain the goal of the religiously fanatical regime that appears to remain in control of the country despitethe killing of many of its leaders and thedestruction of its Navy,Air Force andother critical targets. Coupled with high gas prices and the dysfunctional Congress that won’t, or can’t, end the partial government shutdown that is frustrating travelers who must wait four or more hours at some major airports, this does not bode well for Republicans hoping to hold on to much less increase —their Senateand House majorities. President Trumpneeds to clearly explain why the Iranian ruling regime must be completely destroyed or they will eventually develop nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them, not only on Israel but also on the United States.

Email Cal Thomasattcaeditors@ tribpub.com

He hasfalselyaccused theU.S.media of advancing fake videos that depict American defeats when, in fact, themedia hasactivelydebunked many of those fakes. Andheblamed Iran for amissile strike thatkilledmore than 100 schoolchildren in thecityofMinab whenhis own intelligence team nowadmitsthatAmericanswereatfault Trump has always trafficked in untruths, notes the Times, but “lying about war is uniquely corrosive. When apresident signals that the truth does not matter in wartime, he encourages his cabinet and his generals to mislead the country and one another about how the war is going. He creates a culture in which deadly mistakes and even war crimes can become more common. He makesit harder to win by hiding the realities of conflict and by making allies wary of joining the fight. Ultimately,heundermines Americanvaluesand interests.”

Another way the White House is “hiding the realities of conflict” is through ablizzard of memes on social media that use cultural figureslike SpongeBob SquarePants and video games like Call of Duty to glorify the destructioncausedby American munitions.

There is no mention of cost —inbodiesexploding on the ground or gas prices exploding at the pump. Just amindless magnificationof carnage and calamity,amplified by ear-pounding soundtracks.

“The White House’sIran videos espouse no ideals beyond domination and power,” writesthe Times’ TV critic, James Poniewozik. “There is little sense in them of the war’spurpose, besides to be won.” It takes truth-tellers like Judge Friedman to insist that our national ideals are far more potent than our missiles, and always have been.

Email Steven V. Roberts at stevecokie@gmail. com.

Letlow’s DEIcommentstargeted

Cassidy, Fleming raise campaignissue

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy went on the offensive again Wednesday against challenger U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow after Fox News reported that Letlow called for greater diversity,equity and inclusion efforts by the University of Louisiana at Monroe when she applied to be president there six years ago.

Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, hasbeen saying for weeks that Letlow favored so-called DEI policies in recruiting and hiring when she held senior staff positions at the university —policies that enrage conservatives,including President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Letlow,R-Baton Rouge Fox’snews report —which was picked up by other news outlets gave political oxygenonthe issue for Cassidy and state Treasurer John Fleming, the other major Republican in the Senate race. Letlow has saidshe consistently votes against DEI initiatives in Congress.

Fox News cited an August 2020 videotape where Letlow,interviewingto be UL-Monroe’spresident, was asked whether she would support hiringa certainpercentageoffemalefaculty at auniversity wherea majorityofthe studentswere female.

Letlowrespondedthatshe would create astrategic plan “toaddress those concerns that you just raised, and those metrics and those numbers, because theyare shameful, truly,and Ibelievethat having that strong (DEI) division, having that leadership, if you have aperson around the table that is cognizant and fighting for diversity, equity andinclusion before anydecision is made for the university, then that’show you change. That’show you recruit more faculty.”

Cassidy pounced immediately after Fox News aired its report,callingher ahypocrite.

Cassidy noted thatLetlowhas expressed strong opposition to DEI policiessinceshe enteredthe House in 2021. “She was full-throatedly advocating for it while going for the position as university president,” Cassidy said in an interview.“Then she said she totally opposed it. There’salot thatis of concern to voters.She has acred-

OLIVIER

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to get lost in the shuffle.” Police said the department remains committed to pursuing answers and holding those responsible accountable.

“Investigators continue their efforts to identify this individual and ensure they are held accountable for their role in this senseless act of violence,” said Leland Laseter,acaptain with the New Iberia Police Department Once the initial investigation was turned over to the District Attorney’s

FARNELL

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your biggest difference?

Ifeel reallylucky because Ithink all the work that I’ve done has been work that’svery impactful. The workthat Idid clinically tends to be very impactful on apersonal level because you’re working with someone who is navigating aparticular diagnosis or anew injury,and you’re

ALLAIN

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working to help with the development and launch of the new Louisiana Music Museum. What’syour favorite thing about what you do for aliving?

Being atrial lawyer means every day is anew adventure. Iamconstantly solving puzzles, working withpeople anddigging into lots of different subject matter areas

Youwon the inaugural LSU Law Arbitration Competition and later became apartner in 2023.What would yousay to young lawyers who are wanting to reach that next level? Well, we have to define what the next level is. One of the challenges with law is that this practice will destroy youifyou let it. It will eat you alive. And part of how that happens is because there’salways another,there’salways another there’salways another.So

ibility problem.” Flemingagreed. “If she was sincere, it would be very difficulttobelieve, just because she’s now aRepublican congresswoman, she’sdone a180 degree,” Fleming said in an interview.“If she was insincere in saying she was for DEI to get ajob, she was dishonest. Either way,the statementsshe made disqualify her from beingelected to the U.S.Senate as apro-Trump, MAGA Republican.

Letlow, whowas executive assistant to thepresident for external affairs and community outreach at ULMonroe in 2020, was one of six semifinalistsbut wasn’t chosen as president.

At thetime, universitieswerepushing to create more diverse student bodies and faculty ranks.

Letlow was elected to the5th Congressional District seatin 2021 after herhusband,Luke, won the seat in December 2020 and thendied fromCOVID-19.

On March 21, areporterfrom Fox44TV in BatonRouge asked Letlow about Cassidy calling her pro-DEI and “woke.”

“That’sabsolutely false,”she replied. “I sawitfirsthand when Iworked at the university.DEI was presented to us as something that would help people achieve theAmerican dream. When Iquickly witnessed that it was hijacked by the radical left and turned intoindoctrinationand actually holding people down, Ispent thepast five yearsin Congress fighting against it.”

Letlow campaign officialsdid not make her available for an interview on Wednesday.Instead, they released astatement saying Trump hasendorsed her “because he knows she will continue fighting for his agenda and never back down from theissues that matter to Louisiana voters.”

Sixweeks to theelection

The brouhaha over DEI comes six weeksbefore Republican andnoparty voterswill choose whether to support Cassidy, Letlow,Fleming or

Office forreview, any additional de velopments or evidence have also beenforwarded to that office.

“The dedication to seeking justice remainsunwavering,” Laseter added. ForOlivier’sfamily,justice is sim ple “Wecan’ttake justice into our ow hands,” Bourque said. “Allwecan do is keep pushing.”

The family continuestopush for an swersthrough social media, making calls, following up with investigators and sharingOlivier’sstoryinhopes leads to new information.

“Wenever want to forget about our loved ones,” Bourque said. “So to me,

trying to help them get back to doing thethings that they want to do andparticipate in life in the way that they wantto. And so that’sextraordi narily meaningful. Making thepivot into corporate social responsibility,Ienjoy that I’m still able to carry forward helping peoplehave an impact, but now I’m able to dothat on alarger scale. The programs that Istructure and the initiatives that Isupport now carry an impact across my company’sU.S. footprint. It’sreally cool to go from

youwon this case, there’s another case. Youwon this appeal; there’sanother case. Youmade income partner,well, now you’ve gottoget equity. Youdid this origination,but now we have topushit. There’s always anotherbar,and the barisconstantly moving. So in every situation that you’rein, stop and focus on what you’ve achieved. Be grateful for where you are. Because if you look back five years ago, would the five-years-ago you be proud of you right now? Ihave

LOTTERY

TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2026

PICK 3: 1-9-0

PICK 4: 0-1-7-2

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little-knownMark Spencer in theMay 16 Republican Party primary

Three Democratswill also face off in theDemocratic Party primary on May 16, Gary Crockett, Nick Albares and Jamie Davis.

Sincethe Senate race beganinearnestwith Trump’sendorsement of Letlow on Jan. 17, attention hasfocusedonthe Republican candidates, withpolitical pros saying Cassidy faces an uphill battle to win athird six-year term in the Senate in the face of the president’sopposition.

No one can sayfor sure which two of thethreeRepublican candidates will finish first and second in theMay 16 primary andadvance tothe June 27 Republican runoff.

Cassidy on Wednesdayexpressed confidencethat he will win reelection, saying he has asolid conservative voting record and hasdelivered billionsofdollars in federal money for roads, bridges, drainage andthe like throughout Louisiana.

Fleming, who served in theU.S. House from 2009-17 representing Shreveportand surrounding towns, is pitching himself as the most conservative candidate among the three Republicans.

Cassidy has put Letlow on thedefensive during muchofthe campaign, aided by ahugemoney advantageand asuper PACthathas been regularly running attack ads on TV

Many of them center on Letlow’s failure to follow congressional rules requiring her to report individual stock trades within 45 days of the trades. She acknowledged in January that she hadreported more than 100 transactions more than ayear late. She blamed her Merrill Lynch financial adviser, saying he buys andsells stocks without her inputand failed to inform her to report thetradeson time.

While Congressisinrecess, sheis holding aseries of fundraiserstoreduce her money gap.

She held oneatJuban’srestaurant Tuesday night in Baton Rouge. According to theinvitation, hostsincluded lobbyist Paul Rainwater,lobbyist Nial Patel, BernhardCapital Partners co-founderJeffJenkins andKurt Ainsworth— aformer LSUstarpitcher whose brother, Kevin, is engaged to Letlow

Over the next two weeks, shehas morefundraisers scheduled for Monroe, Shreveport, Alexandria and Metairie.

FuneralsToday

Fabacher,Caresse FountainMemorialFuneralHome, 1010 PandoraStreetinLafayette,at1 p.m

Obituaries

Weber, C. Earl

CamileEarl Weber, Sr., age 98, of Lafayette, Louisiana, passed away on March30, 2026. Funeral serviceswillbe held on Friday, April 3, 2026, at 1:00 PM in La Chapelle de Martin& Castille for C. Earl Weber, age 98, whopassed away on March 30, 2026, at his residence surrounded by hislovingfamily. Intermentwill be held in Bellevue Memorial Park. Reverend Howard Blessingwillofficiateat theservices. He is survived by his wife, theformer Frances DupreGillespie of Opelousas, Louisiana, two children, fivestepchildren, 21 grandchildren, and34 great-grandchildren.His survivorsinclude hischildren,Cynthia Sibitzky and herhusbandStu of Dallas, Texas, Mary Alice Lutz of NewOrleans,Louisiana; andhis stepchildren, Dr J.T. Gillespie II andhis wife RoseannofLafayette, ChristopherGillespie and hiswife Kathleen of Ridgefield, Connecticut Miki Gillespie Bacqueand herhusband, Dr.Frank Bacque of Lafayette, Dr. PatrickGillespie and his wife, Rhetta of Washington, Louisiana, andAnneGillespie of Hammond,Louisiana. He wasprecededin death by hisfirst wife, the former Mary Alice Stansbury; hissons, Camile Earl WeberIIand AnthonyCarlWeber; and hisparents,LukeWeber andIda Mary Spreafico Weber. Born in Lafayette and raisedinPortArthur, Texas, Earl graduated from St.James Catholic School in 1945. He served in the U.S. Navy as a1st Gunner's Mate aboardthe USSSt. Paulinthe Pacific, then earneda Bachelor of ScienceinBusiness Administration from SouthwesternLouisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1951, followedbya Master's in Geographyin1973. He was commissioned as an officerinthe U.S. AirForce, serving as aCaptain Earl enjoyed along career in thecement industry, first withLoneStar Cement as aspecial representative to the oilindustryfor 23 years, then with Blue CircleCement of London,England, covering multiple southernand central states before retiring. Adevoted Catholic, he wasactive in theKnights of Columbus (3rd and4th degree), served as Prior of theThirdOrder of DiscalcedCarmelites, and wasdeeply involvedin parish life, including as an

altar server. He also contributedextensively to his communities, serving on boards such as the Lafayette ZoningBoardof Adjustments, as President of theLafayette Beaver Club(namedBeaver of the Year in 1968), the Pachyderm Club, and the SerraClub. He wasrecognizedasa top blooddonor by United Blood Services with 22 gallonsdonated. Earl andhis wife Frances (the former Frances DupreGillespie of Opelousas) blendedtheir familiesafter losingtheir first spouses andtogether raisednine children. They shared alove of travel, exploringthe U.S., Canada, andMexicointheir AirstreamRVand leading caravanswiththe Wally Byam Caravan Club. Later travels took them across Europe, Africa, Asia, South America andLatin America. Earl especially cherished time with his grandchildrenand greatgrandchildren, telling stories andworkingontheir familyfarminSt. Landry Parish.Inretirement,he enjoyed bridge,stamp collecting, andauthoring books including "For Grandfathers Only" and "From 11 to 2." Pallbearers will be Dr J.T. Gillespie, Christopher Gillespie, Dr.Patrick Gillespie, Dr.Frank Bacque, C. Earl WeberIII,Max Bacque, Jeremy Granger, andWilliam Gillespie. Honorary Pallbearers will be Liam Granger, ReggieBollich,Brad McDougal, andSamuel Bacque. ARosarywillberecited on Friday, April 3, 2026, at 11:00 AM in Martin& Castille's DOWNTOWN Location Thefamilyrequeststhat visitation be observedon Friday, April 3, 2026, from 9:00 AM until time of services. In lieu of flowers, donationscan be made in C. Earl Weber'sname to Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston St,Lafayette, LA 70503, and an educational scholarshipsofyour choice View theobituaryand guestbook online at www.mourning.com Martin& Castille Funeral HomeDOWNTOWN, 330 St LandryStreet, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, 337-2342311

accomplishedthe was praying for ago. Now I’vegot andnew stresses things, right? But andbepresent right And howcan you ally,really good at you’re doing right Becausethat’show to the next level. have to take care

No guarantees

BY SCOTT RABALAIS

Staff writer

For along time in college gymnastics, advancing from NCAA regionalcompetition to nationals was practically agiven for the nation’stop teams.

Not anymore.

LSU is the No. 2national seed and hosting an NCAA regional at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the first timein seven years. That meansthe Tigers are a huge favorite to be one of the two teams that makes it through this weekend to Fort Worth, Texas, and the NCAAchampionships in two weeks.

But it is hardly agiven

Sincethe currentNCAAregional format was installed in2019, upsetshave been frequent. ThatincludedLSU in 2022, when the Tigers didn’teven reach theregional final.

LSU is on astreak of three straight NCAA championship performances since then, including the 2024 national championship. But LSUcoach Jay Clark doesn’t take this round of theNCAAcompetition for granted.

“Getting outofthe round of 16 (regional final) to theround of eight (NCAA nationals) is theequivalent of the old Super Six,”Clark said. “We’ve trimmed the numbers at thetop and there are more goodteams.”

Very good teamssuchasNo. 7-seeded Stanford,No. 10 Michigan andNo. 15 Clemson, theACC champion, in LSU’s regional. And talented but lurking teams such as Auburn andNorth Carolina.

The Tigers will have to navigate them alltoget to back to Fort Worth —now the traditional host of theNCAA women’s

ä See LSU GYM, page 3C

LSUquarterback Garrett Nussmeier drops back topassagainst Alabama on Nov. 8atBryant-DennyStadium in Tuscaloosa,Ala.His father,Doug Nussmeier,isthe offensivecoordinator of theNew Orleans Saints.

WouldSaintspicka QB for4th draftina row?

BY LUKE JOHNSON

At Pete Maravich Assembly Center

First round

Wednesday Nebraska 195.600,AirForce194.475

Second round

Thursday

Toptwo teamsadvance

Session I, No. 7Stanford, No. 10 Michigan, NorthCarolina, Utah State, 1p.m.

Session II, No. 2LSU,No. 15 Clemson, Auburn, Nebraska, 7p.m Regional final

Saturday

Toptwo teamsadvance to nationals TBD,5 p.m

BY WILLIAMWEATHERS

Contributing writer

AfterAlix Franklin singled to lead off LSU’s fourthinning in Saturday’sgameagainst No.5 Oklahoma, Tigershitting coach Bryce Neal hadadvice for Kylee Edwards before herplateappearance.

“He saidIwas having really good at-bats, just sellout for abig swing,”Edwards said. “He said it didn’tmatter if it makes you look silly It worked out in my favor.” Th e Sooners weren’tlaughing about what followed Edwards got ahead in the count against Oklahomapitcher Allyssa Parker,then senta 1-0offering over thecenter-field fence for a3-0 lead that combined with Jayden Heavener’s completegame, two-hit efforthelped the Tigers secure a3-1 victory.

“That was like adream come true,” Edwards said. “I think last yearIhit one home run in the SEC. Iwanted to bring thatpower to the SEC. Oklahoma hassome of the best pitchers in ourgame.” Edwards, ajunior, hasbeen celebrated for herwork at shortstop but yearned to show off the kind of power that wouldmakeher a completeplayer.With four homersinher last five games, includ-

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The UL Ragin’ Cajuns are facing an uphill climbinthe Sun Belt race at 3-6 through the first three series.

That adds to thepressure coach Matt Deggs’ club will encounter thisweekend when it opens acritical league series at 5p.m.Thursday against James Madison in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“I think we’re at the point where we need to play well no matter where we’re at,” Deggs said. “I still believe the best is still out there for this ballclub.”

UL is coming offa disappointing performance in a10-7 road loss against McNeeseState on Tuesday, collecting only five hits.

The Cajuns are expecting to start the samerotation as aweek ago in Sawyer Pruitt (2-2, 2.08 ERA, 431/3 IP,47K)on Thursday,Andrew Herrmann (3-2, 3.30, 461/3 IP,56K)onFriday and Ty Roman (2-2, 5.25, 36 IP,41K)onSaturday Lastweekendwas Roman’sreturn to the rotation after losing his original Friday night role.

“I thought it was agreat start (41/3 scoreless innings last Sunday),” Deggs said of Roman. “If we hadsome wiggle room going into the game, we could have left him outthere. We just had such a small margin for error.”

Offensively,ULisdown to .247 with 155 runs, 18 homers and 54 steals.

“I like thephysicality of Donny(LaSalle)and Jayce (LaCava)uptop,” Deggs said of the current lineup. “I think the biggest issue right now is Ilike the way (DHSteven Spalitta) is swinging thebat, so it’sabout capturing all three of those guys.” Deggs is hoping freshmancenter fielder Noah Lewis’ (.254, 2RBIs, 4SBs) recent uptick continues.

“That’sagood sign,” Deggs said of recent play from Lewis.“That’s areal good sign, because pound for pound, he has the biggest upside on the team. I mean, he’sjust …who does he look like? Who does he compto? Imean, Eric Davis is acomp. Mike Cameron’sacomp. I mean, he’sgot alot of ability.” The Dukesare 13-14 overall and4-5

On TV

COLLEGE BASEBALL

4p.m. FloridaSt. at Virginia ACC

6p.m. Arkansas at Auburn ESPN

6p.m. Texas at South Carolina SECN

7p.m. Louisville at Duke ACC

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

6p.m. NIT: NewMexicovs.TulsaESPN

7p.m. Crown: Stanford vs.W.Virginia FS1

8:30 p.m. NIT: Illinois State vs.AuburnESPN

9:30 p.m. Crown: Rutgers vs.Creighton FS1

LSUhoping Moorecan

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

ä LSU at

LSU pitcher CooperMoore is progressing in his recovery fromtriceps soreness, and the hope is that he’llreturn to the mound when LSU hosts Texas A&M in two weekends,coach Jay Johnson said Wednesday Moore, ajunior right-hander, suffered the injury duringhis start on March 20 against Oklahoma, and Johnson ruled him out for three weeks because of the ailment. His projected return againstthe Aggies in two weeks would fit into Johnson’stimetable

“There will be aprogression in coming back, it’snot goingback to five innings… rightout the chute,” Johnson said. “But anything we canget out of himwill be valuable

“He’snot going this weekend on the trip (toface Tennessee). He’snot going to pitch this weekend. Ithink next weekend we’ll see, but that would be astretch But Ihopewehave him available in somecapacity the following weekend.”

Along with Moore, LSU did not have starting catcher CadeArrambide against Kentucky last weekend or Louisiana Tech on March 24. And althoughJohnson at one point said Arrambide wasn’tinjured, he wasn’thealthy last week either.

Arrambide fouled aballoff his leg the week before, and, as Johnson described,“it looked like agorilla took abite out of his leg.” The ailment wasn’tenough to make him unavailable. He could have pinchhit,and may have beenable to play behind the plate last weekend before reaggravating the injury the day before the series started. Instead of forcing theissue, Johnson wanted himtorest last week and not catch against Kentucky,ateam notorious forplaying small ball and forcing catchers to move around alot.

BY JOE REEDY AP sportswriter

CINCINNATI Paul Skenesquickly shrugged off the shorteststartof his dominant major leaguecareer Pirates fans shouldn’tworry either after the former LSU star returned to form on Wednesday

The reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed one run in five innings and struckout five in the Pirates’ 8-3 win over the CincinnatiReds “I’m prettyinsulated froma lot of stuff that’sout there. The stuff that Idosee or hear,Idon’treally care anyway because it doesn’t have anything to do with the play. I’m just thinking about getting back to execution and execut-

BROADCASTHIGHLIGHTS

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

4p.m. WisconsinatPurdue BTN GOLF

12:30 p.m. Augusta Women’sAmateur Golf

3p.m. PGATour:TexasOpen Golf

6p.m. LPGA Tour:Aramco Champ. Golf HORSE RACING

Noon America’s Dayatthe Races FS2

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

1p.m. Minnesota at Kansas City MLB

8:30

SOCCER

11:40 a.m. RealMadridatBarcelona CBSSN

2p.m.WolfsburgatLyonnesCBSSN TENNIS

10 a.m. WTA: Charleston earlyrounds Tennis 4a.m.ATP: Bucharest, Marrakech *Tennis *Friday

his grand slam leave the park during the

SouthernonTuesdaynight at Alex Box Stadium. It

LSUtakes down Southern aftertwo weatherdelays

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

There was nothingconventional about Tuesday night’sbaseball gameatAlex Box Stadium.

On thesurface,therewasn’t much surprise. LSUbaseball beat Southern 16-6 in seven innings, blasting fourhome runs and pulling away from the Jaguars by the fourth inning to eventually invoke the10-runmercy rule.

Butthe finalscore only told a part ofthe story.Therewere also two weather delays, aSportsCenter Top-10-worthy catch from Jaguars center fielder Jacoby Radcliffe and an early five-run lead for Southern.

“That was agood hurdle for us to getover,”LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “We’ve been alittle better. not really the way Iwould’ve loved to have drawn up thegame.”

Despite Radcliffe’sbest efforts andSouthern’shot start, LSU’s dominant showing at the plate overcameall of it

TheTigersscored four runs in thethird inning, seven in the fourthand four in the fifth.Sophomore Derek Curiel kick-started theoffense with agrand slam in the thirdthat cut Southern’slead to one, andjunior StevenMilam andsophomore John Pearson bothhomered in the fourthtohelp hand LSUa 12-6 lead.

“Coaching for along time, I’ve seen thismoviebefore, if that makes sense,” Johnson said.“Really believe when you have good players, if they’re not hitting, they will comearound.”

Milam’sblasttiedthe game at 6-6, butmoments later,itwas followed by aweather delay that pausedthe game for onehour and 13 minutes.

Theholdup came after the 30-minuterain delay that pushed back Tuesday’sstart time to 7p.m

“This one was pretty simple,” Johnson said,referring to the second weatherdelay that halted

—Southern9,LSU 6. 2B —Bradley (3). 3B —Dardar (1). HR —Curiel (3), Pearson(5) Milam 2(3).SF—Yorke(4).SB— Radcliffe (3),Serna (1), Curiel, Yorke(3).CS—White (16) Southern IP HR ER BB SO Prosper 3.03 54 11 Lebron, L, 0-2 1 3 45 510 Bagby 1/2 22 220 Blackwood 3 14 431 Tolbert1 2 3 20 002 LSU IP HR ER BB SO Noot 1 3 33 310 Plog 2 3 22 021 Benge 1.01 10 03 Lachenmyr, W, 1-0 1.00 00 01 Ricken 11 3 00 010 Primeaux 3 00 001 Paz1.0 00 021 WP —Blackwood (1), Paz(3).HBP —by Prosper (Stanfield),byRicken (Bradley), by Ricken (Gregory),byPrimeaux(Hunter), by Tolbert(Harden) Umpires —HP: Zachary Edgens;1B: Jeff Beaman 2B:JeremyHayes 3B: Jeff Head. T—3:13 A—10,339 (paid)

the game in the fourth inning. “It’s like ‘Hey,there’s thisone lightning band, quick cell of weather, and then we’re going to be going at this time.’ ” Milamwent 3for 4and also homered in the second inning. LSU freshman OmarSerna had three hits. Pearson and fifth-year senior Seth Dardar recorded two hits apiece, including aDardar triple. Southern pitching, meanwhile, walked seven batters and theJaguars’ first three relievers —righthander AlexavierLebron, lefthanderNoahBagby andrighthander Rupert Blackwood —combined to surrender 11 earned runs in 11/3 innings.

Radcliffe’sleaping grab, which robbed at least adouble and an RBIfromjuniorJakeBrown, came in the fifthinning. Southern (10-17) still allowed four runs on three hitsand three walks in the inning despite his heroics with the glove.

“It’s probablyjust (about) more guys playing closer to theircapability at one time,” Johnson said when asked about howthe offense hastaken astep forward over the past three games. “I hope that’sa sign of good things to come. We’ve been working really hard.”

LSU (20-10) needed that offensive outburst to blow past Southern after trailing 6-1 headinginto the bottomofthe third inning. TheJaguars took a3-0 lead in the second on atwo-run single from Radcliffe and arunscoring single from right fielder Ryan Hunter, and then added three more in the third on amassive mistake by LSU left fielder Chris Stanfield.

With two outs andthe bases loaded,Stanfield couldn’tcatch aroutine line drive smacked by thirdbaseman Kenyon Hughes. Insteadofthe inning coming to aclose,the ball skippedoff Stanfield’s glove and rolled to the warning track, clearing the bases and giving Southern its largest lead of the night.

“Stanfield’sdonesomuch for this program,”Milam said. “We pickedhim up. He’spicked us up multiple times.”

LSU hits theroad for itsnext matchup against Tennessee on Friday,the first gameofathreegame series. The first pitch from Knoxville,Tennessee, is set for 4:30 p.m., and the gamewill be available to watch on the SEC Network.

Southern resumes Southwestern Athletic Conference play against Bethune-Cookman on Friday.The first pitch from LeeHines Field is 6p.m.

IN BRIEF FROM STAFFAND WIRE REPORTS

LSU signee Denton posts 5under in Augusta event EVANS, Ga. LSUsigneeRaeganDenton hada stellardebut Wednesdayinthe Augusta National Women’s Amateur The18-year-old Australian fired abogey-free 5-under 67, putting her two off the lead in atie for sixth place at Champions Retreat Golf Club. ColombianMaria Jose Marin of Arkansas, the 2025 NCAA champion,and SouthKorea’sSoomin Oh weretied for first at 7-under 65.

LSU sophomore Rocio Tejedo, competing in the event for a third time, started well at 2under through six holes. But she faded to a4-over 76 with six bogeys over her final12holes,putting herina tie for59th place.

The top 30 players and ties after Thursday’ssecond round advance to Saturday’s final round.

LSU women’sassistant to make$370K annually

LSUsignednew women’s basketball assistant coach Gabe Lazo to atwo-year deal worth $740,000, according to acopy of his term sheet obtained by The Advocate.

Lazo, aformerTennessee assistant, is stepping into the role left behind by Gary Redus— the ex-LSU assistant who’snow thehead coach at Rutgers.Redus earned $305,000 annually in histime with the Tigers, and now Lazo will pocket a$370,000 base salary annually —the same amount he earned when he was working for the Lady Vols. Thetermsheet runs from Wednesday through the 2027-28 season.

Coach KimMulkey announced thatshe hadhiredLazoonTuesday —just four days after he resigned from his job at Tennessee.

Kansas basketball coach Selftoreturnnextseason

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self is returning fora24th season with the Jayhawks.

Theprogram released astatement from Self on Wednesdayconfirming his return foranotheryear withthe program he has ledto21 regular-seasonconference championships, four FinalFours anda pair of national championships. The 63-year-old Self hasa record of 840-272, not including the 15 wins thatwerevacated by the NCAA, putting him 12th on the career list. He passed Phog Allen as the winningest coach at Kansas with a77-69 winover Michigan State on Nov. 12, 2024. Kansas’ season endedMarch 22 against St. John’sinthe second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Izzo said he seriously mulledtaking Suns job

Michigan State basketball coach TomIzzo said he considered coaching the Phoenix Suns afterdiscussing thepossibility last year with one of hisformer players, MatIshbia, who owns the NBA team.

“Wetalked seriously about it,”

Izzo said Wednesday on “The Dan Patrick Show”during avirtual interview from his office. The 71-year-old Hall of Fame coach chose to lead the Spartans fora 31st season and extended his record of reaching 28 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. They were eliminated by Connecticutinthe Sweet 16.

Ishiba, awalk-on guard on Izzo’s nationalchampionship team in 2000, hired former Michigan State video coordinator Jordan Ott to coach the Suns instead.

Wisconsin announces death of former TE Pugh

ing my pitches,” Skenes said. “Nothingmatters except for the game and thepitches.” Skenes walked Cincinnati’sTJ Friedl, then retired eightstraight, including three strikeouts. He walkedFriedl twice in three innings before Elly De La Cruz singled for the Reds’ first hit. Twobatterslater,Nathaniel Lowe doubled in De La Cruz,ending Skenes’ 31-inning scoreless streak against Cincinnati. Skenes’ scorelessrun was the fourth-longest by aPiratespitcher againstanopponentsince 1961

Vernon Law holds the mark, blanking the Mets for 40 innings during 1965-66. The right-handerretired four of the last five batters he faced and departedafterthrowing 77 pitches, including 51 strikes.

“Definitelyprogress. Nice to get somevolumeand be out there for more than two-thirds,” said Skenes, whoimprovedto5-0 witha 0.53 ERAinsix career starts against the Reds.Hehas 45 strikeouts andonly four walks while holding Cincinnati to a.197 batting average. Further helping Skenes,the Pirates gave strong runsupport, scoringthree in the first on Oneil Cruz’shomer to right.

“With Skenes on themound, you hatetogivethem anything early

becauseyou know you’re going to have to fight to get anythingyou can get,” Reds manager Terry Francona said.

ManagerDon Kellysaidhewanted to avoid overworking Skenes early,especially after his37-pitch, two-thirds-inning start in the Mets’ opening day winonThursday Skenes allowed five runs, tying a career high, with twowalksand a strikeout in the 11-7 loss.

“When you’re going off oneouting and37pitches,wehad targeted 80 for him,” Kelly said.“It was something that we need Paul for the long haul, andhedid agreat job getting through five.Aswego, he’s going to be throwing more than five (innings) and77(pitches).”

Jack Pugh, aformer tight end on the Wisconsin football team who stepped away from thesport three yearsago citing mental-health concerns, has died, the university announced. He was24. Wisconsin issued apost Tuesday announcing the news. The cause of death was not given.

Pugh redshirted in 2021 before appearing in onegame andearning academicAll-Big Tenhonors in 2022. He announced in an Instagram post in December2023 that he haddecidedtomedically retire “Myphysical health was not near perfect,but my mental health wasthe reason Idecided to hang it up,”Pugh wrote. “Over years of prolonged depression and substance abuse, Idecided Ideserved abetter lifeand to finally find happiness.”

Erathclaimsdistrictchampionship

Bobcatsrally to defeat ARCA

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

For the seventh straight season, the Erath Bobcats are district baseball champions Seniors Jack Landryand Landon Lemaire each homered, and junior relief pitcher KolinRodriguez allowednoearned runs over 41/3 innings in an 8-5 come-from-behind win overAcadiana Renaissance on Tuesday

“Our defense played well tonight,” said Erath coachJeremy Picard, whose Bobcats (17-9, 4-0) gottwo double plays in the late innings and committed no errors (ARCA had four). “Weswungthe bats well. Our guysdid what we expectthemtodo.”

Acadiana Renaissance (20-5, 3-1) made back-to-back errors onthe first two Erath batters —Lemaire andCarter Champagne —inthe bottom of the firstinningbut held the Bobcats to one run on asacrifice flyfrom Tate Collins. Eagles starting pitcher Beau Cormier hadn’tallowed ahit until Collins singled and Landry belted athreerun shot in the third.

“Trusting in the process and trusting the guys around me to pick me up when I’m down,” Landry said. “I kind of went numb forasecond. Ihad been struggling, but it feels good to get the job done

UL BASEBALL

Continued from page1C

in Sun Belt play.James Madison is coming off aseries loss at ArkansasState (18-10,5-4)after sweeping strugglingGeorgiaSouthern (10-19, 3-6) and gettingswept by league leader Coastal Carolina(217, 9-0).

James Madison is batting .291

SOFTBALL

Continued from page1C

Friday and concludes at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday

“That’ssomething Itook to heart and really worked on,” Edwards said. “I’m finally becominga fullrounded player,which hasalways been adream of mine. I’ve been told Iwas too small to hit home runs, that I’m not apower hitter.It doesn’tmatter about the size.Just putagoodbarrelonthe balland the ball’sgoing to fly.

The 5-foot-6 Edwardsjumped from five to nine home runs inher second season at Mississippi State

SAINTS

Continued from page1C

impressive that he finished second in TheAssociated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year voting despite starting only nine games There is no doubt thatShough will be thestarting quarterback when the 2026seasonbegins, and if he performs anything like he did as arookie, he likelywill hold onto that position for some time. SpencerRattler should bein line to remain his primarybackup after he played solidly while starting the first eight games of the 2025 season. WhileRattler put up an abysmal 1-13 record as astarter in his first two seasons, he’s shown flashes of NFLstarter ability and is more than acompetent backup. New Orleans also recently signed free agent Zach Wilson.The former No. 2overall pick never hasput it together as aprofessional, and the Saints now represent his fourth team. But Wilson is still just 26 years old and is an intriguing talent to try and develop in the No. 3spot.

There is not much incentive for the Saints to add another young player to the mix. But, hey,never say never

While it’ssafe to assume New Orleans won’tuse one of its premier draft assets on another quarterback, that doesn’tmean the Saints wouldn’tpull the trigger on alate-round selection if they really like someone. Let’stake alook at some possibilities.

In case of afall

LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier,6-foot-1,205

in the district championship.”

Erath ace Landen DeRouen threw twoscoreless inningsbefore theEagles got three runs in the third on three walks, ahit batter, awild pitch and atwo-run single from Emric McAdams.

That prompted the Bobcatsto turn to Rodriguez.

“Kolin has been our first guy out

with 181 runs, 23 homers and 82 stolenbases in 93 tries

The pitching staff hasa7.25 ERA, giving up 251hits,139 walks and striking out 216 in 2242/3 innings. Opponents have hit .285 against the Dukes.

Last weekend,the Dukesstarted

Max Kuhle(0-1, 6.92 ERA, 13 IP,12 K),Luke Alexander(3-1, 7.99, 232/3 IP,24 K) and Tyler Lutz (0-3, 5.06, 262/3 IP,24 K).

Theshortseries history is filled

in 2025. She had acareer-best .290 averagewith 37 RBIs and stole seven bases as asophomore before opting to transfer to LSU after the season.

“I told myself that Iwas goingto go on allofmy visitsand experience this opportunity,” Edwards said. “I came here and thatall changed. Icommittedthe dayIwas here and had to cancel all of my othervisits. It’sbeen awesome.”

Edwards has given LSU aveteran presence at shortstop andhas turned in her share of highlightreel plays. After aslowstart at the plate, she’sgiven the Tigers an emerging force on offense. She didn’thomer in her first 18 games, andafter hittingone

pounds:The formerTigers quarterback likely wouldn’tbeonthis list if it wasn’t forthe family connection, but that’snot something to write off. NotonlyisNussmeier’s father, Doug, theoffensive coordinator,but severalmembers of the Saintscoaching staff have worked with the elder Nussmeier for years andhave watched Garrett grow up.There is intimatefamiliarityhere

This wouldn’thave seemed thatfar-fetched after the 2024 college footballseason, but Nussmeier endured adifficult and injury-plagued senior season in Baton Rouge, watching his draft stock fall in the process.But,atboththe Senior Bowl (where hewon MVP) and his recent pro day,Nussmeier appeared to put some of the injury concernsbehind him with impressive performances

His stock is therefore back on therise, most likely putting him out of the Saints’ range. But if he does end up falling to Day 3, would it really bea surprise to see the Saints take aswing? And this wouldn’tjust be about the family connection: At his best, Nussmeier’sability to play with anticipation would fitnicelywith head coach Kellen Moore’soffense.

Athletes to develop

Arkansas QB Taylen Green, 6-6, 227: Therearen’tmany athletes like Green at this position. He’sbuilt like an NBAwing, andheput on a dazzling show at the NFL combine, whereheran a4.36-second 40-yard dash andrecorded a43-inch vertical leap

He needs time to develop as a passer —his raw abilityisevident, but there isn’t much polish. Green threw 35 interceptions in hiscol-

of the bullpen,” Picardsaid of the junior,who faced the minimumin thefourth, fifthand sixth innings.

“We’ve brought him in in tough situations, andhe’sdone exactly what he did tonight. He’s very calm underpressure.” Champagne andLemaire finished withtwo hits apiece for theBobcats. Lemaire, the leadoff

with sweeps. The DukessweptUL in Virginia in 2023, andthe Cajuns returnedthe favor in Lafayette last season. “So far,it’snot gone our way (in league play),”Deggs said. “We pride ourselves in playing really good in the league. We’ve got to getback to playing fast, hard and loose.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

againstMemphis, shewentanother nine games without ahomer until herrecenttorrid stretch. Edwards, who has batted .455 in her last five games, has raised her average to .306 —the third-best mark on the team —and is tied for the team lead in homers (six) with first baseman Tori Edwards and slugging percentage ( 561) with outfielderJalia Lassiter

“I’ve felt like my whole life I’ve been prettysmall compared to themajority of girls on my team,” said Edwards, who has turned 25 career double plays defensively “Me being apower hitter was really never aquestion until Igot to college.I’vejust gotathing that works for me.”

lege career,and his completion percentage hovered around 60% everyyear.Time is something theSaints can afford, especially if they envision away to use Green’s talent in other ways —something this organization has done in the past It would be unfair to Green to suggest aTaysom Hill-like role, because there is alot more that goes into it than physical ability But asmallpackageofplays that evolves as Greendevelopsseems reasonable

Georgia Tech QB Haynes King,6-2, 212: Since we’re on the Hill train, King is the one playerwho has most often drawn thatcomparison in this year’sdraftclass. As apure quarterback, King is not much of aprospect —like Green, he threw alot of interceptions(34) in college, and hisaccuracy as apasser leaves plenty to be desired. But, like Green,he is an exceptional athlete. King plays with atough mentality,and he hasproven himself as aphysical runner.Heracked up 36 touchdownsand more than 2,300 yards rushing in his final three seasons at Georgia Tech. He is solidly built,and he impressed at thecombine with a4.47-second 40-yard dash.

Late-round flier

Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson, 6-4, 216: If theSaints are looking to roll the dice on aDay 3quarterback prospect,Robertson checks some boxes. He has NFL size, functional mobility(4.64-second 40-yarddash) andwas productive in two years as astarter,throwing for 6,700 yards and 59 touchdowns during his last twoseasons.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com

Collins, who had two RBIs from the cleanup spot, got the game startedinsharp fashion by cleanly fielding hard-hit grounders off the bat of ARCA’s dangerous first twohitters,Sabastian Rideaux and Michael Batiste. Rodriguez pickeda runneroff and snagged agrounder from Batiste that was socked right back to the mound.

“I’ve been fortunate to coach somereally good baseballteams andplayers,”saidPicard, who picked up his200th careerwin recently.“It’sanhonor to be here for thatlongtoget thatmilestone. We’relooking to addon anddosomething special again this year.”

ARCAand Erath haveforged an intriguing rivalry with the two schools separated by only 11 milesofthe Verot School Road corridor.Last year,the Bobcats won by one run in Youngsville.

“The districttitle comes through Erath,”saidLandry,who is looking to cap off his prep career with asecondstraight trip to the state tournament.

hitter,drove in three runs and knocked atwo-run blast over the left-fieldfence after an ARCAerror put Talen Landry on base with two outs in the fifthinning.

“Right manatthe right time,” Lemaire saidofhis homerun. “You just have to have confidence in the batter’sbox.I was looking formy pitch, and Ihit it.”

LSUGYM

Continued from page1C

finals, the college gymnastics equivalent of Omaha in college baseball.

LSUbegins its roadtoFort Worthat7 p.m.Thursday in Session II of the regional against Clemson, Auburn and Nebraska. Session Iwill be at 1p.m.and includesStanford, Michigan, North Carolina and Utah State. The top two teams from Thursday’ssessions advancetoSaturday’sregional final, set for 5p.m Individual regional champions in the all-around andonvault,bars, beam and floor also will be determinedThursday

The top two teams Saturday, plus the top two unattached individualsineachevent from Thursday, go to nationals.

“Regionals used to be an afterthought,” Clark said. “But we’re prepared for it.”

LSU enters NCAA competition coming off athird-place finish in theSoutheastern Conference championships behindNCAA No. 3seed Florida and No. 1Oklahoma. Kailin Chio continuedher stellarsophomore season for LSU, winning theSEC all-around title as well as the vault championship. Fellow sophomore Kaliya Lincoln shared theSEC floor title despitehaving an ulnar nerve issue in her elbow that led to premeet numbness in herhand, making herquestionableto compete. Clark said the Tigers dealt with arampant stomach bug at SECs but that illnessand concerns aboutLincoln’selbowseem to be behind the Tigers. Clark wants his gymnasts to be free and focused for thetough task of performing at ahigh level twice in three days.

“Our confidence should be brimming,” Clark said. “Just go attack. Compete free and fearless. Enjoy it. This is what you’ve worked for. This is the whole goal to gettothispoint,tomix it up with the best teams and see where we land.”

LSU assistant coach Haleigh Bryant wasone of those LSU gymnasts trying to maintain a high level in last year’sregional at PennState.

“You try nottolet the moment be bigger than it needstobe,” Bryant said. She addedthat beingathome “should make for amore com-

Erath has five games remaining in the regular season, including good opportunities for power pointsagainst Class5Aschools Thibodaux (16-10) andAcadiana (15-12), and showdowns against small-school powers Rosepine (20-6) and Vermilion Catholic (137). “I just wanttosee us continue to compete, continue to battle, continue to fight, remember the end goal and prepare forthe playoffs,” Picard said.

“Our confidence shouldbe brimming.Just go attack. Compete freeand fearless Enjoyit. Thisiswhat you’ve worked for. Thisisthe whole goal to gettothis point,to mixitupwith thebest teams and see where we land.”

JAyCLARK, LSU coach

fortable environment, but you can’ttake it for granted that we’re going to walk through this thing. Hopefully it plays out as an advantage for us.”

Chio andLincoln, along withfellowAll-AmericateammateKonnor McClain, won’t be the only top gymnasts in this weekend’s regional.

Stanford is led by its ownsuper sophomore in Anna Roberts, ranked fifthnationally as an allarounder and tied for third in thecountry withthreeperfect 10s this season. Air Force’sMaggie Slife is atwo-time first-team All-American this season in the all-around and on bars. And Clemson’sBrie Clark is afirst-team All-American on floor,winning the ACC individualtitle in that event.

As with the other three NCAA regionals, the competition in Baton Rouge will be shownona streaming only basis on ESPN+. Nebraska 195.600, AirForce 194.475

Slifesweptall five event titles but Nebraska had the better team overall as it won the regional first-round meet at the PMAC on Wednesday Slife posted scoresof9.90 on vault,bars and floor,and a9.85 on beam foranall-around score of 39.550. But the Falcons had to count afall on bars from Anna Kristianson (8.825) andwas never able to catch the more consistent Cornhuskers. Nebraska didn’thave to count worse than a9.725 in any event. “Wedid agreat job of adapting,”Nebraskacoach Heather Brinksaid. “When things didn’t go well, we were able to get back to our normal.” Air Force coach Jennifer Lyerly Green, aformer LSU gymnast, saidaside from Slife, her team was “a little outofplace”from warmups on.

“It’ssports,” Greensaid. “Itjust wasn’tour day.”

GYMNASTS TO

Notre Dame buries STM with 13-run inning

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

On several occasions this season, the Notre Dame softball team has shown the ability to score runs in bunches.

So not matter the score, the Pios are always confident a big inning is on the horizon. That proved to be true during Tuesday’s game against St. Thomas More, as the Pios scored 13 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to defeat the Cougars 13-2 in five innings.

“First of all, it’s always good to win,” Pios coach Dale Serie said.

“Secondly, if you can play teams of STM’s caliber and figure out ways to touch home plate more than them, that’s always a blessing.”

The Cougars scored a run in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead that would last until the bottom of the fifth inning.

“Hats off to STM, because they came in, executed early on and just played fundamental softball,” Serie said. “I think we began pressing a little bit, chasing pitches early in the count that we probably should have sat off of.”

In the bottom of the fifth, the Pios (25-2) were able to get the hits to take advantage of STM mistakes, including walks, errors and passed balls.

“We didn’t panic, and we felt we would have an opportunity to do some good things,” Serie said.

“I told the girls that good teams don’t panic. Our goal was to just

tie it up or at least try to tie it up.

Once we saw we had some opportunities to put some pressure on them, we laid a couple bunts down, had a couple of passed balls

and a couple of hits, and we were able to open up the game.” Madaline Johnson received the win, allowing two earned runs on five hits and no walks while strik-

ing out five in five innings.

“She’s our go to,” Serie said.

“Madaline is a four-year player and three-year starter in the circle. She threw well. Once we kind of figured out what we wanted to do with her pitches and how to set up hitters, she was able to have some success.

“After that second inning, she really didn’t get many balls put in play that resulted into hits.” Offensively the Pios were led by Kenley Sonnier (2 for 3, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs), Maddy Teare (2 for 2, 1 RBI, 2 runs), Lizzie Richard (1 for 2, 1 RBI, 2 runs) and Bella Smith (1 for 1, 2 RBIs).

“After grounding out in her first two at-bats, Kenley just kind of settled in,” Serie said. “She ended up getting a shot to left field and then walked the game off with a big hit to center field.”

With the regular season winding down, Serie admits he is pleased with the way the Pios are playing.

“I feel like we’ve been doing really well,” Serie said. “Our two losses have come against two defending state champions in Sam Houston and North DeSoto We like where we are. We just have to hit a little bit better in the middle of our lineup.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

PREP REPORT

New Iberia 7 Catholic-NI 5, Patterson 2 Church Point 15, Crowley 0 Iota 11, Ville Platte 1 Abbeville 30, Lafayette Renaissance 5 Sam Houston 15, Lafayette 3 Delcambre 7, Loreauville 6 Midland 17, Lake Charles Prep 2 North Vermilion 15, Comeaux 0 Northside Christian 8, Vermilion Catholic 1 Notre Dame 13, St. Thomas More 2 Opelousas Catholic 6, St. Edmund 2 Southside 18, Carencro 0 Westminster-Lafayette 13, Highland Baptist 9 Eunice 13, Kinder 3 Kaplan 4, Dutchtown 3

SCOREBOARD

Thursday’s games Acadiana at Sam Houston, Lafayette at Starks, Delcambre at New Iberia, Cecilia at North Vermilion, Comeaux at Jeanerette, Rosepine at Eunice, Kaplan at North DeSoto, Northside at Lafayette Renaissance, Rayne at Acadiana Renaissance, Westgate at Glencoe, Lake Arthur at Abbeville, Church Point at Kinder, Crowley at Northwest, Iota at Mamou, Midland at LaGrange, WestminsterLAF at Gueydan, Westminster at NorthwoodLena.

Spring into color andtaste with GreenGoddess Dip, Truffled DeviledEggsand PennePasta

Passover and Easter are both on thecalendar this week. These holidays are significant religious celebrations that call for cooking and eatingwith friends and family.Because of these rites of spring grocery store shelves are stocked with everything from matzah (unleavened bread) to egg decorating kits. April in Louisianabrings with it seasonal producelike radishes, carrots, springonions, leeks and leafy greens. As Iperused the shelves, trying to decide what to cook foracelebration of spring at ourhouse, I sawthat the producedepartment had watermelon radishes. These radishes are acooler weather

Celebrationornot, enjoythese 2easy-to-make pies,one sweetand theother savory

Pittsburgh

crop and can be hard to find in summer.They contain avibrant pink color and mild flavor that is less bitter than “regular” small, red-skinnedradishes. Iput acouple of thewatermelon radishes in my basket, along with fresh carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.Once home, Idecided to makeacrisp crudite plate full of fresh spring vegetables servedwithasimple homemade green goddess dip —a delightful spring appetizer that can be served as part of any holidaymeal. Eggs area symbolofrebirth and renewal, and as such, aperfect choice for Passoverand Easter meals.This year,Imade truffled devil eggs. This recipe sounds fancy,but it is quiteeasy.

Simply mix the yolks of hard boiled eggs with mayonnaise, abit of Dijon mustard and truffleoil to makeatangy rich filling for the egg whites. This is ano-fail use of eggs this holiday season with plentytoshare at acommunal table. My college-aged daughter Olivia sent me aphotoofabig bowl of pasta, vegetables with acream sauce and said, “Let’smake this during spring break.”

Ilove when my kids crave and askfor meals at home. To satisfy this dinner request,I madea dish with penne pasta, chicken sausage, roasted asparagus and tomatoes.Tobind thepasta and vegetables, drizzle acreamy Alfredo saucemade with freshly

ä See SPRING, page 6C

Everyone has different ideas when it comes to the best foods, but one simple truth goes unchallenged: Sweet or savory,served by the slice or folded into asingle-serving turnover,everyone loves pie. And the best part is you don’t even need to be celebrating something special to enjoy it. While a homemade pastry crust can give some cooks pause, there are some tricks to make it easier First, start with very cold butter.Then, be careful not to overwork the dough with your fingers (overworking it will makethe crust tough) and don’tforget to let the dough rest in the fridge forabit before rolling so it’s relaxed when it hits the oven. Otherwise, you won’tachieve those flaky layers that make pie such adelight. Agraham cracker crust is even easier.You need just three ingredients and afork to stir it together Because it can be so hard to makeupyour mind when it comes to pie, we have tworecipes to choose from: asavory, grab-and-go chicken curry hand pie madewith apastry crust, and atart-sweet key limepie that marries acreamy, citrusy filling with arich and buttery graham cracker crust. The hand pie can be served either hot from the oven or at room temperature with an optional yogurt- or chutney-based dipping sauce. The key lime pie should be refrigerated for at least three hours to ensure it’sproperly set before slicing.

Adoboand otherFilipinocuisine highlights complexities

BY SONO MOTOYAMA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Elected “ingredient of the year” by TheNew York Times, vinegar can have manyuses andpersonalities far beyond its genericrole in asalad dressing or as adecorative balsamic reduction. Youcan use asplash as a finish to lentil soup or chili to adddepth.Somebartenders

are throwing it intomocktails. There are folks who use raw vinegar for itssupposed health benefits.Itcan even be lightly sprayed onto cookies Longbefore its current momentinthe spotlight,Filipinos used vinegar as an integral elementintheir cooking. Aloveofacidity Filipinos use not only vinegars from different sources but also underripe fruits, such as tamarind, to add acidity Filipino vinegar can be madefrom cane, coconut or palm.The type employed depends largely on regional custom andpersonal taste. Spanish colonizers expanded thePhilippines’ indigenous sugarcane plantations, and sugarcane remains an economically significant crop in the country Cane vinegar is the mostcommon type used. For their condiment or

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2026. There are 273 days left in the year

Today in history: On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, the Polish pope born Karol Józef Wojtyła, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84. The first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, John Paul II became one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries while

playing a crucial role in the fall of communism in Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Also on this date: In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after Union troops broke through Confederate lines in the Third Battle of Petersburg.

Traditional Chicken Adobo sa Gata Serves 4-6. Recipe is by Kimberley Ashlee Haugh.

2-2½ pounds chicken (bone-in thighs, drumsticks or mixed)

1 whole head garlic, cloves smashed

¼ cup soy sauce

1⁄3 cup cane vinegar (or white vinegar), divided

1 or 2 tablespoons neutral oil

2 or 3 dried bay leaves

1½ teaspoons whole black peppercorns, lightly crushed ½ cup water

1 cup coconut milk (first press, if available) OPTIONAL (REGIONAL):

2 or 3 Thai chiles (common in the Bicol region)

1 small onion, sliced (not always traditional but common in home kitchens)

1. Combine chicken, garlic, soy sauce and half the vinegar Marinate 30 minutes to 2 hours (or cook immediately — both are authentic).

VINEGAR

2. Heat oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.

3. Remove chicken from marinade and brown on all sides. Add garlic from marinade and saute until fragrant. Pour in marinade remaining vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns and water

4. Do not stir for the first 5 minutes — this allows the vinegar to mellow Simmer uncovered 20-25 minutes until chicken is tender and sauce reduces.

5. Lower heat and stir in coconut milk. Simmer gently 10-15 minutes until sauce thickens and coats the chicken. Taste and adjust saltiness with a splash of soy or water not sugar Optional: Let oil slightly separate for a richer, traditional finish.

6. Remove bay leaves before serving

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)

In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison without parole. (Gotti died in prison in 2002.)

In 2007, in its first case on climate change, the U.S. Supreme

Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

2013 for the shootings.)

In 2014, a soldier opened fire on fellow service members at Fort Hood in Texas, killing three people and wounding 16 others before taking his own life. (More than a dozen people were killed at the same base in a 2009 attack by an Army major and psychiatrist who was sentenced to death in

Key Lime Pie

Makes 1 pie. Recipe is by Gretchen McKay Post-Gazette. How easy is this tart-sweet dessert pie? You will end up waiting longer for it to cool to room temperature than it takes to mix and bake it. It can be topped with homemade or canned whipped cream.

FOR CRUST:

9 graham crackers, crushed into crumbs (about 1½ cups)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt FOR FILLING:

½ cup lime juice

1 tablespoon grated lime zest, plus more for garnish

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

3 large egg yolks FOR TOPPING: Homemade or canned whipped cream Fresh lime zest

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and salt in a medium bowl; mix well.

3. Press into a 9-inch glass pie plate, and bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled.

4. Reduce oven to 325 F.

5. Prepare filling: In a medium bowl, gently whisk together con-

densed milk, egg yolks, lime juice and zest. Pour into the prepared, cooled crust. 6. Return pie to oven, and bake until the center is set but still quivers when the pan is nudged, 15-17

minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Spoon whipped cream over cooled pie or pipe it around the edges. Garnish with lime zest and cut into slices.

Curried Chicken Hand Pies

Makes 6 hand pies. Recipe is by Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette. Hand pies are a great option for a desk lunch and a casual dinner because they’re fun to eat and can be customized with any filling — often leftovers. These are packed with a (slightly) spicy chicken curry made with boneless, skinless chicken thigh. For perfect circles, start with dough balls patted into a smooth-edged round, and move the dough, not your rolling pin. It also helps to use an upside-down bowl as a guide.

FOR CRUST:

2½ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 teaspoon coarse salt 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces 3 tablespoons ice water

FILLING:

coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining.

2. Add water, pulsing until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed. If necessary add up to 2 tablespoons water; I added an additional ½ tablespoon.

vide chilled dough into 6 equal, smaller pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.

8. Preheat oven to 375 F.

tablespoons vegetable oil

large onion, finely diced

3. Divide dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days).

sauce, soy sauce, garlic, peppercorns, onion and chiles are also common components. Personal condiments are used to adapt all types of dishes but especially seafood. They can be a dipping sauce for crab, for instance, or fried fish or pork.

‘The original fusion cuisine’ Filipino cooking integrates influences from Chinese, Spanish, Indo-Malay and American cultures.

However adobo considered the unofficial Filipino national dish, is uniquely Filipino and has indigenous roots. Although

the name comes from the Spanish world adobar meaning “to marinate,” the dish — chicken or pork braised in vinegar predates the arrival of Spanish colonizers. With cooking, vinegar’s sharpness mellows.

Cane vinegar is most commonly used for adobo, as well as for a dish called paksiw, fish or pork cooked in a sour and savory broth containing vinegar Coconut vinegar — which can be made from fermented coconut juice, sap or blossoms is used often in the southern Philippines.

Cane or coconut vinegar is used to make a Filipino ceviche, called kinilaw; fish is “cooked” in vinegar rather than Latin-style citrus. It is often mixed with calamansi, ginger, chile and coconut milk.

Truffled Deviled Eggs

Serves 12. Recipe adapted from Rommel’s Catering

or

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL Truffled Deviled Eggs

1. Depending on the size of the pot, you may need to boil the eggs in batches. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. When the water boils, carefully add the eggs in a single layer Let the eggs boil gently for 12 minutes to avoid cracking. This sets the yolks and provides a creamy texture.

2. While the eggs are boiling,

SPRING

Continued from page 5C

Continued from page 5C grated Parmesan for a savory and indulgent meal.

prepare an ice bath by adding ice and water to a large bowl. Once the eggs are finished boiling, remove them with a large slotted spoon and transfer the eggs to the ice bath. Let them sit in the ice for about 15 minutes Then peel the eggs.

3. Slice the hard boiled eggs in half and carefully remove the yolks into the bowl of a food processor Add the mayonnaise, mustard, truffle oil, salt and pepper to the bowl. Blend the egg yolk mixture together until creamy and smooth.

4. Fill the holes in the egg whites with the truffled egg yolk mixture Garnish each egg with fresh thyme leaves, chives or parsley

dess recipe is easy and better than the store-bought alternative. Likewise, an Alfredo sauce is surprisingly easy to make at home. The secret to this creamy sauce is to simmer it slowly at a low temperature. Slow patient stirring is a

cloves garlic

large carrot, finely

large potato, peeled and cut into small

1 cup chicken stock Generous pinch of salt Egg wash, for glazing hand pies

1. Prepare crust: In a food processor, pulse flour and salt. Add butter a couple of pieces at a time, pulsing until mixture resembles

4. While dough is chilling, prepare filling. In a large pan, heat oil until sizzling. Add onions and fry over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned.

5. Add garlic, ginger and carrot, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes while stirring. Add garam masala, cumin, turmeric and coriander, followed by flour and stir to combine. Cook until the spices start to smell aromatic, about 1 minute.

6. Add cubed chicken thigh and potatoes, and stir well to coat the chicken with the spice mixture. Gradually add chicken stock and a pinch of salt. Bring to simmer and cover with a lid, let it cook for 15 minutes. Remove from stove and allow to cool.

7. When ready to make pies, di-

9. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll each ball into a 4or 5-inch disc that’s about ½ inch thick. (For a perfect circle, it helps to use a bowl as a guide.) Brush the bottom crust with an egg wash before adding filling.

10. Spoon about ¼ cup of filling on half of the dough circle, and use a pastry brush to dampen the edges with water

11. Fold dough over to create a half circle, and press edges together firmly with a fork that’s been dipped into flour (to keep from sticking) or crimp by hand to prevent leakage. Cut 1 or 2 openings in the top with a butter knife to allow steam to escape.

12. Brush tops with beaten egg, and bake pies in a preheated oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown and the pastry is cooked underneath.

13. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Penne Pasta with Italian Sausage, Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 4-6. Recipe is by Liz Faul.

ALFREDO

1. For the Alfredo sauce: In a sauce pan, over low heat, melt the butter while stirring slowly. Then add the minced garlic and stir Pour in the heavy cream and stir the butter, garlic and cream together over medium-low heat. Be careful not to overheat and curdle the sauce. Stir in the lemon juice. Then add the grated Parmesan cheese. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

2. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the penne pasta according to package directions, usually about 8 minutes. Then drain into a colander

4. Meanwhile, add olive oil to a pan and heat to medium heat; add the sliced sausage and sauté the sausage until it’s browned on both sides. This will take about 15 minutes. If the sausage renders a lot of fat, consider transferring the cooked sausage to a plate that is lined with a paper towel to absorb some of the fat before adding it to the pasta.

5. In a large pasta bowl, add the cooked pasta, cooked sausage, roasted vegetables and stir together Then pour the prepared Alfredo sauce over the pasta dish. With two large spoons, stir so the sauce evenly coats the pasta, sausage and vegetable. Garnish with the chopped fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 F, then prepare baking sheet with parchment paper Snap the hard woody ends of the asparagus and cut each stalk into thirds. Cut each cherry tomato in half. Spread the asparagus and cherry tomatoes evenly on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper Place the baking tray with asparagus and tomatoes in the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes.

Green Goddess Dressing

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Calm down, think matters through and refuse to agree to something you know little about. Research is necessary before you trust someone to act or speak on your behalf.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Change only what's necessary, regardless of the temptations and weak moments that leave you vulnerable. Avoid taking on more than you can handle. Avoid indulgence.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) It's time to hit the reset button and get back on track. Whether you've neglected yourself or your responsibilities, you can turn things around with smart choices and responsible actions.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) An open discussion will mend a misunderstanding or encourage you and those you talk with to have a concise view of what's possible. Refuse to let negativity lead the way.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Consider changing direction. Discover what's available and start the process to reinvent or restructure your life to suit your needs. Don't limit yourself when it's up to you to march forward with enthusiasm.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Education will change your life for the better. Check out courses, skills and pastimes that you may be able to turn into a profit.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Letting go is essential; wasting time on things you cannot change will help no one. Make

your initiative crystal clear, and open doors that lead to a healthy, efficient lifestyle.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Stand up and be counted, and you'll expand your interests and friendships. Refuse to adopt someone else's dream over your own. Know when to give it your wall and when to exercise restraint.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) You can extend a helping hand, but you should be wary of people trying to take advantage of your generosity. Put your energy into home improvement, earning your living and managing your finances.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Partnerships that keep you on track and accountable are the backbone to your survival and success. Refuse to let emotional situations lead to poor choices.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) It's all about how you handle your responsibilities, money and contracts today. Refuse to be a follower. Show diversity and discipline, and deliver what you promise, and rewards will follow.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Explore the possibilities. Stand up and be counted. Use the power of your voice to make a difference. Don't sit alone when feedback is what you need to move forward.

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

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

nea CroSSwordS

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BY PHILLIP ALDER

George Bernard Shaw said, “I never resist temptation, because Ihave found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.”

At the bridge table, though, it can be difficult to recognize bids and plays thatwill prove to be bad for you. In this deal, forexample, defending against a contract of four spades, West leads the club ace: three, two, eight.What should he do next?

The auction was straightforward. North made athree-spade game-invitational limit raise, showing10-12 support points (high-card points plus shortage points, not thathehad any of those here) and eight losers (onespade, one heart, three diamonds and three clubs).South had an easy raise to game.

One of themost irresistible temptations fora defender is to casha winner. Here,less experienced players would take the club king at trick two, then look around for inspiration. But declarer would be in clover, losingonlytwo clubs and one heart

Instead,Westshouldtrusthispartner’s trick-one signal. Eastdropped the two, hislowest card being discouraging. (If you and yourpartner use upside-down signals,Eastshouldplaythenineattrick one.)Thisdenies thequeen (unlesshe has exactly queen-two-doubleton, which is veryunlikely). So West shouldshift at trick two, hoping his partner can get on lead early enough to pushaclubthrough South.

Here, any lead other than aspade at trick two defeats the contract, assuming Eastleadsaclubwhenhegetsinwithhis heartace.

©2026 by NEA,Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed toDAY’s WoRD MEDIAn: MEE-dee-in: Avalue forwhich there is an equal number of values above and below.

Average mark20words Timelimit 30 minutes Can you find 27 or morewords in MEDIAN?

YEstERDAY’s WoRD —IncIsIVEnEss

iciness

niceness

nine nisei cense scene seen seine sense seven sieve since sine vein vice vine vise envies even evince

(B) Unclassified Service. The unclassified service shall include the following officers and employees in the state and city civil service:

(1) elected officials and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;

(2) the heads of each principal executive department appointed by the governor,the mayor,orthe governing authority of acity;

(3) city attorneys;

(4) registrars of voters;

(5) members of state and city boards, authorities, and commissions;

(6) one private secretary to the president of each college or university;

(7) one person holding aconfidential position and one principal assistant or deputy to any officer,board, commission, or authority mentioned in (1), (2), (4), or (5) above, except civil service departments;

(8) members of the military or naval forces;

(9) teaching and professional staffs, and administrative officers of schools, colleges, and universities of the state, and bona fide students of those institutions employed by any state, parochial or municipal agency;

(10) employees, deputies, and officers of the legislatureand of the offices of the governor,lieutenant governor,attorney general, each mayor and city attorney,ofpolice juries, school boards, assessors, and of all offices provided for in Article Vofthis constitution except the offices of clerk of the municipal and trafficcourts in New Orleans; (11) commissionersofelections, watchers, and custodians and deputy custodians of voting machines; (12) railroad employees whose working conditions and retirement benefits areregulated by federal agencies in accordance with federal law; and (13) the director,deputy director,and all employees of the Governor’sOffice of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Additional positions may be added to the unclassified service and those positions may be revoked by rules adopted by a commission. Additional officers, positions, and employees may be added to the unclassified service in the state civil service by law and such additional officers, positions, and employees may be removed from the unclassified service only by law.

Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at astatewide election to be held on April 18, 2026, if House Bill No. 625 of the 2025 Regular Session of the LegislatureofLouisiana becomes effective. If House Bill No.625 of the 2025 Regular Session of the Legislatureof Louisiana does not become effective, this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at astatewide election to be held on November 3, 2026.

Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election thereshall be printed aproposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YESorNO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows:

“Do you support an amendment to allow the legislaturetoremove or add officers, positions, and employees to the unclassified state civil service?” (Amends Article X, Section 2(B))

Proposed Amendment No. 2 Regular Session, 2025 ---ACT No. 218 ---SENATE BILL NO.25 BY SENATOR EDMONDS AND REPRESENTATIVECHENEVERT

AJOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing to amend Article VIII, Section 13(D)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to certain effects and purposes for the proposed St. George community school system in East Baton Rouge Parish which shall be regarded and treated as aparish and shall have the authority granted parishes with respect to operating aschool system, including the purposes of certain funding and the raising of certain local revenues for the support of elementary and secondaryschools; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; to specify an election date for submission of the proposition to electors and to provide for aballot proposition.

Section 1. Be it resolved by the LegislatureofLouisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that thereshall be submitted to the electors of the state, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law,aproposal to amend Article VIII, Section 13(D)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows:

§13. Funding; Apportionment Section 13. ** *

(D)(1) Municipal and Other School Systems. For the effects and purposes of this Section, the Central community school system, the St. George community schoolsystem, and the Zachary community school system in East Baton Rouge Parish, and the municipalities of Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, Monroe in Ouachita Parish, and Bogalusa in Washington Parish, and no others, shall be regarded and treated as parishes and shall have the authority granted parishes. Consistent with Article VIII of this constitution, relevant to equal educational opportunities, no state dollars shall be used to discriminate or to have the effect of discriminating in providing equal educational opportunity for all students.

Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at astatewide election to be held on April 18, 2026, if House Bill No. 625 of the 2025 Regular Session of the LegislatureofLouisiana becomes effective. If House Bill No. 625 of the 2025 Regular Session of the Legislatureof Louisiana does not become effective, this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at astatewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election thereshall be printed aproposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YESorNO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to grant the St. Georgecommunity school system in East Baton Rouge Parish the same authority granted parishes for purposes of Article VIII, Section 13 of the Constitution of Louisiana, including purposes related to the minimum foundation program, funding for certain school books and instructional materials, andthe raising of certain local revenues for the support of elementary andsecondary schools? (Amends Article VIII, Section 13(D)(1)) Proposed Amendment No. 3 Regular Session, 2025 ---ACT No. 222

VII, Section 10.17, and to repeal Article VII, Sections 10(F)(4)(d), 10.1, 10.8(A)(3) and (C)(3), and 10.16(A)(9), relative to monies in the state treasury; to repeal the Education Excellence Fund within the

Trust, the

Education Quality Trust Fund, and the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund; to apply monies held in

funds to liabilities of the Teachers’

System of Louisiana and to requirelocal

ateacher

school systems to

with savings realized from payment of those retirement system liabilities; to requireadditional state general fund expenditures for the Minimum Foundation Program relative to such pay raises; to direct the state treasurer to take certain actions with respect to monies in repealed funds; to provide for calculation and transfer of such monies to the Overcollections Fund for use by specified entities pursuant to outlined restrictions; to execute technical changes; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters.

Section 1. Be it resolved by the LegislatureofLouisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that thereshall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law,a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 10.8(A)(1), (2), and (4), (B), and (C)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana and to enact Article VII, Section 10.17 to read as follows: §10.8. Millennium Trust Section 10.8. Millennium Trust (A) Creation. (1) Thereshall be established in the state treasury as aspecial permanent trust the “Millennium Trust”. After allocation of money to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of this constitution, the treasurer shall depositinand credit to the Millennium Trust certain monies received as aresult of the Master Settlement Agreement, hereinafter the “Settlement Agreement”, executed November 23, 1998, and approved by Consent Decree and Final Judgment entered in the case “RichardP.Ieyoub, Attorney General,exrel. State of Louisiana v. Philip Morris, Incorporated, et al.”, bearing Number 98-6473 on the docket of the Fourteenth Judicial District for the parish of Calcasieu, state of Louisiana; and all dividend and interest income and all realized capital gains on investment of the monies in the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall deposit in and credit to the Millennium Trust the following amounts of monies received as aresult of the Settlement Agreement: (a) Fiscal Year 2000-2001, forty-five percent of the total monies received that year (b) Fiscal Year 2001-2002, sixty percent of the total monies received that year (c) Fiscal Year 2002-2003 and each fiscal year thereafter seventy-five percent of the total monies received that year each fiscal year as aresult of the Settlement Agreement. However,beginning in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 after the balance in the Millennium Trust reaches atotal of one billion three hundred eighty million dollars, the The monies deposited in and credited to the Millennium Trust, received as aresult of the Settlement Agreement, shall be allocated to the various funds within the Millennium Trust as provided in Subsubparagraphs (2) (b), (3)(b), and (4)(b) and (c) of this Paragraph. TOPS Fund. (d) For Fiscal Year 2000-2001, Fiscal Year 2001-2002, and Fiscal Year 2002-2003, ten percent of the total monies received in each of those years for credit to the Education Excellence Fund which, notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (C)(1) of this Section, shall be appropriated for the purposes provided in Subsubparagraph (d) of Subparagraph (3) of Paragraph (C) of this Section.

(2)(a) The Health Excellence Fund shall be established as a special fund within the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall credit to the Health Excellence Fund one-third of the Settlement Agreement proceeds deposited each year into the Millennium Trust, and onethirdofall investment earnings on the investment of the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall report annuallytothe legislatureastothe amount of Millennium Trust investment earnings credited to the Health Excellence Fund.

(b) Beginning Fiscal Year 2011-2012, and each fiscal year thereafter,the The treasurer shall credit to the Health Excellence Fund one-third one-halfofall investment earnings on the investment of the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall report annually to the legislature as to the amount of Millennium Trust investment earnings credited to the Health Excellence Fund.

(c) (b) Beginning on July 1, 2012, after After allocation of money to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of this constitution, the state treasurer shall depositinand credit to the Health Excellence Fund an amount equal to the revenues derived from the tax levied pursuant to R.S. 47:841(B) (3). *** (4)(a) The TOPS Fund shall be established as aspecial fund within the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall deposit in and credit to the TOPS Fund one- thirdofthe Settlement Agreement proceeds deposited into the Millennium Trust, and one-third of all investment earnings on the investment of the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall report annually to the legislatureastothe amount of Millennium Trust investment earnings credited to the TOPS Fund. (b) Beginning Fiscal Year 2011-2012, and each fiscal year thereafter,the The treasurer shall credit to the TOPS Fund one hundred percent of the Settlement Agreement proceeds deposited into the Millennium Trust, and one-third one-halfofall investment earnings on the investment of the Millennium Trust. The treasurer shall report annuallytothe legislatureastothe amount of Millennium Trust Settlement Agreement proceeds and investment earnings credited to the TOPS Fund.

(c) Upon the effective date of this Subsubparagraph, the state treasurer shall deposit, transfer,orotherwise credit funds in an amount equal to such Settlement Agreement proceeds deposited in and credited to the Millennium Trust received by the state between April 1, 2011 and the effective date of this Subsubparagraph to the TOPS Fund. *** (B) Investment. Monies credited to the Millennium Trust pursuant to Paragraph (A) of this Section shall be invested by the treasurer with the same authority and subject to the same restrictions as the Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund. as provided by law However,the portion of monies in the Millennium Trust which may be invested in stock may be increased to no morethan fifty percent by aspecificlegislative instrument which receives afavorable vote of two-thirdsofthe elected members of each house of the legislature. The legislatureshall provide for procedures for the investment of such monies by law.The treasurer may contract, subject to the approval of the State Bond Commission, for the management of such investments and, if acontract is entered into, amounts necessary to pay the costs of the contract shall be appropriated from the Millennium Trust. (C) Appropriations. (1)(a) Appropriations from the Education Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust allocated as provided by Paragraph (A) of this Section and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference. Amounts determined to be available for appropriation shall be those aggregate investment earnings which areinexcess of an inflation factor as determined by the Revenue Estimating Conference. The amount of realized capital gains on investment which may be included in the aggregate earnings available for appropriation in any year shall not exceed the aggregate of earnings from interest and dividends for that year (b)(i) For Fiscal Year 2011-2012, appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual earnings from interest, dividends, and realized capital gains on investment of the trust and credited to the Health Excellence Fund as provided by Subsubparagraph (A) (2)(b) of this Section and as recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference. (ii) For Fiscal Year 2012-2013, and each fiscal year thereafter appropriations Appropriations from the Health Excellence Fund shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed the estimated aggregate annual

of monies received pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall be restricted to expenditure for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade instructional enhancementfor students, including early childhood education programs focused on enhancing the preparation of at-risk children for school, remedial instruction, and assistance to children who fail to achieve the required scores on any tests passage of whichare required pursuant to state law or rule for advancementto asucceeding grade or other educational programs approved by the legislature. Expenditures for maintenance or renovation of buildings, capital improvements, and increases in employee salaries areprohibited. Section 4. Within two weeks of the effective date of this Act, the State BoardofElementary and Secondary Education and the BoardofRegents shall each coordinate with the Department of Treasury to certify amounts maintained in the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund held to the agency’scredit within the fund. The state treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to transfer to the Overcollections Fund an amount equal to the certified balances of each agency.Monies held in the Overcollections Fund for each agency shall be appropriated and used in accordance with the following:

(A) Higher Education. Monies attributable to the certified balance of the BoardofRegents shall be appropriated to the Board of Regents and allocated for any or all of the following higher educational purposes to enhance economic development: (1) The carefully defined research efforts of public and private universities in Louisiana.

(2) The endowment of chairs for eminent scholars.

(3) The enhancement of the quality of academic, research, or agricultural departments or units within acommunity college, college, or university.These funds shall not be used for athletic purposes or programs.

(4) The recruitment of superior graduate students.

(B)Elementary and Secondary Education.Monies attributable to