The Acadiana Advocate 05-05-2026

EL EC TI ON 20 26

Voters report confusion overelectionchanges

Avoter walks in to cast theirballot Mondayatthe Lafayette Parish GovernmentBuilding

Officialssay earlyvoting numbersnormaldespite challenges

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

Widespread confusion.

That described the scenes at early voting sites throughout Louisiana on Monday as voters dealt witha new primary election system, alandmark U.S Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday, Gov.Jeff Landry’sorder on Thursday canceling the House elections —and lawsuits filed by Democrats challeng-

ingthe courtruling and the governor’s order Election officialsdid their best to minimize the turmoil, trainingelection commissioners beforehandonquestions they might face and posting signs throughout early voting sites describing the new semi-closed primary rules andthe impact of Landry’sorder Andre Pagliarini, ahistoryprofessor at LSU, wasn’tsure when he arrived at the State Archives buildinginBaton

Rouge whether he could voteinthe 5th Congressional District race until he saw asign inside the voting booth telling him that the race had been canceled.

Denise Lyonswas advised by election officials at City Hall in NewOrleans thather voteinthe 2nd Congressional District House race would not count. She was not happy “Thatthey are canceling our

ä See VOTERS, page 4A

Bitter redistrictingfight loomsinLegislature

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

As Republicans in the LouisianaLegislature said they would startdrawing anew voting map for Congress as soon as Friday,Democratic lawmakers countered that they’ll resist any attemptsto reduce the number of majority-Black districts.

“Any talk of anything less than two seats is something that Iwill not entertain,nor should any of my colleagues, particularly those in the Black Caucus and thoseinthe DemocraticCaucus,” Sen. RoyceDuplessis, D-NewOrleans, told reporters.

But, with Republican supermajorities

in both the Louisiana House and Senate, Democrats have little chance of stopping maps that have fewer Democraticleaning districts.

“We’ve already done the4-2 once and it didn’twork,”said SenatePresident Cameron Henry,R-Metairie.

ä See LEGISLATURE, page 4A

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Samuel Alito on Monday issued an order that temporarily allowswomenseeking abortions to obtain the drug mifepristone at pharmacies or through themail, without an in-person visit to adoctor Alito lifted the ban without comment, as is usual until the Supreme Court decideswhether to hear acase. Alito’sorder pauses a5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ order until Monday.Inthe meantime,Alito askedthe parties to submit briefs.

Ruling Friday in alawsuit brought by Louisiana, the 5th Circuit, basedinNew Orleans, ruled that mifepristone could not be ordered by or mailed to women because, partially,itundermined the state’sban on abortions after the 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Louisiana is among the 13 states that have outlawed abortions. The state contendsthatabortions arecontinuinginthe state because of the availability of the mail-order drugs. The pills are responsible fortwo-thirds of abortions in the U.S., according to Guttmacher Institute,aNew York-based nonprofit that studies reproductive issues. The drug regimen was approved in 2000. TheFoodand Drug Administrationhad rules to allow mifepristone, which along with the drug misoprostol, induces amiscarriage,only after the woman consulted in person with aphysician.

The FDAlifted that requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, it made permanent the ability to buy the pills via mail withthe prescriptionofa physician who consultedwith the patient remotely over atelemedicine visit.

The state arguesthatthe FDA’s justification for removing the in-person medical providervisit wasbased on inadequate research.The state further argues that taxpayers in astate that forbidsabortion are on the hook forMedicaid expenses for low-incomewomen seekingemergency treatment when the medication causes medical problems.

Athree-judge 5th Circuit panel ordered reinstatement of the rule that required women to visit theirdoctors in personin order to receive mifepristone untilthe Louisiana case was decided. The 5thCircuit order in GenBioPro Inc. vLouisiana applied to all women seeking abortions across the country

U.S. battlestoreopenStraitofHormuzasUAE is attacked

Latest action threatensceasefire

BY ADAM SCHRECK, BEN FINLEY and SAM METZ Associated Press

DUBAI,UnitedArab Emirates

The U.S. military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilianships as it moved to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.The United Arab Emirates, akey Americanally,saidit had come under attackfromIran for the first time since afragile ceasefire took hold in early April

The U.S.military said two American-flagged merchantships had successfully transited the strait on Monday aspartofanew initiative. The UAE DefenseMinistrysaid its air defenses hadengaged 15 missiles andfour drones fired by Iran. Authorities in theeastern emirate of Fujairahsaidone drone sparkeda fire at akey oil facility,wounding three Indian nationals. The British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off theUAE. Tehrandid notoutright confirm

or deny the attacks but earlyon Tuesday,Iran’sForeign Minister AbbasAraghchi said on Xthat boththe U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being draggedback into quagmire.” In similarly vague terms,Iranian state television earlier quoted an anonymous militaryofficial as saying Tehran had had “no plan” to target the UAEorone of its oil fields.

“The incident resultedfrom U.S. military adventurism to create an illegal passage,” theofficial said about the oil facilityattack,

ä See HORMUZ, page 6A

Afghanistan: Pakistan

killed 3 in civilian areas

KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out cross-border attacks into its territory on Monday that hit civilian areas, killing at least three people and wounding 14, as tension between the two neighbors remain high despite recent peace talks.

Afghan deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said on X that the attacks also destroyed two schools, two mosques and a health center in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected the allegation in a post on X, saying that Fitrat’s accusations follow recent crossborder firing from Afghan territory into Pakistan. Those attacks, in March and April killed nine women and children in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

It said Bajaur attacks “exposed the Afghan regime’s reckless and shameful actions.” The ministry also argued that images circulated with the latest Afghan claim show damage “inconsistent with artillery impact,” citing intact roofs and localized breakage as indicators of possible staged destruction.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that killed hundreds of people since late February when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.

Giuliani hospitalized with pneumonia

NEW YORK Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own after being hospitalized with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator, his spokesperson said Monday Giuliani, 81, remains in critical but stable condition at a Florida hospital and is being monitored as a precautionary measure, spokesperson Ted Goodman said.

Goodman said Giuliani’s condition was exacerbated by restrictive airway disease attributed to his exposure to dust and toxins from the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.

Giuliani’s hospitalization, near Palm Beach, Florida, came after he was heard coughing Friday on his nightly online talk show and hoarsely told viewers that his voice was “a little under the weather.”

“This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition,” Goodman said in a statement.

He described Giuliani as “the ultimate fighter” and said, “he is winning this battle.”

Giuliani’s family and primary medical provider are by the former mayor’s side, Goodman added. He said they thanked well-wishers for an “outpouring of love and support.”

Jet hits truck, light pole near airport, lands safely

A United Airlines jet came dangerously close to disaster Sunday when it hit a semitrailer truck and light pole on the New Jersey Turnpike as it came in to land at Newark Liberty International Airport.

“A major catastrophe was avoided by feet,” said safety expert Steve Arroyo, who landed on that same short runway many times during his career at United. “Had it been another 5 feet lower, 8 feet, I mean, no more than 10 feet, that plane would have been all over the New Jersey Turnpike.” The driver of the bakery delivery truck was treated at a hospital for minor injuries, and the Boeing 767 flying in from Venice, Italy, with 231 people aboard was able to land safely No one on the plane was hurt. Air traffic control audio suggests the incident may have created a hole in the side of the plane, but the airline and the National Transportation Safety Board haven’t confirmed that. The NTSB said Monday afternoon that it has reclassified the incident as an accident because of the extent of the damage to the plane, but it didn’t provide any details.

Driver plows into shopping area

Two killed in Germany

By The Associated Press

BERLIN A driver plowed into people in a busy shopping area in the center of the German city of Leipzig on Monday afternoon, leaving two people dead, authorities said.

An additional three people were seriously injured in what officials believe was a deliberate rampage, Mayor Burkhard Jung said.

He described it as “a terrible tragedy.” An unspecified number of people sustained less serious injuries.

The driver, a 33-year-old German citizen, was detained in the car Police said he was a German-born resident of the Leipzig area.

Prosecutors said he is under investigation on suspicion of murder and attempted murder There was no immediate word on

a possible motive.

The interior minister of Saxony state, Armin Schuster, said investigators believe the man acted alone.

Russia declares truce in Ukraine to mark WWII Victory Day

Kyiv says it’ll halt attacks two days earlier

By The Associated Press

Russia’s Defense Ministry declared a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine for Friday and Saturday to mark the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, but it threatened to strike back at Kyiv if it tries to disrupt the Victory Day festivities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in response said his country would observe a truce beginning at 12 a.m. Wednesday and respond in kind to Russia’s actions from that moment on. He did not put an end date on the truce

The announcements on Monday come as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday with a traditional military parade on Moscow’s Red Square pared down due to what officials say are concerns over possible Ukrainian attacks. Ukraine has been launching drone attacks deep inside Russia to counter its more than 4-year-old invasion.

They also follow a familiar pattern of previous attempts to secure ceasefires most recently around Orthodox Easter — that had little to no impact.

The Defense Ministry said if Ukraine attempts to disrupt Saturday’s celebrations, Russia will

carry out a “massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv.” It warned the civilian population there and employees of foreign diplomatic missions of “the need to leave the city promptly.”

Zelenskyy responded by saying that while Kyiv has not received any official requests for a truce, in the time left until midnight on Wednesday “it is realistic to ensure” that a ceasefire takes effect. He urged the Kremlin “to take real steps to end their war, especially since Russia’s Defense Ministry believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill.”

For years, the Kremlin has used the pomp-filled Victory Day parade to showcase its military might and global clout, and it has been a source of patriotic pride.

But this year, the parade in the Russian capital will take place without tanks, missiles and other military equipment for the first time in nearly two decades. Some of the smaller parades that are held elsewhere across the country have also been pared down or even canceled for security reasons.

Speaking at a summit with European leaders in Armenia on Monday, Zelenskyy said that the Russian authorities “fear drones may buzz over Red Square” on Saturday “This is telling. It shows they are not strong now, so we must keep up the pressure through sanctions on them,” he said.

He said that rage and “psychological instability” are often factors in such cases, but added that he wouldn’t speculate on whether that

was the case here.

Police chief René Demmler said the man drove from the Augustusplatz, a major square, along the

Grimmaische Strasse into the city’s central pedestrianized shopping area. He stressed that there was no longer any danger

The driver was arrested in the vehicle and didn’t resist arrest, Demmler said. Saxony state Gov Michael Kretschmer expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

“An act like this leaves us speechless — and it makes us determined,” he added, according to German news agency dpa. “We will do everything in our power to solve this case quickly and completely.”

Photos from the scene showed a car with a battered front and a shattered windshield after the incident, which happened at about 5 p.m.

Leipzig is located southwest of Berlin and has more than 630,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities in eastern Germany

Cruise ship awaits help amid suspected hantavirus outbreak

Three people have died

BY GERALD IMRAY Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A

cruise ship with nearly 150 people aboard was waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after three passengers died and at least three other people were left seriously ill in a suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus, according to the World Health Organization and the ship’s operator

The MV Hondius, a Dutch ship on a weekslong polar cruise from Argentina to Antarctica and several isolated islands in the South Atlantic, had requested help from health authorities Sunday after making its way to the island of Cape Verde, off the West Africa coast. But no one has been allowed to disembark, Netherlandsbased operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Cape Verde’s Health Ministry said Monday that for now it will not allow the ship to dock because of public health concerns and that it would stay in open waters close to shore.

Hantavirus is a rodentborne illness spread by contact with rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings. WHO says that while it is rare, hantavirus may spread between people.

It was unclear how an outbreak could have started, and the WHO said it was investigating while working to coordinate the

Police seek Okla. shooting suspects

BY NICHOLAS INGRAM and ALONZO ADAMS Associated Press

EDMOND, Okla. — Authorities in Oklahoma were looking for suspects Monday in a weekend shooting at an unsanctioned lakeside party packed with young adults that left at least 23 people injured, some critically, according to police and hospital officials.

It wasn’t clear how many of those injured had been shot, according to a statement released by police Monday No arrests have been made The shooting broke out Sunday night during a

party near a campground at Arcadia Lake, a popular swimming and boating spot in Edmond, just outside Oklahoma City, said Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward. At least 18 people were treated at hospitals in the Oklahoma City area. One healthcare system said the victims it treated ranged in age from 16 to 30. It said three people were in critical condition and four were listed as serious.

Jason Hearne told ABC News that he was nearby when the shooting started and saw people who had been shot in the legs and one young woman with a head wound who was still breathing.

“These kids came out to have a, probably a good time, and for this to break

out, I know that wasn’t what they expected, and it’s just tragic,” he said.

Police in Edmond said Monday that the party had been advertised across social media, drawing a large crowd of mostly young adults from across the Oklahoma City area.

“There is no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the public,” police said in a statement

Edmond Mayor Mark Nash said the shooting took place at a public park where spaces can be reserved for large gatherings. “To our knowledge, there was no reservation through the parks department,” he said.

Nash declined to answer questions about the shooting, saying police were handling the investigation.

evacuation of two sick crew members. Another sick person a British man evacuated to South Africa on April 27 tested positive for the virus, authorities said. He is in critical condition and isolated in intensive care according to local health officials.

The body of one of the passengers who died — a German remains on the ship, according to an Oceanwide Expeditions statement. A 70-year-old Dutch man died

onboard April 11, and his 69-year-old wife died later in South Africa after leaving the ship, officials said. Her blood later tested positive for the virus, making two confirmed cases, South Africa’s health minister said.

Among the 87 remaining passengers, 17 are Americans, 19 are from the U.K and 13 from Spain, according to the company Sixty-one crew members, including the two who are ill, also are onboard.

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Gulf could overtake N.O. in the future, study reveals

Scientists urge city to begin relocation planning

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

A team of scientists led by a Tulane University geologist is urging Louisiana to begin planning now for how to relocate entire communities away from the coast, warning that sea levels may eventually rise high enough to overtake New Orleans.

The paper, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability with Tulane coastal geologist Torbjörn Törnqvist as lead author, gives a concrete picture of what southeast Louisiana could look like in the coming centuries as sea levels rise. The team identified, for the first time, an ancient shoreline about 30 miles north of New Orleans that marks where the Gulf once reached.

That finding underpins an argument the paper makes that one its authors acknowledge won’t be popular: that the state should begin planning now for a gradual, multigenerational relocation of coastal residents to higher ground. New Orleans, the paper argues, will eventually become “physically impossible” to defend with flood walls and levees.

“They are saying out loud the things that no one wants to say,” A.R. Siders, an associate professor at the University of Delaware who studies how people are adapting to climate change, said of the study’s authors. “No one wants to say New Orleans won’t be there in 200 years.”

Siders reviewed the paper but was not involved with the study

The argument isn’t entirely new, and Törnqvist has been warning about New Orleans’ long-term future for years. In a 2020 paper, he wrote that Louisiana’s wetlands

had crossed a tipping point and that the eventual shoreline would likely settle near the Baton Rouge Fault, a geological line where land to the south sinks faster than land to the north.

What the new paper adds is direct geological evidence of where that shoreline once was, and a sharper policy stance from an interdisciplinary team that combines geology with archaeology, demography and policy It’s a perspective article, a format in which authors advance an argument supported by evidence rather than report a standalone research finding.

“What is new about this study is that it lays out in clear scientific terms with abundant data and supporting information that we are facing right now a multigenerational need to relocate our coastal communities,” said Sam Bentley, a professor of sedimentary geology at LSU who was not involved with the paper “That has never been spelled out so clearly and with such urgency.”

Robert Young, a professor of geology at Western Carolina University who was not involved in the study, agreed with its findings but doubted it would move Louisiana’s po-

litical class.

“It is going to be fairly straightforward for the political class to dismiss it because the timeframe is so long,” he said “Politicians are not going to get reelected by telling communities that they need to leave.”

Not everyone in the region accepts the idea that the city might have to relocate. Greater New Orleans Inc., the regional economic development organization, said the paper goes too far in advocating for wholesale relocation of the city.

“The study’s findings are academically compelling, but empirically unconvincing,” said Michael Hecht, the organization’s president and CEO. “Experience around the world, and here in Louisiana, demonstrates that relocation is not inevitable, nor always desirable.”

Ancient shoreline

The discovery happened almost by accident About a decade ago, Tulane geologist Zhi-Xiong Shen — now at Coastal Carolina University and a co-author on the paper was using lidar a laser-based mapping technology, to study fault lines that contribute to southeast

AP, Washington Post, Minnesota Star Tribune among Pulitzer winners

BY JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

NEWYORK The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for scrutinizing the Trump administration’s sweeping, choppy cuts and changes to federal agencies, and The Associated Press won the award Monday for international reporting about surveillance In a year when several prize-winning projects zoomed in on the Trump presidency, the Post’s coverage illuminated the fastmoving, sometimes opaque particulars of the administration’s drive to reshape the national government, and judges credited the Post with detailing what the changes meant for individual Americans.

The Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown was given a special citation for her reporting, nearly a decade ago, that drew attention to Jeffrey Epstein ’s abuses. The New York Times won three of the coveted prizes, the Post and Reuters each won two, and smaller outlets ranging from The Connecticut Mirror to the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” also were recognized in a challenging year for American journalism.

“This is always a day of celebration in our communities but perhaps never more so than today as we face tremendous political and economic pressures,” prize administrator Marjorie Miller said in a livestream announcing the awards. In the last few months, the Post cut a third of its staff, CBS News announced it would shutter its nearly century-old radio service, the AP offered buyouts to over 120 journalists and some regional newspapers also publicly struggled CBS parent Paramount’s acquisition of CNN has raised questions about what’s next for those networks. Mean-

while, President Donald Trump continued to bash, and sometimes sue, outlets whose coverage he finds objectionable.

Spanning three years, thousands of pages of documents and numerous interviews, the AP project found that American companies help lay the foundations of the Chinese government’s system for monitoring and policing its citizens.

“This was sweeping and deeply impactful reporting, the kind of work that highlights the unique strengths of AP’s global, multiformat newsroom,” executive editor Julie Pace said in an email to staffers. She is among the Pulitzer Board’s new members.

The prizes covered President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House, and two winning entries focused on his pulverizing approach to norms and constraints. The Times took the investigative reporting prize for exploring Trump’s boundary-pushing approach to the notion of conflicts of interest. Reuters, which won for national reporting, looked at how Trump has used the federal government and his supporters’ influence to expand presidential authority and to try to punish his foes, the award judges noted Reuters’ reporting on the social media giant Meta won a prize in the newly revived category for beat reporting, a term for journalists consistently assigned to a particular topic. The board brought that honor back for the first time in two decades.

Reuters’ wins spotlighted “fearless, deeply reported, original work that holds powerful institutions to account,” editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement. The prize for breaking news went to the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of

last year’s mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school, where two children were killed and more than a dozen others were injured during the school’s first Mass of the academic year Judges praised the thoroughness and compassion of the newspaper’s reporting on a scene of carnage in its hometown,

“To me, it’s really a moment to appreciate the power of local journalism,” Kathleen Hennessey, the Star Tribune’s editor and senior vice president, said in an interview One Tribune reporter who lives in the neighborhood heard the gunshots and called 911 before running over to the scene, she noted; an editor at the paper has children who attend the school.

“It feels really gratifying to be recognized, but for this newsroom, this is also just still a really painful event,” Hennessey said.

The San Francisco Chronicle received the award for explanatory reporting, which means work that makes a complex topic comprehensible to everyday readers and viewers.

The Chronicle’s series laid out how insurers, aided by algorithmic tools, undervalued and denied rebuilding claims for fire-destroyed homes, the judges said.

In visual journalism, The Times got a breaking news photography award for depicting devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from Israel’s war in the territory The Post won the feature photography prize, for a visual essay on a family welcoming a firstborn as the child’s father grappled with terminal cancer The award for illustrated reporting and commentary — a category that includes editorial cartoons and more — went to Bloomberg for a graphic novel about online scams that threaten “digital arrest.”

centuries to melt meaning the warming already locked in is expected to keep raising seas for centuries.

That means the city could become a kind of fortified island in the Gulf by the time sea levels rise by roughly 10 feet above where they are now, the study finds. And if sea levels rise by over 20 feet — a level the researchers say is locked in over the long term, though the timing is uncertain — sea water could slosh over the French Quarter’s wrought-iron galleries.

Current projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show seas rising off Louisiana by between 3.5 and 9 feet by 2100, depending on emissions scenarios.

Fewer diversions, less time

“There’s a kind of mortality here,” Keenan said. “We’re facing our own mortality with New Orleans, and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. It just means we have to think about palliative care and how we are going to treat those who are immobile and those that are getting left behind.”

The paper also argues that getting ahead of relocation could give New Orleans a “first mover advantage,” or a chance to develop expertise other coastal cities will eventually need.

Young, the Western Carolina geologist, wasn’t convinced that was really an advantage.

Louisiana’s sinking. He noticed a low, curving feature in the elevation data, drilled into the ground, and found sand: the remains of an ancient beach. That beach, now called the Ponchatoula Ridge, runs from roughly Mandeville in the east to Ponchatoula in the west. The sand had been shaped by wave action, indicating it is likely where the Gulf lapped against the shoreline about 125,000 years ago, when the Earth was warmer than it was during most of human civilization. The shoreline from that period was known across much of the Gulf Coast, but it was never located in Louisiana until now

The discovery of the Ponchatoula Ridge is “a small detail, maybe, to some readers, but the implications of it are epic,” Bentley said. To him, it underscores that an area where more than a million people live will eventually be submerged.

Earth is now roughly as warm as it was during that last interglacial period, when temperatures peaked at as much as 2.7 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Sea levels lag behind temperature, though, as ice sheets take

The state’s recent cancellation of two major Mississippi River sediment diversions, the Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton projects, both opposed by shrimpers and oyster farmers, has shortened the timeline.

“New Orleans is in a terminal state,” said Jesse Keenan, an associate professor at the Tulane School of Architecture and a co-author of the study “The question is how much time do we have, and how much time can we buy?”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which built and maintains the post-Katrina levee system, is designing new additions to extend protection through 2073. Beyond that, the Corps said in a written response, “additional evaluations” will be needed. Without the diversions, the city has less time, Törnqvist said. Future projects could buy some or all of that time back, though they will not change the eventual outcome.

“The negative outcomes of continued sea level rise are just going to happen earlier,” Törnqvist said. “The time window to do this managed relocation is just going to be shortened by maybe a couple of decades. And that’s a lot of time.”

“The main problem I have with the paper is at the very end when it talks about the possibility of making New Orleans and places south a model for what could happen elsewhere,” he said. “I’m just really skeptical that that can happen anytime soon.”

Without a state-managed plan, the paper warns, residents with savings will leave first, taking the tax base with them and stranding lower-income residents in communities with eroding services and worsening climate hazards.

“Those people with abundant resources will move, and then who do you leave behind?” Keenan said. “A highly impoverished and immobile population.”

Articulating all of this and publishing it in a reputable scientific journal puts the researchers in a somewhat uncomfortable position, they said, having to tell people what they don’t want to hear Törnqvist said he was “preparing for some hate mail.” Keenan said he would not have published the paper if he didn’t have tenure.

“Many of us have taken the approach that advocating for a particular stance can threaten our apparent objectivity in reaching a solution,” said Bentley “But sometimes you have to do it. And I think this is an exceptional case.”

Judge questions why D.C. dinner attack suspect on suicide watch

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON A federal magistrate judge on Monday pressed a jail official to explain why a man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and attempting to kill President Donald Trump was placed on restrictive suicide watch after his arrest.

Officials at the city jail in Washington, D.C., removed Cole Tomas Allen from its designated “suicide status” over the weekend after his attorneys complained that he had been unnecessarily confined in a padded room with constant lighting, repeatedly strip searched and placed in restraints outside his cell.

But the relaxed conditions didn’t satisfy U.S Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui’s concerns that Allen may have received disparate punitive treatment in violation of his due process rights. Faruqui noted that the D.C. jail routinely houses convicted killers and others charged with violent crimes without placing them on 24-hour lockdown.

“It could drive a person crazy to be in that situation,” he said.

Faruqui apologized to Allen over his confinement conditions. In response to a news report on that apology, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro criticized him in a social media post that said Faruqui “believes a defendant armed to the teeth and attempting to assassinate the president is entitled to preferential treatment in his confinement compared to every other defendant.”

Allen’s lawyers said he wasn’t showing any suicidal risk factors after his arrest. But a jail psychiatrist evaluated him and initially concluded that he posed a suicide risk, according to Tony Towns, acting general

counsel for the city’s corrections department.

“Every case is different, your honor,” Towns said.

Allen was moved into protective custody after the jail lifted the suicide prevention measures His attorneys didn’t object to his new confinement status. They had asked the magistrate to cancel Monday’s hearing, but Faruqui forged ahead with it due to his “grave concerns” about Allen’s treatment in jail.

Allen was injured but was not shot during the April 25 attack at the Washington Hilton, which disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.

Louisiana has six U.S. House seats. Currently, four are held by White Republicans, and two are held by Black Democrats.

After the U.S. Supreme Court in a watershed decision last week ruled that voting map unconstitutional — and limited how race can be used to draw voting districts

Louisiana Republicans quickly prepared to draw a new map eliminating one or two Democratic districts for this year’s midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress Democrats said they would refuse discussions on any map that has less than two majority-Black districts and have noted that Louisiana’s population is now roughly one-third Black.

“We are not in favor of anything other than a 4-2 map. If you bring us something that has less than two African-American representatives, we are not in favor,” said Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.

It’s not clear whether Republicans will seek to advance a map that contains exclusively Republican-leaning districts or a map with five Republican districts and

one majority-Black, Democraticleaning district.

“It might be 6-0, it might be 5-1,”

Trump, who has pushed GOP-led states to draw district lines to win more Republican seats.

More lawsuits filed

obligation to vote is pretty effing wild,” she said just after voting. “The denial of voting in Louisiana is starting here.”

Clarissa Hoff in New Orleans voted in the House race anyway.

“I want it documented that my vote was stolen,” Hoff said. “I’m pretty pissed.” Allison Dumas in Baton Rouge also voted anyway, “in case they do count those votes,” she said. “I want my vote to be heard.”

Turnout on Saturday and Monday — the first two days of early voting in Louisiana was about normal for the first two days of early voting, according to election officials throughout the state.

“Saturday was a little more than we expected,” said Dale Sibley, the registrar of voters in Caddo Parish, where the biggest city is Shreveport. “Today has been a little bit slower.”

Several voting officials said Landry’s order may have caused some voters to stay home.

“They come in and they say, ‘We thought the whole election was canceled,’” Lafayette Parish Registrar of Voters Charlene Meaux said Monday Landry and Republican elected officials said they had no choice but to postpone the House elections scheduled on May 16 and redraw the congressional map after the Supreme Court ruled that the current map is an illegal racial gerrymander But Republican lawmakers are also attempting to address President Donald Trump’s calls to deliver more districts that Republicans can win to prevent Democrats from emerging with a House majority after the midterm elections.

Landry and legislators

said Sen Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, chair of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, which handles redistricting.

“I don’t know yet.”

Kleinpeter said Louisiana’s Republican members of Congress

“have serious concerns” about whether they could easily hold onto their districts under a map that has six GOP districts.

“They might have issues running for reelection,” he said. “We can’t jeopardize the leadership in Congress with changing maps.”

Henry echoed that concern.

“A 6-0 map does not guarantee six Republicans,” he said. “We’re working on the numbers.”

Henry said lawmakers will hold a public hearing at 9 a.m Friday on the new maps.

After public testimony is taken Friday, Kleinpeter said the committee chairs will vote on the legislation by May 13, followed by a possible full Senate vote May 14.

The map would then need approval in the House.

Henry also said he believes the state will have to go back to open primaries for the House seats instead of the new closed party primaries.

Duplessis said Republicans are trying to help President Donald

“This is a decision that’s coming from Trump,” he said.

But Kleinpeter said he is not aware of pressure by Trump to pass a map that has only Republican-leaning districts.

“I have not had any communication from the White House,” he said.

Henry also said he hasn’t talked with anyone from the White House about redistricting. Calls to keep voting

U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, whose district could be eliminated in the impending redistricting process, made appearances at events across the state Monday echoing state lawmakers’ call to demand a congressional map with two majority-Black districts.

“If I was in the Legislature, I wouldn’t vote for anything that wouldn’t include two majorityBlack districts out of defiance to this governor and this secretary of state,” Fields said.

He also urged voters to continue to cast ballots in Louisiana’s congressional primary elections, which Gov Jeff Landry suspended Thursday, two days before in-person early voting began.

Landry’s executive order declar-

plan to move swiftly to redraw the six congressional boundaries in the coming weeks before the legislative session ends on June 1. Louisiana has four Republican members of Congress and two Democrats. The Republicans have said they plan to eliminate the seat of U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, DNew Orleans, or U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, or both of them. In the meantime, early voting continues until Saturday for those who don’t want to vote in the party primaries on May 16.

The marquee race features Sen Bill Cassidy running for reelection in a Republican primary, challenged by U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming. Three candidates Nick Albares, Gary Crockett and Jamie Davis — are competing in the Democratic Senate primary

The winners of each party primary will face off in a June 27 runoff election, unless someone wins the primary with at least 50% of the vote. The party nominees will face off in a November general election

Early voting and the May 16 primary also feature two Public Service Commission races in different parts of Louisiana, a state Supreme

Court race on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, an election to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to represent suburban New Orleans and local races.

The Secretary of State’s Office reported that 42,829 people had voted absentee through Saturday, while 37,015 had voted in person that day Those numbers were in line with voting in 2022, the last nonpresidential election year Progressive groups — including Voters Organized to Educate, Black Voters Matter, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice and Step Up Louisiana — held a getout-the-vote rally outside City Hall in New Orleans on Monday that included denunciations of Landry

“It’s important to stand here against the anti-democratic forces,” Albares said in an interview State Rep. Alonzo Knox, DNew Orleans, also attended. He noted that he spent 16 years in the Marines, including a combat stint during the Desert Storm offensive during the Iraqi war

“Democracy is something I hold dear,” Knox said. “I’m here on the streets on American soil fighting for our rights to vote.”

Steve Raborn, the registrar of voters in East Baton

ing a state of emergency immediately prompted several lawsuits, which are ongoing. So far, no judge has halted the suspension. Fields said lawsuits challenging of the governor’s suspension of U.S. House races have not yet been decided by courts, and he urged people to vote for congressional candidates.

“Vote the full ballot,” Fields said. “Don’t listen to the secretary of state or the governor, for that matter, because this issue is not resolved yet.

“I feel that the governor and the secretary of state basically said to people across the state, both Black and White, their vote doesn’t matter ‘cause it won’t count. That’s wrong.”

Democrats in the Legislature also urged people to disregard Landry’s order suspending the election and keep voting for congressional candidates.

“What we can’t win through legislation, we will win through litigation,” Jordan said.

Attorney General Liz Murrill, who has promised to defend the decision to suspend the elections, took to social media to push back against the criticism.

“Do they believe Louisiana should intentionally violate the constitutional rights of her citizens under the existing map?” she wrote in a social media post.

Rouge Parish, said his office recruited additional early voting commissioners and gave them extra training to be prepared to handle questions.

Lisa Manning Bridges, the registrar in Orleans Parish, said the biggest confusion has been among no-party voters. Under the new semi-closed primary rules adopted by Landry and the Republican Legislature, noparty voters must choose between voting in either the Democratic Party or Republican Party primary

Bridges said election commissioners have had to explain to some no-party voters that choosing to vote in either party’s primary does not mean they are changing their party affiliation.

In Baton Rouge, some voters complained that the new primary rules meant they

Legal challenges to the governor’s order postponing the election continue to pile up.

A group of voters and the League of Women Voters of Louisiana on Monday sued Secretary of State Nancy Landry in federal court over the suspension of U.S. House races in Louisiana, adding to a list of several other lawsuits that were already filed late last week over the issues.

The plaintiffs argue that, by enforcing the executive order, the secretary of state is violating the fundamental constitutional right to vote of those who already cast absentee ballots.

They’re asking a judge in the U.S. Middle District of Louisiana to stop the Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections, from enforcing Gov. Landry’s order suspending the House elections and to count ballots that have been cast.

Several lawsuits were filed in both state and federal court late last week challenging Gov Landry’s emergency suspension of Louisiana’s U.S. House races. Gov Landry has said the suspension is lawful and declared that Louisiana will not hold its 2026 midterm elections under a map declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

couldn’t vote for Democrats and Republicans as voters could under the long-standing open primary system.

“I’m an independent and don’t want to have to vote a straight ticket,” said a man in Baton Rouge named Donald. He said he chose to vote in the Republican primary A no-party voter, Sean Lou read up on the new rules on the Secretary of State’s Office’s website before voting at the Archives building.

“I was kind of confused,” Lou said.

In a call with reporters Monday, Cassidy said he’s hearing that many Democrats switched to no-party or to Republican to be able to vote for him in the Republican primary Dennis DiMarco, the Jefferson Parish registrar, said one voter opted to not take either the Democratic or

Republican Party ballot, instead choosing the no-party ballot. This voter then found no elections to vote for and was then given another opportunity to choose a party preference. DiMarco said his commissioners have also encountered Democrats who are surprised that the new party primary rules will not allow them to vote for Republicans. He said these voters typically registered Democrat years ago but never changed their registration and have been voting for Republicans. Raborn and DiMarco said early voters tend to be more prepared to cast ballots than those who vote on election day

“Election day will be the real test,” DiMarco said. Staff writer Claire Taylor contributed to this article.

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to

chance of rain, which will go up to

tomorrow along with arisk of severe weather.

HORMUZ

Continued from page1A

apparently referring to President Donald Trump‘s latesteffortsto reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterwayfor global energy

Breaking Iran’schokehold on the strait would ease global economic concerns and deny Iran amajor source of leverage. But such efforts also risk reigniting the fullscale fighting that erupted when the U.S. and Israel firstattacked Iran on Feb. 28, prompting it to close the strait.

Shipping companies, and their insurers, are unlikely to takesuch arisk, given that Iran has fired on ships in the waterway and vowed to keep doing so. Iran hassaid the new U.S. effort is aviolation of the fragile ceasefire that has held for more than three weeks.

U.S. says it hasreopenedalane Iran’seffective closure of the strait, which runs between Iran and Oman,has caused aspikein worldwide fuel pricesand rattled theglobaleconomy. TheU.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center had advised ships Monday to cross the strait in Oman’swaters, saying it had set up an “enhanced security area.”

Adm. Brad Cooper,commander of U.S. CentralCommand, told reporters that American forces have successfully opened apassage through the strait that is free of Iranian mines. He said Iran launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at civilian ships under the U.S. military’sprotection.

U.S. military helicopters sank six of the small boats, Cooper said, adding that “each andevery”

ABORTION

Continued from page1A

Over the weekend, thedrugs’ manufacturers, DancoLaboratories and GenBioPro, filed for an emergencystay of the 5th Circuit order The pharmaceuticalcompanies countered that hundreds of stud-

threat hadbeen defeated

“TheU.S. commanders who are on thescene have allthe authority necessary to defend their unit and to defend commercial shipping— as we saw and demonstrated earlier today,” Cooper said. Trumphad warned Sundaythat Iranian effortstohaltpassage through the strait “will, unfortunately,have to be dealt with forcefully.”

He described“Project Freedom” in humanitarianterms, designed to aidstrandedseafarers on hundreds of ships that have been stuck in the Persian Gulfsince thewar began.

Missilealertsinthe UAE

The UAE condemned what it called“renewed treacherous Iranian aggression” and called for an immediate halt to theattacks. Four missile alerts were issued Monday urging UAE residents to find shelter —the first suchalerts

ies accepted by themedical community have shown mifepristone is safe. Physicianscounseling patientsvia telemedicine are not required to prescribe the pill by mail and that method doesn’tprevent Louisiana from enforcing its banonabortions, thecompanies argued

“It simply removes afederal inperson dispensing requirement,” they said

since the ceasefirebegan nearly amonth ago. Commercial planes bound for the UAE—hometothe global travel hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi —turnedaround midair

The extentofthe attack on Fujairah was unclear,but it is the terminus of apipelinethe UAE has used to avoidshippingsomeofits oil through the strait. The emirate on the Gulf of Oman is home to extensive oil storage facilities and is theUAE’smain sea access outside thestrait.

“These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable violation,” the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said in astatement on X.

In Oman, authorities saidaresidential building near thestrait “was targeted,” resulting in two foreign workers wounded, four vehicles damagedand nearby windows shattered. The reportcarried by state-run media did not provide further details.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in astatement: “Big abortion pharma claims theyneed an emergency stay because they will lose massive amounts of money if they can’t kill more babies quickly and efficiently by mail without medical oversight. The administrative stayistemporary,and Iam confident life and the law will win in the end.”

Iran seekstomaintainthe strait

Iran’smilitary command has warned that ships passing through the strait must coordinate with them.

“Wewarnthat anyforeign military force —especially the aggressive U.S. military —that intends to approachorenter theStraitof Hormuzwill be targeted,”Maj Gen. AliAbdollahi told state broadcaster IRIB.

The South Korean government said an explosion and fire had broken out aboard aSouth Korean-operated shipanchored in the strait offthe UAE. No injuries were reported. It wasnot immediately known if thevesselwas oneof the burningships reported by the Britishmilitary’sUnited Kingdom Maritime TradeOperations center.

Trumpsaidinasocial media post that Iran had “taken someshot” at aSouth Korean cargo ship, without elaborating.

TheUAE accused Iran of targeting atanker linked to its main oil company with two drones as it navigated the strait. It did notsay when the attack occurred. No injuries were reported.

The disruption of the waterway has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf oil and gas, raising prices far beyond the region.

The U.S. has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions forpaying Iran fortransit of the strait.

TheU.S.has meanwhile enforced anaval blockade on Iranian ports since April13, telling at least 49 commercial ships to turn back, according to Central Command.

Theblockade has deprivedTehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailingeconomy.U.S. officials have expressed hope that the blockadewill force Iran to make concessions in talks on its disputed nuclear program and other longstanding issues.

Little progress seen Iran’slatest proposal for ending the war calls for the U.S. lifting sanctions, ending the blockade, withdrawing forces fromthe region and ceasing all hostilities, including Israel’soperations in Lebanon, according to the semiofficial NourNews and Tasnim agencies, which have close ties to Iran’ssecurity apparatus.

Iranian officials saidtheywere reviewing the U.S. response, though Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei toldreporters Monday that changing demands made diplomacy difficult. He did not give details.

Iran has claimed its proposal does not include issues related to itsnuclear programand enriched uranium —long adriving force in tensions with the U.S. and Israel.

The 5th Circuit’sthree-judge panel included Judge Kyle Duncan,a Baton Rougenative and LSUlaw school grad whoserved as generalcounsel of theBecket Fundfor Religious Liberty, a Washington-based legal nonprofit that has opposedabortion, before President Donald Trump nominated him to the federal appellate bench. He was joinedbyJudge Kurt D. Engelhardt, another LSU law school grad who had been chief judgeofthe federaldistrictcourt in his homecity of New Orleans before Trump nominated him to the 5th Circuit, and Judge Leslie Southwick, of Jackson,Mississippi, whowas an appointee of President George W. Bush.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

JanRisher

LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Paddling on the Mississippi

We made it: Three days, 50 miles, 12 women, three guides and two oversized canoes on the Mississippi River We put in near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and got out at Terrene Landing in Bolivar County, Mississippi —paddling rightup alongside the American Melody, acruise ship, as its well-dressed passengers returned from an excursion.

We had been on the water,sleeping on islands for three days. They had been sailing from Memphis, Tennessee, to New Orleans. We were not, at that moment, peers. But several of them wanted to talk to us. So did the crew.One female crew member told us she was seriously impressed. Ibelieved her.John Ruskey,founder of the Quapaw Canoe Co. out of Clarksdale, was our primary guide. He is white-haired, leanlegged and always on amission. Originally from Colorado, he arrived in Clarksdalein1982 and was astonished to find that people who had lived their whole lives alongside the Mississippihad never once been on it. He decided to do something about that. He builtthe giantvoyager-style canoes, based on those usedby Frenchexplorers. They can hold 12 people or,inour case, sevenoreight people and allthe gear. They are remarkably stable. Also, he swims in the river every day.Aswewere getting in the canoes Friday morning, he suddenly dove into the water and started swimming aroundlikea mermaid,asifthe temperature didn’tapply to him. It was cold. Iwas not frolicking like amermaid. Iwas focused on not getting my feet wet. Ultimately,Idid not swim in the river.Afew of the braver women did. Idid, however,eventually get my feet wet. At our first stop for the night, Irelearned how to put upa tent —meaning, Iwas presentwhile others did it well.One handled the poles, another the stakes, andone folded it all back up with impressive efficiency.Idid not have a specialty What Ihadn’texpected was the night noise.

Ihad imaginedisland camping on the Mississippi would feel remote and hushed, cut off from everything.

Iwas wrong in away you can only be wrong at 2:43 a.m Towboats run all night on the Mississippi, and those things are loud —and long. Even though, from its banks or bridges, Isee bargesonthe Mississippi often,I have adifferent level of appreciation for it being aworkingriver now.Itnever rests. We saw several tow boatspushing what appearedto be 42 barges, lined up side-by-side.Barges can be larger on the lower Mississippi because the river is so wide.

Ilearned that astandard inland barge carries 1,500 to 1,750 tons of dry cargo. Accordingto the U.S. NationalWaterways Foundation, inland barges can move aton of cargo 647 miles on asingle gallon of fuel. The river is, among other things, an engine. Ialso learned that the river islands are numbered. Below the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi near Cairo, Illinois, they run sequentially— we paddled roughly from Island 63 to Island 69. Ihad no ideasucha system existed. But back to noises: We also heard coyotes. They werehowling at the full moon. And birds —somany birds. On Sundaymorning, as we camped on an island on theArkansasside of the river,inthe silence between barges, Itried to count how many birds Icould

Manbookedinfatal fire

9-year-old recoveredinburnedapartment building

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

ALafayetteParish manhas been arrested on acount of firstdegree murder in the death of a9-year-old girl whodiedinan apartmentfire in the Duson area. Several fire departments responded around3:52 a.m. Sunday to afire at afour-plex apartment building in the 100 block of Barracks Street in an unincorporated area.

Fourfamilies with 13 people occupied the four-plex. It took firefighters about 30 minutes toextinguish the blaze.

After thefire was extinguished, firefighters located thebodyof the child in an upstairs bedroom of the apartment thatseemed to be thefocus of the fire.

Twoadults, one of them identified as the deceased girl’smother, also were injuredand taken to a hospital in critical condition. Investigators determined that

thefire was intentionally set. Julian Jacob, 28, was identified as asuspect andwas takeninto custody during atraffic stop. Alongwith first-degree murder, he was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on countsthatinclude attempted first-degree murder,possessionof afirearmbya person convicted of certainfelonies, violation of aprotectiveorder,illegal carrying of a weapon and possession of Schedule Inarcotics.

In 2024, Jacob pleaded guilty to acharge of simple arson and was sentenced to five years of hard labor, whichwas suspended. He was placed on threeyearsofsupervisedprobation, according to court records. His probation was terminated after he completed payment of court costs andrestitution.In2023, Jacob was charged with attempted first-degree murder,but the charge was dismissed. This investigation remains active and ongoing.

Contact ClaireTaylorat ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

NEXT LEVEL

TOP: Guests play and watch agame of chess using a3D-printed chessboardand pieces during aribboncutting ceremony Friday for REDII WorksFabLab at Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise in Lafayette. ABOVE: The lab, which opened within theUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Louisiana Entrepreneurship andEconomic Development Center and Office of InnovationManagement,isafree public makerspace that offers 3D printers, computers, avinyl cutter and alaser cutter and engraver for useindesign andsmall-scale production. It was made possible through aU.S. Department of Agriculture grant and is part of theRural Economic Development Innovation Initiative.

Acadiana bassistLee AllenZenodiesat71

BYKRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Acadiana musician LeeAllenZeno died Sunday after a yearslong battle with leukemia He was 71. In February,Zenoannounced he wasending chemotherapy after fighting cancerthroughout his music career. Born in Lafayette in 1954 and raised in Carencro,Zeno’smusical journey began whenhewas 7years oldplaying with hiscousin’sband, Clifton Zeno andthe Hiphuggers.

Since the 1980s, Zenohas credits on at least 73 albums,singles EPsand videos. They include works by Solomon Burke, Charlie Rich,MarciaBall, Irma Thomas, Tracy Nelson,Kenny Neal,Bobby Rush, Boozoo Chavis and the Neville Brothers. He was the bassist with Buckwheat Zydeco andthe IlsSontPartis band for decades Zeno played bass on “A Tribute to the King of Zydeco,” which wonthe Best Regional RootsAlbum Grammy earlier thisyear In 2025, he was inducted into the Louisiana MusicHall of Fame. “Zeno is asideman, amusicianwho makes the stars sound

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Cinco de Mayo falls on aTuesdaythis year,and Lafayette restaurants and bars are marking theoccasion with margarita specials, tequila deals and

n

Mexican Restaurant, Lafayette: 1734 W. Pinhook Road; foodand drink specials, including 32-ounce margaritas for $18, will be run alongside live-band karaoke and door prizes. n Mandez’sSeafood Bar &Grill: 110 Doucet

Airquality picture in La.hazy with spots of hope

The latest “State of the Air”report fromthe American Lung Association gives some Louisianacitiescause for concern andothersreason to breathe easier

The report presents resultsofathree-year nationwide examination of smog andfine particle pollution, using data from theEnvironmental Protection Agencyfrom 2022 to 2024. It gave the Baton Rouge-Hammondmetro areaafailing gradeonthe numberofhighozone days The New Orleans area received a“C” grade,but droppedinthe rankings nationally fortotal air quality. Lafayette likewisereceived a“C” grade for ozone. On the positive side, ozone ratingsshowed that the Monroe-Ruston metro areahad some of thecleanest air in thenation, and ShreveportBossier ranked among thebest forshort-term particulate matter.And let’s be clear,it’sgood news that no Louisiana citywas on thelist of the 25 worst for air quality based on anyofthe standards measured by the group

Overall, the New Orleans metro arearanked 100th worst nationally,and Baton RougeHammond ranked 26thworst forozone out of 226 metro areas studied. Iberville hadthe state’sworst rating for ozone, witha three-year weighted average of 10.2 bad airdaysper year Ground-level ozone, or smog, andfine particulate matterinthe air affect humanhealth in myriad ways, causing asthma attacksin children and increasing the riskofchronicconditions,suchashigh blood pressure andheart disease

On yet another measurethe report looked at —annual particulate levels —there were some mixed results, though, especially in ShreveportBossier,which receivedan“A” gradefor shortterm particulates

The report says that in Caddo Parish during the three-year period, annual particulate levels were 7.7% higher than federal standards,giving the area afailing grade on thatmeasure.

Thedata come from air qualitymonitoring networks around the state, and officialswith the Department of Environmental Quality have said theremay be someunusual factors contributing to the numbers, such as wildfires in 2022 and 2023. Still, webelieve these numbers provideimportant guidanceastothe healthofour environment. We oftentalk about“quality oflife” measures that Louisiana is seeking to improve None canbemorefundamental than clean air. Whileweseek toattract industry and jobs to our state, we cannot ignore theireffect on our air and water.Ifweare trulytocontinuetobe “Sportsman’s Paradise,” let’spay attentionto the natural resourcesthat make that possible These numbers do not paint adire picture,like the situation of our coast.But wedon’t have to waitfor acrisis.Let’sresolvetolook at the warning signs and take steps to improve ourair quality now and for the future.

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

Hastily puttogetherSt. George school district will servenoone

This is in rebuttal to your recommendation of aYes voteonConstitutional Amendment 2. The editorial’scentral logic is flawed: Simply “following the process” does not mean aproposal deserves approval. Persistence is not the same as merit, especially when the consequences for children and families are so significant. We repeatedly hear,“The people of St. George want this.”That has not been my experience as aparent.When this legislation moved through committees last May,the parents present, including myself, overwhelmingly opposed it. Those speaking in favor were political figures, not families currently relying on public schools. That distinction matters. School-aged children make up only about 17% of St.George’spopulation, and amajorityofthose children attend private schools. Why should those not using the systemdrive decisions that will directly impact the families who do?

The editorial brieflyacknowledges “short-term deleteriouseffects,” but for many of us, those impacts are anything but abstract. My incoming kindergarteners, already registered, will attendtheir school for one year only to be displaced the next, while their oldersibling remains. This kind of disruption is nota minorinconvenience, but rather asignificantly destabilizing event forchildren and families. We raised these concerns withlegislators and offered constructive feedback, but theywere dismissed Aftermore thanadecade of effort, there is still no clear,public planfor how this district will operate. The bill’s authors gave themselves just one year to make the district operational. If the goal were truly to build ahigh-quality, resource-rich school system,itwould not be rushed together under such uncertain conditions.

ANA NOLAN St. George

Don’tlet parish become thenation’sdumping ground

Think about garbage for amoment

Rottenfood. Dirtydiapers. Then imagine what happens to all this garbage. Where does it go?

If RiverBirch landfill’sexpansion request to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is approved, all thatgarbage —and more—could come to Jefferson Parish. And in order to get to the RiverBirch Landfill in Waggaman, thatgarbage would travel by truckand rail through other parishes.

RiverBirch, currently permitted to accept solid wastefrom 13 Louisiana parishes, wants to be allowed to take in solid wastefrom all 64 Louisiana parishes and 50 states in the United States. Imagine atrain hauling decomposing garbage in your neighborhood, or worse, stalled on the track on asummer day

RiverBirch takes in 1.3 million wet tons of solid waste and could double thatto2.6 million tons per year.Assolid wastedecomposes, it gives off noxious landfill gases, including hydrogen sulfide, which has a“rotten egg” odor.Added garbage trucktraffic will erode our highways, and selling ahome anywhere near what would be the nation’slargest landfill will surely be achallenge. Who would benefit from River Birch’s expansion if it’sapproved? The owners of the privately owned landfill would, and so would the people in communities shipping theirgarbage to Waggaman. They would enjoy fresh, clean air while those of us in south Louisiana would be stuckwith the stench.

LISA KARLIN River Ridge

DCFS continuestoshunoversight,insistonsecrecy

SupportFund hasbenefited La.education in countlessways

In the oft-quoted words of former President Ronald Reagan, “There they go again.” In 2025, voters by nearly atwo-thirds majority overwhelmingly defeated efforts to eliminate the Quality Education Support Fund. Now, encased in a glossy new package, wrapped in bright multi-colored ribbons, clever politicians are again presenting this ill-conceived artifice to voters on May 16. Their assumption: Apathetic voters will forget last year’sdisquieting maneuver.They are wrong. Voters will resoundingly defeat this proposal forasecond time. Why? Every public and private college or university,every public or private school or school district has benefited enormously from the Support Fund, in diverse ways.

For public and private colleges and universities: endowed chairs and professorships, superior graduate fellowships, research and enhancement grants.

For public and private schools and school districts: targeted initiatives in math, science, technology and vocational education, languages, social studies, music and geography The Support Fund, established through aConstitutional Amendmentof1986, has been one of the rare diamonds in the history of Louisiana’spublic and private education, the envy of public and private educators throughout the nation.

KERRYDAVIDSON Baton Rouge

Iread withinterest your article detailing issues at the Department of Children and Family Services. The writer opened withaclaim by the DCFSSecretary that the Child Ombudsman’sAnnual Report included confidential information that breached federal law.One had to read to the very end to seethe statement by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor that releasing the information is “absolutely not” aviolation of law As amember of the Child DeathReview Panel for many years, Iobserved thatthe department routinely hides behind confidentiality in death review cases. Ican also tell you thatthe federal requirement for citizen review panels is barely met, with only afew such panels when one in every district could provide helpful information to address the chronic problems withChild Protective Services. Again, it is clear that the department doesn’twantanyone looking over their shoulder If DCFSistoaddress thelongstanding problemswith child protection,they should welcome the ombudsman report and work to address the deficiencies instead of accusing it of violating federal and statelaw

SANDRA ADAMS Baton Rouge

Glad to seeNussmeier land in theright spot

Congratulations to Garrett Nussmeier on being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs! He was selected by atop five NFLteam and will have the opportunity to learn from afuture Hall of Fame coach in Andy Reid and afuture Hall of Fame quarterback in Patrick Maholmes. What afabulous opportunity.Please know that we, the LSU fans, are pulling foryou. Make us proud.

P.J. MEYER Baton Rouge

La.needs abudgetfor water

Faimon Roberts

Thank God we’re not in Texas. That’s not asentiment you often hear in Louisiana. Our westernneighbor as some tell it,isautopianmodel with nothing but good roads,good schools, an attractive tax structure andplentyof opportunity It’snowonder that the LoneStar State is amajor destination for Louisiananslookingfor a better life. But those Bayou State expatriates may find themselvesstaringdown some familiar problems. Like in Louisiana, Texas officials are grappling with aging and crumbling infrastructure, especiallywhen it comes to providing drinking water to residents. Arecent draft report bythe TexasWater Development Board estimates that communities there willneed $174 billion in repairs to their local watersystems in order to avoid amajor crisis in thenext 50 years.That’smorethandouble the estimate theTWDB produced just four years ago. Texas has aTexas-sized problem on its hands, and it’sgetting bigger.And it’scomplicated by aproblem Louisiana, at leastfor now, doesn’thave: alack of water supply Corpus Christi, for instance, couldbe just months from awater emergency, worsened, in significantpart, by drought. Hundreds of miles away in north Texas, groundwater worriesare arecurring problem, especially for farmers. Texas’ supply issues won’tstay bound by state lines. Last year,aTexas firm inquired about purchasing fresh water from the Toledo BendReservoir in northwestern Louisiana. The deal, proponents argued, would generate significant revenue while having aminimal impactonwater levels in the 186,000acre reservoir,which is apopular fishing and recreation spot. But the proposalwas abandoned when the leaders of twoLouisianalegislative committees, each of which would have had to approve the deal, sent aletter opposing it. This year,athird legislator,state Rep. Rodney Schamerhorn, R-Hornbeck, is trying to prevent such transactions from happening in the future. Schamerhorn, who represents adistrict near Toledo Bend, has filed HouseBill 599to prohibit Louisiana from selling“running surfacewater” for use in other states “This bill is to protect ournatural re-

sources. It’swater.One day,oil and gas maydisappear,and water will disappear if we’re notcareful,”Schamerhorn told theHouse Natural Resources and EnvironmentCommittee last week.

HB599 is not abad idea on its face.

SellingToledo Bendwater,asIhave argued, is abad idea, at least for now

But thebill’s narrow focus on “running surface water”distracts from the real need:acomprehensive water managementplan for Louisiana. Andunlike HB 599, such aplan must also include groundwater This idea has been discussed many times, but never implemented. It could hardly be more urgent. Each of thehandful of large data centers currently under construction will require significant water supplies

Forinstance, company officials workingonthe Meta datacenter in Richland Parish notified the statethat they might needasmuch as 23 million gallons of groundwater per day.Normal operationswould require much less, they said, but still.

Other data centers in Shreveport, Boyce and West Felicianaare not as big as Meta’ssite. But their water needs will still be significant.

All of this is why Louisiananeeds a comprehensive water strategy more

than it needs another piece of smallambition legislation. As part of anysuch plan, thestate needs to conduct afull and transparent audit of supply,both on thesurface and under it Louisianahas long acted like it has an inexhaustible water supply,but we really have no idea how much we have. Until we know that, we can’tknow how muchwecan use and how muchwecan sell. It may be, in fact, that Louisiana can reasonably profit by selling someof its abundant water supplies.

Rebecca Triche, executive director of theLouisiana Wildlife Federation, highlighted this fact even as she spoke in favor of Schamerhorn’sbill.

“So, we’renot even sure how much water we could sell or permit or what that impacts on priority users. In the absence of acomprehensive managementplan, this is very prudent to put in place,” she told thecommittee.

So Louisianawould find itself in a place we know too well: with no real strategyorsolution, just acobbledtogether collection of narrowly tailored regulations. Those may solve local problems, but they do little to movethe stateforward.

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

Seattlehas acaseofthe AyatollahItch

The Ayatollah Itch is adisease that manifests in an urge to use government power to coerce conformitytoquasireligious agendas. The disease is not confined to clerics in foreign theocracies. Consider Seattle. Last month, Joshua Diemert,who for eight years was acity employee administering social services, will get what the city wants to deny him: his day in court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear his argument that adistrict court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of Seattle. That court held that no major factual issues are in dispute. Oh? Here are undisputed facts laden with legal significance: In 2004, Seattle’sgovernment as woke as arooster at dawn, adopted the Race and Social Justice Initiative, which wasmore than aprogram to promote workforce diversity.Rather, it was aprogram of compelled racial identity Its explicit purpose was tochange “the fundamental nature of local government” by embedding “racial equity andsocial justice principles” throughout city “programs, budgets, and culture.” This involved evaluating city employeesthrough a“racial equity lens.” Facially illegal and presumptively unconstitutional, this monomania featured the full spectrum of now-familiar nostrums and policies. They are divisive, bullying and, by now, boring. Favoring acolorblind societyis stigmatized as “racialevasion.” What normal people consider elementary adult virtues —e.g., punctuality,individualism, perfectionism —are residues of “white supremacy culture.” Diversity, equity and inclusion trainers told trainees that racism is “in white people’s DNA.” Although it is againstthe law to “limit, segregate, or classify” employees by race “in any program, estab-

lishedtoprovide …training,” Seattle inflictedmandatory,race-segregated sessions. The preferred euphemism for such evasions of thelaw is “affinity groups.” They separate White people and BIPOCs (Black, Indigenous and people of color).Seattle seems unawareofhow close it has come to formulating a21stcentury version of the Jim Crow “separate but equal” doctrine.

impact of episodes.So, Diemert’sresignation from his cityjob satisfies the criteria for an involuntary “constructive discharge”: His working conditions were made so intolerable that he felt compelled to resign.

Whois monitoring thedebt?

People of acertain agewill recall alyric from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song “Sixteen Tons”: “Another day older and deeper in debt.”

Ithought of thatsong as Secretary of WarPeteHegseth asked Congress to approve a$1.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027toput the military on what he calleda “wartime footing.”

Hegseth says the Pentagon needsthe money for more drones, munitions and modernizedsystems.

Though President Donald Trump hasdeniedit, bragging thatwehavethe strongest military in the world, it would appear that the Iran conflicthas significantly depleted U.S military resources. Whatever Congress decides to do in response to Hegseth’srequest will be done with borrowed money,because we don’t have enough resources —and haven’tfor some time —topay for the unrestrained spending Congress loves to do.Notice there were no pledgesofcost reductions in Hegseth’srequest. There neverare when it comes to government

If you want to be shocked, assuming we areshocked aboutmuchthese days, visit usdebtclock.organd watch the numbers rise faster thana space rocket.It’s$39 trillionand counting with the averagecostto each American family of $114,130, according to the PeterG.Peterson Foundation. No nation in history has ever been able to shouldersuchdebt and survive. The politiciansdon’t seem to care as long as they can dole outmoney to keep themselves in office.

Ihavewrittenabout the debt before,but it bearsrepeating until Congress takes action. Whatfrustrates those who are paying attentiontothe debt is thatitisnot an unsolvable problem. It’sbeen fixed before, even within recentmemory for many people In the mid-1990s, an unlikely partnership was forged between President Bill Clinton andSpeaker Newt Gingrich to address the debt, whichhad increased from $4.8 trillionto$5.6trillion. Chump change comparedtotoday Fromfiscal years1998 to 2001, thanks to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the federal government achieved four consecutive budgetsurpluses. There wasstill debt but surpluseswerereducing it. What created the surpluses?

Clintonand Gingrichaddressed the biggest drivers of the debt —Medicare and Medicaid, the so-called “third rail.” They managed to cut$115 billion in Medicare spending, $14 billioninMedicaid, along with significantreductions in discretionary spending to eliminate the deficit by 2002. Muchofthis wasdonebyremoving fraudsters andthe unentitled fromthe rolls. Sound familiar?

George Will

The city’sfirst manager of the Race and Social Justice Initiative was almost endearingly candid: “Weasked all the white people to go in oneroom and all the people of color [to] go in another room. …Well, the White people got in theroom and just talkedabout theirfear,and the Blackpeople got in theroom and talkedabout how glad they weren’t the White people.” Living, no doubt,ina bubble of the like-minded, this person probably had no clue how repulsive he sounded to normal Americans

Racialized messaging was directed at Whiteemployees in general and Diemert specifically.But thedistrict court complacently accepted Seattle’s insistencethat itsinitiative cannot be discriminatory because its aim is “equity.” The training’spettiness and animus sometimes produced unintelligible verbal mush, as with its instruction thatWhiteemployees must “decenter” themselves.Such jargon is asuresign thatthe speaker has had asmattering of what today counts as higher education.

Thedistrict court accepted thecity’s lackadaisical characterization of its Race and Social Justice rigmarole as abenign “presentation of concepts.”

Thecitysays each individual affront Diemert experienced was “not severe.”

Butwhat matters legally is thetotality of conditions, and the cumulative

Constitutional law is clear:Freedom of speech includes freedom from compelled speech —freedom from coerced affirmations of government catechisms. Furthermore, equity “training” —meaning, invariably,indoctrination —isinherently poisonous.Italsois, however,abillion-dollar business, siphoning up government and corporate money,coast to coast. The Pacific Legal Foundation, apublic interestlaw firm that defends Americans from government overreach, and is representing Diemert, has more work to do.

In Illinois, the “LGBTQIA+ Equity and Inclusion” initiative sweepsfar beyond compliance withnondiscrimination law,topropounding murky theories of “overlapping identities” and “micro-invalidations.” The purpose, obviously,istoextinguishviewpoint diversity

The U.S. CourtofAppeals for the 8th Circuit recentlylooked askance at aMissouri school district’smandatory training for staff who, presented with amigraine-inducing “oppression matrix,” are supposed to ingest the district’sinterpretation of white supremacy.For example, “covert” supremacy includes thevice of “tonepolicing.” If you aremystified by that, you are presumptively aracist.

The Ayatollah Itch is acommunicable diseasespread by aspiring thought police. The vaccine againstitisthe visceral American recoilagainstgovernment establishment of religion. Including ersatz religions concocted from evanescent political fads.

Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com.

While Vice President JD Vance hasbeen taskedwith rooting outfraud as in the child carecenters in Minnesota, no one wants to re-visit Medicare and Medicaid, especially with elections just five months away Somebody hastodoit. According to the KiplingerRetirement Report and numerous otherprojections, the “Medicare HospitalInsurance (Part A) trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2033-2040, requiring automatic benefit cuts of 11-13% if notaddressed. While Medicareitself won’t totally ‘run out,’ it will only cover roughly 89-90% of costs. Medicaid is funded differently via federal/state taxes, so it does notface the same ‘trust fund’ insolvency but is facing severe funding pressure, with 2025 legislationimplementing significant cuts.” These would not be tough choices if the public wasproperly prepared.

The reductioninbenefits and/or an increaseintaxes is inevitable. Means testing, allowing people to choosea hybrid retirement fund combining reduced Social Security payments with investments in the stock market andother reforms would save the programs forthose who need it andallowmoreindividuals to carefor themselves instead of burdening the government.

Simple,right? If only the politicians would do what theyknow must be done Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub. com.

Convictedsex offender accusedofabusing 5children

BY MICHELLEHUNTER Staff writer

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’sOffice formally filed charges Thursday againsta convicted sex offender who is now accused of sexuallyabusing five children, accordingtocourtrecords.

Troy Rodriguez, 49, of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, was charged with threecountsofsexual battery of avictim under13, four counts of indecent behavior with ajuvenile under the age of 13 and oral sexual battery He appeared in Jefferson Parish Magistrate Court on Monday

andpleaded not guilty Rodriguez was arrested Jan. 2 followinganinvestigationbythe Jefferson ParishSheriff’s Office into allegationsthatspana decade. He is from theWestwego area and only recentlymoved to Mississippiabout seven months ago, according tothe authorities. Four of the victims, now between the ages of 12 and19, said they were around 4and 5when the abuse began,according to court records. Sheriff’s Office investigators sayRodriguez was afriend of the victims’families andwould sometimes babysit the children. The alleged abuse occurred

between 2012 and2022. Investigators accuse Rodriguezofexposinghimself, inappropriately touching the children, forcing them to perform sexactsor watching thembathe, according to authorities. Thefifth victim is an adult womanwho accused Rodriguez of abusing herin1991 when she was about4,officials said. Rodriguezwould threatento hurt the children or their families if they ever told anyone about the abuse, according to the Sheriff’s Office. ButinJanuary2025, one

PHOTOSByJAN RISHER

Skilled guide John Ruskey,ofQuapawCanoes in Clarksdale, Miss., chased fast water and dodged barges while leading Jan Risher’s group of adventurers on atrip along the MississippiRiver

RISHER

Continued from page1B

hear.With the Merlin app, I spent five minutes identifying songs and counted 19 species. Nineteen. At home, Iprobably hear just as many and register maybe two. Out there, the birds were not background noise —it was either them or barges. Hearing all those birds made me want to get better at paying attention. Saturday night, we satin the sand around the campfire with aguitar strumming, friends singing and the river lapping5 feet away.The sky was clear, and the constellations were extraordinary —the kind of sky that mademe feel both small and lucky to be in that place with that view Then the full moon cleared the eastern horizon, its reflection stretching like gold amile and a half across the Mississippi, straight to us. There are moments that don’tneed improving. Ruskey navigated us across the river repeatedly, always chasingfast water Through most of our journey,the river was at least a mile and ahalf wide.

Catherine S. Comeaux, whoorganized a50-mile paddle trip down theMississippi River, laughs along withthe group that includes 11 friends and strangers. The canoe trip started in Clarksdale,Miss., on Fridayand finished at Terrene Landing in Bolivar County,Miss., on Sunday

Beinginthe river —at water level, in acanoe —is adifferent kind of understanding.

CatherineS Comeaux of Lafayette, made all of this happen. She asked, I said yes, and then spent the weeks before the trip wondering why Ihave abetter idea of why now

In thelives of comfort that we live, this tripwas areminder that we can do hardthings —actual hard things,cold-morning-getting-in-a-canoe hardthings, sleeping-on-an-island hard things

Fifty miles. Three days Twelve women. Three guides

The riverdid therest.

of thevictims confided in their parents

The parents reached out to law enforcement, and officials spent several months investigating thecase, coordinating with law enforcement agencies in other jurisdictions. Jefferson Parish prosecutors called Rodriguez a“serial abuser” during aJanuary bail hearing. After he was convicted in Jefferson Parish in 1994 for oral sexualbattery of achild, Rodriguezwas ordered to register as a sex offender,according to court records. He was thenconvicted in Or-

leans Parish in 1998 on three countsofobscenity. In 1994, he was alsoconvicted of female genital mutilation, though authorities didnot disclosewhere that charge was prosecuted. After his move to Mississippi, Rodriguez wassupposedtotransfer his sexoffender registration to the new jurisdiction. He hadn’t completed the paperwork by the time he wasarrestedinJanuary on the JeffersonParishwarrants, according to authorities Rodriguez was being held Monday at theJefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.Bail information wasnot immediately available.

ZENO

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great but rarely gets the spotlight,”zydeco expert Herman Fuselier wrote after hearing thenewsthat Zeno would discontinue treatment. Tributes to the bassist pouredinonsocial media Sundayevening from fans andfellowmusicians

CINCO

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made tres leches for$7.99 and three tacos or flautas served with charro beans and rice for $10.99.

n Legends of Lafayette: Various locations; $7 margaritas(mango, strawberry, raspberry andwatermelon) from 7p.m. to close.

n La Pagua MexicanRestaurant: 5425 JohnstonSt.; all-day margarita specials, free tequila shots and afestive atmosphere with music.

n La Chapina YLaCatracha: 1517 Ambassador Caffery Parkway; $22.99 margaritasfor three to four people withlemon and lime flavor or pina colada; andfood

“LeeAllen Zeno was one of the greatest men I’ve ever known,” wrote Gino Vallecillo. “I met him in 2018 through Blue Monday: Blue MondayConcert Series. Our relationship flourished pretty fast andthe rest kinda just fell intoplace, but that’show it was with Lee. He just loved on everyone and if you were eager to learn, he didn’tstray away from dropping gems on you.”

specialsinclude $13.99 nachos and six tacos (asada, pollo or carnitas) for$11.99.

n The Potato Place Lafayette: 3803 Moss St., Suite A; Cinco de Mayo-themed loaded potato with acomplimentary drink.

n Corner BarofLafayette: 3103 Johnston St.; all-daydrink specials, including half off after 7p.m., and live music with no cover feefor entry CincodeMayoevents

n PedrosTacos& Tequila Bar, Lafayette: 3323 Ambassador Caffery Parkway; live music by the Tailgators from 3p.m. to 6p.m., followed by aDJset and giveaways throughout the day

n SuperiorGrill, Lafayette: 2320 Kaliste Saloom Road; opening at 11 a.m., live music, a

KATC meteorologist Rob Perillo said he was lucky to call Zeno afriend for decades.Hedescribed him as “not only the greatestLouisiana bassist, but alsoabeautiful, kind humanbeing. …Never seeking thelimelight,hekept the rhythm going, and nowhe’sdoingitfrom above.”

Funeralarrangements for Zeno are pending.

DJ,photo booth and familyfriendly activities.

n La Carreta, Lafayette: 400 Jefferson St., No.7014; live music from 6p.m. to 9p.m. n El Paso Mexican Grill, Ambassador: 3910 AmbassadorCaffery Parkway; live music and aDJ, including Second Chance from 3p.m. to 6p.m. andDJSpence from 6p.m. to 10 p.m

Sophomore’sresolve

skills, but it’s alsoher general mindset toward tackling life.

Just takeMarceaux’saspirations for after her softball career

“I tell everybody that I’m going to becomeaprofessional golfer,” she said.

“Everybody’slike,‘You’re crazy,’and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m telling y’all. Just watch me do it.’ “ Marceauxloved golf before softball.

BY KEVINFOOTE Staff writer

Trying to tell UL sophomore catcher Ken

nedy Marceauxshe can’tdosomething afutile proposition

Don’tbother telling the former Kapla High standout that theRagin’Cajunscan’t win th week’sSun Belt Tournament at LamsonPark, d spitebeing the No. 8seed

“I believethe impossible is possible,”Marceau said. “I never really questionedifwewere goin to make our conference tournament. Iknow tha sounds crazy to say,but there was never adoub in my mind

“Now that we’reinit, oh yeah,Ithink it can happen. Anything’spossibleinour game.”

Part of that is Marceaux’snatural leadership

“My dad (Eric) played golf everyday before I was born, and then when Iwas little, he’dbring me all over the golf course, Marceaux said. “I knew howtodrive agolf cart before Icould do

ä See UL, page 3C

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSUbroke itsnine-game losing streak in SoutheasternConference play last weekend withan emphatic sweep over South Carolina, improving to 28-21overall and 9-15 in the Southeastern Conference.

After Friday’sgame was postponed, theTigers won 6-1 in Game 1and 7-3 in Game2onSaturday night, and 7-0 in the seriesfinale Sunday.

Here are five takeaways from LSU’sfirst series sweep since the opening weekendofthe season against Milwaukee. Freshman report

It was another standout series for the LSU freshmen.

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

After ajoyous weekendofbaseball highlighted by asweepofGeorgia State and the jersey retirement ceremonyfor Jonathan Lucroy,bad news Monday put adamper on the festivities for the UL baseball team.

CoachMattDeggs said thatsecond baseman RigobertoHernandez is outfor the rest of the season after suffering a brokenarm when he was hit by apitch in the first inning Sunday.

“Heartbreaking news,” said Deggs, whose Cajuns (30-18, 12-12 Sun Belt) host UNO at 6p.m.Tuesdayinthe final midweek game of the season. “He’sone of my favorite players I’ve ever had, and I’ve only known him for eight or nine months.”

Hernandez has been the everyday second baseman. He’shitting .288 with three homers, 23 RBIsand a.408 onbase percentage.

He’salso fielding .990 as akey part of one of the Sun Belt’stop fielding middle infields.

“If you watch him play,then Iguarantee you love him,” Deggs said of Hernandez, who is fromPanama. “Always a big smile on his face, ton of passion and plays with reckless abandon. He’splayed through so many injuries this year

“I hurt for him more than Ihurt for our team. He loves the game. He’saguy after my own heart. He just loves being on abaseball field.”

Griffin Hebert replaced him in Sunday’sgameand hit ahomerun to help the Cajuns beat Georgia State 4-3.

Thefirst twocontingency plans include Hebert (.156, 1HR, 5RBIs) and Owen Galt (.111, 3RBIs), but neither can replace Hernandez as acleanup hitter.

First baseman Lee Amedee (.313, 3 HRs, 36 RBIs) has played second base, and right fielder Donovan LaSalle (.218, 8HRs, 26 RBIs) has experience at first base.

Anotheroptionisto“hotshot” third baseman Drew Markle, who could alternate between second and third, depending on the batter

“I’d like to only have one guy out of position,” Deggs said. “Keeping the integrity of the offensive side of it together as best Ican, Iwould like to try to just

In Game 1, right fielder William Patrick hadtwo hits, first baseman Mason Braunreached base four times andcatcher Omar Serna scored on threeoccasions and hit adouble.Game 2was even more impressive, when right-handed starter Marcos Paz allowed just onehit in five innings, andBraun, Patrick and Serna combined to go 5for 11.

Second basemanJackRuckert had abig day Sunday with twohits and an RBI.Serna also homered

anddrove in three runs.

“(The freshmanhitters) had someadversity earlyinthe game (Sunday) wheretheydidn’tget a couple things done or didn’ttake theat-bats maybethat they had had in the stretch that they’ve beenplaying,” LSU coach Jay Johnsonsaid. “And they overcame that, andevery single one of them positively affected winning today after that.”

The freshmen were

COLLEGE BASEBALL

7p.m. Louisville at Vanderbilt ESPN2 COLLEGE GOLF

3p.m. PGAWORKSCollegiate Champ.Golf COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Noon SEC Tourn.: Auburnvs. MissouriSECN

3p.m. SECTourn.: Kentucky vs.Miss St.SECN

6p.m. SEC Tourn.:Ole Missvs. S. Car.SECN MLB

7:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Houston TBS,TRUTV

8:40 p.m. Pittsburgh at Arizona MLBN NBA PLAYOFFS

6p.m. Cleveland at DetroitNBCSN, Peacock

7:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Okla.City NBC, Peacock NHLPLAYOFFS

7p.m. Minnesota at Colorado ESPN

MEN’S SOCCER

12:45 p.m. Al Hilal at Al Khaleej FS2

2p.m.Atletico Madrid at Arsenal CBS

6:30 p.m.Atletico Ottawa at TorontoFCFS2

8:30 p.m.Nashville SC at UANL FS1 TENNIS

4a.m.(Wed.) WTA,ATPTennis

5a.m.(Wed.) WTA,ATPTennis

Winner’s journeybegan in NewOrleans

Golden Tempo brokemaiden at Fair Grounds

BY JEFF DUNCAN Sports writer

Golden Tempo and theconnections of the winner of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby started their journey to horse racing glory in New Orleans.

The 3-year-old colt, his trainer,Cherie DeVaux, and jockey Jose Ortiz competed at the Fair GroundsRace Course, as did the Derby’sthird-place finisher, Ocelli. Ortiz was the meet’sleading rider for the secondconsecutive year, and DeVaux, who became the first female trainer to win the Derby, finished fifth in the trainer standings at the 2025-26 race meet.

Golden Tempo broke his maiden at Fair Grounds on Dec.20and stamped himself as aDerbycontender by winning the GradeIII Lecomte Stakes at the Gentilly oval amonth later. He finished third in the track’ssubsequent graded stakes races for 3-year-old colts, the Grade II RisenStar in February and the Grade II Louisiana Derby in March. Those third-place finishes likely

causedhis odds to dip to 23-1 for theKentucky Derby,but hisconnections were confident in his abilitytorun the race’sdemanding 11/4-mile distance after the way he finished both racesatthe Fair Grounds.

“Weknew he was thetype of horse that’sgoingtoget better with development andracing,” DeVaux told TwinSpires.com this week.“We hadcommitted to doing the seriesofDerby prep races at theFair Grounds, with the idea that they do have the longest dis-

tance as aprep (the 13/16-mile LouisianaDerby) and we knew the more distance the better for himand it gave us moretime between that race andthe Derby. Andthe discussion was, as long as he’s movingforwardinhis numbers and his performances then we should take ashot at the Derby.”

GoldenTempocompleted the 11/4-mile trip on afast main track in 2minutes, 2.27 seconds and madeOrtiz theninth riderto sweep the Kentucky Oaksand

Kentucky Derby in the same year

Lafayette native Brian Hernandez Jr who also competes annually in theFairGrounds jockeycolony, was the most recentridertodo that in 2024 with Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan.

“Jose has alot of faith in him,” said DeVaux,who has wintered at theFair Grounds since the 202324 meet. “Jose is the one that has had the most faith in him and encouraged us to continue on our pathwith eachrace.”

The victory wasworth $3.1 million for Golden Tempo, aKentucky-bred son of Curlin out of the Bernardini mare Carrumba. He is nowa two-time gradedstakeswinnerwitharecordof5-3-0-2 andincreased his earnings to $3,433,000.

Golden Temporeturned$48.24, $19.14,$11.90.Renegade, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.returned $7.14 and$5.46,withOcelli paying $36.34 to show under TylerGaffalione.

“He’sadead closer,and the Louisiana Derby really solidified he was getting there from the eighth pole home,” DeVaux said at thepost-Derby pressconference Saturday.“If he had extra ground, he was going to make it. We had to have faith in theprocess, faith in the horse, faith in Jose (Ortiz). That was an incredible experience. I’m so proud of this horse.”

Elliottonrollwithtwo Cupvictories underbelt

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas ChaseElliott never before had won two Cup races this early in aNASCAR season. After first winning at Martinsville at the end of March,the most popular driver in the series opened May in victory lane at Texas. That 11/2-mile trackisgrowing on Elliott after he had not been much of a fanofthe repave and reconfiguration done there nine years ago.

two Hendrick drivers, Kyle Larson(eighth)and William Byron (10th), are in the top 10 while Bowmanisstuck in 34th after the four missed races.

Tigersace Skubal setto have surgeryonleft elbow

DETROIT Two-timeAmerican League Cy Young Award winner

Tarik Skubal will have surgery to remove loosebodiesfromhis elbowafter being scratchedfrom Monday’sstart against Boston. Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that the lefthander felt discomfort in his elbowonSunday, less than aweek after an injury scare against the Atlanta Braves. The 29-year-old underwent tests that showed the loose bodies. The surgery hadn’t yet been scheduled. There is no immediate timetable for his return, though similar injuries usually require twotothree monthsofrecovery. “Loose bodies” often refers to pieces of bone or cartilage thatbreak off andfloat in the joint space, though the specifics of Skubal’scase are unclear

Magic fires Mosleyafter 5seasons as head coach

JamahlMosleywas firedas coach of the Orlando Magic on Monday, paying the widely expected priceafter theteam blewa3-1 seriesleadand was eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in Round 1of the Eastern Conference playoffs It wasOrlando’sthirdconsecutive first-round playoff exit, and easily the most disappointing. Not only did the eighth-seeded Magic lose allthreechances to upset the top-seeded Pistons, but in one of those games, Orlando had a 24-point second-half leadathome andstill lost. Orlando missed 23 consecutive shots in Game6,getting booed by fans afterward. Mosleyisthe third-winningest coach in Magichistory,his 189 wins behind only Brian Hill (267) and Stan VanGundy (259).

Pistons,Bickerstaff agree on contractextension

DETROIT Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff has agreed to acontract extension on the heels of Detroit’s first-round playoffseriesvictory over the Orlando Magic. Details regarding the value and length of the extension werenot released by the Pistons when they announced the deal on Monday The Pistons have gone 104-60 in regular-season games under Bickerstaff and made two playoff appearances since he took over for Monty Williams at the start of the 2024-25 season. Detroit lost in the first round a year ago. This season,the Pistons had the best record in the Eastern Conference at 60-22 and on Sunday defeated Orlando 116-94 to close out aplayoffseries victory forthe first timesince 2008.

High-scoring guard Harris commits to Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Former Wake Forest guard Juke Harris has committed to Tennessee, the school announced on Monday, giving the Volunteers one of the top scorers in this year’sportal.

The 6-foot-7, 200-pounderscored 21.4 points per game last season forthe Demon Deacons to rank No. 14 in the country.Hewas named to theAll-ACC secondteam as asophomoreand hastwo seasons of eligibility remaining.

Harris hadoriginally declared for the NBA draft but decided to go to Tennessee after being projected as alate first round or early second round selection.

race proclaiming Elliott atwotime Texas winner,the driver’s initialfeeling was, “I’llbedamned.

I’dhave never thought.”

Now 30 yearsold and 11 races into his 12th Cupseason, Elliott joined five-time winner Tyler Reddick asthe only driverswith multiple wins this year.The soonestbeforethatElliott hadtwo wins in aseason was 17 races into 2022, when hewent on to match the career-high five wins he hadduring his 2020championshipseason

“I knew it right atMartinsville,

in this sport when you’ve been doingitfor 10-plus yearsiscool,and it’s hard to do.”

Elliottled arace-high 87 of the 267 laps at Texasfor his 23rd career victory.Thatcame two years afterending a42-race winless streak in the No. 9Chevrolet with an overtime victory there.

“The 9just performed flawlessly,” said four-timeCup champion Jeff Gordon, now vicechairman of the Hendrick team.

On the final restart Sunday,Elliott hadcontrol and chose to start on theinside of Hamlin. Bowman was behind his teammateand gave himthe push of momentum onto thebackstretch to clear forthe lead he kept to the checkered flag. Thatwinning move came through turns 1and 2, the part of thetrack where the banking was reduced and racing surface widened duringthe repave in 2017. Turns3and 4wereleft in their original form, makingthe ends of the track different forthe first time since Texas Motor Speedway opened in 1997. Elliottisfar from the only driver to express his displeasure about those changes.

“Yeah, you know,I’ve trashed this place for years. Ithought it wasareally strong track (for me), andthenitturnedinto nota strong track at all,” Elliott said. Twowins in three trips to TMS certainly have eased that feeling for Elliott.

“Juke is not only an explosive talent, but also ahumble young man from agreat family,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnessaid in astatement.

“I think having awin early at Martinsville Isaid it to youguys then and there, it’snot like,‘oh, hey, the pressure is off,wehave awin,’”hesaid Sunday at Texas after another 1-2 finish ahead of Denny Hamlin. “It’s‘man, we have alot longer period of timetobuild on that.’ That’sgenuinely where my mind was at.” And still is after alreadygetting another victory Elliott has the two wins and five other top-10 finishes this year,and Alex Bowman has consecutive third-place finishes for Hendrick Motorsports after missing four races because of vertigo. And it was Bowman who provided the decisive push for his teammate on thefinal restart with four lapsleft Sunday When crew chief Alan Gustafson came on the radio atthe end of the

we’ve never won arace this early, much less to now have two this early,”Elliott said. “I’m proud of our team for that, because anytime youcan check off newboxes

“One of ourstrongest races that we’vehad in quite some time,” Elliott said. Elliott moved up aspottothird in the season standings, only eight pointsbehind Hamlin but still trailing Reddick by 117. Theother

“Whenyou run better,itgrows on you littlebylittle,” he said. “For as hard of atime as I’ve given (the track),for somereason it likes me.Itloved me back.I didn’tlike it,but it liked me. So I’mlearning to come around alittle bit.”

Toptennis playerscriticize FrenchOpenprize money

Topplayers including No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka expressed “their deep disappointment” at the French Open prize money on Monday

Theplayers added their otherdemands have not been addressed by officials from the four Grand Slam tournaments, including better representation, health and pensions.

French Open organizers announced last monththey wereincreasing overall prize moneyby about 10%. But the players’ statement said “the underlying figures tell averydifferent story,” claiming they will receive asmaller share of tournament revenues.

“Players’ share of Roland Garros tournamentrevenue hasdeclined from 15.5% in 2024 to 14.9% projected in 2026,” the players said. On TV

anything.

“I more so love the memories I have with him every single time I think of golf or softball.”

As shegrewolder, Marceaux didn’t enjoysoccerorbasketball as ateam sport. Something else caught her eye.

“One day Ipicked up this pink bat in my garage and askedmy dad what it was,” she said. “I told himIwanted to playsoftballand that was it.”

Naturally,there was alearning curve.

“I had no idea what Iwas doing,” she said with alaugh.

One of her earliest memories was being at the plate whenapitch got past the catcher.The parents began screaming forthe runner on thirdbasetorun home,but Marceaux thought they were yelling at her to run to firstbase.

“I was mortified,” she said. “After that game, Iwas like,‘Dad, I don’tknow if Iwant to play this,’ but he was like, ‘No, you’ll get the hang of it.’ Dad was right.

During Marceaux’scareer at Kaplan, she was athree-time allstateperformer,includingbeing honored as the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year in 2024.

She signed with Alabama,then transferredtoULthis past offseason. Through the process of transferring and the ups and downs of her firstseason at UL, nothing seems to faze Marceaux.

She refuses to take her opportunities for granted. She doesn’tbelieve in letting negativity dictate her future.

“It’scrazy how,our whole life

LSU

Continued from page1C

but his outing was the longest and best.

“Just landing theoff-speed (pitches) is abig thing for me, whether it’s slider or curveball, just kind of stealingstrikes or gettingweak contact,” Paz said. “And then, once you get ahead in the count, just finish the batter when you can. Ifeel like Idid that pretty well today.”

Braungetting on base

Aquick peek at the boxscore would suggest it was aquietweekend for Braun.

He had only two hits all series aftergoing 7for 13 at Mississippi State. But in reality,itwas another strong series for the freshman. Braun had six walks against South Carolina, reaching baseeight times in 15 plate appearances. His ability to get on base at the top of theorder went along way toward LSU consistently producing quality at-bats throughout the weekend.

Since Johnson movedhim to the leadoff spot, the Tigers have scored at least six runsin each contest, and Braun has gotten on base in every game. His on-base percentage is up to .474,whichis the best mark on the team.

“Play the Billy Beane clip,” Johnson said. “… If youget on base, you’re going to playfor me.” Improved defense?

Twoweeks ago, Johnson called the defense aproblem thatmay not get fixed until 2027. His comment made sense at thetime, giventhe number of players who had tried and failed to fix the defensiveissues at first, second, third and catcher. But last weekend was astep forward, especiallyonthe infield. Braun made multiple nice picks at first base.Ruckert played solid defense at second base and showed improvedchemistry with junior shortstop Steven Milam on plays

BASEBALL

Continued from page1C

keep one guy out of position, but you never know.” Josh Lim (.278, 1HR, 12 RBIs) also has infieldexperience.

With Noah Lewis, Lim, Maddox Mandinoand MarkCollins, there’smore playing experience in the outfield than the infield

“It’sacruel game as much as we all love it,” Deggs said.“This game doesn’tcare about your feelings or emotions.”

The first experiment in trying to replace Hernandez will come Tuesday against UNO. Deggs said the Cajuns plan to start reliever Garret Carter,who hasn’t started agame all season. Carter has been up and down throughout the season, holding a 1-1record with three savesand a 7.54 ERA. In 222/3 innings, he’sal-

we spendwishing time away,” Marceaux said. It’s so insane how we reallywishtimeaway.We’re never really where our feet are when it’seasy inlife, right?We’re like, ‘Well, Ican’twaittodothis,’ but then when it’shard, we’re like, ‘Wow,Ican’twaitfor thistobe over.’ “

Marceaux doesn’tlook at the Cajuns’ roller-coaster season as a disappointment.

“It makes mesosad my sophomore year is already coming to a close,” she said. “I feel like Ijust started here. It’scrazy how fast life goes.”

That approach hashelped her work with apitching staff that’s faced its fair share of obstacles.

ON DECK

WHO: LSU(28-21) vs. Tulane (23-26) WHEN: 6:30p.m.Tuesday WHERE: Alex BoxStadium ONLINE: SECNetwork+ RADIO: WDGL-FM, 98.1 (Baton Rouge); WWL-AM,870 (New Orleans); KLWB-FM,103.7 (Lafayette) RANKINGS: LSUand Tulane are not ranked

PROBABLESTARTERS: LSU —TBA; Tulane —TBA PREGAME UPDATES: theadvocate. com/lsu ON X: @KokiRiley WHATTOWATCH FOR: LSUhasn’t faced the Green Wave since the 2023Baton Rougeregional. In that game, Paul Skenesthrew acompletegameasthe Tigers won7-2.Tulane gotswept by Charlotte this pastweekendonthe road, falling to 8-13 in American Conference play. Koki Riley

aroundthe bagatsecond.

Behind the plate, Serna and sophomore Cade Arrambide were more stout at catcher.LSU had justtwo wild pitches in theseries.

“Wedidn’tcatch acouple of popups atthirdbase,” Johnson said after Game 2. “But other than that, we playedpretty gooddefense today.”

Theonly spot where the Tigers had trouble defensively was at third base, where fifth-year senior Seth Dardarcommitted multiple mistakes in the second game on Saturday,including an error.He also missed aground ball on Sunday that was originally ruled an error but was laterchanged toahit Dardar’sstruggles were somewhat placated by the two hitshehad in Game 2onSaturday.It’seasier to stomach hisdefensive mistakes

“I think just try to tell them they’remadefor this andthat they’re built for hard times,” she said. “They’re built for this moment, and Iwouldn’twantanybody else in this moment but them.

“I just try to calm themdown and just get them back to ground zero.”

Marceaux has been themost consistent UL performer this season, batting .349 with20doubles, five homers, 36 RBIs and a.405 onbase percentage —not to mention all of the defensive work behind theplate.

UL coach AlysonHabetz is confident in Marceaux’sabilities.

“Kennedy is just asheer competitorand an athlete,” Habetz said

ifhe’sproducing at the plate, especially as Milam and Ruckert provide qualitydefenseupthe middle.

Lots of strikes

Finding thestrike zone has been an issue for LSUall season,but it was astrengthfor the LSU pitchers againstthe Gamecocks.

LSUwalked only eight batters acrossthe three-game set, and no starter threw fewer than60% of hispitchesfor strikes. That consistency wentalongway toward theTigersholdingSouth Carolina to just four runs in theseries.

“I feel like it’sjust kind of what I’ve done my whole life,” senior right-handerZac Cowan said after he threw60ofhis 82 pitches for strikes on Sunday.“AndIfeel like I’m just able to be consistent with all my pitches and …Ifeel confident when Igoout there, and I’m just able to flood the zone.”

Regional hopes

LSU had to sweep South Carolina to keep itsslim NCAA Tournament hopesalive,but even aftertaking three games fromthe Gamecocks, the Tigers have alot of worktodo. They stillneed to win fouroftheir final six contestsinSEC play to get to 13 wins. Those victories have to come against two opponents that could make it to Omaha: Florida andGeorgia. TheBulldogshavea 21/2-game lead over TexasA&M at the top of theconference, andthe Gatorsare theNo. 12 team in RPI, a schedule-based metricused by the NCAA Tournament committee to help determine thefield.

Not only does LSUneed these wins for itsconference record but it also needs them forits RPI.The Tigers are only the No. 55 team in RPI, astanding that’sprobably too low for themtoearnanat-large bid. Four winsover Florida and Georgia anda couple of victories at the SEC Tournament could change that picture in ahurry

Thebottom line?Last weekend was astep forward, but LSU has a long way to go.

UL second baseman Rigoberto Hernandez suffered abroken armafter getting hit by apitch in Sunday’swin over GeorgiaState.

lowed27hits, 14walks, 10 hit batsmenand struck out 22.

“It’sagood arm,” Deggs said of Carter.“It’sa great arm. AndI’d love to see you startgetting some mileage out of them.” The Cajuns are also trying to get right-hander JR Tollettback to his

form from last season and earlier this year.Tollett is 4-3 with asave and an 8.51 ERA, surrendering 60 hits and15home runs in 482/3 innings

Email Kevin Footeatkfoote@ theadvocate.com.

SUN BELTTOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

(Wednesday-SaturdayatLamson Park)

Wednesday’sgames

No.7 Ga.Southern vs.No. 10 Coastal Carolina, 4p.m. No.8 UL vs.No. 9Troy, 7p.m.

Thursday’sgames

No.3 Texas State vs.No. 6James Madison, 10 a.m. No.2 Marshall vs.Game1winner, 1p.m. No.1 ULM vs.Game2winner, 4p.m.

No.4 Southern Miss vs.No. 5 South Alabama Friday’sgames Game 3winnervs. Game 4winner, 3p.m. Game 5winnervs. Game 6winner, 6p.m.

Saturday’sgames Championship game, 1:30 p.m.

“She didn’tcomeinasacatcher Iasked her if shecould catch and shesaid, ‘Hey,I candoanything you want me to do,’ and she can. She was pitching before practice and she was hitting 61. It’s like, ‘Who areyou?’ She’sjust an athlete.”

It had been “four or fiveyears” since Marceaux haddoneany catching prior to transferring to UL. She was ashortstop in high school and primarily wasabackup thirdbaseman in her one season at Alabama.

“Toask someonetocatch who hasn’treally caught in awhile is atough job,because catching is atough job,” Habetz said. “It’sa lottothink about, and she’sdone

RABALAIS

Continued from page1C

SEC) arestill miredin14th place in the conference and open the week with atepid RPI of 55. Nonetheless, youcan only beat who youplay and LSU took careofbusiness, going 4-0 including amidweek win over SLU. The pitching looked improved(again, it must be said, against an anemic-hitting SouthCarolina team), defense generally wasbetterand, most encouraging for LSU baseball fans whohavegiven up on this season, the lineup looks like it’s starting to bunchhits andget them in amoretimely fashion. Andwith freshmendoing alot of the hitting, asign of optimism for 2027. The 2026 Tigers still have a long, long waytogotoget to 13-14 SEC wins, including the tournament,which is what’s assumedtobeneeded to get intothe NCAA Tournament. Injuries still have lowered this team’s ceiling —Jake Brown is out, Cooper Moore is out, previous Fridaystarter Casan Evans didn’tpitchlast weekend —but there is finally some optimism. The future is daunting, though. AfterTulane on Tuesday,anothermust-win game for the Tigers, LSU goes on the road to face SEC leader Georgia and closes the regularseason at home against aFlorida team fighting to earnanNCAA regionalhostslot. The Tigers need to find some waytotake at least onegame off Georgia (theBulldogs perennially come up short of baseball expectations, so anything’spossible) and win two,ifnot three, against Florida.Twelve SEC wins would at least give LSU a shot at an NCAA bid in aroad regional, probably as aNo. 3 seed None of this is remotely close to theTigers’ typical expectations northeir lofty preseason goalswhenthey started rankedNo. 2inmost polls.But forthe first time in along time, this LSUseason is pointed in apositive direction for now. n Baseball’ssweep wasn’tthe only one by an LSU team this pastweekend. The softball Tigersendedtheir regular season againstAuburnwitha 3-0slate, including an eye-popping and record-breaking 25-0 demolition Saturday of theTigers from the plains. Remember allthathot-seat talk aboutcoach Beth Torina going into the season? Well, LSU headsinto this week’sSEC Tournamentwitha respectable 37-16 recordand aNo. 11 RPI (theTigers arethe No. 8seed in thetourney).Itall adds up to put LSUinline to againhostanNCAAregional, though Torina’s Tigers have

it like achamp. She’sgotten better and she’sreally worked on it.

“I’m just super proud of her.I’d take 22 of her,for sure.”

It’sjust alabor of love for Marceaux.

“I think when you respect the game, it respects you back, and you’re just playing free, it’sso muchfun,” Marceaux said. “Just to be able to play the gameIlove with thepeopleI loveand justhave full support of thestaffthat just lovesme, no matter what Ido, I think that moves mountains.

“I’m just forever grateful to be able to play the sport.”

Email KevinFoote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

alongway to go to be considered fora top-eight national seed.Thatwould probably mean winning the tournament this weekend in Lexington, Kentucky Still, Torina lookstobeon solid ground as do herTigers, though getting through aregionaland at leastback to a superregionalwould help her cause immensely n TheZurichClassic of New Orleans on Monday announced its tournament dates for 2027: April 19-25. The tournament, like many non-majors or elevated events on thePGA Tour, still faces an unknown future beyond2027 withtalkofthe tourrevamping itsschedule But with acommittedsponsor and adate tournament organizers want to maintain —balanced between the Masters and the PGAChampionship —things could definitely be much worse. Hopefully the PGATour will do one of its solid citizens afavor andspread out the surrounding big purse signature events crowding the Zurich into other parts of the schedule Fromthe MuchWorse Department, we have LIV Golf. Thattourishaving its funding pulledbythe Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund after the Saudis dumpedatleast $5 billiondownits rabbit hole over the past four years, proof thatevenuber-rich people eventually tire of losing money.LIV says with typical “Ignore the riotbehind me,all is well” aplomb thatitwill try to pivottootherinvestment streams.But with pitiful TV ratings andstars jumping or considering jumping ship, that lookslike afool’s errand. Meanwhile, what of LIV’s proposed tournament in New Orleans? The June tournament at BayouOaksinCity Park was scrapped, with some vague talk of asmaller,exhibitionstyle eventcoming to the city this fall. Great idea,right in the middle of football and hurricaneseason. Hopefully, LIV—like the hurricanes —just veers to adifferent course entirely The state of Louisiana did no favors to the Zurich, a tournament that began way back in 1938 and funded numerous charities in New Orleanss andBaton Rouge to the tune of arecord $3.6 millionlast year (there were no announced plans of local charitable contributions from LIV) by inviting the competing, if lesser,golf tour into the market. If there is any silver lining it’sthat there were improvements made to Bayou Oaks, namely its practice facility,a benefitfor local public golfers in the Crescent City But to put amodern spin on an old Frank Sinatra tune, LIV-ers stay away from my door

Rayne flourishes on trip, upsets No. 2 seed

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

An extended layover on a long road trip might concern most high school baseball coaches.

Not Rayne High’s Randy Judice, whose underdog Wolves made the most of the free time between extra-inning wins at North DeSoto in the Division II nonselect quarterfinals.

“In my opinion, the downtime was the best part of all this,” said Judice, whose No. 7 Wolves swept No. 2 North DeSoto in Stonewall, a suburb just south of Shreveport, in games played on Thursday and Saturday “The moments the kids had in the hotel and the bus rides going to different places, those memories are as fun as the baseball. Those memories and friendships last a lifetime. That’s what it’s all about.”

The Wolves (21-11) were trailing by one run in Game 1 with two outs in the seventh inning when Hayden Bullock’s single scored Slayd Richard, who drove in an insurance run in the eighth inning of a 9-7 win.

“In both games we had to come up with big plays,” said Judice, whose son Austin hit an RBI double and scored on Richard’s hit. “The best thing about our lineup is all nine guys can

get it done. Every guy has had his moment, none bigger than Hayden’s.”

Rayne got solid efforts out of the bullpen from Caydon Stakes in Game 1 and Judice in Game

2, a 6-5 win that also went eight

innings. Stakes scored the winning run in the finale on a suicide squeeze by nine-hole hitter

Chase Cary “I like the way our kids showed

up and competed,” Judice said.

“We’ve done that the whole year We’re not flinching right now There may be moments where we get ourselves in a bind where things aren’t looking great, but we show resilience and fight back.”

Leadoff hitter Lon Paul Moody is a perfect example of that. After Rayne seized an early 5-1 lead in Game 1, the Griffins roared back to move ahead 6-5 before Moody’s home run shifted the momentum again.

“Freshman Bently Richard came in as a defensive substitution late in Game 1 and made a spectacular diving catch to throw out the runner for the last out of the game,” Judice said.

In Game 2, the Wolves scored five runs off North DeSoto pitcher Luke Delafield who had thrown a no-hitter in the regional round. Delafield made quite an impression on Judice after the future college football quarterback approached the Rayne coach and prayed with him and a player after the game.

“We were lucky to be able to scratch a couple of runs off (Delafield),” Judice said. “I can see how he threw that nohitter He gave us everything we could handle. He showed outstanding class and humility.”

SCOREBOARD

at Detroit, 6 p.m. Saturday, May 9: Detroit at Cleveland, 2 p.m. Monday, May 11: Detroit at Cleveland, 7 p.m.

x-Wednesday, May 13: Cleveland at Detroit, TBA x-Friday, May 15: Detroit at Cleveland, TBA

x-Sunday, May 17: Cleveland at Detroit, TBA New York vs. Philadelphia Monday, May 4: Philadelphia at New York, n Wednesday, May 6: Philadelphia at New York, 6 p.m. Friday, May 8: New York at Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Sunday, May 10: New York at Philadelphia, 2:30 p.m. x-Tuesday, May 12: Philadelphia at New York, TBA x-Thursday, May 14: New York at Philadelphia, TBA x-Sunday, May 17: Philadelphia at New York, TBA Western Conference Oklahoma City vs. L.A. Lakers

Tuesday, May 5: L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7: L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9: Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 11: Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers, 9:30 p.m.

x-Wednesday, May 13: L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, TBA x-Saturday, May 16: Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers, TBA x-Monday, May 18: L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, TBA San Antonio vs. Minnesota Monday, May 4: Minnesota at San Antonio, n Wednesday, May 6: Minnesota at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. Friday,

3-2), 5:40 p.m. Minnesota (Bradley 3-1)

Washington (Cavalli 1-1), 5:45 p.m. Cincinnati (Abbott 1-2) at Chicago Cubs (Taillon 2-1), 6:40 p.m. Milwaukee (TBD) at St. Louis (Pallante 3-2), 6:45 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Ohtani 2-1) at Houston (Lambert 1-2), 7:10 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Peralta 1-3) at Colorado (Lorenzen 2-3), 7:40 p.m. Atlanta (Elder 3-1) at Seattle (Kirby 4-2) 8:40 p.m. Pittsburgh (Chandler 1-3) at Arizona (Rodriguez 2-0), 8:40 p.m. San Diego (Waldron 0-1)

TBA x-Monday, May 18: Montreal at Buffalo, TBA Carolina 1, Philadelphia 0 Saturday, May 2: Carolina 3, Philadelphia 0 Monday, May 4: Philadelphia at Carolina, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7: Carolina at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 9: Carolina at Philadelphia, 5 p.m. x-Monday, May 11: Philadelphia at Carolina, TBA x-Wednesday, May 13: Carolina at Philadelphia, TBA x-Saturday, May 16: Philadelphia at Carolina, TBA

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Vegas vs. Anaheim Monday, May 4: Anaheim at Vegas, 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 6: Anaheim at Vegas, 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 8: Vegas at Anaheim, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, May 10: Vegas at Anaheim, 8:30 p.m. x-Tuesday, May 12: Anaheim at Vegas, TBA x-Thursday, May 14: Vegas at Anaheim, TBA x-Saturday, May 16: Anaheim at Vegas, TBA Colorado 1, Minnesota 0 Sunday, May 3: Colorado 9, Minnesota 6 Tuesday, May 5: Minnesota at Colorado, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 9: Colorado at Minnesota, 8 p.m. Monday, May 11: Colorado at Minnesota, TBA x-Wednesday, May 13: Minnesota at Colorado, TBA x-Friday, May 15: Colorado at Minnesota, TBA x-Sunday, May 17: Minnesota at Colorado, TBA Golf

PGA Tour Statistics

Through May 3

The Wolves will travel in the opposite direction in the semifinals at No. 3 Lutcher (31-8), which took two of three from No. 11 West Feliciana. The series will be a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals, also at Lutcher, that went three games with Stakes getting a win on the mound against the Bulldogs.

“They just keep reloading every year,” Judice said of Lutcher, which lost 4-2 to the Wolves in February “The guys they had last year moved on, but they have another crop that came in. They have great pitching, and their lineup is hard to pitch to.”

Moody and Stakes pitched in the regular-season win over Lutcher Gavin Foreman and Peyton Daigle started the games against North DeSoto, with Austin Judice throwing three innings of scoreless relief in Game 2.

Bullock had big hits in both games. The Griffins intentionally walked Foreman, who had an earlier two-run single, to load the bases for Bullock in Game 2, and the catcher came through with an RBI single.

“The kids did a great job of staying focused,” Judice said. “We were prepared for the possibility of having to play Saturday We have 10 seniors on this team, and that leadership showed itself throughout.”

Gee Chun, 70.33. 8, Ryann O’Toole, 70.38. 9, Sei Young Kim, 70.42. 10, Minami Katsu, 70.43. Driving Distance 1, Riley Smyth, 293.78. 2, Julia Lopez Ramirez, 291.46. 3, Auston Kim, 287.15. 4, Polly Mack, 283.36. 5, Yana Wilson, 283.1. 6, Helen Briem, 281.7. 7, Laney Frye, 281.41. 8, Ina Yoon, 280.91. 9, Nelly Korda, 280.43. 10, Ryann O’Toole, 279.97. Greens in Regulation 1, Haeran Ryu, .79%. 2, Nelly Korda, .78%. 3, In Gee Chun, .76%. 4 (tie),

Briem,

and Lottie Woad, .75%. 8,

with .74%. Putts per GIR 1 (tie),

Jutanugarn and

Joo

1.68. 3 (tie), Minami Katsu and Minjee Lee, 1.7. 5 (tie), Mi Hyang Lee, Brooke Matthews and Angel Yin, 1.71. 8, 5 tied with 1.72. Birdies 1, Akie Iwai, 147. 2, Ayaka Furue, 129. 3, Hyo Joo Kim, 127. 4, Jin Hee Im, 126. 5, Haeran Ryu, 125. 6, Lottie Woad, 124. 7 (tie), Minami Katsu and Yan Liu, 123. 9, Ina Yoon, 117. 10, Chizzy Iwai, 116. Eagles 1, Nelly Korda, 9. 2, Ryann O’Toole, 7. 3 (tie), Hyo Joo Kim and Weiwei Zhang, 6. 5 (tie), Jenny Bae, Hye-Jin Choi, Brooke

FedExCup Season Points 1, Scottie Scheffler, 2,431. 2, Matt Fitzpatrick 2,394. 3, Cameron Young, 2,371. 4, Collin Morikawa, 1,727. 5, Jacob Bridgeman, 1,501. 6, Si Woo Kim, 1,374. 7, Akshay Bhatia, 1,322. 8, Chris Gotterup, 1,317. 9, Rory McIlroy 1,226. 10, Ludvig Aberg, 1,143. Scoring Average 1, Scottie Scheffler, 69.367. 2, Jake Knapp, 69.571. 3, Cameron Young, 69.817. 4, Matt Fitzpatrick, 69.868. 5, Xander Schauffele 70.028. 6, Collin Morikawa, 70.121. 7, Jacob Bridgeman, 70.205. 8, Si Woo Kim, 70.222. 9, Nicolai Hojgaard, 70.263. 10, Chris Gotterup, 70.294. Driving Distance 1, Aldrich Potgieter, 326.7. 2 (tie), Michael Brennan and Gary Woodland, 323.1. 4, Chris Gotterup, 320.7. 5, Jesper Svensson, 319.9. 6 (tie), Jake Knapp and Marco Penge, 319.8. 8, Rasmus Hojgaard, 319. 9, Nicolai Hojgaard, 318.7. 10, Min Woo Lee, 317.4. Driving Accuracy Percentage 1, Russell Henley, 70.24%. 2, Matt Fitzpatrick 70.20%. 3, Si Woo Kim, 69.79%. 4, Corey Conners, 69.51%. 5, Aaron Rai, 69.46%. 6, Andrew Putnam, 69.35%. 7, Collin Morikawa, 68.33%. 8, Lucas Glover, 67.05%. 9, Kensei Hirata, 66.94%. 10, Tommy Fleetwood, 66.52%. Greens in Regulation Percentage 1, 11 tied with .00%. Total Driving 1, Michael Brennan, 51. 2, Matt Fitzpatrick, 53. 3, Scottie Scheffler, 64. 4, William Mouw 66. 5, Jordan Smith, 67. 6, Min Woo Lee, 68. 7, Cameron Young, 71. 8, Ludvig Aberg, 72. 9, 2 tied with 82. SG-Putting 1, Jacob Bridgeman, 1.106. 2, Vince Whaley, 1.046. 3, Akshay Bhatia, .848. 4, Robert MacIntyre, .832. 5, Matthieu Pavon, .790. 6, Jake Knapp, .744. 7, Chad Ramey, .738. 8, Beau Hossler, .735. 9, Karl Vilips, .630. 10, Sam Burns, .625. Birdie Average 1, Scottie Scheffler, 5.03. 2, Akshay Bhatia 4.86. 3 (tie), Ludvig Aberg and Jacob Bridgeman, 4.75. 5 (tie), Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young, 4.69. 7, Collin Morikawa, 4.63. 8, Pierceson Coody, 4.61. 9, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, 4.6. 10, Robert MacIntyre, 4.53. Eagles (Holes per) 1, Jake Knapp, 43.7. 2, Sahith Theegala, 63.7. 3, Nicolai Hojgaard, 68.4. 4, Max McGreevy, 81. 5 (tie), Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood, 82.3. 7, Joe Highsmith, 83.3. 8, Aldrich Potgieter, 84.9. 9, Max Homa, 85.5. 10, Chris Kirk, 87. Sand Save Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. All-Around Ranking 1, Scottie Scheffler, 174. 2, Ludvig Aberg, 228. 3, Collin Morikawa, 263. 4, Akshay Bhatia, 296. 5,

Beautiful bougainvillea

captures thecolorful mood of spring and summer in Louisiana

Spring and summer are colorful times. The vivid shades of these seasons —blue skies, greengrass, flowers of all colors —are areminder that the world around us is alive and growing. One plant that perfectly captures the vibrant spirit of warmer weather is bougainvillea. Often seen in hanging basketsadorning porches and patios, this tropical vine has been afavorite in Louisiana for decades. Bougainvillea relishes our heat and humidity, providing apunch of color on and off from spring through summer and eveninto fall. Speaking of color: Youcan find bougainvillea in an array of radiant hues at your local garden center.Magenta and purple are popular standbys, but you can take your pick of white, light pink, coral,yellow and red, too. Colors are sometimes mixed in containers for a unique rainbow effect.

LSU AGCENTERPHOTO

By OLIVIA McCLURE

The colorful parts of the bougainvillea plant are bracts. The flowers aresmall and white.

The colorful parts of bougainvillea are not flowers. Instead, they are bracts,a type of modified leaf. The flowers are small, white, tubular structures that are enveloped by clusters of the papery bracts. While bougainvillea’s vining habit lends itselfnicely to being displayed in ahanging basket, there are other waysto growthis plant. Some people like to place it in acontainer near atrellis, allowing it to climb and form awallofcolor Youmight even come across bougainvilleatree topiaries at the garden center Bougainvillea is afast grower that willdobest in full sun Its stems have thorns, so be careful when handling it! Native to Central and South America, bougainvillea is what is known as a“dry tropical.” Many people assume tropical plants want lots of water —but many species, including those in the Bougainvillea genus, preferdrier conditions andcan eventolerate droughts once they’re established. Be sure to let the potting media dry out in between waterings to avoid stressingyour bougainvillea. Don’tneglect it, either,though. Mostfolks grow this plant in containers, and those can quickly become parched in peak summertime. Check the potting mix regularly to see if water is needed. Bougainvillea tends to be treated as an annual here in Louisiana, but it is in fact aperennial that can live for many years with the right care. Most important: Keep it indoors during winter.Temperatures below 50 degrees will cause bougainvillea to stop growing, and anything even approaching freezing will kill it.

Fast track

LSUracingteamgears up fornationalcompetition with newelectricengine

BY MARGARETDELANEY Staff writer

Inthe late evening hoursafter classor in various parking lots acrosscampus on the weekends, 30 students at LSUare often found on the first floor of theelectrical engineering building, past tealtiled hallways in an old switchboard room huddled around a4-foot-tall formula-style race car

TheTigerRacing club is working to build anew car for Formula SAE, an annual engineering competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineerswherestudents design, build and compete asmall formula-style racing car against 117 national and international universities and colleges.The competition is the student version of Formula 1engineering and racing.

LSU’steam started building cars in 1983, and the Tiger cars have been through many iterations since then. TigerRacing started carting theircar to Brooklyn, Michigan, to compete against other universities in 2006.

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM TIGERRACING

LSU’s team started building cars in 1983, and the Tiger cars have been throughmanyiterationssince then TigerRacing started carting theircar to Brooklyn, Michigan, to compete against other universities in 2006. Gareth Oram, this year’scaptain of LSU’sracing team and asenior in mechanical engineering, went to his first TigerRacing meeting before attending his first class at LSU five years ago. Since then, he’staught himself the ins and outs of race car-making, even welding.

ä See RACING, page 6C

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

STAFF PHOTOSByJAVIERGALLEGOS

Gareth Oram, right, talks to aprospectivestudent touring campus about LSU TigerRacing andhow it’s helping beginhis career at the club’s automotiveshop.

RACING

Continued from page5C

“Wedon’tjust show up and drive,” Oram said.

In mid-June, theteam willdrive over 16 hours with their car packed into arented trailer from LSU’s College of Engineeringto Michigan International Speedway,toput their yearlong efforts to the test and brace for subjective judging from industry experts.

The team’sevaluation is brokendown into two major parts: static and dynamic.

The “still tests” areessentiallyaninspection,accordingtoTigerRacingpresident and senior in mechanical engineering Mizuki Teryama. On top of the basic requirements (the car has to run,be safe to drive and follow the annual guidelinesmapped out in a145-page rulebook), students must also backthe strategic, mechanicaland financial decisionsthey made to build and develop their car

They must present aworking hypothesis for each choice, “nuts and bolts and everything,” along with data-backed proof and financial reasonings for various purchases, Oram said.

“The more detailed, the better,” he said.

Only if the car passes the static technical inspection, the experts take alook at the cars on the move, “for safety reasons,” Teryama said.

The dynamic testslook at acceleration,cornering ability on afigure-eight, singlelap speed and 30-minute reliability and endurance. Since transitioning from acombustion engine to an electric engine in 2022, the team has yet to pass technical inspection. Teryama and the team hope to buck that trend at this summer’scompetition.

Switchinggears

LSU placed 7th overall four years ago with acombustion engine, a427-pound car affectionately named Justin. After their successful2022 season, the highest ranking in the program’shistory building cars, LSU’steam made apivot from acombustion engine to an electric engine in the hopes to get ahead of an industry-wide transition to electric vehicles.

“Other universities can afford to do theelectric, combustion and hybrid competitions each year,” Teryama said. “Wehave to reuse so many parts each year,and break down the old cars, that it didn’tmake sensefor us to keep going with just combustion.”

TigerRacingreused the steering wheel, breaks, vari-

LE RÊVE

Continued from page5C

businesses are like cousins.

“All of the coffee beans that we’re grinding are all Rêve Coffee,” Mire said “We’re morelike acousin to the other Rêve coffee shops.” He hopes that the new coffee shop will serve as an approachableneighborhood spot. It has an online ordering system and adrive-thru window for aquick, convenient stop.

Interior andmenu

yianni Kiritsis, left,and Emiliano Owsleyshowoff the different iterationsofPCBsthis year’svehicle battery has gone through at the LSU TigerRacing electrical shop.

ous buttons and lights, tires and other bits and bobs from carspast.The only thing that mustbe rebuilt each yearisthe frame of thecar

However,the rules often changeyear to year for Formula SAE—rules the team has to go over with afinetoothed combbeforecompetition

Oram received this year’s new rule book in July and started building the specs for the car’snew battery He designed eight different iterations before settling on onetobuild out.

Then, in December,he welded carefully crafted andcut aluminum pieces together in theautomotive shop behind Patrick F. TaylorHallbefore passing the battery’sshell to thepowertrain team.

Yianni Kiritsisand EmilianaOwsley, twosophomores in electrical engineering, lead the powertrain for the team andspent months balancing cells and adjusting circuit boardsinthe battery —keepinginmind importantsafety measures along the way

“Weslowly start integratingwiththe battery management system,” Kiritsis said “It monitors temperatures, voltage and makes sure everything can shut down

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM TIGERRACING

The Formula SAE at the University ofTexas at Arlington boasts a fleet of past andpresent studentbuilt formula-style racing cars forcompetition

the car if something goes wrong.”

The team finally got their car running in March. Now they are in thefinalstretch of adjusting and tinkering with thecar beforetheir trip to Michigan.

Building connections

Althoughbuildingarunning,functioningand performance-ready racing car is already an engineering feat itself, the team at LSU also works to establish relationshipswith auto, oil, gasand productioncompanies across Louisiana to build thecar

With theaverage cost of engineering arace car hovering around $60,000, the LSU team relies heavily on local sponsorship andsupport —tires from Hoosier an oil can from aformer Tiger-racer who got an internshipatExxon Mobil, livery printed from Composite Envisions and more.

Thomas Au,the head of public relations for TigerRacing, works to recruit new members (including nonengineering majors) to the team,managethe nonprofit organization andbuildrelationships with Baton Rouge companies and sponsors.

“Wemarket thecar as if it were asmall company,” Au said.“It teachesa lotof businessskills to help market yourself.

Those experiences including budgeting, 3D modelingand communicationskills studentslearn throughout their time at TigerRacing —place them in auniquecategory when applying for jobs post-graduation.

SpaceX, Teslaand General Motors are just afew of therecruiters that scout for newhires at Formula SAE events.

“It’slike afulltime job,” Teryama said. “You are gainingmore skills thanatypical club at LSU. It’salot of late nights, but it’s worth it.”

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com.

Bafflingnew dress codesfor occasions

Dear Miss Manners: My wife and Iare at the age where we are receiving invitations for our friends’ children’s weddings and graduation parties. Iamlooking at a high school graduation partyinvitation that states: “Formal Sunset WhiteAttire.” We received wedding invitations that stated “SemiFormal Cowboy Chic” and another requesting “all black” —for an August destination wedding on a beach in Florida. If we do not own the requested attire and have no plans to purchase aonetime outfit for the event, is thepolite thing to do to just send thegift we were plan-

ning on giving and decline the invitation? We don’t want to appear out of place or ruin their themed photographs. When the invitations state “formal,” “semi-formal” or “casual,” those give us manyoptions that are already in our closets and don’trequire shopping.

Gentle reader: You realize that you are being invited to be extras at filmed costume parties —only without assistance from the wardrobe department.

In more decorous times, Miss Manners might have said that your having been invited meantthat your actual presence was more

important than your background appearance, and she would have thought that you would be welcome in clothes that simply observed the importance of the occasion. That is, suits and dresses. But she can no longer trust that. What seemsto matter mostnow is the appearance on social media. Sadly,she now agrees that you should send that present you were planning to give anyway,along with your good wishes, and decline showing up to participate in the video.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners. com.,ortoher email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com.

Soon-to-be unclewants to buildfamilyrelationship

Dear Harriette: My sister just announced she is having twins. Growing up, I was always close to my siblings, although we are all different ages. There have been times when they were there when I needed them and vice versa. As we approach parenthood age, Iwant to ensure that love is passed down to our younger generations. I plan on being as present an uncle as Ican be, but Ilive in New York and mysister recently moved toFlorida Iwill be spending the two weeks surrounding her expected labor date there,

but I’mstruggling to figure out how to build and maintain along-distance relationship with babies. My mom lives in Florida, too, so I know my sister will be supported once I leave. How can Ibe in my sister’ssupport system from so faraway? —LongDistance Uncle Dear Long-Distance Uncle: Youhave the right intentions, which is wonderful. First, check with your sister to see if the timeleading up to the birth is when she needs you most. Especially if your mother is also there, your sister may need your help moreafew weeks after the twins are born when the real juggling begins. Beyond that, you can commit to loving them from afar with the aid of video calls and photos. You can be open to late-night calls from your sister when she is up with the babies or just generally let her know you want to be as present as possible from adistance. Then map out times when you can visit during the year.Plan to see your family as often as you all want, and just remember to remain present in their lives.

Sendquestions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com.

Avoidlingering trashodors

Dear Heloise: Trash cans can develop odors even after you empty them, but aquick step keeps smells under control. Sprinkle athin layer of baking soda at the bottom of the can before adding a new bag. The baking soda absorbs odors throughout theweek. After noticinglingering smells in my kitchen, Iadded this to my routine, and it madea noticeable difference right away.For extra freshness, wipe the inside of the can occasionally with amild cleaner —Mark E., in Columbus, Ohio

it loosely with aplastic bag and store it in the refrigerator.The herbs stay hydrated and fresh fordays longer Change the water every couple of days to keep things clean. Some herbs like basil do better at room temperature, so adjust as needed. It’s a simple waytostretch your grocery budget and keep mealstasting fresh. —Paula H., in Savannah, Georgia Loosen stuck-on lids

Keep herbsfresh longer

Dear Heloise: Freshherbs can wilt quickly if they sit in the fridge for too long. Istarted treating them like flowers, and it madea big difference. Itrim the stemsslightly and place theherbs in aglass with a little water.Then Icover

By The Associated Press

Dear Heloise: Stubborn jar lids can be frustrating, especially when nothing seemstowork, but aquick tap usually does the trick. Gently tap the edge of the lid against the counter to break the seal, then twist it open. Youcan also run the lid under warmwater forafew seconds to help it expand. Istarted doing this after struggling with ajar of

TODAYINHISTORY

(Scopes wasfound guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

pasta sauce that refused to budge. Now Idon’twaste timewrestling with lids. A better grip from arubber band can also help if needed. This simple approach saves effort and avoids the risk of spills. —Kevin R., in Des Moines, Iowa Foggymirrors

Dear Heloise: Foggy bathroom mirrors can slow downyour morning routine, so here’sasimple trick to keep them clear: Rub asmallamount of shaving cream onto the mirror,then wipe it off with aclean cloth, which leaves behind athin layer that prevents fogfrom forming. Iwas tired of wiping the mirror after every shower.Now it stays clear long enough to get ready without interruptions. Irepeat the process every fewdays. —Dana R., in Hartford, Connecticut Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Justa fewdays afterthe soft opening on April 20, caffeinated diners filled almost everytable,insideand on the outdoor patio.

“Wewanted to do acoffee barwherepeoplecan situp here and watch the coffee getmade in frontofthem,” Mire said.“Plentyofinternet. Plenty of outlets.”

On the beverage side, the menu has signature lattes,

Inside, the walls were painted mint, some covered in wall decals with red accents depictinga French city scene.Greenery-like pothos plants sit on shelves next to Le Rêve T-shirts and bags of coffee. Outside, a mural painted by local artist Kristen Seriodepictsthe logo that’ll soon appear on to-gocups.

cold brew,espresso drinks, frappes, matcha and teas. For food, there’sseveral pastries baked in-house, like chocolate chip cookies, honey glazed croissants, white chocolate cranberry togas, cinnamon rolls and more.

There’salsoa menu with heartier handheldsofsandwiches and biscuits, aham andgouda grilledcheese, chicken salad sandwichand pepper jelly sausage biscuit. In all, Mire wants theenvironment tofeel approachable.

“Wewanted to offer somethingalittle bit moreguestfriendly and approachable,” he said, “And Rêve beans arejust thebest way to do it.”

Today is Tuesday May 5, the125th day of 2026. There are 240 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr becameAmerica’sfirst space traveler as he made a15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

Also on this date:

In 1862, Mexican troops repelled French attacks on the city of Puebla de los Ángeles in theBattle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo.

In 1925, high school teacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating astate law that prohibited teaching thetheory of evolution.

In 1945, in the only fatal attack on the U.S. mainland during World WarII, aJapanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing apregnant womanand five children.

In 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby,the first of his Triple Crown victories, in atimeof1:59.4 —arecord that still stands.

In 1981, Irish Republican Armymilitant Bobby Sands died at age 27 at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on the 66th day of a hunger strike.

In 1994, American teenager Michael Fay was caned at aSingaporean prison forvandalism, aday after his sentence was reduced

from sixlashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton. In 2016, Lonnie Franklin Jr.was convicted of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings in Los Angeles that targeted poor,young Black womenover twodecades.

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Lance Henriksen is 86. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 83. Actor Richard E. Grant is 69. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 51. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 47. Actor Danielle Fishel is 45. Actor Henry Cavill is 43. Singer-songwriter Adele is 38. R&B singer Chris Brownis37. Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka is 28. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Nathan Chen is 27. Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is 23.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Shift into high gear and take care of business, health and legal matters that are time-sensitive. How you handle responsibilities will not go unnoticed.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Stick close to your people, the ones who understand and share your opinions, and you'll find hope and support. Be careful not to reveal too much personal information.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Refrain from wasting time and energy on people and situations you cannot control. Look inward and consider how you can best serve your needs. Being the best version of yourself will be uplifting.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Try something new. Engage in an event or activity that challenges you physically, and you will gain strength and understanding of the intellectual challenges you encounter.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Be aware of what's happening around you. An unexpected change can be beneficial if you are ready to act. A smile and a positive attitude and response will set the tone.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct 23) When in doubt, sit still, observe and reflect. Put greater emphasis on physical activity, eating habits and health, and use your intelligence to stabilize your financial situation.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Broaden your horizons. Update your skills and network every chance you get. Who you

know and how you build your relationships will determine how far you get. Be creative, and do your best.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Initiate change, and don't stop until you are happy with the results. It's time to play the game instead of sitting on the sidelines. Procrastination will not lead to healing old wounds.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Read between the lines, ask questions and turn any negative into a positive. Respect and understanding will help you build a solid environment to develop and grow your aspirations.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Pay attention to money matters. How you earn and manage your financial affairs will have more influence on your meaningful relationships than you realize. Hard work will pay off.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Review your options. Balance and equality are necessary if you want to feel good about the outcome of any situation you face with friends, relatives or associates. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Let go of what you cannot change, and place more energy, time and discipline into improving your domestic situation and personal relationships. Consider what's missing in your life, and revamp your schedule.

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

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's cLuE: E EQuALs I

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers1 to 9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s PuzzleAnswer

By PHILLIP ALDER

DickGregory,acomedian,socialactivistandwriter,said,“Iwouldn’tmindpaying taxes if I knew they were going to a friendly country.”

Let’s examine a deal that ought not to be taxing for someone who remembers the bidding.

First, though, look at the South hand. West deals and opens one club. After two passes, what should South do?

Inthisbalancingseat,themeaningsfor three of South’s bids change. The first is a one-no-trump overcall. It is no longer strong. Now it is weak, showing 11 to an unappealing 15 points.

Norththenwiselypasses,leavingSouth in one no-trump. How should he plan the play after West leads his fourth-highest club and East puts up the jack?

Notethatwithastrongno-trump,South would double first and hope to rebid one no-trump on the next round (if an eightcard major-suit fit was not revealed).

Here, that would be easy. But if West’s opening bid were one of a major, South might be forced to rebid two no-trump, which is uncomfortably high. Then, a balancing one-no-trump overcall might contain a poor 16 points.

South has only four top tricks. The best chance for the extra tricks lies in diamonds. From the bidding, West is a

Average mark 16 words Time

BRIEFS WIRE REPORTS

Spirit Airlines seeksto startorderly

wind-down

Spirit Aviation Holdings Inc. is set to start an orderly wind-down process to sell its assets,capping thedownfallofthe low-cost carrier that has filed for bankruptcy twice in recent years and failed to clinch a last-minute U.S. government rescue. The airline filed amotion on Mondayrequesting to wind down operations, after ceasing all passenger flight operations early Saturday.Itis also seeking to modify abankruptcy loan to have thenecessaryfunding to proceed with the sale of its assets, which include aircrafts and spare engines and parts.

Theairline hadplannedtoexit bankruptcy by the summer after striking adeal with creditors to shed billions in debt and lease obligations. Butits financial position significantly worsened due to the surge in fuel costs stemming from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

As Spirit veered towardliquidation last month, the Trump administration floated arescue package. But the effort fizzled out after pushback from agroup of creditors andeven some Republicans. Late last week, the companywas informed that this potential new financing “was no longer an available option,” ChiefFinancial Officer Fred Cromer said in adeclaration filed Monday in support of the wind-down request.

The company made the call to wind down on Friday as it was running short on cash, Cromer said. Spirit incurred nearly $100million in incremental fuel costs between March and April 30, he said.

Spirit ceasedoperations around 3a.m. Saturday so that none ofits planes would be in the air and all crew whowereawayfrombases had sufficient time to make hotel accommodations, Cromer added.

GameStop makes $56B bid foreBay

GameStop Corp. is tryingtobuy eBay Inc. for about$56 billion in cash andstock,aboldattempt by Ryan Cohentotakeovera storied e-commercename several times larger

The gaming retail chain has offered $125 per share in cash and stock for the online marketplace, or abouta20% premium to itsFridayclose. GameStop,which built a roughly 5% stake in eBay, hassecured an initial, non-binding “highly confident letter” from TD Bank to provide about $20 billion of debt financing for the deal. In amemo toinvestors, Cohen’scompany pledged to find some $2 billion of annual savings within 12 months of closing. Cohen is proposing to take over a company roughly four times larger than the retail chain he operates. GameStop had amarket value of $12 billionasofFriday. EBay wasmuch bigger at around$46 billion, though the game retailer has about $9 billion in cash. The takeover offer is split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock.

EBay said Monday thatitwould review the offer “with afocus on the value to be delivered to eBay shareholders, including thevalue of the GameStop stock consideration and the ability of GameStoptodeliver a binding, actionable proposal.” Calif.says StateFarm violated law after wildfires

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— California’stop insurance regulator says the state is seeking millions of dollars in penalties from State Farm after aninvestigation found the insurance company violated state laws while handling claimsfrom the 2025 LosAngelesareawildfires.

State Farm violatedthe law hundreds of times by delaying claim investigations, providing unreasonable payouts and failing to communicate with policyholders, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said Monday. Regulators are also seeking to prohibit State Farm, the state’slargest home insurer,fromwriting new policies for ayear Lara launched the investigation last June after survivors of the devastatingPalisades and Eatonfires said that State Farm was delaying andmishandling claims regarding damage to their homes and possible contamination from smoke.

“Our investigation foundthat State Farm delayed, underpaid, and buried policyholders in red tape atthe worst moment of their lives. That is unacceptable, and we are taking decisive action to hold them accountable,” Lara said in astatement.

State Farm didn’timmediately respond to request for comment.

BUSINESS

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

Does weaker make life more expensive?

BY MATT SEDENSKY AP national writer

NEW YORK Ahiddenforce is qui-

etly pushing up costsfor everything from yoursummer vacation to your weekly grocerybills: aweaker U.S.dollar

The dollar hasfallen about 10% againstother majorcurrencies since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, a pullback potentially playing arole in Americans’ concerns about affordability

“It’skindofa hidden tax,” said economistThomasSavidge,ofthe conservative-leaning American Institute for Economic Research.

“What your dollar is going to be ableto buy is going to shrink.”

TheU.S. Dollar Index, which measures thegreenback against other major currencies, logged its steepest six-month drop in more than50years in thefirst half of 2025. Though the decline hasn’t deepened, the dollar indexisstill about 10%lower thanthe start of Trump’sterm.

Astrongdollar makes imports cheaper and can help keep inflationincheck. Aweak one can increase prices on foreign goods but boost Americanexports.

U.S. presidents have long voiced support for astrongdollareven as they pursued policies that, at times, pushedthe currency lower.Trump has suggested astrong dollarputs the U.S. at adisadvantageand that aweak dollarhelps Americanindustry.And as with most things with Trump, he’s been blunterinhis messaging.

“You make ahell of alot more money with aweaker dollar,” he said last year,one of anumber of public statements showing his preference for seeing the dollar decline Trump isn’talone in seeing benefits of aweaker buck.

In recent months, corporate earnings calls have been peppered with talk of howa weaker dollarhas helpedcompanies from PhilipMorris to Coca-Cola, with executives pulling out Csuitephrases like“favorablecurrencyimpact” to notehow the dip brought tailwinds outside the U.S. that added to bottom lines.

“In many cases, we’ve got a weaker dollar, which is not unhelpful,” Elie Maalouf, theCEO of InterContinental Hotels, said on aFebruarycall as the compa-

ny announced higher profits and revenues. For bigmultinational companies that do business overseas, a weaker dollar can spur sales for products that suddenly become cheaper.But the vast majority of U.S.businesses are not operating beyond theborder.For those catering to domestic customers it’sadifferent story,particularly if they arereliantonimporting goods. Travis Madeira, afourth-generation lobsterman who founded the lobster-shipping business LobsterBoys with his brother,makes about 80% of his sales to Americans, unlike somecompetitors who primarily export.

“The exporters aregonna have the advantage when it comes to the dollarweakening,”saysMadeira, who is paying more to import bait andbuy Canadian lobsters. “These guysare gonna have alittle bit of alever on us.”

Evenamong companies that do have apresence outside the U.S., the dollar’sfall can have an impact.While manybig companies hedge currency to tryand insulate themselves or push more sales overseas,smaller businessesare often more susceptible to the turbulence.

David Navazio, CEO of Pennsylvania-basedGentell, which makes bandages and other medical supplies, operates plants in Brazil, Paraguay, Canada,New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In each location, the dollar has fallen, increasing Gentell’scosts

Gentell has had to raise some prices to reflect the currency

fluctuation, whichstacks on top of other challenges, including tariffs and war-related spikes to fuel costs

“A year ago, none of these were concerns,” he says. “And it always hurts the consumer.”

For the American consumer, thereality of adeclining dollar is mostobvious during foreign travel or when making apurchase directly from an international seller Crossthe border into Mexico, thetop foreign destinationof Americans, andyourdollaris about16% weaker versus the peso compared with early 2025. Declines of about 10% to 17% have been recorded elsewhere, including against the Swiss franc, South African rand, Danish krone, Swedish krona and the Euro.

As for goods imported to the U.S., there is an impact, but it’s harder to gauge. Many economists estimate that,inadvanced countrieslike the U.S., only about 5% to 10%ofa currencydip is passed on to consumers.

Butthey are an added stress when prices are already affected by other factors.

Take coffee, one of the grocery itemsthathas seenthe biggest price hike in the past year.Brazil is the biggest source of coffee for theU.S. and the dollar has fallen around 13% versus its real. Currency fluctuations can hit harder in developing economies and, while only afraction of the change mayfeed intocoffee’sballooning price, every bit can pile up. Coffee prices are up nearly 19% in the U.S. in thepast year,according to government data.

N.M. seekschild safety restrictions in Meta trial’ssecondphase

BYMORGAN LEE Associated Press

SANTAFE, N.M. New Mexico state prosecutors are seeking fundamental changes to Meta’ssocial mediaappsand algorithms to safeguard children in thesecondphase of alandmarktrial on allegations that platforms such as Instagram have created apublic safety hazard.

Opening statements began Monday in thethree-week bench trial to decide whether theplatformsof Meta, which also owns Facebook andWhatsApp,posea public nuisance under state law In the first phase, jurors ordered $375millionincivilpenalties against Meta, determining that it knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

Prosecutors are now asking ajudge to impose fundamental changes aimedatreining in addictivefeatures, improving age verification andpreventing child sexual exploitation through default privacysettings and closer oversight

Meta has vowed to appeal the jury verdict and warned that it could eliminate Instagram and Facebook serviceinNew Mexico if forced tocomply with impractical mandates

“The fact that we’re having a trialonnuisance is itself aremarkable outcome,” said Eric Goldman, co-directorofthe High Tech Law

Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law in California.“That theoryisnot well accepted as applied to the internet, and thattheory doesn’t really fit the internet.”

As thetrial reconvened Monday state District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid addressedconcerns that the court might overreach its authority

“I’mprobably notthe easiest sell on theidea where Iwould become aone-personlegislator,judge and executive branch enforcer,” he said

New Mexico AttorneyGeneral Raúl Torrezsaidthe jury verdict punctured the aura of invincibility protecting tech companies from liability for materialontheir platformsunder Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of theU.S CommunicationsDecency Act.

ALos Angeles jury separately found bothMetaand YouTube liable for harmstochildren, validating long-standing concerns about dangers of social media

New Mexicoprosecutors are demanding thatMetahelp remedya mental health crisis among children througha series of safeguards and changes,including a redesign of algorithmsthatmake contentrecommendationssothey no longer prioritize constantengagement.

New Mexicoprosecution attorney David Ackerman outlined a$3.7 billion proposal for Meta to remedyharm to children that “recognizesthe scope of thepublic nuisancethat Meta hascaused.”

“AcrossNew Mexico, acrossthe country,children are begging for help,” he said. “Itisthorough and it is necessary.There areitems in this abatement planfor public education,toassist schools, to assist law enforcement, to assist mental health providers.”

Prosecutors are also targeting other appfeatures linkedto compulsive usesuchas“infinite scroll,” whichcontinuously loads content; push notifications; and default settings that show tallies for “likes” and sharing. Their lawsuit also seeks improvements to age verificationand othersteps aimed at curbing child sexual exploitation.

And New Mexicowants child accounts on Metaplatforms to have an associated parent or guardian, as well as acourt-supervisedchild safety monitor to track improvements over time

Executives have said the company continuously improveschild safetyand addresses compulsive use andthatmanydemands from prosecutorsare redundant.

In opening statements, Meta attorney Alex Parkinson disputed the idea that there is apublic righttosocialmedia underlaws against public nuisance, andthat New Mexico’sproposedremedies would be unprecedented in the U.S

He said the state’s$3.7 billion plan goes toofar and would “reshape the way allmental andbehavioral healthcareisdeliveredto New Mexicoteens.

Wall Street fallsfrom records

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEWYORK— The U.S. stock mar-

ketfellfromits record heights Monday, while oilprices jumped following escalationsinthe Middle East that may undermine the ceasefire in the warwith Iran.

TheS&P 500sank0.4%, comingoff its latest all-time high

The DowJones IndustrialAveragedropped 557 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

The action was stronger in the oilmarket, where the pricefor abarrel of Brentcrudeleaped 5.8% to settleat$114.44. It jolted higher after the United Arab Emirates, aU.S. ally,said it came underattack by Iranfor the first time since the ceasefire took hold in early April. The attacks appeared to be in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’slatest efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s closureofthe strait has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide.Thatinturn has sent the price of Brent soaring from roughly $70 perbarrel before the war TrumpsaidSundaythatthe United States would guide ships through thestrait,whichcould getoil flowing againand bring down its price. But prices instead climbed with uncertainty about whatwould happen next.

TheU.S. military saidMonday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz. It also said that it sank six small boats as it set up an “enhanced security area”for ships crossingthe strait Evenwith allthe uncertainty about how long the war with Iran will last,the U.S. stock markethas remained remarkably resilient and has powered to record after record. Hope is still high on Wall Street that theglobal economy can avoid aworst-case scenario because of the war.And in the meantime, companies continue to deliver biggrowthinprofits. That’skey because stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.

The strength so far this reporting season has been broad-based and not confined to just theBig Tech superstars thatdominate the market. The median stock in the S&P 500 is tracking for the best growth since2021, according to Savita Subramanian, astrategist at Bank of America. Tyson Foods joined the list Mondayofthose topping analysts’ expectationsfor both profit and revenue during thelatestquarter It sold lessbeefthanitdid a year ago, but it did so at prices that were11.5% higher, so itstotal beef revenue edged up. It also sold morechicken and pork than ayear earlier, at slightly higher prices. Its stock rose 8% and helped limit Wall Street’slosses. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings likewise delivered abetter profit forthe latest quarter than analysts expected. But it’sfeeling theeffects of thewar,whichhas notonlyraisedpressure on fuel prices but also pushed customers to think twice about travel plans, particularly to Europe. The cruise operator said some “executionmissteps” also have bookings belowwhere it would like, and its stock fell 8.6%.

UPSand FedEx droppedeven more for some of the market’s sharpest losses after Amazon announced amovethatcould cut into theirbusinesses. Theonline giant said it’s begun allowing Procter &Gamble,3Mand other big companies to use its logistics services to move inventory,fulfill orders anddeliverpackages directly to shoppers.

UPSdropped10.5%,and FedEx fell 9.1%, while Amazon rose 1.4%.