By JIM BUTLER

An Alexandria man accused of fatally stabbing his father on Saturday afternoon was accused in a previous case of attempted murder.

Gary Lee Jr., 32, allegedly stabbed 60-year-old Gary Lee Sr. multiple times during an argument at the father’s house on Los Angeles Street.

The victim was taken to a hospital after officers arrived and subsequently died, police said.

The son is charged with second-degree murder and is being held under $1,000,000 bail. 

Five years ago, March 2019,  Lee Jr. was accused of attempted second-degree murder as well as robbery and battery.

Two years later he was booked on a battery charge and later in 2021 on a felony drug charge.

The Pineville Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance identifying the subject pictured above. The subject is wanted for questioning in reference to a theft that occurred at a business on Main Street. Please contact the Pineville Police Department at 318-449-5652 if you have any information on his identity. You can also message us on Facebook. As always, all tips are appreciated and will remain anonymous. All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The popular film “Cabrini” was released earlier this month by Angel Studios, but now you can read “the rest of the story” about the profound connection between Mother St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and the most famous bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Alexandria.

Father Chad Partain, the pastor of Cabrini Church in Alexandria, and a noted historian, tells the story that Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1880, and she sent the sisters to New Orleans to minister to a large Italian community that had immigrated to New Orleans at the turn of the 20^th century.

The sisters established a school and orphanage in the French Quarter, and one of the youngsters at the school was Charles Greco.

“Word came that Mother Cabrini was going to visit the sisters and inspect the school and the orphanage,” said Father Chad, as he is affectionately called. “She attended a school Mass, and the altar boy was Greco. When the Mass was over, Mother and some of the sisters came in the sacristy and thanked the priest for offering Mass. The priest introduced the altar server to Cabrini.”

Mother Cabrini asked Greco what he wanted to be when he grew up, and young Charles said, “Mother, I want to become a priest.”

“She placed her hand on the boy’s head and didn’t speak for a few moments, gazing in the distance above his head,” Partain said. “Then she said to the sisters in Italian, ‘This boy will become a priest, and he will go far in the priesthood.’ The sisters never told him what she said, and he did go on and become a priest in 1918.

“Years later,” Father continued, “when Greco was named the 6^th bishop of Alexandria in 1946, some of the sisters who were there in the sacristy that day told him what Mother Cabrini had said. One of his first trips abroad as bishop was to attend the canonization of Mother Cabrini to sainthood (in July of ’46).”

When Greco returned to Alexandria, plans were already in the works from his predecessor, Bishop Daniel Desmond, for a new parish to be built in Alexandria.

“He said, ‘We won’t build one, we’ll build two,’” Father said, “and one he dedicated under the patronage of St. Frances Cabrini.” (The other was Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church.) Cabrini Parish was to have a church and school.

Bishop Daniel Desmond, meanwhile, had done the groundwork for a new hospital and bought the land from the Prescott family, Partain said, and the hospital was to be named St. Mary’s. Bishop Greco was instrumental in getting the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who were administering and staffing the school, to serve the new hospital. But when it was built, Greco dedicated it as St. Frances Cabrini Hospital.

Greco, who served as Bishop of Alexandria from 1946 to 1973, never forgot that encounter he’d had with a saint, however brief it might have been at the time, Partain said. Thus came the overflowing evidence in Alexandria of places named for the Mother Superior of her order. And like the feisty Cabrini, Greco would not be stopped in any pursuit of a goal for the diocese.

And now, Father Chad says he has had a lifelong devotion to Mother Cabrini, who, he says, had an ardent spiritual life that wasn’t clearly demonstrated in the movie.

“Being baptized in this parish and attending this (elementary) school, my first writing assignment was a short biography of Mother Cabrini for the school newspaper,” Partain said, noting even as a boy he loved the portrait of Mother Cabrini that still hangs in a school hallway. Cabrini Church also has a relic of the saint that Bishop Greco brought back to Alexandria from her canonization ceremony. There is also a near life-size statue of her in the small chapel behind the main Cabrini Church altar. There’s a whole other story as to how that statue made its way to the church from its original digs at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Natchitoches.

“Getting older and being able to read more about her life,” Father Chad continued, “I am amazed at her courage, perseverance and fortitude” despite her small size, sickly nature and disrespect she often received as an Italian immigrant. “She is a real role model

(Correction: A Friday story incorrectly reported the city does not post its budget on the municipal website or it is not detectable by a technologically-challenged seeker. The first assertion is incorrect; the second applies in this instance…. City budgets are found in records posted through the mayor’s office. Mea culpa. – JB)

There is some irony in two items on this afternoon’s Alexandria City Council agenda.

One matter for consideration on this first official day of Spring is advertising for bids for “selective demolition and demolition of historic Bringhurst Field.”

More vestiges of the facility that hosted the boys of summer from spring training through playoffs in late summer for the larger part of the 20th century and the first decade of this one are coming down.

Downtown, the metamorphosis of a building that drew women looking for new bonnets and men for new boaters as Easter approached every Spring for decades continues.

The council is being asked to advertise for bids for former Weiss & Golding building selective demolition and exterior envelop protection measures.

W&G closed downtown about 30 years ago. The building was purchased at the turn of the century with the hope of refurbishing it and attracting office tenants. In 2017 it was donated to the city, which retains aspirations of turning it into a contributing asset.

The council will also consider a resolution to amend city ordinances to reapportion Districts 2, 3 and 4 on the basis of population data.

The council has five single-member districts and two at-large.

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE — There are no easy weekends in SEC baseball.

Not in a league that has had six different teams win the national titles in the last 14 College World Series, including five different national championship winners in the last six CWS.

There can be the bliss of winning a series with total team effort, followed by losing a series with a complete squad abomination the next week.

Defending national champion LSU, ranked No. 2 nationally last week and winners of its first 16 of 18 non-conference games, fell in the latter category after barely avoiding getting swept at Mississippi State on the opening weekend of SEC play.

The Tigers, now 17-4 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, dropped to No. 4 nationally by USA Today and No. 5 by Baseball America and D1 Baseball, after losing Games 1 (10-4) and 3 (15-5) to the Bulldogs and barely holding in Game 2 (9-8) after almost blowing a 9-1 lead.

LSU third-year Jay Johnson’s post-series autopsy revealed the obvious.

“I do not think we pitched well,” said Johnson on Monday heading into tonight’s 6:30 p.m. home game vs. Louisiana Tech (16-5) in Alex Box Stadium. “I don’t think we played great on defense. Offensively, there were a few bright spots.

“Averaging 6 runs a game is not enough to sweep, but it’s enough to win two of the three if the other elements are in order.”

But they weren’t, especially the Tigers’ pitching which had been pristine in the first month of the season.

Before being hammered by Mississippi State for 33 runs and 41 hits, LSU had a team earned run average of 2.81. The Tigers’ starting pitching rotation of Luke Holman, Gage Jump and Thatcher Hurd had a combined 7-1 record with a 1.99 ERA and an 87 to 13 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

That trio and nine LSU relievers got obliterated by State’s hitters, who batted .362. The Bulldogs scored almost 70 percent of their runs (23 of 33) with two outs. LSU’s pitching staff ERA in the MSU series was 10.58 including a combined 8.78 from Holman, Jump and Hurd.

“We need to go back to the drawing board a little bit and make sure we’re pulling the best out of each guy in terms of how we train them, how we prepare them, how we pitch call for them, all of those things to maximize their talent,” Johnson said. “We’re deep diving in a lot of that right now.

“I have good faith that it will be better, that these guys will be able to respond. There’s a few guys we need to push up the chart a little bit because they have more talent than where they’re at right now. It’s our job to help them get that out of them.

“The pitching roster for the weekends is very fluid right now and that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing.”

The Tigers batted just .250 in the MSU series. They were deficient in every key area of hitting, batting .125 (3 of 24) with runners in scoring position, .206 (6 of 29) with two outs and 0.77 (2 of 26) vs. left-handed pitching.

The bright spot was junior third baseman Tommy White, who finally looked like the nation’s RBI leader from a year ago.

Not only was he fabulous at the plate vs. the Bulldogs hitting 385 (5-for-13) with three homers, seven RBI, four runs and a .500 on-base percentage, he also put on a fielding clinic with eight assists, two putouts and a 1.000 fielding percentage.

“He came to LSU because I said `You’re playing third base, and we’re gonna make it better’,” Johnson said of White. “He took a lot of pride in it (fielding).

“When you have talent, determination and a specific plan to do something, you can get better at it. All those things combined made him a better defensive third baseman and he played exceptionally this (past) weekend.”

Because the Tigers have had so many games lately – nine in 12 days through Sunday – they haven’t had much time to practice.

It’s why Johnson said his team will practice at 1:30 this afternoon five hours before the first pitch vs. Louisiana Tech.

“One message for me right now to them (Johnson’s team) is it’s never really as good as it seems,” Johnson said, “and it’s not as bad as it seems.

“We need to look at improvement in every phase of how we play. That’s all we can do and it’s certainly not getting any easier. That’s not a surprise to anybody.”

LSU hosts No. 8 Florida for a three-game series Friday. The Tigers beat the Gators 3 games to 2 in last season’s CWS finals, revenging Florida’s 2-0 sweep of LSU in the 2017 CWS finals.

After that, the Tigers’ next three series are at No. 1 Arkansas, home vs. No. 3 Vanderbilt and at No. 7 Tennessee, whom LSU eliminated in last season’s CWS with two victories over the Vols.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

By LAMAR GAFFORD

Bridging the gap between high school and college basketball can be a challenging one, but taking part in an all-star game with the state’s top players can make it easier.

The stars once again aligned inside Louisiana Christian University’s H.O. West Fieldhouse Saturday for the LHSCA/LHSBCA All-Star Game.

“It was an honor to play in it,” Oak Hill forward Alexis Dyer said. “Last year when Coach [Kaci] West was talking about it, she was like, ‘You have to be on this team one day.’ So, that was one of my personal goals.”

Dyer was part of a victorious West team that started a backcourt of the state’s two top guards and Division I signees in Lafayette Christian’s Jada Richard (LSU) and Parkway’s Chloe Larry (Tennessee Tech). With the star power clearly on their side the Western All-Stars won 90-59.

Even though Dyer was held scoreless, the Oak Hill star got the opportunity to play with her future LSU Alexandria teammates Reese Stephens and Kelly Norris, both of whom won state titles like Dyer.

“I only got to see them on the court before this game, but I got to know them a little bit and their personalities,” Dyer said. “That was really fun. Being able to play with them, you can see how we all play very similar. We have a lot in common, so that’s going to be exciting as well.”

It was also one final time to play with her head coach, Kaci West, who helped her become a 3,000-point scorer and a champion. West was coaching in her first All-Star game as an assistant to LaGrange’s LaKeem Holmes.

“That’s what made this game really special for me,” Dyer said. “For my last official high school game, to have my coach there with me. That was a really special moment overall.”

Playing behind Richard and Larry was Northwood guard Rhianna Battles, who closed her career as the fourth Rapides girls basketball player to play in four straight championship games. Battles scored six points for the West.

In the boys game, the West came out victorious with a 90-84 win over the East as Peabody coach Charles Smith (East coordinator) and retiring Northwood coach Alan Tinsley (West assistant) were on opposite sidelines for one final time in their head-to-head rivalry.

There was also a lot of Rapides Parish representation playing in the game as Pineville center Javonte Thomas played for the West and Peabody big men Jordan Mathews and Justin Burns suited for the East.

Mathews scored six points and Burns added five points with both players doing their scoring in the first half. Thomas got on the stat sheet with a few rebounds and was honored to play with the state’s best.

“This was a very fun experience,” Thomas said. “I was feeling kind of good today, so I said that I might as well try to dunk and if I miss it, then hey. But I tried to get up there.”

Also suiting for the East was St. Mary’s sharpshooter and Menard transfer Ayden Warren, who scored five points.

“It was great being around a bunch of competition like this,” Warren said. “It’s going to prepare me well for college as these guys all have offers somewhere.”

Warren, who transferred to the Tigers before his junior year, closed out his high school career helping lead them to the Division IV select quarterfinals the last two years and earning District 3-1A MVP honors as a senior.

Warren will have a big decision to make soon as he plans to commit and sign to a college in April.

Currently, East Texas Baptist and NSU appear to be in the lead for Warren’s services. Junior college Angelina College and the NAIA’s Southwestern Assemblies of God also have shown interest in Warren.

“I just want to go somewhere where I’m wanted and can play and develop the most,” Warren said. “These are all good options and I feel like I can’t go wrong anywhere I go.”

SOFTBALL

Monday, March 18

Avoyelles 17, Peabody 0
Midland at Glenmora, ccl.
Northwood-Lena 15, Rapides 0
Fairview 12, Oak Hill 0
Pickering 6, Plainview 4

Tuesday, March 19

West Ouachita at Alexandria
Pineville at Ouachita Parish
Grant at Tioga
Neville at Peabody
Glenmora at Pickering
Oakdale at Menard
Northwood-Lena at Dodson
Pitkin at Oak Hill
Rapides at Grace Christian

BASEBALL

Monday, March 18

Peabody at Southern Lab, ccl.
Glenmora 15, Plainview 1
Menard 2, Iota 1
Berchmans Academy 21, Alexandria Country Day 6

Tuesday, March 19

Vermilion Catholic at Alexandria
Block at Peabody
Tioga at Franklin Parish
Buckeye at Jena
Avoyelles at Menard
Oakdale at Glenmora
St. Mary’s vs. Northwood-Lena, DH
Pitkin at Oak Hill
Rapides at Avoyelles Charter
Alexandria Country Day at Harrisonburg
Plainview at Florien

BATON ROUGE — March 14, 1981, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas, NCAA Midwest Regionals first and second round.

An afternoon session featuring LSU (starting its trek to the Final Four) vs. Lamar, followed by defending national champion Louisville vs. Arkansas.

As a 24-year-old Shreveport Times sportswriter, it was my first live taste of March Madness.

It was love at first buzzer beater.

The top-seeded Tigers hammered Lamar by 22 points. They figured to play defending national champ Louisville the next week in the Sweet 16 after the Cards disposed of Arkansas until. . .

Louisville’s Derek Smith hits a jumper with 5 seconds left for a one-point lead. Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton immediately calls a timeout and tells his team to inbound the ball to senior guard U.S. Reed.

Hogs have one last chance for a miracle win. Guard Darrell Walker inbounds the ball to Reed at Louisville’s foul line in a gap in the Cards’ soft full-court zone press.

He zigs and zags and finally pulls up at a spot where I’m on press row at a perfect angle behind him as he launches a 49-foot shot.

The majestic arc and the dead-center aim caused me to say out loud to no one in particular, “That’s going in, that’s going in, that’s GOING. . .INNNNNN!’

A swish so perfect for a 74-73 win as the buzzer sounds that Arkansas center Scott Hastings, standing under the basket, collapses in disbelief.

Reed immediately turns to the courtside media, begins slapping hands with us and says, “Can you believe that (expletive deleted) went in? Can you believe it?”

The next year in 1982, I was at courtside in the Superdome for the NCAA championship game. A North Carolina freshman named Michael Jordan calmly drained a 16-foot jumper with 17 seconds left to give the Tar Heels a 63-62 win over Georgetown for the national title.

Three years later in Rupp Arena in the 1985 finals, I sat just behind the Villanova bench when the Wildcats hit 22 of 29 field goals including 9 of 10 in the second half for a stunning 66-64 win over heavily favored Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown.

In 1986 when No. 11 seed LSU made a magical run to the Final Four in Dallas, I tore my right Achilles playing pickup basketball at downtown Dallas health club six hours before the Tigers met Louisville in a semifinal.

Got back to my hotel room, put on three pairs of tube socks, filled up a trash can from under the desk with ice and water and stuck my foot in it until it was numb.

Covered LSU’s loss and stayed through Monday to write the championship game. Flew home on Tuesday. Surgery on Friday.

That’s HOW MUCH I love March Madness.

The 1990s produced a string of magical NCAA tourney and Final Four assignments for me.

There were Arkansas Final Four runs in 1994 (won the title over Duke on former Ruston High star Scotty Thurman’s rainbow 3-pointer) and 1995 (lost to UCLA and the O’Bannon brothers in the title game) on a day when actor Jack Nicholson rubbed elbows with me in the media refreshment area.

A pleasant stunner was Mississippi State catching fire and advancing to the 1996 Final Four, keyed by high-flying, deep-shooting Nashville native Don’tae Jones.

Jones produced one of my favorite Final Four quotes ever when I asked him after State lost to Syracuse in the semifinals if he was returning to MSU for another season or leaving early to enter the NBA Draft.

“I don’t like carryin’ all those books and stuff,” the truthful ’Tae said about attending classes, “so I’m probably goin’ to the NBA.”

As the years have passed, the beauty of the NCAA tournament isn’t the Final Four The brand-name teams usually advance to the last weekend of play.

March Madness doesn’t get any crazier than the first weekend of games because of the out-of-nowhere Cinderellas providing bracket-busting upsets.

This brings me to two of the best stories in the 2024 NCAA tourney field – McNeese State and Grambling – the only Louisiana men’s teams still dancing.

Southland Conference regular season and tournament champ McNeese (30-3), the No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region, plays No. 5 Gonzaga on Thursday at 6:25 p.m. CT in Salt Lake City,

Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champ Grambling (20-14), a No. 16 seed, faces No. 16 seed Montana State in a First Four game Wednesday at 5:40 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio.

Will Wade and Donte Jackson were hired just months apart as head coaches by Louisiana-based programs. Wade became LSU’s coach in March 2017 and Jackson took over Grambling three months later in June.

Wade took his first LSU team to the NIT in 2018 and by year two the Tigers won the 2019 SEC regular season championship and advanced to the Sweet 16.

But by then, Wade’s off-the-court trouble of alleged NCAA recruiting violations started. Popular among the LSU fan base, he hung on for four more seasons and finished with 105 wins and three NCAA tourney appearances. He was fired in March 2022 when the school finally received the NCAA’s list of charged violations a day after the Tigers lost in the SEC tourney championship game.

Jackson’s first season at Grambling in 2018 produced the Tigers’ first SWAC regular season championship since 1989. However, due to low APR scores, Grambling was ineligible for the conference tourney and postseason play.

After barely breaking over .500 in the next three seasons and a 12-20 nosedive in 2022, GSU and Jackson seemed primed for the school’s first NCAA tourney bid a year ago. The Tigers were the 2023 SWAC regular season co-champs and won 22 games including wins over Colorado and Grambling.

But in the SWAC tourney finals with the winner receiving an automatic bid (and the loser usually getting nothing), Grambling lost 61-58 to No. 8 seed Texas Southern (a team GSU had already beaten twice by double digits).

Ironically, it was a TSU team coached by former LSU star Johnny Jones, who was fired in 2017 after five seasons as LSU’s head coach and replaced by. . .Will Wade.

On Sunday, the 41-year-old Wade in his first year as McNeese’s head coach and the 45-year-old Jackson in his seventh year guiding Grambling, culminated seasons of redemption when their teams officially received NCAA tourney invites.

“They needed me and I needed them and that’s why it’s worked,” Wade said of his hiring and successful McNeese maiden voyage. “I guess I got better perspective when I got knocked off the ladder (when he was fired by LSU).”

Jackson’s journey has been about staying the course, being consistent and never losing faith.

“This is three regular season titles and one tournament title in seven years. . .I think we’re a basketball school,” Jackson said after Grambling beat Texas Southern last Saturday in the SWAC tourney finals.

Go get ’em Cowboys and Tigers.

And don’t think you don’t belong. No matter the size of your school, you earned it.

Revel in the moment.

And then shock the world, just as No. 14 seed Northwestern State did in its 2006 stunner, roaring back from a 17-point deficit with 8½ minutes left for a 64-63 first-round win (on Jermaine Wallace’s buzzer-beating 3) over third-seeded Big Ten tourney champ Iowa, AP’s No. 15-ranked team.

All it takes is a full 40 minutes of supreme effort and one last kill shot to chop down Paul Bunyan.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

March 17

Gary Lee Jr., 32, Alexandria — murder 2nd degree, $1,000,000 bail.

This date: 15 total arrests, five of which had at least one contempt count.

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

March 17

Deveron Balthazar, 36, Alexandria — possession, probation violation, parole violation, $2,500 bail;

Christopher Molette, 33, Pineville — possession with intent, possession, CDS in presence or person under 17, paraphernalia, $3,500 bail.

Louisiana Christian University held the 50th Alsup Vocal Competition on March 15 with three outstanding upperclassmen taking top honors.

The winners were:

• First Place: Peyton Newton Simon, a senior music education major from Alexandria

Second Place: Cheyenne Blake, a junior vocal studies major from West Monroe

Third Place: A’melia Perkins, a senior vocal studies and graphic design major from Pineville

The competition, held in Presser Recital Hall at LCU, was adjudicated by esteemed professionals, Kelsey Nogic, choral director at Tioga High School; Maestro Joshua Zona, conductor of the Rapides Symphony; and Laine Miller, owner of LMB Productions.

The annual competition is limited to junior and senior voice majors.  The students compete for cash awards for first, second and third places.  First place is $200. 

The Alsup Voice Award was begun by Helen Rougeau in 1972, in memory of former LCU Professor N. C. Alsup as a means of encouraging vocal excellence among students in the Department of Music at Louisiana Christian University. 

Arrests are accusations, not convictions.

March 14

Aaron Johnson, 33, Alexandria — firearm in presence of drugs, possession with intent 2 counts, felony flight, paraphernalia, unauthorized entry inhabited dwelling, $210,000 bail.

March 16

Tevin Coleman, 33, Alexandria — illegal possession of stolen firearm, aggravated assault with firearm 3 counts, resisting, criminal trespass, $1,000 bail. 

By JIM BUTLER

The inaugural Hall of Fame induction evening by the Bolton High School Alumni Association left the sell-out audience looking forward to the next.

Eight of the thousands of graduates over the school’s almost 100 years were the initial inductees, chosen by a committee chaired by Gail Clayton from among those nominated.

Welcomed by association board president Jennifer Wright, the several hundred in attendance at the Holiday Inn

Downtown buzzed with the vibrancy of a Bears reunion spanning about 70 years.

The inductees are for the most part from the Vance Avenue school’s middle years:

James A. “Jay” Bolen, class of 1957; Edwin J. “Ed” Caplan, 1949; Catherine D. “Kitty” Kimball, 1963; Nancy L. Monroe, teacher, 1977-2018; Warren R. Morris, 1992; Thomas O. “Tommy” Ryder, 1962; the late John W. “Jock” Scott II, 1965; and Charles S. “Charlie” Weems III, 1961. 

Introduced by 1998 graduates Drs. Jim Hebert and Jaya McSharma, the inductees had a common theme among their varied remarks – the foundation that their Bolton years gave them for their subsequent pursuits and success.

According to the evening’s program, nominations for the next induction open today and will close on October 1.

Information and forms are at BoltonAlumni.org/WinFame.

By JIM BUTLER

The re-constituted Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority moves to its next chapter this week.

Its first monthly meeting agenda since February’s upheaval includes election of a president and what to do next, if anything, regarding an attorney general’s opinion on a matter that sparked disagreement with city officials a year ago.

The Authority has committee meetings beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday at Hotel Bentley, followed by the March regular monthly meeting.

Not on the posted agenda but central to the February flap, is the  board’s decision to remove “acting” from the new executive director’s title rather than adhering to a 90-day search plan, a decision that clearly miffed some though she has worked at GAEDA for years.

Discussion of that may be included in meeting minutes once they are formalized and posted though such detail is more commonly omitted. Minutes postings generally are not made for at least 30 days by most agencies.

The executive committee discussed the succession plan (adopted several years ago) at an 8 a.m. February 16 session and evidently heard also from the executive director-designate. “Acting” had been used on a committee agenda three days earlier.

At 9 a.m. on the 16^th, the operating and human resources committee held an executive session, then voted to recommend board approval of a compensation and contract package for the executive director.

The post became open in January when longtime chief Clifford Moller was unable to return following medical issues.

On February 20 the board passed the employment resolution, the same day its chairman was removed by City Council action.

Two days later another member was replaced. Members serve at the pleasure of council members who have one appointment each, a change made a year ago.

That was about the same time GAEDA moved to enter an intergovernmental agreement with the England Authority to assist with location of the Ucore rare earth plant at the Airpark.

The city’s Economic Development office objected vociferously, believing GAEDA could not spend for enterprises outside the city, in this case $360,000 grant to offset half of lease payments by Ucore for two years.

The Attorney General’s Office agreed in a March 6 opinion, noting that while there are common and overlapping purposes between the two it doesn’t think GAEDA has the authority.

This weekend six Pineville Fire Paramedics and one Pineville Police Officer advanced their trauma care by attending a TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) training session.

By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE – When it came to March Madness post-season basketball tournament bids being announced Sunday, it was a matter of “where” for the LSU women and “if” for the LSU men.

Women’s third-year head coach Kim Mulkey’s No. 8 ranked Tigers, sporting a 28-5 overall record (13-3 SEC), received a No. 3 seed in the Albany 2 Regional. They’ll host first and second-round games in the PMAC, starting with a first-round Friday 3 p.m. matchup vs. No. 14 seed Rice (19-14).

Men’s second-year head coach Matt McMahon’s team, which rallied in the last 3½ weeks of the regular season to finish 17-15 and 9-9 in the SEC, was selected to the 32-team National Invitation Tournament field. They’ll host North Texas (18-14) on Tuesday night at 6.

The NCAA women’s tourney selection committee did defending national champion LSU no favors with its seeding and regional assignment.

Not only did the Tigers not receive a No. 2 seed as expected, but they were placed in the same regional as six other Associated Press top 25 teams – No. 1 Albany 2 regional seed Iowa, (which lost to LSU in last season’s national championship game, No. 2 seed UCLA (25-6), No. 4 seed Kansas State, No. 5 seed Colorado (which beat LSU in the season-opener in November in Las Vegas) No. 6 seed Louisville, No. 7 seed Creighton and No. 10 seed UNLV.

“I don’t care about the seeding,” Mulkey said Sunday night. “You just want to get a first and second-round game at home.”

In Mulkey’s 24 seasons as a head coach (21 at Baylor, 3 at LSU), this will be her 22nd NCAA tournament appearance. She ranks first all-time in Final Four winning percentage (88.9, 8-1), fourth in NCAA tourney winning percentage (77.9, 60-17) and fourth in tourney wins (60).

The biggest question for Mulkey’s depth-starved team after its SEC tourney finals loss eight days ago to No. 1 South Carolina was its health.

SEC Player of the Year Angel Reese hobbled through the finals on a sprained ankle. Starting point guard Last-Tear Poa missed the championship game after sustaining a concussion in the Tigers’ semi-final win over Ole Miss. Starting shooting guard Mikaylah Williams, the Bossier City native and Parkway High grad, missed three games with a sore foot, then played sluggishly in the finals when her services were finally needed.

When LSU returned to practice on Thursday, Reese and Williams, the SEC Freshman of the Year, were ready to roll.

“Angel’s ankle is getting to 100 percent,” Mulkey said. “Mikaylah is great, she’s been practicing full speed.”

Poa, though, apparently has yet to clear concussion protocol.

“She’s better every day,” Mulkey said of Poa. “She told me she got on the treadmill today. We’re going to try and do some individual workouts. That’s a great sign.”

Mulkey is hoping the grit her ailing team showed in the SEC tourney carries over this week.

“It’s that time of year when you want to be playing your best basketball,” Mulkey said. “I really thought in the SEC Tournament we showed toughness and talent and a will to win.”

Rice earned its fourth NCAA tourney appearance in program history after winning the tournaent championship of the American Athletic Conference in their debut season.

The Owls entered the AAC tournament as a No. 10 seed and won four games in four days over No. 7 seed UAB (71-56), No. 2 seed North Texas (61-59), No. 3 seed Temple (60-57) and No. 9 seed East Carolina (61-41).

If the Tigers beat Rice, they’ll play Sunday or Monday against the winner of the other Baton Rouge first-round game between No. 6 seed Louisville vs. No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee State.

Tickets go on sale today at 9 a.m. on LSUtix.net. Season ticket holders are reminded that, since this is officially an NCAA event, they may not have the same seats they sat in throughout the regular season. All tickets will be sent via mobile delivery.

The Tigers men’s NIT matchup vs. North Texas will be a rematch of a game won 66-62 by LSU in November in the Charleston Classic.

“We are excited about the opportunity to continue our season in the NIT this week,” McMahon said. “Our players and coaches look forward to playing in front of our fans in the PMAC on Tuesday. We have great respect for North Texas.

Even though McMahon’s team won its last 5 of 7 regular season games starting with consecutive one-point wins at then-No. 11 South Carolina (64-63) and home vs. then-No. 17 Kentucky (75-74), LSU was thought to be barely on the NIT bubble heading into SEC Tournament.

Beginning this season, the NIT selection committee awards two automatic bids and a home game to the next two highest-ranked teams in the NET ratings from each of the Power 6 conferences after the NCAA tourney fills its field.

When LSU collapsed in the second half of last Thursday’s SEC tourney second-round 70-60 loss to Mississippi State, the Tigers’ post-season invite hopes were placed on life support.

Yet they were resuscitated quickly, thanks to a series of events involving fellow SEC members Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, all ranked ahead of LSU in the NET and still battling for an NCAA bid.

After losing to A&M in Thursday’s SEC tourney second round, Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said his team wouldn’t accept a bid from the NIT.

Then, Mississippi State and A&M advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with Friday quarterfinals upsets of league champion Tennessee and No. 2 seed Kentucky respectively.

According to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, those wins vaulted the Bulldogs and Aggies solidly into the 68-team NCAA tourney field.

And just like that, the chances of the Tigers extending their season improved experientially. They were confirmed when eight SEC teams (including Mississippi State and Texas A&M) received NCAA tourney bids on Sunday.

“We invite all of our LSU fans, students, former players, and community to join us on Tuesday night in creating a home-court advantage in Baton Rouge,” McMahon said.

Tickets for the game will all be general admission at $20 a ticket for adults and $10 a ticket for youth and are available beginning Monday at 9 a.m. in person at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUTix.net.

The first 1,500 LSU students will be admitted free to the game. There will be no reserved parking for the game. Parking will be available in the various lots around the Maravich Center.

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com