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Spring Break

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Siblings Dragan Bertrand, 13, Judith Bertrand, 11, Delila Bertrand, 9 and Jett Bertrand 8, the grandchildren of Guinn Miller of Jennings enjoy their spring break vacation at 1-10 Oil and Gas Park in Jennings.

Ban on ‘school lunch shaming’ wins La. House support

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana’s public schools should be barred from embarrassing or penalizing students because they have unpaid lunch debts, House lawmakers overwhelmingly voted Wednesday.

Rep. Patricia Smith said schools have kept students from attending pizza parties, banned them from the prom and kicked students out of lunch lines because parents owed money for lunch bills. The Baton Rouge Democrat said children shouldn’t be held responsible or humiliated for the debts of their parents.

Lawmakers spurn idea to arm teachers for safety

BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana teachers won’t be allowed to carry guns at schools, lawmakers decided Wednesday as they rejected a proposal opposed by law enforcement, educators and the governor.

After about two hours of debate on how best to protect schoolchildren in the wake of deadly school shootings, the House criminal justice committee killed the bill by a vote of 9-7.

STATE BRIEFS

Police: Man killed, toddler wounded in quadruple shooting

China-US tariff spat: Mostly losers, but some winners

BEIJING (AP) — China’s threat to raise tariffs on U.S. exports could be a disaster for American soybean farmers but a boon to their Brazilian and Argentine competitors, European aerospace companies and Japanese whiskey distillers.

Regulators picked products China can get elsewhere when they made a $50 billion list including soybeans and small aircraft for possible retaliation in a trade spat with Washington.

YouTube shooter’s videos key to suspected motive

MENIFEE, Calif. (AP) — The woman who shot three people at YouTube’s headquarters was prolific at producing videos and posting them online, many of them bizarre, such as a clip in which she removes a revealing purple dress to expose fake breasts with the message, “Don’t Trust Your Eyes.”

In others, Nasim Aghdam (na-SEEM AG-dahm) exercises, promotes animal rights and explains the vegan diet, often in elaborate costumes or carrying a rabbit.

US museum stalls Hiroshima exhibit over nuke weapon ban push

A museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico — a once-secret New Mexico city that developed the atomic bomb which helped end World War II — has put an exhibit from Japan on hold because of its theme of abolishing nuclear weapons.

The Los Alamos Historical Museum confirmed Monday that it will not host a traveling exhibit organized by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum until all parties can work out their differences over the theme.

Stocks keep climbing as trade war fears recede

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. are rising Thursday morning and major indexes in Europe are jumping as global markets continue a rally that began late the previous day. Wall Street is getting more optimistic that a trade dispute between the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world, will be resolved without too much pain. Some of the biggest gains are going to technology companies, retailers and banks.

What a delivery! Pizza driver saves 2 people from house fire

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) — A pizza deliveryman’s customer service was on fire. Literally. Donatos Pizza driver Ralph Letner tells WDRB-TV in Kentucky that he was delivering a pizza to a mobile home park in Somerset when he saw a home on fire. Letner says he jumped out of his car and raced into the home to shut off the breaker. He found the homeowner and one other person inside. Homeowner Jesse Decker says Letner is a hero who saved his home and his life. Letner says his parents raised him to help people in need.

Daughter of poisoned spy says she’s recovering

LONDON (AP) — The poisoned daughter of an ex-Russian spy said Thursday she’s recovering quickly after her ordeal, while Russia strongly protested being locked out of the probe into the nerve agent that sickened her and her father.

Britain has blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in the city of Salisbury. In response, more than two dozen Western allies including Britain, the U.S. and NATO have ordered out over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity.