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The weather always changes. Today’s weather never lasts indefinitely. Life works the same way in that the only constant is change. Although weather reports are handy, they can be wrong. You need to be prepared for changing scenarios, which are often unpredictable.
You have to deal with today’s weather, while being prepared for tomorrow. Since the weather fluctuates, you have accumulated the necessary resources for a variety of situations: raincoats, jackets, boots, gloves, hats, and shorts.
In life, you strive to take advantage of each day’s opportunities while preparing for the future. Preparation enhances your success. The greater degree of readiness for a variety of situations, the greater your chances for success.
Since each new day is yesterday’s tomorrow, preparation is an ongoing process. Every experience is a learning opportunity where you discover what was effective, along with what needs improvement.
Be prepared for changes that affect the major components of your life. You don’t want to be caught by surprise because you were not ready for the fluctuations, which invariably happen. Allowing today’s comfort to lure you into complacency is a common trap. Some of the foremost factors subject to change include the economy, your health, emotional wellbeing, and career.
Historically, the economy is cyclic. The exact duration and extreme of each cycle is unknown. Being unprepared for economic downturns leads to economic disasters. Businesses, and individuals who enjoy the benefits of an economic upturn, without preparing for a downturn, can be wiped out financially.
Creating a cash reserve is great preparation for the future. This is essential for personal finances as well as for a business. These reserves provide options during an economic downturn. On the personal side, you may need the savings to cover living expenses in the event of a layoff, or to handle unexpected emergency expenditures. For a business owner, the cash reserve provides the ability to stay in business by covering payroll and expenses during an economic slump.
Now is the time to start funding your cash reserves. Contribute to your savings before spending on discretionary purchases. The greater the amount you save, the more options you have during a weak economy.
In addition to cash reserves, you want to continually expand your knowledge, skills, and abilities. The best time to do this is before encountering a crisis. Education is a lifetime pursuit. The more you learn, the more options you have.
Actively maintaining your health through exercise and diet, reduces the number of ailments affecting you as you age. You are never too young, or too old to begin a health maintenance plan. Taking care of your body every day provides a lifetime of benefits. Even people who don’t start until well into their senior years, experience an improved quality of life.
Making a healthy lifestyle part of your daily routine ensures consistency. So many infirmities needlessly impact those who have not prepared their body for tomorrow. Avoid needless suffering by regularly taking care of yourself physically.
Your emotional wellbeing is just as important. Your mental state is the foundation for effectively dealing with challenges. A negative, can’t do it, attitude precludes finding workable solutions. Furthermore, a negative mindset diminishes the quality of your decisions.
A positive attitude is one of the best preparations for the future. It is cultivated through constant practice. Condition yourself to deal with the unexpected by telling yourself that you will do whatever it takes to overcome any obstacles you encounter.
Enjoy and appreciate today while also actively preparing for tomorrow. There’s no reason to get caught ill-equipped. You can’t control what happens in the future, but you can be ready for a variety of scenarios.

Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at bryan@columnist.com(link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail).

By Adrian Dubose and Lauren Cheramie
LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – After losing hundreds of millions of dollars in the COVID-19 pandemic, Louisiana’s public universities are hopeful that three rounds of federal relief packages and a proposed $56 million increase from the state will enable them to avoid budget cuts this year.
Universities and colleges faced significant revenue losses and additional expenses as a result of the pandemic. The LSU, University of Louisiana and Southern systems also had to cope with a $21.7 million cut in state funding last year.
Education officials feared that they were going to lose ground again in the coming budget year after more than a decade of financial instability.
But they are now optimistic that the state will invest more in education and that another aid package in Congress will help keep them whole.
Gov. John Bel Edwards presented his t spending proposal to the Legislature on Feb. 26. He called for a $56 million increase l for higher education, including $19.8 million for faculty pay raises. This would be the first statewide raise in 13 years, though some universities have granted several pay hikes of their own along the way.
Edwards’ proposal also includes full funding for TOPS scholarships, an $11 million increase for the need-based financial aid known as GO Grants and $15.6 million to cover mandated cost increases like pension benefits for retired educators.
“Increasing affordability through a historic investment in need-based aid, raising faculty pay, and improving the stability of our institutions allows our colleges and universities to meet the education challenges of the moment,” Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, the commissioner of higher education for the Louisiana Board of Regents, said in a statement.
The board discusses financial and academic plans for the LSU, UL and Southern systems and the state’s technical and community colleges. It also sets the funding formula, which determines how much money each institution receives from state coffers.
Louisiana’s universities are receiving more than $120 million in aid from federal relief acts passed in March 2020 and last December, and they expect to receive more from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan now being debated in Congress. The $1.9 trillion bill includes $35 billion for higher education nationwide. Officials do not know how much money Louisiana will receive yet.
Higher education endured years of cuts during former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s terms. Louisiana reduced higher education funding per pupil in 2014, along with eight other states, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Louisiana universities also raised tuition by more than $300 after inflation during that year as they sought to raise more money on their own. Students faced steady hikes for ancillary fees after the Legislature later capped tuition levels, and universities began enrolling more students to bring in needed revenue.
Education was a top priority for Edwards in his 2020 budget proposal. He campaigned on a pledge of more funding for colleges and faculty pay raises. Just when it looked like the Legislature could provide more financial stability, the coronavirus pandemic started.
College students rushed home, remote learning started and the economy declined.
Institutions exhausted money on personal protective equipment, sanitation, technology, COVID-19 testing and increased financial aid to support students. Additionally, they lost revenue due to enrollment declines, canceled housing and meal plans, and cancellations for venues, conferences and events.
As the pandemic worsened, the Louisiana Board of Regents initially faced about $122 million in funding needs, counting the money that the Legislature had cut last spring. Louisiana higher education received $100 million through the CARES Act that Congress passed last March.
According to Dr. Jim Henderson, president of the University of Louisiana System, Louisiana public and private institutions also will receive $23 million under a higher education relief fund that Congress passed in December.
These first two rounds of federal funding, combined “with the expected funding from the stimulus plan currently under debate, cover most, if not all, of the COVID-19 related expenses and lost revenue,” Henderson said.
After the first two rounds of federal relief, the UL system still had a loss of $33 million due to direct COVID-19 expenses and lost revenue, he said.
The LSU system has experienced about $82 million in COVID-related expenses and revenue loss, excluding losses associated with athletics. Including lost ticket sales, television revenue and other athletics cost, LSU had about $127 million in extra expenses and revenue loss.
The LSU campuses have reduced their losses with offsets from the first two federal relief bills, leaving the university with a $38.5 million loss, including the loss from athletics, as it waits to see what it will receive under the Biden bill.
Dr. Reed said that the governor’s proposed budget, which must be approved by the Legislature, “reflects the first time in 13 years that higher education has received treatment equal to other state agencies.”
Unlike many other state expenditures, spending on higher education is not mandated under the Constitution or other law, and that has left universities vulnerable in the past when the Legislature needed to make cuts to balance the state budget.
Education officials hope they can sustain the momentum after the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1. When the Legislature meets again next year, there is unlikely to be any more federal aid, and state economists have expressed concern about how quickly the Louisiana economy and tax revenue will rebound from the virus.
Henderson said that Louisiana universities already operate with fewer resources per student than other Southern schools.
“Our issue is a chronic lack of prioritization for higher education,” he said. “If we are to be competitive in recruiting and retaining the faculty necessary to prepare our graduates for life and career in the future of work, we have to properly fund higher education."
Reed also said that keeping the universities healthy is a key to rebuilding after the pandemic.
“We know that we’re not going to get out of a pandemic–we’re not going to have a renewed economy and a stronger, resilient Louisiana–without higher education,” Reed said.

June 22, 1983 ~ March 5, 2021

KAPLAN — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 AM on Monday, March 8, 2021 at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church honoring the life of Brooke Nicole Demette, 37, who died Friday, March 5, 2021 at her residence. She will be laid to rest at Petry Cemetery with Reverend Mark Miley officiating the services.
Unconditional love.
It is a desire most people hope to be the recipient of at least once in their lifetime. Brooke was born into the world on a beautiful summer day in June of 1983. She was the immediate recipient of dutiful, unconditional love from her mother, Sedra. Though the world initially doubted her endurance, she overcame every obstacle life threw at her. She did so with a heart so full of love it overflowed in abundance to everyone around her. Brooke truly understood what it meant to love and she did it with her entire being. She never saw a fault in a single person or situation. She could walk into a crowded room of strangers, and by the time she left, she would be best friends with each and every one.
She would not forget them either. Years could pass and she would remember your favorite color, your mom’s favorite flowers, and your child’s birthday. She never hesitated to show her love for anyone. If Brooke knew you, she made sure you knew you were wholeheartedly loved.
Brooke never saw a party she did not want to be a part of. And if that party had food? Every person she came into contact with would be personally invited by her. She was the first one to tell the cook she loved their chicken and sausage gumbo with the yellow potato salad. You can trust she would convince someone, with a happy smile and a sweet voice, to get her a second, and then a third, helping. Food was more than sustenance for Brooke. It was love itself. It was a way to show someone you cared. It’s what brought people together and helped them to laugh and smile when the sky was gray. It was also a tool of payback, since she could gobble down someone else’s honey bun if they beat her in Uno.
Her favorite movie was Fly Away Home. She would ask Momo Hazel to watch it every time she went to her house. It was always accompanied with cookies and milk.
She loved her godchildren. She was never more proud than when she was holding her “big” brother’s babies, the oldest of whom became much like a brother to her. She adored him completely and would tell anyone who would listen about the cool stuff they did together.
Brooke’s love was like the first breath of air you finally pull in when you’ve been under water for almost too long. Her love filled you from your toes to the tip of your head. Once you were completely enraptured by the purity of her love, you barely even noticed that she had already convinced you to give her all your bracelets and to buy her lunch.
If you knew you were going to see Brooke, you made sure you had one of three things to give her: (1) jewelry, (2) snacks, or (3) cash [the larger the denomination the better, trust her.]
It was impossible to be sad with Brooke, and she would not want you to be sad for her now. Brooke is part of a beautiful, well catered, fais-do-do so Heavenly majestic we cannot even begin to visualize the joy that must be casting her angelic face aglow with God’s unconditional love.
She is survived by her parents, Sedra and Keith Marceaux of Meaux; her father, Albert Demette, Jr. of Kaplan; her stepmother, Angie Demette of Kaplan; her three brothers, Tyler Demette (Tisha) of Meaux, Cade Marceaux (Stephanie Gadell) of Meaux and Seth Demette (Brooke Thibodeaux) of Kaplan; her two sisters, Keisha Marceaux of Meaux, Courtney Demette (Alex Lassalle) of Kaplan, Alie Demette of Kaplan and Kaitlyn Esquivel of Kaplan; her godchildren, Lane Demette, Braxton Demette, Reese Demette, Jon Keith Demette, Bailey Hoffpauier, Rhett LaSalle and Tripp LaSalle; her paternal grandmother, Hazel Marceaux of Meaux; her godmother, Patricia Broussard of Kaplan; her godfather, Steve Matt of Arlee, MT; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and special friends.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandfather, Raymond Adams; her maternal grandmother, Jean LeMaire; her maternal step grandmother, Nancy Adams; her maternal step grandfather, Jr. LeMaire; her paternal grandparents, Albert Demette, Sr. and the former Edia Adams; her paternal grandfather, Louis Marceaux; and her cousins, Tammy Lynn Broussard and Nicole LeBlanc.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Sunday, March 7, 2021 from 1:00 PM until Monday, March 8, 2021 when the procession departs for the church at 10:15 AM. A rosary will be prayed at 7:00 PM on Sunday, March 7, 2021.
The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to the staff of Audubon Hospice, especially the nurses, Lorna, Emee, Kim and Heidi, and Dr. Randall Faulk and his staff.

Vermilion Parish – Shortly before 7:30 a.m. on March 6, 2021, Troopers from Louisiana State Police Troop I were notified of a single-vehicle crash on Louisiana Highway 82 near Fin Road in Vermilion Parish. The crash took the life of 21-year-old Daxton Harrington of Kaplan.

The initial investigation by State Police revealed the crash occurred as Harrington was driving a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, west on LA 82. For unknown reasons, the Malibu ran off the roadway, overturned, and struck a tree.

Troopers determined both Harrington and his passenger were unrestrained. Harrington was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger was ejected from the vehicle and transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Impairment is unknown but a standard toxicology sample was obtained for analysis. This crash remains under investigation.

While not all crashes are survivable, proper seat belt usage can greatly increase the chances of surviving a crash by spreading out those forces across the strong bones of the body. Properly worn seat belts also help to keep the occupants of vehicles in their seat and protect the head and spine. Please be a responsible driver or a responsible passenger, and buckle up every ride, every time.

Troop I has investigated 9 fatal crash resulting in 10 deaths in 2021.