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BATTLE OF THE BROTHERSRavens hold o� 49ers for 34-31 win. B1

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By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The National Rifl e Association’s executive vice president con-tinued to oppose background checks for all gun purchases despite polls indicating that most NRA members don’t share his position.

The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre said on “Fox News Sunday” that background checks for all gun purchases would lead to a national registry of gun own-ers. Critics say such a registry could lead to taxes on guns or to confi scation.

Mark Kelly, a gun owner and husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived a 2011 shooting, asked LaPi-erre to listen to his members. He said the current system prevented 1.7 million gun purchases since 1999. However, those potential buyers had other options because many gun sales don’t require a back-ground check.

“Members of the NRA tend to be very reasonable on this issue,” Kelly said, who also ap-peared on the Fox show.

As Congress responds to the spate of mass shootings in recent years, most notably the December massacre of 20 chil-dren and six adults in a school in Newtown, Conn., some are calling for a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons and on high-capacity ammunition magazines. However, calls for expanding background checks appear to have gained the most bipartisan support.

LaPierre said that re-quiring checks for all gun

NRA likens universal checks to

gun registry

By Nichole Osinskinosinski@americanpress.com

The New Covenant Faith Community Development Corp. is holding a fund-raising banquet to help students reach higher academic standards.

The second annual banquet will be held from 7-9 p.m. Feb.

22 at the Lake Charles Civic Center in the Jean Lafi tte Room. Dinner will be provided along with live jazz music by Gervis Guidry.

Proceeds will go toward supplies, new computers and any other education-related items children may need dur-ing the after-school tutorial

program. Students who have shown classroom progress will be acknowledged.

“First and foremost, we’re trying to raise dollars to sup-port the after-school tutorial program,” Arthur James, corporation’s vice president said. “If we don’t invest in our kids today we’ll fail tomorrow

because they are our future.” The free tutoring program,

started in 2008, began with fi ve children and has now grown to almost 50 students. The non-profi t corporation offers two-hour sessions Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for K-12 grades. Calcasieu Parish students bring their

homework and are assisted in problem subjects by volunteer teachers.

Fundraiser’s goal to improve after-school education

By Lance Traweekltraweek@americanpress.com

McNeese’s College of Business has partnered with the SEED Center to host a Business Pitch Competition, which is open to all residents of Southwest Louisiana.

Pitches are due March 31. Finalists will have the

opportunity to present their pitch to a panel of judges, with the winner of each division receiving $1,000 of startup funding from the An-gels of Southwest Louisiana and a spot in the new SEED Center’s business incubator.

Dr. Keith Credo, who has been a faculty member in the McNeese College of Busi-ness since 2010, said he has been focusing on promoting the entrepreneurial spirit at McNeese via activities at the SEED Center such as the Business Pitch Competition.

Credo said that during a conversation with Adrian Wallace, the director of the business incubator at the SEED center, the idea for a business plan competition came up.

“We decided this would be a great way to encourage local entrepreneurs or even potential entrepreneurs to become actively involved at the SEED Center,” he said.

The Angels agreed to provide a total of $4,000 in prize money to the winners of the competition. McNeese and the SWLA Alliance have agreed to provide six months of access to the incuba-tor space in the new SEED Center Business Incubator, which is set to open in April.

To encourage more resi-dents of Southwest Louisi-ana to participate in the event, multiple categories were created, including one division that is open to all residents of the fi ve-parish area, another division spe-cifi cally for projects in the technical sector, one division for local college students, and a division for high schools students, the future of entrepreneurship.

“Some select fi nalists will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of local business ‘celebrity’ judges,” Credo said.

For an online application, visit https://app.pitchburn-er.com/site/mcneeseseed.

Ready, set,

pitch McNeese, SEED

competition welcomes

entrepreneurs

‘If we don’t invest in our kids today we’ll fail tomorrow because they are our future.’

Arthur JamesNew Covenant Faith Community Development Corp. vice president

Investing in the future

Lights out at Super Bowl

See FUTURE, A9

See NRA, A9

By The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan peace effort is fl oundering, fraught with mis-trust and confusion among key players even though the hard-line Taliban militants show signs of softening and their reclusive, one-eyed leader made a surprise offer

to share power in a post-war Afghanistan.

The U.S. and its allies hope the peace process, which began nearly two years ago, will gain traction before most international forces withdraw from the country in fewer than 23 months. But although the Taliban appear more ready to talk than ever before,

peace talks remain elusive because of infi ghting among a rising number of interlocu-tors — all trying to get some kind of negotiations started.

Members of the Taliban are in contact with represen-tatives from 30 to 40 differ-ent countries, according to senior U.S., Afghan and other offi cials The Associated Press

interviewed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the relationship among the key players — the U.S., Af-ghanistan and Pakistan — is marked by distrust that keeps tugging momentum away from the peace process.

Many of the offi cials spoke

Taliban peace talks flounder as troops draw down

See PEACE, A9

Associated PressFans sit in confused silence Sunday night in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans after the lights went out during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII game following Beyonce’s halftime show performance. For more on the game and the unexpected delay, see Page B1.

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