Advocate staff photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNON Invitational practiceMcKinley Senior High School marching band director Frank Williams leads his students in practice Thursday. The band has been selected to participate in the Fifth Annual Major League Baseball Urban Invitational on Saturday at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The 60-piece band, the only band selected from Louisiana, will leave at 3 a.m to play at the invitational, which includes baseball teams from historically black colleges and universities.

Advocate Staff Photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCKRita Salman scouts edible weeds behind the Burden Conference Center earlier this week.

Advocate staff photo by Bill FeigEye of the elephantBozie the elephant keeps a close eye on a squirrel running along the top of the wall recently at BREC's Baton Rouge Zoo, which has seen record attendance in January due to unseasonably warm weather.

Advocate staff photo by Libby Isenhower Play ball LSU's Ryan Eades admires the new paint job atop the Tiger dugout as Tim Stephens puts on the finishing touches Tuesday afternoon. Workers have been preparing Alex Box Stadium for Friday's season-opening game.

Advocate staff photo by Adam LauGonzales police stationConstruction continues on the new Gonzales City Police Headquarters on Feb. 8. The $4.3 million project is a partnership between federal, state, parish and local governments. Gonzales funded $3.4 million from its capital outlay budget, Mayor Barney Arceneaux said, while Ascesnion Parish Government facilitated a $1 milliion Community Development Block Grant, Parish President Tommy Martinez said. When finished, it will nearly triple the amount of usable space for the Gonzales Police Department. Chief Sherman Jackson said the project broke ground in April, and should be wrapping up around June.

Advocate Staff Photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCK -- Freddie and Elnora Patterson pin slips of paper with the names of people who have lost their lives to gun violence onto a large wooden cutout of a heart Tuesday at 524 Brice St. The cutout will be on display through the end of the month.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER Lasting loveSurrounded by family, Norman and Norma Burmah accept gifts at the Governor's Mansion Tuesday afternoon. The Louisiana Family Forum, along with the first family, celebrated the couple's 81-year marriage on Valentine's Day. The Burmahs are the longest known married couple in the state.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG -- Students and parents look at displays Tuesday prior to judging for the Region VII Science and Engineering Fair in the LSU Student Union's Royal Cotillion Ballroom. The fair began Tuesday and continues Wednesday.

Advocate staff photo by ARTHUR D. LAUCKPaddling in the pink Nathaniel Hodges paddles back to shore with a captured flamingo Monday morning in City Park Lake. The flocking of the lake marks the upcoming Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade. The parade is at noon on Saturday.

LSU'S Anthony Hickey (1) hits the game winning shot at the end of overtime of LSU's 69-67 win over Mississippi State Tuesday night in the LSU Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWER University's Matthew Berg, left, heads the ball against Catholic-New Iberia's Zach Beck in a the Division III boys quarterfinal Tuesday at University High.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWERAll About Flowers owners Les Mut and Joe Boniol make Valentine's Day flower arrangements Monday afternoon at their shop on Perkins Road. Valentine's Day is the single busiest day for the business, resulting in about 200 orders, the owners said.

Advocate staff photo by Patrick DennisSouthern's Fredrick Coleman (31), center and Quinton Doggett (23) apply pressure as Mississippi Valley's Paul Crosby (32) takes a shot in the first half againt Mississippi Valley State on Monday in the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

Advocate staff photo by ADAM LAUWhen you're in kindergarten, Valentine's Day is all about like. And there's a bit of a like triangle going on in Barbara Longeway's class at Sharon Hills Elementary School where Willie Holliday, left, and Derrick Cavalier, right, both claim Jamya Weber as their girlfriend.

Marino Casem kisses his wife of 55 years, Betty, after they renewed their wedding vows with other couples Sunday in Cathedral of St. Joseph to celebrate World Marriage Day. Paula Gieron is seated back left.

Chelsea Ashford, right, Pennington Preventative Medicine research associate, checks the exercise form of Baton Rougeans, from left, Patricia Hadley, Rachel Redpath and her sister Sarah Redpath as they do 'standing crunches,' during a Pennington Fitness Center seminar at the Irene W. Pennington Wellness Day for Women. It was the first time the annual event offered exercise classes for participants.

Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling. Chosen at random to be 'Joe Bowler,' Maringouin's Floyd Patterson rolls the first ball at the opening of the 2012 U.S. Bowling Congress Open Championships. The event began its 151-day run Saturday in the Baton Rouge River Center. Patterson, an ExxonMobil Baton Rouge metals supervisor, was crowned and given a cape and scepter in the players' squad room, just before the opening ceremonies.

Advocate staff photo by Heather McClellandChildren vie for strands of colored beads being thrown by riders in the Krewe of Orion parade Saturday evening.

Advocate photo by Aaron E. LooneyAlfred Womble, high chief of the Cheyenne Indian Tribe of the Mardi Gras Indians, leads a second line Saturday in the Mall of Louisiana's Center Court as part of The Little Bookshelf's PowWOW event. Womble and other members of his tribe led the audience in song and explained the 200-plus year history of the New Orleans tradition, including how members of the tribe create their Mardi Gras costumes by hand each year.

Advocate staff photo by LIBBY ISENHOWERBaton Rouge Community College assistant baseball coach Rickey Brown helps Jase Davis, 6, learn how to catch a fly ball Saturday morning at the Baton Rouge Kids Baseball Clinic. Behind him, Max Gauthreaux, 12, and Baylor Barthelemy, 7, wait their turn to catch.

Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG LSU's Johnny O'Bryant III tries to control a rebound with Alabama's Ben Eblen (10), Nick Jacobs (15), left, and Rodney Cooper (21), trying to steal the ball Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.