BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer Officials with Baton Rouge-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana decided to table a proposed deal to sell the health insurance firm to Elevance Health, less than 12 hours before state insurance regulators were set to begin a two-day hearing to determine the fate of the sale. Opposition to the deal had grown from doctors and hospitals. Representatives for both groups indicated the deal remains alive, however. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, will be among the 11 House Republicans who will have to persuade 67 U.S. senators to convict Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and remove him from office. The group will present the articles of impeachment to the Senate once the upper chamber returns to Washington on Feb. 26. Joey Roth, a 17-year-old from Baton Rouge, has raised about $3,000 for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank through the sales of cakes he creates in his home's kitchen. "It's the most gratifying thing I can do," Roth said. Read more about industrious teen's efforts. | 