The Acadiana Advocate 06-05-2025 by The Advocate

Lawmakers OK purchase of new voting system

New bidding process approved for Secretary of State’s Office

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Louisiana may finally be on track to replace its decades-old voting machines after years of controversies over how to do so.

The Louisiana Legislature gave the Secretary of State’s Office the green light to use a new bidding process to pick a company that will replace the more than 10,000 machines that ofﬁcials say are increasingly difﬁcult to keep functioning.

“Our machines are 35 years old, it’s impossible to ﬁnd parts, and they don’t produce an auditable paper record for each vote cast,” Secretary of State Nancy Landry told lawmakers on the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee last month.

BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer

After

“Our machines are 35 years old, it’s impossible to find parts, and they don’t produce an auditable paper record for each vote cast. To put it bluntly, we’re in a dire situation, and we need a new voting system soon.”

NANCy

LANDRy, Louisiana secretary of state

“To put it bluntly, we’re in a dire situation, and we need a new voting system soon,” she said.

Under House Bill 577, the ofﬁce, which runs elections, will be authorized to purchase a new voting system using a bidding process called “invitation to negotiate” rather than a standard public bid

process for state contracts.

The new process will hopefully allow the state to speed up how quickly it purchases a new voting system, Landry said.

But the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana says forgoing a public bidding process could lead to less transparency

“We just want to make sure that there will be something available for the public to see at the end of this process to understand why the Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce chose the vendor that it chose,” said PAR Research Director Melinda Deslatte.

“We’re not entirely certain yet if that information will be publicly available,” she added. “But we’re hopeful because the Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce has indicated

ä See VOTING, page 5A

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Lafayette and the state will swap ownership of parts of two major roadways in the city to facilitate Mayor-President Monique Boulet’s Johnston Street and Bertrand Drive redevelopment plans, with a caveat: the possible creation of an economic development district along Johnston Street with a special sales tax to pay for the work.

The City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to swap a stretch of Johnston Street and Bertrand Drive, which the state owns, with nearly 4 miles of Ambassador Caffery Parkway, which the city owns, between Johnston Street and Bertrand Drive.

In May, the council tabled the swap so Boulet’s staff could provide more information on her overall vision for the project.

The approval came after council member Andy Naquin won a concession: that the city consider creating an economic development district along Johnston Street between College Road and Ambassador Caffery Parkway and possibly along Bertrand Drive to help pay for the improvements.

The economic development district would be created and governed by City Council members who could impose an additional sales tax to be collected from customers who buy from businesses in the district, with the money to be set aside for a speciﬁc purpose.

The city already has several economic development districts, created in 2019, including in downtown and part of University Avenue. They collect a 2% hotel occupancy tax and a 1% sales tax, except Trappey’s economic development district, which collects 2% sales tax. Swapping the roadways is needed because the city is limited in

Street taxing district proposed ä See SWAP, page 4A

La. Republicans still support spending bill

Musk’s opposition prompts some in GOP to backtrack

regretted their vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Elon Musk called for throwing out GOP representatives for those votes. Musk, who ended his role over the weekend as President Donald Trump’s point man to

shrink the federal government, said the bill would add to the nation’s $36.2

Bankrupting America is

ä See SPENDING, page 5A

STAFF

S.F.-area leaders blast

plan to rename Milk ship

SAN FRANCISCO Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship, and especially during Pride Month, when people gather to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community

Milk is a revered ﬁgure in San Francisco history, a former city supervisor and gay rights advocate who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White.

He served for four years in the Navy during the Korean War, before he was forced out for being gay Milk later moved to San Francisco, where he became one of the ﬁrst out gay politicians in the world with his election to the Board of Supervisors in 1977.

Cleve Jones, a close friend and LGBTQ+ activist, dismissed the renaming as an attempt by the Trump administration to distract the American public from far more serious concerns, including the ongoing war in Gaza and looming cuts to Medicaid and Social Security

“Yes, this is cruel and petty and stupid, and yes, it’s an insult to my community,” Jones said.

“I would be willing to wager a considerable sum that American families sitting around that proverbial kitchen table this evening are not going to be talking about how much safer they feel now that Harvey’s name is going to be taken off that ship.”

The Pentagon has not conﬁrmed news of the renaming, a highly rare move, but unnamed ofﬁcials say the change was laid out in an internal memo. A new name has not yet been selected for the USNS Harvey Milk

Measles vaccination rates fall after pandemic

Childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data including in states that are battling outbreaks this year.

A Johns Hopkins University study, published in JAMA this week, illustrates where more vulnerable communities are located. The results mirror trends established at state and national levels: Routine childhood vaccination rates are dropping.

“When you look at the state level or national level you really don’t see those drastic drops. Those are there. They’re real and they’re really problematic,” said Lauren Gardner, an expert in infectious disease modeling at Johns Hopkins University who is the paper’s senior author.

Most of the measles cases in the U.S. this year — 1,088 nationally as of Friday — are in unvaccinated people It has been spreading among communities due to international and domestic travel. Three people have died from measles during this year’s outbreaks, and 2025 is inching closer to becoming the worst for measles in more than three decades.

Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, and the vaccine is safe and highly effective. Public schools nationwide require two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine before kindergarten, but the number of children with nonmedical exemptions from those requirements hit an all-time high in the 2023-24 school year Health experts say community-level vaccination needs to be at 95% or higher to prevent outbreaks.

The Johns Hopkins study looked at 2,066 counties across 33 states, comparing kindergarten vaccination rates averaged over school years from 201720 to averages from 2022-24. Where kindergarten data wasn’t available, the researchers used a comparable rate.

CORRECTION

A story on Wednesday incorrectly said that only state Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Golden Meadow, opposed Senate Bill 244 on Tuesday in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee. State Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, also opposed the bill. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune regrets the error

U.S. vetoes U.N.’s Gaza resolution

Call for ceasefire wasn’t linked to release of hostages

BY EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS The United States on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceaseﬁre in Gaza because it was not linked to the release of hostages.

The resolution before the U.N.’s most powerful body also did not condemn Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel on Oct 7, 2023, which ignited the war, or say the militant group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza — two other U.S. demands.

The 14 other members of the 15-nation council voted in favor of the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and called on Israel to lift all restrictions on the

delivery of aid to the 2.1 million Palestinians in the territory

Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea, speaking to the council immediately before the vote, said the resolution would undermine the security of Israel, a close U.S. ally, and diplomatic efforts to reach a ceaseﬁre “that reﬂects the realities on the ground,” while emboldening Hamas.

The Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour has said that supporters plan to go to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly next week with a similar resolution focused on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. There are no vetoes in the General Assembly Unlike in the Security Council, its resolutions are not legally binding, but instead are seen as a measure of world opinion.

Pakistan’s Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad condemned the U.S. veto: “It will be remembered as a complicity, a green light for continued annihilation A moment where the entire world was expecting action But yet again, this

council was blocked and prevented by one member from carrying out its responsibility.”

The U.S. vetoed the last Security Council resolution on Gaza in November, under the Biden administration, also because the ceaseﬁre demand was not directly linked to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Similarly, the current resolution demands those taken by Hamas and other groups be released, but it does not make it a condition for a truce.

President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to ramp up its efforts to broker peace in Gaza after 20 months of war However, Hamas has sought amendments to a U.S. proposal that special envoy Steve Witkoff has called “totally unacceptable.”

The vote followed a decision by an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation to pause food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health ofﬁcials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israel and the United

Judge halts deportation of attack suspect’s family

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN, JESSE BEDAYN and REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

BOULDER, Colo. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to immediately halt deportation proceedings against the family of a man charged in the firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, to ensure the protection of the family’s constitutional rights.

they provided support to it,” Noem said in a statement.

Noem also said federal authorities would immediately crack down on people who overstay their visas, following the Boulder attack.

By The Associated Press

States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid previously distributed by the U.N.

The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis, allows Israel to use aid as a weapon and doesn’t comply with the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. The U.N. says its distribution system throughout Gaza worked very well during the March ceasefire and is carefully monitored.

The resolution demanded the restoration of all essential humanitarian services in line with humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement Wednesday He called for a ﬂood of aid to be let in and for the world body to be the one delivering it.

LOS ANGELES Federal authorities arrested a man they say collaborated with the bomber of a fertility clinic in May, alleging that he supplied chemicals used to make explosives and traveled to California to experiment with them in the bomber’s garage months before the attack.

The two men connected in fringe online forums over their shared beliefs against human procreation, authorities told reporters Wednesday The blast gutted the fertility clinic in Palm Springs and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, with officials calling the attack terrorism and possibly the largest bomb scene ever in Southern California. The clinic was closed, and no embryos were damaged.

Guy Edward Bartkus of California, the bomber, died in the May 17 explosion. Authorities arrested collaborator Daniel Park, 32, of Washington state

on Tuesday after he was extradited from Poland, where he ﬂed to four days after the attack. Park spent years stocking up on ammonium nitrate, a chemical that can be used to make explosives, before shipping it to Bartkus and later visiting him in Twentynine Palms, California He stayed for about two weeks earlier this year and the two conducted bomb-making experiments in the detached garage of Bartkus’ family home, said Akil Davis, the FBI’s assistant director in charge. Park, 32, was taken into custody at New York’s John F Kennedy Airport, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told reporters. He appeared in federal court Wednesday in Brooklyn and, through his lawyer, waived his right to a detention hearing in New York. Judge Cheryl Pollak ordered him to remain detained, saying he posed a serious risk. He will be sent to California.

U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the wife and ﬁve children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who are Egyptian, to block their deportation U.S. immigration officials took the family into custody Tuesday.

“The court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents,” Gallagher wrote.

Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in the attack in downtown Boulder on Sunday Witnesses say he threw two Molotov cocktails at a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and he confessed to the attack in custody His family members have not been charged.

Federal authorities have said Soliman has been living in the U.S. illegally, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier Wednesday that the family was being processed for removal. It’s rare that a criminal suspect’s family members are detained and threatened with deportation.

Eric Lee, one of the attorney’s representing the family, said efforts to deport them should not happen in a democracy

“The punishment of a 4-year-old child for something their parent allegedly did, who also has a presumption of innocence, is something that should outrage Americans regardless of their citizenship status,” he said.

Defendant’s family investigated

Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, a 17-year-old daughter, two minor sons and two minor daughters all are Egyptian citizens, according to El Gamal’s lawsuit. They were being held at an immigration detention center in Texas, Lee said.

“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if

Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his planned attack, according to court documents. El Gamal said she was “shocked” to learn her husband had been arrested in the attack, according to her lawsuit Victims increase to 15 people, dog

Earlier Wednesday, authorities raised the number of people injured in the attack from 12 to 15, plus a dog.

Boulder County officials said in a news release that the victims include eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88. Details about how the victims were impacted would be explained in criminal charges set to be ﬁled Thursday, according to Boulder County District Attorney’s ofﬁce spokesperson Shannon Carbone.

Soliman had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday’s demonstration at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling “Free Palestine,” police said. Soliman didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an afﬁdavit.

According to an FBI afﬁdavit, Soliman told police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people” — a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack. The family’s immigration status Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, Soliman spent 17 years in Kuwait, according to court documents.

Soliman arrived in the U.S. in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X. She said Soliman ﬁled for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that has also expired.

Soliman’s wife was born in Saudi Arabia and is an Egyptian national, according to her lawsuit. She is a network engineer and has a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, the suit said. She and her children all are listed as dependents on Soliman’s asylum application.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID ZALUBOWSKI

A visitor offers a tribute after leaving a bouquet of flowers at a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colo., courthouse as a light rain falls Tuesday in Boulder, Colo.

Soliman

Analysis:Tax bill will add$2.4T to deficit

CBOalsosays

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

uct to his desk to become law by the Fourth of July.The House passed the bill last month by asingle vote, but it’snow sloggingthrough the Senate, where Republicanswanta numberofsigniﬁcant changes

Andthe politicsare only intensifying

on, including no taxes on tips, it found that thepackagewould reduce federal spending outlays by nearly $1.3trillion, largely through proposedreductions to Medicaid and rollbacks of green energy initiatives.

morepeople under the program

10.9 millionwould lose health insurance Schumer

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump’sbig bill in Congress would unleash trillions in tax cuts and slash spending, but alsospike deﬁcits by $2.4 trillion overthe decade and leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance, raising the political stakesfor the GOP’ssignature domesticpriority Republican leadersinCongress, determined to musclethe sweeping package forward, had little to say after the analysis released Wednesday by thenonpartisan CongressionalBudget Office GOP senators were headingfor an afternoon meeting with Trump at the White House.

But Democrats laboring to halt the march of Trump’sOne Big Beautiful Bill Act piled on withrelentless opposition.

“In the words of Elon Musk,this bill is a‘disgusting abomination,’ said Rep. Brendan BoyleofPennsylvania, the top Democratonthe HouseBudget Committee,reviving the billionaire former Trump aide’scriticism of the package.

The analysis comes at acrucial moment as Trump is pushing Congress, whereRepublicans have majority control, to send the ﬁnal prod-

After Musk blindsided Congress with his all-out assaultagainst the bill this week,HouseSpeaker Mike Johnsonrushed to do damage control.

TheGOP speaker saidhecalled Musk to discussthe criticism leveled late Tuesday,but hadnot heard back. Muskhas threatened to use his politicalapparatustogoafter Republicans in themidterm elections.“Ihope he comes around,” Johnson,R-Benton, toldreporters.

Hourslater,Musk, whosebusiness interests could be impacted by green energy rollbacks in the bill, implored voterstocall their representatives and senators: “Bankrupting America is NOT ok!” he wrote on social media, “KILL the BILL.”

Taxbreaks, cuts to health care

The work of theCBO, which for decades has servedasthe ofﬁcial scorekeeper of legislationin Congress, is closely watched by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-plus-page package.

Along with $3.75 trilliontoextend the 2017 taxbreaksand add the new ones Trump campaigned

Some 7.8 millionpeople would no longer have healthinsurance withchanges to Medicaid, including 5.2 million from the proposed newwork requirements on those able-bodied adultsuptoage 65, withsome exceptions, according to theanalysis.

As part of those Medicaid changes,1.4 million people whoare in the United States without legal statusinstate-funded health programs wouldnolongerhavecoverage. Also, some 400,000 would lose coverage from the termination of amedical provider taxthat key Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, wanttokeep in place to ensure ruralhospitals can keep paying their bills.

Republicans argue that their proposals are intended tostrengthen Medicaidand other programs by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. They want thefederal funding to go to thosewho mostneed health care andother services, often citing women and children.

But Senate Democratic Leader ChuckSchumer said those claims are bogus andare simply part of long-running GOPefforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as most states have expanded Medicaid to serve

“They just want to strangle he alth care,” Schumer said. Additionally,the CBOhad previously estimated that nearly 4million fewer people would have food st am ps eac h monthdue to the legislation’sproposed changes to theSupplementalNutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP Somewould see their beneﬁts reduced by about $15 by 2034, the CBO has said.

decade, the overall package actually doesn’tpile onto thedeficit. He argued that the spending cuts alone, in fact, help reduce deficits by $1.4 trillion over the decade. But Democrats and even some Republicanscallthat“current policy” accounting moveagimmick, but it’sthe approach Senate Republicans intend to use during their consideration of the packagetotry to show it does notadd to the nation’sdeficits. Vought argued that the CBO is the one using a“gimmick” by tallying the costs of continuing those tax breaks that would otherwise expire.

Republicanscriticize theCBO Ahead of the CBO’srelease, the WhiteHouse and Republican leaders criticized the budget ofﬁce in a preemptive campaign designed to sowdoubt in its ﬁndings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was “flat wrong” because it underestimated thepotentialrevenue growth from Trump’s ﬁrst round of taxbreaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were$1.5 trillion, or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the“burstofhigh inflation” during theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

White House BudgetDirector Russ Vought said when you adjust for “current policy,” which means notcounting some $4.5 trillionin existing taxbreaks that are simply being extended for the next

“Russ is right,” Johnsonposted on social media. “Our One Big Beautiful Bill will REDUCE the deﬁcitWHILEdelivering on the mandate given to us by the American people. Let’sget it done!” White House press secretary

Karoline Leavitt has also suggested that the CBO’semployees are biased, even though certainbudget ofﬁce workers face strict ethical rules—including restrictions on campaign donations and political activity —toensure objectivity and impartiality Now in its50th year,the CBO wasestablishedbylaw after Congress sought to assert its control, as outlined in the Constitution, over the budget process.

Itscurrent director,Phillip Swagel, aformer Treasury ofﬁcial in Republican President George W. Bush’sadministration, was reappointed to afour-year term in 2023.

TrumpsaysPutin told himRussiawillrespond to Ukrainianattack

BY HANNA ARHIROVA and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press

WASHINGTON U.S. Presi-

dent DonaldTrumpsaidthat

Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in aphone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’sweekend drone attack on Russian airfieldsasthe deadloc k over the war drags on and Ukrainian Pres ident Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismisses Russia’ s ceasefi re proposal.

The U.S. president said in asocial media post that his lengthy call with Putin “was agood conversation, but not aconversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

It’sthe first time Trump has weighed in on Ukraine’s daring attack inside Russia. TheU.S.did nothave advance notice of the operation, according to the White House,a point Trump emphasized during the call with Putin, according to aPutin’s foreign affairs adviser

The U.S. has led arecent diplomatic push to stop the full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Trump, in his social media

post,did notsay howhereacted to Putin’spromise to respond to Ukraine’sattack, but his postshowed none of thefrustration that Trump has expressed with his Russian counterpartinrecent weeksoverhis prolonging of thewar Yuri Ushakov,Putin’s foreignaffairs adviser,saidat abrieﬁng that the twoleaders characterized thecall as “positiveand quite productive,” and reafﬁrmed their readiness to stay in touch.

Zelenskyy later said in a post on socialmedia: “Many have spoken withRussia at various levels.But none of these talks have brought areliablepeace, or even stoppedthe war. Unfortunately,Putin feels impunity.”

The Ukrainian leader urged more pressure to be put onRussia andsaidthat Putin’s plannedresponse “means,thatwith everynew strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the ﬁnger to the entireworld to allthose who stillhesitate to increasepressureonit.”

Trump repeatedly promised to end thewar quickly, and even saidhewouldaccomplish itbefore he was sworn in. But he lost patience with Putin in recent weeks, publicly pleading with him to stopfighting and even said late last month that the Russianleader “has gone absolutely CRAZY.”

Trump, however,has not committedtobacking abipartisan pushtosanction Putin

Zelenskyybrushes offplan

The Ukrainian leader earlierWednesday dismissed Russia’s ceasefire plan as “an ultimatum” and re-

newedhis call for direct talks with Putin to break thestalemate over thewar whichhas draggedonfor nearly 31/2 years.

Putin, however, showed no willingness to meet with Zelenskyy,expressing anger Wednesday about what he said wereUkraine’s recent “terrorist acts” on Russian rail linesinthe Kursk and Bryansk regions on the countries’ border

“How can any such (summit) meetings be conducted in such circumstances? What shall we talk about?” Putin asked in avideocall with top Russian ofﬁcials.

Putinaccused Ukraine of seeking atruce only to replenishits stockpilesof Western arms, recruit more soldiers and prepare new attackslike those in Kursk and Bryansk.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged memorandums setting out their conditions for aceasefire fordiscussion at Monday’sdirect peace talks between delegations in Istanbul. Zelenskyy had previously challenged Putin to meet himinTurkey, but Putin stayed away Russia and Ukraine have established redlines that make aquick deal unlikely, despite aU.S.-ledinternational diplomatic push to stop the ﬁghting. The Kremlin’sIstanbulproposalcontained alist of demands that Kyiv andits Western allies see as nonstarters.

Zelenskyy saidthatthe secondround of talks in Istanbul was no different from the ﬁrst meetingonMay 16. Zelenskyy described thelatestnegotiationsinIstanbul as “a political performance” and “artificial diplomacy”

designed to stall for time, delay sanctions andconvincethe United States that Russiaisengagedindialogue.

Zelenskyy said he wantsa ceaseﬁre with Russia before apossiblesummitmeeting with Putin, possibly also includingTrump, in an effort to remove obstaclestoa peace settlement. More detailsabout attack Asecondround of peace talks on Mondaybetween Russian andUkrainiandelegations in Istanbul lasted just over an hour and made no

progress on ending the war. They agreed only to swap thousands of their dead and seriously woundedtroops.

Also,anew prisoner exchange with Russia could take place over the weekend, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s Security Service gave more details Wednesdayabout its spectacular weekend drone strike on Russian air bases, which it claimeddestroyedordamaged 41 Russian aircraft, including strategic bombers.

The agency released more footageshowing drones swooping under and over

parked aircraft and featuring some planesburning. It also claimed the planes struck included A-50,Tu-95, Tu-22, Tu-160, An-12, and Il-78aircraft, adding that thedroneshad highly automated capabilities and were partly piloted by an operator and partly by using artiﬁcial intelligence which ﬂew the drone along aplanned route in the event it lost signal. The drones werenot fully autonomous and a“humanis still choosing what target to hit,” said Caitlin Lee, adrone warfare expert at RAND, a think thank.

BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI and LINDSAYWHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON Afederal judge ruled on Wednesday that theTrump administration must give more than 100 migrants sent to anotorious prison in El Salvador achance to challenge their deportations.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg said that people who were sentto the prison in March under an 18th-century wartime law haven’tbeen able to formally contest the removals or allegations that they are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He ordered the administration to worktoward givingthema way to ﬁle those challenges. The judge wrote that “signiﬁcant evidence” has surfaced indicating that many of the migrants imprisoned

in El Salvador are notconnected to thegang“and thus languishinaforeign prison on ﬂimsy,even frivolous,accusations.”

Boasberg gavethe administration one week tocome up with amanner in which the “at least 137” people can make those claims, even while they’reformally in the custody of El Salvador It’sthe latestmilestone in the legalsaga over the fate of deportees imprisoned at El Salvador’snotoriousTerrorism Conﬁnement Center After Trump invokedthe AlienEnemies Act of 1798 in March and prepared to fly planeloadsofaccused gang members to El Salvador andout ofthe jurisdictionofU.S. courts, Boasberg ordered them to turnthe planesaround. This demand was ignored. Boasberg has found probably cause that theadministration commit-

ted contemptofcourt after the ﬂight landed.

The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that anyone targeted under the AEAhas the right to appeal to ajudge to contest their designation as an enemy of the state. Boasberg, in his latest, ruling wrotethat he was simply applying that principle to those who’d been removed.

Boasberg said theadministration “plainly deprived” the immigrantsofachance to challenge their removals before they were put on flights. Therefore, he says the government must handlethe migrants casesnow as if they“would havebeen if theGovernment had not providedconstitutionally inadequate process.”

Trump has repeatedly said it’d be impossible to protect thecountry from dangerous immigrants if eachone has his or her day in court

Trump Putin

Zelenskyy

MAHA legislation gets final approval

Nutrition reform targets include school lunches, soft drinks, seed oils

BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer

Louisiana is set to usher in a series of nutrition reforms following the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 14, a sweeping initiative to reshape how schools, food manufacturers and restaurants address nutrition and ingredient transparency The bill, which no longer includes a provision to remove soft drinks from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneﬁts, now heads to Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk for signature after the Senate concurred with House amendments Tuesday

Louisiana joins several other states, including West Virginia, Utah, Texas, Idaho and Michigan, that have recently passed laws aligned with the initiative dubbed “Make America Healthy Again,” championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr

During ﬂoor debates in May, Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, shared his personal motivation behind sponsoring the legislation.

WEATHER

Continued from

some of the neediest

in the U.S., which records show include at least one in Louisiana.

The move comes after the administration made sweeping cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving nearly half the weather service’s 122 local

ofﬁces with vacancy rates of more than 20% by early April, according to data collected by The Associated Press

Some ofﬁces were so shortstaffed they were forced to cut down on weather balloon launches and overnight stafﬁng, leading meteorologists and researchers across the county to voice concerns about the nation’s weather forecasting capabilities, particularly during natural disasters and the current hurricane season, which is expected to bring aboveaverage activity

Weather service spokesperson Erica Grow Cei said the eligible positions include jobs that were “deemed critical to fulﬁll the NWS’s mission of saving lives, protecting property and enhancing the national economy.” But she did not specify what positions would be ﬁlled or where they were located Grow Cei said advertisements for the open jobs will be posted soon.

The weather service is also in the process of issuing reassignment opportunity notices and short-term temporary duty assignments

He said he began teaching himself about wellness after his wife faced health problems and was diagnosed as prediabetic, a condition marked by elevated blood sugar levels and an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

“That led me down the rabbit hole reading books, listening to podcasts, talking to dietitians and professionals really educating myself on the effects of ultra-processed food,” McMath said in May

The bill was crafted with input from Casey Means, a physician and wellness influencer who is the Trump administration’s pick for surgeon general, McMath said in an interview He views it as a broader step toward a shift in how the country approaches health, prioritizing nutrition, prevention and personal responsibility

“We need to send a message to the nation that Louisiana is serious about our personal health outcomes,” he said The bill includes four major parts.

School breakfast and lunch

Starting in the 2027-28 school year, schools in Louisiana would not be allowed to serve certain artificial colors and additives in breakfasts and lunches. Examples include Red 40, Yellow 5 and Blue 1, which are used in things like candy and colorful drinks. Other

JAy GRyMES, Louisiana

to fill vacant positions at offices across the country with “the greatest needs,” Grow Cei said. Both enable current employees to voluntarily transfer to lateral positions in ofﬁces across the U.S. without a formal hiring process.

The new hires are allowed under an exemption to President Donald Trump’s governmentwide hiring freeze, and was granted to “stabilize front-line operations,” she said.

Louisiana State Climatologist Jay Grymes said the new hires represent only about a ﬁfth of the positions lost, and the process could take weeks or months. He also said the Trump administration’s cuts go “beyond people,” including reductions in climate research and satellite system funding.

“Not all climate research is fossil-fuel focused,” he said. “Long-range tropical outlooks like preseason forecasts, for example, are largely climate modeling efforts, not solely meteorology And satellites? They are our eyes and ears for the atmosphere.”

Tom Fahy the legislative director for the union that represents weather service employees, said the agency

2025 LEGISLATURE

banned ingredients, like BHA and BHT, are preservatives found in cereals and snacks. Schools also have to make sure that at least 20% of the food they buy comes from Louisiana farms. The ingredient ban does not apply to after-school snacks or concession stands.

Ingredient disclosure QR codes

Food manufacturers selling products in Louisiana must include a QR code on packages if their products contain certain artiﬁcial ingredients. For example, sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose (found in diet sodas and sugar-free foods), azodicarbonamide (used in some breads) and titanium dioxide (used in white frostings and candies) all need to be disclosed. The QR code will lead to a webpage with information about the ingredients and a warning that they could be harmful. This rule would start in 2028.

Seed oil signage in restaurants

Restaurants and food businesses using seed oils like canola, soybean, corn and sunﬂower oils commonly used in cooking and frying will have to ﬂag it on the menu or somewhere else visible to cus-

lost about 600 employees to the cuts, including roughly 100 probationary employees who were terminated, 300 who retired early and another 200 who resigned after accepting buyout deals.

The weather service is now looking to hire meteorologists, physical scientists and the electronic technicians who take care of weather radars and other sensitive equipment, Fahy said.

While it’s unclear where it will place its new permanent hires and which former employees will be eligible, Fahy said he expects they’ll go to the most severely understaffed weather forecasting ofﬁces Those include ofﬁces in Sacramento and Hanford, California; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Goodland, Kansas; Jackson, Kentucky; and Fairbanks, Alaska; some of which have halted overnight operations, Fahy said.

“These six ofﬁces are the most critical in the country,” he said.

A handful of other ofﬁces across the U.S. face serious shortages as well, including in Lake Charles, where Fahy said stafﬁng is among the most severely stretched in Louisiana.. As of Wednesday, Fahy said seven of 24 total positions were vacant in

tomers. The new rule is set for 2028.

Continuing education rules

Physician, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology must complete a minimum of one hour of training on nutrition and metabolic health every two years. This requirement will begin Jan. 1.

The original version of the bill also called for Louisiana to seek a federal waiver to ban soft drinks from SNAP purchases. That provision was removed through a Senate amendment. However, the governor had already issued an executive order directing that soda and candy be excluded from SNAP beneﬁts.

Though the bill passed unanimously in both chambers, some have voiced concerns about its narrow focus on specific additives rather than broader dietary quality Sen. Jay Luneau — with a red Gatorade and box of Skittles in hand to demonstrate his point — said during a committee meeting in April that there should be a more comprehensive approach to public health that includes looking at environmental factors and the cost of food.

“If I go to a fast food place and I pull up there and order a combo

Lake Charles, a city that is no stranger to major natural disasters.

At least four longtime meteorologists, each with more than 30 years of weather forecasting experience, retired from the Lake Charles ofﬁce in April, including meteorologist in charge Roger Erickson. Fahy said Lake Charles also lost one other meteorologist, a technician and a managerial electronics position.

Stephen Carboni, now the acting meteorologist in charge, did not respond to an email requesting comment. Reassignment opportunity notiﬁcations for three positions in the Lake Charles

meal, it’s $6, $7. If I get a salad, it’s $12,” said Luneau, D-Alexandria. “We have to do something about that if we’re going to propose this kind of stuff.”

Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, expressed concern on the Senate ﬂoor ahead of the initial passage that the bill was driven more by political momentum than scientiﬁc consensus before it passed in the Senate.

“With all due respect to Robert Kennedy, I’m sure he has a lot of good ideas, but there’s a lot of political momentum and I’m concerned we’re going to make policy based on that,” Morris said.

Nutrition experts have said that seed oils are in fact healthier than alternatives such as lard or butter

McMath said negotiations with manufacturers, schools and restaurants focused heavily on timelines to make implementation feasible. Already, he said, the planned chaos the new rules will cause in the food system are making waves.

“PepsiCo has announced they’re phasing out certain ingredients, the (Food and Drug Administration) is removing dyes, and some fast-food chains are starting to move back to beef tallow,” McMath said. “It’s shifting.”

Landry has supported the bill and suggested on social media that Kennedy will be present for a signing ceremony

office closed on May 27, according to records provided by Mike Buchanan, lead meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service New Orleans. Fahy said that means those positions — two lead meteorologists and a meteorologist in charge — will likely soon be staffed, though he called the transfers a “temporary solution” to aid struggling offices. Several reassignment notifications also closed in offices across the U.S., including in Texas, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia.

The New Orleans office, however, was largely spared from cuts. Buchanan said Tuesday that stafﬁng at his

ofﬁce had not changed since he arrived in December, with 25 of 27 jobs ﬁlled. While Buchanan said all of New Orleans’ 14 weather forecasting positions are filled, it is down a science and operations officer and an administrative support assistant.

The National Hurricane Center, which tracks the Atlantic hurricanes that so often reach the Gulf Coast was also largely unscathed by broader cuts to NOAA, according to The Associated Press.

Email Kasey Bubnash at kasey.bubnash@ theadvocate.com.

Continued from page 1A

that they expect this to be a transparent process.”

The full Senate on Monday passed the measure on a37-1 vote after the House earlier this month approved it without asingle objection

The legislation now goes to the governor’sdesk for signature.

Landry hopestohave a contract for the new voting system ﬁnalized by theend of 2025 and begin a“phasedin implementation” of the new system in 2026,said Secretary of State’sOffice spokesperson Joel Watson Under legislationpassed

SPENDING

Continued from page1A

NOTok! KILL the BILL.”

“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote.

Some took that as the billionaire’sthreattoGOP Housemembers whobacked theinstrument,which includes much of Trump’s domestic agenda. That includes more money for border security and tax breaks, paid for partially with deep cuts inMedicaid and food stamps.

“With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big,beautiful bill,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, who added that he had tried talking with Musk after the criticisms werepublished.

“I called Elon last night and he didn’tanswer,but Ihope to talk to him today,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday.“Ihope he comesaround.

Musk had been head of what Trump called the Department of Government Efﬁciency,orDOGE, whichfired nearly 60,000 federal employees, offered early retirements to 76,000 more and targeted another 149,000 for layoffs in the future.The federalgovernment had about 2.1 million employees nationwide.

With narrow majorities in the House andSenate, Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the two LSU alumni who lead the lower chamber,relied on thereconciliation process to stuff Trump’scampaign promises into asingle bill and thereby win passagewithout Democratic involvement.

The bill would, over the next decade, add $2.4 trillion to the government’s debt andleave 10.9 million people without health insurance, according to the CongressionalBudgetOffice analysisreleased Wednesday morning. The legislation cutsspending by $1.3 trillion butrevenue would fall by $3.7 trillion, posited CBO, the arm of Congress tasked with estimating ﬁnancialimpacts of bills under congressional consideration.

In the face of growing disenchantment among some Republicans as the legislation begins its review in

in 2021, the Secretary of State’sOffice must first certify that any voting machines tobeconsidered in the procurement process comply with standardsset out in state law.Bidding can then begin after certification. Under theinvitation to negotiate procedure in HB577, the stateinvites vendorsto submitcompetitivesealed responses as astarting point for negotiations. It is then empowered toselect which vendors it wants to continue negotiations with. In contrast, with astandard request for proposal, thestate first defines detailedparameters of the product or service it needs and then solicits bidsto

meet thosespecs.

Bill sponsor Rep.Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville, said invitation to negotiate gives the secretaryofstate the chance “to discuss with vendors their ability to provide needed and expected services,” and it gives thestate morebargaining power in negotiations before making an award.

Deshotel toldlawmakers on the Senate committee the concept is designedfor large IT procurement.He sponsoredlegislation last year that added the new bidding processtothe list of procurement methods authorized under state law

“Invitationtonegotiation is apublic bid process,” Landrysaid. “It’sjust more

ﬂexible. …Itallows you to exchange more information than(arequest for proposals) does.”

The legislation also sets outanexpedited timeline for anylegal contestorappealthatarises relatedto the eventual voting system contract award.

“Wecan’t afford forthat litigation to take years,” Landrytold lawmakerslast month

Previous efforts to replace thevoting system have stumbled at multiple juncturesinthe faceofbidrigging allegations.

Andin2021, amid false claims of widespread voter fraud during the2020 presidentialelection,state lawmakersadded additional

requirementstoLouisiana’s voting system procurement effort. Those included the creation of aVoting System Commission and aVoting System Proposal Evaluation Committee, the latter of which is requiredto“investigate and publicly test the voting systems” that are part of the bidding process and recommend aselection to the secretary of state.

“This bill does nothing to remove public input or transparency in the procurementprocess,” Landrysaid of this year’sHouse Bill 577.

Deslatte said PARrecognizes the challenges Landry faces in light of previous litigation over voting system contracts, and the orga-

the U.S. Senate, Johnson, and Scalise, R-Jefferson, avoided veiledthreats but defended thelegislation.

Both said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose shorthand now is OBBBA, would jump-start theeconomy,leadingtomore government revenuesand lower taxes

Scalise criticized theCBO, arguingthatthe nonpartisan agency miscalculates the amountofeconomic growth thatwill come from lower taxes, lower spending, and reduced regulations.

“When this bill is passed andsigned into law,hopefully by July Fourth, when theSenate does their work, you’re going to see economic growth in this countrylike we haven’tseen in generations, meaningmorepay in the pocketsofworkers. And you’regoingtosee more Treasury money coming in because of thegrowthinthe American economy,”Scalise told reporters Wednesday Theother Republicans in Louisiana’sdelegation also stuck by the bill.

“Thisisustrying toget theeconomyback on track, Rep. Julia Letlow,R-Start, toldBrian Haldane on Talk 107.3 FMinBaton Rouge Wednesday morning.“It is my hope that we will all stick together.”

Lafayette Rep. ClayHig-

gins, R-Lafayette, was less forgiving.

Though he initially opposed the instrument, Higgins backed the bill after meeting withotherarchconservatives in theWhite House lessthan 18 hours before the ﬂoor vote.

Higgins focused on GOP senators, likeSen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky,who have raised similar concernsas Musk.

He wrote on Xthatwayward Senate Republicans are “lost in their wealth, suffering through the cocktailparties and fundraisers.”

He continued: “Weare watching. FAFO.”

That’sareference to military slang for “f*** around, ﬁnd out.”

Aftertwo all-night sessions, during which the terms of the bill constantly changed as Johnson and

Scalise pursued “yes” votes, House Republicansadvanced the1,037-page bill by asingle vote shortly after the sun roseMay 22. They then boarded planes for a week off —only for someto find constituents question-

ing this or that provision tuckedinthe wording by House leadership in order to persuade enough Republicans to back the measure.

For instance, MAGA ﬁrebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, admit-

nization plans to monitor the current effort.

“This contract is going to be worth alot of money,” she said, adding that any replacement voting system is “crucialtomakingsure election functions in this state.”

Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia,a member of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, pressed Landry formore than ahalfhour,asking thesecretary of state to promise that the Legislature would have “full oversight” of the entire process. “It’sextremely important to the public,” Miguez said. Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse pfeil@theadvocate.com.

ted she voted yes without having read the bill. Aprovision took away state authority to regulate artiﬁcial intelligence,which shesaid would have caused her to vote no.

“Full transparency,I did notknowabout this section, Greene wrote on X, adding the provisionviolates states’ rights.“This needs to be strippedout in theSenate. When the OBBB(A) comes back to the House for approval after Senate changes, Iwill notvote foritwiththis in it.”

New Orleans Rep. Troy Carter was unsympathetic.

“I just have one thing to say —read the damn bill next time,” said Carter,aDemocrat who votedagainst the legislation. “I wholeheartedly agreewithElonMusk that Trump’sbogus bill is a ‘disgusting abomination.’”

“They wantedtorush it through andeventheir own members didn’tknow what was in it,and nowthey’re having second thoughts,” saidRep.CleoFields, aBaton Rouge Democratwho votedagainst OBBBA and remains against it. “I would hope the Senate would go through it methodically and break it up intoasmany bills as theydesire and then theHouse candealwith each bill.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO By BEN CURTIS

Rep. ClayHiggins, R-Lafayette, right, supports the spending bill passed by the House and said in apost on Xthat wayward Senate Republicans are ‘lost in their wealth, suffering throughthe cocktail parties and fundraisers.’

Shown

Canadian fires’ smoke hangsoverMidwest

BY PATRICK WHITTLE and STEVE KARNOWSKI

Associated Press

PORTLAND,Maine Smokefrom Canadian wildﬁres worsened air quality in the eastern U.S. on Wednesday as severalMidwestern states battled conditions deemedunhealthy by the federal government

The ﬁres have forced thousands of Canadians to ﬂee their homes andsent smokeas far as Europe.

In the U.S., smoke lingered on the skylines of cities from Kansas CitytoMinneapolis, and aswath of the region had unhealthyair quality Wednesday,according to an Environmental Protection Agency map

In Stoughton, Wisconsin, Nature’sGarden Preschool was keeping its kids indoors Wednesday due to the badair quality,which interferes with the daily routine,said assistant teacher Bailey Pollard. The smoke looked like acoming storm, he said The 16 or 17 kids ages 12 weeksto5 years oldwould typically be outdoors running or playingwithwater,balls andslides, but were instead inside doing crafts with PlayDohorcoloring.The situationwas unfortunate because kids need to be outside and have fresh air and free play,Pollard said. “It’s somethingwherewe’ve got to take precaution for the kids,”hesaid. “Nobody wants to stay inside all day.” Iowa issued astatewide airquality alert through early Thursday,urging residents to limit certain outdoor activities andwarning of possiblehealth effects duetothe thick smoke. Wisconsin officials made similar suggestions as the smoke drifted southeast across the state

In Michigan’sUpper Peninsula, authorities advised people shut windows at night avoid strenuous activity outside andwatch for breathing issues.

Parts of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire andNew York had areas ofmoderateair quality concern,and ofﬁcials advised sensitive people to considerreducing outdoor activity

Unhealthyconditionspersist

The Minnesota PollutionControlAgency issued an alert for almost the entire state into Wednesday,but the Twin Citiesareagot theregion’sworst of it Tuesday Children’sMinnesota, anetwork of pediatric clinics and hospitals in the Twin Cities area, has seen a“modest increase” increase this week in patients with symptoms that doctors attributee to polluted air,Dr. Chase Shutak said. Their symptomshave included breathing problems, includingasthma and other upper respiratory issues, said Shutak, whostaysin close touch with other pediatricians in his role as medical director of theMinneapolis

primary care clinic at Children’s.

The Iowa DepartmentofNatural Resources warned that air quality in abandfrom thestate’s southwest cornertothe northeast could fall into the unhealthy category through Thursdaymorning. Theagency recommended that people —especially those with heart and lung disease —avoid long or intense activities and to take extra breaks during strenuous activity outdoors.

Conditions at ground levelare in thered

The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow map showed aswath of red for “unhealthy” conditions across Wisconsin and northern Iowa. Conditions in northern Michiganalso reflectedmany unhealthy zones. The AirQualityIndex was around 160inmany parts of theupper Midwest, indicating poor conditions.

TheAir Quality Index ,orAQI, measures howclean or polluted the air is, indicating which health effects might be experienced within afew hours or days after breathing polluted air.Itisbased on ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide andnitrogen dioxide. Particulates are the main issue from the ﬁres.

The indexrangesfrom green, indicating satisfactory airqualitythatposes littleorno risk, to maroon, whichisconsidered hazardous. That level comes with healthwarnings of emergency conditions, whichare more likely to affect everyone.

There were areas of reducedair quality all over the U.S. on Wednesday,with numerous advisories aboutmoderate air quality concernsasfar from the ﬁres as Kansas andGeorgia.

Theair qualitywas considerably better Wednesday in Minnesota, where only the barest hint of haze obscured thedowntown Minneapolisskyline.The city experienced someofthe worst air in the countryTuesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SCOTT MCFETRIDGE

The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa is seen throughsmoky skies Wednesdaydue to wildfires in Canada.

Mental health screeningbilladvances

Some concerned aboutprivacy in schools

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Louisianapublicschools will be abletogive annual mental health screenings to students in grades

K-12 with their parents’ consent under abill advancing through the state Legislature, despite privacy concerns from some conservative lawmakers.

Under Senate Bill 121 by Sen. Larry Selders,D-Baton Rouge, schools must conduct the evaluations everyfall. Students whose parentsorguardians do not consent willnot be screened except in limited circumstances, and schools will be required to destroy

2025 LEGISLATURE

the collected data within 30 days after the parent or guardian has been notiﬁed.

Lawmakersonthe HouseEducation Committee revised thebill Tuesday to makethe screenings optional ratherthanmandatory The committee voted10-1tosend

the amended bill to the House ﬂoor for ﬁnal consideration.

Theproposal comes amid rising concerns about students’ mental health following yearslong school closures andsocial isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selders,who said the bill is not expected to create new costs for the state, argued that it will give schools another way to identify studentswho are struggling and get them help.

“They can connect these minors and their parents to resources that are available,” he said, adding that the law says schools will not be legally liable for the results of the screenings.

Another bill introduced this session would require public schools to give all students in grades 3-8, with parental consent, yearly

New road to connect cities

Teacheraccused of stabbing stepsonheldwithout bail

Ajudge in St. Landry Parish ordered that aSulphur High School special education teacher be held without bail in thestabbing of a6-yearold child. The teacher, Patrick Greene, 37, is accused of stabbing his stepson,Korbin Price, duringa domestic dispute. Price, who previously battled brain cancer,remains hospitalized. Greene faces multiple charges, including assault and battery.

Authorities said seven childrenand Greene’swife were present during theattack.Family members allege ongoing abuse byGreene. Greeneisset to return to court on Thursday. Prosecutors told KADN they planto upgrade his charges to includeeight counts of attempted murder Man arrested in threats against priest Aman was arrested, accusedof threatening aPine Prairie Catholic priest and threatening to shoot everyone at the Roman Catholic DioceseofLafayette ofﬁces.

Kenneth Vicknair,73, was booked with simple assaultin the threats to the priestand has terrorizing charges pending against him in Lafayette Parish On May20, deputieswith the Evangeline ParishSheriff’s Office were dispatched andtold thata person had madeaverbalthreatofharmtothe priest in front of St. Peter’sCatholic Church in PinePrairie.

Thepriesttold deputies averbal altercation had happened and threats were made against him.The priestsaid he contacted the deputies out of fear that an escalatedincidentwas aboutto occur due to theman’sbehavior and body language. Vicknair was detained pending further investigation and transported to the Evangeline ParishJail, where he was booked. It was also learnedthere was an earlierincidentatthe diocese when someone demanded to see oneofthe clergy members there. If therequest wasnot met, the person said he was going to shoot everyperson whoexited thefront door of thebuilding. Afterhis release fromthe Evangeline Parish Jail, Vicknair was transported to theLafayette

Broussard-youngsville extensionnow open

BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer

The cities of Broussardand Youngsville celebrated theopening of anew road that connects the twotowns on Wednesday The extension connectstothe Youngsville Highway and West Fairﬁeld Drive, according to acity of Broussard announcement.

“The Broussard/Youngsville Connector now joins four state highways,”Broussard Mayor RayBourque said. “It will further improve trafﬁc ﬂow,reduce commutertravel times, and stimulate economic development opportunities forBroussard.”

But constructionisn’t ﬁnished, Ritter said. This milestone kicks offthe next phase of the Youngsville Highway widening project,

ä See ROAD, page 4B

of the Broussard-youngsville

Menallegedly staged vehiclecrashes for insurancemoney

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Three Acadiana men have been arrestedafteraninvestigation into asuspected multimilliondollar staged crash scheme. JustinLedet, 45, of Rayne, StevenThomas, 38, of Lafayette,and Alfred Onezine, 37, of Breaux Bridge, are accused of conspiring to stage acrash at the intersection of Willow Street and Teurlings Drive. They said Ledet, while operating acommercial truck, intentionally

driven by Thomas, whowas accompanied by Onezine and three juvenile passengers. The investigation by the

PHOTO PROVIDED By

THECITy OF yOUNGSVILLE Broussard MayorRay Bourque, left, and youngsville MayorKen Ritter shakehands after the completion

extension.

struckthe rear

aChevrolet Silverado

OUR VIEWS

On D-Day, we remember heroes;WWII museum honors them everyday

Editor’sNote: Thiseditorial, slightly revised, is published annuallyasatribute to D-Day Whenthe United Statesput itsyoungmen ashoreonD-Day 81 years agoFriday,theywere not alone.

Although Americans remember Omaha Beach, where our troops saw some of the bloodiest ﬁghting and suffered many casualties, young men from at least adozen other countries fought and died on other beaches —all in the common cause of freedom.

By late spring 1944, after years of combat and human sacrifice, the tide had begun to turn against Adolf Hitler’sGermany.Evenasthe risks of the D-Day invasion weighedheavily on Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, whodrafted —just in case —a statement of responsibility forfailure, victory in Europe was finally in sight. Yet, many more died before it finally came.

The hammer blows landed against theReich on D-Day comprised history’slargest amphibious operation. The UnitedStates,Great Britain and Canada provided most of thetroops, but they were joined by forces from every Allied nationthathad suffered duringthe war: Australia,Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands,New Zealand, Norway andPoland.

Theirheroiccampaign is memorializedat the National WWII MuseuminNew Orleans, which this year marks its25th anniversary.Now asprawling campus that has welcomedmore than 10 million visitors since it opened in 2000 it began life as the National D-Day Museum, dedicated to telling the stories of those whoanswered history’scall thatstormyJune morning so far fromhome.

Louisiana is honored to host those whopass through its doors, especially themembersof our country’sGreatest Generation who served. Today,asalways, agratefulnation honors their struggles and sacriﬁces.

We also remember the dramatic innovations that sprang from America’sarsenals of democracy, particularly Louisiana’sshallow-draft Higgins boats, which madepossiblethe D-Day landings and those in the Paciﬁc.

Perhaps the most enduringoutcome of World WarII, one embodied in theplanning andexecution of D-Day,isAmerica’srole as aworld leader.The late University of New Orleanshistorian Stephen Ambrose, who conceived the World WarIIMuseum, said that thedeﬁning quality of Americans is our sense of optimism.It’swhat enables us to lead withhope, strength and adetermination to meet any challenge. Those qualities may seem sadlylackingtoday.But by commemoratingsacriﬁce made by thousands of young men whopiled outofboats and onto beaches in service of agreater cause, we honor their heroism andremind ourselves of the courage that freedom demands. Now, just like then, we must not forget that challenges far from our borders can have profoundeffects here at home. As it did on D-Day,meetingthose challenges willrequirethe best fromall of us.

LETTERSTOTHE

Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.

On June 6, we honor thebravery of those soldiers who stormed ashore at Normandy,France, on that day 81 years ago. D-Day led tothe defeat of fascism in Europe.

We must learn the lesson of rising authoritarian tendencies that threaten to renew fascism in our times.The Trumpadministration, by itsactions, moves away from democracy and toward afascist model of governing.

The precursors of fascism in Europe were theintentionally hateful rhetoric and targeting of “enemies of thestate.” We see today something eerily similar.Inthe 1930s and 1940s, thetargets of vitriol, violence and official policy were Jews; today,the targetsare immigrants, unjustly smeared withabroad brush as violent criminals and gang members. In prewar Germany,vocal dissenters in the press were vilified, intimidated and sometimes their offices wereransacked by mobsegged on by theruling party. Trumpand allies have embarked on asimilar path, calling mainstream media (with whom they disagree) “enemies of the people” and threatening to revoke the licenses of media organizations.

The mostserious authoritarian step

Local governmentsare where democracy comes tolife —closest to thepeople, most responsive to their daily needs and essential to thestrength of our nation —but our budgetsare being stretched thin. Election administration is acore responsibilityoflocal government, just like public safety or infrastructure, yet it’s too often overlooked. As the cost of running secure, reliable electionsrises, federal support hasn’t kept pace. Federal election funding has declined in recent years, down from the roughly $400 million allocated during President Donald Trump’s first term in fiscal years 2018 and 2020. His return to office brings renewed focus. In just the first month,Congress passed acontinuing resolution that included $15 million in election infrastructure grants, and Trumpsigned an executive order calling for modernization of our voting systems. Butwithout consistent, long-term funding, we risk slipping back into thesame cycle of underinvestment

towardfascism is the dismantling of therule of law.In1933, Adolf Hitler was elected chancellor,and he moved swiftly to consolidate power by declaring his authority where it didn’t exist. Likewise, Trump seeks to concentrate power in his hands by defying court orders that he doesn’tlike. He has usurped powers delegated to theCongress. He answered, “I don’t know” when asked if he is bound by theU.S. Constitution. Hitler brought themilitary under his control. He marched troops into Austria; he started World WarII by invading Polandin1939. Trump has declared that the U.S. will take control of Greenland, by force if necessary.Hehas threatened to seize control of the Panama Canal. Trumpisnot Hitler.But as we remember D-Day andthe struggle to banish Nazism we must confront the reality that Trump’sauthoritarian nature and actions are leading us towardfascism. Askyourself, do the president’s actions more closely resemble thefascist Third Reich or 249 years of U.S. democracy?

TONY SWITZER

U.S. Navy 1968 to 1972 Metairie

and vulnerability.

Elections are foundational to our democracy.Local leaders should never be forced to choose between securing our elections and maintaining essential operations or infrastructure. Unfunded mandates put communities in an impossible position, weakening the very system we’re elected to protect We need to treat elections as anational priority.Consistent federal investmentensures every community, large or small, can carry out safeand secure elections. Local governments are doing everything possible with limited resources. Now,it’stimefor Washington tomeet us halfway. Congress must committolongterm, stable election funding so that all Americans, no matter where they live, can trust that their vote is protected and counted. Ourelection system should be strong, resilient and worthy of public trust, not subject to budget shortfalls.

FRIDAY ELLIS

mayorofMonroe, small business owner

Where is the outcry about the tariffs on the United States? Right now,isthe outcry aimed only at those imposed by the U.S.? That President Donald Trump challenging foreign countries with tariffs is making people get on their proverbial “soap boxes” amazes me No one is protesting the fact that the United States has been paying these countries for decades. Until now,we the people have been paying for the tariffs on the United States allowed by former presidents. None, until Trump, fought back and turned the tables by charging tariffs on other countries. Let’scompare the effects on store prices. Iwould like an economist to present the effects if foreign tariffs were to be removed. What would be the price of our imports? Or another example, whatdoes shoplifting do to the cost of goods? I’ll bet it’saclose call.

KERRIE SLATON NewOrleans

Will Sutton’scolumnonour new pope with Creole heritage was fantastic. He quoted Jari Honora, who does research in NewOrleans on the family history of the Creoles of Louisiana. He stated that there are both Black and White Creoles. He is right. Our family is from Pointe Coupee Parish, and my grandparents and great-grandparents all spoke ﬂuent Creole French. All White folks. So God bless our Creole Pope. As the late, great Michael Jackson said, “don’tmatter if you Black or White.”

DANNY HOGAN Pointe Coupee Parish

UNOcrucial to WWII Museum’s success

Most everyoneknows that the National WWII Museum is one of New Orleans’ crown jewels. Its ofﬁcial opening 25 years ago as theNational D-Day Museum attracted Hollywood celebrities, prominent electedofﬁcials, marching bands and some 10,000 veterans —including many who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

few chapters of hisjust-released book, “Preserving the Legacy: Creating the National WWII Museum” (LSU Press).

Today,the museum ranks among the most visited commemorative institutions in the country.

From its modest beginnings as the backyard brainchild of historians Stephen Ambrose and Gordon“Nick Mueller,the WWII Museum continues to honor the valor and memoryofthe menand women who saved America and the world from tyranny

This week, along with commemoratingthe D-Day invasion, the museum also celebratesits 25th anniversary The museum’sstaff, leadership and supporters deserve every bit of praise that comes their way.

But Iwonder how many folks recall the museum’s ﬁrst major supporter, whose decade-long contributions in kind and in cash nurtured the institution when it was little more than apipedream for Ambrose and Mueller.Withoutthat supporter’shelp,the museum would neverhave been built.

Thatsupporter was Ambroseand Mueller’semployer—the University of New Orleans.

“Stephen had the idea and the national celebrity status,” Mueller told me in arecent email.“I was hissidekick on the organizational side, but neither of us could have succeeded without UNO’ssupport for more than 10 years. No UNO, no museum.”

That’snoexaggeration,Mueller said. He detailedall of it in the ﬁrst

GATOR RIDE!

From the time the two friends and colleagues— both tenured UNOhistoryprofessors first hatched the ideaofcreating asmallexhibition center in UNO’sResearch Park in 1990 until the museum’sgrand openingdowntown on June 6, 2000, UNO served as headquarters andquartermaster forthe fledgling project. It was an all-hands-on-deck affair. From then-Chancellor Gregory O’Brien to graduate assistants and secretaries, UNO provided every level of staffing, office space, fiscal responsibility and fundraising know-how

The ideaofsiting themuseum in the UNO ResearchPark was Ambrose’s. It made sense at thetime. Thepark abutted the sand beach that served as the test-landingsite for Andrew Jackson Higgins’ famousD-Day landing boats, whichwere built in New Orleans.

“That was one of several compelling reasons for putting the museum on UNO’scampus,” Mueller said. “Itwas afree site with historic importance. Eventually,wewere fortunate to acquire abuilding downtown.”

In theearly to mid-1990s, Ambrose’s fameskyrocketed.A military historian whowas also Dwight Eisenhower’sofﬁcial biographer,hefoundedthe Eisenhower Center at UNO to collect and serve as the repository for hundreds of oral histories of D-Day veterans. Those oral histories inspired Ambrose’sbestsellingbooks, among them “Band of Brothers” and “D-Day.”

His fame opened doors that few academics get to walk through. He befriended director StevenSpielberg and

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DON’T FORGET! All entriesmust include your name, home addressand phone number. Cellnumbers are best Thedeadline for all entries is midnight on Thursday. Have fun with

Ican hardly think of President Donald Trump and Africa withoutalso remembering his global insulttounderdeveloped nations.

In a2018 Oval Office meeting, you may recall, he grumbled aloud about why this country would accept more immigrants from “shitholes” in Haiti and Africa rather than places like say,Norway With that in mind, Ididn’t have asunny outlook about the prospect of his firstmeeting last month with South Africa’sPresident Cyril Ramaphosa. Ianticipated anattempt at televised humiliation much like the spectacle Trump sprang on Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February The meeting was called ostensibly to smooth strained relations betweenthe two countries, but Trump usedittoadvance his White genocide agenda Trump contends that White South African farmers are being murdered in aracially motivated genocide, and that the South African government has permitted itself to seize theirland.He has amplified these falseclaims since as long ago as 2018, when he seemed to have picked them up from FoxNews host Tucker Carlson. They were the basis of his dismissal earlier this year of South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. —who’d had the temerity to point out the racist overtones of Trump’sallegations —and of his executive order to cut off aid to South Africa He also used them as ajustification to grant 59 White South Africans refugee status to the United Stateswhile he continuestovilify,arrest and remove immigrants who came herefromother countries. The Oval Office meeting with Rama-

actor TomHanks, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw,and then-U.S.Rep.Bob Livingston, who parlayed hischairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee into a$4million grant for the museum— amajor fundraisingcoup.

That money,however,could only be used for capital expenses, notfor operatingcosts.

Thereagain, UNO stepped up, serving as ﬁscal agent for the grant and home base for the museumboard.Ambrose, who served as the foundingCEO of the museum, donatedhis services —and $750,000. At times, he even paid the salaries of early staffers, Mueller said.

Local business leaders who served on the institution’searly boardsofdirectors likewiseworked tirelessly and contributed heavily to the effort. But private fundraisingwas an enormous challenge in the early days —which made UNO’scontributionsofstaff, research,facilities and money so crucial to keeping the project alive.

“Success hasmanyparents,” Mueller said. “The effort hadmany supporters locally,statewideand in Washington, but we couldn’thavekept the project alive for the ﬁrst 10 years without UNO. That story is barely knownorappreciated.”

Today, 35 yearsand $420 million after Mueller and Ambrose ﬁrst envisioned aD-Day tribute, the National WWII Museum ranks among UNO’s greatest, if least heralded,legacies.

It’spasttime to recognizethat UNO, likethe museum, is one of New Orleans’crown jewels.

Clancy DuBos, a1976 UNO History graduate, is aretired political columnist for Gambitand The TimesPicayune |The Advocate.

phosa had barely begun when Trump ordered thelights dimmed to play purporteddocumentaryfootage he described, in his special Trumpian way, as like “no one has seen before.”

“Executed,”Trumpsaid gravely.“These are all White farmers that arebeing buried.”

“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” Trump said amid aseries of accusations “Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they’re being killed.” There is no denying thatSouth Africa hasa persistent violent crimeproblem. Yet, while data available on thecountry’sviolent crime indicatethat farmers of allracialgroups aredisturbingly vulnerable to theft and violence, theydo notclearly support race as afactor In responsetothe images shown, he said thathe would like to find out what the location was. It will surprise no one thatthe grisliest images used in Trump’svisual aids were not indeed from South Africa. Theywere Reutersimages from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the newsservice confirmed. Specifically, they came from thecityofGoma, where an insurgencyhas been raging, andthey werepublished in February

We knowthisnow,becausesomeinstitutions in this country still care about the facts, evenifour president and his powerful political movement do not. In themoment of the spectacle, Ramaphosa couldhardly refute the images. But he kept hiscool. He had comewith aplan. Perhaps most effectively,Ramaphosaallowed otherstospeakfor him. He had brought impressive company.His delegation fromSouthAfrica included luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert and champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goos-

en. Both complimented Ramaphosa’s leadership, perhaps more persuasively, to Trump’sgolf-loving heart, thanany other South African could have. Most of SouthAfrica’smedia appear to be praising Ramaphosa for remaining calm, patient and polite, although some saythey wish he had hit back harder. But Ramaphosa, by reputation, is no pushover.Once aprotegeofNelson Mandela, he was akey negotiator in the talks thatended nearly ﬁve decades of racial segregation known as apartheid in 1994.

When I ﬁrst went to South Africa on assignment in 1976, the summerwhen riots broke out in Soweto, the Black township outside Johannesburg, little did Iknow that it would markthe beginning of the last round for apartheidand White-minority rule.

Icertainly would not have imagined thata future president of the United States would amplify the racistbacklash against the post-apartheid South African state —anentity, it should be said, that stands out in history for its restraint and humanity in addressing and rectifying the shocking, brutal injustices of the racistregimeitreplaced Now the next chapter in SouthAfrica’shistory is being written by anew generation withremarkably high hopes. They don’tneed outsiderstochurn up moreracial animosity based on false pretenses. They have enough real problems to tackle —inmultiracial coalitions,one hopes.

Meanwhile, our president is solidifying his image as aglobal leader of White identity politics. He and his movement may deny it, but his message is as clear as abell.

Email Clarence Page at clarence47page@gmail.com

The Republican Party wasindesperate straits in the weeks following the 2012 presidential election. There were several reasons.

One, its losing nominee, Mitt Romney,was a poor candidate whom asigniﬁcant part of the GOP base, and an even moresigniﬁcant part of the overall electorate, did not want.

Two, its opponent, President Barack Obama, appeared to have found the secret to assembling apermanent winning coalition. And three, Republican leaders worried, sometimes publicly and sometimes privately,that the party was on the wrong side of somekey issues, especially immigration.

Just four years later,with Donald Trump’sout-of-the-blue 2016 victory,everything changed. Republicans had astrong candidate. The Obamacoalition was crumbling. And the GOP, under Trump, began to change positions on someimportant issues.

Four years after that, even though Trumplost to Joe Biden, someofthe trends that favored Republicans continued. And then came 2024, when the weakening of the Democratic Party accelerated under Biden and then KamalaHarris, and Trump wonahistoric comeback victory

Anew report showsthis extraordinary change —from Republican despair in 2012 to triumph in 2024. It is not told from aGOP perspective; the report is by the progressive Democratic data-crunching ﬁrm Catalist, which sought to understand Democratic losses. But whatever the perspective, the analysts examined voter ﬁle information, precinct-level data, voting history, polls and other numbers to come up with the most comprehensive picture yet of whovoted how in 2024.

What is particularly valuable is that Catalist then put the 2024 information in the context of data from the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. That way,wecan see which direction each party wasmoving with individual groups of voters. Spoiler alert —it’safeel-good story for Republicans.

The trends are striking. Just go through the Obamacoalition —especially Black, Hispanic and young voters. In 2012, when Obamawas on the ticket, 96% of Black voters voted forthe Democratic candidate. In 2016, the ﬁrst year Trumpwas on the ticket, Black Democratic support ticked downward to 93%. Then it fell to 89% in 2020, and then to 85% in 2024. Among Black men,support forthe Democratic candidate fell to 79%. Support levels wereeven lower among young Black voters. The trend looked alittle different but was still impressive among Hispanic voters. In 2012, 68% of Hispanic voters chose the Democratic candidate. In 2016, that number actually went up to 70%. But then it fell to 63% in 2020 and 54% in 2024. That’squite adrop. And again, the levels were even lower among young Hispanic voters.

The movewas similar among Asian voters 74% Democratic in 2012, 70% in 2016, 65% in 2020 and 61% in 2024.

Among young voters, the Catalist report included data only from 2020 and 2024, but among voters aged 18 to 29, support forthe Democratic candidate fell from 61% to 55% in that time. Remember,the Catalist analysts are progressive Democrats. They focused their report on the Democratic Party’sdecline from 2012 to 2024. But those Democratic losses wereRepublican gains. After Romney’s2012 defeat, the Republican National Committee commissioned an “autopsy” —a report on what wentwrong and how to ﬁxit. Read today,the document’splaintive tone is striking. “Public perception of the party is at record lows,” it said. “Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or wantthem in the country.”

The ofﬁcial GOPprescription wastojoin with Democrats on the issue of immigration. “Weneed to campaign among Hispanic, Black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate we care about them,too,” the report continued. “Wemust embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our party’sappeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.”

Trumpled the party to winmore votes from Black voters, from Hispanic voters, Asian voters, young voters and voters whorarely,ifever,voted. And he did it while emphatically rejecting comprehensive immigration reform, which the 2012 GOPleaders believed would be their salvation. Trumprejected someother cherished Republican orthodoxies, too.

Most importantly,though, Trumpsucceeded among Republicans and then nationally by being astrong leader.Itissafe to say he is aunique individual, both as aleader and as aman. There’s no telling whether GOPgains will last beyond Trump’stimeinofﬁce. But formore than adecade, Trumphas been building aRepublican coalition that accomplished things the earlier GOP leaders thought impossible.

Byron York is on X, @Bryon York.

Clarence Page

Byron York

Clancy DuBos

Police:Scooter driver shot at couple in Kenner

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

Ascooter driverisfacing an attempted murder charge after authorities sayheopened fire on a driver who honked at him on aKenner roadway

An 89-year-oldman suffered twogunshot wounds to his arm while his passenger,a78-year-old woman, hadcutsfrom shattered glass, according to Kenner Deputy Police Chief Mark McCormick.

The shooting occurred about 9:30 p.m. May 23 in the 300 block of West Esplanade Avenue in Ken-

ner.A witness told police that aman later identiﬁed as Jarred Ambrose,28, was driving amotorized scooter westbound on West Esplanadewhen avehicle behind himbegan honking its horn, accordingtoauthorities Ambrose got off the scooter and walked over the driver’sside window of the vehicle, police said. Ambrose exchanged words with thevehicle’sdriver, the 89-year-oldvictim. He then pulled out agun and ﬁred eight shots at the car, according to authorities

The victims drove to the nearby emergencyroom

3teens indicted in St. Tammanydeputy’sdeath

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

ASt. Tammany Parish jury indicted three teenagers from Slidell in the death of asheriff’s deputy who was killed during ahighspeed police chase in March.

Sgt.Grant Candies, 37, was struck and killed while putting down aspike strip on an Interstate10on-ramp nearthe Oak Harbor exit in Slidell as he tried to stop the speeding vehicleonMarch 23.

The grand jury indicted the vehicle’sdriver,Adrian Waughtal,17, andone of the passengers, Mason Paul Eugene Fischer,17, with charges of second-degree murder,northshore District Attorney Collin Sims’ ofﬁce said in anews release.MichaelLanier, 18, anotherof the passengers, was indicted with manslaughter.

The St. Tammany Sheriff’sOfﬁce said deputies had tried to stop the vehicle near Slidell after seeing it being operated carelessly,but the vehicle sped off, initiating apursuit that went into the Slidell city limits and eventuallyout onto I-10. The vehicle continued across

the Twin Spans bridge into New Orleans, where itwas stopped after striking an NOPD patrol unit.

“It’sjustsenseless,” said St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smithinaninterview shortly after Candies’ death.

The Aprilfuneral for Candies, who was aU.S. Marine Corps veteranand the son of alongtime captain in the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’sOfﬁce,drewhundreds oflaw enforcement ofﬁcers.

There were fivepeople in the vehicle, the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce said.When thethree teenagers were arrested, they were initially booked with ﬁrst-degree murder,in addition to other charges.

Seventeen-year-oldsin Louisiana are treated as adults in the criminal justice system,under astate lawadopted last year

In thenews release

Wednesday afternoon, Sims’ office saidLouisiana state lawallows for the death penalty for themurder of apoliceofficer.However, Sims’ office said,the Supreme Courthas ruled the Eighth Amendment forbids thedeathpenalty foroffenders who were under 18 at the time of the homicide.

PHOTO PROVIDED By THE CITy OF yOUNGSVILLE

An imageofthe newBroussard-youngsville connector that will improve traffic flow and accessbetween thetwo growingcities in Lafayette Parish

ROAD

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which expands the roadway to four to five lanes and signiﬁcantly improves long-term trafﬁccapacity. As part of the next phase, Youngsville Highway will temporarily close from Heart DFarm to Fortune Road for 90 to 120 days.

FRAUD

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Louisiana State Police Insurance Fraud and Auto Theft Unit Breaux Bridge Field Office began March 25 after authorities received acriminal complaint from the Louisiana DepartmentofInsurance, following areport from a trucking company that suspected fraudulent activity related to the crash,which occurred Jan. 19. Officials said following the crash, all ﬁve occupants of the Silverado ﬁled insurance claimsagainst the trucking company,seek-

of Ochsner Medical Center Kenner.Ambrose was gone by the timeofﬁcers were dispatched to the scene.

But authoritiesdid collect eight spent casings from a9 mm gunnear the intersection of Loyola Driveand West Esplanade Avenue,police said.

Officers identifiedAmbrose as the suspect from the road rage shooting three days later when they were called to investigate a report of gunﬁre at his West Loyola Drive residence, according to McCormick.

Arelativecalled for police during the earlymorning hoursofMay 26 after

MENTAL

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mental healthassessments administered by alicensed mental health provider

That proposal is slated to be reviewed by the Senate Health and WelfareCommittee on Wednesday

The bill that advanced Tuesday says thescreening resultswill be kept confidential, except that parents will be notiﬁed if a“potential mental health condition” is spotted.

But Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray,saidshe was worried the bill givesschools too much authority over students’ sensitive health data. The bill prohibits schools from making decisions, including about academic opportunities or discipline, based on the results. ButAmedee said it could still have unintended consequences.

BLOTTER

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Parish CorrectionalCenter for pending terrorizing charges

Elderly couple killed in house fire

The StateFire Marshal’s Ofﬁce is investigating a ﬁre that killed aVermilion Parish couple.

About 5a.m. Monday,the Indian BayouVolunteer Fire Department responded to afireinthe 16000 block of TanRoad in Kaplan. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old wife died in theblaze. The cause of the ﬁre is unknown at this time.Itisalso unknown whether thehome had asmokealarm.

Manindicted in 2023 murder

ANew Iberia manhas been indicted in the murder of a2-year-old child in 2023, ofﬁcials said.

Bruno Lowe, 37, of New Iberia, was indicted by a

Ambrose fired agun inside the house,authoritiessaid. Ambrose told the officers he firedbecause he thought someone was breaking into the residence.

Police noticed that Ambrosefit thedescription of theroad rage shooter and had agun that was the same caliberasthe weapon from that incident, accordingtoMcCormick.

Ambrose admitted to the West Esplanade Avenue shooting, but toldpolice he felt threatened after thevehicle rear-endedhis scooter andknocked him off, according to McCormick.

“Wedon’thave any indi-

“Onceyou seesomething, you can’tunsee it,” she said, adding that the results could “affect the relationship between the student and the school.”

Selderscounteredthat thescreeners would play a crucial roleingettingsome kids thehelp they need.

“I think the problemis accesstocare,” he said, adding that “parents can usethese resultstoget resources.”

Rep. Josh Carlson, RLafayette, expressed similarconcernoverschools collecting student data, but Amedeewas theonly lawmaker to vote against Selders’ bill.

Lawmakersapproved some amendments, including onethatprohibits schools from collecting metadata, which refers to basic information like how manystudents have been screened. An amendment that would have required schools to give parents

grand jury in the16th Judicial District Court last week on achargeof ﬁrstdegree murder in thedeath of 2-year-old Nash John Doucet.The child died in July 2023.

Lowe was arrestedon agrandjurywarrant, according to aKLFYreport His bail was set at $10 million. No trial date has been set.

St.MaryParish man accused in rape

ABayou Vista man is accusedofbreakingintoa home and sexually assaulting awoman.

cation that that crash actually occurred,” McCormick said of theAmbrose-described fender bender

Ambrosewas arrested andbooked with attempted second-degree murder,aggravated assault with a ﬁrearm, two counts of illegal use of aweapon, possession of marijuana andpossessionofdrug paraphernalia. He was being held Wednesdayatthe JeffersonParish Correctional in Gretna. Bail wasset $361,500.

Email Michelle Hunter at mhunter@theadvocate. com.

the option to review their child’sscreener results wasshotdowninan8-5 vote

Mental health care in schools has become apartisanissue as some conservative critics have raised concerns about government overreach and have claimed that some school programs focusedonmental health or social-emotional learning promote liberalideas

Lastmonth,the Trump administration canceled $1 billioningrantsfor student mental health that were authorized with bipartisan support in 2022. Aspokespersonfor the U.S. Department of Education told The New York Timesthat the grants were canceled because some programs focused on hiring diverse mental health staffers.

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate. com.

Troy Carnley, 45, wasarrested Monday on counts of first-degree rape, home invasion and prostitutionsolicitation, according to theSt. Mary Parish Sheriff’sOffice. His bail is set at $175,000. Deputies said adetective respondedSundaytoareport of apossible rapeand the womaninvolved identified Carnley as the suspect. Police said evidence collected also implicated Carnley in the crime. He is being held in the St. Mary Parish LawEnforcementCenter The investigation is ongoing.

JamesReneDeLaune of Zachary, Louisiana, known to hisfamilyand hismany friends as Rene, passed away on June 2nd, 2025 after ashort illness. Rene was born on January 19, 1947 in Lake Charles, Louisianaand lived formanyyearsin Pineville,Louisiana. He graduatedwith an MSW from LSU, andfollowed LSUsportspassionately for therest of hislife. He retiredafter working for theState of Louisianaand Progressive PHPfor over 40 years as asocial worker specializinginmental health care.Inhis retirement, he focused on caring for andsupportinghis familymembers, chosen family, andfriends, and enjoying his love of live blues music. Rene also spent manyyearsfeeding his lovedoneswith food that he grew in hishomegarden. He wasanexpert cook whomade sure to pass on hisdelicious gumbo recipe to hischildren andgrandchildren. He waspredeceased by hisparents, J. Burton and Iva DeLaune, hiswife AndraDeLaune,and his wife Mona DeLaune He is survived by his twochildren, Joanna DeLaune and Jonathan "Zack"DeLaune,daughter-inlaw Jennifer,grandchildren Linusand Wylie,and ahost of otherfamilymembers andfriends. Special thanks to his daughters by marriage JulieRundelland Cristy Dugas and hismany grandchildrenand greatgrandchildrenwho he loveddearly,dear friends Calli Theriot andJoe Phillips, andtohis extended "family" at Sidelines Grill in Zachary. Amemorial service will be held Saturday, June 7at 2PMatMilldale Baptist Church,11950 Milldale Rd, in Zachary, LA.

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“This project is agreat exampleofwhat can be accomplishedwhenneighboring communities work together,” said Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter.“We’re proud to partner with the city of Broussard to providemore efficientand reliableroutes forour residents andcontinue meeting the demandsofgrowth in southern LafayetteParish.”

ing acombined potential amount of approximately $10 millionindamages On May 2, officials arrested Ledet and Thomas for automobile insurance fraud. Both were processed into the Lafayette Parish jail without incident. On May 29, authorities arrested Onezine on awarrant for three counts of cruelty to juveniles and four counts of automobile insurance fraud. Ofﬁcials said during the arrest,Onezine resisted police and was additionally chargedwithresistingan ofﬁcer.Hewas processed into aSt. Martin Parishjail without further incident. This investigationisongoing.

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SPORTS

Pendulum swings

This year’sLSU baseball team has been ahard one to pin down allseason

The Tigers haven’tlooked as dominant as the 2023 team, and at times, they’ve appeared pretty darned vulnerable Their offense is pronetofallingintothe deep freeze at times, andthe pitching staff —beyond two stellar starters and one amazing freshman phenom —has foundthe bigout occasionally elusive. And yet, here LSU is, preparing to host asuper regional against West Virginia, with the same record (46-15) as

What astrange time forUL softball fans these days. Certainly it was rough to endure aroller-coaster transition season that ended with the Ragin’Cajuns missing NCAA regional play for the ﬁrst time since 1998.

UL fans have had to settlefor watching former UL coaches and players performing at high levels for Texas Tech in the Women’sCollege World Series.

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

By now,everyone has heard of the tremendous season the LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball team enjoyed.

The Pilots were aperfect 59-0 and won the NAIA national championship forthe ﬁrsttime in school history

One former Acadiana area athlete was able to experience the historic run by the Pilots ﬁrsthand. Ian Montz, who starred at Acadiana High in football as asafety andbaseball as an outfielder, was the center fielder and akey contributor to the success.

“I’m still trying to grasp it,” Montz said of the Pilots’ title run. “In the game of baseball, going undefeated is unheardof. I’m

the2023 Tigers had at this point on their march to the program’s seventhCollege World Series title. Even though there have been question marks throughout

theseason, the Tigers are pegged as one of thetop two remaining teams to winit all along with Arkansas.

So how do we size up LSUahead of its 13th super regional at home and 17th overall? Here’sa look at the good and bad of where theTigers stand: Pitching,PartI:Good Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson have been thestoryfor LSU all season

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSU and West Virginia were on track to do this ayear ago.

The Tigers held a3-2 lead over North Carolina with twoouts to go in the ninth inning of theChapelHill regionalchampionship game, poised to face aMountaineers team in the super regionals after West Virginia punchedits ticket by winning threegamesinthe Tucson regional.

But GageJumpcouldn’tkeep the Tar Heels at bayinthe ninth, giving up the game-tying run that sent the do-or-die contest into extra innings before LSU lost in the 10th inning.

The Tigers’ season cametoanend while West Virginia traveled to Chapel Hill and lost twice to the TarHeels. This season, LSU made sure to set a date with the Mountaineers.

The Tigers came back from a5-1 deﬁcit in the second inning of Monday’sdoor-die seventh game of the Baton Rouge regional,taking down Little Rock 10-6 to advance to the super regionals. West Virginia won all three of its games at the Clemson regionaltopunchits ticket to Baton Rouge on Sunday Game One of this weekend’ssuper regional is setfor 1p.m.Saturdayon ESPN,with Game Twocoming the next day at 5p.m. on ESPN2.

Here’swhatLSU fans need to know about West Virginia, the Big 12 regularseason champion.

Overallresume

West Virginia enters with the No. 26 RPI,a44-14 record and three wins over Kentucky (twice) and Clemson in its regional. Butits success in Clemson was viewed as asurprise to somegiven how it struggledatthe Big 12 Tournament andduring the endofthe regularseason. The Mountaineers lost ﬁve of their lastsix gamesinconferenceplay, losing aseries to Kansas State on the road before gettingswept by Kansas at home to end the regularseason.West Virginia held the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament, but its run was short lived as it beat No.8Cincinnati butlost to No.4 Arizona in the semiﬁnals.

Theregular season stillwas amassive success, even if the Mountaineers had oneofthe easierstrength of schedules (No. 93, perRPI)inthe country.They earned four sweeps in conference play, have a24-5 record on the road and own eight Quad 1wins.

Hitting

The Red Raiders eliminated Oklahoma on thenational stage and are playing for anational championship against Texas.

Hardly an inning passed during ESPN’scoverage from Oklahoma City without areference to theULprogram

glad we did it. We madehistory, and it is an awesome feeling.”

Montz, who wasone of five Pilots to be named tothe NAIA World Series All-Tournament Team,hit the go-ahead home run as part of back-to-back homers in thePilots’ title-clinching 13-7 winover Southeastern (Florida) on Friday.The Pilots initially fell behind 4-0, but Montz said no one panicked despite the early deﬁcit.

“Weweren’t nervous,” he said.

“It’sbaseball.Wedid agood job of stayingpoised andwhen they wentup4-0 early,wewereeager to go back and hit. It was an awesome game.”

In the World Series, Montz was outstanding, going 7for 16 with seven RBIs. Forthe season,

throughout Texas Tech’svictory over Oklahoma on Monday Naturally,ULfans are divided on how to digest those emotions.

Somehave thoroughly enjoyed the experience. They’ve enjoyed rooting for Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco and his players and for former UL pitcher Sam Landry,who was theace for the powerhouse Sooners,because they devel-

oped personal relationships with them during their years in Lafayette.

Other UL fans are in pure agony watching and hearing the repeated references to the UL program,bitter over the coaches and players who leftULina pickle for greener pastures. Then came Monday’snews of UL coach Alyson Habetz

West Virginia isn’tbuilt forthe long ball, but it wasone of the best teamsin theBig 12 at getting on base andputting balls in play

The Mountaineerswerethirdinthe conference in batting average, fourth in doubles and fourth in on-base percentage during Big 12 play.They also ﬁnished in the bottom half of the league in strikeouts.

Homeruns are not astrong suit. They were ninth in the conferencewith 31 home runs and have only one hitter with double-digit homers this season. The manwho holds that distinction is seniorKyleWest. The left ﬁelderhas 10 homers, a.347 batting average and ateam-best 1.107 on-base plus slugging percentage.

SurroundingWestisa deep lineup that includes sixhitters with an OPSabove .800. Junior designated hitter Sam White leads the Mountaineers in batting average (.352); senior right ﬁelder Jace Rinehart hasthe most doubleswith21; and sophomore third baseman Armani Guzman, whorecently has stepped into astarting role, went 4for 5with 3RBIs in West Virginia’ssuper regional-clinching winover Kentucky on Sunday Pitching

The rotation hasfluctuated around ﬁfth-year senior and left-handed starter GrifﬁnKirn. The veteran hasa 3.13 ERA in 16 starts, but the Mountaineers have only oneother pitcher whohas made at least10starts in junior righthander Gavin VanKempen. Kirn is West Virginia’s ace. He allowedjust oneearnedrun in 71/3 innings last weekend against Kentucky and hasn’tsurrendered morethan four earnedruns in astart this year.Hehas 100 strikeouts in 95 innings and has

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU firstbaseman Jared Jones greets third-base coach Josh Jordan as he roundsthe basesonatwo-run homerun in the ninth inning against Little Rock in the Baton Rougeregional final MondayatAlex Box Stadium.LSU won10-6.

Kevin Foote

Pacers, Thunder to decide champ

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

OKLAHOMA CITY In these NBA Finals, a team is four wins away from getting the last laugh.

Ask anyone on the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers if they’re still fueled by doubters, and the answer is probably going to be an immediate “yes.” Thunder star and NBA MVP Shai GilgeousAlexander went 11th in his draft. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton went 12th in his. Both sides have undrafted players in their rotation

Here they are: The NBA Finals, which start Thursday night in Oklahoma City The Thunder have, by far the NBA’s best record this season. The Pacers have the league’s second-best record since Jan. 1, including playoffs. And both teams have rolled through the postseason, going 12-4 in the ﬁrst three rounds.

“I’ll continue to tell you guys in certain moments that it doesn’t matter what people say, but it matters — and I enjoy it,” Haliburton said. “I think the greats try to ﬁnd external motivation as much as they can and that’s something that’s always worked for me.”

It’s not like more motivation is needed. Not for the next couple of weeks, anyway. Indiana is chasing its ﬁrst NBA title. Oklahoma City — technically — is also seeking its ﬁrst; the franchise won a championship when it played in Seattle in 1979. These are teams that combined to win 49 games just three seasons ago, and now they’re the last two standing.

“Staying true to who we are is the reason why we’re here,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we changed or tried to be something we’re not once we got here. We’ve had success doing so. If we want to keep having success, we have to be who we are. It’s organic. It’s nothing we have to think about or force. It’s just who we are, no matter the moment.”

The Thunder are enormous favorites in the series, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and understandably so.

They’re 80-18 including the regular season and postseason, plus went 29-1 in the regular season against the Eastern Conference and have more double-digit wins — 61 and counting than any team in any season in NBA history

“We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “A lot of our guys have been

ä Pacers at Thunder 7:30 P.M.THURSDAy ABC

through a lot of situations where they’ve been underdogs in the past.

It’s simply going to come down to us being able to play our game at the best possible level. We’re going to need to take care of the ball because these guys turn people over at an historic rate, and we’re going to have to make some shots.”

The Thunder want no part of hearing this series will be easy.

The way Indiana — a No. 4 seed in the East — got through Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee in Round 1, a top-seeded Cleveland team in Round 2 and New York in Round 3 and never faced an elimination game has captured Oklahoma City’s full attention.

“Their attack is very simple. The theoretical way to stop it is simple,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “In reality it’s very difﬁcult to do, as you can see from the way that they ve really had their way with everybody They pump a 99

mph fastball at you. You can prepare all you want for that When you’re in the batter’s box, it’s different when it’s time to hit it.”

Young Thunder

The Thunder are the youngest team to make the NBA Finals in 48 years, according to data provided by the league. With an average age of about 25 years and seven months, they’re the youngest ﬁnalist since Portland in 1977.

That said, hearing about it is getting, well, old.

“Young or not, when you can learn from whatever situation you’re thrown in, that makes you better,” Thunder guard Jalen Williams said. “I think that’s why we’re here in this moment.”

Busy OKC

There will be a Game 1 in Oklahoma City on Thursday night — and a Game 2 on Thursday night as well.

At Paycom Center, there’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals And Devon Park, about a 15-minute drive

away from the Thunder home ﬂoor, will play host to Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series between Texas and Texas Tech that same night. If the softball facility — which will be the site of games at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — is ﬁlled, that means about 32,000 people will be watching championship games in Oklahoma City on Thursday Past finals

There are four players on these teams with previous NBA Finals experience.

Indiana’s Pascal Siakam averaged 19.8 points in six games with Toronto, helping the Raptors win the title in 2019. Oklahoma City’s Alex Caruso averaged 6.3 points in six games with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping them past Miami in the bubble ﬁnals of 2020.

Indiana’s Thomas Bryant got in one game of Denver’s 2023 ﬁnals win over Miami, and the Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith played for Boston in the Celtics’ loss to Golden State in the 2022 ﬁnals.

Dumars says Pels committed to Zion

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

Zion Williamson has spent the past six seasons as the face of the New Orleans Pelicans.

That role will continue for the forward whose time in New Orleans has been ﬁlled with plenty of ups and downs.

Joe Dumars, hired in April as the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, spoke about the plans for Williamson in an interview with The Times-Picayune on Wednesday

“I’ve had really good conversations with Zion,” Dumars said. “We’ve had lunch. Dinner. Watched playoff games together We’ve done it all. I’ve had some real honest conversations with him. Some real direct and honest conversations.

“We’re going to go forward with Zion. He’s going to continue to be a focal point here as we go forward.” Dumars and Williamson also spent time together in Chicago in May when the two of them represented the Pelicans at the draft lottery

“I sent him to the lottery for a reason,” Dumars said. “I want him to start focusing on the responsibilities of being the best player here and the focal point. There are some responsibilities that come with that. Go represent your organization.”

Dumars’ plan to continue building the franchise around William-

son was revealed less than a week after a lawsuit was ﬁled against Williamson in Los Angeles accusing him of rape and assault in 2020. Dumars wouldn’t speak about the lawsuit.

“I’ve been advised not to venture into any of his legal issues,” he said.

Pelicans owner Gayle Benson spoke about the lawsuit Wednesday

“You know, lawsuits are lawsuits,” Benson said. “You really can’t you don’t know I mean people can sue you for anything. There’s no reason You can be innocent or not. It’s just something that people do, unfortunately.” Williamson’s time in New Orleans has been plagued by injuries. He’s been named to the AllStar Game twice, but has played in just 214 games in his six seasons. He averaged 24.6 points, 7.2

Phillies RHP Nola to skip throwing due to soreness

Injured Phillies right-hander

Aaron Nola will not throw a scheduled live batting session Thursday because of mild soreness on his right side, manager Rob Thomson said Wednesday Last week, Nola said his return from the injured list with a sprained right ankle was progressing more slowly than expected and that he probably needed to make a minor league rehabilitation start. Nola is 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA in nine starts. No date has been set for him to throw next.

The Phillies put Nola on the 15day injured list on May 16 to avoid another injury cropping up while he was favoring the ankle. The 31-year-old veteran allowed 12 hits, nine runs and three homers — all career highs — in a 14-7 loss on May 14 against St. Louis.

Reds place ace Greene on 15-day injured list

The Cincinnati Reds placed ace pitcher Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday with a right groin strain. Greene made three starts since a 15-day stint on the injured list last month because of a groin strain he suffered May 7 during a start in Atlanta.

In Tuesday night’s 4-2 win over the Brewers, Greene threw 85 pitches before leaving the game after ﬁve innings when he felt discomfort in his groin.

An MRI was scheduled for Wednesday morning, but manager Terry Francona said there was no need to wait for the results.

Greene — who made his ﬁrst AllStar appearance last season — is 4-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 11 starts this year

NBA works on plan for U.S. versus world All-Star Game

The NBA is working on a plan to turn next season’s All-Star Game into a U.S.-vs.-world competition, a person with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday It remains unclear how the format will work, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league has not made any ﬁnal determinations. Speaking to Fox Sports 1 earlier Wednesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked if U.S. vs. the world is possible.

Silver addressed the idea on March 27 as well at the league’s most recent board of governors meeting, when he revealed that the NBA was scrapping the AllStar mini-tournament format that was used this season.

Suns hire Cavaliers assistant Ott as coach

rebounds and a career-best 5.3

assists in the 30 games he played this season.

“We’ve had some real direct conversations with him about that,” Dumars said. “Expectations. Accountability That’s our plan going forward with Zion.”

Dumars also spoke about his decision to keep Willie Green as head coach. Green will return after going 21-61 during a season in which the team was decimated by injuries. The 21 wins tied for second fewest in franchise history Green is 148-180 in his four seasons, including a 49-win season two years ago. He led the Pelicans to the playoffs in two of his four seasons.

Dumars spent much of his ﬁrst few weeks on the job talking to people in the building to help with his assessment of the coaching staff and players.

“It’s hard for me to come in here and say, ‘Here’s how I assessed Willie last year,’ “, Dumars said. “I wasn’t here. All I can do is move forward and guide and create and lead and put expectations on what we need to do here to be successful. And only then can I judge Willie or anyone else.

“I was pleased with what I heard. I’m looking forward to going forward and working with Willie and to push us to success. You’ve got to set the bar And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

The Phoenix Suns hired Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their head coach, opting for a young, emerging leader to rebuild a franchise that has regressed over the past few seasons, a person familiar with the search told The Associated Press on Wednesday Ott will be the team’s fourth head coach in four seasons and replaces Mike Budenholzer, who was ﬁred following a miserable 36-46 season that ended without a trip to the playoffs despite the high-priced trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. The 40-year-old Ott has worked for the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and the Cavaliers. He also worked as a video coordinator under Tom Izzo at Michigan State.

McIlroy explains decision to duck media at PGA

Rory McIlroy explained his decision not to speak to the media during last month’s PGA Championship, saying Wednesday he was annoyed that news had leaked about his driver failing to pass inspection before the tournament.

McIlroy said the results of equipment tests are supposed to be confidential and noted that Scottie Schefﬂer’s driver had also failed before the championship but that was not reported until afterward. Schefﬂer revealed after he won the PGA for his third major title that he had been forced to use a backup driver McIlroy

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson is introduced at the Smoothie King Center on March 11.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NATE BILLINGS

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams handles the ball during the second half of Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 28 in Oklahoma City

Gauff,Frenchunderdogmovetosemiﬁnals

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer

PARIS ThatNo. 2seed Coco Gauff reached Thursday’s French Open semifinals shouldsurprise no one. Her 361st-ranked opponent for aberth in the title match?

That’sawhole other story

Gauff made it to the ﬁnalfourat Roland-Garros for the third time, getting past No. 7MadisonKeys 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday in a quarterﬁnal betweentwo Americans who both have won amajor title.

Next up for the 2023 U.S. Open champion Gauff?A matchup against French wild-card entry

Loïs Boisson, who extendedone of the most stunning runs in tennis history by beating No. 6Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (6), 6-3.

“Unbelievable,” Boisson said. “Incredible.”

Those are acouple of good words for what’sbeenhappening.

Ayear ago, Boisson was supposed to make her Grand Slam debut in Paris, but she tore aknee ligament and couldn’tcompete. Now 22, Boissonisthe first woman to get to the semifinals of her first major tournament sinceMonica Seles and Jennifer Capriati did it

PREVIEW

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walked only 29 batters.

BesidesKirn, theMountaineers started graduate senior right-hander Jack Kartsonas on Saturday against Clemson and turned to junior right-hander Robby Porco in their rematch with Kentucky on Sunday. Kartsonas surrendered two earned runs in 51/3 innings last week. He worked his way into the rotation in mid-April and has thrown the ball well ever since. He has 76 strikeouts, a2.94 ERA andonly 16 walksin641/3 innings. Porco’sstart against the Wildcats was only his fourth of the season. He failed to escape the second inning Sunday as he surrendered three earned runs on anight where the Mountaineers allowed 10 earned runs andused eight pitchers, including Kirn,to close out a13-12 win.

The weakness of the West Virginia pitching staff is thebullpen. As evidenced by Sunday’s wild victory, theMountaineers lack depth and top optionsinrelief. Senior right-hander Reese

MONTZ

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Montz —who transferredtoLSU Shreveport from the UL-Monroe —hit .304 with a.473 on-base percentage and a.587 slugging percentage. Montz had sixhome runs, nine doubles, six triples, 45 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and 51 runs scored.

“After not playing awhole lot at ULM, Ihit the transfer portal,” said Montz, who initially attended Pearl River Junior College in Mississippiafter high school.

Once he arrived in Shreveport, Montz, asenior,said thePilots didn’tknow how goodtheycould be until about midway through the season.

As they continued to pile up victoryafter victory,Montz said the Pilots never discussed their unbeaten record.

RABALAIS

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long. They are arguably thebest 1-2 starting duo in the country, and they make LSU the only team with two pitchers in the top-10nationally in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings. AddCasan Evans,one of the nation’s best freshman pitchers,and teams have athree-armed monster with which to contend.

Those threeallowed just one total earned run in 221/3 innings of work during the regional. That’s acombined ERA of 0.40. Andin theSEC tourneyand the regional, Eyanson has given LSU quality relief work as well, earningsaves against Texas A&M and Little Rock. The trio gives LSU areal chance to end the super regional in two games.

Pitching,PartII: Bad LSU’sother pitchers in the

at the1989 FrenchOpen. She also is thelowest-ranked womantoget that far at Roland-Garrosinatleast 40 years.

She’sdoing itwithagame made for clay,anchored by heavy groundstrokes and buoyedbya rowdy,partisan crowdthat rattled the 18-year-old Andreeva —she waswarnedfor ball abuse for smacking one toward the upper deck after one bad volley— and was justasloudwhen Boisson upset No. 3JessicaPegula in the fourth round.

“I love to play with the crowd.I love to hear my name when Iwon apoint and everything,” Boisson said. “For me, it’sjust something plus. It’snot pressure.But Ithink it’salso really difﬁcultfor (a) player from (another) country.”

Over andoveragain,the chair umpiretried to tell the 15,000 or so spectators to be quiet as their thunderousapplause and shouts of Boisson’s ﬁrstname reverberated off the inside of the closed roof at Court Philippe-Chatrier.

They didn’theed those requests.

They jeered and whistled when Andreevacomplained about noise between her first and second serves or argued line calls.

“It’snormal that they would

Bassingerhas been the Mountaineers’ go-to armout of the bullpen. He leads theteam in appearances andpitched in every game ofthe regional, owning a4.28 ERAthisyearwithfive saves and 43 strikeouts in 61 innings. After Bassinger,West Virginia hasonly tworelievers with an ERA under four who have made more thanone appearance this year.Its relievers also don’tgenerate many swings and misses besidessophomoreright-hander

Chase Meyer.Hehas 62 punch outs in 44 innings

Defense

The Mountaineersare arelatively well-rounded club, but theirbiggest red ﬂag is on defense.

West Virginia committed nine errors in theClemson regional, including five Sunday. It finished seventh in the Big 12 with a.975 fielding percentage,anumber that pales in comparison to LSU’s .982 fielding percentage.

The Tigers have committed 38 errors this season.West Virginia has bootedthe ball65times.

Email KokiRiley at Koki Riley@theadvocate.com.

“I don’tthink we realized how goodwewere until about30 games into the season,” Montz said. “Wedidn’treally talk about it (being undefeated) awhole lot. We justwent out and played eachday.We knew what was at stake. It wasinthe backofour minds, but out loud we didn’t speak about it.”

Although he doesn’tknow what the future holds for him he hopes an opportunity to play professionally presentsitself— Montz is glad his journey took himtoLSU Shreveport and this magical season.

“Togo59-0inbaseball is crazy,” Montz said. “Itisstill unreal. It’sunbelievable that abaseball team didsomething likethis. I’m glad Igot to do it with these guys. We deserved it. I’mspeechless. It’s hard to put into words.”

Email EricNarcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

regional —Zac Cowan, DJ Primeaux,Mavrick Rizy,Jaden Noot, Chase Shores, Jacob Mayers, CooperWilliams and William Schmidt —were areal mixed bag. Primeauxand Rizy preserved the7-0 shutout Friday against Little Rock. Primeaux,Mayers and Schmidt preserved a12-0 shutout against Dallas Baptist on Saturday.

But asidefrom Williams in the loss to Little Rock on Sunday, there were some rockyperformances.All told, those eight pitchersgave upa combined 14 earned runs in 122/3 innings. That’sanERA of 9.44

The upside for LSU is allhave provided the Tigers with quality outings throughout the season, especially Cowan, though he has struggled as of late. But if LSU is forced to aGame 3inthe super regional, whom the Tigers will turn to is abig question Beyond that, they’re likely to needathird starter to emerge in the CWS.

support aFrench player,soI knewthatit’sgoing to be likethis.

Ithink that in the ﬁrst set, Imanaged it pretty well (and) Ididn’t reallypay attentiontothat,”Andreevasaid. “But obviouslywith nervesand with pressure,itbecamealittle harder.”

Whenthe matchended, Boisson collapsed to her back, chest heavingand hands on her face. When she rose, there were ﬂecksofrust-

colored clay all over,including her forehead

“I think every kid who plays tennis hasthe dream to win aSlam. More for aFrench player to win Roland Garros, for sure,” she said.

“So, yeah, it’sadream.”

On the men’s side,Novak Djokovic andNo. 1Jannik Sinner set up a semiﬁnal showdown with victories.

Djokovic reached his record 51st GrandSlam semifinal as he

pursues his 25th major championship with a4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 3Alexander Zverev,last year’s runner-up.

Sinner gotbacktothe semifinals in Paris for the second year in arow with his latest overpowering performance, defeating unseeded Alexander Bublik 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 in under twohours. Sinner has droppedjust 36 games through ﬁve matches.

UL SOFTBALL

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shaking up thecoaching staff with the ﬁrings of hitting coach Shellie Landry and pitching coach Shelbi Sunseri.

There is atangled web of uncertainties surrounding theprogram these days.

Although there are many reasons for theunsettled stateofthe program at the moment, one thing is for sure: The decisions Habetz makes over thenext few weeks are critical to the long-term viability of UL softball moving forward.

Although no UL fan wanted to go through this 29-25 transition season, one subpar season can be overcome. Buttwo bad seasons hint at atrend.

Habetzneeds to attract an inﬂuential transfer portal class to spice up theroster in several needed areas. She also has toreplace Landry and Sunseri on the coaching staff.

It’sa lot easier to recruit athletes to your program if they know thehitting, pitching and defensive philosophies of the

HittingofFrey, Hernandez: Good

Moving Etan Frey from ﬁfth to second in the lineup for Monday’sregional ﬁnal proved to be amaster stroke by Jay Johnson. Frey went4for 4with ahome run and abases-clearing double, another double and two walks. Luis Hernandez, who actually moved down in theorder from seventh to eighth, clouted two massively important home runs. Alsoimportantinthe regional was the revived hitting of shortstop Steven Milam,who even though he went 0for 5Monday had somehard-hit balls.

HittingofJones:Bad

It feels harsh to say thehitting of aplayer whose last at-bat was ahome run is bad, but Jones has had arocky six weeks since his moonshot homerun to beat Tennessee on April 25. Hisbatting average overall has dipped from .363 that night to .323, and like manyjuniors in his situation, he

staff. By the sametoken, Habetz can’tafford to rush her decisions in that area, because nailing these two hires is amust.

Yes, Habetz andLacy Prejean remain and they bring aton of experience to the table.

Butthe next hitting and pitching coaches are integral pieces in the program reestablishing its identity.Much of what the Cajuns did this past season wasout of necessity.

For example, they probably had too manyslap hitters and not enough RBI bats in the lineup. That was moreofa personnel issue than aphilosophical preference.

Likewise, the pitching staff didn’tstrike out aton of batters. Again, that’sasmuch to do with skill sets than mindsets.

This spring was ahuge learningexperience for Habetz. She’s been around the game for three decades, but never as ahead coach. She obviously had to learna lot.

Thenew hitting coach needs to be on the samepage as Habetz, and that needstobereﬂected in thetransfers added as well as the players whostay

The new pitching coach needs

appears to be pressing with the MLB draft drawing near All that said, perhaps the home run that gave the Tigers some much-needed insurance in the ninthMonday will ﬂip the on switch for Jones, whowithout question is atalented player.It will be intriguing in the super regional to see where Johnson puts Jones in the lineup.

Fielding:Good

The LSUdefense has been pretty airtight all year.After regionals, the Tigers rank ninth nationally with a.982 fielding percentage. LSUcommitted only one error in four regional games, albeit acostly one. Second baseman Daniel Dickinson madea faulty short toss toward Milam, theshortstop whowas covering second base, that waspart of Little Rock’s five-run second on Monday That said, the infield defense has been exceptionally good. Tiger infielders and catchers have

to be on the samepage as Habetz, and next year’snew and returning arms need to be capable of executing anew approach.

This past season wasmore about learning and honoring the dedication of those whostayed than establishing aroadmap for the future. The only thing close to ateam identity wasthe positive attitude the team maintained despite the struggles.

Year Twomust be about instituting clear-cut hitting, pitching, ﬁelding and practice philosophies that the entire staffbelieves in as one unit.

Right or wrong, mostsuccessfulprogramshang their hats on speciﬁcways to play the game and then “Allons” as the fans say in these parts. The 2025 season wasunderstandably moreofa ﬁshing expedition.

Nowwith manylessons learned, the opportunity to moldanew staffthat’ll determine the new path and mission forthis proud program is vital to keep Lamson Park the vibrant atmosphere the Cajuns have come to expect.

Email KevinFoote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

committed just four errors in the past 14 games.

Intangibles: Good

The wayLSU lost Sunday 10-4 to Little Rock and fell behind 5-1 in the second inning Monday was not impressive. The way the Tigers did not panic and came back to winthe regional was.

Former LSU pitcher Doug Thompson, now part of the LSU radio broadcast team,said on Charles Hanagriff’s podcast after the regional that he always believed the Tigers would ﬁnd away to come back and winMonday against the Trojans. Youcan question whyLSU struggled against such an outmatched opponent at home, but you can’tquestion the Tigers’ resolve. The latter will serve them well in the super regional and in Omaha should LSU advance.

For more LSUsports updates, signupfor ournewsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

STAFFPHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL coach Alyson Habetz, left, shownhere talking to catcher MiaNorwood during the season, has alot of very important decisions to makeinJune that’ll inﬂuence the future of the program.

Coco Gauffof the U.S. plays ashot against Madison Keys of the U.S. during theirquarterfinal match of the French Open at the RolandGarros stadium in Parison Wednesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOBy CHRISTOPHE ENA

LHSCA gets Barber as its new director

Former Franklinton star succeeds Held, first woman to hold post

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

In 19 years of working as a teacher and coach, being an assistant coach was the job Jessica Barber loved the most

The former Franklinton High School basketball star sees her new role as director of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association as a variation on that theme. The LHSAA announced Barber’s hiring on Wednesday Barber is the ﬁrst woman to hold the LHSCA position and succeeds Eric Held, who accepted a job as LSU football’s director of alumni relations and high school outreach during the spring.

“For me, this is the opportunity to be an assistant coach for over 400 schools and all the LHSAA sports,” Barber said. “I think my personality and ability to build relationships will make this a fun transition for me.

“I know I’m the ﬁrst female and that comes with its own excitement and challenges. Now, I am not the type of person who is going to make that such a big deal. I feel like I can sit in a room and hold conversations with football coaches. I also know when it’s time to listen.”

The 42-year-old Barber has spent the past six years as a college assistant women’s basketball coach, ﬁrst at UL-Monroe and most recently during two years at Southern Miss. She served as recruiting coordinator for both schools and did graduate studies in sports administration/sports management at those universities.

“When I think about being able to work for an association that provided me an opportunity to play in a state championship game and to coach in Marsh Madnesses it’s surreal,” she said.

“Being able to work in an administrative role and still be part of athletics this is a dream job it really is.” Barber also had coaching stints at Loyola-New Orleans and Nicholls State. As a high school girls basketball coach at Edna Karr from 2011-17, Barber won more than 120 games. She won four district titles and led the Cougars to LHSAA state tourney berths in 2015 and 2016.

As a player, Barber was part of Franklinton’s 1998 state runner-up squad and was the LHSCA All-Star

Father-son

LSU signee Deal named softball MVP

“For me, this is the opportunity to be an assistant coach for over 400 schools and all the LHSAA sports. I think my personality and ability to build relationships will make this a fun transition for me.”

JESSICA BARBER, LHSCA director

game MVP in 2001. She went on to play at the University of Mobile, where she was the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year

LHSCA ofﬁcers and board members interviewed four candidates for the director’s post last week at the LHSAA ofﬁce in Baton Rouge, one day before the LHSAA executive committee held its annual summer meeting.

“Eric Held leaves some big shoes to fill because he took the job of the director of the LHSCA to another level,” LHSCA president Christopher Kovatch said. “The position is definitely a job that requires someone who is a proper fit.

“By the time that we had ﬁnished her interview, I was 100% convinced that Jessica is that person. Between her high school and college experience, she has had to work with people in all walks of life. She has proven to be successful in each venue.”

Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@ theadvocate.com

SCOREBOARD

Bublik, Kazakhstan, 6-1, 7-5, 6-0. Women’s singles Quarterﬁnals Coco Gauff (2), United States, def. Madison Keys (7), United States, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1. Lois Boisson, France, def. Mirra Andreeva (6), Russia, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Men’s doubles Quarterﬁnals Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (5), Argentina, def. Ivan Dodig, Croatia and Orlando Luz, Brazil, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, and Hugo Nys (16), Monaco, def. Luke Johnson, Britain, and Sander Arends, Netherlands, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Women’s doubles Quarterﬁnals Ulrikke Eikeri, Norway, and Eri Hozumi, Japan, def. Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, and Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania, 6-4, 6-3. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Anna Danilina, Kazakhstan, def. Taylor Townsend, United States, and Katerina Siniakova (1), Czechia, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. Mixed doubles Semiﬁnals Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori (3), Italy, def. Zhang Shuai, China, and Marcelo Arevalo-Gonzalez (2), El Salvador, 6-2, 6-3. Evan King and Taylor Townsend (4), United States, def. Neal Skupski, Britain, and Desirae Krawczyk, United States, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 12-10. Hockey

NHL playoff glance

Finals (Best-of-7; x-if necessary) Florida vs. Edmonton Wednesday: Florida at Edmonton,

at Edmonton,

PROVIDED PHOTO

Mustard, rhubarb saucethe perfect pairingto pork chops

BY BETH DOOLEY

Recipe, Pan-Roasted Pork Chops in Mustardy Rhubarb Sauce 6C

Rhubarb isn’tjust for pie. It also makes aclassic fruit and mustard sauce for pork (it works nicely on chicken and lamb, too) that helps keep themeat moist once it’scooked so it can be prepared ahead andheld until folksare ready to eat Pork chopsare cut out of thesame basic part of the pig: the loin, which runs along the pig’sback from shouldertobutt. Depending on where the chops are cut, they’ll haveslightly different cooking qualities. My favoritefor pan-roasting is therib chop, sliced from theblade end. The higher fat content makes these chops flavorful and easy to sear.You wantthem to be thick— at least 11/4 inch thick, because anythinner and they tend to dry out.It’salways a good idea to salt the meat andlet it rest before cooking. Salt draws juices upto the meat’ssurface, and it’s then reabsorbed through cooking. This concentrates flavors while retainingmoisture, yielding ajuicer,tastier chop. Of course, the best-tasting chops rely on good pork —like themeat of heritage pigs, which are bred for flavor instead of low-fat content. When raised free-rangeand allowed to moveaboutin the fresh air,the animals’ muscle structures develop naturally. Andbecause their diet is varied, the meat tastes rich and complex.

ä See PAIRING, page 6C

DREAMSTIME/TNS PHOTO Use fresh rhubarb to makeasimple, savory rhubarb sauce.

SUMMER SENSATIONS

Fruit Salad

Serves 8-10.

1pineapple (peeled,cored and cut into cubes)

3cups watermelon (cubed and seeded)

2cups fresh strawberries (sliced)

2cups fresh blueberries

4kiwis (peeled and sliced)

2cups red or green seedless grapes(sliced in half)

2ripe mangoes (peeled, pitted and cut into bite-sized pieces)

WStaff report

Adozen chefs from across thestate will represent theirareas in the18thannual Louisiana SeafoodCook-Off on Friday, June 27. For the first time, the competition will take place at The Harbor Center in Slidell. Chefs competing in the cook-off are:

n Kaleb Scott, executive chef, University Club of BatonRouge

n Farrell Harrison, executive chef, Plates Restaurant &Bar,New Orleans n Jared Heider,chef de cuisine, JuniorsonHarrison, New Orleans

n Joseph Fontenot, executive chef, Creole Bagelry &Café, Slidell

n Michael Kelley, executivechef,Gallagher’sGrill, Covington

ä See COOK-OFF, page 6C

hen Iwas asmallchild,mydad prepared agrapefruit for me by cutting it in halfand carefully cutting each segment of fruitso that it would be easy to eat with aspoon. To balance the tart taste, he would drizzle honey over the top. This act of love and care stayed with me, so I passed it on by cutting hundreds of grapefruits for my kids beforethey went to school. Segmenting grapefruit early in themorning is not on the top of my list of fun things to do, but taking care of yourself andothers by preparing fresh fruit feels like time well spent.

Recently, Ihad aconversation with one of my cousins about making fruitsalad. He explained that chopping up abig bowl of colorful fruitisasvisually appealing as it is nutritious, and the entire process provides amental boost. When you take time to select ripeproduce and make yourself avibrant bowl of fruit, it is an act of self-care.

ä See SALADS, page 6C

NOTE: Any ripe seasonal fruitcan be added or substituted.

1lemon (juiced and zested)

¼cup fresh mint leaves(finely chopped)

1tablespoon honey

1. In alarge bowl, combine the pineapple cubes, watermelon cubes, sliced strawberries, blueberries, sliced kiwis, sliced grapes and sliced mango. Note: If you have other fruit that mayneed to be eaten, add it to this salad. Peaches would be agreat addition!

2. For thedressing: In a small bowl,add thelemon juice, lemonzest, mint and honey. Whiskthe honey into thecitrusherb sauce untilit is well combined. Pour the dressing over the fruit salad.

Liz Faul

The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

Keepingthingsdry on thebandofbras

Dear Heloise: Like anumber

of my friends who are largebreasted, we have adaily problemyear-round of sweating onto the band of our bras.Abouta year ago, Iused one of my 12-by8-inch disposable moist washcloths. Ilet it dry out, then folded it lengthwise so that it ﬁtsnuggly under the bottom of my breasts.Itabsorbed all the moisture. At the end of the day, Igently rinse it out with water,and it dries overnight. These washcloths last forever.I have used the same one since the beginning. It keeps me totally dry,and the band of the bra is also dry at the end of the day —J.K., in Dayton, Ohio Wood shavings forcompost

P.S. Iknow aboutcockroaches

Today is Thursday,June 5, the 156th day of 2025. There are 209 days left in theyear

TODAYINHISTORY

attack by its Arab neighbors, launched aseries of airﬁeld strikes that destroyed nearly the entire Egyptian air force.

Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: Regarding theletter from Vera, S. in Albuquerque, New Mexico, adding wood shavings or sawdusttocompost is ﬁne as long as the woodis not chemically treated. Also, a great resource for answering any questions you have about gardening and plant careisyour agricultural extension service. Everystate provides this service, and each county has agents you can contact by phone or email. —Carol G., in New Orleans Cockroachabatement

Dear Heloise: Your readers with cockroach challenges should research the use of bay leaves as aroach repellent. Additionally,covering shower and sink drains, especially at night, can help keep cockroaches out. They are drawn to drains due to moisture, food sources, and theshelter they provide.

PAIRING

Continued from page5C

The key to pan-roasting chops is to watch the temperature of your skillet. Start high to sear both sides of the chop until they’re

Pan-Roasted Pork Chops in Mustardy Rhubarb Sauce

Serves4.Recipe is from Beth Dooley.This simple savory rhubarb sauce is equally good on chicken and lamb. Store any extra in acoveredcontainer in the refrigerator.Besure tosalt the pork and let it cometoroom temperature before it hits the pan for tastier,juicier results.

FOR THE MUSTARDYRHUBARB SAUCE:

1tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1largeshallot, chopped

½pound rhubarb,fresh or frozen, thawedand chopped

½cup orangejuice

1tablespoon honey

1tablespoon whole grain mustard

1tablespoon white wine vinegar

Saltand freshly ground black pepper, to taste

FOR THE PORK CHOPS:

4bone-in rib chops, each 1¼ inch thick and about¾ pound Coarse salt Freshly ground black pepper

3tablespoons olive oil

1. To prepare the sauce: Film askillet or deep saucepan with

COOK-OFF

Continued from page5C

n Trenton Oliphant, executive chef/owner, BenteauxCajunAsian Fusion, Hammond

n Jaylen Cherry,headchef, The Depeaux, Independence

n Alexis Indest, executive chef, Whiskey and Vine, Lafayette

n Karlos Knott, executive chef, Cajun Saucer at Bayou Teche Brewery, Arnaudville

n Willie Gaspard Jr., executive chef, CypressBayou Casino& Hotel, Charenton

n Chase Raley,chefdecuisine, Parish Restaurant and Bar,Monroe n Blake Jackson,executive chef/owner,Heron Seafood/Mae &Co., Shreveport. The cook-off is being held in conjunction with 8th Annual Tammany Taste of Summer,running Aug. 1-31, as St. Tammany Parish restaurants serve up exclusive dining deals showcasing the region’srich culinary scene. An added treat for cook-offat-

because Ispent my ﬁrst 24 years in Louisiana and now lots of years in Arizona. When we sailed across the SouthPaciﬁcon our sailboat, we did everything possibletoavoid an infestation of cockroaches on our boat. This meant we couldn’t bring cardboard boxes onboard. Roaches like to lay their eggs in the folded cardboard. They also like to lay eggsbeneath labels on canned goods. Itry not to bring cardboard boxes inside my home —J.Gannon, in Tucson,Arizona

Recyclingshreddedpaper

Dear Heloise: In reference to the response that shredded paper cannot berecycled,itdepends on themunicipalityorcompany that provides therecycling service. Ican recycle shredded paper as long as it is securely placedina clear plastic bag and put in the recycle bin. Check with your recycling provider Linda Graeper,Caledonia,Wisconsin

Wiping dishes

Dear Heloise: My son laughs at me forbeing so cheap. Isave slightly used papertowels and usethem to wipe dishes and potsbefore Iput them in the dishwasher.I have been married over 50 years andhad adishwasher since my ﬁrst yearofmarriage.Itrolled across the ﬂoorand hooked up at thesink. I’ve only had to buy two more in all this time. Ilove readingyour hintsand have read them for many years. —Brenda Thompson,Texarkana,Arkansas

Send ahint to heloise@heloise. com.

dark brown. Then place the skilletinthe oven to ﬁnish things off. Pork is done when it reaches 145 Fonameat thermometer Letthe chops rest afew minutestoretain their juices and then serve with acrisp green salad andcrusty bread tosop up all thesauce.

the oil and set over medium heat. Add the shallotand cook untilit becomes transparent, about 1to 2minutes

2. Add the rhubarb and orange juiceand cookuntil therhubarb softens and the sauce thickens, about 5to8minutes. Stir in the honey,mustard and vinegar,then season with salt and pepper. Taste andadjustthe seasonings. Set aside.

3. To prepare thepork: Preheat the oven to350 F. Generously seasonthe pork with the saltand pepper on all sides.Allow to rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.

4. Film askillet with the oil and set over medium-high heat.When the oilripples, add the pork and sear until well-browned, about 3 to 4minutes per side

5. Transfer to theoven and cook until the meat registers about 140 Fonanoven thermometer,about 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Removethe pork chops from oven.Add therhubarb sauceto thepan andthoroughlycoatthe pork chops. Return to theoven and continue cookinguntilthe meat reaches 145 F, another 5to 10 minutes.Remove and allow the pork chops to rest for about 5minutes beforeserving with plentyofsauce.

tendees is the 15 participating Tammany TasteofSummer restaurants that will offer apreview of themonthlong culinary celebration.

Thewinnerofthe Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off will represent thestate at theGreat American Seafood Cook-Off on Saturday, Aug. 2,atthe Ernest M. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The contest is held in conjunction withthe Louisiana RestaurantAssociation Expo andfeatures chefs from around thecountry cooking for the title of “KingorQueen of American Seafood.”

Ticketsare on salenow for$65 each. To purchase your ticket online, head to Visit the Northshore’sTammany Taste of Summer webpage. One ticket provides admission to the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Offand theTammany Taste of Summer event. Follow the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with allLouisianaSeafood Cook-offevents via the ofﬁcial hashtag —#LASCO25.

Todayinhistory: On June 5, 1968, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded after claiming victoryinCalifornia’sDemocratic presidential primary at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was arrested at the scene.

Also on this date: In 1794, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, which prohibited Americansfrom takingpart in any military action against a country that was at peace with theUnited States.

In 1950, theU.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, struck down racially segregated railroad dining cars traveling across state lines

In 1967, theSix-Day Warbegan as Israel, anticipating apossible

In 1975, Egypt reopened the Suez Canaltointernational shipping, eightyears after it was closed as aresult of the 1967 SixDay Warwith Israel.

In 1976, 11 people werekilled when the Teton Dam in Idaho failed, releasing 80 billion gallons of water

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control reported that ﬁve menin Los Angeles had comedown with a rare kind of pneumonia; they were the ﬁrst recognized cases of what later became known as AIDS.

In 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Salt Lake Cityhome. (Smart was found andrescued by policeinaSalt Lake Citysuburb in March 2003.)

In 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United

States, died in Los Angeles at age 93 after along struggle with Alzheimer’sdisease. In 2016, Novak Djokovic became the ﬁrst man in nearly a half-century to winfour consecutive major championships, ﬁnally earning an elusive French Open title with awin over Andy Murray to complete acareer Grand Slam Today’sbirthdays: Broadcast journalist Bill Moyers is 91. USA Track &Field Hall of Famer John Carlos is 80. Musician-artist Laurie Anderson is 78. Author Ken Follett is 76. Finance author Suze Orman is 74. Musician Kenny G is 69. Actor-comedian Jeff Garlin is 63. Author Rick Riordan is 61. Actor Ron Livingston is 58. Singer Brian McKnight is 56. Actor Mark Wahlberg is 54. Actor Liza Weil is 48. Actor-comedian Nick Kroll is 47. Rock musician Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) is 46. Singeractor Troye Sivan is 30.

FarroSalad with Tomatoes and Herbs

Serves 6. Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis.

4cups of water

2cups of farro

2teaspoons salt, plus more to taste

1(12-ounce) container of cherry tomatoes (I used amix of colors)

1small sweet onion chopped finely(If the onion is large, use half of the onion)

¼cup finelychopped fresh Italian parsley

½cup fresh basil

1largegarlic clove, minced

3tablespoons balsamic vinegar

½cup extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1. In amedium saucepan,combine water and farro. Add 2teaspoons of salt.Bring to aboil over medium heat Reduce theheat to low heat, cover and simmer until thefarro is tender,about 30 minutes. Drainthe farrowellina colander,thentransferthe farrotoa serving bowl and let it cool.

2. While the farro is simmering, chop the tomatoes,onions and herbs. Add the ﬁnely choppedtomatoes, onions and herbs to thebowl of farro. Toss to combine.

3. In amedium bowl, whisk together the chopped garlic,vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. Whiskuntil thebalsamicdressingisemulsiﬁed.Add the vinaigrette to the farrosalad,tossto coat.

4. This salad is versatile, easyand delicious. It can be madeinadvance, and refrigerated overnight. Justremembertobring it to room temperature before serving.

SALADS

Continuedfrom page5C

So now,instead of dreading all the peeling, seeding and cubing of fruits, Iturn on my favorite music and enjoy the process of preparing abig bowl of fruit salad for myself and my family.Recently,Imade afruit saladtobring to afriend’s partyand Iadded alemon mint dressing to drizzle over the fresh fruit medley

Another summer salad that is worth the time and effort in the kitchen is farro, tomatoand fresh herb salad. Istarted makingit years ago. My inspiration was the Food Networkseries “Everyday Italian” with Giada De Laurentiis. Iwas anew mom years before the days of social media and TikTok food trends, so Idiscovered new cooking ideas from popular shows on cable television. Iwould watch celebrity chefs like De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, Alton Brown and Bobby Flay cook andexplain manyof thedishes that we still eat around

Bean and Bell Pepper Salad

Serves 6-8. Recipe provided by Jessica Lopez.

3cans black eyed peas (drainedand rinsed)

1red bell pepper(seeded and diced)

1orangebell pepper(seeded and diced)

1yellow bell pepper(seeded and diced)

1yellow onion(finely chopped)

4celerystalks (diced)

Dressing:

½cup olive oil(or canola oil)

½cup lime juice

1-2 jalapeño peppers (seeded and cut)

2garliccloves

1cup of fresh cilantro leaves

2tablespoonshoney Salt and peppertotaste

1. In alarge bowl, add the drained and rinsed beans. Then add the chopped bell peppers, onion and celery to the beans and stir together

2. To make the dressing: In the bowlofafood processor or blender,pour the olive oil, lime juice, seeded and cut up jalapeño pepper,garlic cloves,fresh cilantro andhoney then blend it together until it is asmooth sauce. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour the dressing over the bean saladand mix it to cover thebeansand vegetables. This saladtastes great served chilled.

Tomato SaladwithPistachio Pesto

Makes 4-6servings.

4largeripe tomatoes (thinly sliced)

8small mozzarella balls (slicedin half)

¼cup arugula leaves

1 8 cup pistachios (shelled)

Pistachio Pesto dressing:

½cup arugula leaves

1cup fresh basil leaves

¼cup pistachios(shelled)

1garlicclove

½cup olive oil(add more forthinner consistency)

¼cup gratedParmesan cheese

½teaspoon salt

½teaspoon pepper

our family table. Butitwas De Laurentiis who taught me how to cook farro. As a registered dietitian, Ilove learning about new whole grains. Farro is ahigh-protein, high-ﬁber grain. Butwhat is best about it is the tasty nutty taste that blends so well with tomatoes, fresh herbs and abrightbalsamic vinaigrette. De Laurentiis’recipe asks you to seed the tomatoes. Over the years, Ihave learned to cut corners by

1. On alarge plate or platter, layer thinly sliced tomatoes, arugula, mozzarellaballs and pistachios.

2. In the bowlofa food processor,place arugula leaves, basil leaves, pistachios, garlic and pulse together while slowly adding the olive oil until it forms ablended pesto sauce. Then stirinthe grated Parmesan, salt and pepper

3. Drizzle the pesto dressing over the tomato salad.

using cherry tomatoes andcutting them in half, simply adding them to thecooked bowl of farro seedsand all. Ialsosubstitute alot of fresh basilfor thechives, whichare harder to ﬁnd in thegrocery store. Tomatoes and basil makeany dish taste like summer.You cannot go wrong with any variation on asimple fresh tomato and basil salad, but try adding another layer of ﬂavor by making apistachio pesto to drizzle over summer tomatoes, mozzarella and arugula —itissogood!

Beans are agreat source of protein to add to asalad. This bean salad is madewith black eyed peas, but it would work well with avariety of beans. Ilove how the three colors of bell peppers add ﬂavor and bright colors. The spice level can be controlled by adding or subtracting jalapeño peppers. All of these summer salads are well worth the timespent in the kitchen. Savor someculinary selfcare with these bright, refreshing, colorful salads, or makea little extra to share with friends at asummer barbecue.

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL

Bean and Bell Pepper Salad

PHOTO By LIZ FAUL

Tomato Salad with Pistachio Pesto

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) You'll get a different perspective if you are open to suggestions. You have plenty to gain through social activity, networking and expanding your circle of friends

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Take a timeout, rethink your strategy and sit tight until you feel confident that any changes you want to enforce will fall into place. Refuse to let anyone pressure you into acting in haste.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Open a few doors, and opportunity will appear You are a leader, so take your place at the forefront and begin your ascent. It's time to inject something new and exciting into your life.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Stop look, listen and evaluate. You may be anxious to get started, put things behind you and move on to something different, but when warning signs appear, you should heed them

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) An open mind and heart will carry you forward. Attend events and do your part, and you'll feel good and connect with people who have as much to offer as you.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Change is up to you, but before you mess with matters, consider your motives and the extended effects. Rethink your strategy and change anything that has the potential to compromise or alienate you.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec 21) Call on the people with the best qualifications for your pursuit. Fighting for your rights

WonderWord

and making upgrades will improve your life.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Push your agenda boldly, and you'll draw the attention of people who can help you get favorable results. Use facts and intelligence to avoid opposition and setbacks

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You are on the right track and time is of the essence. Control is necessary to avoid disruptions, so put yourself, your plans and your future first. Networking and sharing your vision will pay off handsomely.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Stick to basics, simplify situations and don't believe everything you hear Do your due diligence and speak up if you disagree. Empty promises will tempt you. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Dig in, and don't stop until you finish what you start. Speak up, get answers and be the one to make a difference. Drive and determination are your ticket to success. Live in the moment.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Your desire for change will help you achieve your goals. Share your thoughts, promote your ideas and separate yourself from the crowd. Put your ideas and theory to the test, and you'll gain ground.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's cLuE: R EQuALs u

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Bridge

By PHILLIPALDER

Jules Renard,a Frenchauthor, said,

“The only man who is reallyfree is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving any excuse.”

Thisweekwearestudyingresponder’s rebids. Look at theauction andSouth’s hand. Can Northhave fourhearts for his sequence? What should South rebid?

North cannot have four hearts;ifhe did, he would have rebid two hearts (the major),nottwodiamonds(theminor).So, as there cannot be a4-4 heart fit, South shouldrebidtwono-trump.Thisisgameinvitational,indicatingsome10-12points and at least one stopper in the unbid suit, hearts. (If you usetwo-over-one gameforcing,youwouldrespondoneno-trump forcing, then rebidtwo no-trump over two diamonds.)

AfterNorth raisestothree no-trump, West leadsthe spadeking. How should South plan the play? What adirty trick by West, leading a spade instead of aheart!Southhas six toptricks:onespade,fourheartsandone diamond.Ifthediamondfinesseisworking, there will be no problems. But if it loses, declarer will need aclub trick. South shouldduck thefirst trick and take the second spade,tofind out the break. Then he should overtake one of

dummy’shearthonorsascheaplyaspossibleandrunthediamondjack.Eastwins with his king and shiftstoalow club. What shoulddeclarer do? If West has theclubace, the contract hasnochance. So South should put up his king, hoping for the best. If it wins, he can claim. ©2025 by NEA, Inc.,dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzleisa word riddle whichcreates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying etc. Forexample: NOONGOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters.2.Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD cHAuFFEuR: sho-FER:Aperson employed to drive amotor vehicle.

Average mark 21 words

Timelimit 30 minutes

Can you find 26 or more words in CHAUFFEUR?

yEstERDAy’s WoRD —EtHnIcIty

entity etch ethic ethnic tech tent tenth then they thin thine

tine tint tiny tithe hint nice nicety niche inch incite itch itchy cent chin chine chit cite city

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

This is God’s promisetoAbraham the father of the Jewish people. We do well to remember it. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato

mallard fillmore

BRIEFS

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Hiring freeze threatens inflation data

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department has cut back on the inflation data it collects because of the Trump administration’s government hiring freeze, raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inﬂation ﬁgures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs.

The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the monthly consumer price index, the most closely watched inﬂation measure, said Wednesday that it is “reducing sample in areas across the country” and added that it stopped collecting price data entirely in April in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Provo, Utah. It also said it has stopped collecting data this month in Buffalo, New York

In an email that the BLS sent to economists, viewed by The Associated Press, the agency said that it “temporarily reduced the number of outlets and quotes it attempted to collect due to a stafﬁng shortage” in April The reduced data collection “will be kept in place until the hiring freeze is lifted.”

President Donald Trump froze federal hiring on his first day in office and extended the freeze in April until late July, suggesting future inflation reports will also involve less data collection.

Reddit sues AI company Anthropic

Social media platform Reddit has sued the artiﬁcial intelligence company Anthropic, alleging that it is illegally “scraping” the comments of Reddit users to train its chatbot Claude. Reddit claims that Anthropic has used automated bots to access Reddit’s content despite being asked not to do so, and “intentionally trained on the personal data of Reddit users without ever requesting their consent.”

Anthropic didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday Reddit filed the lawsuit Wednesday in California Superior Court in San Francisco, where both companies are based.

“AI companies should not be allowed to scrape information and content from people without clear limitations on how they can use that data,” said Ben Lee, Reddit’s chief legal ofﬁcer, in a statement Wednesday

U.S. and Europe trade negotiations continue PARIS Europe and the United States say progress has been made but there were no breakthroughs during a meeting in Paris to negotiate a settlement of a tense tariff spat with global economic ramiﬁcations.

European Union top trade negotiator Maroš Šef ovi met Wednesday with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Šef ovi said in a post on X that the sides are “advancing in the right direction at pace” and staying in close contact. Brussels and Washington, though, are unlikely to reach a substantive trade agreement in Paris. The issues dividing them are too difﬁcult to resolve quickly

Amazon plans $10B data center in N.C. HAMLET, N.C. Amazon is expanding its cloud computing infrastructure and artiﬁcial intelligence activities into a rural North Carolina county The company said Wednesday it intends to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in Richmond County This will bring a shot in the arm to a region where textile and apparel jobs dried up a generation ago. Amazon said its investment should create at least 500 jobs and support thousands more through construction and data center supply chain providers. Gov Josh Stein says the investment is one of the largest in state history

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK Wall Street’s big recent rally lost some momentum on Wednesday following a pair of potentially discouraging reports on the economy

The S&P 500 finished the day virtually unchanged and remained 2.8% below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3%.

The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury

yields tumbled following the weaker-than-expected economic updates.

One said that activity contracted for U.S. retailers, ﬁnance companies and other businesses in the services industries last month, when economists were expecting to see growth. Businesses told the Institute for Supply Management in its survey that all the uncertainty created by tariffs is making it difﬁcult for them to forecast and plan.

A second report from ADP suggested U.S. employers outside of the government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected That could bode ill for Friday’s more comprehensive jobs report coming from the U.S. Labor Department, which is one of Wall Street’s most antici-

pated data releases each month.

So far, the U.S. job market has remained remarkably resilient despite years of high inflation and now the threat of President Donald Trump’s high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the economy

To be sure, ADP’s report historically has not been a perfect predictor of what the U.S. Labor Department’s report will say

“Whether this report is accurate or not, traders and investors will read today’s number as a dark result for trading today,” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “This may be the tip of an iceberg, but it also could be a false start.”

Following the reports, traders built up bets that the Federal

Reserve will need to cut interest rates later this year in order to prop up the economy, which in turn caused the fall for Treasury yields. The weaker-than-expected ADP report also pushed Trump to call on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver cuts to rates more quickly

“‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “He is unbelievable!!!”

The Fed has yet to cut interest rates this year after slashing them through the end of 2024.

Part of the reason for the pause is that the Fed wants to see how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inﬂation. While lower interest rates could boost the economy, they could also give inﬂation more fuel.

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer

NEW YORK U.S President Donald Trump hiked nearly all of his tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to a punishing 50% on Wednesday in a move that’s set to hammer businesses from automakers to home builders, and likely push up prices for consumers even further Economists warn that such heightened levies could signiﬁcantly squeeze the wallets of both companies and shoppers alike. But Trump argues that his latest import taxes are necessary to protect U.S. industries.

The 50% tariffs went into effect just after the clock struck midnight on Wednesday

The two metals had previously faced 25% tariffs worldwide since mid-March, when Trump’s order to remove steel exemptions and raise aluminum’s levy from his previously imposed 2018 import taxes went into effect.

Steel and aluminum from the U.K. is the exception British imports of these metals are still levied at 25%, per a proclamation issued by Trump on Tuesday afternoon, which pointed to a recent trade deal reached between the two countries.

Trump says it’s all about protecting U.S. industries. He reiterated that argument on Friday, when he first announced the 50% tariff on imported steel during a visit with steelworkers in Pennsylvania, where he also discussed a “planned partnership” between U.S Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel.

In his speech at U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in suburban Pittsburgh, Trump said the tariff hike would “further secure the steel industry in the U.S.” Shortly after, he took the same tone when sharing plans to also raise tariffs on imported aluminum

Industry response

While some analysts have credited the tariffs Trump imposed during his ﬁrst term with strengthening domestic production of steel and aluminum, many others have warned that stark new levies can make it difﬁcult for the industry to adjust.

Some organizations representing metal

BY TIMOTHY BOONE Staff writer

Herc Rentals has completed its nearly $5 billion acquisition of Baton Rouge-based H&E Equipment Services. The deal was ﬁnalized Monday, and H&E was delisted from the Nasdaq Exchange.

Under the agreement announced in February, H&E stockholders received $78.75 for each share and 0.1287 shares of Herc Rentals stock. Shares of Herc

workers also note that tariffs aren’t the only solution needed to boost U.S. manufacturing.

“While tariffs, used strategically, serve as a valuable tool in balancing the scales, it’s essential that we also pursue wider reforms of our global trading system,” David McCall, international president of the United Steelworkers union said in a statement, noting that work must be done “in collaboration with trusted allies” like Canada — the top exporter of steel and aluminum to the U.S. — to help “contain the bad actors.”

Matt Meenan, vice president of external affairs at the Aluminum Association, added that the trade group “appreciates President Trump’s continued focus on strengthening the U.S. aluminum industry,” but that “tariffs alone will not increase U.S. primary aluminum production.”

“We also need consistent, predictable trade and tariff policy to plan for current and future investment,” Meenan said.

Meanwhile, the American Primary Aluminum Association, which advocates for stronger trade enforcement applauded Trump’s latest tariff increase on foreign aluminum.

“For decades, subsidized foreign producers have hollowed out domestic aluminum manufacturing,” APAA President Mark Duffy said in a statement, calling Trump a “strong leader who is ﬁghting to rebuild domestic manufacturing and protect thousands of American aluminum jobs.”

opened at $124.35 Monday morning. The company also took on $1.5 billion of H&E’s debt. Florida-based Herc has 440 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The company has 16 locations in south Louisiana. Company officials said H&E will keep a presence in Baton Rouge, but decisions on the speciﬁc operations and local employment levels will be made over time. H&E, founded in 1961, is the fifth-largest rental equipment company in the U.S., with more than 160 branches in 31 states. Its rental ﬂeet is valued at $2.9 billion.

Impacted products

Steel and aluminum are used in a range of products like washing machines, consumer electronics and cars. Much of the auto industry relies on a global supply chain. And even if you aren’t in the market to buy a new vehicle, repairs could involve parts that use imports of either metal, driving up overall maintenance and ownership costs.

In the grocery aisle, steel and aluminum are ubiquitous in the packaging for many foods, including canned tuna, soup and nuts. Experts warn that hiking import taxes on these materials could led to higher grocery prices overall, further straining consumers’ wallets.

The aluminum and metal tariffs also carry wider implications for construction and transportation as a whole, as many key building parts and materials are made with these metals. Economists further warn of spillover impacts. Even if a product isn’t directly packaged in steel or aluminum, there could be higher costs to build the shelf it’s sold on, for example, or truck used to transport it to the store. And all of that could trickle down to the consumer down the road. If foreign competition becomes “priced out” due to these new tariffs, U.S. steel and aluminum producers may also find room to raise their own prices. As a result, even companies that don’t buy these foreign metals could end up paying more.

While both companies have a strong concentration of locations in the South, Herc has a major presence in New England, the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. H&E has a heavy concentration in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. H&E is a general rental business,while Herc specializes in products for areas such as power generation, pump, HVAC and ﬂoor care. In recent years, H&E has taken aggressive measures, selling off its crane business in 2021 and its earthmoving distributorships in 2022 to concentrate on equipment rental. H&E also

bought up smaller equipment companies in the Midwest and West.

Analysts say the larger an equipment rental company is, the better its chances are of getting new equipment from manufacturers and the better price it pays. Herc was started about 60 years ago and has a rental ﬂeet valued at just over $7 billion. By acquiring H&E, Herc said it will strengthen its position as the third-largest rental company in North America.

Email Timothy Boone at tboone@theadvocate.com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

President Donald Trump talks to workers as he tours U.S Steel Corporation’s Mon Valley Works-Irvin plant on May 30 in West Mifflin, Pa.