The Advocate 06-06-2025 by The Advocate

La.LIGOscientists fear possible cuts

TheLaser Interferometer Gravitational-WaveObservatoryinLivingston Parish is one of twosuchfacilitiesinthe UnitedStates.

President’s proposed budget threatens spaceobservatory locatedinLivingstonParish

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

Scientists believe if the Trump administration’sproposedbudget is approved,a Louisiana space observatory could be onthe chopping block and see its scientiﬁcmission crippled.

The Trump administration announced on May30aproposed federal budget request for 2026 that would cut $5.2 billion, or 57%, of the NationalScienceFoundation’s$9billion annual budget.

The proposal could lead to the shutdown of the NSF-funded observatory tucked away in the Livingston Parish piney woods, which made international headlinesin2015 when it detected gravitationwaves from black holes more than abillion light years away

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-WaveObservatory (LIGO) is oneoftwo in theUnited States

Boardadvancesschedule changefor sixsites

BY CHARLESLUSSIER Staff writer

Six public schools that serve much of north Baton Rouge are poised to institute new start times this fall, piloting apotentially districtwide initiative to better match when children learn with research on their sleeping patterns.

Capitol and Glen Oaks high schools would start at 8:50 a.m., 100 minutes later than they do now andend at 4:05 p.m. Both are“F”-ratedschools with high rates of student absenteeism. Meanwhile, Capitol,GlenOaksPark, Melrose andMerrydale elementary schoolswould start at 8a.m 25 minutes earlier than at present, and would end at 3:15 p.m. Instructional days at these four schools would last 15 minutes longer than they do now.Glen Oaks Park has a“C” letter grade, and the other three schools have “D”s. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday advanced the schedule change without opposition. Aﬁnal vote is planned forJune 12. “This is abold move, and I’mjust glad to be a part of it,” said board member CliffLewis.

“Honestly,shutting down either LIGO Livingston or LIGO Hanford wouldcripple ourscientific mission.How canweeven make adecision likethat?”

DAVID REITZE, LIGOexecutivedirector ä See SCHOOLS, page 5A

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff

LIGO LivingstonObservatory

Head Joseph Giaime said that if either observatory were to close, “the amountofspace we can see into is much diminished.”

“Werun together.Weuse datatogether.We’re able to dig moredeeply into space together,” he said.

While it is unclear which LIGO observatory would have to shut down if

Its counterpart is LIGO Hanford in Washington state. Under the proposed federal budget, onlyone LIGO observatory would operate with areduced level of spending for LIGO technology development in the 2026 ﬁscal year, accordingtothe budget proposal.

the proposed budget were approved, scientists believe it would be harmful to bothobservatories either way LIGO Executive Director David Reitze, who oversees bothobservatories and is basedatthe California Institute of Technology,said in an emailthatLIGO is preparing fora 39.6% budget reductionfor LIGO and are working to understand what can keep operating.

Reitzesaid this type of budget cut wouldforce LIGO to make “very hard choices” about picking programs to terminate. He also said LIGO is talking to NSF to understand the decision process behind potentially closing an observatory

“Honestly,shutting down either LIGO Livingston or LIGO Hanford would cripple our scientific mission,” Reitze said. “How can we even makeadecision like that?”

LIGO hadplanned to temporarily shut down some parts of its

ä See LIGO, page 5A

Trump-Musk alliance blowsup

Splitrapidly escalates into apublicfeud

BY MICHELLEL.PRICE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON Donald Trumpand Elon Musk’s alliance tookoff like one of SpaceX’srockets. It was supercharged and soared high. And then it blew up

The spectacular ﬂameoutThursday peaked as Trump threatened to cutMusk’sgovernmentcontracts and Musk claimed that Trump’s administrationhasn’treleasedall the recordsrelated to sex abuser Jeffrey Epsteinbecause Trumpis

mentioned in them. The tech entrepreneur even shared apost on social media callingfor Trump’simpeachment and skewered thepresident’s signature tariffs, predicting arecession this year.

Themessy blowup between the presidentofthe United States and the world’s richest man played out on theirrespective social media platforms after Trump was asked during aWhite House meeting with Germany’snew leader about Musk’scriticism of his spending bill.

Trump had largely remained silent asMusk stewed over the past few days on his social me-

dia platform X, condemning the president’sso-called“BigBeautifulBill.” But Trumpclappedback Thursday in theOval Ofﬁce, saying he was “very disappointed in Musk.” Musk responded on social media in real time. Trump, who was supposedtobespending Thursday discussing an endtothe RussiaUkraine warwith German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,ratcheted up thestakes when he turned to

ä See ALLIANCE, page 9A

The Louisiana Legislature could soon overhaul campaign finance lawsfor public officials, setting up new rules forpolitical committees, raising the limit forwhich contributions have to be reported, and setting stricter rules for when campaign finance violations can be investigated.

Supporters say the changes will “modernize” Louisiana’sCampaign Finance Disclosure Act so thatitmoreclosely aligns with federal rules. They also say the changes will more strongly protect the free speech rightsofpeoplewho spend money to express political views.

“Campaignﬁnancelaw shouldbecleartoprevent the wasting of constitutionally protected free speech dollars,”saidStephenGelé, an attorney who hasbeen involvedinwriting thebill.

ä See CAMPAIGN, page 7A

PHOTO PROVIDED By LIGO

NTSB finds fuel leak in engine that caught fire

A fuel leak and several improperly installed parts were found inside the engine of an American Airlines plane that caught fire after the plane landed in Denver in March, according to a new report released Thursday

The National Transportation Safety Board said one part inside the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 was loose and had been installed in an incorrect direction and that fuel was leaking from the ﬁtting of another part that was incorrectly fastened

The preliminary ﬁndings don’t identify the cause of the ﬁre because the NTSB won’t reach that conclusion until after it completes its investigation sometime next year

But former NTSB and FAA investigator Jeff Guzzetti said the problems investigators found in the engine appear to be the source of the fuel that caught fire. “To me, it looks like improper maintenance in the right engine leading to a fuel leak,” Guzzetti said after reading the NTSB report. Pictures included in the NTSB report show streaks on the outside of the engine from the leaking fuel, and airport video showed a trail of ﬂuid leaking from under the right engine as the airplane taxied into the gate Harvard files challenge over Trump’s new ban

Harvard University is challenging President Donald Trump’s move to block foreign students from coming to the United States to attend the Ivy League school, calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. In an amended complaint ﬁled Thursday, Harvard called the president’s action an endrun around a previous court order Last month, a federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard’s ability to host foreign students.

The ﬁling attacks Trump’s legal justiﬁcation for the action

— a federal law allowing him to block a “class of aliens” deemed detrimental to the nation’s interests Targeting only those who are coming to the U.S. to study at Harvard doesn’t qualify as a “class of aliens,” Harvard said in its ﬁling.

“The President’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States,’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” the university wrote. Prosecutors highlight murder suspect’s writing NEW YORK Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel in December suspect Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel,” prosecutors revealed Wednesday

The Manhattan district attorney’s ofﬁce quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary highlighting his desire to kill an insurance honcho and praise for the Unabomber — as they fight to uphold his state murder charges. They also cited a confession they say he penned “To the feds,” in which he wrote that “it had to be done.” Mangione’s lawyers want the state case thrown out, arguing in court papers that those charges and a parallel federal death penalty case amount to double jeopardy

The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” that is, insurance employees and investors. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked an individual, Thompson, and do not involve terror allegations. Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty in both cases. No trial dates have been set.

Trump: Let Ukraine, Russia ‘fight’

Germany’s chancellor says U.S. president could put pressure on Putin

BY SEUNG MIN KIM, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and GEIR MOULSON Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “ﬁght for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, even as Germany’s new chancellor appealed to him as the “key person in the world” who could halt the bloodshed by pressuring Vladimir Putin.

In an Oval Office meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the U.S. president likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in February 2022 to a fight between two children who hate each other Trump said that with children, “sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” adding that he relayed the analogy to Putin in a call this week

“I said, ‘President, maybe you’re going to have to keep ﬁghting and suffering a lot,’ because both sides are suffering before you pull them apart, before they’re able to be pulled apart,” Trump said. “You see in hockey, you see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart.”

The comments were a remarkable detour from Trump’s often-stated appeals to stop the violence in Ukraine and he again denounced the

The 69-year-old Merz — who came to ofﬁce with an extensive business background — is a conservative rival of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merz took over her party after she retired from politics.

Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceaseﬁre while rejecting the idea of “dictated peace” or the “subjugation” of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia.

On Thursday, Trump also kept the threat of sanctions on the table but for both Russia and Ukraine. He said he has not looked at bipartisan Senate legislation that would impose harsh economic punishments on Moscow, but said of sanctions efforts that “they would be guided by me,” rather than Capitol Hill.

bloodshed Thursday even as he ﬂoated the possibility that the two countries should continue the war for a time. Merz carefully sidestepped Trump’s assertions and emphasized that the U.S and Germany both agree on “how terrible this war is,” while making sure to lay blame squarely on Putin for the violence and make the point that Germany was siding with Ukraine.

“We are both looking for ways to stop it very soon,” Merz said in the Oval Ofﬁce. “I told the president before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.” Thursday’s meeting was the ﬁrst time the two leaders sat down in person.

Israel recovers bodies of 2 Israeli-American hostages

BY MELANIE LIDMAN, NATALIE MELZER and WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday meanwhile killed at least 22 people, including three local journalists who were in the courtyard of a hospital, according to health ofﬁcials in the territory The military said it targeted a militant in that strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency

Kibbutz Nir Oz announced the deaths of Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and U.S. citizenship, in December 2023. Weinstein was also a Canadian citizen

The military said they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children.

The army said it recovered the remains of Weinstein and Haggai overnight into Thursday from Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

The couple were taking an early morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed across the border and rampaged through several army bases and farming communities.

In the early hours of the morning, Weinstein was able to call emergency services and let them know that both she and her husband had been shot and send a message to her family Weinstein was born in New York and

taught English to children with special needs at Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small community near the Gaza border The kibbutz said she also taught meditation techniques to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety as a result of rocket ﬁre from Gaza. Haggai was a retired chef and jazz musician.

“My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,” their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and U.S. governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.

U.N. efforts to distribute aid suffered a blow Thursday when the Palestinian organization that provides trucks and drivers said it was suspending operations after gunmen attacked a convoy, killing a driver

The Special Transport Association said the convoy of some 60 trucks was heading into Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Wednesday evening when gunmen attacked, killing one driver and wounding three others. The association said it was the latest in attacks on convoys “clearly aimed at obstructing” aid delivery, though it did not say who it believed was behind the attack.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid and trying to block it from reaching Palestinians. Aid workers have said attacks on U.N. trucks appear to be by criminal gangs, some operating within sight of Israeli troops.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mainly American private contractor resumed food distribution at two centers near the southern city of Gaza on Thursday It had halted all distribution the day before, saying it was discussing greater safety measures with the Israeli military Near daily shootings have erupted in the vicinity of the hubs, with Palestinians reporting Israeli troops opening ﬁre. More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, according to Gaza hospital officials. The Israeli military has said it ﬁred warning shots or at individuals approaching its troops in some instances.

“When I see the moment where it’s not going to stop we’ll be very, very tough,” Trump said “And it could be on both countries to be honest. It takes two to tango.”

For Merz’s part, he used Friday’s anniversary of D-Day — when Allied forces launched an assault that began the liberation of Europe from German occupation to appeal to Trump to help lead the ending of another violent war

Merz noted that June 6, 1944, began the liberation of Germany from a Nazi dictator and that “American is again in a very strong position to so something on this war and ending this war.”

“That was not a pleasant day for you?” Trump interjected to the German leader when he referenced D-Day

Private lunar lander from Japan declared total loss

BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

A private lunar lander from Japan apparently crashed while attempting a touchdown Friday, the latest casualty in the commercial rush to the moon. The Tokyo-based company ispace conﬁrmed the mission as a failure several hours after communication was lost with the lander Flight controllers scrambled to gain contact, but were met with only silence and said they were concluding the mission. Communications ceased less than two minutes before the spacecraft’s scheduled landing on the moon with a mini rover CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada apologized to everyone who contributed to the mission. “We have to take seriously what happened,” he said. It was ispace’s second lu-

nar strikeout. The encore came two years after the company’s ﬁrst moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander Resilience carried a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist’s toy-size red house for placement on the moon’s dusty surface. Launched in January from Florida on a long, roundabout journey, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. It shared a SpaceX ride with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which reached the moon faster and became the ﬁrst private entity to successfully land there in March.

Another U.S. company, Intuitive Machines, arrived at the moon a few days after Fireﬂy But the tall, spindly lander faceplanted in a crater near the moon’s south pole and was declared dead within hours.

Weinstein Haggai

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARIEL SCHALIT

People take part in a protest Saturday in Tel Aviv israel, demanding the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

President Donald Trump, left, greets Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz upon his arrival Thursday at the White House in Washington.

‘Devil in theOzarks’ likely fled Ark.

BY ANDREW DEMILLO and JEFF MARTIN Associated Press

Investigators said they believe that aconvicted murderer and former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” has likely ﬂed Arkansas afterescaping from prisonlastmonth,a federal court ﬁling released this week shows.

Acriminal complaint ﬁled in federalcourt in Little Rock against Grant Hardin, who escapedprison last month, was released this week. Authoritieshave said Hardin escaped the Calico Rockprison in Arkansasby donning an outﬁt designed to look like alaw enforcement uniform.

In the complaint, Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert J. Hammons cites two previously publicized unconfirmed sightings of Hardin —one in central Arkansas and an-

PROVIDED PHOTO

This combo of images provided by the Arkansas Department of Corrections shows an actual photoof inmateGrant Hardin,left and aphoto rendering of him with facial hair

other in southern Missouri. “Basedon this information, investigatorsbelieve Hardin has ﬂed the state of Arkansas to avoidrecapture,” thefilingsaid. “He has extensive knowledge of the Ozark Mountain region, where he is believedtobe possibly hidingincaves or ruggedterrainthatheisfa-

miliar with.”

Thecomplaint, first reported by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, does not detail any other sightings of Hardin or evidence of him ﬂeeingthe state. Arkansas authorities have previously said theyare focusing on north-central Arkansasand tips of sightings elsewhere so far have not panned out.

“Until there’s any conﬁrmed, veriﬁable sightings or evidence that puts him outsidethe area, we’restill focusing the search on this area,” RandChampion, spokesmanfor theDepartmentofCorrections, said Thursday Hardin, aformer police chiefinthe small town of Gateway near theArkansasMissouri border, was serving lengthy sentences formurder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”

Aspokesperson for the

Consultant behind AI-generated robocallsgoesontrial in N.H.

N.O. magician was paid to create originalrecording

BY HOLLYRAMER Associated Press

CONCORD,N.H. Apolitical consultant whosentvoters artificial intelligence-generatedrobocallsmimicking former President Joe Biden last year went on trial Thursday in New Hampshire, where jurors are being asked to considernot just his guilt or innocence but whether the state actually held its ﬁrst-in-the-nation presidential primary

“This case is about abrazen attack on the integrity of the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary election,” Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell said in opening statements in Belknap County Superior Court.

Steven Kramer , who faces decades in prison if convicted of voter suppression and impersonating acandidate, has admitted orchestrating amessage sent to thousands of voters two days before the Jan. 23, 2024, primary.The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president’s that used his catchphrase “What a bunch of malarkey” and, as prosecutors allege, suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November “It’simportant that you save your vote for the November election,” voters were told. “Your votes make adifference in November, not this Tuesday.” Kramer,who owns aﬁrm specializing in get-out-thevote projects,has said he

wasn’ttrying to inﬂuence the election but rather wanted to sendawake-upcall about the potential dangers of AI when he paid New Orleans ma gician Paul Carpenter$150 to create the recording.

“May be I’m avillain today,but I thinkin the end we get abettercountry and better democracy because of what I’ve done, deliberately,” Kramer told TheAssociated Press in February 2024.

Ahead of the trial, prosecutors sought to prevent Kramer from arguing that the primary was ameaningless straw poll because itwasn’t sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. At Biden’srequest, the DNC dislodged New Hampshire from its traditional earlyspotin the nominating calendar,but later dropped its threat not to seat the state’snational convention delegates. Biden did notput his name on the ballot or campaign there, but won as awrite-in

The state argued such evidence wasirrelevant and could confuse jurors,but Judge Elizabeth Leonard deniedthe motioninMarch, saying the DNC’sactions and Kramer’sunderstandingofthem were relevant to his motive andintent. She didgrantthe prosecution’s request that the court accept as fact thatthe stateheldits presidential primary election as deﬁned by law on Jan. 23, 2024. Jurorswill be informed of that conclusion but won’t be requiredtoacceptit.

In his opening statement defense attorneyThomas Reid said the robocall was Kramer’s “opinion andcommentary” onthe DNC’sinitial decisiontoblockthe state’s delegates to the convention.

“That,ladies and gentlemen, wasabrazen attack on

your primary,” he said, referring to the DNC’sactions.

“And it wasn’tdone by Steve Kramer.”

Kramer faces 11 felony charges,each punishable by up to seven years in prison, alleging he attempted to prevent or deter someonefrom voting based on “fraudulent, deceptive, misleading or spurious grounds or information.” The 11 candidate impersonation charges each carry amaximum sentence of ayear in jail.

Kramer’s attorney argued that hisclientdidn’t impersonate acandidate because themessage didn’tinclude Biden’sname, and Biden wasn’t adeclared candidate in the primary.Healso said the robocall message didn’t tellanyone not to vote, a point quickly contradicted by the ﬁrst half-dozen witnesses for theprosecution.

“How elsewould one take it?” said Theodore Bosen, who received the call. “That washorriﬁc to my sensibilitiesthat anybody would be trying to inﬂuencethe vote in any election,” he said.

On cross-examination, witnessesall said the calls didn’t deter them from voting, and none believedthatdoing so would preclude them from voting in thegeneral election. They described varying levels of awareness of theDNC’sdecision, and someagreed withKramer’s lawyer thatthey would want someonetotell them if their vote “wasn’tgoing to count.”

O’Donnell, theprosecutor, told jurors that Kramer tried to minimizehis connection to the calls,including using his father’s online banking account to pay themagician andfabricatingthe name of a“client” when emailinga company involved in sending the calls. And he didn’t contactauthorities untilthe magician publicly identiﬁed him and authorities hadbegun tracing the calls to him, O’Donnell said.

MissouriHighway Patrol said it does not have an active team searching for Hardin, but thepatrol has been watching for him and following up on any tips. Lt. Eric F. Brown saidthe patrol has received two tips about Hardin being in Missouri but both were unfounded. Hardin was housedina maximum-security wing of theprimarily medium security prison, formally known as the NorthCentral Unit. Officials are investigating whether ajob Hardin held in thekitchen helped in his escape, including whether it gave him accesstomaterials he could haveusedtofashion his makeshift uniform The Arkansas Department of Corrections this week released anew photorenderingofHardin, depicting what he maylook likenow

The photo depicts Hardin with hair on his head and facial hair

BY RYAN CHUA Bloomberg News (TNS)

WASHINGTON The Trump administration announced sanctions on four judges of the International Criminal Court for alleged “transgressions” against the U.S. and Israel.

The latest penalties singleout twojudgesinthe ICC’sappeals division who authorized an inquiry into U.S. personnelinAfghanistan, and twojudges from the pre-trial and trial division forissuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“These four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’sillegitimate and baseless actions targeting Americaorour closeally, Israel,” Secretary of State

MarcoRubio said. “This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the UnitedStates and our allies, including Israel.” Thejudges areBeti Hohler,Solomy Balungi Bossa, Reine Alapini- Gansou andLuz delCarmen IbanezCarranza, according to aState Department statement.

The Hague-based court said it “deplores” the sanctions, calling them an attempt to undermineits independence.

The court issued an arrest warrant forNetanyahu last November year over allegationsofwar crimes in Gaza. The Israeli government has denied the accusations, and the Biden administration rejected the court’sauthority

Kramer

Carpenter

Governments denounce Trump’s travel ban

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press

WASHINGTON Officials in some of the 12 countries whose citizens will be soon banned from visiting the United States denounced President Donald Trump’s move to resurrect a hallmark policy of his ﬁrst term and vowed Thursday to push back against the U.S.

The ban, which was announced Wednesday, takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, a cushion that may avoid the chaos that unfolded at airports nationwide when a similar measure took effect with virtually no notice in 2017. Trump, who signaled plans for a new ban upon taking ofﬁce again in January, appears to be on ﬁrmer ground this time after the Supreme Court sided with him.

The 12 countries Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — include some of the world’s poorest nations Seven more countries Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — now face heightened travel restrictions.

In the central African nation of Chad, President Mahamat Deby Itno announced

his country would respond by suspending visas to U.S. citizens “in accordance with the principles of reciprocity.”

In a post on Facebook, Deby noted that his nation, which faces widespread poverty, could offer no gifts, and he made a barely veiled reference to Qatar giving Trump a luxury Boeing 747 jet to use as Air Force One. “Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has its dignity and pride,” Deby said.

Some other African countries were more conciliatory with Sierra Leone’s information minister, Chernor Bah, saying the country “will work with U.S. authorities” to address the White House concerns.

Some of the 12 countries were on the banned list in Trump’s first term North Korea and Syria, which were on the list in the ﬁrst administration, were spared this time.

While many of the listed countries send few people to the United States, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela had been major sources of immigration in recent years.

The travel ban results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring government agencies to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S. and whether entry from cer-

A woman shops in a market Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan. A ban on Afghan citizens from

visiting the United States was announced as forms of support for Afghans who worked with the U.S are being steadily eroded under the Trump administration.

tain countries represented a national security risk.

Trump said some countries had “deﬁcient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S after their visas expired.

Measuring overstay rates has challenged experts for decades, but the govern-

ment has made a limited attempt annually since 2016. Trump’s proclamation cites overstay rates for eight of the 12 banned countries.

It’s not always clear, though, why some countries are on the list while others are not.

Trump’s list captures many of the most egregious overstay offenders, but it omits many others. Djibouti, for example, had a 23.9% overstay rate among business visitors and tourists in

the year through September 2023, higher than seven countries on the banned list and six on the restricted list.

Meanwhile, some countries on the banned list, like Chad, have high overstay rates as a percentage of visitors, but just a few hundred total people suspected of overstaying in a given year

The findings are “based on sketchy data and a misguided concept of collective punishment,” said Doug Rand, a former Biden ad-

ministration ofﬁcial at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Outside the former U.S Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Taliban guard expressed his disappointment with the ban.

“America has to cancel it,” Ilias Kakal said.

The Afghanistan travel ban was announced as forms of support for Afghans who worked with the U.S. are being steadily eroded under the Trump administration. A refugee program has been suspended, and there is no funding to help them leave Afghanistan or resettle in the U.S., although a ban exception was made for people with special immigrant visas, a program created to help those in danger because they worked with the U.S. during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In addition, many people who “served shoulder-toshoulder” with the U.S did not qualify for the special visa program, according to No One Left Behind, a group that has advocated for Afghans who worked with the U.S.

Khalid Khan, an Afghan refugee now living in Pakistan, said he worked for the U.S. military for eight years.

“I feel abandoned,” Khan said. “So long as Trump is there, we are nowhere.”

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press

BOULDER, Colo.

— A man accused of yelling “Free Palestine” and throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza was charged with 118 counts including attempted murder in a Colorado court Thursday

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, who has been jailed since his arrest following Sunday’s attack, was advised of the charges dur-

ing a hearing in Boulder where he appeared in person. Investigators say Soliman, who posed as a gardener, planned it for a year

The 118 counts include attempt to commit murder, assault in the ﬁrst and third degrees, use of explosive or incendiary devices and animal cruelty He has also been charged with a hate crime in federal court and is jailed on a $10 million cash bond

Soliman’s attorney, Kathryn Herold, waived a formal reading of the charges Thursday A preliminary hearing has been set for July 15 to

determine whether the state has enough evidence to move forward.

“The charges reflect the evidence that we have regarding this horriﬁc attack that took place and the seriousness of it,” Michael Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney, said at a news conference after the hearing.

Authorities have said 15 people and a dog were victims of the attack. Not all were physically injured, and some are considered victims for the legal case because they were in the area and could potentially have been hurt. The dog

was among the injured, Dougherty said.

Soliman is accused of trying to kill 14 people and faces two attempted murder charges for each.

Soliman had intended to kill all of the roughly 20 participants the weekly 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 did not carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an afﬁdavit.

Officers responded and took Soliman into custody about five minutes after the 911 call, Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said at the news conference. 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. Boulder County officials said in a statement that the victims included eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EBRAHIM NOROOZI

Superintendent LaMont Cole selected the six schools. All except GlenOaks High were recently reconfigured as part of Cole’s“realignment”plan thatwas approved in April and which goes into effect in August for the start of the 202526 school year.Thatplancloses nine schools, relocatesfour,gives seven new grade configurations andredraws attendancezones for 12. The four elementary schools identified for new start timesall have much larger attendance zones than previouslyand new grade configurations. Meanwhile, Capitol High is absorbing most of the newly closed Capitol Middle, making Capitol High amiddle-high school similar to Glen Oaks High. Cole is planning to addmore schools to the new schedule in January and perhaps go districtwide in August 2026. Asecond round would likely includeArlington Preparatory Academy,which has pressed particularly aggressively

LIGO

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Livingston facility over the nexttwo years to install a number of technology improvements. The new technology would lead to more gravitationalwave detections and increase the possibility of discovering new types of gravitational-wave sources. But the proposed budget cut could stall these plans.

“We’ll have to put those upgrade plans on hold.So much science would be lost,” he said. Each LIGO observatory employs approximately 50 people. The Livingston site also hosts graduate students and researchers, including LSU researchers, according to Reitze.

The NSF froze funding grants in January aftera White House memo called for apause in federal grant spending and then rescinded the memo. LIGO has since been under ahiring freeze, but did not reduce any staff at either observatory,said Whitney Clavin, aCaltech spokesperson,in March.

LIGO has had signiﬁcant ties to LSU for decades. The university even proposed Livingstonasa location for the observatory.Itisthe

to shift to alater starttime.

Cole acted after receiving recommendations from Prismatic Services, an educational consulting ﬁrm based in Charlotte, North Carolina.Colecontracted with Prismatic this spring, at acost of less than $50,000,toreview transportationoperations and gauge the feasibility of changing start times.

On May 15,the School Board approved asecond professional contract with Prismatic, capped at $245,000. Between nowand January,Prismatic is helping thedistrict managethe start time transition and improve transportation operations.

Louisiana has amongthe earliest start times in thecountry for its secondary schools, and EastBaton Rouge’sare among theearliest in thestate. Abacklash has built up over time.

Sincetakingover as superintendent in August, Colehas been critical of how early some children are pickedupand broughttoschool.

School officials argue thatthe new start times have several potential benefits: fewerchildren waitingfor andriding buses in the dark; teenagers getting abetter

onlyLIGO site close to auniversity,said LSU professor of physics andastronomy Gabriela González. González,who wasalso the spokesperson for the international LIGOScientiﬁcCollaboration during the2015 breakthrough, said many scientists come toworkat LSUbecause of LIGO.

She said if supportfor LIGOiseliminated or drastically reduced, observatory employees from Baton Rouge, Hammond and across the statewouldlose their jobs.

“If NSF support for LIGO research is reduced …it wouldnot letusattract graduatestudents andpostdocs to LSU who later work for the technological workforce in Louisiana and theU.S.,” shesaid. “Our physics and astronomydepartmentand othersinthe country saw alargeincrease in applicationstograduate school citing LIGO as one the main factors”

said.

The superintendentsaidstarting school later would notonly allow Caleb to get moresleep, but would improve his academic performance, make him asharper athlete and boost his mental health.

“A later start time wouldn’t magicallyﬁxevery challenge Caleb faces,but it would give him a ﬁghtingchancetosucceed simply by aligning school withthe way teenage biology actually works,” Cole said.

Forest Raetzsch,a rising senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High, had asimilar story

“I am astudent, and I’m here to tell you from my personal experiencethatitisexhausting,” Raetzsch told board members.

cellation of classes.

Thecurrent two-tier bus schedule in Baton Rouge was instituted in 2002 as part of around of budget cuts. It allowed the school system to shed 50 buses and drivers from its ﬂeet by allowing buses to run twotrips in theafternoon.Itwas approved despite objections that older children wouldlose sleep and that younger children would beneﬁt fromstarting school earlier

night’s

sleep;increasedstudent achievement; less truancy and absenteeism; and improved student transportation.

To illustrate thebeneﬁts of the proposal, Cole on Thursday told the story of Caleb,a 16-year-old high school senior who getsupat 5:15 a.m. for schooleach dayand is typically still up at midnight to 1a.m.

“Every weeknight he averages less than six hours of sleep,’ Cole

The gravitational waves discovery in 2015 conﬁrmed akey prediction of Albert Einstein’sgeneral theory of relativityand kick-started a new era of astronomy.Since then, LIGO has observed hundreds moregravitational waves.

Aside from operating and improving the gravitational wave detector,the Livingston observatory’smaingoals are also to use LIGO datafor science, and tocarry out educationand public outreach at theLIGOScience Education center.The observatory hostsschool ﬁeld tripsand publictours on theﬁrstSaturday of every month.

“I personally worryabout our ability to continue our education mission anddoa good job as needed on our science mission. …We’re going to do thebest we can,” Giaime said.

Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@ theadvocate.com.

The start time shiftwill be abig lift for aschool bus system that hasbeen slowly recovering from adisastrous start to the 2023-24 school year during which asevere shortage of drivers and working buses led to many children being stranded or delayed in getting to and from school. Drivers staged a two-day sickout, joined on the secondday by similarlydiscontented cafeteriaworkers, forcing the can-

Theschool system considered but rejected the idea of flip-flopping its traditional school schedulesothatelementaryschools start first while middle and high schools start later.Atask force convenedatthe time noted that someparents wereworried about small childrenwaiting in the dark for buses during cold weather.The task force also had concerns about the effect that changing start and releasetimeswould have on participation in athletics andavailability of after-school transportation. While never loved, the current school schedule hasremained in place for the past 23 years, partly due to concerns about the costs of changing it.

“Complaints of violation of campaign ﬁnance lawshould be handled judiciously and fairly, protecting the right of due process guaranteed by the United States and Louisiana Constitutions as well as protecting taxpayer dollars.”

Gelé also represents Gov Jeff Landry in an ongoing ethics dispute.

House Bill 693, sponsored by Rep. Mark Wright, RCovington, advancedout of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday without objection. To pass the Legislature, the measure still needs avote by the full Senate, as well as aﬁnal stamp of approvalfrom the House.

During apublic hearing last month, thePublic AffairsResearch Council of Louisiana, agood-government watchdog group, raised concerns about the impact of the legislation

“There’snot asingle thing here that Ican find that makes it more transparent to the public,” said Steven Procopio, president of PAR. “It seems like it’sall about tryingtomake things easier for the elected ofﬁcials.”

On Wednesday,after aset of new amendments was introduced in the Senate committee,Procopiosaid the legislation still does not bring moretransparency to campaign ﬁnance disclosure.

However, he toldlawmakers that the latestset of changes related to investigations of campaign violations avoided legislation that he would have considered “existentially bad.”

Since 1980, the stated purpose of Louisiana’sCampaignFinance Disclosure Act has been to allow for the public disclosure of political fundraising and spending, in recognition of the fact that representative government depends on aknowledgeable electorate that has conﬁdenceinits public elected ofﬁcials.

Butunder HB693, thelaw would also acknowledge that “the ﬁnancing of campaigns facilitates constitutionally protected political speech.”

Adding recognition that campaign spendingisprotected speech is needed so that any legal interpretationsofcampaignfinance laws don’tviolate theLouisianaand U.S. Constitutions, Gelé said.

Thebillwould alsorequire that the state’s campaignﬁnance rules be interpreted “narrowly and strictly” in theinterest of respecting free speech and dueprocess rights.

Any ambiguity in acampaign finance issue should be “interpreted in favor of a person accused of violating” the laws, thebill says. The proposed law would create four separate types of political committees, each with their own rules anddisclosure requirements:

n Political committees would be set up to spend money to support or oppose candidates, propositions, political parties or recalls.

n Principal campaign committees wouldbeset up as the sole campaign committeeof acandidate.

n Independent expenditure-only committees would be set up for politicaladvocacy work that is not coordinated withacandidate.

n Leadership committees would beset upbyelected officials —separate from their campaign committees —tosupport their holding of public ofﬁce and to contributetoother ofﬁcials’committees.

Anew conceptcalled a “jointfundraising agreement”would also authorize committees and other organizationstocollaborate on political fundraising.

Contributionlimits for political committees were increased under a2024 law andwould not increase furtherunder this year’slegislation. The limits are $12,000 for majoroffices, $6,000 for districtoffices and $2,000 for smaller local offices. Political committees that havemore than 250 mem-

bers, however,can make contributions in the amounts of $24,000, $12,000 and $4,000.

There is no limit on contributions to independent, expenditure-only committees.

For all candidates andcommittees, current law contains abroad prohibition against contributions being“used, loaned,orpledgedbyany person for any personal use unrelated to apolitical campaign, the holding of apublic ofﬁce or party position.”

The proposal deﬁnes new, more detailedparameters for the things candidates andcommitteescan and cannot spend campaign money on

All candidates and committees would be allowed to spendmoney on lobbying, issueadvocacy,donations to tax-exempt organizations, committee operating expenses, contributionsto gubernatorial transitions and independent-expenditurecommittees. They could alsoback efforts to support or oppose propositions, recalls or gubernatorial transitions.

In all cases,the measure would prohibit the use of contributionsfor the“personal use” of acandidate, elected ofﬁcial or immediate family member

“Personal use” would be defined as spending money on something that would exist “irrespective of the candidate’scampaign or the holding of office” and isn’t connected to acampaign or holding of political office.

The bill sets outalistof items thatwould be presumed to be for personal use:

n household food itemsor supplies n funeralexpenses, unless they are for acampaign worker

n clothing that isn’tused forcampaign, fundraising or ofﬁce-holding events n tuition payments n social, recreational and private club feesthataren’t for afundraising event or campaign or ofﬁce-holding activities.

On Wednesday,the Senate committee agreed to

strengthen the language prohibitingcampaignfunds for personal use.

Sen. Greg Miller,R-Norco, amember of thecommittee, said it was important to guard against the use of campaign funds“forsubsidizing your lifestyle”

“I don’tthink we want to encourage that,” he said.

The bill also sets outalist of items that would notbe considered personal use:

n Candidate and immediate family memberattendanceatpolitical eventsincluding WashingtonMardi Gras andconferences for political parties, professional groups or social advocacy groups.

n Securitymeasuresfor a candidate, elected official, family members or campaign workers,including security systems andpersonnel

n Taxes on interest earned by campaign funds

n Campaign loan interest

n Costs to replace damaged, lostorstolen campaign items.

For each of the four committeetypes, thelegislation spells out additionalspending rules. Under the legislation, monetary thresholds that triggera variety of campaign ﬁnance reportingrequirements would increase.

For example, political committees would have to report contributions and expenditures when they reach $1,000, up from $500.

Similarly,committees that anticipate receiving or spending $1,000 ayear would need to file astatement of organization, up from $500.

Reporting requirements for some out-of-state entities contributing to Louisiana electionswould be triggered at $50,000 of spending, up from $20,000.

Anyone who isn’tacandidate or acommittee would need to file disclosure reports forpolitical spending foranything over $1,000, up from $500 currently.But unlike current law,disclosures would only be needed in cas-

es of “express advocacy.” The Louisiana Board of Ethics administers and enforcesthe state’sCampaign Finance Disclosure Act, and it’sresponsiblefor investigating anypossible violations of campaign finance disclosure rules. In instances where the ethics board undertakes acampaign finance investigation, it would also need to meet a higher bar to issue any subpoenas, and more detailed procedures would govern the subpoenas process. Afteraninvestigation the ethics board would need to have “probable cause” to justify bringing formal charges against someone for campaignfinance violations. If theboard foundthata campaign financeviolation did occur, before filing any formal charges against the person being investigated, the board would have to create areport of the investigation, provide that report to the personbeing investigated, and give that person achance to respond.

U.S. stocks slip ahead of Friday’s jobs report

NEW YORK U.S. stocks drifted lower on Thursday as ﬁnancial markets locked in their final moves before a highly anticipated update coming Friday about the U.S. job market.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% for its first drop in four days After sprinting through May and rallying within a couple good days’ worth of gains of its all-time high, the index has lost momentum.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 108 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.8%.

Trading activity in options markets suggests investors believe the next big move for the S&P 500 could come on Friday, when the U.S. Labor Department will say how many more jobs U.S. employers created than destroyed during May The expectation on Wall Street is for a slowdown in hiring from April

Hopes that Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries have been among the main reasons the S&P 500 has rallied back so furiously since dropping roughly 20% from its record two months ago. It’s now back within 3.3% of its all-time high.

Tesla stock plunges amid Musk, Trump feud

Shares of Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker fell sharply Thursday as investors feared his dispute with President Donald Trump will hurt the company Tesla closed down more than 14% as a disagreement over the U.S. president’s budget bill turned nasty After Musk said that Trump wouldn’t haven’t gotten elected without his help, Trump implied that he may turn the federal government against his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX

The drop on Thursday wiped out nearly $150 billion from Tesla’s market value, partially reversing a big runup in the eight weeks since Musk confirmed that Tesla would testing an autonomous, driverless “robotaxi” service in Austin, Texas, this month

Investors fear Trump might not be in such a rush to usher in a future of self-driving cars in the U.S., and that could slam Tesla because so much of its future business depends on that.

“There is a fear that Trump is not going to play Mr Nice Guy when in come to autonomous,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. “The whole goal of robotaxis is to have them 20 or 25 cities next year If you start to heighten the regulatory environment, that could delay that path.” Apple loses bid to halt ruling blocking fees

SAN FRANCISCO — A three-judge appeals panel rejected Apple’s request to pause an April 30 order banning it from charging a fee on in-app iPhone transactions processed outside its onceexclusive payment system in a decision issued Thursday

The setback threatens to divert billions of dollars in revenue away from Apple while it tried to overturn the order reining in its commissions from e-commerce within iPhone apps. Apple sought to put the order on hold after it was issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in a stinging rebuke that also held the Cupertino, California, company in civil contempt of court and recommended opening a criminal investigation into whether one of its executives had committed perjury while testifying in her Oakland, California, courtroom. It marked another twist of the screw in a legal battle initiated nearly five years ago by video game maker Epic Games, which alleged Apple had turned the iPhone’s app store had been turned into a price-gouging monopoly The antitrust case focused largely on the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple rakes in from a portion of the commerce conducted within iPhone apps under a system that prohibited app makers from offering alternative payment methods.

BUSINESS

Unemployment filings increase

BY MATT OTT Associated Press

U.S. unemployment benefits rose to their highest level in eight months last week but remain historically low despite growing uncertainty about how tariffs could impact the broader economy New applications for jobless beneﬁts rose by 8,000 to 247,000

for the week ending May 31, the Labor Department said Thursday That’s the most since early October Analysts had forecast 237,000 new applications. Weekly applications for jobless beneﬁts are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and have mostly bounced around a historically healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 throttled the economy ﬁve years ago, wiping out millions of jobs.

dent Donald Trump’s dizzying rollout of tariff announcements.

Though Trump has paused or dialed down many of his tariff threats, concerns remain that a tariff-induced global economic slowdown could upend what’s been a robust U.S. labor market.

In early May, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate at 4.3% for the third straight meeting after cutting it three times at the end of last year

prices and keeping unemployment low Powell said that tariffs have dampened consumer and business sentiment.

Earlier this week, the government reported that U.S job openings rose unexpectedly in April, but other data suggested that Americans are less optimistic about the labor market.

Tuesday’s report showed that the number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of conﬁdence in their prospects fell, while layoffs ticked higher And in another sign the job market has cooled from the hiring boom of 2021-2023, the Labor Department reported one job every unemployed person. Applications hit highest level in eight months

In reporting their latest earnings, many companies have either lowered their sales and proﬁt expectations for 2025 or not issued guidance at all, often citing Presi-

Fed chair Jerome Powell said the potential for both higher unemployment and inflation are elevated, an unusual combination that complicates the central bank’s dual mandate of controlling

LONG LINES MARK LAUNCH

me!” Takahashi said.

BY AYAKA McGILL Associated Press

TOKYO Throngs of gamers stood in long lines outside of stores hours before they opened Thursday from Tokyo to New York City in hopes of snaring a long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 video game console.

Enthusiasts have been clamoring for an upgrade to Nintendo’s eight-year-old predecessor for years Nintendo which is counting on the Switch 2 to boost sagging sales, has added new social features meant to lure players into online gaming.

The much anticipated Switch 2, being released around the world Thursday is an upgrade to its eight-year-old predecessor with new social features meant to draw players into online gaming. Nintendo is counting on the Switch 2 to boost sagging sales

In the U.S., a chaotic pre-order process in April left some fans frustrated after the con-

soles quickly sold out. People lined up early Thursday at stores in hopes of buying one.

“I’m just rolling the dice here,” said Edgar Huo, who was in a line of about 25 outside of a Target in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. Many of those waiting for the store to open had ordered online, but a few like Huo hoped for a chance at purchasing any extra inventory the store had.

In Japan, the new consoles were sold through a competitive lottery system that Nintendo said got about 2.2 million applications.

Outside the ofﬁcial draw, some retailers offered their own lotteries to pre-order the devices.

Koji Takahashi was among those who missed out on the ofﬁcial draw but he was selected in the second round of a lottery held by a major electronics retailer in Japan. He was first in line waiting outside the store, arriving four hours ahead of its opening. He hoped to secure a limited supply of Nintendo accessories to buy along with his pre-ordered Switch 2.

“I feel very sorry for those who weren’t successful in the lottery. But I also had tough time getting this far, so I hope they forgive

Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser told CBS Morning Plus today that the company is aware of the demand for its newest system and is working to get units into the hands of customers.

“We have a steady supply of manufacturing that will be coming in, and we believe we’ll be able to meet that demand all the way through the summer, through Father’s Day and then on into the holiday period also,” Bowser said.

The new console comes with a larger and higher resolution screen than its predecessor, with improved processing power, offering smoother and more vivid graphics. Central to its updated system is a new “C” button on its controller, which will launch a “GameChat” feature that requires a subscription to Nintendo’s Switch online service. It allows players to “communicate with friends and family while playing a game,” and lets them share their game screen with others. A builtin microphone will also allow chatting with other gamers.

Nintendo has said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026.

Procter & Gamble to cut up to 7,000 jobs

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press

Procter & Gamble will cut up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years as the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers implements a restructuring program at a time when tariffs are raising costs for American companies and consumers are growing anxious about the economy. The job cuts, announced at the Deutsche Bank Consumer Conference in Paris on Thursday, make up approximately 6% of the company’s global workforce, or about

15% of its nonmanufacturing positions, said Chief Financial Ofﬁcer Andre Schulten.

“This restructuring program is an important step toward ensuring our ability to deliver our longterm algorithm over the coming two to three years,” Schulten said. “It does not, however, remove the near-term challenges that we currently face.” Procter & Gamble, based in Cincinnati, had approximately 108,000 employees worldwide in June 2024. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring program. Procter

& Gamble will also end sales of some of its products in certain markets. Procter & Gamble said it will provide more details about that in July Like many companies, Procter & Gamble is dealing with American consumers who are worrying about their spending as they keep an eye on inﬂation.

U.S. consumer sentiment fell slightly in May for the ﬁfth straight month, surprising economists. The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index declined 2.7% on a monthly basis to

50.8, the second-lowest level in the nearly 75-year history of the survey The only lower reading was in June 2022. Since January, sentiment has tumbled nearly 30%. In April Procter & Gamble noted during a conference call that the biggest U.S. tariff impacts were coming from raw and packaging materials and some ﬁnished product sourced from China. The company said that it would be looking at sourcing options and productivity improvements to mitigate the tariff impact, but that it may also have to raise prices on some products.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICHARD DREW

Cassidymeets with Trumponspendingbill

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON –U.S. Sen.BillCassidy joined Republican senators for aWhite House meeting where President Donald Trump hopedto shore up support for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“The goal is to develop abill that preserves the American Dream and keeps taxes low,” Cassidysaid after the meeting Wednesday afternoon. “The president and Iwant to eliminatetax on tips, stopillegal immigration and develop American resources. Ilook forward to continuing the process while working to put Louisiana in thebest position to beneﬁt.”

The 1,037-page billincludes much of Trump’sdomestic agenda, such as more money forborder security and sweeping tax breaks, paid for partially with cuts in Medicaid and food stamps. House

ALLIANCE

Continued from page1A

hisown socialmedia network, Truth Social, and threatened to usethe U.S. government to hurt Musk’sbottom line by going after contracts held by his internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX.

“The easiest way to savemoney in our Budget, Billions andBillions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s GovernmentalSubsidiesand Contracts,” Trump wrote on his social media network.

“Go ahead, make my day,” Musk quickly replied on X.

Hours later,Muskannounced SpaceX would begindecommissioning the spacecraft it used to carryastronauts andcargo to the International Space Station for NASA.

Musk also said, withoutoffering evidence of how he might know the information, that Trump was “in theEpstein ﬁles. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have anice day,DJT!”

Thedeepening rift unfurled much like their relationship started —rapidly,intensely and very publicly.And it quickly hit Musk ﬁnancially

After Trump started criticizing Musk, shares of his electric vehicle company Tesla plunged more than 14%, knocking about $150 billion off Tesla’smarketvaluation.

Musk lost about $20 billion on his personalholding of Tesla.

Politicians and their donor patrons rarely see eye to eye. But themagnitudeofMusk’ssupport forTrump,spendingatleast $250 million backing his campaign, and thescope of free rein thepresident gave him to slash and delve into thegovernment with the Department of Government Efﬁciency is eclipsed only by the speed of their falling-out.

Musk offered up an especially stinging insult to apresident sensitive about his standing among voters: “Without me, Trumpwould have lost the election,” Musk retorted. “Such ingratitude,” Musk added in afollow-up post

Musk ﬁrst announced his support for Trump shortly after the thencandidate was nearly assassinated on stage at aPennsylvania rally last July.News of Musk’spolitical action committee in supportof Trump’selection came days later.

Musk soon became aclose ad-

Republicans passed thebill May 22 bya single vote, with all the Democrats and two Republicans opposing

The legislation advanced to the Senate, where several Republicans haveannounced their opposition and others said major changes were needed

Some GOP senators want to changethe House’s revamp of Medicaid. Cassidy has long advocated improving the efﬁciency of thestate andfederal program that provides health coverage for 80 millionlow incomeAmericans.

SenateRepublicans talked with Trump about howtocut more spending in the bill and to make permanent some of the tax reductions for businesses,Republican senators said.

Senate MajorityLeader John Thune, R-South Dakota, saidhe still plans to have thelegislation clear the Senate with the changes

“The goal is to develop abill that preserves theAmerican Dream and keepstaxeslow.The president and Iwant to eliminate tax on tips, stop illegalimmigration and develop American resources. Ilook forward to continuing the process whileworking to put Louisiana in the best position to benefit.”

SEN. BILL CASSIDy, R-Baton Rouge

confirmed by the House by the July Fourth holiday.Initial drafts are expected by the end of next week.

The bill would, over the next decade, add $2.4 trillion to the government’sdebtand leave 10.9 million people without healthinsurance, according to the Congressional Budget Ofﬁce analysis. The legislation cutsspending by $1.3 trillionbut revenue wouldfallby $3.7 trillion, statedCBO, the arm of Congress taskedwith estimat-

ing ﬁnancial impacts of bills under congressional consideration. Republicansinsist that the legislation will spur thenation’seconomy, thereby offsetting debt with additionalrevenues. Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, saida lot of thediscussion was “on how we address the debt and deﬁcit.”

The meeting took place in Roosevelt Room acrossthe hall from theOval Ofﬁce.

As chair of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and

Pensions Committee,Cassidy is largely responsible forconﬁrming Robert F. Kennedy Jr., arenowned opponent of vaccinations, as the nation’shealth secretary Cassidy is one of the fewRepublican senatorstovote to convict Trump in 2021 forimpeachment charges stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. CapitolbyTrump supporters. In April 2024, Trump ranted that Cassidy was “one of theworst senators” and “a total ﬂake.”

Sincetaking officeinJanuary, Trump has curbed his criticism and has sought Cassidy’scounsel. Up for reelection next year,Cassidy already has attractedone conservative challenger,state TreasurerJohnFleming,who worked in theWhite House duringTrump’s ﬁrst administration.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

viserand frequent companion, memorably leaping in the airbehind Trumponstage at arally in October.Once Trump was elected, the tech billionaire stood behind him as he took theoathofofﬁce, ﬂewonAir ForceOne for weekend stays at Mar-a-Lago,slept in the LincolnBedroom and joined Cabinetmeetingswearing aMAGAhat —sometimes more than one.

Three months ago, Trump purchased ared Tesla from Musk as a public show of support for his business as it faced blowback.

Musk bidfarewell to Trumplast week in asomewhatsomber news conference in the OvalOffice, wherehesported ablack eyethat he saidcamefrom hisyoung son butthat seemed to be ametaphor forhis messy time in government service.

Trump, who rarely misses an opportunity to zing his critics on appearance, broughtitupThursday

“I said,‘Do youwant alittle makeup? We’llget youalittle makeup.’ Whichisinteresting,”

Trumpsaid

The Republican president’s com-

ments came as Muskhas griped fordaysonsocialmedia about Trump’sspending bill, warning that it will increase the federal deﬁcit. Musk hascalled thebill a “disgusting abomination.”

“He hasn’tsaid bad about me personally,but I’m sure thatwill be next,” TrumpsaidThursday in the Oval Ofﬁce, presaging the rest of his day.“But I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon alot.”

Observers had long wondered if the friendshipbetween thetwo brash billionaires knownfor lobbing insultsonline would combust in dramatic fashion. It did, in less than ayear White House aides were closely following the drama playingout on dueling platforms Thursday with bemusement, sharing thelatesttwists and turns from thefeud between their boss and former coworker,aswell as the social media reaction and memes. Officials in the extremely online administration privately expressed thebelief that like the other digital scuffles that have defined Trump’spolitical career,this would also workout in

his favor

TrumpsaidThursday in the Oval Ofﬁce that he and Musk had had a great relationship but mused: “I don’tknow if we will anymore.”

He said some people who leave hisadministration “miss it so badly” and “actually becomehostile.”

“It’s sort of Trumpderangement syndrome, Iguess they call it,” he said.

He brushed aside the billionaire’sefforts to get him elected lastyear,including a$1milliona-day voter sweepstakes in Pennsylvania. The surge of cash Musk showed he was willing to spend seemed to set him up as ahighly coveted ally forRepublicansgoing forward, but his split with Trump, theparty’sleader,raises questions about whether they or any others will seesuch acampaign windfall in thefuture.

Trump saidMusk“onlydeveloped aproblem”withthe bill becauseitrolls back tax credits for electric vehicles.

“False,”Musk ﬁredback on his social mediaplatform as the president continued speaking. “This bill

wasnever showntomeeven once andwas passedinthe dead of night so fast that almost no oneinCongress could even read it!” In another post, he saidTrump could keep thespending cuts but “ditch the MOUNTAINofDISGUSTING PORK in the bill.” Besides Musk being “disturbed” by the electric vehicle tax credits, Trump saidanother point of contention was Musk’s promotion of Jared Isaacman to run NASA. Trumpwithdrew Isaacman’s nomination over the weekendand on Thursday called him“totallya Democrat.” Musk continued slinging his responsesonsocial media. He shared some posts Trump made over adecadeago criticizing Republicans fortheir spending, musings madewhen he, too, wasjust a billionaire lobbing his thoughts on social media.

“Where is the man who wrote these words?” Musk wrote. “Was he replaced by abody double!?” On the White House grounds Thursday afternoon, Trump’sred Tesla still sat in aparking lot.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO

President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to reporters as theysit in ared ModelS Teslavehicle at the White House in March.

Campaign seeks to combat child obesity

State partners with Pennington on new initiative

BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

A new initiative to combat childhood obesity in Louisiana will put 35 years of medical research into action by creating tools and programming for children, parents, teachers and pri-

mary care physicians.

Greaux Healthy was created in partnership between Pennington Biomedical Research and the Louisiana Department of Health. Twenty schools across the state have already participated in pilot versions of the program, including eight in the East Baton Rouge

Parish school district.

While Greaux Healthy programming won’t replace any existing curricula, it does have materials for parents, workbooks for kids and guides for both K-12 teachers and early childhood caregivers. This programming is the result of taking decades of Pennington

research and translating it into education children can understand and internalize, Melissa Martin, director of Greaux Healthy, said during a news conference Thursday at the Pennington campus. Learning these strategies in a social, school setting has been shown to make actual changes in body fat percentage among growing kids, she said.

Louisiana ranks third high-

PAR AND AWAY

est for childhood obesity in the United States, and data from the National Survey for Children’s Health shows that 1 in 5 children in the state are obese

A survey of Louisiana parents ranked childhood obesity as a bigger concern than smoking/ vaping, mental health issues and other illnesses.

ä See OBESITY,

Money was sought for meet-and-greet with Keanu Reeves

BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer

Despite claims circulating on Facebook, Canadian actor Keanu Reeves has no plans to visit Baton Rouge, nor is he soliciting money for exclusive meet-andgreet events. A Baton Rouge woman has reportedly lost thousands of dollars after being targeted by a social media scammer posing as an afﬁliate of Reeves — the star of classic movies like “The Matrix,” “John Wick” and “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

According to court records, the victim was contacted via Facebook by someone identifying themselves as “Susan Benson,” who claimed to be part of Reeves’ team. The scammer offered the woman a chance to participate in a “meet and greet” with the Canadian ﬁlm star In February, the victim wired $3,250 to a bank account under the name Shari Outlaw Hyatt After a month of ongoing communication, she sent an additional $1,000 via PayPal to a Gmail

Locations in BR nominated for national historic register

Sites include Wooddale Tower, Hickory Hill Plantation

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

A pair of historical sites around Baton Rouge have been nominated for spots on the National Register of Historic Places due to their architectural signiﬁcance. Public comment is now open for Wooddale Tower in Baton Rouge near Lobdell Boulevard and Hickory Hill Plantation in East Feliciana Parish, in addition to other sites sprinkled throughout the state. To qualify for the national register a historical location must be at least 50 years old and meet one of the following criteria: have association with a historic event or individual, contain archaeological potential or embody the characteristics of an era. Wooddale Tower the 12-story former Capital Bank building, represents postwar International Style, distinguished by utilitarianism and forwardlooking, car-centric architectural elements, according to the application.

Owner Michael Tubre hopes to develop the building into

for the National

Hickory Hill Plantation House has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

May Street, I-10 projects underway

BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer

What’s going on with May Street? Local residents and commuters passing by the LSU Lakes might have noticed that the street that runs between the lakes is closed and the way home might be a little longer This work is part of Phase 1 of the University Lakes restoration project at LSU, which has been ongoing since 2023. The project originated from the 2016 master planning process sponsored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which called for path improvements and the deepening and preservation of the six man-made lakes near LSU. The May Street Project has been contracted out to Brown Industrial Construction As of June 4 it has officially begun construction on May Street. The street is expected to remain closed through August 2026. According to Mark Goodson, principal and resilience practice lead at CSRS, one of the lead project advisers, the May Street construction will realign the street/

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

in Baton Rouge on May 20.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

The Wooddale Tower, seen April 15, in Baton Rouge is nominated

Register of Historic Places.

PROVIDED PHOTO

2accused of monkey tortureconspiracy

Shreveport pair indicted in ‘animal crushvideos’

BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer

TwoShreveport area residents areamong the 11 people indicted by afederalgrand jury over allegations they took part in aninternational conspiracy to commission videosdepicting thetorture and sexual abuse of monkeys.

Brady Shellhammer,known online as “Beglu” or “Bbbeglu ”was arrested May 7inBellefontaine, Ohio. Victoria Haskins, who allegedly used thealiases“CatFace” and “Sparkles Fancy Pants,” was taken into custody May 15 in the Shreveport area,accordingtocourt records.

An indictment unsealed last month in Ohio accuses the pair of paying aCincinnati man for re-

cordingsofthe abuseofbaby and adultmonkeys.That man, Nicholas Dryden, allegedly paid aboy in Indonesiatoproduce thevideos and carry outthe “sexually sadisticmutilation,” which included sodomizing the animals,burning theirgenitals and eventually killing them.

“Theacts of torture andabuse of young monkeys alleged in this case are beyond disturbing,” FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola said, announcing the charges

“Asaresult of the workofthe FBI, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service andour partners, those involvedin the conspiracy tocreate and distribute these repulsive videos are being held accountable,” Iatarola said

According to the29-page indictment, Dryden communicated with his co-conspirators on Telegram channels with names like “Dungeons and Monkeys,” “B-A-N-A-NA-S” and “Famiglia Privata.”

In one ofthe chats, Haskins alleg-

Thenew channel will be spanned by abridge, replacing the route previously coveredbyMay Street

edly solicited suggestions for what to do to amonkey named “PavPav.”

“Attentions all you wonderful patrons! tonightstartingat7centralwewill be having acontest,” Haskins said,accordingtothe indictment.“[W]e aregivinga prize to thepersonwho can come up with the best torture method to PavPav! Bring your favorite adult beverage becauseweare alsoplaya drinking game! it will be great fun!”

Congresspassed alaw criminalizing the creation and distribution of so-called “animal crush” videos in 2010 after theU.S.Supreme Court struckdown aban on trafﬁcking in depictionsofanimal cruelty,ﬁnding it unconstitutionally broad and restrictive of free speech.

The law defines such “animal crush videos” as anyobsceneimages or recordings where oneormore “living nonhumanmammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is intentionally crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated,impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury.”

That statute was strengthened in 2019 to make theactsofanimal crueltythemselves, rather than just the videos depicting them, into felony offenses under federal law If convicted of taking part in the scheme, the alleged co-conspirators face amaximum sentenceof ﬁve yearsinfederal prison, while the accused ringleader faces additional charges. The penalty for creating and distributing the videos is amaximum sentence of seven years in prison. Because he allegedly paid aminortoabusethe monkeys, Dryden alsofaces up to 20 years in prison for the production, distribution and receipt of avisualdepiction of the sexual abuse of children.

According to prosecutors, Haskins paid Dryden $50 in March 2023 in exchange formonkeytorture videos, while Shellhammer paid him $20inApril 2023. Haskins is due to appear in federal court in Ohio on June 20 for a ﬁrst appearancetodetermine the

conditions of her release, according to Kara Blackney,her attorney Shellhammer was ordered to be released on his own recognizance following his initial appearance. His attorney,Jeff Stavroff, did not immediately respond to arequest for comment.

A2023 investigation by theBBC traced an online monkey torture network from private YouTube channels to encrypted messaging groups. It found acommunity of people, mostly from the United States, United Kingdom andAustralia, who paid people in Indonesia to carry out violent abuse on baby longtailedmacaques, often suggesting speciﬁc methods of torture to video producers.

That investigation led to multiple prison sentences in Indonesia, the U.S. andthe U.K.,though it was notclear if theBBC’s reporting contributedtothe chargesinOhio against Drydenand his alleged coconspirators.

bridge to improve the safety at Dalrymple and East Lake Shore

It will also add multiusecyclist/ pedestrian paths with lights on both sides of the street —plus new parking and areconﬁgurationof the City Park green space on May Street.

The work will connect City Park Lake and University Lakehydraulically by removing asquare pipe known as abox culvert and cutting anew channel. Currently,the box culvert makes City Park Lake sit almost afoot higher than University Lake. Goodson said the connection is important for ﬂood risk prevention.

“With the improvements that we’ve made to the weiratStanford Avenue, we’ll be able to draw down the levels of both University Lake and City Park Lake whenthey’re connected,” he said.

The connection also means that rowers, paddleboarders andkayakers will be able to navigatethe distance between the two lakes

TheMay Street closure, originally slatedtostart in September, was strategically moved up for the summertominimizedisruptions to trafﬁcﬂow and give people time to adjust to the changes before school starts.

Twoprojects, oneheadache

For thosewho usually take May Street, traffic will be diverted. Goodson saidpeople areencouraged to go up Perkins Road and takeeitherStanford Avenue or Park Boulevard and come down the west side of thelakes. The routethrough Park Boulevard, which becomes Dalrymple Drive, will require driving through City BrooksCommunityPark. The section of road between the Dalrymple-Perkins intersection andthe MayStreet intersectionisa little over amile long.

For now,thisdiversion doesn’t work most days after 7p.m., as nightly closures of Dalrymple Drive are happening due to the work widening Interstate 10 over City Park Lake. The dual construc-

tion projects are leavingthose who live on or near Dalrymple to take elaborateand lengthy detoursto reach their homes each evening.

DonaBagot, wholivesonDalrymple Drive, is looking forward to enjoying the completed projects. But for now,she says the two projectscoinciding areaddingcomplications to her life. She knew May Street was closing and hadbeengivennotice, butsaid that she was unable to ﬁnd information online aboutroadclosures and how long they would last.

TheDOTD publishedinformation about the most recent closure on the morning of June 3, the same day theroad would be closed, listed under theI-10 widening project rather than the street name. The other website Bagot typically checks,city.brla.gov/gis/closures. asp, did not have Dalrymple nightly closure listed, leaving some local residents concerned about emergency services being able to reach them easily in the evenings.

When Dalrymple is closed, Bagot’snightly commute is now 10 to 15 minutes longer —but her main concern isn’tthe extra driving.

“It’sless about the inconvenient travel timesasitisabout the dangersthat exist by kind of shutting us off from both directions,” she said.

As of June3,the DOTD hasannounced that Dalrymple will be closed from 7p.m. to 7a.m., but thenightlyclosures may be extended. Theroad hadpreviously been closednightly fromMay 20-24. AccordingtoBrooke Goodrich,apublic informationofﬁcer for DOTD, Dalrymple might continue to be closed at night next week, but the department doesn’t have enough information from the contractoryet to be sure.The DOTDannounces road closures for theproject everyweek. Bagot understands and appreciates that construction needs to happen,but she wishes that the two projects had been coordinated and timed better. The overlap mayonly be acouple weeks, she said, but “it’severy night for someonewho lives here.”

‘Short-termpain, long-termgain’ “Weknow that these street closures (for theMay Street proj-

ect)can be painful andfrustrating and take some time to adjust, so just ask that everybody be patient,” Goodson said.

The project, he added, is making progress, with additional phases slated to be completed by theend of 2026.Phase2 is already underway

“Hopefully,everyone will ultimately consider it asmall price to pay for the improvements that are being made,” he said. “Shortterm pain for long-term gain.”

Email SerenaPuang at serena. puang@theadvocate.com.

Pope Leoappointsnew Houma-Thibodauxbishop

BY MARCOCARTOLANO

Staff writer

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Rev.Simon Peter Enguraittobe the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, the diocese announcedThursday morning.

Engurait, 53, is anativeofUganda and hasservedasthe diocesan administrator in the Dioceseof Houma-Thibodaux sinceJanuary 2024 following the death of Bishop Mario Dorsonville, according to the diocese. The ofﬁcial announcement of appointment wasmade in Romeby

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S. “While Iamstill shocked by the news that the Lord hasaskedmeto be abishop, Imust admit thatknowing the people of thisdiocese brings me greatcomfortinsayingyes,” Engurait said in astatement provided by the diocese. “South Louisiana is home,and Ilove the people here. It is aprivilege tosay yes to you as much as Iamsaying yes to God.I loveyou, and Iconsider it agreat honor to serve you as your bishop.”

Engurait is among the Leo’searliest appointments after he wasmade pope May 8. Leo isthe ﬁrst Ameri-

canpopeand hasNew Orleansties —hehas Creole, Black lineage tied to the 7thWard. Born in Ngora, Uganda, in 1971 to afamily of 14 children, Engurait’s educationled himthroughCatholic seminaries. He received abachelor’sdegree at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, in 1995 and his Master of Business AdministrationatMaastrichtSchool of Management in the Netherlands in 1999, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Engurait had worked in the Ugandan government beforeaprofound

experience at Catholic Charismatic Renewal at Katigondo Seminaryin Uganda that eventually ledtohim entering the priesthood. In 2007, Engurait wasaccepted as aseminarian forthe Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux andentered Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, where he received his Master of Divinityin2013, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops He was ordained adeacon in 2012 at St.Bernadette Church in Houma, andlater ordainedapriest in 2013 at the Cathedral of St. FrancisdeSales in Houma.

Sincehis ordination, Enguraithas served in several assignments withintheDioceseofHouma-Thibodaux. Before takingonthe roleofthe diocesan administrator,Enguraitwas thediocese’s vicargeneral starting in 2017. He hasalso servedaspastor of St. Bridget Parish in Schriever sincethe sameyear Leo’sﬁrst American appointment wasBishopMichael Pham to the Diocese of San Diego in California on May 22.

Email Marco Cartolanoat marco.cartolano@theadvocate. com.

Obesityisadisease

Pennington researchers made clear Thursdaythat obesity is areal threat to children’shealth.

“Obesity affects just about every organsysteminthe body.Itinduceschronic inflammation,” said Amanda Staiano, the director of Pennington’sPediatric Obesity and Health Behavior laboratory.“It’smaking those organs work harder.That’s where you start seeing breathing problems, sleep apnea.”

Diabetes and heart disease are also being seen in younger and youngerchildrenas well. Whenteens or preteens are diagnosed with these conditions, they have often been obese for years,she said. Signs of obesity can be seen as early as preschool, Staiano said.

Obesityisalsoconsidered achronic diseaseonits own, rather than simplyacondition that causes other illnesses, said PeterKatzmarzyk, chief scientificofficerfor Greaux Healthy

Because of this, obesity should be treated with the same seriousness as other diseases, he said.

Despite society’sfascination with fad diets, superfoods and fitness trends, Katzmarzyk said the science behind obesity is simple.

Staiano describeda “trafﬁc light”approach, where kids are taught that green foods are green for go, and should be chosen ﬁrst when looking for asnack. Then there are red foods, which children are taught to keep track of andeventually learn to cut backon.

To Staiano and Katzmarzyk, programs like Greaux Healthy arehow Pennington fulﬁlls itssloganofpromotingpublic health “from the cell to society.”

Personal responsibility

In hisremarks at theweekly Red Stick Farmer’sMarketonPennington’scampus, Bruce Greenstein, secretary for theLouisiana Department of Health, said childhoodobesity is one public health crisis that never goes away, withrealprogress being hard to achieve Greenstein says the state hasspent alot of money on Medicaid and public health programs, and that leaders with the government and schools saythey are committedtoﬁght against obesity “How come we haven’tmade more progressinthe last15 years?” he asked. Some public health victorieshave beenachieved that also were previouslythought impossible: Smoking rates are down,seat beltuse is up and opioid overdosesare dropping forthe ﬁrst timein years. The key to these campaigns, in Greenstein’seyes, was practical messaging

“What it comes down to with obesity is energy balance,” he said. “So you know, high-proteindiet, low-carb diet, as long as they induce an energy imbalance, as long as you cut your calories, it will help agreat deal.” The goal of Greaux Healthy is to get children thinking actively about what they are eating andworking those habits into their naturaldiet.

about public health dangers being clearly communicated to the public.

“In all of those campaigns, they’re nottouchy-feely they’re not nice,”hesaid, givingexampleslikethe “Thisis your brain on drugs” ad campaign, “Click it or Ticket,” and the commercial series depictingcar crashesissued by MothersAgainst Drunk Driving.

He saidthe success in those campaigns alsocame from personalbuy-in from thepublic, not just doctors and politicians,tomake their own lives better

“Weneed people on the frontlinesworking harder to convince kids to do more,” Greenstein said. “Weneed moresupporters outside of the health care world and in thecommunities, in the schools. Food and activity has to be put at the top.”

In apreparedstatement, Gov.Jeff Landry said that Greaux Healthy was created with thegoal to “make Louisiana’schildren healthy again.”

When askedifthislanguage ties GreauxHealthy to other “Make America Healthy Again” initiatives, Greenstein said he couldn’t square it with everypiece of current legislation related to public health or slogans“that are coming from Washington, D.C.”

However,hedid say,“We do wanttomakeLouisiana healthy. We do wanttotake bad additives out of the food supply.Infact, you’ve heard thegovernor talk many times aboutprograms, like SNAP, that shouldn’thave foods that work against health, where thegovernmentissubsidizing, or in this case, paying for all of it.”

SCAM

Continuedfrom page1B

account associated with the name SusanBenson. After realizing the chance to meet the star was asham, the victim reported theincidenttothe EastBaton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office in May Authoritiesare currently

HISTORIC

Continuedfrom page1B

affordablesenior housing if he can secure thehistoric taxcredits.

“A big problemwith adapting office buildings countrywide or worldwide is thedifﬁcultyintransitioning fromanofﬁcelayoutto aresidentiallayout,” Tubre said in April. “Whereas this building wasintentionally designed to be as open as possible, as customizable as possible.”

Hickory Hill Plantation in East Feliciana is seeking aplace on the registry for itsEarlyClassical Revival architectural style,which is unusualtofind in Louisiana, saidElainaStuntz, a

working to recover the stolen funds.

This is not the ﬁrst time someone has been avictim of aschemelike this, accordingtonewsreports from otherstates.InApril, aTampa Bay Area woman was defraudedtens of thousands of dollars after sending moneytoascammerposing as Reeves.

Last December,aCalifornia woman became

graduate student at Louisiana Tech University who workedonthe nomination. It was built in 1810 by a family who moved from the Carolinas, according to her research.

Thetwo-story house is currentlya private residence.

“A lot of the plantations in Louisiana, especially in the Acadiana area, you see that nicehomey cottagelook,” Stuntz said. “Hickory Hill has aGreek temple look.”

Other nominations in Louisiana are the Rayne Historic District in Acadia Parish, Ville Platte Post Officein EvangelineParish, Citizens Bank in Iberia Parish and Oak Grove Historic District in West Carroll Parish.

Residents are welcometo share their thoughts with

homeless after developing an online relationship with aKeanu Reeves fan account and sending large sums of money over two years. Thescammerinitially contacted hertooffercomfort aftershe had already fallen for aprevious Reeves impersonator Email Aidan McCahill ataidan.mccahill@ theadvocate.com

the National Park Service as it reviewsapplications, Louisiananational register coordinator Bailey Hall said. Comment is open through June 17. “It can be somebody associated with the property, it can be somebody that just heard about it and wants to commentinsupport or opposition of that, and(the National Park Service) will take all that into consideration when they’re processing the application,” Hallsaid. Comments can be submitted electronically to National_Register_Submissions@ nps.gov. More detailedinstructionscan be found online at the Federal Register Email HaleyMiller at haley.miller@ theadvocate.com.

RhemaChristian Center at 10am.

Nettles, Lois

Greenoaks FuneralHomeand MemorialPark, 9595 Florida Boulevard, at 11 a.m.

Pickett,Alfred

ResthavenGardens of Memory & FuneralHome, 11817 JeffersonHwy BatonRouge,LAat3:30pm

Price, Thomas ResthavenFuneralHome, 11817 Jefferson Highway,Baton Rouge,LAat 10am.

Russell, Rita

St.Jean VianneyCatholic Church, 16166 SouthHarrellsFerry Road,at 11:30a.m Woods Sr James St.Alphonsus Catholic Church in Greenwell Springs at 11 a.m.

Obituaries

Bordelon, Wilburn

Wilburn Jude Bordelon, born to Wilbert &Maggie

Bordelon. Native of Marksville &resident of Livonia, La. Passed away peacefully May 26, 2025at the age of 76. Aretired worker from Big River Industrieswhere many lifelong friends were made. Wilburn loved hunting, fishing &cookouts time with his family, but most of all he loved his grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Wilburn can be rough on the surface but underneath was a heart of gold. Wilburn is survived by his daughters Shannon Bordelon (Chris), Shanda Glorioso (Conrad), Shea Bordelon, and ason Clifton Bordelon and beloved puppy Sue. Grandchildren Megan, CJ, Hannah, Branson, Victoria, Jena, Harley, Jacob, Hailey, Kyle and Mason. Eight grandchildren with two more greats on the way His sisters Connie (Eddy Rae) Gaspard, Lois (Richard) Jeansonne anda brother Eric (Rhonda) Bordelon. Preceded in death by his parents and infant brother and beloved Angie and agrandson Brandon. A celebration of life will be announced in the coming weeks. Special thanks to Ms. Annette with Pinnacle Hospice for you will forever be in our hearts for the amazing one of akind treatment and caring heart you extendedtoour father In lieu of flowers, please make donations to American Kidney Foundation or boil some crawfish and raise adrink to Wilburn.

Boudinot,Dorothy Jean

DorothyJean Boudinot, anative of Osyka, MS and resident of Baton Rouge, LA passed away on May 26, 2025, at her home at the age of 91. Afuneral service will be held at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge on June 9, 2025, with visitation beginning at 10am until service at 11am. Burial to follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory in Baton Rouge, LA. Please go to www.chu rchfuneralservices.com/ ob itu ar ies/do ro th yboudinot to view full obituary.

James J. Clay Sr.,a native of West Baton Rouge LA departed thislifeon Saturday, May 31, 2025,at St. Joseph Hospice "The CarpenterHouse" at the age of 79. Visitation on Saturday, June 7, 2025atHall Davis& Sons Funeral Services from 1:00pmuntil religious services at 2:00pm. IntermentatHeavenly Gates Mausoleum.

Comeaux Jr., Clifford Charles

Clifford Charles Comeaux,Jr.,D.D.S

Dr.Clifford Comeaux, Jr. passedawaysuddenlyon the afternoon of June2 2025.Hewas born on January10, 1944.Hewas anativeofBaton Rouge and long-time resident of Oscar, LA. He was agraduate of CatholicHigh School in Baton Rouge,Southeastern Louisiana University and Loyola University Dental School, practicing dentistry in Baton Rouge and Livonia, Louisiana for56 years. He was alifelong avid outdoorsman who loved to fish and hunt with many dear friends. He is survived by his son,Cliff Comeaux,III, daughter Elisa Clare Babin and husband Brandon, grandchildrenBrynne Babin Guidroz and husband Sam, and Braden Babin. He is also survived by sisters Neila Comeaux Eckler, Deanie Comeaux Bahan, Ann ComeauxLegleuand husband Thomas, along with numerous nieces and nephews. He waspreceded indeath by wife, Natalie Thibaut Comeaux,parents Dr. Clifford Comeaux, Sr. and Elisa LeBlanc Comeaux, brotherWalter Comeaux II, and nephew Stephen Eckler. PallbearerswillbeBradenBabin, Brandon Babin, Sam Guidroz, Major Thibaut, Don Ristroph, and Thomas Legleu. Visitation will be Saturday, June7 at 8:00 to 10:00atImmaculate ConceptionCatholicChurchin Lakeland, LA with the Mass of ChristianBurial to follow at 10:00 with Reverend AmritRaj, IMS.Internment at Chenal Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider adonation to Catholic School of PointeCoupee, 405 Louisiana St., New Roads, LA 70760, or Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 12369LA-416, Lakeland, LA 70752.

Crockett, Charles 'Chilly'

Charles "Chilly" Crockett,a resident of Baton Rouge, funeral service will be held at 1:00,Saturday June 7th at Roscoe Mortuary.

Charles wasthe father of Torin, Jason and Courtney Crockett. His sisters areCarolyn Williams and Shalaii Burrell. Charleswas proceeded in death by hiswife, a brother and his parents.

Decuir, Dana Marie

into this world for nearly 45 vibrant years. She departed peacefully, surrounded by love on June 4, 2025, in Baton Rouge, LA after abattlewith cancer which she faced with the same strength and courageshe brought to everyaspect of herlife.Her smile was unforgettable, her laughter was infectious, and her kind heart was magical.

Dana, thebeloved daughter of Wanda Alpough Decuir, sister to Ashley Bachar, and world's best aunt to her nieces and nephews was alivingtestament to thepowerofa loving family.She was proceeded in death by her father Russell JosephDecuir, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who undoubtedlywelcomed her with openarms.

Aproud alumna of both LSUfor undergrad and Southern Miss for graduateschool, Dana was a dedicatedregistered dietician whose passion for health and nutritiontransformed thelives of many. Dana was aselfless and compassionate person,always puttingthe needs of others before her own. Her spirit willliveoninthe memories we share and thelives she inspired.

Avisitationfollowedby afuneral willbeheldon June 6thstartingat1pm at ImmaculateConception ChurchinLakeland. We invite allwho knew and lovedher to join us in honoring her memory

As we celebrate Dana's life,let'shonorher legacy by living as she did- with a kind heart,a generous spirit, and asenseofhumor that couldbrighten even thedarkest of days. Dana Marie Decuir, the world is alittleless bright without your shine, butoh, how youmadeitsparkle whileyou were here.

Vernon “Coon”Dorsey, Jr. departed this life on Sunday, May25, 2025, at St Elizabeth Hospital in Gon‐zales,LA. He was58, ana‐tiveand resident of Belle Rose, LA.VisitationonFri‐day,June 6, 2025, at Williams &SouthallFuneral Home, Napoleonville, LA from2:00pmto4:00pm. VisitationonSaturday, June 7, 2025, at FirstIsrael Baptist Church from 9:00 amtoreligious services at 11:00 am.Interment in the church cemetery.Arrange‐ments by Williams & SouthallFuneralHome, 5414 Hwy. 1, Napoleonville, LA70390, (985) 369-7231. To signthe guestbook or offercondolences,visit our website at www.william sandsouthallfuneralhome. com.

Faulkenberry, Donald 'Chuck'

born in Pineville,Louisiana, he spent time in Albuquerque, NM where he graduated fromValley HighSchol. He spent the majority of his life in the Baton Rouge area, dedicated to hard work, family, and faith.Heowned and operated asuccessful commercial floor covering business forover 40 years. In addition,his business, church servedfor many years as highschoolreferee -a role he took great pride in.

Chuck attended Zoar Baptist Church and he lovedhis church family, and an activeparticipant in theSertoma Club of BatonRouge,Hewas apassionate supporter of LSU sports,especiallyfootball. Game days we sacred,and his love forLSU brought joy and connection to many cherished moments with family and friend Chuck willberemembered forhis warmth,generosity, and unwavering dedication to his family, church and community. Relatives and friends are invitedtojointhe family on Saturday, June 7, 2025 at SealeFuneralService for

avisitation startingat9:00 AM untilthe memorial service at 11:00 AM officiated Reverend Glen Miers. In lieu of flowersthe familyrequest donation to American Cancer Society or St.Jude Hospital.

Garner,Christopher

Dr.ChristopherDavid Garner,55, aresident of Baton Rouge,LApassed away on June 1, 2025. A gravesideservice willbe held Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at Hollywood Cemetery at 2PM. Dr.David Millican will officiate.Hartman Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Christopherwas born on October30, 1969 to Monica

LongGarner and thelate William "Bill" David Garner. During hiscareerasa psychologist,Dr. Chris Garnertouchedthe lives of many students,interns, colleaguesand patients. He educated andmentored many young mental health professionals whileatthe Southern Louisiana Internship Consortium, wherehe also served as training director,the Louisiana State University PsychiatricResidencytraining program andLibertyUniversity. He served hisprofession and colleaguesasformer president of theLouisiana Group Psychotherapy Association,former Ethics Chair of theLouisianaPsychological Association and former Complaints Coordinator for theLouisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Dr. Garnerloved hisprofession andhelped many people throughout hiscareer. He wasprecededin death by hisfather; hispaternal grandparents Samuel Garner and Carolyn Garner; and his maternal grandparents James Longand NeldaLong. He is survived by his

Dana Marie Decuir, born on September 8, 1980, brought laughterand light

On themorning of May 28, 2025, Donald Charles "Chuck"Faulkenberry passed away peacefully at hishome after acourageousfour-year battle with cancer. He was 81 years old. He is preceded in death by hisparents, WilliamZeb Faulkenberryand Sadie Kathleen Edwards; his sister, BonnieKaye Sanders; and his brother, Billy E. Faulkenberry. He is survivedbyhis loving wife of 21 years, Jacqueline "Jackie" Faulkenberry; his two daughters, Shawn and Shannon; his beloved dog and best friend, Mister; his brother, SteveFaulkenberry and hiswife Carol;three grandchildren, Austin, Blake and Spence;aswell as numerous nieces and nephews, and many friends acrossthe country. Although Chuck was

Please consider donatingtolocal journalism in Louisiana. Your tax-deductible contribution goes solely to funding reportersinthe ﬁeld. To donateand

Dorsey Jr., Vernon

mother, Monica Long Garner; his sister Greta Garner (Eric Flynt); his children Simmons Ann Garner, Samuel DavidGarner, and Grace Elizabeth Garner; one niece Anna Gayle Hudson; one nephew Jonah Lyons Flynt; along with other relatives and friends.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Scott Smith, Greg Ditcharo, and Pat Little. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Alzheimer's and Dementia Research at alz.org.

Green,Larry Larry Green, anativeof Bayou Goula, LA anda resi‐dentofPlaquemine, LA passedawaySunday, June 1,2025 at OurLadyofThe LakeRegionalHospital. VisitationonFriday, June 6, 2025 from 5pmto7 pm at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church,23030 Talbot Drive, Plaquemine, LA.Visitation resumes on Saturday,June 7,2025 from 9amuntil reli‐gious serviceat11am. Rev. Clyde E. McNell,Pastor. In‐terment in PilgrimRest Baptist Church Cemetery Arrangementsentrusted to Pugh'sMortuary, Plaquem‐ine,LA.

Yvonne S. Henderson, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was born on December 27, 1941, and was peacefully relieved of her earthly duties on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

Ahomegoingservice will be held on Friday, June 6, 2025, at 10a.m. at Rhema Christian Center.

Astranger to no one, Yvonne was known for her compassionate spirit and unwavering love. She served as adevoted matriarch to all whose lives she touched.

Joseph

Joseph “Joe Joe” Jupiter III departed this life on May 29, 2025, at ThibodauxRe‐gionalMedical Center.He was 84, anativeand resi‐dentofNapoleonville,LA. Heretired from J. RayMc‐Dermott Shipyardsas a crane operator.Visitation onFriday, June 6, 2025, at Williams &SouthallFuneral Homefrom4:00pmto6:00 pm. Visitation on Saturday June7,2025, at Bright Morning Star Baptist Church from 9:00 a.m. to religious services at 10:00 a.m.Interment Bright Morning Star Cemetery ArrangementsbyWilliams & Southall FuneralHome, 5414 Hwy. 1, Napoleonville, LA70390, (985)369-7231. To signthe guestbookor offercondolences,visit our website at www.william sandsouthallfuneralhome. com.

ily. Helga was born on December 31, 1935,inSpandau, Berlin, Germany,to Hermann Rudolph Otto Kellner and MarthaMargaretAgnes Meyer. As a young woman, she worked as amodel forseveral fashion houses in Berlin, delighting in recounting stories of walkingtwo impeccablytrained Afghan hounds through the city's elegantcoffee houses while dressed in haute couture In 1957,she immigrated to the UnitedStates with her fiancé,Horst Lutz Partenheimer. Thecouple marriedshortly after their arrivalinReno,Nevada. Over theyears, theirjourneytogether took them across the globe, with residences in Berlin,Virginia, California, Koblenz (Germany), NewOrleans, Ghana(West Africa), and finally back to New Orleans and Baton Rouge Helga worked as abookkeeper throughout her career, contributing her skills to several well-known companies, including Bethlehem Steel, Dixie Brewery, and Brennan's in New Orleans. She had alifelong passion for numbers and continued working well beyond retirement, firmly believing that stayingmentallyactive helped her remainsharp. Indeed, she remained mentally keen and intellectually engaged throughout her life. Aworld travelerat heart, Helga especially cherishedher time in Europe,whereshe delighted in discovering quaintvillages, exploringlocalcustoms, and attending traditional festivals. She also had adeeplove forgardening and found comfort and companionship in caring forher cat. Above all, her greatest pride and joy was herbeloved son, Ingolf. Helga is precededin death by herformer husband, Horst Partenheimer. Sheissurvived by her son, Ingolf Partenheimer,and his wifeMichelle, both of Baton Rouge The family wouldlike to expresstheir heartfelt gratitudefor thecare and supportprovidedtoHelga in herfinal days.

Lee, Brian Keith

BrianKeithLee,who was affectionately called "B"was abeloved son, father,brother and friend. He enteredinto eternal rest on May16, 2025 at theage of 52. Survived byhis mother, Betty Lee;daughters Brianesha Harris and Breanna Brown; and asa son JammonieCornelius sistersDanitaLee, Kendra Lee Jackson and Kaila Lee Deann, Dena and Dana Alexander;brothersDenverLee,Eric,Erroll and Horace Alexander.Preceded in deathbyhis father HoraceLee,Sr., brotherHorace Lee,Jr. and sonBrysean Cornelius. Visitation Saturday, June 7, 2025,at Saintsville COGIC8930 Plank Road B.R.,LAat9:00 am until religious services at 10:00 am. Burial at Southern Memorial Gardens 3012 Blount Road. Services entrustedtoDesselle Funeral Home 263 Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive,Baton Rouge, La. 70802

McGregor,Juanita HowellHolden

Juanita Howell Holden McGregor alife-long resident of Baton Rouge,LA, died Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Sheissurvived by her daughter JenniferHolly McGregor Carruth(Keith), two grandsons Michael Carruth (Alyzza)and Gray Carruth (Renee), greatgranddaughter Aleiya, great-grandson Ashton, a sister Ann Holden Cooper, her daughter Darby Lancasterand great-niece Maggie Lancaster. Also, John Goodmanand Bonnie Dee, along with numerous otherrelatives.Preceded in deathbyher husband John DudleyMcGregor and parents JuanitaHowell Holden and George Buffington Holden. Visitation will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025atSacred Heartof JesusCatholic Church

(2250 MainStreet, Baton Rouge, LA 70802) from 10 until theFuneralMass at 11 am. There will be areception in the Parish Hall from noon- 1pm. Burial willbeatthe Kleinpeter Family Cemeteryatthe rear of Willow Grove Subdivisionat2pm.Inlieuof flowers,memorial donations in Juanita's name may be madetoThe Baton Rouge Area Foundation (100 NorthStreet, Suite 900, Baton Rouge, LA 70802).

MorrisSr.,Wendell

Visitation services for Wendell Morris Sr.willbe heldFriday, June 6, 2025 at New Home Ministry,3000 TecumsehSt. Apublicvisi‐tationwillbeheldfrom 5:00p.m.until 7:00 p.m. Fu‐neral services will be held SaturdayJune 7, 2025, at Union BaptistChurch 17038 Hwy. 67 North, Nor‐wood,La. 70761. Apublic visitationwillbeheldfrom 9:00a.m.until 10:00 a.m. withreligious services be‐ginning at 10:00 a.m. Inter‐ment: Little AntiochM.B.C 3405 LowerCentreville Rd., Liberty,MS39645. Profes‐sionalservicesentrusted toCharles Mackey Funeral Home.

Religious services SaturdayJune 7, 2025 at A. Wesley'sFuneral Home 10810 VentressDr, Maringouin, La at 10am. Conductedby PastorHiram Blanchard. Wilbert Overtonwas alifelong resident of Fordoche, Louisiana. He was aRosenwald High School Alumni and completeda Vocational TradeSchool in New Roads, Louisiana. Wilbert was free spirited, enjoyed walking, gardening, lending ahelpinghand with yard work, and offering his services wherever he saw theneed. At theage of 79, Wilbert completed his journey on May 26, 2025 at Villa Feliciana nursing home in Jackson Louisiana. He leavesbehindhis footprints, and he is survived by his siblings DorisJ (Rose Lee) OvertonSr. Eddie(Shirley) OvertonJr., Elizabeth(Joseph) Jackson, Vernon C. Overton, and Deon J. Overton, nieces, nephews, cousins, and otherloved onesand friends. Wilbert was preceded in death by his mother Inez Blanchard Overton,father Eddie H. Overton Sr.Siblings Willie Overton, William Overton, Oneal Overton, Herman Overton, Clinton Overton Sr.,Dorthy J.Overton,Ethel M. Jack, Mary L. Overton, and Samuel B. Overton.

Pope,Ora LeeSpears

OraLee Spears Pope de‐partedthislifeonMay 28 2025, at theage of 91. Ora leavesthree children; Gayle L. Pope of Baton Rouge,Louisiana,Robyn D. Pope(Gwendolyn) of Baton Rouge,Louisiana,and Shannon Pope-Ricardo (Ralph) of Powder Springs, Georgia.Three sisters; AnnieLee Overton(James) ofNew Orleans, Louisiana, LottieJones of Baton Rouge,Louisiana,and Mar‐clean RobertsonofNew Or‐leans,Louisiana.She also leaves10grandchildren and 34 great-grandchil‐dren. Viewingwillbeheld onSaturday, June 7, 2025 atMJR Friendly ServiceFu‐neral Home,87Paddio Johnson Ln Greensburg, La70441 at 9amuntil the religious serviceat11am. Rev.StaceyRichardsonwill beofﬁciatingthe service. IntermentwillbeinDay’s ChapelCemetery. Arrange‐ments entrustedtoMJR FriendlyService Funeral Home.

BornonJanuary 3, 1961, in BatonRouge,Louisiana went to be with his Lord and Savior on June 3, 2025, at theage of 64. Thomas "Tommy," was thebeloved son of and survivedbyhis parents, WilliamT.Price and Margaret B. Price, a loving brother Todd C. Price, and cherished niece, LaurenA.Price. He was predeceased by hisloving grandparents, Thomas T. Price,Alice B. Price, Stephen A. Blouin, and Mary F. Blouin, and other belovedmembers of the Blouin family Tommy was acommittedChristian who madea conscious and deliberate decisiontofollow Jesus Christ as hisLordand Savior. Tommy worked many years as afield representative and investigator for theProperty InsuranceAssociationofLouisiana until retirement and had asecond career at Associated Grocers of Baton Rouge until retirement.Hehad a love of books and reading forlifelong learning and theacquisition of knowledge.Inkeeping with this, he is donating his vast collection to those of like mind.Tommy cherished his largegroup of friends and thefond timesthey had together. Formany years, he had adeepand abiding faith that one day they wouldall be together again.

Family and friends are invitedtoattend Tommy's funeral at Resthaven Funeral Home,11817 Jefferson Highway, BatonRouge, LA on Friday, June 6, 2025. The visitationwilltake place in theMausoleum Chapel beginning at 9:00 a.m. with theservice beginning at 10:00 a.m. Followedbyinterment at SerenityOaksMemorial Park, 15304 L.A73, Prairieville, LA,70769.

Family and friends may signthe online guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamily at www.resthav enbatonrouge.com

Aresident and nativeof Maringouin, LA transitionedpeacefullytoher heavenlyhome on May 27, 2025 at theage of 56. VisitationwillbeheldonFriday, June 6, 2025, 4pmto 8pmatA.WesleyFuneral Home,10810 Ventress Dr Maringouin, LA.Religious Service,Saturday, June 7, 2025, Mt.Gideon Baptist Church, 77700 WestOak Lane,Maringouin, LA, Religious services at 10am. Rev. Roderick B. Scott,Officiating.Interment in Sweet Home Baptist Church Cemetery, 10300 Church

Street,Maringouin, LA. Survivedbyher precious daughterKyesha Hawkins; loving parents Manuel and Sadie Scott; devotedsiblingsRev.RoderickB.(Jennifer) Scott, Kyle(Kim) Scott, Ronelda (Anthony) Brown,and Janssen (Terecita) Scott, otherrelatives andfriends, including herfurry companion,Kreole Scott. Preceded in death by maternal grandparents Johnnie andEmily Clark; paternalgrandparents Theodore andLola Leblanc; nephew Jaevon Scott; nieces Charelle Scott andAntoinette Brown.Professional ServicesEntrusted A. Wesley Funeral Home

Wesley, Velma Spears

VelmaSpearsWesley, a native of Amite County, MS,and aresident of Baton Rouge,LA, wasbornon August 11, 1925. She passedawaypeacefullyat theage of 99 on Sunday, May25, 2025. Visitation will be held Friday, June 6, 2025, 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Wilson-Wooddale Funeral Home, 1553 Wooddale Blvd., Baton Rouge,LA, 70806. ViewingSaturday, June 7, 2025 at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church,9471 Hwy 422, Norwood, LA, 70761, 9:00 a.m. to religiousservice to begin at 11:00 a.m. Burial in church cemetery.

Hermanda Mary Zeno departedthislifeonMon‐day,May 26, 2025, at her residence in Thibodaux, LA. Shewas 31, anativeof Thibodaux,LA. Visitation onSaturday, June 7, 2025 atWilliams& Southall Fu‐neral Home,1204 Cleveland St.,Thibodaux,LAfrom 9:00amtoreligious ser‐vices at 11:00 am.Inter‐mentprivate.Arrange‐ments by Williams & SouthallFuneralHome, 1204 ClevelandSt.,Thibo‐daux, LA,(985) 447-2513. To signthe guestbookand offercondolences,visit our website at www.william sandsouthallfuneralhome com.

Price,Thomas T.

Henderson, Yvonne S.

Overton, Wilbert

JupiterIII,

'Joe Joe'

Scott, NicholeFaith

OPINION

Pharmacy benefitmanagersbehindhighdrugprices

Kathy Oubre

GUEST COLUMNIST

Toomany families in Louisiana are forced to choose between paying for lifesaving medications and keeping the lights on. While many factors contribute to increasing health care costs,pharmacy beneﬁt managers, or PBMs, are amajor contributor to rising drug prices.

PBMs are middlemen between insurers, drug manufacturers andpharmacies. They were originally designed to streamline the process, managing prescriptiondrug benefits and serving as third-party intermediaries for health insurers, Medicare Part D drug plans, large employers and other payers. But over time, they’ve evolved into profit-driven entities thatoften do more to inflate prices than reduce them.

PBMs have consolidated so that only three control 80% of the prescription drug market. On top of that, the three biggest PBMshaveconsolidated inﬂuence through vertical integration with insurance carriers andtheir contract pharmacies. Vertical integration, simply put, is when

acompany owns its ownsupply chain.

Today,these middlemen decide which medicines apatienthas access to, how much apatient will payfor their medication and which pharmacy apatient can use. With this extraordinary power,they often steer patients toward higher-cost options and

Librariesare

their afﬁliated pharmacies to increase their proﬁts.

As aresult, the patient-provider relationship is compromised, with treatmentdecisions often dictated by PBM directives ratherthan being based on the patient’smedical needsand wellbeing as decidedbetween apatient and their provider. Patients

oftenlifelines forthose whoneedthem

Even when I’m off-duty, I’m unable to “turnoff the librarian.”

If someone mentions to me that they’re looking for new hobbies, want to learn another language or have remembered an obscure sci-fi film from the 1990s but cannot find it on streaming networks, Iinstantly respond, “Have you checked with the public library?

education while in prison is crucial for reducing recidivism, keepingthe formerly incarcerated from reoffendingupon release.

face less access andhigheroutof-pocket costs, andLouisiana’s independent, local pharmacies are often squeezed outofthe market entirely.

Insteadofworking as athirdparty intermediary,PBMshave abusedtheir powerasmiddlemen to proﬁt from raising drug prices forpatientsand employers. In Louisiana, Iwas proudto work withGov.JeffLandryin his role as ourformer state attorney general to spearhead a lawsuit againstUnitedHealth andits PBM, OptumRx. The lawsuit alleged that Optuminﬂated prescription drug costs for Louisiana’sMedicaidprogram, engaging in practices like spread pricing.

Spread pricing is apractice where PBMs reimburse local pharmacies farless than they chargeinsurers. This practice, which hasbeen used to drive up costs fortaxpayers while boosting proﬁts, mirrors similar abuses seen in other states,including Ohio, where policymakers found PBMsused spread pricing to make morethan$200 million per year fromthe state. The report also found that PBMswere costing taxpayersanextra $150 millionto$186 million peryear by charging above-averagerates

The currentmodel incentivizes PBMstoprefer higher-costdrugs because they are paid basedona percentageofthe drug’sprice. Enacting reforms forPBMs is notanew notion.All 50 states have passed legislation regulating PBMsinsome form, with Louisiana leading thecharge over thepast decade. AndGov.Landry continuestobeachampion in this space. In his opening remarksfor this legislative session,Landrystated that reining in PBMsisa priority forhis administration.Louisiana is oneofthe mostexpensive states forhealth careinthe country,but this legislation will help bring down prices andmake health care moreaffordable Medicationsshouldn’tbea luxury. They’re often essential to survivaland well-being. Reforming howPBMsoperate is acritical step toward restoring fairness andaffordabilityinour health care system.Louisiana lawmakers should continue to put patients before proﬁtsand pass this much-needed reform.

Kathy Oubre is president of the Coalition of Hematology &Oncology Practices, and the CEO of the Pontchartrain Cancer Center in Louisiana.

Accountability forapp stores returnspower to parents

However,practically,many jobswill nothirethose with anykindofcriminal record.

As alibrarian, Iknow that the role we play in our communities is vital.Unfortunately,libraries’abilities to help people are being curtailedbycuts to federal funding.

I’ve seen ﬁrsthand how libraries can change lives, especiallyfor patrons who sometimes don’thave anywhere else to turn for help.

Some months back, Ihappened to meet awoman who was down on her luck. She was in her 40s, aU.S. Air Force veteran, and she was attempting to leave a bad relationship. Additionally,she admitted, she had some prior misdemeanors on her record. Becauseof this, ﬁnding employment was difﬁcult for her and she was becoming despondent.

Iinvited her to the East Baton Rouge Public Library’s career center

Befuddled, she asked, “Can they really help someone like me?With my record?”

Several weeks later,that same woman was all smiles, having recently gone to the career center and, withthe staff’s assistance, she had a new job.

Across the political spectrum, there’sconsensus that access to books and

Public libraries have provided servicestobothcurrent andformerly incarcerated individuals for more than 100 years, longacting as a quiet but essential bridge, helpingpeople once again be productive members of society

Our library staff helps with résumé buildingand interview coaching, providesaccesstofree job trainingand GED/college test preparation and even preparation forcareer tests likethe postal exam or ﬁnancial aid for higher education

When Itell people libraries are more than books, this is what Imean Onepatron,who spent 29 years in Angola prison, cametoour career center years ago. The staff helped himcreate arésumé, and he eventually obtained his commercial driver’slicense andajob as adriver.He returned to us this yearto helppivot jobs. Another patron, whoalso hadservedtime in jail and experienced homelessness, came to usfor résumé help, but also left with alist of employers willingtohire individuals with hisbackground. He scored interviews with four different potential employers. We helped these individuals. Butthe beneﬁts go to thewholecommunity. Ourlibrary is always

looking for ways to promote our services to the public and reach those individuals who are historically underserved. We often partner to host re-entry programs with local organizations, such as the Capital Area ReEntry Coalition, theHuey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, PREACH,Suiting 101 and many more.

Though getting the funding we need for all our programs is never simple, we in EastBaton Rouge Parish have theresources that smaller and morerural libraries in our state do not They often relyon federal grants, such as those administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), to provide what services they can Here in Louisiana, funding from IMLS enabled the Louisiana State Library to purchasestatewide access to online databases,freeing up funding for muchneeded services to even our poorest communities. Andyet, despite library services being nonpartisan, federal library funding to ourstate is being cut, and important educational services for Americans who have paid theirdebt to society andare eager to return to theworkforce are as well.

Libraries serve all Americans. Leaders at the national, state and local level must understand how much libraries mean to their constituents.

Libraries give back, and in this moment, they need somehelp in return.

Katrina Stokes is the executive director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Strengthening Louisiana families begins withempowering parents —especially when it comes to theprotection of their own children online. Today’s digital landscape has the potential to expose minors to inappropriate and dangerous content,often without parental knowledge or permission. Fortunately, we have leaders in Baton Rouge and Washington, D.C., who are standing with parentstoprotect Louisiana children online.

This session, we introduced House Bill 570, the AppStoreAccountability Act, which speciﬁes that consent from the minor’s parent or guardian is necessary in order for the minor to download an app from theapplication store of amobile device.

We were pleased to see this legislation garner such bipartisan support by passing out of the House unanimously with a 99-0 vote last month, with amendments, by theSenate earlier this week. Aconference committee has been appointed to hammer outthe differences between the two versions before it goes to the governor’sdesk.

Lastsession, we had asimilar bill pass with bipartisan support in the House, but theapp store language was killed by lobbyistsrepresenting Big Tech companies.

This session, theLouisiana Family Forum,along withdozens of other advocates who support empowering parents and holding Big Tech companiesaccountable, is excited to help ensure thatHB570,the App Store Accountability Act, makesits way to Gov.Jeff Landry’sdesk. We urge the state Senate to pass HB570 to help protect Louisiana families and end the exploitationofour children by app stores.

This common-sense bill puts control back where it belongs: with parents —not themarketing-savvy Big Tech companies. This is not government overreach. It’s a pro-family,pro-freedom solution that respectsparental rights. Rather than relying on inconsistent platform-by-platform restrictions where you wouldhave to provide your personal information,the AppStoreAccountability Act creates a uniform,privacy-preserving process that helps parentssafeguard their children’s digital lives.

Louisiana is already anational leader in child protection online, but the need for federal action is urgent. According to anew poll conducted by the Louisiana Family Forum, 88% of Louisiana parents support requiring app stores to obtain parental approval for children to download apps —the core requirement of this bill.

Astudy by the Heat Initiative and Parents Together Action found over 200 apps marketed to children under 12 featured harmful content exposure within 24 hours of going online. Even attentive parents may unknowingly allow unsafematerial into their homes. HB570 addresses this issue by requiring developers to provide accurate app age-ratings so parents can give informed consent.

Fortunately,Sen. Mike Lee from Utah and Rep. John James from Michigan have introduced the App Store Accountability Act in Congress. We are optimistic Louisiana’sdelegation, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Leader Steve Scalise, will ensure app store parental approval is the law of the land —not just Louisiana.

National polling shows82% of voters support parental approval at the app store level. This approach ensures consistency eliminates loopholes and makes child safety the default forfamilies.

Critics claim this bill threatens free speech —but it does no such thing. It protects First Amendment rights while reinforcing parental authority.Families, not tech ﬁrms, should decide what’sappropriate forchildren.

The App Store Accountability Act upholds core values: responsibility,transparency and protection. It gives parents real tools —not just hope and aprayer —tomanage their children’sdigital experience.

Louisiana children —and families across America —deserve the tools needed to protect their children online. Kids are worth it.

Republican state Rep. Kim Carver represents aMandeville-area district in the Louisiana House. Gene Mills is thepresident of theLouisianaFamily Forum.

Kim Carver GUEST COLUMNIST

Gene Mills GUEST

COLUMNIST

FILEPHOTO By BRETTDUKE

Apharmacy technician fills prescriptions at Braswell DrugsinCovington.

ROOM FOR DEBATE THE WARINUKRAINE

As efforts to end the war in Ukraine appear stalled, manyare looking to U.S. leadership to force Russian PresidentVladimir Putin to the negotiating table. But PresidentDonald Trumphas long seen theRussian leader as an ally and Ukraine’s chancesasweak.However, that could be changing Trump has recently expressed disapprovalofRussia’s continued bombardment of Ukraine and has had discussions with Ukraine PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy. Still, some Trump supporters areskeptical about greater U.S. involvement, seeing the conflictasa quagmirewith little for the U.S. to gain. Here are twoperspectives:

Ukraine’svalor reminiscent of GreatBritain’s in 1940

Ukraine’sbreathtaking ingenuity,the latest example of which destroyedor damaged dozens of Russia’s longrange bombers on bases 2,500 miles from Ukraine, is in the service of an unflagging valor reminiscent of Britain’sin1940, when it was isolated and embattled, with the German army at the English Channel. Ukraine’sresilience is inconvenient forthose Americans who are eager to proclaim that the geographically largestnation entirelywithin Europe is inevitably doomed to defeat, dismemberment and domination Such Americans’ unseemly “realism” has them invested in, and eveneager for, Ukraine’sdisappearance from themap of European nations. ThoseAmericans should remember Winston Churchill’s1941 responsetoFrench military“realists” who hadsaid in 1940 that Britain would soon have its neck wrung like achicken. Said Churchill:“Some chicken. Some neck.” Today’sfaux “realism” cannotfathom what is at stake in Ukraine. Michael Kimmage can. The director of the Wilson Center’sKennan Institute,writingin Foreign Affairs, says RussianPresident Vladimir Putin has “renormalized the idea of large-scalewar as ameans of territorial conquest.” Putin is, therefore, undoing awar aim enunciated before the United States entered World WarII. In August 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill, meeting on warships in Placentia Bay, off Newfoundland,propoundedthe Atlantic Charter,item two of which lookedtoa future without “territorialchangesthat do not accord with thefreely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.” It was to buttress this principle that President George H.W.Bush in 1991 orchestrated abroad coalitionofnations for the limitedbut luminous purpose offorcing Iraq to leave Kuwait. Itwas for this principle that in 1982 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent British forces to the South Atlantictoundo Argentina’s seizure of the Falkland Islands. An Argentine intellectual dismissedthis military event as “a fight between two bald men over acomb.” Actually,itwas afight fora principle that again seemsperishable. Vice President JD Vanceusesflippancy, as adolescents do, for the fun of being naughty: “I don’treallycare what happens to Ukraine one way orthe other.” He hasdismissed as “moralistic garbage” a distinguished historian’smildly different opinion about Ukraine’sprospects. Vance wonders whetherNiall Ferguson of Stan-

Trump’seyesopenedonPutin, so nowwhatisthe next move?

Will

ford’s Hoover Institution is “awareofthe reality on the ground, of the numerical advantage of the Russians, of the depleted stock of the Europeans or their even more depleted industrial base?” Ukraine, says Vance, never had “any pathway to victory.” Vance’s ventriloquist, theU.S. president, hascalled Ukraine’sPresident Volodymyr Zelensky a“dictator,” although it is unclear how much disapproval Trump conveys using that term. Trump has said to Zelensky,“You don’thave the cards.” But Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’sminister of foreign affairs 20202024,writing May 30 in Foreign Affairs, says: “In December 2023, Russia controlled approximately 42,000 square miles of Ukrainianterritory. As of lateMay Russia held approximately 43,650 …the country supposedly holding all the cards hasgainedjust 1,650 of Ukraine’s233,030 square miles over thelast16months Moscow has gone from occupying about 18% of Ukrainianterritoryinlate2023 to roughly 19% today.”

Russia,which Sen. John McCain calleda “gas stationmasquerading as acountry,” hasone third of the European Union’s population, one-tenth of the E.U.’sgross domestic product,and last year had more than half amillion moredeaths than births.

Although some people similar to Vance admiredBritish Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s“realism” at Munich in 1938,Dalibor Rohacofthe American EnterpriseInstitute cautions that it is “misleading and ahistorical” to compare Ukraine’svulnerability in coming negotiations to Czechoslovakia’sinthe negotiations that presaged Germany’stakeover of Czechoslovakia:Czechoslovakia was notforced to acquiesce to afatal agreement “after defending itself successfully againstNazimilitary might for three years.”

President Donald Trump finds Russia “easiertodeal with” than Ukraine, perhaps because he agrees more with Russia VancesaysTrumpmight walk away from peacetalksifPutin is not “serious” about them. So,Vance has notified Putin that simply by being unserious about negotiations, he might provoke Trump to showthat among the things he is unserious aboutis the principleaffirmed at PlacentiaBay

Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com.

“I’mnot happy with what Putin is doing. He’skilling alot of people, and I don’tknow what the hell happened to Putin,” said Donald Trumpon TruthSocial over the Memorial Day weekend.

“I’ve always had avery good relationship withVladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.Hehas gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing alot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”

ranged the 1999 bombing of four apartmentbuildings, killing 300 people, and blamed them on Chechen rebels.

To attack them, Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin primeminister and then resigned in return forpardons forhim and his family.Putin promptly wonthe ﬁrst of several elections from awary electorate (which Iobserved brieﬂy as a reporter in Moscow)that hoped he would be the “strong hand” that many have traditionally believed Russia needs.

Trumpisnot the only president whohas stressed theimportance of personal relationships with other nations’ leaders. But even the most sympathetic relationships have been frayed by national interests rooted in history.Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had rough patches over theFalklands and Grenada.

It seems possible that Reagan and inconceivable that Trumpread Harvard historian Richard Pipes’ volumes on Russian history,showing how the rulers of tinyMuscovy,startingwith Ivan the Terrible, constantly expanded their domain over the featureless north European and Ukrainian plains, seeking ever moreland and peoples as abuffer for those they already held.

Reagan appointed Pipes to his National SecurityCouncil and, as aclose but secret follower of geopolitics(the movie magazines wouldn’thave understood), observed Josef Stalin’spostwar expansion of Russian militarysuzerainty westward. When asked why he was bent on heading toward theRhine, Stalinsupposedly answered that Tsar Alexander I, after defeating Napoleon, took the Russian army all the way to Paris.

So Putin’s assault on Ukraine, Russian territory from thetime of Catherine the Great (Alexander’sgrandmother) to the fall of Mikhail Gorbachev,was an expression of ahistoric national impulse likely popular among his nation’s ethnic Russian majority Trump’sseeming astonishment that Putin “is needlessly killing alot of people for no reason whatsoever” showsareassuring horror at massslaughter but also an innocence of knowledge about Putin’s career In his 2004 book “Darkness at Dawn” and in later writings as well, Russian expert David Satter has written that Putin, theformer KGB agent and aide to Saint Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, ar-

That such aman would lodge the war’s largest drone attack on Kyiv and Ukraine recently should not have come as ashock.

The Russian attacks on Ukraine may have opened Trump’seyes to Putin’strue nature and undermined his disdain for Ukraine’sVolodymyr Zelensky That disdain, and the dislike shownby JD Vance in the Feb. 28 Oval Ofﬁce meeting, seemstohave roots in the admiration of somecultural conservatives for Putin’srepudiations of “woke” attitudes, asense that he is aChristian protector of traditional values dismissed as bigotry by Western European and American coastal elites.

It mayalso be the case of someonthe Right taking the sameview of Ukraine’s leaders that someonthe Lefttook of Chiang Kai-shek and of South Vietnamese leaders in the Cold War. In this view,foreign authoritarians steeped in corruption are demanding that young Americans die to preserve their hold on power

For all the deficiencies of America’s allies in those earlier conflicts, it would clearly have been better forthe people of China and Vietnam had the Communists not prevailed. And forall the deficiencies of those America and Europe have been backing in Ukraine, Putin’scold-blooded prosecution of the war seemstohave madeit clear at last to Trumpthat the people of Ukraine and, arguably,Russia will be better off if he does not succeed.

What, if anything, Trumpwill do to end the war he promised to end is unclear.On his Truth Social post attacking Putin’sactions, he also attacked Zelensky for“talking the way he does.” As Walter Russell Mead wrote in arecent Wall Street Journal column, “President Trumpsometimes does the right thing.” Sometimes. Now?

Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

George

Michael Barone

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks viavideo conference at the Kremlin in Moscow,Russia.

Baton RougeWeather

‘Different level’

BY REEDDARCEY Staff writer

Last year,Steven Milam played the hero of LSU baseball’spromising,yet abbreviated run through the postseason.

Remember the two-run, 10th-inning home run that beatSouth Carolina in the Southeastern Conference Tournament?

Or the right-ﬁeld solo shot thatdefeated regional host North Carolina?

The Tigers wouldn’thave reachedthe cusp of asuper regional without Milam’s timely hitting, whichmadehim theﬁrst Tiger to hit game-winners twogames in one week in more than 75 years.

Now postseason baseball is back, and so too is the sophomore shortstop’s swing.

Milam didn’tblast any homers in the Baton Rouge regional. But he did tally ﬁvehitsand sixwalks —animportant development for an LSU team that’sonly two wins over West Virginia away from areturn trip to Omaha,Nebraska. Their super regional series will beginat1 p.m Saturday in Alex Box Stadium (ESPN).

“His at-bats this weekend were him at his best as aplayer,” coach Jay Johnson said Monday.“He’ll play baseball along time if he takes the caliberofat-bats that he has.”

Acrossthe ﬁrsttwo regular-seasonSEC slatesofhis career, Milam posted modest hitting averages.Each time,however, those numbers improved onceLSU began playing NCAA Tournament games

Milam is acareer.237 hitter with a.320 on-base percentage in SEC play

But in the nine NCAA Tournament con-

BY LUKE JOHNSON

Staff writer

Not only did Trevor Penning expect the news that he was goingto move to guard this offseason, he was excited about it. When New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore and offensiveline coach Brendan Nugent called Penning upstairs to inform him that he was switching positions because they thought it was best forhim, he recalled replying this way: “I couldn’tagree more.” Penning, whom the Saints selected 19th overall in the 2022 draft struggled at left tackle in hisﬁrst two seasons, then enjoyedmodest success after switchingto right tackle last season. But after the Saints drafted tackles each of the past two years, in-

“His at-bats this weekend were him at his best as aplayer.He’ll play baseball along time if he takes the caliber of at-bats that he has.”

JAyJOHNSON,LSU coach

tests he’splayed, thesophomorehit .343 andreached safely on 47% of his plateappearances.

Those rates include Milam’s numbers fromLSU’s 2025 regional.Inthose games, he notched a.417 batting average, six walkstozero strikeouts and a.632 on-base percentage. He also drove in threeruns.

On Friday,after the Tigers beat Little Rock7-0, Johnson said Milamwas “athis best.”

On hisfirst triptothe plate, he drew afour-pitch walk. Then, on his fourth, Milam took threestraight balls and let astrike pass through thezonebefore he swungonthe fifthpitch of the at-bat, sending it deep intoleft field for adouble Third baseman Michael Braswell drove himhomefor LSU’sfifth runofthe night notlong after

Johnson said Friday that walks andextra-base hits serve as the foundation for LSU’soffense. Milam, usually asix-hole hitterwho makes good contactand reads pitches well, can move it along from his normalslot in thelineup —but only when he’s stacking productive at-batslike he wasinthe regional.

“I think when the target for him is right,” Johnson said, “whichisjust have quality at-batsand move the offense, he’s

an exceptional offensive player.And he didthat tonight.”

Ahead of Monday’sregionalclincher, Johnson took arisk by reshuffling his lineup. In oneofseveral changes, Milam moved from sixthinthe order to third, slotted behind red-hot designated hitter Ethan Frey and ahead of transfer inﬁelder Daniel Dickinson.

Johnsonsaidhethought Milam, sandwiched between two power hitters, would receive morefavorable pitches.

Though he didn’t record ahit, Milam did drawawalk and drove in arun on a groundout.Healso drew solid, heavy contact on apair of fly-outs to center field. In the field, he continued his impressively clean season.

Milamstill hasn’tcommitted an error since March 25. He has only three this season —and it’s his ﬁrst year playing shortstopatthe collegiatelevel.

Now the New Mexico native’shitting is starting to catch up, afact that sharpens theLSU lineup’steeth.Last postseason, Milamhit forpower.This year,he’swinning at-batswith contact and discipline Milam’ssofar not the hero he was last year

But his consistent play —both in the box and at short —has helped the Tigers build apostseasonrun alreadylongerthanthe one theyscraped together last season. “Whatever you want to call it,” Johnson said, “endofthe season last year,postseason or FriscoClassic, early SEC play, that’swhat he was tonight —just adifferentlevel of commitmenttohis plan and focus. And we’re adifferentteamifhe candothat.”

6-foot-7, 324-pounder.“Not to say Ican’t play tackle, but in the run game—especially at guard —the thingsIdowell really shine.”

cluding No. 9overallpick Kelvin Banks in this year’s draft, Penning hasworked primarily at left guardduring the team’sorganized team activities (OTAs). And while there’snot as muchprestige (or money to be made) on the offensive line’sinterior,Penning is all forthe move because he said it alignswith who he is as aplayer “ThethingsIdowellIthink ﬁt betteratguard,” saidPenning a

Penning’sstruggles have mostly come in pass protection, where he was tasked with getting in front of smaller,faster and more athletic players in space.But he excelled as aroad grader in therun game, where he could be more aggressive and take his physicality directly to the opponent.

The attacking approach is what Penning is looking forwardtomost at his new position.

“At guard,you can be more aggressive —obviously not super aggressive,but more aggressive thanattackle,” Penning said. “You can just connect on guys andget on them early,versustackle where you’ve got alot of spacebetween

Scott Rabalais

This is the address 16 super regional teams are trying to reach: 1200 Mike Fahey Street in Omaha, Nebraska. That’sthe site of Charles Schwab Field Omaha, home of the College World Series. Super regionals begin across the country Friday and Saturday at eight on-campus sites. Only eight teamswill survive the best-of-three series, eight teamsthat get to make the journey that is the goal for 307 schools back in February Here’salook at all eight super regionals and predictions for each series, starting with LSU-West Virginia at Alex Box Stadium: West Virginia (44-14) at No.6LSU (46-15)

Game 1: 1p.m.Saturday,ESPN Game 2: 5p.m.Sunday,ESPN2 Game 3: Monday,ifnecessary

The Tigers and Mountaineers meet in baseball for the first time, with West Virginia seeking its first CWS appearance and LSU its 20th. Both teams have apair of top-shelf starting pitchers: LSU with Anthony Eyanson (10-2, 2.50 earned run average, twosaves) and Kade Anderson (9-1, 3.28 ERA), West Virginia with Griffin Kirn (5-2, 3.13, one save) and Jack Kartsonas (6-3, 2.94, one save). Things get dicey,ofcourse, if the Mountaineers can force aGame 3Monday,possibly putting the Tigers’ fate in the hands of freshman Casan Evans (4-1, 1.90, six saves) again. LSU has not lost ahomeseries this season (33-6 overall) and doesn’tlook to start now Prediction: LSU in two games Arizona(42-18) at No.5North Carolina (45-13)

Game 1: 11 a.m.Friday,ESPN2

Game 2: 11 a.m.Saturday,ESPN2 Game 3: Sunday,ifnecessary The TarHeels got pushed to an if-necessary game in their home regional by Oklahoma, then pounded OU 14-4. Arizona swept through the Eugene regional 3-0 by acombined 31-6, while, it must be said, avoiding regional host Oregon which went 0-2. UNC has the nation’sthird-best ERA (3.39) and is the top non-SEC choice per ESPNBet at +550. We think the Heels are agood bet to beat the roadweary Wildcats. Prediction: North Carolina in two Miami(34-25) at Louisville (38-21) Game1: 2p.m.Friday,ESPN2 Game 2: 10 a.m.Saturday,ESPN Game 3: Sunday,ifnecessary The Hurricanes won the Southern Miss regional as aNo. 3seed, while the Cardinals took advantage of

ä See RABALAIS, page 3C

you and the edge rusher The new Saintscoaching staff sawthatstyle play outwhen assessingPenning’s ﬁlm, andMoore said he felt guardwas anatural transitiontotake advantage of Penning’sstrengths.

“His play style, his physicality is what jumps off the tape,” Moore

said. “Wewanthim to playfast, free and conﬁdent, because when he plays like that he’sareally,really good player.”

It’snot like this is arevelation. Whenthinking aboutitinfront of his locker after Thursday’sOTA

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU shortstop StevenMilam drops his bat as he takesoff

Rouge regional championship game.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Saints guard TrevorPenning takes partinthe team’sorganized

4p.m. HenryFord Health 200 FS2

6:30 p.m. NHRA: Qualifying FS1 BEACH VOLLEYBALL

8p.m. AVPLeague: Week 2CBSSN COLLEGEBASEBALL

2p.m. Miami at Louisville ESPN2

5p.m. FloridaSt. at Oregon St.ESPN2

8p.m. Coast Carolina at Auburn ESPN2 WOMEN’S COLLEGE WORLDSERIES

7p.m. Texas Tech vs.Texas (if needed) ESPN GOLF

11 a.m.LPGA: Shoprite LPGA Classic Golf

1p.m. LIV Golf League Fox

2p.m. PGA: RBCCanadian Open Golf

6p.m. PGA: AmericanChampionship Golf

8p.m. KornFerry Tour:Pro-Am Golf

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

noon Miami at TampaBay MLBN

6p.m. Boston at N.y.yankees MLBN

6:10 p.m. Arizona at Cincinnati APPLETV+

6:10 p.m. ChicagoCubs at DetroitAPPLETV+

9p.m. Atlanta at San Francisco MLBN

NHL 7p.m.Florida at EdmontonTNT

WOMEN’S SOCCER

5:30 p.m.U.S.Women vs.Angel 7’sESPNU

7:50 p.m.U.S.vs. Canada FS2 TENNIS

noon The French OpenTNT

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

6p.m.Czechia vs. U.S. CBSSN WNBA

6:30 p.m.Atlanta at Connecticut ION

8:30 p.m.Los Angeles at Dallas ION

Excitement,but no Triple Crown

Keeping Belmont relevant forcasual fans achallenge

BY SPENCER RIPCHIK

TheAssociated Press

SARATOGA SPRINGS,N.Y.— For asecond consecutive year,the Belmont Stakes is being run at historic Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, creating abuzz in the city that closes off Broadway downtown with the sport’sspotlight shining.

Saratoga itself is adraw for avid fans,giventhe track’s placein horse racing history and anod to its roots, but the debate continues abouthow to keep the Triple Crown relevantfor acasual audience.

Horse racing is one of the oldest sports in thenation, datingback to before the Declaration of Independence. But unlike then, horse racing now has to compete for attention in acrowded sports landscape. Racetracks like Saratoga have attempted to make the weekend a spectacle, with bands and activities throughout the races in hopes of showing the greatness of horse racing and what aday at the track looks like.

“It’sagreatday out, lots of excitement,” said Michael Banahan of Godolphin, who owns Kentucky Derby winner and Belmont contenderSovereignty. “There area lot of things that go on duringthe raceweek, as well.…I think just some people that hadn’tseen that before are beginning to enjoy that.”

The outreach extends beyond the track. Places like America’s Best Racing are working to educate casual fans about everything from betting to how well horsesare taken care of and what to expect on

Sovereignty trainsbefore the running of the Belmont Stakes horse race in SaratogaSprings, N.y.onThursday

race day It has connected withcelebrities and inﬂuencerstoget them involved in horse racing. That most recently included TikTok star Grifﬁn Johnson, who was givena small ownership stakeinDerby and Preaknesshorse Sandman. Johnson showed himself getting ready for the races, bathing Sandmanand showing whatthe colt does on his off day.Through this, the combined accounts of ABR and Johnson totaled268 million-plus impressions and 111millionviews

“It’s great to have another young horse racing fan in the room,” said ABR’sdirectorofdigital marketing, Rachel Miller.“But, obviously, the same formula isn’tgoing to work forever.It’sgoing to reach apointwhere maybe Grifﬁn’sinvolvement in racing may stall out or Sandman’snot racing anymore There are just so many unknown

variables, especially in this sport, andthat’sone of the harder sells.”

There’sanother option to draw more viewers, but it’scontroversial. Ever sinceSovereignty didn’trun in thePreakness Stakes, forfeiting ashot at the Triple Crown to rest up for the Belmont, there have been conversations about spreading outthe three legs beyond the current gapoftwo weeks, then three weeks. Banahan believes spacing out the legs for morerest could attract higher-caliberhorses, with more of achanceofthe KentuckyDerby winnerrunning,raising interest.

“I’m not too sure if that’ll be the case or not,” Banahan said. “I think the quality of racing is probably what draws people in. Ithink if we get better horsesinall those races, Ithink they’ll getthe casualtotune into those as well. Good competi-

tion, goodhorsesinthere,thathappens by havinga littlemore time between to rest. That’ll be good for us.” Not everyoneagrees that extending thetimeinbetween races would increaseviewership. Trainer ChadBrown, who hasHill Road in theBelmont, thinks extending the time in between races actually will hurt the Triple Crown.

“I thinkifyou startspreading it out, you run the risk of losing everyone’sattention,too,” Brown said. “That’sa long time foreveryonetobeinvestedinwatching how this turns out. Ithink thatthe average sports fan movesonfrom sport to sport throughout the year.Ithink we have to be happy that we have some of them just forthe Triple Crown,evenifwecan’tget them all the way through the biggerstuff. I think extending events runs risks for that.”

Oakmonttobetoughesttestingolf

World’sbestplayers prepping forchallenge at U.S. Open

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

OAKMONT,Pa. Never mind that Rory McIlroy is ﬁnally aMasters champion and the ﬁrst player in 25 years to join the exclusivelist of players with the career Grand Slam. Or thatScottieScheffler won the PGA Championship and reasserted himself as golf’s best player They are the biggest stars in the game heading into the third major of the year.They might not be the main attraction. The one name thatgetseveryone’s attention at this U.S. Open: Oakmont

The course Henry Fownes built in 1903 is tough as Pittsburgh steel.Geoff Ogilvy,a formerU.S. Openchampion, once said playing Oakmont “was like the hardest hole you’ve ever played onevery hole.”

The USGA doesn’thavetodo much to achievewhat it always wants: the toughest test in golf.

Oakmonthosts theU.S. Open for the 10thtime on June 12-15, more than anyother course in the championship’s130-year history There’sareason it keeps going back.

“There arecertain places in our gamewhere youstand on the ﬁrsttee andyou look outoverthe landscape, and it’sjust meant to playthe U.S. Open. Oakmont is that place,” John Bodenhamer theUSGA’schief championships ofﬁcer,said in an interview with GolfChannel. “Itwas built for a U.S. Open.”

Adding to the hypeare players who have gone to Oakmontinthe weeks leading up to the U.S.Open andsharing tales of deep rough and greens that make it feel they are puttingonlinoleum. There have been videos of golf balls in the thick grass with onlya few dimples visible.

“I would say all of the rumors andeverything are pretty on point,” said JustinThomas, who toured Oakmont before heading to the Memorial.

XanderSchauffelehas ﬁnished out of thetop 10 only once in his eight U.S. Opens. He hasyet to see Oakmont, but its reputation is

enough for him to realize what to expect.

“It’sjust abattle.Itreally is,” Schauffelesaid. “It can be extremely rewarding if youare able to stay disciplinedfor 72 holes. The cliche statement of golf is amarathon —itseems to be the most true feeling when you play at U.S. Opens. Youjust feel like you’re going to war every day.”

Bryson DeChambeau is the reigningchampion, oneofeight players who broke par at Pinehurst No. 2last year.That was a stern test of adifferent variety, more aboutdomed Donald Ross greens andfairways framed by sand dunes. Before that was the experiment at Los Angeles Country Club, where Schauffele and Rickie Fowler madeU.S.Openhistory,each with arecord 62 about 10 minutesapart. In theeyes of Jordan Spieth, what Oakmont providesisa chance to reset what the U.S. Open is all about —narrow fairways, deep rough, toughgreens. And at Oakmont, the famous “Church Pew” bunkers that separate the third andfourth fairways.

“If you missthe fairway,it’sreally hard to make par. And if you

hit thefairway,the job’snot done,” Spiethsaid. “I think it’sagood test. The way I’ve always talked about Oakmontisthe USGA needs one year to be ablefor people to forget about something they didin adifferent one. It setsthe slate straight.

“It’sthe easiest Open for the USGA,”hesaid. “They don’thave to do alot to it,and it makes it really good for the tournament.”

Schefﬂer made his U.S. Opendebut as a19-year-old at theUniversityofTexas. He shot 69 in the ﬁrst round andthen missedthe cut.

Now he is athree-time major champion, fresh offhis ﬁve-shot victory in the PGA Championship. Perhaps more telling was a four-shot victory at the Memorial, whereplayersfelttheywere gettingapreviewofthe U.S. Open withrough so thick that just getting back to the fairwaycould be achallenge.

The freak injury Schefﬂer suffered —hetried cutting ravioliwith awine glass on Christmas Day andpunctured his right hand —might have set him back at the start of the year.Heisinfull stride now,winning three of his past four tournaments.

Dest to missGoldCup, further weakening U.S. Sergiño Dest wasdroppedfrom theU.S.roster forthe CONCACAF Gold Cup over fitness concerns, leaving the Americans heading to the tournament with just four players who started in the team’s ﬁnal match of the 2022 World Cup. Dest, astarter at outside back, tore an ACL during training with PSV Eindhoven on April20, 2024, andreturnedtoaction March 8. He appeared is seven matches, including four starts, but didn’tplay afull 90 minutesuntil the season ﬁnale on May 18.

John Tolkin, whotransferred in January to Holstein Kiel from the New York Red Bulls, wasadded to theroster andwas scheduledto arrive at training Thursday.The GoldCup will be the last competitive matches forthe U.S. before it cohosts the 2026 World Cup.

Rangersoption out struggling RHP Rocker

The Texas Rangers optioned right-handerKumarRocker to Triple-A Round Rock on Thursday, aday after arockystart after coming off the injured list.

The Rangers madethe movebefore the ﬁnal gameofthe series between the Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas manager BruceBochy said thedecisionwas not about an error Rocker made during thatgame that ledtoa fourrun third inning forthe Rays in an eventual 5-4 winfor TampaBay Rocker,activatedoff the IL earlier Wednesday,was charged with five earned runs on six hits and twowalks.

He struck out ﬁve in 31/3 innings. This season, the 25-year-old righthander is 1-4 with an 8.87 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 231/3 innings.

Ishbia’scontrolling interest in White Sox now possible TheChicago White Soxhave reachedanagreement that will give JustinIshbia,the brother of PhoenixSuns owner MatIshbia,the chance to buy afuture controlling interest in the club.

The team made the announcement Thursday,adding that Ishbia will make capital infusions into the White Sox as alimited partner in 2025 and2026, which will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations. Ishbia was alreadya limited partner Justin is the second-largest shareholderwith the Suns. Under the agreement, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf will have the option to sell controlling interest in the team to Ishbia from202933. After the 2034 season, Ishbia can acquire thecontrolling interest.

U.S. gymnastics president to resign in December

Li Li Leung, whodeftly guided USA Gymnasticsback from the brink of collapse in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, is stepping down at the end of the year.USA Gymnastics had filed for bankruptcy after dozens of lawsuits it faced from women who blameditfor failing to supervise Nassar,aformer nationalteam doctorwho sexually abused themunderthe guise of medical treatment, just monthsbefore Leung’sarrival. Through amixture of empathy savvy and commitment, the lawsuit was settledinlate2021. High-proﬁlecorporate partners reengaged and, in some instances, even expanded their relationship. Leung knew it was time to make achoice shecalled “difﬁcult” and “bittersweet”but also necessary

ByTheAssociated Press

CALEDON, Ontario Cristobal DelSolar came off the Korn FerryTour with the nickname “Mr.57.” He ﬂirted with a59late Thursday afternoon in the RBC Canadian Open. Tenunder with two holes left on the par-70 layout, Del Solarbogeyed the par-4 17th and parred the par-5 18th for a9-under 61 and ashare of the ﬁrst-round lead with Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark.

“I was just trying to hit good shots.” Del Solar said. “I wasjust trying to stay in the present and have fun. That’s whatIwas trying

todo.”

Del Solar,the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Chile, and Olsen took advantage of soft greens on the NorthCourse at TPCTorontoat Osprey Valley after rainWednesday night that continued intothe morning.

DelSolar earnedthe “Mr.57” moniker in February 2024 when he shot a13-under 57 in the ﬁrst round of the Astara Golf Championship in Colombia for thelowest score in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.

On Thursday,Del Solar had seven birdies in an eight-holestretch in the middle of the round. The for-

mer Florida State player made a6 1/2-foot birdie putt on thepar-3 14th, and ran in a151/2-footer on the par416thtoget to 10 under On the17th, he hit into aright greenside bunker,blasted 10 feet past and missed thepar putttothe right. Needing an eagle on 18 for a59, he droveintothe left rough, thenhit his secondabout 80 yards short of the green. “I just want to go and execute each shot,” DelSolar said. “I think everyone kind of sometimes gets ahead themselves andthinking of theresult or whatever.You just

wanttogoout andjust hit thegolf shots.”

Olesen eagled the 18th—his ninth hole of theday —and had eight birdies and abogey on the course hosting the national championship for thefirst time. “Obviously,I playedgreat, but my putting wasexceptional today,” Olesensaid. “Don’tthink Imissed any putts really out there. Idefinitely holed somelongonesaswell. It was nice to see everything go in.” Olesen qualified for theU.S.Open next week at Oakmont on Monday, holinga15-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Lambton in Toronto.

MLB reinstates four players afterbaseballbettingbans Major League Baseball’soneyear suspensions forbetting on the sport ended for four players Thursday —San Diego starter Jay Groome, Athleticsreliefpitcher Michael Kelly, Philadelphia infielder José Rodríguez and Arizona reliever Andrew Saalfrank. The A’sreinstated Kelly along with left-hander T.J. McFarland, whowas on the injured list. The Padres did not offer Groome acontract, nor did thePhillieswith Rodríguez, making them both free agents. Saalfrank wasoptioned to the Diamondbacks’ rookie-level Arizona Complex League.

Theplayers violated Major League Rule 21. They were handed mandatory one-year suspensions for betting on games in which they did not participate.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOBySETH WENIG

Manfredsaidhelistened to Trumpinsupport of Rose

MLBcommissioner weighs in on variety of baseball topics

BY RONALD BLUM AP baseball writer

NEW YORK

President Donald

Trump’ssupport of Pete Rose was among the factors Major League Baseball commissioner RobManfred weighed when he decidedlast month that permanent bans by the sportended with death, which allows the career hits leader to be considered for the Hall of Fame Manfred announced the new interpretation on May13, adecision that allows Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to be considered fora Hall committee vote in December 2027.

“The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was therightdecision,” Manfredsaid Wednesday during anews conference at an owners meeting. “Obviously,Ihave respect for the ofﬁce and theadvice that he gave Ipaid attention to, but Ihad alot of other people that were weighing in on the topic, as well.” Rose and then-commissionerA Bartlett Giamatti agreedtoa permanent ban in August 1989 after an investigation commissioned by MLB concludedRose repeatedly betonthe Redsasaplayer and manager for theteamfrom 198587, aviolationofalong-standing MLB rule. The Hall of Fame in 1991 decided people on thepermanent banned list were ineligible for consideration.

“Those who really thinkabout the reasons that Idid it think that it is the right decision, and other people Ithink largely get confused with whetherhe’sgoing to be in the Hall of Fame or not and maybe don’tthink that was so good,” Manfred said.

Robotumpires

Computer technology to appeal ball/strikecalls could be in place for the 2026 regular season. Manfred said use of the Automated Ball-Strike System was likely

RABALAIS

Continued from page1C

nationalNo. 1seed Vanderbilt’sﬂame-out to win in Nashville as aNo. 2seed.It’s hard to believe once-mighty Miami hasn’tbeen to the CWS since 2016. It won’t make it this year,either Louisville only allowed ﬁve runs in three games in Nashville, and both the Cardinals pitching and hitting is superior to the Hurricanes in those departments.

Prediction: Louisville in two No.9Florida State(41-14) at No.8OregonState (45-13-1)

Game 1: 5p.m. Friday, ESPN2

Game 2: 8p.m. Saturday ESPN2

Game 3: Sunday, if necessary As the seeds suggest, this could be the most even of all the supers. The Seminoles were close to being atopeight national seed, nosed out by aBeavers who made it as an independent playing only 24 home games including ﬁve in its regional. This one goes the distance, but FSU is on better form and keeps alive its pursuit of that elusive ﬁrst CWS championship.

Prediction: Florida State in three

to be consideredbythe 11-man competition committee, which includessix management representatives.

During aspring training experiment in 288games,teams were successful on 52.2% of their ball/ strike challenges using the Automated Ball-Strike System.

“I do think that we’re going to pursue the possibilityofchange in that process andwe’ll see what comes out at the endofthat,” he said. “Theteams are reallypositive about ABS.Idohavethat unscientific systemthatIuse: my email trafﬁc. And my distinct impression is that using ABS in springtraininghas made people more prone to complain of balls and strike calls via email to me referencing the need forABS.”

An experiment with atechnology system to challenge checkedswingcalls started in the ClassA Florida State LeagueonMay 20 That is not underconsideration for MLB use in 2026.

“I think we’ve got to get over the hump in terms of either doing ABS or notdoing it beforeyou’d getinto the complication of aseparate kind of challenge,” Manfred said.

Baseball in ‘28Olympics

Baseball is returning to the Olympicsin2028 after being played from 1992 to 2008 and then in 2021.

MLBisconsidering whether to allow big-leagueplayers to be usedatthe 2028 Games. It did not allow players on 40-man rosters to participate in the 2021 Olympics and many teams discouraged top eligible prospects from playing.

“Wemade someprogress with LA 2028 in terms of what it could look like,” Manfred said. “Wehave some other business partners that we need to talk to about, changes that would need to be made in order to accommodate the Olympics.I think we’re going to go forward with that process.”

Manfred said the players’ union appears to be supportive.

Labor, salary cap

Adecision on MLB’sbargaining positions with the players’ associa-

No.13 CoastalCarolina (51-11)atNo. 4Auburn (41-18)

Game1: 8p.m. Friday, ESPN2

Game2: 2p.m. Saturday, ESPN2

Game3: Sunday,ifnecessary As the LSU Tigers can tell the AuburnTigers, beware the Chanticleers in asuper regional. The nation’swinningest team, Coastal Carolina also has the best team ERA of any super regional squad (3.22).Auburn counters with astrong hitting team (.305), ledbythe colorfully named Ike Irish (.362, 18 home runs, 57 RBIs),and the Tigers have struck out an SEC-low 422 times. But pitching is ahuge edge for Coastal (Auburn’sERA is 4.71),enough to win the super if it goes the distance.

Prediction: Coastal Carolina in three Murray State(42-14) at Duke (40-19)

Game 1: Noon Saturday, ESPNU

Game 2: 11 a.m. Sunday, TV TBA

Game 3: Monday,ifnecessary

Everysuper regional round needs asuper underdog, and Murray Stateis thatteam. The boys from

BY JENNA FRYER AP auto racing writer

tion, including whether to propose asalary cap, will be madeafter this season. Bargaining is likely to start in thespring of 2026 for a successor to the ﬁve-year agreement withthe union that ended a 99-day lockout on March 10, 2022. Thedeal expires on Dec. 1, 2026.

An ownership economic study committeewas formed in early 2023, sparking speculation about arenewed push fora salary-cap systemaimed at decreasing payroll disparity.

“Payroll disparity is such afact of life amongthe ownershipgroup thatthere’snot alot of need for talking aboutwhether we have it or not.Everybody kind of gets it,”Manfred said. “Weunderstand that it hasbecome abiggerproblem for us, but there has notbeen alot of conversation aboutthat particular topic.”

When MLBproposedacap in 1994, playersstruck for 71/2 months in 1994 and ‘95, leading to the ﬁrst cancellation of the World Series since 1904.

“Obviously,over thewinter we’re goingtohavetodecidewhat is going to be out there from our perspective, but no decisions on that topic so far,” Manfred said.

Broadcasting MLBhopes to reacha deal beforethe All-Star break on aSunday night national broadcastpackage and for the Home RunDerby to replace the agreement ESPN said in February it was ending after this season. Manfred said MLB is negotiatingwiththree parties and is weighing traditional broadcasters and streaming services, whomay paymorebut have a smaller audience.

Manfredregrets giving ESPN the right to opt out, which is causing anegotiation for rightslasting three seasons. MLB’scontracts with Fox and Turner end after the 2028 season.

“Ifyou’retalking aboutwhat we’re doing for the next three years, Iwould overweight reach,” Manfredsaid.“Thelargernegotiationwe’ll have for thepost-’28 period and we continue tobelieve that reachdrivesour live business.”

MattMcMahon’sold school can really rake, having scored nine, 13, eight and 12 runs in theirfour regional games at OleMiss. The ﬂipside is theRacers allowed 47 runs in those four games, compared to 10 allowed by Duke in winning theregional at Georgia. The Blue Devils are trying to reach theirﬁrst CWS since 1961. Prediction: Duke in two No.14Tennessee (46-17) at No.3Arkansas(46-13)

Game1: 4p.m. Saturday, ESPN

Game2: 2p.m. Sunday, ESPN

Game3: Monday, if necessary The marquee matchup of theweekend, pitting the reigning CWS champion Volunteers against the Razorbacks, ESPN’scofavorite with LSU(+300). The winnerplays the LSU-West Virginia winner in Omaha. The expected Game 1matchup between Tennessee’sLiamDoyle (10-3, 2.78, 158 strikeouts in 92 innings)and Arkansas’ Zach Root (7-5, 3.78) is abig one and an edge for theVolunteers. ButDoyle can only make one start. The Razorbacks rally to win the last two games in a thriller Prediction: Arkansas in three

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Athree-judge federal appellate panel ruled Thursday in favor of NASCAR in the antitrust lawsuit ﬁled by two teams, one ownedbyMichael Jordan, and vacated an injunction that required23XI and Front Row be recognized as chartered teams as their case snakes through the legal system. Both race teamssued NASCAR late last year after refusing to sign new agreements on charter renewals. The charter system is similar to franchises in other sports,but thecharters arerevocable by NASCAR andhave expiration dates. 23XI, which is owned by Jordan and threetimeDaytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, allied with Front Row in suing NASCAR after 13 other organizationssignedthe renewals last September and those two organization refused.

“Weare disappointed by today’s ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appealsand are reviewing the decision to determineour next steps,”saidJefferyKessler,attorneyfor 23XIand Front Row “This ruling is based on avery narrow consideration of whether arelease of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive anddoes notimpact ourchances of winning at trial scheduledfor Dec. 1.

“Weremainconfident in our case and committedtoracing for the entirety of this season as we continue ourfight to create afairand just economicsystem for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.”

The two teamssued and asked for atemporary injunction that would recognize them as chartered teamsfor this season. The antitrust case isn’tscheduled to be heard until December The teams said they needed theinjunction because the current charter agreementprohibits them from suing NASCAR. 23XI also argued it would be harmed

because Tyler Reddick’scontract would have made him afree agent if the team couldnot guarantee him acharter-protected car

The original judge ruled that NASCAR’scharter agreement likely violatedantitrust lawin granting theinjunction. Butwhen theyheardarguments last month, the three judges at the the U.S. Court of Appeals for theFourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, indicated they were skeptical of that decision.

The judges said in Thursday’s ruling they were notaware of any case that supports the lower court’stheory of antitrust law,so they vacated the injunction.

“In short, because we have foundnosupport for theproposition that abusinessentityor person violates the antitrust laws by requiring aprospective participant to give arelease forpast conductasa condition for doing business, we cannot conclude thatthe plaintiffs made aclear showing that they werelikely to succeed on the merits of that theory,” the court said. “And withoutsatisfactionofthe likelihoodof-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to apreliminary injunction.”

The teams have 14 days to appeal to the full court. The injunction also hasnobearingsonthe meritsofthe case, andthe earliestNASCAR can treat the teams as unchartered —acharter guarantees their organizations astarting spot each weekand prize money —isone weekafter the deadline to appeal, provided there is no pending appeal.

NASCARhas notsaidwhatit would do withthe six charters held by thetwo organizationsif they are returned to the sanctioning body

There are only 36 chartered cars fora 40-car field. If the teamsdonot appeal,the sixentries would have to compete as “open” cars —which means they’d have to qualifyonspeed each week to make therace and theywould receive afractionof the money

UTSA (47-13) at No.15UCLA(45-16)

Game 1: 6p.m. Saturday, ESPNU Game 2: 2p.m. Sunday, ESPN2

Game 3: Monday, if necessary

The Roadrunners shocked everyone going 3-0 in the Austin regional, including two wins against No. 2national seed Texas, while the Bruins held serve at home against Fresno State, Arizona State and UC Irvine. Per WarrenNolan.com,

UTSA has abetter mark against Quad 1opponents than UCLA this season, 8-4 compared to 4-7. Expect runs aplenty in aseries that goes the distance, with UTSA punching one of the last tickets to Omaha. Prediction: UTSA in

AP FILEPHOTO

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred speaks in Nashville, Tenn., on April 22.

Denny Hamlin leads the pack of cars through turnthree during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race on Sunday in Lebanon, Tenn.

OBSERVATIONS

Saints’running back battle is wide open

AfterKamara, pecking orderisunclear

If we were ranking the most interesting position battlesonthe NewOrleans Saints’ roster, quarterback would obviously be No. 1. But running back might not be far behind.

Haener:‘You’ve got everything youneed’

Saints’veteran

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore hasn’tcompletely ruledout adding aveteran quarterback to help arelatively young room with TylerShough,Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener competing for the starting job.

Butbased on hiscomments, and the team’sactions, such amove doesn’tappear likely to happen anytime soon.

The Saints have aclear starter in Alvin Kamara, but the pecking orderbehind the veteran isfar from established. And with Kamara not participating in the voluntary workouts this offseason, the Saints’ new coaching staff has consistently shufﬂed runners in and out of the lineup. That continued Thursday,with rookie Devin Neal andveteran Clyde EdwardsHelaire appearing to take most of the reps with the ﬁrst team. Others in the mix include Kendre Miller,Velus Jones Jr., Xazavian Valladay and Marcus Yarns.

“(We’re looking for)consistency,for the most part,”Saints coach Kellen Moore said. “They’re all talented runners. They can run the football. They got agood space there.The pass protection is hugeand the consistency.”

The opportunity is there,especially after last season. Jamaal Williams, the main backup to Kamara in 2024, was released in March. And when Kamara missed the last three gamesof the year with agroin injury,the Saints’ leading rusher was Spencer Rattler —aquarterback.

New Orleans’ competition this offseason is farfrom over,but it’ll be worth monitoring. Miller, in particular,isentering apivotal season after two straight injury-riddledcampaigns. But on Thursday,the 2023third-rounder did not catchapass in 7on7sand when New Orleans went to an 11on-11 walkthrough near theend of practice, Miller was on thefar ﬁeld working primarily withthe backups.

“It’s ablank slate for everyone,” Moore said.

Miller,ofcourse, has heard about blank slates before. The samewas said last season when DennisAllen wasfired, and interim Darren Rizzi pledged that the runningback was no longer in the team’sdoghouse. As the final weeks progressed, however, Miller arguably squandered the chance. He only averaged3.2 yards per carry in fourgames before missing the final week witha concussion.

Will he seize this chancethistime around?That remains to be seen. But Moore and his staff are clearly experimenting to ﬁnd the best ﬁt.

The beneﬁciary of Taylor’s switch to the outside appeared to be UgoAmadi. Amadireceived the majority of nickel reps, though he was interestingly used as adeep safetyinother formations.

Amadi hasquietly played avaluable role for the Saints over the last two years. When injuries have occurred or thecoaching staff has felt the need to switch things up in the secondary,hehas often been the player plugged in.

“The moreyou can do, thelonger you’ll be in theleague,” said Amadi, aseven-year veteran. Star-studded punt returns

Anothergood showing

Speaking of competitions, there wasn’tmuchnew to observe on the quarterback front —but Rattler again had apromising practice. With the Saints working primarily in the red zone, Rattler wasdecisive and zipped theball out of his hand. In 7on7s, Rattler completed 6ofhis 8passes with several resulting in touchdowns. Rookie TylerShough went 7of8 and threw atouchdown. Like the second OTAs session open to media, the Saints gave Shough reps against theteam’s starting defense in the second half of 7on7s. HunterDekkers, aleft-handed quarterback who signed as undrafted free agent, also got his ﬁrst reps in,going2of4in7on7s.

Staley showsversatility

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley also experimented with afew looks in practice. Notably, cornerback AlontaeTaylor gotextendedwork on the outside after spending the ﬁrst fewpractices open to reporters in theslot. In previousweeks, Taylorwould only be on the outside in base situations.

NFLNOTEBOOK

Teams will often avoidhaving their top players on special teams forfear of injury,which is why it was striking to seecornerback KoolAidMcKinstry and receiver Chris Olave work on ﬁelding punts this week. Moore, however,was cagey when asked about the possibility of either being the actual returner

“It doesn’t hurt for guys to get back there andcontinue to catch ‘em,” Moore said. “You never know.”

Attendance

Playerswho did not makeanappearance at Thursday’spractice included Taysom Hill (knee), Brandin Cooks,Tyrann Mathieu, Kamara, J.T. Gray, Cesar Ruiz, Nathan Shepherd, Cam Jordan and Chase Young Offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri and cornerback Dalys Beanum were also sidelined with unspeciﬁed injuries, joining Foster Moreau (knee) and Dallin Holker (ankle)

DavonGodchaux and Demario Davis practiced after missing the ﬁrst two open sessions. Rookie Quincy Riley, dealing with an unspeciﬁedinjury, progressedtodoindividualwork

Steelers,QBRodgers agreetodeal

The

PITTSBURGH After alengthy courtship that was beginningto takeon the look of aNetflix miniseries, Aaron Rodgers has told the Steelers he plans to sign aone-yeardeal and attend minicamp next week. Rodgers, afour-timeNFL MVP who is the league’sseventh all-time leading passer,was brought in to hopefullyendtheteam’splayoff-winningdrought and get the franchise back on the right tracktosuccess.

However,Rodgers will be 42 in December and is coming off aseason in which the New York Jets won only ﬁve games and his quarterback rating (90.5) was the lowest since he became afull-time starter in 2008.

Nonetheless, the Rodgers saga has been the talk of the league since free agency began and apolarizing subject among Steelersfans Rodgers told the Steelers from the beginning he would take his time to make adecision, and he did. Rodgers said family and personal matters were the reason for the delay and that retirement was apossibility Through it all, the Steelers ﬁrmly believed he would be theirstartingquarterbackwhenthe season opened in September.The indeci-

sion by Rodgers had nothing to do with theSteelers taking Ohio State quarterback Will Howardinthe sixth round of the NFL Draft.

IndianapolisColts

QB RICHARDSONSIDELINED INDEFINITELY WITH SHOULDER INJURY: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson has ashoulder injurythat will sideline him indeﬁnitely,coach Shane SteichensaidThursday Richardson aggravated ajoint in histhrowing shoulder,which he hadseason-ending surgery on in October2023, his rookieseason. The third-year quarterback reportedsorenessinhis right shoulder during last week’sorganized team activities and hasn’tpracticed since.

He will miss next week’sthreedaymandatoryminicamp. Steichen did not clarify if Richardson will be available for training camp later this summer NewYorkGiants

GIANTS’ PRACTICE ENDS WITHHEATED FIGHT: TheNew York Giants went from running plays to squaring off, readytorumble in the middle of theﬁeld Punches were thrown andhelmets —and players —tossed aside.

Andthey haven’teven madeitto minicamp yet.

“The heat got to us,” edge rusher Brian Burns said Thursdayafter the Giants’ sixth practice of organized team activities.

On aday when temperatures reachedaround 90 degreeswith high humidity,tempers ﬂared toward the end of avoluntary practice session.

First, Burnsand left tackle James Hudson started pushing and shoving each other before thetwo took off their helmets and squared up as if they were going to ﬁght

“I would say it was just aconversation that we had,”Burns said with agrin. Players intervened and Burns andHudson weresenttotheir sidelines by coaches

But on the next play,edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux and offensive tackleJermaineEluemunor got intoitand Thibodeaux took aswing at his teammate. That ledtomore pushing and Hudson charged off the sideline and tackled Thibodeaux —and Burns joinedinasheand afew players ended up on the ground.

After theskirmishes, coach Brian Dabollhuddledthe team and the on-ﬁeld activitieswere done for theday

Why? Well, when it comes to experience, the Saints still have plentyofpeople who can guide their young quarterback room along. Theyjust reside on the coaching staff— agroup that’s litteredwith former quarterbacks.

The Saints’ offensive staff has fourcoacheswho have played theposition, starting with their head coach.Moorespent six seasons as an NFL backup after adecorated college career at BoiseState, while offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier played for multiple teams in the 1990s —including the Saints. Quarterbacks coach Scott Tolzien was a journeyman in theNFL, notably with the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts. And even senior offensive assistant Scott Linehanstarted forthe UniversityofIdaho in the 1980s.

That experience, the signal callers say,isevident as the Saints have spent this offseason learning anew offense. It becomes quicklyapparent that Mooreand those involved in installing the offense have played quarterback

“It allows you to see different perspectives,” Haener said. “The coaches understand that, ‘Hey, everyquarterback is different.’ Andmyfootwork at times may be different from Spencer’sand Tyler’s. And we’re going to build this thing up to the point where, ‘Hey,you do whatever’scomfortable if you’re throwing theballon time and on rhythm.’”

After Derek Carr’sretirement in May, New Orleansdoes not have apasser on the roster with an NFL winunder his belt. If the room staysasis, the Saints would be the 11thteamsince thestart of thecentury to enter Week 1with that criteria, according to The Associated Press’sJosh Dubow

But even last year,the Saints were comfortable with ayouth movement. Though Carr was the starter,New Orleansopted nottore-sign veteranJameis Winston and relied on Rattler andHaener as backups. When the duo had to play because of injuries to Carr,however,they struggled: Rattler went 0-6 in hisstarts, while Haener was benched at halftime in agame that New Orleans also lost.

Haener,though, seemed to shrug off theideathatthe Saints needed aveteran quarterback to mentor them along.

“I mean,whatare yougoing to getfromthat?”Haener said. “Those guys (onstaff) are veterans,man. They’ve done it. They’ve been through it.

SAINTS

Continued from page1C

practice,Penning figuredhe’d playedmoreguard than tackle in his career.Heplayed guard in high school,and that was also his first position at Northern Iowa (though he did start 32 games at tackle therecompared to just one at guard). When he wasgoing through the pre-draft process, several teams envisioned him as aguard, which is why he spent sometimeatthe Senior Bowlplaying guard. Whenhegot to New Orleans, he was asked to step in as asuccessor to Pro Bowler Terron Armstead. Then Penning suffered a turf toeinjury that robbedhim of mostofhis rookie season.When he ﬁnally gotintothe lineup, he suffered aLisfrancinjury in Week 18 that knocked him out for much of the ensuing offseason. He was benched before the halfway mark of his second season, butrebounded in 2024 and led the team in offensive snaps played. Still, theSaintsneed to see more from him. The team de-

You’ve got everything you need in terms of whattolook for, what to ask, what to see.” Interestingly enough, Drew Brees has publicly said that he’d like to see the Saints add a veteran to the room.Speaking at the opening of one of his new businesses afew weeks ago, the former quarterback said that person can serve as a“buffer” between the player and the coaching staff.

“Honestly,you need that,” Brees said, lateradding, “I think if therewas oneother thingto do, it would be go outand get a veteran guywho could not only push the young guys, but also be agreat resource for them.”

TheSaintsdidn’twaitlong after Carr’sretirement to add afourth arm,signing undrafted free agent Hunter Dekkers. Thatspot, in theory,could have gone to someone with experience. But the Saints opted to go with Dekkers after theyidentiﬁed him in the pre-draft process and were impressedbyhis rookie minicamp tryout.

The other options, too, may nothave been appealingtothe franchise. Signing someone like AaronRodgers wouldhaveupended itsquarterback competition —and that’seven before Rodgers strongly emphasized that he hadnointerestinplaying for the Saints. Veterans like Carson Wentz and Teddy Bridgewater are available, but there are only so many reps to go around.

In the meantime, the Saints’ coaching staffwillworktodevelop the passers on the roster As acoach, Tolzien said his profession is all about the delicate balance of loading his players up with information —but not too muchinformation.

Having played helps them understand where the line is, Tolzien said.

“We’reina ﬁrst-year system, so youdon’t want to assume anything,”Tolziensaid. “We’re starting at the 101 level and Ikindoflove that. Youget to mold them how you want.”

clined to pick up his fifth-year option this offseason, meaning Penning is entering the final year of hisrookiecontract. He saidhe’s not worried about any of that the uncertainty about his future in NewOrleansorthe lack of a vote of confidence from the team.

“I’m just trying to play my best football, and whatever happens, happens,” Penning said.

It helps thatMooreand several of his assistants have recent experienceguiding someone through this transition. Moore, offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and run gamecoordinator T.J. Paganetti were all with Philadelphia last season, where they saw another rough tackle prospect, Mekhi Becton, turn in apromising season at guard. So theycan seethe path, and they see it with Penning.

“Trevor’sphysicality,his demeanor,the way he plays, we feel like guard presents him agreat opportunity,” Moore said. Penning still can’tagree more.

“I think it’sagreat opportunity,” he said. “I’m going to be just ﬁne playing there.”

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETTDUKE

Saints running back Devin Neal, left, runs adrill withquarterback Spencer Rattlerduring organized team activities on Thursdayatthe team’sindoor practice facility

Matthew Paras

STAFF PHOTO By DAVIDGRUNFELD

Saints wide receiver Chris Olave catches aball Thursdayatthe team’sindoor practice facility

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Saints coach KellenMoore watches players rundrills on May22atthe team’sindoor practice facility

Sabalenka ends Swiatek’s reign

Top-ranked woman to meet No. 2 Gauff for French Open trophy

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer

PARIS Flecks of rustcolored clay dotted Aryna Sabalenka’s back and caked her white shoes as she ripped big shot after big shot against Iga Swiatek on Thursday, the thud of racket-on-string reverberating off the closed roof at the main stadium at Roland Garros.

So used to hearing — and believing she was a fast-court specialist who couldn’t succeed on the slower red clay used at Roland-Garros, the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka showed just how good she can be on the surface by ending Swiatek’s 26-match unbeaten streak at the French Open and bid for a record fourth consecutive trophy with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 win in Thursday’s semiﬁnals.

Now Sabalenka will try to win her fourth Grand Slam title — and first not on a hard court — when she takes on No. 2 Coco Gauff in Saturday’s final. It will be the first title match in Paris between the Nos. 1 and 2 women since 2013 and just the second in the past 30 years.

“It’s going to mean everything to me and my team, because I have to say that almost (my) whole life, I’ve been told (clay) is not my thing, and then I didn’t have any conﬁdence,” Sabalenka said. “In the past I don’t know how many years — we’ve been able to develop

my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay.”

Gauff, a 21-year-old American who was the runner-up in 2022 to Swiatek, reached her second French Open ﬁnal by beating 361st-ranked French wild-card entry Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 in a far-lessinteresting, far-less-competitive semiﬁnal.

“My first final here, I was super nervous, and I kind of wrote myself off before the match even happened,” said Gauff, who is 5-5 against Sabalenka and beat her for the 2023 U.S Open title at age 19. “Obviously, here, I have a lot more confidence just from playing a Grand Slam final before and doing well in one.”

Much to the chagrin of the 15,000 or so locals pulling for their countrywoman at Court Philippe-Chatrier, Gauff vs. Boisson wasn’t much of a contest, as might be expected from their rankings and relative experience.

Then again, that didn’t stop Boisson from eliminating both No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva en route to becoming the ﬁrst woman since 1989 to get to the semiﬁnals in her Grand Slam debut.

Loud as the crowd was, repeatedly singing Boisson’s first name, Gauff’s play spoke volumes, too, as she took 20 of the first 30 points for a 4-0 lead. That pattern held, and by the end, Gauff had claimed 34 of the 51 points that lasted at least ﬁve strokes.

Most remarkable about Sabalenka’s win was the way she dominated in crunch time, racing through the last set.

“I mean, 6-love,” she said. “What can I say? Couldn’t be

more perfect than that.”

Swiatek’s explanation?

“I lost my intensity a bit,” she said. “Just couldn’t push back.”

This stat says it all: The third set included 12 unforced errors off Swiatek’s racket, and zero off Sabalenka’s.

This continues a rough stretch for Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, who hasn’t reached a final at any tournament since walking away with her third trophy in a row — and ﬁfth Grand Slam title overall from Paris 12 months ago. She recently slid to No. 5 in the rankings.

Her rut includes a loss in the semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Later last season, she was suspended for a month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was caused by a contaminated medicine.

Sabelanka is, unquestionably, as good as it gets in women’s tennis right now

“She didn’t doubt,” Swiatek said. “She just went for it.”

Even though Sabalenka broke in the ﬁrst game and soon led 4-1 — at which point Swiatek was glancing up at her coach, Wim Fissette, in the stands, hoping for some sort of insight that could change things — this was not one-way trafﬁc. Swiatek ended up leading 5-4 in that set, but when they got to the tiebreaker Sabalenka asserted herself.

Did the same in the last set.

“It was a big match, and it felt like a final,” said Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open twice and the U.S. Open once. “But I know that the job is not done yet.”

No. 1 Sinner to play Djokovic while defending champion Alcaraz faces Musetti in semis

BY JEROME PUGMIRE AP sportswriter

PARIS It is unusual to think of Novak Djokovic as not being the favorite to win a French Open semiﬁnal, given that his greatest clay-court rival Rafael Nadal has retired.

After all, Djokovic has won three titles at Roland-Garros among his men’s record 24 Grand Slams. He also owns prestigious winning head-to-head records against 22time major winner Nadal (31-29) and 20time major champion Roger Federer (2723).

Yet, when Djokovic faces Jannik Sinner on Friday for a place in Sunday’s ﬁnal, against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain or No. 8-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, the favorite could be Sinner

Top-ranked Sinner has beaten Djokovic in their past three meetings and four of the past ﬁve, including in the 2024 Australian Open semiﬁnals The Italian is 4-4 against him and 15 years younger than Djokovic, who is 38.

Given this, and Djokovic’s early losses in Doha, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo and Madrid, his title chances were subdued before the French Open.

“He’s a bit underrated,” 2024 French Open runner-up Alexander Zverev said after losing to Djokovic in the quarterﬁnals on Wednesday. “A lot of people count him out already But this year he’s had wins over Carlos (Alcaraz) at the Australian Open, he has had a win over me at the French Open. Forget the age.”

Losing the match, including a 41-stroke exchange, convinced Zverev that Djokovic was far from a spent force.

Just before the French Open, Djokovic won his 100th career title.

“The way I won the tournament deﬁnitely helped me mentally approach RolandGarros in a better way,” Djokovic said. “I think the win against Alcaraz in quarters of Australian Open, to win quarters against Zverev (on Wednesday) proves to myself and others that I can still play on the highest level, and I just thrive on these occasions.”

So does Sinner, the Australian Open champion, who is 3-0 in major ﬁnals.

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

OKLAHOMA CITY Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a chance to make a whole slew of history in these NBA Finals. The Oklahoma City star is the first reigning MVP who’ll play in the finals they start Thursday night when the Thunder play host to the Indiana Pacers since Golden State’s Stephen Curry in 2016 He could become the ﬁrst player to win a scoring title and an NBA title in the same season since Shaquille O’Neal did it for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999-2000. And sometime in Game 1 or Game 2 GilgeousAlexander will likely hit

another milestone. He comes into this series with 2,960 points this season — ofﬁcially, anyway, more on that in a second between the 82-game regular-season slate and now the postseason. With 40 more points, he will record the 25th instance of a 3,000-point season when combining the regular season and the playoffs The most recent to do it was Luka Doncic, who had 3,005 points for Dallas last season. If the NBA Cup championship game counted statistically, which it doesn’t, GilgeousAlexander would only need 19 more points for 3,000. He had 21 in that OKC loss to Milwaukee at Las Vegas in December, but those points don’t count toward his season total

Michael Jordan had 10 seasons with at least 3,000 points, Wilt Chamberlain had ﬁve and nine other players Bob McAdoo, Elgin Baylor, James Harden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Rick Barry, Shaquille O’Neal and Doncic have one.

4 Canada

For the second consecutive year, there are four Canadians in the NBA Finals. Last year, it was Oshae Brissett for Boston and AJ Lawson, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Dwight Powell for Dallas. This year, it’s Shai GilgeousAlexander and Luguentz Dort for Oklahoma City, along with

Sinner thinks Djokovic presents the same threat as always.

“He has shown in the last period that he is back to the level,” Sinner said. “He’s such an experienced player, 24 Grand Slams. I think that says everything.”

Musetti’s record against Alcaraz?

This will be their seventh meeting in what could blossom into a big rivalry The 23-year-old Musetti beat Alcaraz on clay in the 2022 Hamburg ﬁnal, but has lost ﬁve straight matches to him since then, including three on clay

The 22-year-old Alcaraz is chasing a second French Open title and fifth major overall. Alcaraz beat Musetti twice on clay this season — in the Italian Open semifinals and the Monte Carlo Masters final.

“He just joined a really short (list) that made at the least the semiﬁnals of the big events in the clay season,” Alcaraz said. “It’s going to be great for the people to watch.”

Djokovic needed four sets in the quarterﬁnals to reach the semiﬁnals, as did Musetti against Frances Tiafore. But Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, and Sinner saved valuable energy with straight-sets wins.

“We’ve seen Sinner really destroy people lately And I guess today was Carlos’ turn,” No. 12 Tommy Paul said after his quarterﬁnal defeat to Alcaraz. “Both of them are playing at an extremely high level right now.”

Seven-time major winner John McEnroe said Djokovic looked “unbelievable” at 38, that his serve, his volleying were “better than ever” and his hunger was undiminished.

Still, he thought he and Musetti faced a tall order

“If Sinner or Alcaraz bring their A game I think it’s going to be really difﬁcult to win,” said McEnroe, who is working on French Open telecasts for TNT Sports.

“(Musetti’s) done everything he can do, he’s got ﬁtter He’s clearly better than he’s ever been, but the problem is so is Alcaraz.”

“Jannik is in tremendous form, and he has been the best player for the last couple of years,” Djokovic said. “But these kind of matchups and challenges extract the best out of me. Playing best of ﬁve, late stages of a Grand Slam against No. 1 in the world, you can’t get more motivated than that for me at this age.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AURELIEN MORISSARD

Coco Gauff of the U.S celebrates after defeating French wild-card entry Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 in the French Open on Thursday in Paris.

THINGS

CRESCENT CONNECTION

National recordingartist and Louisiana nativeJustin Garner will headline “Live at the Crescent” from 6p.m.to9 p.m. FridayinDonaldsonville. Preceding the free community concertwill be the finger-licking Wing Fest, hosted by the Donaldsonville Area Chamber of Commerce, at 1p.m (225) 473-4814.

LACE ’EM UP

‘THE DAYTHE WARSTOPPED’ IN ST.FRANCISVILLE

Public invitedto re-creation of pausein CivilWar

Staff report

It’sreferred to as “The Day the WarStopped,” and on Saturday in St. Francisville, the historic event will be reenacted once again.

“On ahot June dayin 1863, Union soldiers under the ﬂag of truce came searching for fellow Masons in St. Francisville to bury their commander with Masonic honors,” according to aFacebook post by Feliciana Lodge No. 31. “Confederate Masons put aside their differences and stopped the war for ashort timetohonor the higher calling of brotherly love.”

The Feliciana lodge,along with St. George’s LodgeNo. 6 of Schenectady,New York, will re-create this poignant pause in the Civil War.

James Linden Hogg,from left, the Rev. Craig Dalferes and Ernest Ayo observe ‘The Daythe War Stopped’ reenactmentin2024.

The public is invited to the daylong eventinSt. Francisville’sdowntown,which includes tours of Feliciana Lodge No. 31, 4794 Prosperity St Historian, author,vocalist and musicianJames Linden Hogg willalso be signing copies of hisnew book,“ADay theWar Stopped.” He’llbelocated under abluetent near the courthouse, across from Grace Episcopal Church, 11621 Ferdinand St., from9 a.m. to 2p.m. Books are $20 and buyers also receive a free copy of Hogg’s latest fulllength album. The rest of the schedulefor Saturday is:

n 9A.M.: National anthem and welcome address,Feliciana Lodge No. 31

n 9:30 A.M.: “Day the War Stopped” play,Jackson Hall at GraceEpiscopalChurch

n 10 A.M.: Historicalreenactment and graveside histories, beginningatthe corner of Prosperity and Ferdinand streets and into Grace Episcopal Cemetery

n 11A.M.TO 1P.M.: Seventh annual jambalaya cook-off, courthouse grounds acrossfrom lodge

n 11:15 A.M. TO 12:45 P.M.: Lagniappe Historic Dance and Pastime Society and Kitchen Session BandofBaton Rouge, JacksonHall

n 1P.M.TO 2P.M.: Jambalaya and rafﬂe winners, Feliciana Lodge

n 2P.M.: Lodge closing

n 7P.M. TO 9P.M.: Gala Saturday Night, Mag Courtyard, catered by the Francis SmokeHouse, food and drinks, $50, contact Brendan Rush at mayosligo@yahoo.com for tickets.

Take to the ice during the Raising Cane’sRiver Center’s“Summertime Skating” event through Wednesdayinthe arena. Escape the heat with 75-minute public ice skating sessions offered daily.Timesare 6p.m. and 8p.m. Friday and Monday-Wednesday, and 10 a.m., noon, 2p.m., 4p.m., 6p.m. and 8p.m. SaturdaySunday.$28.90. ticketmaster.com.

ART EXPERIENCE

It’s more than just ashopping experience.

Summer funfor more than one

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

Zoe Picard knows the Cat is the coolest.

Why? Because he can be as mischievous as he wants in his existence between realityand imagination, he’salways up for adventure and, well, he gets to wear areally cool hat.

Ared-and-white striped hat.

This is why he’scalled the Cat in the Hat. And it’sthe Catwho will guide a kid named JoJo through thestory of Horton the Elephant when Playmakers of Baton Rouge opens “Seussical Jr.” on Friday in the Reilly Theatre on LSU’sTower Drive.

Slightly shortenedversion

The musical, acondensed version of the original “Seussical the

BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer

After dazzling the country with her “Dancing with the Stars” appearance, BrooksNader is starring with her three sisters in their own reality show, “Love Thy Nader,”executive produced by Jimmy Kimmel for Hulu and Freeform. The docuseries will premiere on the streaming service and thenet-

‘SEUSSICAL JR.’

APlaymakers of Baton Rouge production l 7p.m.Friday, 2p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 7p.m.Friday, June 13, and 2p.m.Saturday-Sunday, June 14-15 l Reilly Theatre,TowerDrive, LSU l $30, adults; $20, students andchildren l (225) 578-6996or playmakersbr.org

Musical” with music andlyrics by Lynn Ahrens andStephen Flaherty,isbased on the stories and characters of Dr.Seuss. The show premiered on Broadway in 2000.

The story opens when asmall boy named JoJo, played by 12-year-old Prairieville Middle School seventh grader Juliet Girod, manifests the Cat in the Hatby“thinking” him onto the stage.

worklater this summer. Thefourmodel sisters —Brooks, Sarah Jane, Grace Annand Mary HollandNader,daughters of Breauxand Holland Greene Nader —will be sharing their livesasthe show chroniclestheir careers whiletheypursue their dreamsinthe world of fashion inﬂuencers in New York City. Descendedfrom south Louisiana moversand shakers, theNad-

It’shere where the Cat encourages JoJo to “think up” aSeussian world and characters as the starting point of their adventure.

“I kind of think of the Cat as aringleader,” said Picard, an 18-year-old newly graduatedfrom homeschool. “So, he takes JoJo on ajourneythrough his own imagination and tells the story of all these characters.”

Still, it isn’tclear,even to the Cat, if he’sreal.

An actual cat?

“Wedon’t really knowifthe cat is real or just in JoJo’simagination,” Picard said.“Butwedoknowhe’s kind of mischievous, and he likes to maketrouble.”

From here, the Cat leads JoJo intothe Jungle of Nool, where

ersare thepaternal granddaughters of SamNader,LSU’sassistant athletic director for football operations since 2000, and his wife, Ann. They are the maternal granddaughters of the late TomGreene, aveterinarianand former state senator, and his wife, Cathy The four Baton Rouge girls’ modeling careers started when Brooks Nader, agraduate of Episcopal High School, won aSports Illustrated Swimsuit casting search in 2020 andappeared in subse-

quent 2021, 2022 and 2023 issues. The show will focus on the Nad-

FILE PHOTO By FRANCES y. SPENCER

Nader

STAFF PHOTOSByROBIN MILLER

Juliet Girod, left, is JoJo,and Zoe Picard is the Catinthe Hat in Playmakers of Baton Rouge’sproduction of ‘Seussical Jr.’

FRIDAY

LIVE MUSIC: Cane River

Pecan CompanyPie Bar, New Iberia, 5p.m

FRIDAYNIGHT JAM: La Maison de Begnaud, Scott, 6p.m

SHOWSTOWATCH —ACADIANA

Dear Miss Manners: Iwould like to hear your opinion on whether or not using “Excuse me” can be rude.

In my opinion, if Ican see that aperson’sactivity will only take aminute, it is rude to say,“Excuse me,” and expect themto stop what they’re doing to allow me to accomplish my task. The proper thing to do, in my mind, is to patiently wait my turn. What do you think?

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Gentle reader: It depends on the activity If someone is standing in your way in the groceryaisle,trying to decide between mayonnaise brands, you should patiently wait your turn.

If that person is blocking you while texting aspouse, having an intense argument about whether mayonnaise should be in their diet at all, and should we even be married if you don’tcare enough to pick up the things Iasked… then the task at hand is not going to soon be accomplished. In that case, you may say,“Excuse me,” with Miss Manners’sblessing.

Note that tone is important, too. Ahaughty “Well, exCUSE Me!” is always rude.

Dear Miss Manners: My brother and Icelebrated the birthday of aclosefriend with several others. The dinner was at alocal restaurant, beginning at 5p.m (stated time). We had difficulty finding parking and arrived 15 minutes late, but not because we were careless of the time. Our friends had atable just to the left of the front door.It was obvious that the remaining eight of them had arrived early,for there were empty glasses and picked-over appetizers.I don’t see howthey could have ordered and finished drinks and appetizerswithin 15 minutes or so, unless they’d all gathered prior to

the stated time. No one had mentioned they were goingtodothis or reached outtoﬁnd why we were late. Last to arrive, we soon had our own cocktails Still, it bothers me that therest of thepartygathered before us. Most of these friends see each other at least twice a week, when we don’t. In prior birthday events, perhapsa couple arrived early and had acocktail, but never the rest of theparty together,sothishadn’tbothered me before.

This time it did. Am Ibeing oversensitive? Ithink if the partystarts at astated time, the guests arrivearound that time and wait afew minutes before orderinganything.This situation hasoccurred before, but not to this degree. Ifeel my friends have movedon. Should I?

Gentle reader: Your case would be awhole lot strongerhad you not been 15 minutes late.Asitstands, your friends couldsay they were notsurewhenoreven if you were coming, so went ahead with ordering drinks. No doubt —they might add —the waitstaff was pressuring themtodoso.

To get themto admit they were there longerthanthat would be tantamount to accusing them of foolingyou —not agood look or a pleasant way to celebrate abirthday, Miss Manners assures you. Perhaps you should hold off castingaside awhole group of close friendsuntil you have evidence of malice. If you really wanttocatch them in the act, you had better get there on time or even early.That includes leaving extratime for parking.

Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www. missmanners.com.

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday,June 6, the 157th day of 2025. There are 208 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On June 6, 1944, during World WarII, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy,France, on D-Day as they launched Operation Overlord to liberate German-occupied Western Europe. Morethan 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, including 2,501 Americans. Also on this date:

In 1889, an industrial accident sparkedadevastating ﬁre in Seattle, Washington, destroying 120 acresofthe city center, including the majorityofthe city’scommercialdistrict and waterfront.

In 1912, Novarupta, avolcano on the Alaska peninsula,began a three-dayeruption, sending ash nearly 19 miles high; it was the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century and the largest recorded in North America.

In 1939, the ﬁrst Little League Baseball game was played as Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy23-8 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot and wounded byasniperonthe second dayofMeredith’smarch from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson,Mississippi, which he began to raise awareness of ongoing racialoppression in the South. (Meredithwould recover from his injuries and was able to rejoin the march,which had grown froma small group of supporters to 15,000 marchers, theday before thegroup arrived in Jackson.)

In 2015, American Pharoah became theﬁrst horse in 37 years to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown,winning the Belmont Stakesby5½ lengths.

Today’sbirthdays: Singer-songwriter Gary U.S.Bondsis86. Civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman is 86. Country musician Joe Stampley is 82. Olympic track &ﬁeld gold medalist TommieSmith is 81. Actor Robert Englundis78. Folk singer Holly Near is 76. Sen. Sandra Bernhard is 70. TennisHall of Famer Bjorn Borg is 69. Comedian ColinQuinn is 66. Music producer Jimmy Jam is 66. Filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-edais63. Actor Jason Isaacs is 62.

JOSHUALEBLANC: Adopted DogBrewing,Lafayette, 6p.m

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza&Brewery,Lafayette, 6p.m

LIVE MUSIC: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6p.m

JAMBALAYA TRIO: Randol’sCajun Restaurant, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

AARON HEBERT: SHUCKS!, Abbeville, 6:30 p.m

LIVE MUSIC: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

DWIGHT JAMES &THE ROYALS: Acadiana Center for the Arts —James Devin Moncus Theater, Lafayette, 7:30 p.m.

“RADIO TBS –TRAILER

BROADCASTING SCAN-

DALS”: Cité des Arts, Lafayette, 7:30 p.m.

NIKKI NEEDHAM: Whiskey &Vine, Lafayette, 8p.m

PRNEDSCOURAGE: Blue Moon Saloon,Lafayette, 8p.m

AMIS DU TECHE: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8p.m

BEAUYOUNG BAND: Rock ‘n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 9p.m

SWAMPLAND REVIVAL: MamaG’s,Morgan City, 9:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Cowboys Nightclub,Scott, 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

DON FONTENOTBAND: Fred’s, Mamou,8 a.m.

GENO DELAFOSE &FRENCH

ROCKIN’ BOOGIE: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 8a.m

CAJUN JAM: Moncus Park Lafayette, 9a.m

SATURDAY MORNING JAM

SESSIONS: The SavoyMusic Center,Eunice,9 a.m.

CAJUN JAM: Tante Marie, Breaux Bridge, 11 a.m.

CAJUN FRENCH MUSIC

JAM: Vermilionville, Lafay-

‘SEUSSICAL’

Continuedfrom page1D

Dwight James &The Royals will performat7:30 p.m FridayatAcadiana

for the Arts’James Devin Moncus TheaterinLafayette. Tickets are $25. Featuring singer-songwriter and guitarist James, the band leans into rock, blues, soul and rhythm-and-blues

ette, 1p.m

BUDDYANDREWS&THE BRANDED: BayouTeche Brewing, Arnaudville, 4p.m

LINDSAY COUNCIL: Adopted DogBrewing,Lafayette, 6p.m

LIVE MUSIC: Jim Deggy’s Brick Oven Pizza&Brewery,Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Prejean’s, Broussard, 6p.m

DAREL GROS: SHUCKS! Abbeville, 6:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: TapRoom, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Buck & Johnny’s, Breaux Bridge, 6:30 p.m.

SAVE OLD HAVEN: Feed N Seed, Lafayette, 7p.m. “RADIO TBS –TRAILER BROADCASTING SCAN-

DALS”: Cité des Arts, Lafayette, 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY NIGHT COMICS: Amelia Belle Casino, Amelia, 7:30 p.m.

C4 AVEC STEVE RILEY: HideawayonLee, Lafayette, 8p.m

STEPRIDEAU: Rock ‘n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 5p.m.

STOP THE CLOCK COUN-

TRYJAZZ: Feed NSeed, Lafayette, 6p.m. CATHEAD BISCUIT BOYS: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8p.m.

MONDAY PATRICIO LATINO SOLO: Café Habana City, Lafayette, 11 a.m.

MONDAYJAM LANABREAUX AND GREG MARTINEZ: The Grouse Room, Lafayette, 5p.m.

TUESDAY

TERRYHUVAL &FRIENDS: Prejean’s Restaurant, Lafayette, 6p.m.

WEDNESDAY

DULCIMERJAM: St. Landry VisitorCenter,Opelousas, 10 a.m.

Horton theelephantisbathing. Twoactorswill share therole of Horton in alternating performances in this production: Tycen Smith and Camden DeVaux. Both are 16 and entering their senior year at ZacharyHigh School.

Both agree that Horton is somewhat shy but hasabig heart,especially when it comes tohatching an egg and later saving themicroscopic planet of Whoville from destruction.

Andthrough it all, Horton meets acollection of characters from Dr Seuss’ stories, somewith whom he forges friendships, others who become his adversaries.

Sour Kangaroo, played by 17-year-old Liberty Magnet High School senior Tori Broussard,isone of those adversaries. Broussard admitsthat Sour Kangaroo is merciless in her mocking of Horton.

However,Horton is able to ﬁnd respite in friendships withGertrude McFuzz, abird with only one tail feather,and the narcissistic Mayzie LaBird.

Gertrude is played by 15-yearold Zachary High School junior Grace Noel, whodescribes the bird as lonely

“She’snervousand alittle selfconscious in the beginning,” Noel

ANDREW WAIN JAZZ: Whiskey& Vine,Lafayette, 8p.m.

4-HORSES: La Poussiere Cajun Dancehall, Breaux Bridge, 8p.m.

ONE TRICK PONY: LakeviewPark, Eunice,8p.m.

BREWSTER DURBIN, ON-

DINEZPSY,FAUSTINA: The LooseCaboose, Lafayette, 9p.m.

THREE AM: Rock ‘n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 9p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Cowboys Nightclub, Scott, 10 p.m

SUNDAY LIVE MUSIC: TanteMarie, BreauxBridge,11a.m.

GLENN ZERINGUE: Whiskey &Vine,Lafayette, 11 a.m.

“RADIO TBS –TRAILER BROADCASTING SCANDALS”: Citédes Arts, Lafayette, 2p.m.

CAJUN JAM: BayouTeche Brewing, Arnaudville, 2p.m.

STEVE RILEY &C-4! BIG DECK DANCE: Cypress Cove Landing, Breaux Bridge, 3p.m.

PHANTUMSUN W/DAIRY FREE +KISMET: Blue Moon Saloon,Lafayette, 8p.m. THE ZYDECO SUMMER JAM— LEON CHAVIS &DJ TROY-D: El Sido’s Zydeco & Blues, Lafayette, 8p.m.

GENO DELAFOSE: Pat’s Atchafalaya Club,Henderson, 4:30 p.m

COURTYARD SESSIONS: Hideaway Hall, Lafayette, 5p.m.

ANDREW WAIN JAZZ: Whiskey& Vine,Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: Park Bistro, Lafayette, 6p.m.

LIVE MUSIC: The Tap Room, Lafayette, 6:30 p.m CAJUN JAM: Blue Moon Saloon, Lafayette, 8p.m.

THURSDAY

STREET SIDE JAZZ: Whiskey& Vine,Lafayette, 6p.m.

RORYSUIRE: SHUCKS!, Abbeville,6:30 p.m

JEFFERYBROUSSARD: Rock ‘n’ Bowl, Lafayette, 7:30 p.m

THE HAS BEANS: Hideaway on Lee, Lafayette, 8p.m.

Compiledby MarchaundJones

Want yourvenue’s music listed? Email info/photos to showstowatch@ theadvocate.com. The deadline is noon FRIDAY forthe following Friday’spaper.

STAFFPHOTO By ROBIN MILLER

Some cast members in Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s‘Seussical Jr., clockwise right, Juliet Girod

production’sstageinthe Reilly Theatre.

said. “And Ithink she’spretty lonely because she doesn’tfeel accepted or noticed by anyone. Because of that, she goes on this whole journeytochange stuff aboutherself, andthrough that experience, she actually endsupdiscovering more about herselfand is moreaccepting of herself andrealizesnosuperﬁcial changes are really needed at all.

Mayzie, meantime, is played by 14-year-old University High School freshmanAnnaleeTemplet

Acastof25

Playmakers is staging acastof

25 in this show directed by Brandy Johnson, who’s also directed “The Little Mermaid Jr.,” “Matilda Jr.” and “Alice in Wonderland” forthe theater company

“Obviously,people know Dr Seuss’ booksaskids’ stories, but I think they have adeeper,overall meaning,” Johnsonsaid. “And so Ididn’twant to approach it as kiddieorcampy or anything like that.I wanted thecast to bring real life feelings and ideas to the stage.”

And when the Catinthe Hat steps into the spotlight, they will.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Center

as JoJo;Camden DeVaux, center,and Tycen Smith, center,bottom, sharing the roleofHorton; ZoePicard as the Cat in the Hat; Tori Broussard as Sour Kangaroo; and GraceNoel as Gertrude strikeaposeonthe

PHOTO

SHOWS TO WATCH — BATON ROUGE

6:30 p.m

FRIDAY

ORIGINAL MUSIC

GATHERING: La Divina Italian Café, 6 p.m.

CORDON BLUEZ BAND: Blue Iguana, 6 p.m.

KIRK HOLDER: Galvez Seafood, Prairieville, 6 p.m.

LUCY YOES: Le Chien Brewing Co., Denham Springs, 6:30 p.m.

ROCKIN’ ROUGE: T’Quilas, Zachary, 6:30 p.m.

ASHTON GILL: Pelican Point, Gonzales, 7 p.m.

CHRIS ALLEN & DAKOTA CIVELLO: Bin 77, 7 p.m.

RHODES MAURER & FRIENDS: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 7 p.m.

BRYCE BROUSSARD: Moonlight Inn, French Settlement, 7:30 p.m.

HENRY TURNER JR. & ALL-STARS: Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room, 8 p.m.

SAM FORSHEY BLUES BAND: Coop’s on 621, Gonzales, 8 p.m.

STUDIO4: Charlie’s Lounge, Addis, 8 p.m.

N’TUNE: The Showroom, 9 p.m.

BTB ACOUSTIC: Fat Cat Saloon, Prairieville, 9 p.m.

IAN WEBSTER & TAYLOR CLARK: The Vineyard, 9 p.m.

SUBFLUENCE: O’Hara’s Irish Pub, 9 p.m.

TAJ FARRANT: Chelsea’s Live, 9 p.m

TAYLOR NAUTA BAND: Fred’s on the River Prairieville, 9 p.m.

SATURDAY

OPEN JAM SESSION: The Smokey Pit, 4 p.m.

CORDON BLUEZ BAND: El Paso-Sherwood, 6 p.m.

ROCKIN’ ROUGE: Papi’s Fajita Factory, Denham Springs, 6 p.m.

BACKLIT STEREO: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 7 p.m.

GRITZ N’ GRAVY: Bin 77, 7 p.m.

THE LEE SERIO BAND: Phil Brady’s, 7:30 p.m

THE KATIE AND JONNO

CAJUN BAND: Ric

Seeling Dance Studio, 7:30 p.m.

HENRY TURNER JR. & ALL-STARS: Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room, 8 p.m.

THE CHEE WEEZ: L’Auberge Event Center, 8 p.m.

KYLE WILSON: Coop’s on 621, Gonzales, 8 p.m.

HUNTLEY: Southern Rhythm, Denham Springs, 8 p.m.

CHASE TYLER BAND/ MCKENZIE KNAPPS: The Texas Club, 9 p.m.

DASH RIP ROCK: Fat Cat Saloon, Prairieville, 9 p.m.

HEATH RANSONNET: The Vineyard, 9 p.m.

TRUE SPIN: Fred’s on the River, Prairieville, 9 p.m.

WHISKEY ROW: O’Hara’s Irish Pub 9 p.m.

JUNIOR LACROSSE: Moonlight Inn, French Settlement, 9:30 p.m.

SUNDAY

JUSTIN BURDETTE

TRIO: Superior Grill

MidCity, 11 a.m.

ROBERT CALMES: Cocha, 11 a.m.

KIRK HOLDER: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 11 a.m.

OLD TIME MUSIC JAM: West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, 3 p.m.

ENUF: Fred’s on the River, Prairieville, 3 p.m.

OPEN MIC JAM: Fat Cat Saloon, Prairieville, 7 p.m.

MONDAY

ACOUSTICRATS: Phil Brady’s, 6 p.m.

TUESDAY

RALPH DAIGLE: Rio Verde Mexican, Gonzales, 6 p.m.

EDDIE SMITH: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

CAITLYN RENEE: Galvez Seafood, Prairieville, 6 p.m.

KIRK HOLDER: Bin 77,

VICTORIA LEA: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 6:30 p.m.

SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC W/HEATH RANSONNET: Coop’s on 621, Gonzales, 7 p.m.

ANDY PIZZO TRIO: Hayride Scandal, 7:30 p.m.

DIXIE ROSE’S ACOUS-

TIC CIRCLE: Teddy’s Juke Joint, Zachary, 8 p.m

EDDIE SMITH BAND: La Daiquiris, 8 p.m.

OPEN MIC JAM: Brickyard South, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY

KYBALION: El PasoSherwood, 6 p.m.

OPEN MIC W/AMANDA JO HESS: Istrouma Brewing, St. Gabriel, 6 p.m.

BRYCE BROUSSARD: Top Notch Seafood, Gonzales, 6 p.m.

JEFF, HAL & STEVE: La Divina Italian Café, 6 p.m.

SOUTH OF CENTRAL: La Carreta, Denham Springs, 6 p.m.

RHETT ANTHONY: Bin 77, 6:30 p.m.

SHANE MADERE: On The Half Shell, Prairieville, 6:30 p.m

THE BISHOP ELLIS TRIO: Hayride Scandal, 7 p.m THE STARDUST BOYS: The Brakes Bar, 7 p.m.

TREY MORGAN: Fred’s on the River, Prairieville, 7 p.m

HENRY TURNER JR. & ALL-STARS: Henry Turner Jr.’s Listening Room, 8 p.m.

BLUES JAM: Phil Brady’s, 9 p.m.

CHRIS LEBLANC: The Vineyard, 9 p.m.

Compiled by Marchaund Jones. Want your venue’s music listed? Email info/photos to showstowatch@ theadvocate.com. The deadline is noon FRIDAY for the following Friday’s paper

FRIDAY SUMMER SKETCHES: FAMILY DRAWING CLASS:

10 a.m., Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road. A relaxed drawing class for all ages and skill levels. Materials provided. $20 per nonmember child; $25 per nonmember adult; free for members. lasm.org.

MOVIES ON THE PLAZA:

7 p.m., Main Library at Goodwood, 7711 Goodwood Blvd. at 7 p.m. A family-friendly movie on the big screen in the outdoor plaza. Bring lawn chair or blanket. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Free admission. ebrpl.com.

FRIDAY NIGHT LECTURE:

7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., BREC’s Highland Road Park Observatory, 13800 Highland Road. Skygazing tips, physics phenomena, space programs and famous events are covered. For ages 14 and older. Free. hrpo.lsu.edu. Also, evening sky viewing from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

“MATILDA JR.”: 6:30 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Manship Theatre, 100 Lafayette St. A Central Community Theatre production. $31. manshiptheatre.org.

SATURDAY

BATON ROUGE ARTS

MARKET: 8 a.m. to noon, Fifth and Main streets, downtown. Vendors sell a variety of unique, original works of art including pottery, woodwork, textiles, glass, paintings, sculptures, photographs, handmade soaps, handmade toys, jewelry and more. artsbr.org.

RED STICK FARMERS MARKET: 8 a.m. to noon, Fifth and Main streets, downtown. Farm-fresh produce, goods, cooking demonstrations. breada.org.

FAMILY HOUR STARGAZ-

ING: 10 a.m., Irene W

Pennington Planetarium at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road. Learn about the stars and constellations in the local nighttime sky followed by an all-ages show. lasm.org.

PAINTING FOR A CAUSE: 10:30 a.m., 225 Theatre Collective, 7338 Highland Road. All proceeds beneﬁt the Romans 12:12 Foundation serving pediatric heart patients. 225theatrecollective.com.

MONTHLY CONTRA

DANCE: 4 p.m.-6:30 p.m., St. Alban’s Chapel, corner of Highland Road and Dalrymple Drive. Newcomer instruction at 3:45 p.m. Singles and couples welcome. $7 per person; free for ﬁrst-timers. Louisianacontrasandsquares.com or (225) 803-9194.

BATON ROUGE PRIDE

FEST KICKOFF PARTY:

6 p.m.-10 p.m., Tsunami Downtown rooftop, 100 Lafayette St. Top sponsors and out-going grand marshal and Pride court will be honored, and the new grand marshal and Pride court will be crowned. White attire highly encouraged. Must be 21+. Tickets start at $31.51 at eventbrite.com.

CAJUN DANCE: 7:30 p.m., Ric Seeling Dance Studio, 10776 N. Harrell’s Ferry Road. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and free dance lessons (after paid admission) begin at 6:45 p.m.

Featuring the live music of the Katie and Jonno Cajun Band. Bring snacks and beverages. $10, CFMA members; $15, nonmembers; $10, students with ID; free, children 12 and younger.

SUNDAY

YOGA UNDER THE STARS:

noon, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road. Relax and recharge with yoga under the dome, led by Leslie Emden. $25, nonmembers; free, members. lasm.org.

SENSORY SECOND SUNDAY: 3 p.m.-5 p.m., Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road. Dimmed lights, lowvolume music, designated quiet areas, headphones and sensory tools are available. lasm.org.

TEA PARTY WITH NICKY: 4 p.m.-9 p.m., Splash Nightclub, 2183 Highland Road. A Baton Rouge Pride event. https://www.batonrougepride.org/events. html.

TUESDAY

RED STICK FARMERS MARKET: 3 p.m.-6 p.m., Main Library at Goodwood, 7711 Goodwood Blvd. Farmfresh produce, goods, cooking demonstrations. breada.org.

FLEX AND FLOW YOGA: 6:30 p.m., Jolie Pearl Oyster Bar, 315 North Blvd. Rotating instructors and a variety of techniques. Free.

TRIVIA NIGHT: 6:30 p.m., Burgersmith, 18303 Perkins Road. Collect your team and jockey for ﬁrst place. loom.ly/y-CKtQ4.

WEDNESDAY

COSMIC CRAFTS UNDER THE DOME: 1 p.m., Irene W. Pennington Planetarium, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, 100 S. River Road. Watch a planetarium show, then do a themed hands-on craft activity. Part of the LASM’s Beat the Heat Summer Series. Included in paid admission. lasm.org.

TRIVIA NIGHT: 6:30 p.m.,

Burgersmith, 27350 Crossing Circle, Suite 150, Denham Springs. Collect your team and jockey for ﬁrst place. loom.ly/y-CKtQ4.

THURSDAY

RED STICK FARMERS

MARKET: 8 a.m.-noon, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road. Farm-fresh produce, goods and more. facebook.com/redstickfarmersmarket.

WEEKLY SOCIAL BIKE RIDE: 7 p.m., Geaux Ride, 521 N. Third St., Suite A. Free. https://fareharbor.com.

TRIVIA NIGHT: 7 p.m., Jolie Pearl Oyster Bar, 315 North Blvd. Test your trivia skills with your friends and family. Free.

ONGOING

ART GUILD OF LOUISIANA: Independence Park Theatre, 7800 Independence Blvd. Upcoming workshops at Studio in the Park, 2490 Silverest Ave., are as follows: Larry Downs — Drawing 3: Putting It All Together, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays, June 5-26; Roberta Loﬂin — Watercolor Basics — Focus on Perspective with City Scenes, 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays, June 7-28. (225) 773-8020 or artguildlouisiana.org.

CAPITOL PARK MUSEUM: 660 N. Fourth St. “Billy Cannon: They Called Him Legend,” through Jan. 10. (225) 342-5428 or louisianastatemuseum.org.

CARY SAURAGE COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER SHELL GALLERY: 233 St. Ferdinand St. “PINK. Out is In!,” through June 30, with closing reception 6 p.m.-8 p.m. June 27. Featuring work by local LGBTQIA+ artists. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday artsbr.org.

ELIZABETHAN GALLERY: 680 Jefferson Highway. Spring group show. Call (225) 924-6437 or follow the gallery’s Facebook page.

IN DEMAND ART STUDIOS: 5800 One Perkins Place, Suite 5D. “This is Our Gar-

den,” featuring the work of eight Baton Rouge-area women artists.

LOUISIANA ART & SCIENCE MUSEUM: 100 S. River Road. “Discoveries on the Nile: Exploring King Tut’s Tomb and the Amin Egyptian Collection,” through Oct. 31. (225) 344-5272 or lasm.org.

LSU MUSEUM OF ART: Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St. “Carved and Crafted: The Art of Letterpress,” through Sept. 21. “In Focus: Artwork by LSU Faculty,” through Aug. 3. (225) 3897200 or lsumoa.org. LSU TEXTILE & COSTUME MUSEUM: Human Ecology Building, Tower Drive, LSU campus. “Color Me Fashion,” more than 45 looks with related accessories spanning approximately 100 years of fashion history from c. 1890 to 1990. Exhibit runs through Aug. 15. (225) 578-5992 or email textile@lsu.edu. MAGNOLIA MOUND MUSEUM + HISTORIC SITE: 2161 Nicholson Drive. Guided and self-guided tours. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. brec.org/facility/ MagnoliaMound.

OLD GOVERNOR’S MANSION: 502 North Blvd. Open for tours. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. MondayFriday. Free admission. oldgovernorsmansion. com. OLD STATE CAPITOL: 100 North Blvd. “America’s Sacred Freedoms in the First Amendment,” yearlong exhibit. Free admission.

PROVIDED

By JOSHUA JOHNSON

Pop singer McKenzie Knapps will open for the Chase Tyler Band at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Texas Club Tickets start at $25.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Take nothing for granted. It's up to you to make sure everything falls into place. Refuse to let fear or what others think stand between you and your pursuits.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Sit back, listen, show interest and ask the odd question. Knowledge is the key to success, happiness and better life choices. Refuse to let a change or opinion someone shares lead to discord.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Pay attention. Avoid risks that can end in illness or injury. Trust your instincts over what someone tells you. Put your energy into closing deals and investing in yourself.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Spend more time learning something new or honing a passion to turn into a lucrative endeavor. If you love what you do, giving your all and fighting for what you want will be easier.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Take a short trip or get together with old friends. Prioritize learning something new that can help you advance or head in a direction that excites you.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Expect the unexpected and be ready to zigzag through whatever comes your way. Choose peace and love over chaos and discord, and walk away from useless disputes.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Tidy up loose ends, and plan to relax. Spending time with someone you love or working on a project that brings you joy will

help you find peace of mind. Refuse to let an unexpected change throw you off guard.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Attitude is everything if you plan to advance. There is safety in numbers, so build a strong and diverse team to handle whatever comes your way. Keep your costs down.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Make home improvements that encourage more free time to do as you please. Strive for happiness, personal growth and success. Refuse to let anyone test your patience or ruin your day.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Pay attention to your appearance and how you feel Refuse to let stress mount or give anyone the chance to take you for granted. Protect what's yours and focus on positive change and activities you enjoy.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Refuse to get bogged down in the chaos and disruption around you. You will do your best if you stay positive. Avoid overdoing it or taking health or physical risks.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Point your energy in a helpful direction. Anger will not help you gain ground or bring you closer to a resolution with someone you encounter. Choose a positive path.

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Looking up a quotation including “fourth,” I came upon this comment by James Bryce, an English diplomat and author who died in 1922: “Three-fourths of the mistakes a man makes are made because he does not really know what he thinks he knows.” That gave me pause. What’s the problem?

No Englishman would say “threefourths,” he would say “three-quarters.” The quotation has been “translated.” How is that relevant to this deal? All will be revealed.

Look at the South hand and bidding sequence. What should South rebid?

He has no clear-cut call. He wants to get to game, but has no idea which one. He solves the problem by rebidding two diamonds, fourth-suit game-forcing. It is artificial and asks partner to do something descriptive. Usually, responder wants to get to three no-trump, but does nothaveastopperinthefourthsuit;orhe hopes partner can show three-card support for his five-card major; or both.

Here,Northcontinueswithtwospades, and South jumps to four spades. (Yes, North might have rebid two spades, not two clubs.)

West leads the diamond king, then shifts to a low club How should South continue?

Declarer should take trick two with his ace, ruff a diamond, play a spade to his ace (getting the bad news), and ruff his lastdiamond.Hethenplaysoffdummy’s top hearts and top clubs. East ruffs the last top club and leads a diamond, but South ruffs low and exits with

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2.