The Advocate 06-17-2025

SHARK TALES Superfans share their memories of ‘Jaws’ 1D

Voters to decide on teacher pay raises

Legislature OKs bills that allow for permanent increase

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Louisiana voters will return to the polls to decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment that would permanently raise teacher salaries by $2,250 and support staff salaries by $1,125 under a pair of bills that received final passage in the Legislature on Thursday House Bill 466 by Rep Josh Carlson, RLafayette, and HB473 by Rep Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, will ask voters to approve eliminating multiple constitutionally protected education trust funds in favor of giving raises to Louisiana teachers, who make roughly $5,000 less on average than educators in other southern states and about $15,000 less than the national average, according to data from the Southern Regional Education Board. If voters approve the amendment, teachers will receive the raises in the 2026-27 school year

The raises are slightly higher than the $2,000 and $1,000 pay bumps the bills originally proposed. The Louisiana House of Rep-

resentatives unanimously approved the additional increase Thursday Both pieces of legislation now head to the governor’s desk for his signature.

“I brought this bill on behalf of our teachers,” Carlson said in a statement. “We wanted to ensure that we did all we could to provide a permanent pay raise.”

The bills, which repackage part of a constitutional amendment championed by Gov Jeff Landry that voters shot down earlier this year, are the state’s latest effort to increase educators’ compensation. Lawmakers failed several times in recent years to increase their pay opting instead for one-time stipends three years in a row If signed into law, the bills will turn the stipend amount teachers currently receive into a slightly larger permanent pay increase.

Emerson’s bill eliminates three trust funds that funnel millions annually toward state K-12 education initiatives, including early childhood education, student testing help

ä See TEACHER, page 7A

BRPD officer struck by vehicle

Police arrest driver, say act was intentional

BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer

Authorities on Monday arrested a man accused of intentionally ramming a Baton Rouge police motorcycle, badly injuring the officer.

Sgt. Caleb Eisworth was in critical condition Monday afternoon after undergoing surgery, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies booked Gad Black, 41, of Baton Rouge, with at-

tempted first-degree murder of a police officer Someone using the name Gad Black posted on social media minutes after the crash Monday: “Check Him Out On Joor Rd Stretched One.” The crash occurred on Joor Road near Prescott Road about 11 a.m. Monday. Police said Black followed the officer for a short distance before striking Eisworth with his pickup Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement agencies found Black’s vehicle in the Monticello subdivision and apprehended him near the 8400 block of Airline Highway about 12:30 p.m. Eisworth has been with the Ba-

“I brought this bill on behalf of our teachers. We wanted to ensure that we did all we could to provide a permanent pay raise.” REP JOSH CARLSON, R-Lafayette

ton Rouge Police Department for 23 years, joining the motorcycle division in 2008. He has received multiple awards for heroism in the line of duty, including the Medal of Valor the highest honor bestowed by the Police Department.

Police Chief T.J. Morse said the department is rallying around Eisworth.

“Making it home after each shift is what I pray over every one of my officers each day,” Morse said. “I’m asking everyone to join me in that prayer now Let’s fervently pray Officer Eisworth back home to his loved ones.” East Baton Rouge Parish

ä See OFFICER, page 7A

Cassidy silent on RFK Jr.’s moves

Vaccination committee appointments draw questions

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is mostly keeping quiet on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent appointments to a top vaccination advisory committee, including three new members who have made a splash in conservative circles for their opposition to the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and for spreading vaccine misinformation.

Last week, Kennedy said he “retired” all 17 scientists on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, which advises the federal government on vaccine policy Kennedy, a longtime skeptic of vaccinations, said the Trump administration wanted members more closely aligned with the president.

“A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,” he stated.

All 17 members of the nonpolitical scientific committee had been appointed during the Biden administration.

As chair of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy more than any other senator, is responsible for confirming Kennedy as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Several Republican senators withheld their support of Kennedy until Cassidy a physician, weighed in.

In a speech explaining his vote to confirm Kennedy, Cassidy said the nominee had promised not to encourage parents to stop vaccinating their children and work closely with the senator

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Third grade teacher Taylor Wallace works with students in her math class at Baranco Elementary in Lafayette. Voters will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment to permanently raises salaries for teachers and support staff.

See CASSIDY, page 7A

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOHN McDONNELL

Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, left, greets Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr before Kennedy testifies at a hearing on May 14.

Baton Rouge Police Department

Sgt. Caleb Eisworth was badly injured Monday when he was hit by another vehicle in what police say was an intentional act.

STAFF FILE

PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Death toll in Nigeria

attack reaches 150

DAKAR, Senegal The death toll from an attack by gunmen over the weekend in north-central Nigeria has climbed to 150, survivors said Monday as the villagers were still digging through burned homes, counting their dead and looking for dozens of people still missing.

Assailants stormed Benue state’s Yelewata community late on Friday night, opening fire on villagers who were asleep and setting their homes ablaze, survivors and the local farmers union said. Many of those killed were sheltering in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the state.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but such attacks are common in Nigeria’s northern region where local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water The prolonged conflict has become deadlier in recent years, with authorities and analysts warning that more herdsmen are taking up arms.

U.S., U.K. announce signing of trade deal

KANANASKIS, Alberta President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that they had signed a trade deal that will slash tariffs on U.K. auto and aerospace industry imports, but they are still discussing how to handle steel production. The pair spoke to reporters at the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies, with Trump brandishing the pages of what he said was a long-awaited agreement. The rollout was anything but smooth, however, as Trump dropped the papers and at first said his administration had reached an agreement with the European Union when he meant the United Kingdom.

The president nonetheless insisted the pact is “a fair deal for both” and would “produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”

“We just signed it,” Trump said, “and it’s done.” Starmer said it meant “a very good day for both our countries, a real sign of strength.”

Reaching an agreement is significant as Trump has threatened much of the world with steep import tariffs that have unsettled markets and raised the possibility of a global trade war

He has since backed off on many of his proposed levies but also continued to suggest that administration officials were furiously negotiating new trade pacts with dozens of countries even as few have materialized.

Trump said “the U.K. is very well protected” from tariffs “You know why? Because I like them.”

Judge rules some NIH grant cuts illegal

WASHINGTON A federal judge ruled Monday it was illegal for the Trump administration to cancel several hundred research grants, adding that the cuts raise serious questions about racial discrimination.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts said the administration’s process was “arbitrary and capricious” and that it did not follow long-held government rules and standards when it abruptly canceled grants deemed to focus on gender identity or diversity, equity and inclusion.

In a hearing Monday on two cases calling for the grants to be restored, the judge pushed government lawyers to offer a formal definition of DEI, questioning how grants could be canceled for that reason when some were designed to study health disparities as Congress had directed. Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, went on to address what he called “a darker aspect” to the cases, calling it “palpably clear” that what was behind the government actions was “racial discrimination and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community.” After 40 years on the bench, “I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this,” Young added He ended Monday’s hearing saying, “Have we no shame.” During his remarks ending the hearing, the judge said he would issue his written order soon.

MINNESOTA

Officials: Suspect targeted 2 others

Man arrested, accused of shooting 2 lawmakers, killing 1

BY STEVE KARNOWSKI, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

The man charged with killing one Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another meticulously planned the shootings and intended to inflict more carnage against those on his hit list, driving to the homes of two other legislators on the night of the attacks, a federal prosecutor said

Monday

But one of those state lawmakers was on vacation and the suspect left the other house after police arrived early Saturday, acting U.S.

Attorney Joseph Thompson said.

Investigators say Vance Boelter appeared to spend months preparing for the shootings the latest in a string of political attacks across the U.S His list of potential targets contained dozens of names, including officials in at least three other states.

In Minnesota, Boelter carried out surveillance missions, took notes on the homes and people he targeted, and disguised himself as a police officer just before the shootings, Thompson said. “It is no exaggeration to say that

his crimes are the stuff of nightmares,” he said.

Boelter surrendered to police Sunday night after they found him in the woods near his home after a massive two-day search He is accused of fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.

Authorities say he also shot and wounded Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, who lived a few miles away Federal prosecutors charged Boelter, 57, with murder and stalking, which could result in a death sentence if convicted. He already faces state charges, including murder and attempted murder At a federal court hearing Monday in St. Paul, Boelter said he could not afford an attorney A federal public defender was appointed to represent him, and he was being held without bail pending a court appearance next week.

Manny Atwal, his lead attorney declined to comment, saying the office just got the case.

Boelter had many notebooks full of plans, Thompson said. Underscoring what law enforcement officials said was the premeditated nature of the attacks, one notebook

contained a list of internet-based people search engines, according to court records.

But authorities have not found any writings that would “clearly identify what motivated him,” Thompson said. Though the targets were Democrats and elected officials, Thompson said it was too soon to speculate on any sort of political ideology

All of the politicians named in his writing were Democrats, including more than 45 state and federal officials in Minnesota, Thompson said. Elected leaders in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin said they, too, were mentioned in his writings.

Democratic Rep. Esther Agbaje, whose district includes parts of Minneapolis, said she stayed with friends and family over the weekend after learning that her name appeared on the list of targets. She returned home only after learning the suspect had been caught.

“It was only today that you can sort of begin to exhale,” she said.

Authorities declined to reveal the names of the other two lawmakers whose homes were targeted but escaped harm. Democratic Sen. Ann Rest said she was told the suspect parked near her home early Saturday She said in a statement that the “quick action” of law enforcement officers saved her life.

Boelter sent a text to a family group chat after the shootings that said : “Dad went to war last night

I don’t wanna say more because

I don’t wanna implicate anybody,” according to an FBI affidavit. His wife got another text that said: “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and triggerhappy and I don’t want you guys around,” the affidavit said.

Police later found his wife in a car with her children. Officers found two handguns, about $10,000 in cash and passports for the wife and her children, according to the affidavit.

Just hours after the shootings Saturday, Boelter bought an electronic bike and a Buick sedan from someone he met at a bus stop in Minneapolis, the federal affidavit said. Police found the sedan abandoned on a highway Sunday morning.

In the car, officers found a cowboy hat Boelter had been seen wearing in surveillance footage as well as a letter written to the FBI, authorities said. The letter said it was written by “Dr Vance Luther Boulter” and he was “the shooter at large.”

The car was found in rural Sibley County, where Boelter owned a home. A police officer later saw Boelter running into the woods. He was found within 20 minutes — about a mile from the home — and gave himself up, crawling out before he was handcuffed and taken into custody in a field, authorities said.

Israel strikes Iran’s state-run TV during broadcast

Trump issues warning to Tehran

BY AMI BENTOV and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel Israel struck Iran’s state-run television station Monday during a live broadcast, forcing a reporter to run off camera following an explosion, after Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel that killed at least eight people.

In other developments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time.” He added that Israel is not attempting to topple the Iranian government, but he said he would not be surprised if that happened as a result of the strikes.

“The regime is very weak,” Netanyahu told a news conference. He also said he is in daily touch with President Donald Trump, who posted an ominous message on his social media site later Monday calling for the immediate evacuation of Tehran.

Israel had warned hun-

dreds of thousands of people in the middle of the Iranian capital to evacuate ahead of the strike against the TV station, which the military said provided a cover for Iranian military operations.

That warning came on the fourth day of the conflict, when the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above the Iranian capital and could fly over the city without facing major threats.

Trump posted his own message while in Canada attending the G7 summit. He has repeatedly said — and said more than once during the day that Iran could not have a

nuclear weapon. He emphasized that again in his post, writing “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” adding that Iran should have signed the “deal” he told it to sign to prevent what he said was “a shame, and waste of human life,” referring to Israel’s attack last week.

Trump ended the post with, “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media shortly after Trump’s post that he was departing the summit on Monday night, leaving for Washington a day early due to the intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran.

Doctor to plead guilty to supplying

Matthew Perry with ketamine

BY ANDREW DALTON Associated Press

LOS ANGELES A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the “Friends” star’s overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday

Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said the plea carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and Plasencia is expected to enter the plea in the coming weeks.

Plasencia and a woman accused of being a ketamine dealer had been the primary targets of the prosecution, after three

other defendants, including another doctor, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for their cooperation.

Plasencia had been scheduled to start trial in August. An email to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.

Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.

Perry, 54, began seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him. About a month before the actor’s death, he found

Plasencia, a doctor who in turn allegedly asked the other doctor Mark Chavez, to obtain the drug for him, according to court filings in the Chavez case. “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings from prosecutors. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Santa Monica, California, where Plasencia practiced and San Diego, where Chavez practiced, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “goto,” prosecutors said.

Tehran is home to around 9.5 million people. Earlier Monday, Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning affecting up to 330,000

Customer

Obituaries:

people in a part of central Tehran that includes the country’s state TV and police headquarters, as well as three large hospitals, including one owned by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Israel’s military has issued similar evacuation warnings for civilians in parts of Gaza and Lebanon ahead of strikes. State-run television abruptly stopped a live broadcast after the station was hit, according to Iran’s state-run news agency While on the air an Iranian state television reporter said the studio was filling with dust after “the sound of aggression against the homeland.” Suddenly, an explosion occurred, cutting the screen behind her as she hurried off camera.

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Boelter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARIEL SCHALIT

Smoke billows Monday after an Iranian missile struck an oil refinery in Haifa, Israel

TrumptodepartG7summitearly

BY JOSH BOAK, ROBGILLIES and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

KANANASKIS,Alberta President DonaldTrump is abruptly leaving the Group of Seven summit, departing aday early Monday as the conflictbetween Israel and Iran intensifies and the U.S. leader has declared that Tehran should be evacuated “immediately.”

World leaders had gathered in Canadawith the specific goal of helping to defuse aseries of globalpressure points, only to be disrupted by ashowdown over Iran’s nuclear program that could escalate in dangerous and uncontrollable ways.Israel launched an aerial bombardment campaign against Iran four days ago.

At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran needs to curb its nuclear program before it’s“too late.” He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began. “They have to make adeal,” he said. Asked what it would take for the U.S. to get involvedin the conflict militarily, Trump said Monday morning, “I don’twant to talk about that.“

But by Monday afternoon, Trump warned ominously on social media, “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Shortly after that, Trump decided to leave

Italy’sPrime MinisterGiorgia Meloni, from left, France’sPresident Emmanuel Macron, Canada’sPrime Minister Mark Carney,President Donald Trump, Britain’sPrime Minister Keir Starmer and Germany’sChancellor Friedrich Merz participate in asession of the Group of SevenSummit on Monday in Kananaskis, Canada.

the summit and skip aseries of Tuesday meetings that would address the ongoing war inUkraine and global trade issues.

As Trumpposed for apicture Monday evening with the other G7 leaders, he said simply,“Ihavetobeback, very important.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney,the host, said, “I am very grateful for the president’spresence and I fully understand.”

Crises abound

The suddendeparture only heightenedthe drama of a world that seemsonverge of severalfirestorms. Trump already has hitseveral dozen nations with severe tariffs that risk aglobaleconomic

slowdown. There has been little progress on settling the warsinUkraine and Gaza.

Butina deeper sense, Trump saw abetterpathin the United States taking solitary action, ratherthanin building aconsensus with the other G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany,Italy,Japanand theUnited Kingdom.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer,FrenchPresident EmmanuelMacron, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloniand German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held an hourlong informal meeting soon after arriving at thesummit lateSundaytodiscussthe widening conflict in the Mideast, Starmer’soffice said.

And Merztoldreporters that Germany was planning

Officials: 34 killed near Gaza’s

BY WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Israeli troops opened fire Monday as crowds tried to reach Israeli- and U.S.-supported food distribution centersin Gaza, witnesses said. The 34 people killed, according to health officials, made it thedeadliest dayofsuch

shootings since the new aid system launched lastmonth

to draw up afinal communique proposal on theIsraelIran conflict that will stress that “Iran must underno circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weaponscapable material.”

The European leaders wanted to help deescalate the situation, rather than enflame it in ways that could spread through the Middle East in unpredictable ways. Trump, for his part,said Iran “is notwinning this war And they should talk and they shouldtalk immediately before it’stoo late.”

Butbyearly Monday evening, as he planned to depart Kananaskis and the Canadian Rocky Mountains,Trump seemed willing to pushback againsthis ownsupporters

who believe theU.S.should embrace amore isolationist approach to world affairs. It wasa sign of the heightened military,political and economic stakesina situation evolving fasterthanthe summit could process.

“AMERICA FIRST means many GREATthings, including thefact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE ANUCLEAR WEAPON.MAKE AMERICA

GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump posted on TruthSocial,his social media platform

It’s unclear how much Trump values the perspective of other members of the G7, agroup he immediately criticizedwhile meeting with Carney.The U.S. president said it was amistake to removeRussia from the summit’smembership in 2014 anddoing so haddestabilized the world. He also suggested he wasopentoaddingChina to the G7. Trumpalso seemedtoput agreaterpriority on addressing his grievances with other nations’ tradepolicies

He announced with Starmer that they hadsigneda trade framework Monday that was previously announced in May,with Trump saying that British trade was “very well protected’ because ”I like them, that’swhy.That’stheir ultimate protection.”

High tension

As the news mediawas escorted from the summit’s opening session, Carney could be heard as he turned to Trumpand referenced

howthe U.S. leader’s remarks about the Middle East, Russia and China had already drawn attention to the summit.

“Mr.President, Ithink you’ve answered alot of questions already,”Carney said.

TheGerman, U.K., Japanese and Italian governments had each signaled a belief that afriendlyrelationship withTrump this year can help to keep any public drama at aminimum, after the U.S. president in 2018 opposed ajoint communique when the G7 summit was last held in Canada. Going into the summit, there was no plan for a jointstatement thisyear. The Trump administration appeared disinterested in building asharedconsensus with fellowdemocracies if it views such astatement as contrary to itsgoalsofnew tariffs,more fossilfuelproduction and aEurope that is less dependent on the U.S military

The G7, which originated as a1973 finance ministers’ meeting to address theoil crisis andevolvedinto a yearly summitmeant to foster personal relationships among worldleaders and address globalproblems. It briefly expanded to the G8 with Russia as amember only for Russia to be expelled in 2014 after annexing Crimea and taking afoothold in Ukraine that preceded its aggressive 2022 invasion of that nation.

newfooddistributioncenters

Airshowislargest

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT Staff writer

Gov.Jeff Landry and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois are attending the Paris Air Show this week on amission to “attract new investment and showcase Louisiana’sgrowing rolein global industries,” according to anews release. The event in France is

The Israelimilitary didn’t immediately comment on Monday’sshootings.But after some previous ones that have been anear-daily occurrence sincethe aid centers opened three weeks ago, it said itstroops had firedwarningshots at what it calledsuspects approachingtheir positions, though it didn’tsay whether those shotsstruck anyone.

the largest aerospace and aviation eventinthe world, accordingtothe release. Louisiana has had apresence there for nearly 20 years, though it’s Landry’ s first trip there.

Then-Gov JohnBel Edwards visited the air show in 2023. Thenews release does not saywhenLandryleftthe state or when he plans to return, and aspokesperson didnot respondtoquestions

Palestinians saythey face thechoice of starving or risking deathasthey make their way past Israeli forces to reach the distribution points, which arerun by aprivatecontractor,the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The HealthMinistry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says several hundred

people have been killedand hundreds morewounded in such shootings since the centers opened.

The ministry said 33 Palestinians were killedMonday trying to reach the GHF center near thesouthern

city of Rafahand another was killed while headed to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people who weren’ttrying to gettodistribution centers were killed elsewhere.

Palestinians are desperate

to feed their families after mostfood ran out during the 21/2 months this year when Israel barred all supplies from entering the territory.Israel haseased theblockadesince last monthtolet in atrickle of aid.

about his schedule.

Visitingthe airshow matches the economic development department’s new strategicplan, which “prioritizes global impact, growthinaerospace and defense and high-wage jobcreation,” the release says.

Landry and Bourgeois are highlighting $62 billionin newinvestmentsinLouisiana announced recently, including a$10 billion Meta datacenter,$17.5 billion liquefied natural gasproduction andexportfacility and a$5.8 billion Hyundaisteel mill.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

Wall Street recovers from Friday’s shock

Calm returned to Wall Street on Monday, and U.S. stocks rose, while oil prices gave back some of their initial spurts following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets at the end of last week.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.9% to reclaim most of its drop from Friday The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 317 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.5% They joined a worldwide climb for stock prices, stretching from Asia to Europe.

Israel and Iran are continuing to attack each other, and a fear remains that a wider war could constrict the flow of Iran’s oil to its customers. That in turn could raise gasoline prices worldwide and keep them high.

But past conflicts in the region have seen spikes for crude prices last only briefly They’ve receded after the fighting showed that it would not disrupt the flow of oil, either Iran’s or other countries’ through the narrow Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast

Hopes that the fighting could remain similarly contained this time around helped send oil prices back toward $71 per barrel on Monday

WhatsApp to start showing ads

WhatsApp says that users will start seeing ads in parts of the app, as owner Meta Platforms moves to cultivate a new revenue stream by tapping the billions of people that use the messaging service.

The app said advertisements will be shown only in the app’s Updates tab, which is used by as many as 1.5 billion people each day They won’t show up where personal chats are found.

WhatsApp said in a blog post that the personal messaging experience isn’t changing It’s a big change for WhatsApp, whose founders vowed to keep the platform free of ads when they created it in 2009.

At Home files for bankruptcy amid tariffs

At Home, the North Texasbased furniture company, has filed for bankruptcy as it weathers the challenges of tariffs.

The company on Monday filed for Chapter 11 in a Delaware court as it seeks to continue serving customers during the process, according to a statement

At Home made an agreement with lenders for terms to eliminate “substantially all” of the company’s nearly $2 billion in funded debt and provide a capital infusion of $200 million to support the company through its restructuring process and beyond.

At Home has navigated a complex retail environment that has led to other chains filing for bankruptcy, shuttering sites and changing ownership amid changing customer tastes and shifting policy changes. Retailers are under pressure as rising trade costs from key countries such as China scramble supply chains and squeeze providers’ abilities to maintain pricing.

“We are operating against the backdrop of an increasingly dynamic and rapidly evolving trade environment as we navigate the impact of tariffs,” CEO Brad Weston said in the statement At Home works with over 600 product partners, and in fiscal year 2025, it sourced about 90% of its products from overseas.

The timing of the tariffs came at a bad time for the chain

“Newly imposed tariffs and the uncertainty of ongoing U.S trade negotiations intensified the financial pressure on the company, accelerating the need for a comprehensive solution,” it said in the filing.

At Home operates 260 stores in 40 states, including Slidell, Lafayette and Kenner As part of the plan, the company will close 26 sites, none in Louisiana.

Trump name to sell mobile phones

They would be made in U.S., son Eric says

BY BERNARD CONDON AP business writer

NEW YORK The Trump family is licensing its name to a new mobile phone service, the latest in a string of ventures announced while Donald Trump is in the White House despite ethical concerns that the U.S. president could mold public policy for personal gain.

Eric Trump, the president’s son running The Trump Organization in his absence, announced a new venture Monday called Trump Mobile. The plan is to sell phones that will be built in the U.S., and the phone service will maintain a

call center in the country as well.

The announcement of the new mobile phone and service, called T1 Mobile, follows several real estate deals for towers and resorts in the Middle East, including a golf development in Qatar announced in April. A $1.5 billion partnership to build golf courses, hotels and real estate projects in Vietnam was approved last month, though the deal was in the works before Trump was elected.

Even oversight of such a company, with the Trump name attached, raises ethical concerns.

Trump has already used the federal government to reward his allies and punish his enemies. The Federal Communications Commission, the primary regulatory body overseeing mobile phone

companies, has already launched investigations of media outlets Trump dislikes and, in some cases, is personally suing.

Eric Trump said Monday that consumers deserve a phone that aligns with their values.

“Hard-working Americans deserve a wireless service that’s affordable, reflects their values, and delivers reliable quality they can count on,” he said in a statement.

The company would also enter a highly competitive market that includes companies that have been directly attacked by Donald Trump.

The Trump phone deal comes as a mandatory financial disclosure report just filed with the government shows the president has moved fast in the last year to profit off his celebrity, taking in $3 million in revenue from selling “Save America” coffee table books, $2.8 million from Trump watches and $2.5 million from Trump branded sneakers and fragrances.

The Trump Organization on Monday said the new, gold-colored phone available for $499 in August, called the T1 Phone, won’t be designed or made by Trump Mobile, but by another company

The Trump Organization did not respond immediately to a request for more details.

The president criticized Apple last month because it planned to make most of its U.S. iPhones in India, and threatened to slap a 25% tariff on the devices unless the tech giant starts building the phones domestically

A SWINGING SUMMER

Smaller amusement parks hope for a strong season under the shadow of tariffs

BY MAE ANDERSON AP business writer

NEW YORK — The trade disputes involving global economic powerhouses such as the U.S and China are being felt even in such distinctly local places as your regional amusement park.

Families who balk at the cost of a summer vacation at big amusement parks like Disney World favor trips to regional parks, which typically are within driving distance, so expensive flights aren’t necessary But if tariffs lead to economic uncertainty, they may just stay home.

For park owners, tariffs could subject them to extra costs that their customers might not think about. Parts of the rides are made of imported steel that’s currently subject to tariffs. Those prizes and toys people win after they shoot basketballs into a hoop?

They usually come from China, which has been subject to varying tariffs.

So far this year, however, there’s been no letdown.

“We’ve had good crowds, and everyone seems excited to be here,” said Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland’s Castaway Cove, in Ocean City, New Jersey, which boasts 30 rides, miniature golf, go-karts and other beachfront attractions. “As long as the weather is good, they’re ready to come down.”

That’s true for park-goer Chris Del Borrello, who visited Castaway Cove on a bustling Friday evening with a group of 10 family members, including his four children.

“We come here every year because it’s so fun, and we build memories every single summer,” he said.

Tariffs loom over the summer tourism industry just as leisure travel is expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels.

The U.S. Travel Association expects Americans to take 1.96 billion trips this year, up 2% from 1.92 billion last year Travel spending is also expected to increase 2% year over year As park operators prepared for the summer travel season, President Donald Trump unrolled on-again, off-again tariffs against U.S. trade partners that made planning difficult. For example, additional tariffs on goods made in China started at 10% in February, rose to 20% in March, ballooned to 145% in April, and were reduced to 30% in May On Wednesday the Trump administration put the number at 55%.

Hartley said he ordered items like stuffed animals for games from China early to beat the tariffs — and benefited from the reduc-

At Playland’s Castaway Cove amusement park, in Ocean City N.J crowds have been good officials say. Tariffs loom over the summer tourism industry just as leisure travel is expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels.

tion announced in May

“We loaded up We’re tripping over stuff at this point,” he said. “We tried to purchase as much stuff as we could to be ready for the season, because that little bit makes a big difference in the bottom line at the end of the day,” he said.

In particular, the park added two new rides this year, but parts were delivered back in the fall. Not all parks were as fortunate. At Adventureland, in Farmingdale, N.Y., the steel structure for a new ride, Wave Twister, and some China-made game prizes like plush toys and basketballs were affected by tariff costs, said manager Jeanine Gentile.

“We ordered them months ago before the tariffs were in place, but they typically arrive for delivery at this time of the year, and so obviously the tariffs were in before we received the product,” she said. “We did have to pay additional for those tariffs in order to get the product.” So far, the park is absorbing the cost. Its operators made the decision not to raise ticket prices this year But that could change next year

“We’ve just sort of felt that if we can do this (not raise prices) for Long Island and for our guests, let’s do it where we can afford it, at least for this season,” Gentile said.

Aside from tariffs, economic uncertainty is the biggest challenge for amusement parks this season.

Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is co-owned by country legend Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment, opened a week later in March due to concerns about the economy, Director of Communications Pete Owens said. But attendance at the park, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, so far is up 4% from last year Attendees are spending but looking for deals.

A promotion giving discount tickets to public employees has proved popular Owens said he is seeing customers buy tickets for their families closer to their actual visits instead of several days or weeks in advance. Some are even waiting until they’re in the Great Smoky Mountains to make a purchase.

“I think they’re all still looking very closely to see what value pricing there is or what opportunities there are,” he said.

Credit scores decline as U.S. student loan collections restart

BY CORA LEWIS Associated Press

NEW YORK Millions of Americans are seeing their credit scores suffer now that the U.S government has resumed referring missed student loan payments for debt collection. After 90 days of nonpayment, student loan servicers report delinquent, or past-due, accounts to major credit bureaus, which use the information to recalculate the borrower’s score. Falling behind on loan payments can affect an individual’s credit rating as severely as filing for personal bankruptcy

A lower credit score makes it harder or more expensive to obtain car loans, mortgages, credit

cards, auto insurance and other financial services at a time when inflation, high interest rates, and layoffs have strained the resources of some consumers.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that in the first three months of 2025, 2.2 million student loan recipients saw their scores drop by 100 points, and an additional 1 million had drops of 150 points or more. Declines that steep may mean the difference between a manageable credit card interest rate and an unmanageable one, or approval or rejection of an application to rent an apartment

The U.S Department of Education paused federal student loan payments in March 2020, offering

borrowers relief during the economic chaos of the coronavirus pandemic. Though payments technically resumed in 2023, the Biden administration provided a one-year grace period that ended in October 2024. Last month, the Trump administration restarted the collection process for outstanding student loans, with plans to seize wages and tax refunds if the loans continue to go unpaid. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, about 1 in 4 people with student loan accounts were more than 90 days behind on payments at the end of March. Kat Hanchon, 33, who works in marketing and higher education in Detroit, was one of them. Hanchon said her score dropped by 57 points

as a result of her loans falling delinquent this year That put her score below 600, or subprime.

When Hanchon received her statement from her loan servicer, her expected monthly payments were higher than before the pandemic-era pause, even though she had enrolled in a repayment plan that takes a borrower’s full financial situation into account.

Hanchon said she’s had to prioritize paying medical expenses — for a dental crown, a root canal, and an endoscopy before she’ll be able to consider putting money toward the loans. While her housing situation is secure for the moment, she worries about the annual percentage rate for her credit cards fluctuating.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MINGSON LAU

Senator also supported decriminalizing drug test strips

BY MEGAN WYATT Staff writer

A can of grape-flavored nitrous oxide sits under state Sen. Brach Myers’ desk at the State Capitol.

Leading up to this spring’s legislative session, Myers set out to discover how easy it was for anyone to get a hold of laughing gas. At Myers’ behest, his 15-year-old son purchased the grapeflavored can on Amazon. Myers filmed it.

It was easy, costing just $35. His son faced no age verification barriers or other efforts to prevent the sale to a minor Myers said. The can arrived just two days later

Now, a bill from Myers that changes penalties for online sales of nitrous oxide has sailed through the Louisiana Legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Senate Bill 98 would increase fines and stiffen penalties for recreational use and sale of nitrous oxide.

Myers, a Lafayette Republican, also carried another bill this year to decriminalize drug test strips, an initiative backed by the Louisiana Department of Health. Senate Bill 78, which supporters say they hope can help prevent drug-related deaths, has also passed through both chambers of the Legislature.

Myers said he’s concerned about young people watching videos of people using nitrous oxide on social media and trying to follow suit.

“While a lot of them are lighthearted, and they’re laughing and everything else, unfortunately, there’s some catastrophic events that are following,” he said.

“Some of these kids are dying.”

Both bills passed through the Senate and House without opposition.

Aimed at recreational use

Under the state’s proposed new law for nitrous oxide, online retailers can face penalties for producing or selling the substance with added flavoring.

A person or business in violation of the proposed law could face up to a $25,000 fine, up to one year in prison and a 30-day suspension of any certificate, permit or license issued by the Louisiana Department of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. A second offense would result in the revocation of the ATC certificate, permit or license.

The bill outlines exceptions for those 21 and older who work for manufacturers that use nitrous oxide, such as dental practices, restaurants and industrial operations.

Louisiana already banned recreational use and sale of nitrous oxide last year

Official tours BR sites

“They’re absolutely aimed toward recreational use,” Myers said. “These are things that you’re supposedly selling for your car? Why does it need a grape flavor?”

‘This is about saving lives’

His other bill about drug test strips legalizes the testing of substances other than fentanyl. While fentanyl test strips are legal in Louisiana, those that test for other substances are classified as drug paraphernalia under existing state law

That’s a problem, Myers said, because other synthetic substances and cutting agents are showing up in street drugs.

“This is about saving lives,” Myers said during a Senate committee hearing. “We’re facing a public health emergency where the contents of a pill or substance can no longer be assumed or guessed. Drugs are being altered with fatal components that are invisible, odorless and deadly in microgram amounts, and many of them are undetectable by current, legally accessible test strips.”

Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, RPort Allen asked during the hearing whether any district attorneys were prosecuting people who were using drug test strips for harm reduction purposes, or if the bill was meant to be proactive. A representative of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association indicated the latter

Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, asked Myers during the hearing whether using illegal drugs is a harmful and risky behavior Myers agreed

“I think the goal of your bill is to save lives,” Miguez said. “The reason I ask you those questions is to make a strong statement to the public that we also have an antidrug stance because illegal and illicit drugs are very harmful to the public.”

The Louisiana Department of Health worked with Myers on the bill after seeing increases in overdose deaths involving substances other than fentanyl, said Deputy Secretary Dr Pete Croughan

“This has definitely been a high priority for us,” Croughan said in an interview after the bill passed through the Legislature.

“The thinking around this bill is to give us the tools to

fight whatever comes next — what we don’t know is on the market, but may find in the next couple of months — and allow us to invest quickly, rather than having to go back every year to get a bill passed to expand the definition of paraphernalia.”

Keeping people safe

Overdose deaths are high in Louisiana: The state ranked No. 5 among all states and the District of Columbia for the rate of overdose deaths in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationally, opioid deaths have recently dropped significantly Louisiana is included in that trend, but opioid-related deaths were still up by 93% between 2019 and 2023 in the state, Health Department data shows.

National experts are still trying to untangle the reasons for the recent decreases in deaths. The CDC has cited widespread increases in availability of naloxone, the medication used to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose, as one reason.

Others they’ve cited include better treatment options for those addicted to drugs, changes in the illegal drug supply and national investments in prevention.

Harm reduction advocates in Louisiana also point to recent strategies, including the wider availability of fentanyl test strips, as a reason for the decrease.

But there are more dangerous drugs on the horizon that Health Department officials say they are concerned about. Among them: nitazenes, a class of opioids up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl; xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer with effects that cannot be reversed like opioids; and protonitazene and brorphine, synthetic opioids that are undetectable by available drug test strips in the state.

Test strips for nitazenes and xylazine are being manufactured and have been distributed in cities across the country Louisiana hasn’t yet been able to do the same.

“We haven’t been able to obviously acquire or distribute as long as they’re considered drug paraphernalia,” Croughan said. “The cartels are innovating at a much faster pace than we would like, so we want to try to keep up, keep people safe.”

Small-business chief pushes ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

President Donald Trump’s top small-business official visited Baton Rouge on Monday to drum up support for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying that the legislation will unleash “a blue-collar boom.”

“This bill is pro-small business. It’s pro-worker It’s pro-family,” said Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed in February to helm the Small Business Administration, a federal agency that helps small businesses with loans, counseling and other resources.

To promote the Trumpbacked bill, Loeffler visited industrial construction company Performance Contractors and toured a pipe-fabrication warehouse as welders, pipe fitters and other workers prepared giant stainless-steel cylinders for shipment to refineries.

It was the first stop on a six-state tour that will visit Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maine and North Carolina.

She highlighted provisions in the bill that would make permanent a 23% deduction on qualified smallbusiness income and would allow for 100% immediate expensing of certain capital investments like machinery and equipment purchases, which she said were critical for the manufacturing sector

Loeffler also noted that there would be no tax on tips or overtime pay, as well as a $500 increase to the child tax credit, raising it to $2,500.

The massive piece of legislation passed the U.S House in May, and congressional leaders have said they hope it will be signed into law by July 4.

But it faces an uncertain road ahead in the Senate, as fears percolate over billions of dollars in proposed cuts to federal spending on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, earlier this month on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said the legislation will reduce “fraud, waste and abuse that is rampant in Medicaid” and “strengthen” the program.

Loeffler on Monday called downsizing Medicaid and SNAP a matter of “rightsizing” those programs.

“We have to incentivize people to get back in the workforce,” she said.

“Those able-bodied workers need to come back and then leave those programs to be available for those who need them.”

But Democrats and some Senate Republicans have raised the alarm about cuts, warning of dire impacts to health care in their home states.

“If this budget gets passed into law as it is currently written, Louisiana stands to lose more health care funding than any other state,” U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said last month.

In its current form, the bill would increase spending on the military and border security and extend 2017 tax cuts worth trillions of dollars.

An analysis prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

“What we’re doing here is an important, and frankly, heroic thing to preserve the program so that it doesn’t become insolvent,” he added.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Contractors in Baton Rouge.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

U. S. SupremeCourt to hear wetlands cases

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear arguments from Chevron and Exxon that coastal wetlands lawsuits filed by two Louisiana parishes should be transferred to federal court— a decision that could ripple across dozens of similar cases seeking billions of dollars in damages. Theoil companies say they were

CASSIDY

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and his committee. He also said thatKennedy had assured him he would maintain the 17-member advisory panel “without changes.”

Critics argue Kennedy’srecent actions directly contradict that promise. ButKennedytold Fox News he made no such promise.

“That’snot true,” Kennedysaid

“What Itold Sen. Cassidy is thatI would allow him to put one of his candidates on, which we’re going to do.” Cassidy has declined to comment publicly on the firstcommittee prospects. But aspokespersonsaid Monday the senator doesn’tsee a violation of Kennedy’s promise

“As Sen. Cassidy has said publicly,the commitment was about the ACIP process, not staffing,” the spokesperson said. “Sen. Cassidyis still reviewing the full list of ACIP appointments and is communicating with Secretary Kennedy frequently.” Kennedy said the newly named board would not include “ideologicalanti-vaxxers.” They would be committed “to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,” he said in a social media post.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Cassidy to investigate the terminations and their impact on vaccine access.

“Secretary Kennedy’sreckless decision to fire these non-partisan scientific experts and replace them with ideologues with limitedexpertise and ahistory of undermining vaccines will not only endanger the lives of Americans of all ages, it directly contradicts acommit-

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OFFICER

Continued from page1A and efforts to improve struggling schools.Instead, thetrust funds would be used to payoff longstanding debts related to Louisiana’steacher retirementsystem, which is expected to save school districts $2 billion in interest

Mayor-President Sid Edwards said he’s praying for the officer andthe department.

“Today’sincident is asobering reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers face everyday in the line of duty to protect and serve our community,” he added.

Black hasa lengthy history of arrests, including incidents in-

fulfilling federal contracts during World WarII, adefense that lower courts havesofar rejected. How the highcourt rules could affect a recent landmark $745 million jury verdict in Plaquemines Parish and shape the future of 42 similar lawsuits accusingoil companies of destroyingmuchofLouisiana’s coastline.

“Chevron is pleased that theSupreme Court has decidedtogrant review in these cases, and we look forward to presenting ourarguments to the court,” Chevron’s counsel, Paul Clement,saidina statement. Each of thelawsuits filed in state courts accused oil companies of

ment he made to youbefore he was confirmed that he would not make anysignificant changes to this important Committee,”Sanders wrote in aletter toCassidy Friday.

Kennedy’sactionsonthe vaccine committeehave been denounced by many in the health care industry. Forinstance, BruceA.Scott, president of the American Medical Association, condemned Kennedy’s actions, saying in astatementthat removing the 17 sitting ACIP members underminestrust.

“With an ongoing measles outbreak and routinechild vaccination rates declining,this movewill further fuel the spread of vaccinepreventable illnesses,” Scottsaid.

All 17 experts recently dismissed from the panel published an essay Mondaydecrying “destabilizing decisions” made by Kennedy that couldleadtomorepreventable disease spread.

“Weare deeplyconcernedthat these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale,may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy,impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimatelyput U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,” the17panelists wrote in theJournal of the American Medical Association

On June9 —after Kennedy had “retired” the previous board, but beforehebeganappointing new members —Cassidy responded on X: “Ofcourse, nowthe fear is that theACIP will be filled up with peoplewho know nothing about vaccines except suspicion. I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”

Duringa June 10 news call with Louisianareporters,Cassidybatted away abarrage of questions asking

payments.Carlson’sbill mandates thatschool systems use the savings to give teachers raises.

The bill also requires the stateto step in to subsidize the full cost of the raises for districts thatdonot realize enough savings to do so on their own. It will also cover theestimated$16.7 million to give raises to teachers and staff at charter schools thatdon’t payintothe retirement system.

volving violence against police officers.

Black was arrested for trying to ram Baton Rouge police vehicles during aFourth of July chasein 2014 involvingMorse, who was an officer at the time.

Blackled officers on ahigh-speed chase after Morse attempted to pull him over for careless driving on Florida Boulevard, according to records. Black drove on the wrong side of the road,struckavehicle andtried to hit two marked police cars —all while hanging out of his

damagingcoastal wetlands by dredging canalsand leaving behindpollutionafter they wrapped up their operations, in violation of statecoastal regulations that went into effect in 1980.

The questionofwhether major environmental lawsuits belongin federal or state court has been “arisingmore and more,” and not just in Louisiana, according to Michael Gerrard,the founderofthe Sabin Center for ClimateChange Law at Columbia University in New York. “It’snot shocking that the Supreme Court wants to setthe ground rules.”

Companies often prefer federal courts, whichare seen as friendlier to their interests.

Cassidy to comment further.

Cassidy replied thathewould hold his fire until he had gathered moreinformation and then respond only on social media. After Kennedy named the first ACIP replacements, Cassidy’sstaff said he is doing adeep dive intothe backgrounds of thosechosen.

AmongKennedy’seight choices for thecommittee is Robert W. Malone, abiochemist and frequent guest on conservative media shows. He has claimed thatCOVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna couldbedangerous, whichmost established vaccine expertssay is false.

He helped popularize thebelief that hydroxychloroquine,anantimalarial drug, and ivermectin, which treats parasitic infections in animals,could be effective against the coronavirus. Most public health experts saythat’s not true.

He also chose Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologistwho pushed the “herdimmunity” argument that was embraced by manywho refused to follow pandemic protocols aimed at stemming the spread of thehighlyinfectious COVID-19 variants. He left Harvard Medical School after refusing to maskand be vaccinated,whichthe university wanted all hospital staff to do.

Athird selection, Vicky Pebsworth,apublic health nurse and Pacific region director of the National Association of Catholic Nurses, also is on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, an organization that questions the safetyofvaccines

The other five newly announced membersare:

n Joseph R. Hibbeln, apsychiatrist and neuroscientist who worked on nutritional neurosciences at the National Institutes of

The state will have to spend around $250,000 to fund the raises in theroughly seven districts that areexpected to come up short in their savings,according to cost estimates for Carlson’sbill.

The Supreme Court’sdecision to take up the case is the latest in alegal saga that started over adecade ago. The first of the 42 coastal lawsuits, all brought by governments againstoil companiesand litigated by thelaw firm Talbot, Carmouche, and Marcello, were filed in 2013.

Since then, oil companies have tried three times to movethem from state to federal court.

Afterthe NewOrleans-based 5th Circuit Federal AppealsCourt sent thecases back to state court, ajury awarded Plaquemines Parish $745 millionindamages in April.

VicMarcello, aco-founder of Talbot,Carmouche,and Marcello, said the court’sdecision will affect

Health.

n Retsef Levi,aprofessor of operationsmanagementatthe Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.

n CodyMeissner,aprofessor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and previously served on ACIP

n James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician.

n Michael A. Ross, aclinical professor of obstetricsand gynecology at GeorgeWashingtonUniversity andVirginia Commonwealth University

The eight members, along with nine yet to be named, are expected to attend the next ACIP meeting on June 25.

Cassidy has beentrying to walk atightrope in astate where many Republicans ardently support President Donald Trump. But he is also trying to stay true to his 30 years as adoctor working in Louisiana’s charityhospital system as an unabashed promoterofvaccinations to fightdisease andmitigate its spread.

In his last reelection campaign in 2020, Cassidy won more votes than anyone other than Trump in thehistory of Louisiana. Butheenraged conservatives by voting in January 2021 to convict thepresident on impeachment charges stemming from MAGA supportersinvading the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6inhopes of stopping confirmation that Joe Biden had won thatpresidential election.

The Louisiana Republican Party censured Cassidy forhis impeachmentvote. The GOP-dominated Legislature then changedthe state’s election systemtoensureCassidy would have to run in an April18, 2026, party primary before the Nov 3, 2026, generalelection.

He already hasattracted one

11 of the42lawsuits brought by six coastal parishes in Louisiana. Marcello calledthese the “refinery cases,” where asingle company both produced andrefinedoil —unlike the other lawsuits where production and refining were handled by separate companies.

Thecompanies argue these refinery operations, which are linked back to federaldirectivesduring World WarII, provide the justification formoving the cases to federal court. Chevron disagrees that the rulingwillbelimited to just those 11 refinery cases, andnotedthat it will be up to thecourt to decide which cases its ruling applies to.

Republican opponent, stateTreasurer JohnFleming, aformer congressman who worked in the White House during Trump’sfirst administration. Several other conservatives are said to be mulling the race.

Since calling Cassidy a“total flake” in April2024, Trumphas kept quietand notendorsedanyonein Louisiana’sSenate race.

Back home, Louisiana conservatives pressured —oroccasionally threatened —Cassidy to back Trump’sselection of Kennedy —or else.

“RFK is going to run HHS whether youlike it or not,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, wrote Jan. 30 on X. “So, vote your conscience Senator,ordon’t. Either way,We’re watching.”

Cassidy initially voiced reticence on supporting forthe nation’s health chiefsomeonewho fordecades hadcrusaded against vaccinations. But Kennedy promised Cassidy that he would not undercut public confidence in vaccines.

During aFebruary speech after backing Kennedy’sconfirmation, Cassidy said he would “rebuff any attempts to remove the public’saccess to lifesaving vaccines.”

Since becoming health secretary,Kennedy ruledthatpregnant womenand children don’tneed the COVIDvaccines anymore. He cited scientific studies that were unpublished or under dispute, KFF Health News reported.

Kennedy also canceled vaccine contracts,pressuredthe Federal Food and Drug Administration’s headofvaccines to resign, andannounced10,000jobswouldbecut from the health department.

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate.com.

Otherdistrictsare expected to have nearly $36 million left over after providing the raises, which the legislation says can be put toward alimited number of uses, including giving teachers additional pay bumps. If the governor signsthe bills into law,Louisianavoters will then need to approve changing the state constitution to eliminate the trust funds. Lawmakers say that vote will likely not happen until April2026.

window making obscene gestures at officers—before crashing into another truck, police alleged.

After police deployed spike strips to disable the truck, Black got out,assaulted apolice dog and punched an officer in the face.

On Monday,Morsesaid he and his K-9 dog Tagchased and caught Black on foot.The chief said Black punched Tagseveral times during thestruggle. Afterthe pursuit, police discoveredBlack’s9-year-old son in the front passenger seat.Morsede-

Thestate’slargest teachers union supportsthe raises but has expressed concerns about funding them through debt-payment savings

scribed the child in apolice report as “shaken, scared and suffering.”

In 2016, Black pleaded guilty to aggravated flight from an officer in adeal with prosecutors. After spending about twoyears in jail, he was placed on probation.

Black was also charged withattempted burglary and flight from an officer in 2003, and in 2006 with possession of afirearm as aconvicted felon Monday’sincident is beinginvestigated by the East Baton Rouge ParishSheriff’s Office.

Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter told lawmakers last month that it would be better to include the pay increases in the state’s school-funding formula to prevent the money from being funneled toward different uses downthe road.

Educators “cannot rely on good intentions alone,” he said, adding that “wewant to get someguarantees.”

“This was adeliberate and cowardly attack on an officer —one of our community’sprotectors —and it strikes at the very heart of public safety,” Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said in astatement. “Sgt. Eisworth is a dedicated public servantwho has spent over two decades protecting this city,and he was targeted while simply doing his job.”

Staffwriter PatrickSloan-Turner contributed to this story.

Email Aidan McCahill at aidan. mccahill@theadvocate.com.

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LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Louie’s legend liveson

For nearly 35 years, Frenchie was the circus ringleader at Louie’sCafe, the Baton Rouge institution just north of LSU. Early on aSaturday night two weeks ago, about 50 people gathered at Louie’sto remember Frenchie, the longtime chef who loved to sing and dance.

Frenchie’s real name was Marcus Cox.

“Frenchie was the frontman. He was the face. He wasthe guy who always greeted you,” saidJimmy Wetherford,owner of Louie’s. “He remembered people’s names. He remembered what they wanted to eat.People loved to go to the counterand listen to Frenchie tell jokes and cook at 100 miles an hour.”

Wetherford describes Frenchie as “a short-order standup comedian. He was quick on hisfeet with the wit —amaster of the comeback.”

Frenchie retired in November 2022. His last shiftwas the Sunday after LSU’sovertime defeat over Alabama.

He passed away March 19. Wetherford wanted to honor his longtime and much-loved employee with agathering of friends.

From the time Frenchie started at Louie’sin1988, he was apresence. For many, he was part of the cultural fabric of the LSU experience.

“When he first started at Louie’s,heworked the day shift and the late-night shift. Louie’swas a24-hour diner in the ’80s and ’90swhennorth of campus had an active nightlife,” said Wetherford. “He was the guy at Louie’s. He was cracking the jokes and cracking the eggs.”

Frenchie earned his nickname during his service in Vietnam. He was born in AvoyellesParish and spoke enough French toget the moniker from fellow soldiers. Once out of themilitary,he used his GI Bill to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to become achef.

“Frenchie was agunner on a helicopter in Vietnam,” Hampton Peele told those gathered to remember the legendary cook. Peele, who has adish at Louie’s named after him, shareda memory of once watching Frenchie working three different cooking stations. He was singing three different songs as he went down the line —one song for each station.

“He would pick up the same songhehad been singing at each station where he had left off,” Peele said, with achuckle. “Like his business card said, he was a warrior,statesman and fry cook. Frenchie was my friend.”

Anyone who worked with Frenchie knew that he approached his work with aCordon Bleu mindset. He was avocal chef who used his training torun Louie’s—where, at 2a.m., tipsy collegestudents used to find refuge in aMitchell omelet to help restore alittle order to the world. These days, Louie’sisopen from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. seven days aweek.

Frenchie was known for his pancake prowess. He could make pancakes in whatever animal shape achild of any age could conjure. Afew years ago, he made me giraffe pancakes. Fred Simonson, general manager at Louie’s, spoke at the unconventionalmemorial service. Simonson worked in the trenches at Louie’swith Frenchie from 1991 through 2023 and describes the times they shared as “rawass real life.”

“Frenchie’sstar power was already in full bloom when I started at Louie’s,” Simonson

ä See RISHER, page 2B

Boardclashesoverpay,jobs

Topofficialssparwithstate public defender

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Three members of theboard that oversees Louisiana public defenders have quit amid continuing turmoil over five districtchiefs losing theirjobs and an ongoing disputeoverpay

Freddie Pitcher Jr., TedHernandez and PeterThomson have all resigned, Louisiana Public Defender Oversight Board Chair Gerard Caswell said during aboard meeting Monday Thestate hasalready found two replacements —Jeffrey Hufft joinsasa gubernatorial appointee,

while Senate President Cameron Henry,R-Metairie, appointed StephenDwyer.Both newboard members are attorneys in the greater New Orleansarea.

Thenew recruits’ first meeting wasaneventful one. Five top public defenders battled for their jobs, accusing Rémy Starns, the state public defender,ofretaliation and even discrimination.

Starns denied their claims and argued he was well within his rights nottorenew thecontracts of the five district chiefs.

Starns alsoclashed with board members over his attempts to include hiscompensation plan in the

contracts of other district chiefs.

Understate statute, the board has the right to set acompensation plan, andithas declined to adopt Starns’, sticking with aprevious plan. In February,Starns sent letters to five district chiefs saying their contracts, which expire July 1, would not be renewed. Those chiefs were: n Michelle AndrePont, of Caddo Parish n TrishaWard, of Evangeline

Parish n BrettBrunson,ofNatchitoches Parish n Deirdre Fuller,ofRapides Parish n John Hogue, of East Carroll, Madison and Tensas parishes. State statute allows publicdefenders whofeel they’ve been wrongfullyterminatedtoappeal to the board. That’swhatthe five defenders have done. They argue Starns’ actions against them did nothavegood cause and were retaliatory,because the defenders publicly opposed Starns on various policy issues. For example, they testifiedlastyearagainst abillthat

TRUE FANS

Plantwants to build twonew incinerators

Advocateswarnof rising emission level in Ascension Parish

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

Westlake Vinyls is proposing to build twonew hazardous waste incinerators at its plastics complex in Geismar thatthe company says would promoteefficiency and circular recycling of energy andresources with minimal environmentalimpact, according to state regulatory papers. In addition,ifthe furnaces are built, Westlake Vinyls would no longer have to ship its toxicwaste by rail and truck to off-site incinerators, reducing theriskofaccidental spills, cutting diesel air emissions from trucks and train locomotives, and reducing traffic delays onthe tracks, company of-

ficials say But the new facilities would boost toxic and other air emissionsina heavilyindustrialized partofAscension Parish that already has an elevated lifetime cancer risk from existing pollution,state permit and federal air datashow

The new furnaces could also occasionally receive shipments of similar hazardous waste from sisterWestlakefacilities“to accommodate occasional equipment outages,” though “under normalcircumstances, this project will greatly reduce the hazard” of accidental transportation spills, Westlake officials told stateregulatorsthis spring.

Some advocates have questioned whether thebeneficial trade-off Westlake is touting is really worth the environmental cost.

STAFFPHOTOSByHILARy SCHEINUK

ABOVE: BradHammock,ofFort Worth, Texas, viaBossier City grills freshboudin as fans tailgateonMondaynearCharles SchwabField before theLSU Tigers take on theUCLA Bruins in theCollegeWorld Series in Omaha,Neb.

LEFT: LSU pitcher Anthony Eyanson greets fans as theTigers arrive to theballpark.

JimmySwaggartin ICUafter cardiacarrest

Pastor in critical condition, family says

Staff report

TheRev.Jimmy Swaggart, an evangelical pastor,was in critical condition Monday after being rushed to ahospital Sundayfrom his Baton Rougearea home, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries said in anews release. Swaggart went intocardiac arrest shortly after 8a.m. on Father’sDay.Emergency personnelwereable to revive his heartbeat, thechurch said.

“He remains in theICU,where he is under closemedical care,” JimmySwaggart Ministries said in astatement. In aprayer service Sunday night, Swaggart’sson, theRev Donnie Swaggart, described the

events of the morning.

Donnie Swaggartsaid that after he and his son, Gabe, learned whathappened, they rushed to his mother’s house. “He never regained consciousness, Donnie Swaggartsaid. “We both took turns giving him chest compressions until EMT could get there. I’ve never seen so many people arrive at onetime, andI want to thank them. They were able to get aheartbeat back. Right now, he is in ICUand without amiracle, his time will be short. But we believe in God —we’renot giving up.” Jimmy Swaggart, 90, from Ferriday,isthe founder of Jimmy SwaggartMinistries.

ä See BOARD, page 2B

Swaggart

Starns

said. “Back then, Frenchie didn’t trust my abilities as adishwasher.”

On Simonson’ssecond night on the job, Frenchie gave him the nickname “Fredrico Suave.”

“He’sthe reason Idon’t trim celery.Ijust throw the whole thing in the stew,” Simonson said. “He walks with me in ways I don’teven know.”

Jim Engster,who goes to Louie’smost every day, told astory about Frenchie giving him anickname after he acquired acompany 15 years ago —Thurston Howell III. Engster,host of “Talk Louisiana” on WRKF, compared Frenchie’s celebrity status to that of longtime newspaper columnist Smiley Anders.

“They were the same kind of characters,” Engster said.

Annabelle Hansen worked as awaitress at Louie’sfor 21/2 years with Frenchie. Sheincorporated specialinstructions as part

SWAGGART

Continued from page1B

At hispeak in themid1980s, he was the country’s top-rated TV preacher broadcast to 2million

PLANT

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“There’ssignificant increased emissions for a bunch of stuff. It’sreally hard for me to see” how the proposed benefit “outweighs that” increase, said Abel Russ, asenior attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project who previously worked as atoxicologist.

The new acid recovery furnaces, which do not existat the Geismar plant currently, would incinerate the “liquid heavy ends” leftfrom the manufacture and distillation of ethylenedichloride. The heavy ends are classified as hazardous waste due to their toxicity,the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says. Ethylene dichloride, atoxic chemical that’s aprobablehuman carcinogen, is an important feedstock for Westlake’s production of vinyl chloride monomer,a key chemical used to make PVC plastic. Polyvinyl chloride is widely used for industrial, commercial andconsumer purposes, includingfor packaging, plumbing, siding and window frames.

Handling up to 5million gallons of hazardous waste annually,thesenew acid recovery furnaces would destroy the heavy ends and several other hazardous wastes. Their combustion with natural gas would produce process heat and recreate hydrochloric acid for future production, permit records say

In addition to the new furnaces, the expansion would require eight storage tanks.

Six new ones would be built 18 feet tall with adiameter of 14 feet to hold the new hydrochloric acid. Twoexisting tanks would be repurposed to hold more than 1million gallons of the hazardous heavy ends.

The planned furnaces would be required to meet stringent federal air standards for hazardous waste incinerators that are tougher than more typical U.S. Clean Air Act limits.

The furnaces also are being geared to meet new EPAcontrols proposedfor hazardous incinerators and would destroy emissions routed from existing process vents, the company says.

“This demonstrates Westlake’songoing commitment to adhere to regulatory requirements and continuous improvement,” said Chip Swearngan, Westlake’s spokesperson.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is considering permits for the facility and does not comment on pending applications. Apublic hearing on the facility in February drew little public interest, while letters

of the training she would give newly hired waitresses to address the Frenchie factor “I told themthat you are going tolearn tolove Frenchie, but he will make youcry first,” she said. “On my first day,Idropped a tray fulloffood.” Frenchie watched it happen. He yelled but never stopped moving. He just started cooking the food all over again. “It taught me something. Youjust got to keep going. Youhave topickthings up and do it again,” Hansen said.

households. He also built achurchcomplex on BluebonnetBoulevard, which included dormitories, televisionstudiosand warehouses. But twowidely publicized encounters between Jimmy Swaggart and prostitutes

notifying local officials about thepotential forthe hazardous incineratorswent out last month,agency recordsshow Airpollution to increase Still, thenew facilities wouldboost nontoxicair emissions that affect respiratory and cardiovascular health, sharply increase a few existing toxic emissions andadd newheavy metal, dioxin and furans emissions common toxicbyproducts of burning fossilfuelsorofhazardousincineration.

Based on the proposed permitlimits, thefacility would have permissiontoemit arsenic, chromium and mercury into theair to levels that wouldhavemadeitamong Louisiana’slargestin2023, federaltoxics reporting data show Most of those metal emissions would be in the few dozen pounds per year;many other kindsofair emissions are measured in thedozens of tons.

But CorinneGibb, aresearchchemistand air monitoring coordinatorfor theenvironmental group Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said even small amounts of some metals can be significant because of their high toxicity “Typically,one pound of chromium 6isequivalent to aton of benzene in toxicity,” Gibb said Benzeneisawell-known human carcinogen often tied to oil refining and other petroleum-based industrial processes Russ, the Environmental Integrity Project attorney, noted that hydrochloric acid emissions would rise by as much as 900% and chlorine emissions by as muchas 300%.

Thosemaximumpossible increases for the two chemicals would each be more than what was released byall facilities in Ascension Parish in 2023, according to federal toxics reporting data.

Thosesharp increases come even after aproposed emissions cap that Westlake expectstomeet through new pollution controls,a permit applicationsays With that limit, the emissionsaren’testimatedto reach minimum thresholds thatwould have required Westlake to performnew air modeling to see its impact on surrounding areas. Some pollutants, likefine particulates that cancarry heavy metals, areestimated to fall just underthose triggers

Formerly the Borden Chemical facility thata predecessorofWestlakebought in bankruptcy in the early 2000s, Westlake’s Ascension Parish operationislocated on the southeast corner of La. 30 and La. 73 south of Geismar and Dutchtownand southwest of Gonzales

Aspirit like Frenchie’s doesn’tcome alongoften and when it does, it doesn’t just vanish. Frenchie is still showing up. He’sthereinthe stories. He’sthereinthe laughter.He’stherewhen thekitchen is humming and the place is full. When atray crashes to the floor, it’s Frenchie’sspirit that says, “Wedon’thave to wash that one, boys,” as the line cook, withoutmissing abeat, starts preparing the orders all over again.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

tooka toll on the ministry

The ministry survived the scandal, though in a much smaller form, and still operates outofits Baton Rouge headquarters, running TV and radio networks,aschooland aBible college

Even without theproposed expansion, Westlake’s immediate area hasanadditional lifetime cancer risk from air pollution that’sthree times the minimum that the EPA deems acceptable,the agency’sair toxics datashow Areas just outside Westlake’simmediate zone, where homes and commercial businessesare located in Geismar,the cancer risk falls to right at or under this EPA minimum.

The EPAair risk information is anational data set that theagencysays should be used to assess broad patternsoflifetime risk,not indications of immediate harm

Still, when risk levels reach beyond that EPAminimum, they do represent“aconcern for increased cancer risk” andair emissions and their sources require further study,EPA and other federal guidance say Fewjobs, butkey role

The hazardous waste furnaces will result in five direct jobs, but Westlake hastold state regulators that their addition will play an important role in maintaining productionlevels at Geismar and continuing to employseveral hundred people.

The sister facilities where the Geismar plant sends its hazardous wastefor incineration areexpected tohave those furnaces reduced or eliminated because of changing market conditions

Theonlyother possibility, Westlake says, would be commercial hazardous waste facilities but incineration capacity alongthe Texasand Louisiana Gulf coasts “does not exist at this time.”

Without other options, “Westlake will have to curtail or potentially cease production at theGeismar Plant, resulting in significant negative social andeconomicbenefitsofthe state,” the company told stateregulators.

Theproposals for hazardous waste incinerators in Geismar came just months after Westlake suspendedits plans to addtwo of the same kinds of incineratorsinLake Charles.

That proposal ran intoopposition from local environmental groups. Swearngan, the Westlakespokesperson, said the two proposals aren’t connected,with “eachbased on business and/or operational needs and strategies.”

“The Lake Charles South project hasbeen suspended, and the scope of that project remains underevaluation due to the evolving business and operational landscape and not as aresult of any of theoppositionexpressedby community groups,” he said.

David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@ theadvocate.com.

gave Starns and Gov.Jeff Landry more powerover thepublic defense system. Some also opposed Starns’ proposed compensation structure,whichwould cut the salaries of some district defenders by tens of thousands of dollars. Brunson believed his termination was retaliation not just for speaking against legislation, but for standing up to Starns over a“pattern of bullying and mistreating women.”

AndrePont also saidshe believedStarns discriminated against women.

“Mytermination is not just unwarranted.It’sretaliatory. It’smypunishment for speaking out and is at leastinpart because I’m awoman,” AndrePont told theboard. “Under Mr Starns’ leadership, there hasbeen atroubling and consistent pattern of disparatetreatment of women.”

AndrePont said Starns hasterminated sixwomen since2023and twomen, both of whom defended women.Those numbers include the contested firings. Starns deniedthose allegations.

“I completely andunequivocally deny any of the allegationsmadeagainst me regarding discrimination on any purpose,for any reason,” Starns told theboard. “Those statements were false, and Ibelieve they knewthemtobe false.”

Terminations

Starns has maintained that he never fired thedistrict chiefs to beginwith —hesimply opted not to renew their contracts.

“I nonrenewed contracts. There’sbeen alot of loose language thrown out here today about terminations. No suchterminations ever took place. They have a term; term is expired,” Starns said Monday.“As of July 1, Iplan to move forward withinterim district

defenders.”

Asupporting opinion from Attorney General Liz Murrill stated that, because thedefenders’contracts had lapsed, they did not have the right to aboard hearing or investigation.

Butabrief by Stephen Haedicke,anattorneyfor thefive district chiefs,arguesnonrenewal of the contracts should not have been an option for Starns. State statute requires him to renew them, according to the brief

It citesa statute that reads, “Inanefforttomaintain continuity of public defenderservices in each judicial district, any person serving as thedistrictpublicdefenderofajudicial district shall continue to contract with the office and serve as the district public defender of that district.”

Initially,itappeared the board would side with Starns. It appointed aspecial committee to investigate the firings in March. AfteranApril 7hearing, Paul deMahy,the committee chair,issued arecommendation saying that “Mr Starns hadnoobligationto enter into new contracts with these defenders.”

But on Monday,the board voted to further investigate the matter,saying it had received new information since the April 7hearing, both from Haedicke and in legislative hearings.

Specifically,board memberFrank Thaxtoncited statements from legislators indicating that, when they passed Act 22 of the secondspecial sessionin 2024 —which gave Starns morepower over contracts —they did not intend to allowhim to getrid of district defenders without an appeals process.

“The committee made adecision right after we hadour hearing, and it wasbased on whatwehad at that time,” deMahy told the board. “Personally I don’tlike the decision but I thought that’s thedecision that had to be made based on what we had.”

Thecommittee will hold

ahearing Wednesday to reconsiderits recommendation. TheLouisiana Illuminator first reported that Hernandez and Pitcher had resigned from the Louisiana Public DefenderOversight Board.

Differencesoverpay

Starns also has clashed with the five chiefs over the state’scompensation plan. He presented an alternate plantothe boardlastJune, but the board did not adopt it, standing by an older proposal.

State law specifically gives the board the power to set the compensation plan.

Still, Starns hasincorporated his ownplan into 30 public defender contracts forthe upcoming fiscal year,having thosedefenderswaive theright to the board-set compensation plan, he said.

“I have astatutory obligation to establish and maintain in acost-effective manner delivery of legal services, and Inegotiate contracts,” Starns said. “I thinkthe district defender compensation plan and all of its elements proposed by the oversight board would violate thoseprinciples. I’m notgoing to have contracts that have those provisions in them.”

Thatpronouncement ruffled some feathers on the board.

Board memberAdrejia Boutté said thecontracts constituted a“statutory violation.”

“That’saproblemfor me and Idon’thave the answer unfortunately as to what is the movethat can be done,” she said.

15,

Unofficial notification, keep your tickets

Obituaries

State Senate. Sheissurvived by her chosen family, Eric and Mariangie Hill, Neila Eckler, VeraOlds, J. Hasan,Dr. RandyCafferal, Dr.Monty Thames, Father CleoMilano, MaryBeth Chevalierand Judy Ewell Day. Also, her grandsons Alex Hill and Adam Ewell Day; great granddaughter, Mikayla Marie Dayand cousin, Gayle Palermo Special thankstofriends Judy Monte andCookie Howard, for theirloving support. Also thanksto The Hospice of Baton Rouge and their Palliative Care team and the staffof Sunrise Assisted Living Facility for their care and compassion. Finally, we express appreciationtoDr. Lieuxand his stafffor their longtermcare. Amemorial visitation willbeheld at OurLady of Mercy Catholic ChurchonThursday, June 19, at 9amuntilMassof ChristianBurialat10am, celebratedbyFather Cleo Milano. Burial willfollow at Greenoaks Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donationsinmemory of Mary EthelDelage may be made to OurLady of Mercy Church, 445 Marquette Av-

Lang, Lillie Heatly

Lillie Mae Heatly Lang was born Dec. 6, 1931 to theunionofIrvin Heatly Sr., and Maybell PittsHeatly.She was educatedin thepublicschoolsystem of East Baton Rouge Parish, and was amember of the Class of 1949 from McKinley HighSchool.She leavestocherish her memory3 children, 1son-inlaw, 1sister,1 brother-inlaw, 4grandchildren,6 greatgrandchildren,1 great, greatgrandchild, and numerous otherrelatives. Funeral service will beginWednesday, June 18, 2025 at DonaldsonChapel, 2501 Gracie St 70802, with visitationfrom 8:00-10:45 ,the funeral willfollo

Robin St., Baton Rouge, 70807 (225-774-0390) entrusted withher care.

Murtagh, Carolyn CarolynMurtagh,90, passedawayonFriday, June 13, 2025, after avery brief illnesstorejoinher husband Jimmyontheir 66thwedding anniversary. She wassurrounded by her six children.Carolyn was borninKingsville, Texas, onApril 24, 1935, and raisedinPortAllen, Louisiana.She proudly supported herhusband through medicalschool and histimeinthe Air Force.After her firststint asa military wife,Carolyn settled with JimmyinMor‐gan City to raisetheir six children. Hergreatestvo‐cations were wife,mother, grandmother andgreatgrandmother.She was happiestwhenfamilyand friends gathered together filled with love andlaugh‐ter.Sundaydinnerofroast, riceand gravywas afamily standardritual. Shewillbe mostrememberedfor her devoutfaith anddevotion tofamily, hersmile and contagiouslaugh.Justone short monthbeforeher passing,Carolyn wasstill

lege WorldSeries. Sheis survivedbylovingchildren Nannette (JohnnyMorgan), Yvette,Tobin (Michelle Ar‐cidiacono), Bobette (Joel Robideaux), Albin(Kristi) and Mynette (Jimmy Mann);grandchildren Zachary Morgan,Christian Roubique, Sydney Torres SymoneGoodman (Garret), ThomasTorres, Lauren Ar‐cidiacono,Anthony Arcidi‐acono,Dylan (Rachael)Ro‐bideaux,Brennan (Corinne)Robideaux,Luke (Katelyn) Robideaux, Mason Murtaghand Elouise Randall; five greatgrandchildren andone on the way. Carolynispre‐ceded in deathbyher lov‐ing husband, James Jimmy” Murtagh, MD,and her parents, Carroll Shorty”Carrowand Alma Sikes Carrow.The family gives specialthanksto Heart of HospiceLafayette and loving caregivers Lacey Meyers andCrystal Richard.Inlieuof flowers, donations canbemadeto HolyFamilyChurch in Port Allen,SacredHeart Church inBaton Rouge, St.Jude Children’sHospitalora charity of your choice.A celebration of herlifewill beonSaturday, June 21

Thefamilywillwelcome friends from 8to10a.m followedbyMassofChrist‐ian Burial celebrated by Rev.Jerry Martin anden‐tombmentinthe St.John the BaptistCatholicChurch Mausoleum.Pleaseshare memoriesatwww.wilbert services.com.

nd t, he

OUR VIEWS

Trump administration should mend FEMA, notend it

As much as Louisianans gripeabout the bureaucratic shortcomingsofthe Federal Emergency ManagementAgency,weknow perhapsbetter thananyoneabout the vital role the agency plays when major disaster strikes. Time and again, ourstate andits residents have relied upon theagency to mitigate damage, get help on the ground quickly and to partner in long-term recovery FEMAbringsnot just quick aidfor individuals but resources to help whole communities rebuild, particularly whena hurricane or other catastrophe is so severe that it hobbles local and state governments or simply overwhelms their capabilities.

Whenthathappens —and there’snodenyingit’shappening more frequently in more placesthan in years past —FEMA’s work represents the best our country hastooffer, the idea that we’re all in thistogether andwe help one anotherout in times of distress.

So we’re alarmed to hear that President Donald Trump intends to dismantlethe agency after the hurricane season thatbegan June 1and “wean” states off federal aid.

“If acertain state gets hit bya hurricaneor tornado, the governor should beable to handleit, and frankly,iftheycan’thandle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’tbegovernor,”hesaid. “We’re going to giveout less money.We’regoing to giveitout directly.It’ll be from the president’soffice.”

We believe this reflects afundamentalmisunderstanding of how disasters unfold and what capabilities most states, even the bestfunded and managed, havetodraw upon. Louisianans know FEMA’s activities often get tangled in red tape, andwesupport efforts to unravel it. But we also know that its good work saves lives, homes and livelihoods. This should not be apartisan issue, and we’re glad that the state’stwo Republican senators have spoken outabout theagency’s importance.

Earlier this spring, after Trumpstarted talking about decommissioning FEMA but before he put atimeline on it,U.S.Sen. John Kennedy said that “FEMA can’t go away …I think the first job of the federal government is to protect people and property.”

Lastweek, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said that his goal is to retain some functional version of what FEMA provides “Weknow from astorm like Katrinaora storm like Helene that devastates thestate’s ability to respond by itself —and evena neighboring state to help,” that “weabsolutely have to preserve that‘American helping American’ (tradition)through the federal governmentwhena big storm comes,”he said. “And Iwill push (for) that ability be preserved.”

We urge them to stick to their guns, andwe also encourage House Speaker MikeJohnson andMajority Leader SteveScalise to share Louisiana’sexperiences withtheir peersin Congress —although, frankly, these days more andmoreofthem are seeing the need with theirown eyes

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The TimesPicayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor, The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SENDUS ALETTER, SCAN HERE

OPINION

If budget bill toobig, it should be rejected

“The Big,BeautifulBill —it’sover 1,000 pages, and Ihaven’tread it. So, howdoIknow that what Ihave heard is correct? Can’tbesure. Lots of spin out there,” you may be saying.

So here’smyplan: I’ll tell you what I have heard.

If you object to thebill’scontents as presented here, but don’ttrust my sources, you can call or write your senators and say: “If this is in thebill, Ithink it is bad for the American people.”

Butdoitsoon. They’re voting soon.

n The tax breaks will add over $3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. If you had agreat deal of personal debt,would your strategy be to takeonagreat deal more? Think of thenational and international economic risk.

n Cuts will be madetoservices like SNAP andMedicaid. The president had said no cuts. Speaker Mike Johnson had said only cuts to fraud. Now,it’s, “We can’tgive tax breaks unless we do this.”

Responsibilities for someservices will be passed to thestates. Will Louisiana be willing or able to provide them?

n Trumpaccounts will be invested in thestock market for babies. Vouchers will go towardprivate school tuition. Direct these funds to address greater needs.

n Gutting of environmental safeguards and regulations is planned to allow for more profit for businesses.

n The bill preempts state and local government from regulating AI for10years. What if it’s your backyard?

n Agencies previously put in place to protect consumers against fraud will be removed while theChrisleys, convicted of fraud, have been pardoned.

n Atrillion dollars will go to defense.

n Forty-fivebillion dollars will go to border control. Deportees have been sent to countries where they don’tspeak the language.

ANN GONZALES Baton Rouge

Don’tdiminish historical importance of Nottoway

Iamverydisappointed at therecent column by Edward Pratt,as, to me, itcomes across as small-minded, pettyand rather bigoted. The writer is clearly upset about something thatended morethan 160 years ago, and he has clearly lostany historical perspective. He thenrelates his disagreements with President Donald Trump to Nottoway Plantation. This is so sad.

Itoured Nottoway morethan 20 years ago.Myguide was amiddle-age Black woman who clearly knew her historyand took pride in describing theopulence of Nottoway and how John Randolph spared no expense in building it.Irememberher telling us that Nottoway sometimes had as

Congratulations to all of the 2025 high school graduates who have finished one phaseoftheir lives and now are on the threshold of starting another Istill remember when Icrossed the stage on my big day of gettingmydiploma. Idid not know where life would lead

many as “95house servants.” (She meant slaves, of course.)

The column also lauds the Whitney Plantation, aplace Itoured approximately 10 yearsago with my 8-year-old granddaughter.Myguide wasa knowledgeable young Black man who told us, “Slavery wasn’tlimited to America. Slavery was prevalent all over the world, including Black Africa.”

Isincerely hope that the owners of Nottaway rebuild it,asitishistorically important.And Ilook forward to future generations, Black and White,touring and appreciating both Nottaway and Whitney QUIN BATES Marrero

me, but Iwas looking towards what the future would hold for me.

Iwish all the graduates all the luck in theworld as Ireceived the samecompliments from everyone whoattended my big day 37 years ago.

VINCENT YOUNG Baton Rouge

Recently,Quin Hillyer made afull-throated defense of LEAP because our state’sLEAP scores have increased. While Hillyer’s logic is sound, Imust counter that not only should we get rid of LEAP,but we should get rid of our current testing regimealtogether For our state to tie educational funding to something as arbitrary as test scores is ridiculous. In theory,these tests would be a way to identifywhich schools are successful and which ones need extra scrutiny,but that presumes that every community and school has access to the samelevel of funding and social safety nets. So really,these tests are away for the state and governor to dodge their culpability in never dealing with the generations of poverty and illiteracy that Louisiana never wants to fix. Low LEAP scores allow the state to blamewhatever boogeyman they hate at that moment, then punish overworked teachers and administrators. Meanwhile, high LEAP schools let them pat themselves on the back and claim that “school choice was such agood idea.” This is all an expensive farce because in 2018, our state commissioned the creation of LEAP to the tune of around $60 million to $70 million. We could’ve just given that money equally across the state and updated the test we already had, or,crazy idea, just refuse to participate in the French Quarter burlesque of pretending that atest captures how astudent learns. Whatever the state does with the LEAP test, I’m sure it will cost us millions and help no one.

Baton Rouge

The Democrats are rallying around the flag. Problem is, it is the Mexican flag. Last time, it was the Palestinian flag. HERBERT CANNON Baton Rouge

DANGALLO

Changing back Fort Polk’s name is acynical move

In 2023, when the U.S. Department of Defense changed of thename of Fort Polk to remove the stain of honoring aConfederate, slaveholding Episcopal bishop, many in Louisiana railed against the move.

with distinction,and was,importantly in this case, White.

cially because White American troops refused to fight alongside Black ones.

“Don’terase our history,” they said. “That’s our heritage.”

Never mind that history and heritage celebrate aman who foughtagainst United States soldiers. Never mind that tens of thousands of Black soldiers and othersoldiers of color have trained at Fort Polk, in Vernon Parish, to fight for acountrythat insisted on reminding them that Confederates were deserving of having bases named for them. Well, those who opposed that 2023 name change are getting their wish. Sort of.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that several bases whose Confederate-honoringnames were changed in 2023 will go back totheir original names, but withatwist. To get around the2020 law that required Confederate names to be removed, the new names will honor different people with the same last name.

In Louisiana, that means that the former Fort Polk, which had been renamed to Fort Johnson to honor a World WarIhero,will go back to being Fort Polk.

But this Polk is not Leonidas Polk, the Confederate General whowas Louisiana’sfirst Episcopal bishop and for whom the base was originally named. Now,itwill be named forArmy Gen. James H. Polk, a20th-century West Point graduate and officer who served

Thechange is awink-and-nod move to those who don’tknow much about history and who were upset that the base was renamed during aDemocratic administration and for aBlack man.

Theadministration is making similar moves with other bases throughout the Souththat were formerly named forConfederates. It’sreturning them to their oldnames, but for different soldiers.

Thecynicism behind these moves is deep. Administration officials know perhaps intuitively,that mostoftheir supporters won’tknow —orcare that it’s adifferentPolk.

Thosefolks will say out loud that it wasjust the name, as if those four letters somehow outweigh any meaning behind them. “It’salways been Fort Polk to me, and that’sthe way it will always be,” they’ll say For many of them, of course, it’salso important the country undo anything thatmight derisively be considered “woke.” They associate this move with former President Joe Biden, despite massive bipartisan and military leadership support for the move away from Confederatenames.

Thosewho support this move don’t care that WilliamHenry Johnson was atrue war hero and apatriot whose bravery is beyond dispute. Standing at atowering 5feet, 4inches,Johnson enlisted in 1917 and joined aNational Guardunit in his native New York.He wassent toFrance and his unit was “loaned” to theFrench army,unoffi-

While stationed in the Argonne Forest in 1918, Johnson’spost came under attack from aGerman raiding party Johnson was wounded more than adozen times, but in intense andat-times hand-to-hand fighting, he killed at least four Germans and wounded several others.

He essentially repelled the attackon his own. For his actions, Johnson was nicknamed “Black Death.”

Johnson’sactions earned France’s Croix de Guerre avec Palme, the country’s highestaward for valor in World WarI.But it wasn’tuntil 1996 that his own country recognized his actions, awarding him aPurple Heartthatyear, theDistinguished Service Crossin 2002 and the Medal of Honor in 2015.

Johnson’sgranddaughter,who was present when the Vernon Parish base was renamed, saidJohnson loved the United States and that’swhy he fought. In other words, Johnson, whose own country wouldn’teven grant him the rightsitsaid the Creator had “endowed” to allmen, revered the country in which many people hated him for his skin color

Hisisexactly thesort of patriotism that we ought to be celebrating: selfless, courageous and enduring. Any American should be proud to honor William Henry Johnson.

Sadly,for many,Johnson’struelove for theU.S. and his real valor in battle are not enough to overcome skin color and political bitterness. The administration understands this. It is counting on it.

Faimon A. RobertsIII can be reached at froberts@theadvocate.com.

ICEraids mayencourage illegal immigrants to trytoself-deport

“How’m Idoin’?” the late New York MayorEdKoch used to ask constituents on his travels through the city. President Donald Trump, in theopinionof most Americans, is doin’ prettywell. His job approval, which jutted downward after he announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, has recoveredand hovers just below 50%. That’sjust about the level of Barack Obama’sand George W. Bush’sapproval at this point in their second terms and above his own approval at any point in his first term.

Many continue to regard some top appointments as eccentric. His style of discourse, often inall caps, is eccentric by any past presidential standard. But in apolitical system that remainsdemocratic and is increasingly demotic, that which soundscoarse to you (and me) is apparently acceptable to most people.

China’sexports to the U.S. in May were thelowest since COVID-19-wracked February 2020. It lookslike thousands of American and Chinese market participants have made new decisions in response to Trump’srhetoric. Meanwhile, the May job numbers in theU.S. increased by amorethan-expected 139,000, despite a 60,000 reduction in federal jobs since January.And despitea drop of foreign-born workers in thelabor market estimated between 773,000 and 1million since March.

Three-quarters of amillion to a million—those numbers dwarf thenumberofannual deportations from theinterior of theU.S. as compiled by my Washington Examiner colleague ConnCarroll.

There’snoquestion whose side the public is on. Apre-riot CBSpoll showed 54% approving of Trump’sdeportation program,and two polls taken this week showed approval: Insider Advantage by 59% to39%, and the Napolitan News poll by 58% to36%.

After eight years of stark contrast between Trumpand Democrats’ policies, as CNN poll analyst Harry Enten points out, most voters give Trumphigh marks and “believe that Democrats don’thave aclue on the issue of immigration.”

Similarly,voters who remember Democrats’ insistence and journalists’ assurances that Joe Biden was fully functional are skeptical that the L.A. rioters were “overwhelmingly peaceful” (Kamala Harris) or “largely peaceful” (TheNew York Times).

As for his, um, unusual appointments, they may make sense for apresident who is less interested in fine-tuning organizations thaninaffecting thebehaviors of mass publics.

Candidate Trump in 2024 promised that he would eliminate shortfalls in military recruitment, which he attributed to the Biden Pentagon’s “woke” policies. He pointed out accurately that the Army and Navy fell short of recruitment goals by as much as 25% in fiscal years2022 and 2023.

He named Fox Newshost andmilitary veteran Pete Hegseth as defense secretary,saying he’d promote awarfighting ethos that would attract un-woke young men and women to join up.The Army raised its recruiting goal from 55 000 to 61,000 and reached it in May, four months early

Maybe that’sacoincidence or aresponse to other factors. But it lookslike Trump’srhetoric made abig difference Or look at trade. Trump has made no secret of his love for tariffs and his desire to reduce tradewithChina

The Wall Street Journal reported that

Those range from 65,000 in thelast yearofthe Obama administration and from 28,000 to 47,000 in the four Biden years. They were higher —81,000 to 95,000 —inthe first three years of TrumpI andthen fell to 62,000 in COVID-19 year 2020. These numbers put in perspective thedrama that has been playing out in LosAngeles.The Trumpadministration cannot expect that it can, logistically, remove all the untold millions of illegal immigrants that whoever was running the Biden administration allowed into theU.S. But splashy raids and deportations can get hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of illegal immigrants thinking aboutwhat MittRomney in 2012 called “self-deportation.”

Whichisprobably happening thanks to what has been happening in Los Angeles these past five days. Demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation activity resulted in the arrest of the head of theService Employees International Union. When “sanctuary city” Mayor Karen Bass and Gov.Gavin Newsom let therioting go on, Trumpnationalized theCalifornia National Guard and dispatched Marines.

There’sample historic precedent for Trump’saction as well. Dwight Eisenhower in 1957 and Lyndon Johnson in 1965 sent in federal troops to uphold federal law over the opposition of Democratic governors in Arkansas and Alabama. Those governors were defying federal law for acause —preservation of racial segregation —that thevast majority of voters, after adecade of reflection, were determined to reject. Today’sCalifornia Democrats are defying federal law for acause —permanent amnesty for illegal immigrants —which it appears that voters, after adecade of reflection, are bent on rejectingaswell.

As for theillegal immigrants themselves, I’mnot aware that anyone has conducted apoll of them, or could, since people in their situation are wary of being interviewed. But as theworkforce numbers suggest,for many,self-deportation,together perhaps with the DepartmentofHomeland Security’s$1,000 travel stipend, is looking like agood option.One that may be taken up by many morethan are legally deported.

So how’sTrumpdoin’? Better,perhaps, than his critics think.

Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

Six months aftertheir disastrous performance in November’selection, The New York Times reports the Democratic Party is “still searching forthe path forward.” Democrats have hiredconsultants, one of whom askedvoters what animal they would assign each party (elephants and donkeys, the traditional symbols for the respective parties, didn’t make the cut). The newspaperreports the surveyshowedRepublicanswerelikened to “apex predators like lions, tigers andsharks.” Democrats were compared to “tortoises, slugs, sloths.”Democrats were also called“slow, plodding” and “passive.” That’snot the kind of momentum Democratsneed going into next year’scongressionalraces andthe 2028 presidential contest. Some Democrats, like recently ousted Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, have suggested that older Members of Congress be forced outby much youngerpeople through primary challengers. It’snot thatdifficult to fix their problem. There arethreelittle words theyneed to say: “Wewerewrong.” It will pain them to sayit, but confessionisnot only good for the soul, it can help restore lost credibility Polls showtheir favorability is at amodern low(27% according to an NBC News poll). Democrats lack aroad mapand are clueless aboutwhattodotowin over voters, especially young male voters who votedheavily for Trump.

Some ideas for restoring the party are laughable.There have been suggestions thatDemocratsstart attending NASCAR races andUFC fights, even become familiar with video games to attract young men. I haven’thearda suggestion that they attend conservative churches. Maybe that’sasking toomuchfromaparty known as being more secularthanreligious, but it might do them andtheir party some good Unless theyare sincere in their contrition, theymight come off as condescending, and it could producethe opposite effect. Theyneed to say, andmean, they were wrong aboutcovering up President Joe Biden’sdecline andwrong about some of their ownpolicies, which might include an open border, transgender athletes in women’s sports, ever-higher taxes and unending spending.

Favoring some restrictions on abortion andschool choice are polling well, yettoo many Democrats arestuckintheir oldand absolutist positions. It also might help if instead of promoting youngerDemocratswho might share the same ideas as their older brethren, theytry to understand the appeal of these andotherissues. They might also considerhaving lengthy conversations with Republicanconservatives. People in Washingtonthese days seem to know each other only by labels.

Democrats were once seen as strong on nationaldefense.Theywereanti-communist andpro-American.Names like JohnF Kennedy andSen.Henry “Scoop” Jackson, D-Wash., come to mind. So does retiredSen SamNunn, D-Ga

Theyand others like them were reasonable menwho spent more time attacking America’senemiesand promoting the general welfare thancriticizing their own party members. Their kind have been expunged from the party like formerSovietdictators who stood atop Lenin’stomband watched amilitary parade pass by,but were later erased from photographs when theyfellout of favor

Today’sDemocrats probably would not embrace the policies of those Democrats of yesteryear,orwantthem in today’sDemocratic Party

I’m not expecting Democrats to follow my advice, but at least Itried. Astrong twoparty systemisgoodfor the country,but we can’t have thatequality when voters compare Republicans to lions while Democrats areviewedassloths.

Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub. com.

Cal Thomas

Michael Barone

Faimon Roberts

Johnson

Baton Rouge Weather

WEATHERING STORM

BY ERIC OLSON AP sports writer

OMAHA, Neb.— Gage Wood of Arkansas pitched thethird nohitter in College World Series history and first in 65 years Monday,striking out arecord 19 and never letting Murray State come close to getting a hit in theRazorbacks’ 3-0victory Wood joined Jim Ehrlerof Texasin1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma Statein1960as the only pitchers to throw CWS no-hitters,and hisdefense never was challenged as he dominated aRacers team that was making its first Omaha appearance.

The junior right-hander,who setthe CWS record for strikeouts in anine-inning game, was

subdued in the aftermath.

“The only special thing was I didn’twant to go home. That’s it,”hesaid. “We’re not going home.Weget to play tomorrow night.But it’spretty cool.”

Arkansas (49-14) plays another eliminationgame Tuesdaynight against the loser of Monday night’s game between LSU and UCLA.

MurrayState(44-17), only thefourth No. 4regional seed since 1999 to reach Omaha, went0-2 in its first appearance.

Wood’sbid for aperfect game ended in the eighth when his 2-2 breaking ball hit Dom Decker in his backfoot

“When Ihit theguy in the foot, IknewIscrewed up,”

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

OMAHA, Neb.— Since LSU waslast in Omaha forthe College WorldSeries, a lothasn’t changed.

Charles Schwab Field is still the home for the games. Blatt Beer and Tableacrossthe street from thepark is as busyasever. The fanfestbeyond center field is still host to awide variety of activities, merchandiseand food vendors

ForLSU fans, adesire to dominate theJell-O shot challenge at Rocco’s Pizzaand Cantinaisalsonodifferent than it was two years ago whenthey purchasedarecord-breaking68,888 shots “I thinktheyknewtheywerecoming for the record, but it was kind of anew and interesting thing to them,” Rocco’smanager Pat McEvoy said. “Ittook acouple days to catch on and because they weren’tused to the JellOshot challenge, and now they came into Omaha fully ready to go for that record.”

LSU fans’ desire to break their own markpersists as they’veacquired 13,789 Jell-O shots as of 12:14 p.m. on Monday, andhad secured 10,127 shots by the time LSU had defeated Arkansas on Saturday JottShots

For the past two years, the gelatin shot-making company JEVO had been theJell-O shot vendorfor Rocco’sduring the College WorldSeries. JEVO produced itsshots throughits patented shot-making machines —similar in style andstructure to KeurigCoffee machines —tohelpmassproducethe shots Anew vendor has stepped up to the plate in itsplace this year —JottShots. JottShots is aCalifornia-based company that specializes in providing Jell-O shots that are easy to consume thanks to itspatented push-up cup. “Weset about to make aJell-O shot that had all of the benefits of aJell-O shot without allthe pain parts,”Dorian Levy, thefounderand CEO of JottShots, said, “making them, sticking them in a fridge,digging it up (and) putting your fingerinthe drink.”

Underneath every JottShotchaliceis asmall plastic bubble bulgingfrom the bottom. Before consuming ashot, customersmust push thebubble inward before lightly pinching the cup and consuming theJell-O “Wesay,pull, push, squeezeand suck,” Levysaid. “Pleasesuckresponsibly.” Unlike mostJell-O shots, JottShots use aplant-based gum instead of gelatinfor itsgoo. The gum helps theshots maintain their form in warmer temperatures, meaning they don’thave to be refrigerated JottsShots won’tlose theirform until placed in 90-95 degreetemperatures.

JottShots delivered 120,000 shots to OmahaonMonday, andthe company is prepared to sendmore if necessary Each shot comes with aplastic cover, helping to minimize messes andallowing consumerstotakeshots on thego.

“You can carry it outofa barjustlike you could agrocery store,” McEvoy said, “so long as it’s sealed.”

So far, McEvoyhas been pleased with Rocco’spartnership with JottShots. Before JottShots offered its services, Rocco’swas prepared to not have avendorand make itsown shots

“It’sawesome because we had 120,000 (shots) readyfor us,”McEvoysaid. “We don’thavetoworry aboutmakingthem

MACHIAN

LSU starting pitcher AnthonyEyanson celebrates after getting astrikeout on Monday in the College WorldSeries between the Tigers and the Bruins in Omaha, Neb

STAFF PHOTOSByHILARy SCHEINUK

Lightning strikes near Charles Schwab Field on Mondayafter playbetween LSU andUCLA in theCollegeWorld Series wasdelayed. LSU led 5-3 after three innings, and the game will pick up in the fourth inning at 10 a.m.Tuesday.

LSU designatedhitter Ethan Frey hitsasingle on Monday in a CollegeWorld Series game between the Tigers and the UCLA Bruins in Omaha, Neb

‘Dialed

Panthers are one

win away from repeating as champions

BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP hockey writer

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The banner commemorating the first Stanley Cup title in Florida Panthers history had not been raised to the rafters yet when a newcomer realized just what it was like to join the champions on a title defense It was their final exhibition game in Quebec City in early October after a high-intensity training camp, and the focus was already there.

“Last preseason game, usually guys are taking it a little easier, getting ready for the season, play some soccer, have a coffee, get on the ice,” A.J. Greer recalled Monday “There were 22 guys working out — full workouts before the game. It’s like we didn’t even have

in’ from October

gistics of families getting to town to thinking about the order of passing the big silver chalice around on the ice.

especially the last few, so we know this is the type of game we have to play.”

Sprained foot lands Astros pitcher McCullers on IL

WEST SACRAMENTO,Calif.— The Houston Astros placed right-hander Lance McCullers on the 15-day injured list with a sprained right foot ahead of his scheduled start against the Athletics.

The move, which is retroactive to Friday, comes after McCullers made seven starts this year in his return after missing two full seasons with arm injuries. Rookie right-hander Ryan Gusto was to start in his place Monday as the AL West-leading Astros open a fourgame series against the Athletics. McCullers is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA this season. He allowed four hits and four runs while striking out six in five innings of a 4-2 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday The Astros recalled right-hander Jason Alexander from Triple-A Sugar Land to take his spot on the roster

Shelton gives U.S. 3 men in ATP rankings’ top 10

LONDON Ben Shelton has jumped two spots to No. 10 in the ATP rankings and joins No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 8 Tommy Paul to give the United States three men in the top 10 for the first time in nearly 20 years. Andy Roddick was No. 4, James Blake was No. 7 and Andre Agassi was No. 10 in April 2006. There are four American women in the WTA’s top 10 again this week: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Madison Keys and No. 9 Emma Navarro. Aryna Sabalenka remains at No. 1. Tatjana Maria, a 37-year-old German, rose 43 spots to No. 43 on Monday by winning the Queen’s Club title as a qualifier

The 22-year-old Shelton is only in his third full season on tour

Nationals call up rookie third baseman House

a game. Guys were doing power lifting, guys were doing lowerbody, upper-body, bike sprints before the game and I’m thinking to myself, ‘They’re dialed in here.’ ”

And that was before the real hockey started. Now, more than 250 days later the Panthers are one win away from repeating as champions, and the Stanley Cup will be in the building with their chance to extend its stay in Florida if they beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the final on home ice Tuesday

“It’s business as usual,” top-line winger Sam Reinhart said. “We’re obviously excited about the position we’re in. You put all the work to be playing at this time of year, so we’re excited.”

They also know what to expect this time around. Florida lost its first opportunity to close out Edmonton after going up 3-0 in the final last year, then let the next two slip away before finally getting the job done in Game 7

Everything was new then, from handling the butterflies and the lo-

“There’s a whole bunch of stuff you have to go through the first time and then there’s all these superstitions — you don’t want to talk about it, you want to talk about it well, there are things you have to talk about,” coach Paul Maurice said. “All of that stuff got dealt with last year when we went through it for the first time. Now, just get ready for the hockey game. It’s a different set of emotions for us.”

This final has unfolded differently with the teams being tied after two games and then again through four The Panthers jumped all over the Oilers to win Game 5 in Edmonton on Saturday night to set the stage to clinch.

That was utter domination, and, unlike last year, their first chance to hoist the Cup comes in front of home fans in Sunrise.

“We’re just excited to be back home, and we’re excited to hopefully keep that going after last game,” winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “We think we’ve played pretty good hockey over this whole series, in the whole playoffs, but

Florida is looking to become just the third team to go back to back since the NHL’s salary cap era began in 2005, joining the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and ‘21 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in ’16 and ‘17.

Just 18 have done it altogether

The Panthers are favored on BetMGM Sportsbook to take Game 6. After laying an egg and getting pushed to the brink of elimination, the Oilers are hoping to drag the series back to Edmonton for Game 7 on Friday night.

“For whatever reason, our group doesn’t like to make it easy on ourselves,” Oilers captain and coplayoff leading scorer Connor McDavid said.

“We’ve put ourselves in another difficult spot, and it’s our job to work our way out of it.”

The Panthers would love to make this the 31st consecutive season it is won by a team in the U.S. They have played a lot of games over the past three years and trips to the final, but the chance to lift the trophy is enough to push off that fatigue for at least one more game and two at most.

TV man Daniels showed love for games

BY LES EAST Contributing writer

This is an entry in a profile series of inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025

The induction ceremony is set for June 28 in Natchitoches.

Ed Daniels wasn’t a Hall of Fame athlete, coach or administrator

He might as well have been all three. He had the discipline and competitive nature of Hall of Fame athletes, the game-planning and people skills of a Hall of Fame coach and the organizational and talent-evaluation skills of Hall of Fame administrators. On top of that, he was a heck of a teammate. Daniels applied all of those abilities in building a distinguished broadcasting career that earned him posthumous inclusion in this year’s Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame induction class as a recipient of the LSWA’s distinguished service award in sports journalism.

The native of New Orleans who graduated from Rummel High School and Loyola University began his 47-year broadcasting ca-

reer as a sports intern at WVUETV in New Orleans in 1977.

He once said, “My career goal was always to work in my hometown.” With the exception of a stint as sports director at KPLCTV in Lake Charles (1980-81), he did just that. He worked as a sports reporter and weekend anchor at WDSU and as sports director at WGNO from 1992 until his death on Aug. 16 at age 67.

The WGNO station manager broached the idea of producing a half-hour NFL program Daniels had a less obvious but more astute idea.

“Let’s do a high school football show,” Daniels told the station manager “Let’s do something that’s completely local, that no one else is doing that people will respond to.”

After “this big debate” took place within the station, the trend-setting “Friday Night Football” debuted in 1992, became an instant hit and coverage of prep football in Louisiana hasn’t been the same since.

Robert O’Shields was Daniels’ photographer and right-hand man for “Friday Night Football.”

“When one episode of the ‘Friday Night Football’ show was

done, Ed was already looking at the next week right after the show,” O’Shields said. “He was already looking at what was going to be the big matchups for the next week.”

As O’Shields would drive the two to cover an LSU or Tulane game the next day, Daniels would be on the phone with high school coaches, preparing previews about their upcoming games, lining up feature stories for the week, and gathering the name of candidates to be player of the week and scholar-athlete of the week. The success of the show eventually led to it becoming a one-hour program. Daniels was named Louisiana Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association for 1997, 2014 and 2018. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Press Club of New Orleans in 2014. The distance from New Orleans to Baton Rouge didn’t prevent Daniels from treating LSU’s nationally prominent athletic programs as though they were in his backyard. Similarly, the lack of national prominence of the programs in his backyard didn’t

prevent him from treating them as though they were nationally prominent.

If you were an athlete, coach or team whose story deserved to be told, Daniels was going to find you and tell your story whether it was at a playground or at a high school outside of the immediate New Orleans area.

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame broadcaster Ro Brown met up with Daniels at Loyola and worked with him in a variety of places.

“He liked the purity of prep sports,” Brown said. “It was still a game where it wasn’t the elite athlete. He liked the idea of the 160-pound nose guard, the kid just playing hard, never gonna play in college, but he’s an allstate lineman. He liked the community of it, the connection that you had with people that you don’t necessarily feel as closely with professional or collegiate sports.

“He liked the high school coaches. They were normal, ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Most of them didn’t have this air about them, didn’t act like the professional coaches. You could talk to them. You saw them in the store You saw them at the Mardi Gras parade I think that’s why he liked prep sports. It was just fun to cover.”

WASHINGTON — Third baseman Brady House was promoted by the Washington Nationals from TripleA Rochester on Monday, the club’s latest rookie to get a look at the big league level this season. In other moves before opening a series against the worst-in-themajors Colorado Rockies, the Nationals recalled outfielder Daylen Lile from Rochester, optioned outfielder Robert Hassell and infielder José Tena to the Triple-A club, and designated infielder Juan Yepez for assignment. Washington entered Monday on an eight-game losing streak and with a 30-41 record. The 22-yearold House was the 11th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft.

British wild card upsets Tiafoe at Queen’s Club

LONDON British wild card Dan Evans upset world No. 13 Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-2 on Monday for his first win at Queen’s Club since 2021.

Backhand slices and quick net reflexes underpinned No. 199 Evans’ second ever top-20 win on grass. The first was at 2019 Wimbledon. Other first-round winners included fourth-seeded Holger Rune and eighth-seeded Jakub Mensik on his Queen’s debut. The 19-yearold Czech hit 20 aces while beating former finalist Cameron Norrie 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-1. Mensik next faces Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, a threeset comeback winner over Nuno Borges of Portugal, while Rune lined up Mackenzie McDonald of the U.S., who ousted Gael Monfils of France 6-4, 6-4.

Storm signs free agent forward to active roster

SEATTLE The Seattle Storm announced Monday morning they signed free agent forward Mackenzie Holmes to their active roster Holmes, 24, fills an open spot on the roster that was created on Saturday when center Li Yueru was traded to the Dallas Wings for two future draft picks. Last year the Storm selected Holmes with the No. 26 overall pick in the

SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Daniels

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NATHAN DENETTE

The Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk, center, celebrates after his goal against the Edmonton Oilers with Sam Reinhart, left, and Aleksander Barkov during the first period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final series on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.

Long offseason boosts

McCaffrey’s outlook

San Francisco RB coming off injury-plagued season

the season.

BY AARON BEARD AP sportswriter

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Jordan

Shipp remembers the conversation with his roommates after learning Bill Belichick was North Carolina’s new coach.

“It was just like, ‘That’s the greatest coach of all time,’ ” the receiver recalled, “ ‘and he’s about to be coaching us.’”

Belichick’s arrival has triggered plenty of change for the Tar Heels, who are making a big bet on the man who won six Super Bowls as an NFL head coach to spark their football program No one knows that better than the players both the holdovers and the transfer-portal arrivals after months of Belichick overhauling the roster and building the foundation on his first college team.

these questions a lot with family and friends.”

coming over and watching film and that type of thing.

Formative stages

BY JOSH DUBOW

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The big-

gest beneficiary of an extended offseason for the San Francisco 49ers just might have been star running back Christian McCaffrey

A year after he was limited to just four games because of injuries to his Achilles tendon and knee, the engine of San Francisco’s high-powered offense was on the practice field for the offseason program and is hoping to get back to the form that made him the AP Offensive Player of the Year during a run to the Super Bowl in the 2023 season

A healthy McCaffrey would be a key component for San Francisco to rebound from a 6-11 season that at least provided a side benefit of more time off in the winter following three straight years of long playoff runs.

“Being fully transparent, obviously last year didn’t go the way I wanted,” McCaf-

frey said. “It didn’t go the way anyone wanted. But having this time off has allowed me to start from scratch and have the time where I can build a base again, come into OTAs, play football and now get back into it mentally emotionally, physically in all ways. It was much needed and I’m happy we had it.”

McCaffrey plans to spend the long break before training camp starts in late July staying in shape and becoming a father McCaffrey and his wife, model Olivia Culpo, are expecting their first child “right around the corner.”

McCaffrey looked fresh during the offseason program after sitting it out last year as he recovered from a grueling season and waited for a new contract that came last June

McCaffrey had 798 touches from scrimmage during the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs — more than 100 more than any other player in the league during that span. That workload likely contributed to the Achilles tendinitis that sidelined McCaffrey early in training camp last season and forced him to miss the first eight games of

He then injured his posterior cruciate ligament in his fourth game back and missed the final five games of the season.

With McCaffrey on the sideline, an offense that was the most dangerous in the league following his arrival midway through the 2022 season took a step back last season.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said he is aware that he needs to manage McCaffrey’s workload this summer in order “to protect him from himself” and make sure he’s healthy and fresh when the games count.

“He is a psycho in a good way and so like he does everything imaginable every single day,” Shanahan said. “Last year he couldn’t because he was battling injury all last year And this year he is healthy so he is right back to being who he is always been and it’s really fun to watch.”

McCaffrey, who turned 29 earlier this month, said the key as he ages is finding the “middle ground” of doing the intense work to get ready for a season and making sure he doesn’t wear down early

Flores finds joy as Vikings DC

BY DAVE CAMPBELL

AP pro football writer

EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings were in full-team drills during minicamp on Thursday, when an unexpected pre-snap alignment by the defense prompted new center Ryan Kelly to ask coach Kevin O’Connell about the call he should make for blocking that play “Your guess is as good as mine,” O’Connell told Kelly, as he later recounted to reporters. “I’ve got no idea what they’re doing over there.”

Yes, that’s the Brian Flores effect on the Vikings offense, a recurring and welcomed feature of practice against one of the NFL’s most aggressively experimental defensive coordinators.

“It must’ve been pretty close to the end of the offseason program, because today he ran some stuff that I didn’t even know was in there,” O’Connell said. “That’s Flo. I challenge him all the time to do those things.”

The mad scientist behind the shape-shifting and fastmoving scheme is back for his third season with the Vikings, a pleasant surprise of sorts for a team that figured he’d have landed another head coach position by now Flores interviewed for vacancies with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets in January, but he was passed over by all three clubs.

“Being able to sit in that interview setting and have a conversation for that role is obviously an honor, and those jobs went to guys who were certainly deserved,” Flores said. “It was a great experience, and I enjoyed it I’m

also very happy to be right where I am.” Flores, who was fired by the Miami Dolphins after three seasons as their head coach from 2019-21, still has a racial discrimination lawsuit pending against the league in response to losing that job. But if there’s any bitterness Flores is harboring, he’s hiding it well.

Since O’Connell hired him in 2023, he has embraced this experience with the Vikings and all that has come with it for him and his family

The Vikings ranked fifth in the league in scoring defense last season after finishing 14th the year before. They were 28th in 2022 before he arrived. Successful spending in free agency helped enhance the depth chart, but Flores has also helped turn unheralded players such as safety Josh Metellus and linebacker Ivan Pace into key contributors.

Last season, the Vikings

tied for the league lead with 33 takeaways, leading to many on-field celebrations.

“My joy comes from watching them have excitement,” Flores said.

The frequent use of Metellus as an inside linebacker or an edge rusher was one way Flores has used unorthodox schemes to take advantage of his players’ quickness of body and mind and keep the opponent constantly guessing. On some third downs, in another example, he’d fill the line with standup pass rushers.

Spring practice is the time to tinker Flores, in regular conversation with safety Harrison Smith, linebacker Blake Cashman or defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, is never afraid to try a new look.

“He’s always trying to evolve. He’s always trying to be one step ahead,” edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel said. “That’s one thing I love about him.”

North Carolina players hadn’t spoken to reporters since last year’s team ended its season with a Fenway Bowl loss to UConn three days after Christmas, all of which came after Belichick had been hired as coach for the 2025 season.

So last week marked the first time UNC had made players available to reporters since then to discuss Belichick’s arrival That has meant being coached by someone with a long track record of success at the sport’s highest level, along with getting a peek behind the terse and grumpy persona he was known for with the New England Patriots.

Defensive back Will Hardy said the players are used to curiosity that comes with being coached by the NFL lifer now giving college a try

“There’s a lot of that, you get a lot of ‘How is coach Belichick? What’s new? What’s different?’ ” Hardy said. “So I’ve rehearsed

The school hired Belichick in December to elevate the program at a time when football’s role as the revenue driver in college sports has never been bigger

He and general manager Michael Lombardi have described their goal as building a pro-style model at the college level. It’s been a key pitch as the 73-yearold Belichick made his first foray onto the recruiting trail, as well as the volume of players transferring in and out of the program.

Belichick’s first on-field work in Chapel Hill came during spring workouts, lodged between portal windows in December and April.

“Look, these are great kids to work with, they really are,” Belichick said Tuesday “We’ve had great buy-in. There have really been no problems at all. These guys are on time, they’re early, they work hard, they put in the work in the weight room, out on the field. They spend time on their own, whether it’s doing extra training or

“They’ve made a ton of improvement and these guys are a lot better than they were when we started in January, on every level. So it’s exciting to see where that’s going to take us.”

Enticing opportunity

For the players, part of the adjustment had been the reality that their coach was winning Super Bowls with quarterback Tom Brady while they were growing up and watching on TV

Intimidating much?

“I mean, maybe at first when you see him, all you see is the Super Bowls that he’s won,” said offensive lineman Christo Kelly, a Holy Cross transfer and Belichick’s first portal commitment. “But when you get here and you see the way he cares, you see the way that he approaches the game, you see how hard he works, there’s

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ABBIE PARR

Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores was a key figure in the Vikings finishing fifth in the NFL in scoring defense

AP pro football writer

McCaffrey

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEFF CHIU

San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, left, runs a drill during a minicamp practice June 10 in Santa Clara, Calif.

overnightorsomethingbreaking, or something freezing, orsomething not setting or the mess.” World-famous room

When LSU was last in Omaha, shots at Rocco’scould be purchased in the back-left cornerof the restaurant. Now the shots can be acquired only in aback room that in 2023 was designatedfor private parties.

The newly branded“World Famous Jell-O Shot Room” has providedmorespace forcustomers and has kept therestaurant cleaner

“In the early days of this, we were behind the bar and we were trying to serve drinksand Jell-O at the same place. It just was really, really messy,” McEvoy said “And so it got to the point where we built a17-foot bar in 2023 the last time LSU was here —and we realized that split the room in half because so many people are in line, you couldn’teven gettothe bathroom and things like that.”

The clutter associated with the old setup inspired McEvoyand Culjat to construct a22-foot bar in the party room and open it up to the public.

“The players’ families wanted kind of aseparate place.And then some of the donors wanted abig place. So we could get Brian Kelly and Joe Burrow and everybody in here that they wantedtobring in,” McEvoy said. “And it was really cool, butitgot to the point where we need that space to serveeveryone that wants to come in.”

Thelack of aparty room hasn’t stoppedLSU celebrities from visitingRocco’s.Former LSU gymnast and social media star Olivia Dunne and Raising Cane’sowner Todd Graves visited the restau-

rant before Saturday’sgame for Jell-O shots. “They’llstill be here. We’ll still seeour friends,” McEvoy said. “They’re goingtomake it up And yeah, (Shane Morrison) and

Graves andGordon(McKernan) andeverybody,we’ve already heard from them.”

Email Koki Riley at Koki.Riley@ theadvocate.com.

said Wood, who got afoulout and consecutive strikeouts to endthe inning, then looked skyward and gave aprimal scream anddid a couple of high steps as he headed to the dugout.

Wood (4-1) hit pinch-hitter Nico Bermeo in the back of his left elbow with afastball to start the ninth. Bermeo initially was awarded first base, butArkansas challenged the call,arguing Bermeo moved his elbow intothe pitch. The call was overturned andBermeo was out.

Wood struck out Connor Cunningham and Jonathan Hogart to finish the game. “The dude was electric tonight,”

Hogart said. Wood was mobbed by teammates, with thecelebration moving from behind themound to the area between second andthird base.

“Gagewas just executing pitch afterpitch, getting ahead in the countand elevatinghis fastball in and out. What agreat job,” Arkansas coach Dave VanHorn said. “Thefew plays wehad to make behind him —maybe nine, eight? —justgladwemade all those plays.”

Wood, aprojected first-round pickinnext month’sMLB amateur draft, went tothree-ball counts just twice, and 83 of his119 pitches were strikes.

“I thinkGage Wood madehimself some money today.Holy cow,” Racers coach Dan Skirka said.

The closest MurrayState came to breaking up Wood’s no-hitter was CarsonGarner’shot grounder thatpulledfirstbaseman Reese Robinett to hisleft. Robinett snaggedthe ball andtouchedthe bag for thelast out of the seventh inning. Wood showed early signs that this could be aspecial day.Hehad excellent commandofhis signa-

ture four-seam fastball, breaking ball and changeup. Of hisfirst 20 fastballs, 19 werestrikes, andhe fanned nine of thefirst 12 batters he faced —seven in arow from the third to fifthinnings Wood has gone from closer as a freshman to middle reliever as a sophomoretoweekend starter as ajunior.Heinjuredhis rightshoulder throwing awarmup pitch in his Feb. 23 start against Michigan and didn’treturn until April 18 against Texas A&M, atotal of 54 days.He went into Monday’sgamehaving thrown just 282/3 innings this season. He threw acareer-long six innings andstruckout acareer-high 13 against Creighton in aJune 1 regional game against Creighton, then went 31/3 innings in asuper regional win over Tennessee on June 8.

“I think forhim to do that and just be able to catch the last ball, give him abig hug, it wasawesome,” Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick said. “I think everybody was really fired up for him. The main thing is we’re still here and we’re still playing.”

The Razorbacks broke open the game after Graham Kelham relievedIsaac Silvatostart the seventh. SEC player of the year Wehiwa Aloy doubled in arun and another scored whenright fielder Dustin Mercer tried to make a shoestring catch on Logan Maxwell’sshallow fly and the ball got underhis glove Silva (9-3) kept his team close in his six innings, with Charles Davalan’sthird-inning RBI single producing the only run against him He allowed sixhits, walked two andstruck outseven

Spaun turns free fall into a major accomplishment

BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer

OAKMONT, Pa Golfers don’t back their way into a U.S. Open title.

J.J. Spaun wasn’t about to be the first to say he did.

On a day built for umbrellas, ponchos and industrial-sized squeegees, Spaun reversed his own free fall, took advantage of several others’ woes and hit two shots that turned him into a major champion while creating a moment to remember at the rain-soaked brute called Oakmont.

The 65-footer — the longest of any putt made all tournament — closed out a back-nine 32 and left Spaun at 1-under 279 for the tournament His 72 was the highest closing-round score for a U.S. Open winner in 15 years.

But that wasn’t Sunday’s takeaway Rather, it was the 401.5 feet worth of putts the champion made over four days. And the fact that Spaun joined Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Jon Rahm as the fifth U.S. Open winner to finish birdie-birdie.

A 1-hour, 37-minute rain delay ensued. It was a break that changed everything.

“They just said: ‘Just let it come to you, be calm. Stop trying so hard,’ “ Spaun said.

Staying calm resulted in making a downhill 40-footer on the par-5 12th for birdie, then a 22-foot birdie on 14 to take the lead by himself for the first time, at even par Everywhere else, there were meltdowns in the rain.

“I just tried to dig deep,” said the 34-year-old Californian who can now call himself a major champion.

“I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

The shots that will go down in history are the drive he hit on the reachable par-4 17th, and the 65foot putt he sank with the sun going down and the rain falling on 18.

The first set up a birdie that put him in the lead by himself for good. The second was for emphasis — he needed only a two-putt, after all that ensured this U.S Open would finish with only one player under par

“I just felt like you keep putting yourself in these positions, like eventually you’re going to tick one off,” said Spaun, whose loss in a playoff to Rory McIlroy three months ago at The Players Championship was his third topthree finish of 2025

But at the U.S. Open? In that kind of weather?

None of it seemed possible when the rain started coming down during the tail end of a front-nine 40 that took Spaun from one shot back at the start of the day to four behind and fading fast.

Coaches told him, “Dude, just chill,” and Spaun did.

Third-round leader Sam Burns thinned a shot out of a divot and over the 11th green en route to the first of two back-nine double bogeys He shot 40 on the back and finished tied for seventh.

Adam Scott, the only major champion in the top 10 after Saturday’s play, shot 41 in the rain on the back nine and dropped to 12th.

“I didn’t adapt to those conditions well enough,” Scott said.

Tyrrell Hatton, who shot 72, threatened and was part of a brief five-way deadlock for the lead before making bogey on the last two holes to finish tied for fourth.

Robert MacIntyre turned out to be Spaun’s most persistent challenger The left-hander from Scot-

Oakmont pushed U.S. Open players to their breaking points

PAUL ZEISE

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH Oakmont Country Club is advertised as one of the toughest golf courses in the United States. The U.S. Open is advertised as the ultimate test for professional golfers

That’s what made this U.S Open such an easy fit and a perfect match, as it brought some of the best golfers in the world to their knees. It was won by a relative unknown — a borderline journeyman in J.J Spaun — and the leaderboard Sunday never had names like Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau on it

All the biggest names succumbed to Oakmont Country Club, and most of the players who were in the mix Sunday couldn’t string together enough good holes to survive. Spaun was about the only one who played consistently for four days, and that’s why he emerged as the winner

It is kind of funny to me that after the first round, there were a few guys under par Spaun was 4 under, and people actually began to talk about how Oakmont’s difficulty was overrated. By the end, there was only one player under par and in order to achieve that, he needed to hit the longest putt of anyone on Sunday to get to 1 under The course delivered. It was every bit as tough of a test as advertised, and the scary thing is it might have been even tougher had it been sunny and dry all week, as the rain softened some of the fairways and greens significantly

COMMENTARY

One of the easiest ways to tell whether the course is playing tough is the level of whining about it by golfers and some observers all week long. The biggest complaint was how thick and unfair the rough was. Yes, it was thick, so thick that when I dropped a ball into it just to take a photo, it disappeared, and there were a couple of camera angles where you could not even see it, even though I was right on top of it. There were lies from which golfers had no chance of hitting the ball further than a few yards just to get back to the fairway It was brutal in so many ways, but guess what? This is the U.S. Open. There was $21.5 million in prize money on the line. It isn’t supposed to be easy and here is my definition of fair: Everyone had to play the same course for four days.

As Spaun demonstrated for most of the event, if you keep the ball out of the rough, the course is actually very playable. That is obviously less simple than it sounds, but these are the best golfers on the planet.

Frankly, I thought the behavior of some of the golfers was embarrassing for the sport. Emotions can run high, but that doesn’t mean we should excuse bad behavior by professional athletes when things don’t go their way Shane Lowry might still be out on the course trying to finish his second round given what his score was, and there were several clips of him voicing his frustration about the course. He

was so rattled on one hole that he picked up his ball and forgot to mark it. I saw at least six different episodes of people slamming clubs into the fairway and taking a chunk out of it. We saw McIlroy smash a tee marker and then photos surfaced of a locker allegedly trashed by Wyndham Clark. All of these actions would get you kicked out of most low-level public courses and at many places banned for life. But this weekend we were supposed to just overlook it all because the golf course was beating the golfers.

I don’t mind some of the courses the PGA Tour plays throughout the year where guys are crushing it and the winning scores are 12 under, 15 under, even 18 under because those events show us just how great these players can strike the ball. Those tournaments are mostly a test of skill and talent, as well as it is the ability to make putts.

The U.S. Open, though, is supposed to be a test of talent and mental toughness. It is supposed to be the one event where the best players must grind through adverse situations and stay focused even when things start to go off the rails.

That’s what happened this past weekend at Oakmont Spaun won because he was the mentally toughest player out there.

Oakmont Country Club was and will always be a great venue for the U.S. Open because it is a difficult course that can be made extremely difficult. This fact was reinforced once again this weekend, as the golf course beat pretty much every player who participated.

land who played at McNeese State faded his drive just short of the green on the way to birdie on 17 to get to 1 over and set the target for Spaun, who was playing three groups behind.

MacIntyre was waiting in the locker room when Spaun hit his approach on 18 to 65 feet. Everyone knew it was no sure two-putt.

Hardly anyone expected Spaun to get down in one. “To watch him hole the putt on 12 down the hill there was unreal,” said Viktor Hovland, who played in the twosome with

“And then he makes another one on 14 that was straight down the hill. And then the one on 18, it’s just absolutely filthy there.”

Chaney is leaving for job at Grambling

BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer

Quianna Chaney had been offered college coaching jobs before, and she turned them down to remain at Southern Lab.

But a second job offer from Grambling coach Courtney Simmons, a former Southern Lab teammate, was the offer the 39-year-old former LSU standout could not refuse.

Chaney and Southern Lab announced Monday that she is leaving her alma mater to become an assistant coach at Grambling with the women’s basketball program.

“She (Simmons) asked me once, and I turned it down,” Chaney said “And when she asked a second time, it felt like it was a sign for me.

“I have thought about coaching on the college level. I have other friends and former teammates who are on that level. It just feels like the time is right.”

The move comes after Chaney led the Class 1A Kittens to three LHSAA Division IV select titles and one runner-up finish in the past four seasons. She has a record of 102-35 that includes a semifinals berth in 2018 — her first season at the school with a roster of six players.

Chaney succeeded her former Southern Lab coach Henry Combs, when she took the job. The small number of players prompted the school to drop down to the sub-varsity level for the next two years.

“Ironically, Quianna was my first hire,” Southern Lab athletic director Herman Brister said. “The legendary coach Combs had left. The word that comes to mind about both of us is stability that’s what

we wanted to bring to the school and we’ve done that.

“Once she got here, there were kids who wanted to come. She put it all together Quianna has been invaluable in all aspects of the school. She’s our elementary P.E. teacher, and I believe those kids will miss her as much or more than her players. On top of that, she’s a great colleague who has supported all the school’s activities.”

Before she was a coach, Chaney was arguably the best player in Southern Lab history. She teamed with Simmons who went on to play at Tulane, Trinity Valley Community College and Louisville — to win two LHSAA titles and then won one more.

“I looked at the hiring process as a recruitment process,” Simmons said. “It’s not often that I get told no twice by the same person. But when you surround yourself with winners, the conversation is just different.

“A lot of the things we are trying to do with our programs were aligned. I need people with a likeminded mentality. So for me, this (hiring Chaney) was a no-brainer

“I want people with that championship pedigree, and I’ve already won championships with Quianna.”

Chaney was selected as Louisiana Miss Basketball in 2004 after her senior season. From there, Chaney played on four Final Four teams at LSU, where she scored 1,345 points. She made the SEC AllFreshman team and was a secondteam All-SEC choice during her career

The Chicago Sky drafted Chaney

Spaun.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CAROLyN KASTER

J.J. Spaun celebrates after sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the U.S Open on Sunday at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa.

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK Southern Lab coach Quianna Chaney speaks with guards Jamyia Stampley, left, and Jaszaiah Stampley against Ouachita Christian in the Division IV select semifinal on March 5 in Hammond

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG Tyrrell Hatton reacts after hitting his ball into the rough on the 17th hole during the final round of the U.S

Open on Sunday at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa

Philly Me Up opensnew location in Livingston

BY SERENA PUANG Staff writer

For its first franchise location, Philly Me Up Cheesesteaks owners chose Denham Springs. On June 10, the restaurant opened at 120 Bass Pro Blvd.

The mother-son duo ofLisa Fontenotand Joshua Leestarted Philly Me Up Cheesesteaks in 2007. This new location fromTommy Riddle and Bri Schexnayder is the result ofyearsof patronage andarequest to franchise Riddle has been aregular at Philly Me Up forover 12 years. He loves the Voodoo sandwich —agrilled steak, chicken and shrimp sandwich topped with grilled onions, grilled sweet peppers, barbecue sauce and pepper jack cheese.According to Schexnayder, Riddle has asked to franchise alocationfor at least six years.

“Finally,weasked on the right day,and they said yes,” she said.

Schexnayder trained at the Baton Rougelocation of PhillyMeUpand hired an old manager there for the Denham Springs location, which will offer all the same cheesesteaks, wraps and salad optionswith some bonus items that are not sold at theoriginalstore

The owners added sweet potatototswith a spicyseasoningand Philadelphia water ice which Schexnayder said is similar to sorbet. They’re also in the process of applying fora beer/wine license and hope to serve spirits at their store. Now that they’ve hosted agrand opening, they will be open 10:30 a.m. to 8p.m. seven days aweek.

Schexnayder said she recommendspeople try the Voodoo or DaGumbo, agrilledchicken, shrimp and sausagesandwichtopped with gumbo. For dessert,she likesthe tropical rainbow water ice or the sour apple flavor for people who like somethingtart.

“They’ve gottengreat reviews,” Fontenot said of the store. “Denham Springs is welcoming them with open arms.”

Vermillionaire cuphea’stubular flowers are the perfect shape and sizefor hummingbirds’ long beaks and tongues, allowing them to access the plant’sabundant nectar

Hummingbirds love agood cigarplant

Vermillionaire cuphea agood choice to attractthem

If you’re searching for aplant that will attract hummingbirds to your garden andhandle the Louisiana summer likeachamp, look no further than Vermillionaire cuphea—one of the LSU AgCenter’s 2025 Louisiana Super Plant selections.

“There’salot of species of cuphea on the market, but Vermillionaire is oneofthe best that we’ve found intermsof year-to-year performance,” said AgCenter horticulturist Jason Stagg. Cuphea is sometimes referred to as cigar plant or firecracker plant.That’s becausemany species and hybrids within the Cuphea genus have tubeshaped, orange-to-red blooms. Dependingon howyou look at it, cuphea flowers resemble tiny cigars or apyrotechnic explosion. The Vermillionaire hybrid from Proven Winners is low maintenance, thrives in the heat andhas fewpestordisease problems It stays compactand bushy,toppingout at

BITE CLUB

‘Jaws’ fans celebratemovie’s 50th anniversary with parties, memoriesand merchandise

BY TEDLEWIS Contributing writer

Dun-dun dun-dun.

Evena half-century later,those two simple bass notes from “Jaws” still bring on atingling sense of impending danger

“When Iwas atriathlete, the‘Jaws’ music was always in the backofmy mind,”saidGeorgeRobichaux, of Houma. “I’dtry to get in themiddle of thepack so I’d feel safer.”

Such is thelasting impact of the StephenSpielberg-directedthrillerthat marksthe 50th anniversaryofits releaseonJune 20.

“Jaws” was asensationinthe summerof1975, setting abox office record that stood until “Star Wars,” two years later.The firstsummer blockbuster, “Jaws” spawned three official sequels plus ahost of imitators and an enduringmania for sharks from “Shark Week.”

Aboutthistimeevery year,there are reminders in the news of thedanger of shark attacks, rare as they might actually be.

fear of the unknown.”

GreerNaudin, of BatonRouge,who wroteher master’sthesis at the University of South Florida on Spielberg and the wayhecrafts music,isabig “Jaws” fan.

“The movie is incredible,” shesaid “It wasshot on the water,which had neverbeen done before,and Spielberg worked with (composer) John Williamstoincorporate the score so closelythatyou can’tthink of the movie without the music.

“The movie’snot as scary as people think, either.Because the animatronic sharks weren’tworking so well, he (Spielberg) had to keep them out of sight.”

Even 50 years from now,Naudin said, “I think Jaws will be viewed as amarker in film history for the score and the wayit’sdone overall.”

In NewOrleans back in 1975, “Jaws” played at the Joy Theater on Canal Street withcrowds lined up around the block forsold-out showings.

Added Robichaux, “The water will alwayshavethe allure of things we can’tsee. We allhaveatleast alittle

Wrote Times-Picayune critic Frank

STAFF PHOTO By JOHN MCCUSKER

Kevin Caywood is surrounded by his collection of ‘Jaws’ memorabilia in Slidell on Friday.

LSU AGCENTER PHOTOByOLIVIA MCCLURE

ä See BITE, page 2D

PROVIDED PHOTO

Jessica Cogan throws a‘Jaws’ party in NewOrleans around the Fourth of July

Contentcreator sister makesithardtoconnect

DEAR HARRIETTE: My sister is trying to become acontent creator While Iwant to support her dreams,it’sstarting to take atoll on our relationship. Every time we spend time together,whether it’s getting coffee, going on a walk or just hanging out at home, it somehow turns into acontent production day.She’sconstantly filming, taking pictures, asking me to retake videos or stopping in the middle of aconversation to capture the “perfect shot.”

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ing memories without it needing to be documentedorcurated for public consumption. It feels like I’mspending timewith heronlinepersona,not my actualsister.Isometimes feel used as apropfor her brand instead of appreciatedasa person. How do I talk to her about this withoutsoundingdismissive of hergoals or unsupportive of her hustle? —Used

Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITy

Iget that this is important to her, and Iknow building aplatform takes work, but Imisswhen we could just be present witheach other,talking, laughingand shar-

DEAR USED: Just tellher Pointout that you need to create some boundaries whenyou are together so that every moment isn’t work. The workaholic nature of her behavior is interfering with your time together,and youneed it to stop —oratleast not besoinvasive.

Tell her you will allow acertain amount of production when you are together,but request that mostofyour time be reserved for just thetwo of you.

DEAR HARRIETTE: Ifeel like Ialways focus on the negative that’s going on around me. When somethinggood happens, Idoubt that it’sreal and wonder when the other shoe will drop. My friends have told me that Iamtoo negative. Ithink it may be because when Iwas young, bad things happened all the time. My parents got divorced just as Istarted making friends at school, and then we had to movebecause we couldn’tafford our house. Then my sister got sick, and all of the attention went to her and hardly any to me. The only time anybody

Gagnard, “‘Jaws’isa tremendous horror movie, maybe one of the best ever,with slickly engineered jolts and harrowing suspense.”

“Jaws”and its sequelsare now streaming on Peacock. But if you need to see it on abigger screen, you’ll probably have to wait until Labor Day weekend fora return to theaters.

One exception is Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, where the movie has been playing since Memorial Day,complete with shark-head buckets of popcorn. Unfortunately the franchise doesn’thave any theaters in Louisiana.

However,there’snolack of “Jaws” merchandise available, and many fans are headedtoUniversal’stheme parks in Orlando and Los Angeles to get aclose-up scare from “Bruce,” the sharkused in the movie.

To commemorate the film’sgolden anniversary, we asked readers about their memories of seeing “Jaws” for the first time and its lasting impact on them.

No.1fan

Even at age 6, KevinCaywood of Chalmette wanted to see “Jaws.”

Maybe it was becausehis father, William, was an oyster fisherman Whatever the reason, when Kevin’sfather took him to the Joy that openingweekend, he was hooked and has been ever since, estimating that he’sseen the movie hundreds of times.

Kevin hascollected dozens of “Jaws”-relateditems, although many were lost in Katrina,and visited both Universal Hollywood and Orlando to see “Bruce,” the mechanical shark prop.

Upcoming are trips to Los Angeles forthe Academy Museum’s“Jaws” exhibit (the first dedicatedtoasingle film) and Martha’sVineyard.

“It’sjust such agood story,” Caywood said. “It wasn’tlike Godzilla going around killing people; it seemed real to me.

“The movie doesn’thave all of the special effects you see now, but that’swhy it holds up so well. It’swhat you don’tsee that draws you in.”

Oscar, please New Orleans jazz musician Matt Lemmler was 8when he first saw “Jaws,” deciding to sitonthe front row of the Lakeside Cinema IIin Metairie while his father and two older brothers were farther back “I wanted to show howbrave I was,” Lemmler said. “But as soon as that John Williams score started playing, Iran back in total fear.”

Lemmler’sappreciation of “Jaws” and Williams’ Oscar-winning score has only grown over the years.

In 2019, he attended the Louisiana Philharmonic’stribute to Williams, which included an extended segment from “Jaws.”

“It was beautiful to hear it live,” Lemmler said. “Those opening notes just grab you.

“I can’twait to see it in atheater again. ‘Jaws’ never getsold.”

Babyshark

Spencer Cain was born a“Jaws”

CIGAR

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about 2feet tall and reaching 1to 2feet wide. This plant’smain attraction, of course, is its profusionofblooms. While some cupheas have open flowers, Vermillionaire has slender,nectar-rich bloomsthat are theperfect shape and size for hummingbirds’ longbeaks and tongues. As abonus, the flowers sport abright, reddish huethat serves as another lure for hummingbirds. “If you’re trying to draw

fan —literally.His parents, Nicky andJimmy Cain of Covington, chose to air aBlu-ray 25th anniversary director’scut of the movie in Nicky’sbirthing suite at Ochsner MedicalCenter in 2001. The show even attracted hospital staffers unconnected to the blessed event.

“I’ve never heard of anybody else coming into the world like that,” said Spencer.“But my parents are super fansand it makes a great family story.”

Here’sone justabout as good as teenagers, his parents,Nicky and Jimmy,were at thesame showing at theJoy on theday “Jaws” debuted,althoughthey didn’tknow each otherand would not meet until two decades later

“If we’d had been on adate, we’d probably have never seen each other again,” Nicky Cain said. “So Iguess it was worththe wait.”

Just when youthink it’s safe

Slidell’sSusan Donovan is alifelongcompetitive swimmer and lifeguard, but she still circles pool decks,“just checking,” anddoesn’t go in over her anklesinany “nonchlorinatedbodyofwater,always scanning the horizon for the fin with themusic always playingin my mind.”

Not everyone is quite that traumatized. When Chris Darnell of BatonRouge watched at theUniversity Cinema, aguy behind her grabbed her shoulderswhen the shark made its first appearance. She didn’tlet it affect her love of the movie or the beach.

That includes visiting relatives wholive on Cape Cod and their annual rewatch parties.

“There’sawildlife refuge nearby,” she said. “And sharks prefer seals to people, so nobody worries.”

Partytime!

Every time Elena Branzaru of Baton Rouge sees “Jaws,”she swears she can smell the Coppertone.

But her true love is “Sharknado,” theover-the-top aquaticmenace film that spawned fivesequels, three morethan “Jaws.”

“Every year,anew one was released (the lastwas in 2020), we hada partywithcostumes and themed snacks,” Branzaru said.

“‘Jaws’ and ‘Sharknado’ bring up such great memories.

“That’sthe way Iknowsummer

hummingbirds to your garden, cupheasare one of the bestplants to do that,” Stagg said. “Other pollinators will also enjoy the nectar production from this plant.”

To make sure your Vermillionairecuphea produces plentyof blooms, placeitinfull sun.

“It won’tbloom very much if it gets any shadethroughout the day,”Stagg said Flowering beginsinspring and continues through thefirstfrost in the fall

Regularfertilizationwill help keepthe plant fulland ensure a steady supplyofflowers. Deadheadingisn’tnecessary

seemed tonotice me was when Ihad aproblem.When Ithink about it, thebad stuff is what drew themost attention. Nowit’s theopposite. People don’twant to be around me if Iaminconstant complaint mode, but Idon’tknow how to snap outofit. Can you help? —BePositive DEAR BE POSITIVE: Medical professionals havenoted that the human brain naturally has negative thoughts throughout the day,in part to protect itself from the elements and any outside danger Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to choose to think positive thoughts, to train our brains to look for the good in situations even if bad things have happened in the past. In your case, this may require you to rethink how you are accustomed to getting attention and retrain your brain to look forhealthier meansoffinding the love you want and need. Tryitout. What happens if you choose to be in an upbeat environment and notice the good surrounding you? Similarly,what if you take amoment to see the good in asituation that is stressful? Look for something good even if something negative is also happening. Focus on that. Finally,get a therapist to help you sort through your baggage and find aclearing for how to face the future.

has arrived.

AmityChoo-Choo

There aren’t anyrailroads on Amity Island. Butthat didn’tdeter KurtSauersofOcean City,Maryland, from building atrain garden running through amodel village of what’sshown in themovie.

Thetraingarden is Sauers’ tribute to hislate father,fromwhom he inherited thetrains,and took four years to construct in his basement. Sauersusedmorethan 2,000 pieces of wood andother building materials.

“Mydad took me to see ‘Jaws’ when Iwas 8, andIheldmyfeet off the floor for the whole timeso thesharkwouldn’tget me,” Sauers said. “But Ilove ‘Jaws’ now “Most scary movies, you see what’s coming. But in ‘Jaws,’ it’s what you can’tsee. We’re all afraid of the unknown.”

Lastingtrauma

It took yearsfor Dickson Griswald of New Orleans to get over his fear of potential shark attacksinany body of water after he sawthe bloody blockbuster Ironically,Griswold’sfamily was vacationing on Martha’sVineyard in 1974 when “Jaws” was being filmed, andhecould seethe mechanical sharks being set up in Katama Bay.Itdidn’tmakehim less worried.

“That shows youhow great themovie is,” Griswald said. “It

When you first plantyourVermillionaire cuphea, water it regularly Once established,however,these plants are remarkablydroughttolerant.

“That is perfect forour sometimes-unpredictableraininthe summer,” Stagg said.

Don’tworry about scorching summer temperatures hurting this plant. Vermillionaire flourishesin theheat.

“The heat tolerance is one of the things that we love about it,” Stagg said. “A lot of times ourlandscapes start toweaken during August and September,and things don’tlook so great.But not this plant.It’sgoing to be perfect.”

taps into ourprimordialfearthat there’sa predator coming to eat you.

“Itwasn’ta monster anditwasn’t aserial killer.Kids today are callous about special effects, but ‘Jaws’ scared the willies out of all of us.”

Louisianaconnection

WhenMatt Hooper performs the shark autopsy andextracts a Louisiana license plate, prompting Chief Brody to ask, “He didn’teat acar,did he?” thewording on the platewas no accident. Spielberg wanted to direct a James Bond film and was sending amessage to producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. The first three numbers on the plate are“007” andthe bottom says “72LOUISIANA 73” —references to the years “Live and Let Die” was partially shot in the NewOrleans area and released.

Spielberg’spitch didn’twork.

Forsome reason, Broccoli never thought the most successful directorinmovie history wasgood enough to helm aBond film

Partytime

Although Jessica Cogan of New Orleans confesses to having the “Jaws” themerunning in her head even when she’sswimming in pools or freshwater lakes, that hasn’tstopped herfrombeing a regular at the Prytania’sannual costume-themed watching parties

This year’s festivitiesare planned forLabor Day

“There aresomanyspecial moments,” Cogansaid. “And then we go to afriend’splace for lobster rolls.

“It’s just aboutperfect.”

No harm done

As ayoungster,Kevin Brown of New Orleans had to convince his strict minister father to let him see “Jaws,” sending him off with the warning, “Ifyou wanttoruin your life, go ahead.” Brown,now director of the social work program at SUNO,was apparently notpermanently scarred.

“I graduated from Ben Franklin, have two master’sdegrees and a Ph.D. and have receivednational awards for my work,” Brownsaid.

“I feel likeI contributedsignificantly to society

“Allthat despite having seen ‘Jaws’atthe Joy.”

Vermillionaire cuphea is generally considered an annual. But in south Louisiana, Stagg said, it’s possiblefor it to perennialize meaning it will survive the winter and come back in the spring. Like allLouisiana Super Plants, Vermillionaire has been rigorouslyevaluated by AgCenter scientiststhrough years of trials. Plants with this designationare as tough as they are beautiful, making themsolid choices foryour garden.

Check out afull list of Louisiana Super Plants and find more informationabout the program at www.LSUAgCenter.com/SuperPlants.

Sendquestions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/o AndrewsMcMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday,June 17, the 168th day of 2025. There are 197 days leftinthe year

Todayinhistory: On June 17, 1994, after leading police on aslow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole BrownSimpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson wasacquitted of the murders in acriminal trial in 1995, but held liable in acivil trial in 1997.)

Also on this date: In 1775, the Revolutionary WarBattle of Bunker Hill resulted in acostly victory for the British, whosuffered heavy losses.

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty, disassembled and packed into 214 separate crates, arrived in NewYork Harbor aboard the French frigate Isère.

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley TariffAct, which boosted U.S. tariffs to historically high levels, prompting foreign retaliation.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington (Pa.) School District v. Schempp, struck down, 8-1, rules requiring the recitation of the Lord’sPrayer or reading of biblical verses in public schools.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon’seventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s, Watergate complex.

In 2008, hundreds of same-sex couples got married across California on the first full day that same-sex marriage became legal by order of the state’shighest court; an estimated 11,000 same-sex couples would be married under the California law in its first three months.

In 2015, nine Black worshippers were killed when agunman opened fire during aBible study gathering at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (Dylann Roof,aWhite supremacist, was captured the following day; he would be convicted on state and federal murder and hate crime charges and sentenced to death.)

In 2021, the SupremeCourt, in a7-2 ruling, leftintact the entire Affordable Care Act, rejecting amajor Republican-led effort to kill the national health care law knowninformally as “Obamacare.” In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law creating the first new national holiday since the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr.Day Today’sbirthdays: Filmmaker KenLoach is 89. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is 82.

PROVIDED PHOTO Elena Branzarushows off her Sharknadoheadwear

PROVIDED PHOTO

Kurt Sauersposes with his ‘Jaws’ train garden.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Set your sights on your goal and take control of your day. Don't forget to reward yourself for what you achieve. You can choose to be productive and happy or hesitant and miserable.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Mix and mingle, discover what's trending in your community and offer time, money or expertise to a cause or effort that concerns you. Listen to suggestions, but verify information before taking a leap of faith.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Be aware of your surroundings and heed warning signs. A professional move looks promising. Pick up any additional skills that will encourage you to apply for a higher position.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Refuse to let the little things people do annoy you. Trust your instincts and create opportunities that put you in the running for a key position. It's your turn to shine.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Distance yourself from drama, temptation and conversations that can turn into a shouting match. A creative outlet will help calm your nerves and remind you of your talents Make love, not war

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Remember what life is about and the people and things that make you happy. Visiting someone who makes you forget about time or kicking back with a great book will help you adjust your lifestyle.

sAGITTARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Invest more time in personal growth, updating your skills and making your life run efficiently. Enhance your productivity and mindset.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Choose to do things in unison with someone who shares your beliefs and goals. A change that promotes momentum will tempt you, but first, make sure you are acting in your own best interest.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Raise the bar and turn your surroundings or lifestyle into something engaging. Refuse to let boredom and monotony settle in and rob you of the life you long for.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Check out influences on social media and see what motivates you. Expand, explore and energize your life to enhance your emotional well-being.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Look for the good and the positive in every situation. Having a good attitude is the best way to combat negativity. Take the high road and see what happens.

TAuRus (April 20-May 20) Let your imagination lead the way and experience what life offers. Explore different outlets for your skills and look into how to make money from a hobby.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2025 by NEA, Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

ToDAy's cLuE: M EQuALs G

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon

bIG

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

This week we arelooking at theStaymanconvention, whose primaryjob is to trytofind a4-4 major-suit fitafter opener immediately shows abalanced hand. When the opening bidisone no-trump and responderbids two clubs,itasks opener to show afour-cardmajor. If opener has two of them,herebids two hearts. Then, what does the responder do when he has four spades and fewer thanfour hearts?

Ifhehasgame-invitationalstrength,it depends upon system. If one no-trumptwo no-trump is natural, showing about nine points and inviting game,then respondercontinueswithtwono-trump. Since he used Stayman, he must have a four-card major, andsince he has not raised hearts, he must holdfour spades. Butifoneno-trump-twono-trumpisnot natural,perhapsatransfertodiamonds, responder rebids two spades.

Opener is expected to place the final contract.Here, with an absolute maximum, he signs offinthree no-trump. AfterWest leads the diamond king, what shouldSouthdo?

Declarer has six top tricks and at least three more cancome from the clubs. However, if Easthas the clubking, there is ariskthe opponents will collect four diamond tricks to defeat you. The

answer? Duck the first trick. If West leads another diamond, it gives you two diamondtricks.IfWestshifts,youwinin hand and runthe club 10 (or queen).

Ducking withthe A-J-x is calledthe Bath Coup becausethisplaywas first recognized in that English city when whist waspopular.

©2025 by NEA,Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InsTRucTIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3

Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed

ToDAy’s WoRD WIDGEon: WIH-jin: Any of several freshwater ducks

Average mark 15 words

Timelimit 30 minutes

Can you find 22 or morewords in WIDGEON?

yEsTERDAy’s WoRD —oBVIousLy

loCKhorNs

Don’t be foolish.One dayyou will meet God face to face G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato

mallard fillmore

CITY OF ST.GEORGE BY COUNCIL MEMBER EDMONDS:

ORDINANCE NO. 2025-024

AN ORDINANCE REZONING A0.77 ACRE PARCEL FROM THE R (RURAL) ZONING DISTRICT TO THE NO (NEIGHBORHOOD OFFICE)

ZONING DISTRICT AND TO PROVIDEFOR RELATED MATTERS (7935 Director Drive)

WHEREAS, application has been made by Union City Chappel (Case No.Z25-05) to rezone a0.77 acreparcel from the R(Rural) zoning district to the NO (Neighborhood Office) zoning district to make the current church use conforming and to permit the expansion of the church; and

WHEREAS, properties near the subject property areused for a commercial, low density residential andoffice uses and arezoned R, NC, and A2; and

WHEREAS, rezoning the subject property to NO is consistent with the EBR Comprehensive Plan which shows the property as Employment Center; and

WHEREAS, apublic hearing was held on May 5, 2025, beforethe City of St. George Zoning Commission at which the Zoning Commission recommended the grant of the rezoning request.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINEDbythe St. George City Council, State of Louisiana, as follows:

Section 1: That the property that is the subject of this Ordinance is legally described in Exhibit Aattached hereto and made apart hereof.

Section 2: That the subject property is hereby rezoned from the R (Rural) zoning district to the NO (Neighborhood Office) zoning district consistent with the property’scurrent and proposed use.

Section 3: The specifictermsand conditions of this Ordinance shall prevail against other ordinances of the City to the extent that theremay be any conflict. Except for the foregoing, the use of the subject property is subject to the terms of all applicable ordinances and regulations of the City of St. George, including any amendment thereto.

Section 4: Severability.Ifany provision of this Ordinance is declared invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, the other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 5: Effective Date. This ordinance shall be effective upon publication. This ordinance having been submitted to

Adopted

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Approved:

Dustin Yates, Mayor

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Adopted

LOT A-1-A OF THE OLD JEFFERSON PROPERTY,IN SEC. 51, T8S-R2E, GREENSBURG LAND DISTRICT,CITY OF ST.GEORGE,EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH, LOUISIANA CITY OF ST.GEORGE BY COUNCIL MEMBER EDMONDS:

ORDINANCE NO. 2025-023

AN ORDINANCE REZONING A2.99 ACRE PARCEL FROM THE A1 (SINGLE FAMILY)ZONING DISTRICT TO THE LC3 (LIGHT COMMERCIAL 3) ZONING DISTRICT AND TO PROVIDEFOR RELATED MATTERS (12663 Perkins Rd)

WHEREAS, application has been made on behalf of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (Case No. Z25-03) to rezone a2.99 acreparcel from the A1 (Single Family) zoning district to the LC3 (Light Commercial 3) zoning district to make the church aconforming use and to permit additional activities on the property; and

WHEREAS, properties near the subject property areused for aschool, office,commercial, and low density residential uses and arezoned C1, C2, A3.3 and SPUD; and

WHEREAS, rezoning the subject property to LC3 is consistent with the EBR Comprehensive Plan which shows the property as Commercial; and

WHEREAS, apublic hearing was held on May 5, 2025, beforethe City of St. George Zoning Commission at which the Zoning Commission recommended the grant of the rezoning request.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the St. GeorgeCity Council, State of Louisiana, as follows:

Section 1: That the property that is the subject of this Ordinance is legally described in Exhibit Aattached hereto and made apart hereof.

Section 2: That the subject property is hereby rezoned from the A1 (Single Family) zoning district to the LC3 (Light Commercial 3) zoning district consistent with the property’scurrent and proposed use.

Section 3: The specifictermsand conditions of this Ordinance shall prevail against other ordinances of the City to the extent that theremay be any conflict. Except for the foregoing, the use of the subject property is subject to the terms of all applicable ordinances and regulations of the City of St. George, including any amendment thereto.

Section 4: Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance is declared invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, the other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 5: Effective Date. This ordinance shall be effective upon publication.

This ordinance having been submitted to avote; the vote thereon was: For: Cook, Edmonds, Himmel, Monachello Against: Absent: Heck

Adopted this 3rdday of June, 2025

Signed this 6th day of June, 2025

Delivered to the Mayor on the 6th day of June, 2025

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Adopted Ordinance published in The Advocateonthe day or ___________, 2025.

EXHIBIT A

TRACTD-2 OF THELOUIS B. KLEINPETER PROPERTY (2.99 ACRES) IN SEC.55, T8S-R1E, GREENSBURG LAND DISTRICT,CITY OF ST GEORGE, EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH,LOUISIANA CITY OF ST.GEORGE BY COUNCIL MEMBER COOK:

ORDINANCE NO. 2025-025 AN ORDINANCETOENACT THEFISCALYEAR 2026 GENERAL FUND BUDGET ANDTOPROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS

WHEREAS, the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act, La. R.S. 33:1301, et seq., requires the Mayor of the City of St. George to present a comprehensive budget to the St.George City Council (the “City Council”), representing acomplete financial plan for each fiscal year for the general fund and each special revenue fund and other itemsasrequiredbythe Act;

WHEREAS, the proposed budget must be accompanied by abudget adoption instrument (“Budget Ordinance”);

WHEREAS, the City of St. George desires to adopt the budget of revenues and expenditures proposed by the Mayor of the City of St. George for the July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 (“2026 General Fund Budget”);

WHEREAS, at the regular meeting of the City Council held on May 13, 2025, this Budget Ordinance was introduced to adopt the 2026 General Fund Budget;

WHEREAS, notice of apublic hearing to be held on June 3, 2025 was published in The Advocatestating: (1) the proposed 2026 General Fund Budget was availablefor inspection at St.George Municipal Services Office, 13646 Perkins Road, St. George, Louisiana 70810 and (2) that a public hearing would be held at St,George City Hall on June 3, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. on the proposed 2026 General Fund Budget; and WHEREAS, on June 3, 2025, apublic hearing was held on the proposed 2026 General Fund Budget.

NOWTHEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINEDbythe St.George City Council, State of Louisiana as follows:

Section 1. 2026 General Fund Budget. The Budget for 2026 is hereby adopted as shown in Exhibit A-General Fund Budget for July 1, 2025 –June 30, 2026 attached hereto.

Section 2. Adjustments. The Mayor is hereby authorized to make line item adjustmentsduring the expenditureswithin aprogram or function of adepartment. Adjustments shall be reported to the City Council.To the extent actual expenditures exceed the amount appropriated by 5% or moreinanindividual fund, the Mayor will recommend abudget amendment to the City Council for approval as required by the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act,La. R.S. 39:1301 et seq.

Section 3. EffectiveDate. ThisOrdinance shall be effective upon publication.

This ordinance having been submitted to avote; the vote thereon was:

For: Cook, Edmonds Himmel,Monachello

Against: Absent: Heck

Adopted this 3rdday of June, 2025 Signed this 6th day of June, 2025

Delivered to the Mayor on the 6th day of June, 2025

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Approved:

DustinYates, Mayor

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Adopted Ordinance

Public

We

Location

SUMMARY

We

It

We

Sincerely,

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Approved:

from such renewal is approximately $351,194.50 for each entireyear of the levy,with the avails or proceeds of said Taxtobeused entirely and exclusively for the development, operation and maintenance of the fire protection facilities of the District including the cost of obtaining waterfor fire protection purposes and

BBEHOperating,LLC BlackBayou Salt Dome CameronParish Pursuant to LAC43:XIX. Chapter47etseq the LouisianaOffice of Con‐servationisproviding public notice that the BBEHOperating,LLC (B1147) hasrequested expeditedprocessingof Permit ApplicationNos 45975-45978 fortwo (2) ClassIII Brine(SolutionMining)/ClassIIHSW (Hydrocarbon Storage) Wells locatedatBlack BayouSaltDomewhich pursuant to regulation waspreviouslynoticed to thepubliconDecem‐ber9 and12, 2024, in The Advocate andthe CameronParishPilot, re‐spectively.The expedited review processdoesnot shortenany existing time delays forpublicnotice, commentperiod,

ing, or inany way shortenorimpinge upon thepublicparticipation process. In accordance with thePublicRecords Act, R.S. 44:1etseq all public recordsconcern‐ingthisrequest forexpe‐ditedprocessingare availabletothe public forinspectionand copy‐ing. Please addressall commentsorinquiresto: GavinD.Broussard Director Injection andMining i i i

An Ordinance approving adesign for

of

Authorizing

0000.000000.644120). *This matter may be discussed in Executive Session. (Attorney of RecordisHanah Pizzini, Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys.). By Parish Attorney

RESOLUTION

Rescinding and directing the Clerk Of Court to cancel the Notice To Attend recorded on January 13, 2025, at Original 234 of Bundle13351 and the Decision and Order recorded on April 4, 2025, at Original 570 of Bundle13364 in the matter of “City of Baton Rouge vs. Juon RAlexander” -Condemnation Proceeding No.11507 (3484 Myrtlelawn St Lot 13, Myrtle Lawn Subdivision).Reason for rescission: The property is being renovated. By Councilwoman Harris

RESOLUTION

Authorizing the Mayor-President to execute aSupplemental Agreement No.3 in an amount of $31,816.13 to Contract for Professional Engineering

Services with Bonton Associates, L.L.C for services associated with MOVEBR Capacity Project Ardenwood-Lobdell Connector,being City-Parish Project No.20-CP-HC-0017, bringing the total amount of the contract to an amount not to exceed $785,481.62 (Account No 921710065-4371-00000-0000000000-653240).ByTransportation and Drainage Director.

RESOLUTION

Authorizing the Mayor-President to execute aSupplemental Agreement 7with Waggoner Engineering for services associated with MOVEBR Capacity Project Jones Creek Road (Tiger Bend to Jefferson), being CityParish Project No.12-CS-HC-0060, in an amount not to exceed $24,335. (Account No.9217100035-00000-4371.00000-0000000000-653240).By Transportation and Drainage Director

RESOLUTION

Rescinding and directing the Clerk Of Court to cancel the Notice To Attend recorded on March28, 2025, at Original 133 of Bundle13363 in the matter of “City of Baton Rougevs. 180 Renovations LLC”- (4812 Osborne Ave., Lot 111, Foster Heights Subdivision).Reason for

Rescinding Council Resolution 58620, awarding the contract for Old Hammond Highway- Segment 1S.Flannery to Goodwood, being Project No.12-CS-HC-0043A-5,

Tuesday,May 27, 2025 MINUTES 6:00 PM

I. Preliminary Business

1) Call to Order - MayorEvans called the meeting to order at 6:00

p.m.

2) Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – by Ron Erickson

3) Roll Call Present: Fralick,Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells Absent: None

4) Approval of the minutes from the May 13, 2025 Council Meeting. Council Member Myer to approve the May 13, 2025 minutes as written. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wells. Therewerenoobjections. The May 13, 2025 minutes areapproved as written.

II. Zoning Cases

1) Discussion and action regardingthe following P&Z case(s): a) T25-02: Violations &Penalties An ordinance to amend Title 7Unified Development Code to consolidate and update violations and penalties and provide for related matters. Commission Action (April 24, 2025): Mr.Firmin moved to approve with recommendations. Mr.Pino seconded. Public comment: None. Vote: 6yeas (Firmin, Harper,Pino Sharafkhani, Johnson), 1nay (Freneaux), 1absent (Sheridan). Motion passed, and T25-02 was recommended for approval with changes.

CouncilAction (May 27, 2025): Council Member Myer moved to approve this item. The motion was seconded by Council MemberLazaroe. Council discussion. Mayor Evans asked if the recommended changes from the Planning and Zoning Commission weremade. Staff responded that they were. Council Member Lavergne made asubstitute motion to defer this item to the second Council Meeting in June (June 24, 2025). The motion was seconded by Council Member Wells. Public comment: None. Vote to defer: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. This item is deferred tothe June 24, 2025 Council Meeting.

b) T25-03: GeneralProvisions.Anordinance to amend Title 7Unified Development Code to consolidate and update violations and penalties and provide for related matters. Commission Action (April 24, 2025): Mr.Pino moved to approve with recommendations. Mr.Firminseconded. Public Comment: None. Vote: 6yeas (Firmin, Freneaux, Harper,Pino Sharafkhani, Johnson), 0nays, 1absent (Sheridan). Motion passed, andT25-03 was recommended for approval with changes. Council Action (May 27, 2025): Council Member Lavergne made amotion to defer this item to the second Council Meeting in June (June 24, 2025). The motion was seconded by Council Member Myer.Councildiscussion.Public comment: None. Vote to defer: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. This item is deferred to the June 24, 2025 Council Meeting.

2) Introduction of the following P&Z item(s) (with public hearing to be held at the June 10, 2025, Council meeting).

None

III. Old Business (Public Hearing and Actionregarding the following instrument(s)):

None

IV.New Business (Public Hearing and Actionregarding the following instrument(s)):

1) Condemnation proceedings.

a) 12287 Lovett Road ■ City Attorney Celestin stated that this case was already approved by Council for condemnation at apriormeeting, but since then, we have found some errors in the notification process. The Curator’supdated Note of Evidence was sent to Council and read aloud. City Attorney Celestin stated that the case is being reheard to ensurethat proper notification was given to any interested party or potential heir.Hethen asked Council if therewereany questions. Therewerenone at this time. Council MemberLazaroe moved to approve this item. The motion wasseconded by Council Member Lavergne. Public comment: Paulineand Todd Gagliano. The Gagliano’sstated that they received notice in the mail about the Condemnation Hearing. They werenot sureoftheir legal interest in the property,but did not want to be held responsible for any fees associated with the property. City Attorney Celestin stated with new potential heirs, the appropriate thing to do is to defer this case and for the Gagliano’stocall Mr.Celestin as soon as possible to sort things out regarding ownership and to determine how they want to proceed. Council Member Myer made amotion to defer this item to the second Council Meeting in June (June 24, 2025). The motion was seconded by Council Member McKinney.Public comment: None. Vote to defer: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. This item is deferredtothe June 24, 2025 Council Meeting.

2) Aresolution to approve the Development Policies and Standards Manual.

Aresolution to approve the City of Central Development Policies and Standards Manual and to provide for related matters (By Council Member Lazaroe).

Council Member Lazaroe moved to approve this item. The motion wasseconded by Council Member Myer.Councildiscussion. Council Member Lavergne made asubstitute motion to defer this item to the second Council Meeting in June (June 24, 2025). The motion was seconded by Council Member Myer.Public comment: None. Vote to defer: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. This item is deferred to the June 24, 2025 Council Meeting.

3) Aresolution to establish penalties for UDC violations

Aresolution to establish penalties for Title 7Unified Development Code of the City’sCode of Ordinancesand to provide for related matters (By Council Member Roy).

Council Member Roy made amotion to deferthisitem to the second Council Meeting in June (June 24, 2025). The motion was seconded by Council Member Myer.Public comment: None. Vote to defer: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. This item is deferredtothe June 24, 2025 Council Meeting.

4) To consider amotion to authorize the Mayor to execute the extra duty contract between the City of Central and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’sOffice. Council Member Lavergne moved to approve this item. The motion was seconded by CouncilMember Wells. Mayor Evans noted that this is for an extra duty contract that we do every year with the East Baton Rouge Sherrif’sOffice. Public comment: None. Vote: 7 yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. Motion passed.

5) To consider amotion to enter into executive session under La. R.S. 42:17(A)(1) to discuss recommendation received from Chief of Police.

Council Member Lavergne moved to approve this item to enter into executive session. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myer.Public comment: None. Vote: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0 absent. Motion passed.

■ Executive Session begins –6:36 p.m.

■ Executive Session ends Public Meeting readjourned –10:07 p.m.

Council MemberMcKinney made amotion to find that any and all diciplinaryactions recommended by Chief Corcoran against Assistant Chief Ivey not to warrant termination. Council Member McKinney stated that Assistant Chief Ivey has provided detailed documentation and evidence countering each of the claims levied against him. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wells. Public comment: Debbie Dougherty.Council Member McKinney clarified that aYes vote means no termination. Vote: 7yeas (Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells), 0nays, 0absent. Motion passed.

V. New Business (Non-Public Hearing):

1) Introduction of the following item(s)

Dedicated Fund Budgets for Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance, Half Cent Sales and Use Tax, MOVEBR, TrafficContribution,and Capital Outlay &Improvement for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and providing forrelated matters (ByCouncilMember Lazaroe).

b) An ordinance enacting the 2025-2026 budget An ordinance enacting the General Fund Budget and the Dedicated Fund Budgets for Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance, Half Cent Sales and Use Tax, MOVEBR, TrafficContribution,and Capital Outlay &Improvement forthe 2025-2026 fiscal year and providing for related matters (ByCouncilMember Roy).

VI. Reports and Presentations

1) Mayor’sReports and Presentations. -Red, White and Boom will be held July 5, 2025 at Shoe Creek

2) Areport from the Central Police Department concerning law enforcement within the City of Central. Police Lieutenant MichelleLewis gave areport for the Central Police Department.

3) Areport from IBTS regarding services provided to the City of Central. This itemisdeferred to the next Council Meeting (June 10, 2025).

4) Distribution of Financial Highlights and Statementsfor February 2025. Reports weredistributed.

5) Distribution of the City of Central AccountsPayable Disbursement Report, Fuel Report and Deposit Totals forperiod of April 1, 2025 through April30, 2025. Reports weredistributed.

VII. Other Business

1) Public Comment None

2) Announcements None

3) Adjournment Council Member Roy moved to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wells. The meeting was adjourned at 10:18 p.m.

s/ Wade Evans, Mayor s/ Mark Miley, City Clerk

CITY OF CENTRAL

BY COUNCIL MEMBER LAZAROE

ORDINANCE NO. 2025-09

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THEGENERAL FUND BUDGET ANDTHE DEDICATED FUND BUDGETS FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES, DRAINAGE, ANDLOCAL ROAD IMPROVEMENT & MAINTENANCE, HALF CENT SALES ANDUSE TAX, MOVEBR, TRAFFIC CONTRIBUTION, AMERICANRESCUE, ANDCAPITAL OUTLAY& IMPROVEMENT FOR THE2024-2025 FISCAL YEAR ANDPROVIDING FOR RELATED MATTERS

WHEREAS, by Ordinance No.2024-23 the Council for the City of Central adopted the General Fund Budget and the Dedicated Fund Budgets for Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance (“ESDLRIM”), Half Cent Sales and Use Tax, MovEBR TrafficContribution,American Rescue, and Capital Outlay &Improvement (collectively “Budgets”) forthe fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2024 and ending on June 30, 2025 (“2024-2025 Fiscal Year”); and WHEREAS, it is necessary to amend the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year Budgets to complywith the Local Governmental Budget Act,La. R.S. 38:1201, et seq. THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINEDbythe Council of the City of Central StateofLouisiana:

Section 1. Budget Amendments. The final amendments to General Fund Budget and the Dedicated Fund Budgetsfor the Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance, Half Cent Sales and Use Tax, MovEBR, TrafficContribution,American Rescue, and Capital Outlay &Improvement Funds as presented in the 2025-2026 City of Central Budget,attached hereto as Exhibit A, areadopted.

Section 2. Conflicts.The specificterms and conditions of this Ordinance shall prevail against prior ordinances of the City to the extent thereisany conflict.

Section 3. Severability.Ifany section, subsection, sentence, clause or provision of this Ordinance is declared by acourt of competent jurisdictiontobeinvalid, such declaration of invalidity shall not affect the validity of the Ordinance as awhole, or parts thereof,otherthan the part declared invalid. The remainder of the Ordinance shallnot be affected by the declaration of invalidityand shall remaininforce and effect.

Section 4. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be effective upon publication in the Official Journal.

Introduced beforethe Council on May27, 2025.

Notice of publichearing was published in The Advocateon29th day of May, 2025.

This Ordinance having been submitted to avote, the vote thereon was as follows:

For: Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe, McKinney,Myer,Roy and Wells

Against: None

Absent:None

Adopted this 10th day of June, 2025.

Signed the 12th day of June 2025.

s/Mark Miley, City Clerk

Delivered to the Mayor on the 12th day of June 2025.

Approved: s/Wade Evans, Mayor Received from the Mayoronthe 12th day of June 2025.

CITY OF CENTRAL BY COUNCIL MEMBER ROY:

ORDINANCE NO. 2025-10

AN ORDINANCE ENACTING THEGENERAL FUND BUDGET ANDTHE DEDICATED FUND BUDGETS FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES, DRAINAGE, ANDLOCAL ROAD IMPROVEMENT& MAINTENANCE, HALF CENT SALES ANDUSE TAX, MOVEBR, TRAFFIC CONTRIBUTION, AMERICANRESCUE, ANDCAPITAL OUTLAY&IMPROVEMENT FOR THE2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR ANDPROVIDING FOR RELATED MATTERS

WHEREAS, Wade Evans, in his capacity as Mayor for the City of Central,prepared proposed budgets for the General Fund and the Dedicated Funds for Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance Fund Fee (“ESDLRIM”), Half Cent Sales and Use Tax, TrafficContribution,American Rescue, Capital Outlay & Improvement, and MovEBR (collectively “Budgets”) for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2026 (“2025-2026 Fiscal Year”); and WHEREAS, the proposed Budgets weresubmitted to the City Council for review and consideration; and WHEREAS, notice of apublic hearing on the proposed Budgetswas timely published in the Advocate; and WHEREAS, apublic hearing on the proposed Budget was held on June 10, 2025; NOWTHEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINEDbythe Council of the City of Central, StateofLouisiana:

Section 1. General Fund. The General Fund Budget for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year in Exhibit A, City of Central Budget 2025-26 attached hereto, is hereby adopted.

Section 2. Emergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement &Maintenance Fund Fee. The Dedicated Fund Budget forEmergency Services, Drainage, and Local Road Improvement & Maintenance Fund Fees for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year in ExhibitA,City of Central Budget 2025-26 attached hereto, is hereby adopted. Section 3. Half-Cent Sales and Use Tax. The Dedicated Fund Budget for Half Cent Sales and Use Taxfor the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year in Exhibit A, City of Central Budget 2025-26 attached

Section

the Mayor shall recommend abudgetamendment to the City Council for approvalasrequired by the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act, La R.S. 39:1201 et seq.

Section9.Severability If anysection, subsection,sentence, clause or provision of this Ordinanceisdeclared by acourt of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such declaration of invalidity shall not affect the validity of the Ordinanceasawhole,orpartsthereof, otherthanthe part declared invalid. The remainderofthe Ordinanceshall not be affected by the declaration of invalidity andshall remain in force andeffect

Section 10. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be effective on July 1, 2025.

Introduced beforethe Council on May 27, 2025.

Noticeofpublic hearing waspublishedinThe Advocateon29th day of May, 2025.

This Ordinance having been submitted to avote,the vote thereon was as follows:

For: Fralick, Lavergne, Lazaroe,McKinney, Myer, Roy andWells

Against: None Absent: None

Adoptedthis 10th day of June, 2025.

Signedthe 12th day of June 2025.

s/Mark Miley,

Make ADifferencePro‐gram -$2million will be allocatedtoprovide mu‐nicipalities theopportu‐nity to completeany eli‐gibleCDBGactivitythat meetsa CDBG national objectiveinaneffortto have ameasurableim‐pact on theircommunity In accordance with HUD guidelines,the remain‐derofthe LCDBGfunds will be utilized forthe State’scostofproviding program administration andtechnical assistance services

TheLouisiana Housing Corporation(LHC),asthe administrator of the State'sHOMEProgram hasbeenallocated $9,660,114.54 in FY 2025 funds. HOME fundsare used to provide flexible below-market-rateloans to projects that create or preserve affordable housingfor lower-in‐come households.Eligi‐bleactivitytypes include homeownershipdevelop‐ment,homebuyer assis‐tance, rental develop‐ment (acquisition and / or rehabilitation andnew construction), home‐ownerrehabilitationand rental assistance.Funds aredistributed statewide.

TheLouisiana Housing Corporation(LHC),the administratorofthe State'sNationalHousing TrustFundProgram,has been allocated

$3,134,373.20 in FY 2025 funds. Theintentofthe National HousingTrust Fund is to increase and preserve thesupplyof decent,safe,sanitary andaffordablehousing primarilyrentalhousing forextremely low-in‐come andverylow-in‐come households.Funds aredistributed statewide.

TheState's federalallo‐cation forthe FY 2025 EmergencySolutions Grants Program(ESGP)is $2,613,935. ESGfunds maybeusedfor sixpro‐gram activities,each program candetermine theamountoffunding forthe allowablecate‐gories basedonthe needsofthe community Theeligibleprogram components areasfol‐lows:A.street outreach B. emergencyshelter,C homelessness preven‐tion,D.rapid re-housing assistance,E.Homeless Management Informa‐tion System (HMIS),and F. administrative activi‐ties.Per 24 CFR 576.100(b),the total amount of an applicant's budget forstreet out‐reachand essential ser‐vicescannotexceed 60% of itstotal requested amount.Withina collab‐orativeapplication,the 60% limitapplies to the entire applicationand nottoeachpartner within thecollaborative application. Allappli‐cantsare required to set asidea minimum40% for theirawardsfor either homeless prevention or rapidre-housingactivi‐ties

TheLouisiana Depart‐ment of Health(LDH),Of‐fice of Public Health (OPH), STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program expectstore‐ceiveapproximately $3,638,149 forFY2025 HousingOpportunities forPersons with AIDS (HOPWA). Although some percentagesmay vary basedonthe changing needsofpersons living with HIVand theavail‐abilityofcomplimentary resourcesineachgeo‐graphicservice area 85% of theannualState FormulaHOPWA awardis allocatedtorentalassis‐tanceand homelessness preventionactivities. An‐other10% is allocatedto Supportive Services.OPH delivers services via community-based orga‐nizationsthatprovide Tenant-Based Rental As‐sistance (TBRA),Perma‐nent HousingPlacement Services (PHPS),ShortTerm Rent/Mort‐gage/Utility Assistance (STRMU), andoperation of three community resi‐dences forlow-income personslivingwithHIV Theallocations to TBRA andSTRMU typically make up themajorityof thoseawards. An addi‐tional 12% of theannual

PUBLIC NOTICE CUPNumber P20220467 AmendedATF;Hilcorp Energy Company: 1111 Travis Street,Houston TX 77002; Attn:LoganKo‐cian;C/O CoastalRe‐source Consulting,LLC P.O. Box52370, Lafayette LA 70505; Attn:Jeremy Griffith;Location: CameronParish: Lat2951-3.22N Long 93-3139.81W;Sec 10, T14SR12W.SecondBayou Field, Sabine National Wildlife Refuge;Descrip‐tion:Permanent impacts remain after afullgrow‐ingseasonfor appli‐cant’s authorizationto repair a4 inch flowline Compensatory mitiga‐tion will be required for approximately0.21acres of marshimpacts CUPNumber P20250379 ATF; Steven Broussard: 1301 CommonStreet Lake Charles, LA 70601; Attn:Kim Broussard; Lo‐cation: CameronParish: Lat29-49-29.98N Long 9323-7.01; Sec21, T14SR10W;WestPass, South EndofWestCove, Cal‐casieu Ship Channel; De‐scription: Building re‐placementcampwith newboatslip andre‐building decking. Com‐pensatorymitigationwill be required forall per‐manent impactstowet‐lands. An administrative penaltymay be issued forthe unauthorizedac‐tivity 145523 June 17, 1t $14.91 PUBLIC NOTICE ORDINANCE2025-05 CITY OF ZACHARY PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE STATEOFLOUISIANA ORDINANCEAUTHORIZ‐INGTHE CITY OF ZACHARYTOAMEND AND CORRECTCERTAIN DE‐PARTMENTAL BUDGETS IN THEGENERAL FUND UTILITYFUNDAND SPE‐CIAL REVENUEFUNDFOR THEFISCALYEARCOM‐MENCINGJULY1,2024 ANDENDINGJUNE30, 2025 WHEREAS, as it is are‐quirementofthe Home Rule Charterfor theCity of Zachary(the“City”) §2-09(A)(16),and §5-04 that theCityamend and correctthe generalfund, utilityfund andspecial revenuefund budgetsfor each fiscal year as nec‐essary,and WHEREAS, theMayor has determined that it is nec‐essary to amendand correctthe generalfund utilityfund andspecial revenuefund budgets for the fiscal year commenc‐ingJuly1,2024 andend‐ingJune30, 2025 as sub‐mitted,presented andin‐troduced at theregular meetingofthe City Coun‐cilonthis23rdday of April, 2025, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Councilfor theCity of Zacharyata regular meetingofthe City Coun‐cilconvened, that the said amendments and correctionstothe refer‐encedbudgets having been presented by Mayor on the22ndday of April, 2025, andthatthe re‐quired public hearing having been duly called for, duly advertised and held on the27thday of May2025 that: Thecorrections and

amendments to thegen‐eral fund,utility fund and specialrevenue fund budgetsfor the fiscal year commencingJuly1 2024 andendingJune30, 2025 as attached hereto andmadea part hereof areadoptedand ap‐proved.Budgetedline item amountsinall funds notaffectedbythese amendments will remain thesameand areunaf‐fected That MayorDavid Mc‐Davidtothe best of his informationand belief hasherebycertified that therewillbesufficient fundsnecessary to ac‐complishthese amended correctionsand appro‐priations. Further, that thebudget ordinancefor theCityfor thosereferencedperiod is hereby amendedto read as follows: Budgetsfor theGeneral Fund,Utility Fund And SpecialRevenue Fund For TheFiscalYearCom‐mencingJuly1,2024 And Ending June 30, 2025 (As Revised) This Ordinanceshall be‐come effectiveimmedi‐atelyuponthe final adoption by specification of theCityCouncil pur‐suantto§ 2-10 (C)ofthe Home Rule Charter adoptedbythe electors forthe City of Zachary.

INTRODUCED FORADOP‐TION by theCityCouncil of theCityofZachary as aregular meetingofthe said Councilheldonthis 22ndday of April, 2025.

ATTEST:

DavidMcDavid,Mayor

Dana LeJeune -Clerk of theCityCouncil Jennifer Landry -Mayor ProTem‐pore

SUBMITTEDFOR FINAL APPROVAL ANDADOPTED by theCityCouncil of the City of Zacharyasa reg‐ular meetingofthe said Councilafter beingduly noticedand publicized public hearingheldon the27thday of May, 2025 anduponwhich thefore‐goingordinance was read in full,the roll was called on theadoption thereof, andthe Ordi‐nancewas adopted. ATTEST:David McDavid, Mayor

DanaLeJeune -Clerk of theCityCouncil Jennifer Landry -Mayor ProTem‐pore

Ordinance2025-05 PRE‐SENTED TO THEMAYOR PURSUANT TO HRC§ 211(A),this_ dayof 2025 at ____: M.

Dana LeJeune,Clerk of theCityCouncil IDOHEREBYACT TO ADOPT/ ____VETO THIS ORDINANCE, this dayof ____________, 2025 at : M, by my i b l

andcapital

gets foreach fiscal year and WHEREAS, thebudget messageofthe Mayor together with theintro‐ductionofthe general fund,utilityfund,special revenue fund andcapital improvementfund bud‐gets forthe fiscal year commencingJuly1,2025 andendingJune30, 2026 arerequiredtobesub‐mitted,presented andin‐troduced at theregular meeting of theCityCoun‐il

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DECLARE ADJUDICATED TAXPROPERTY SURPLUS AND TO SELL SAME UNDER THEPROVISIONSOFLSAR.S. 33:4720.10 ET SEQAND LSA-R.S. 33:4712.

“Notice is hereby giventhat theMetropolitan Councilhas received a request to declarethe followinglistedproperty surplus and no longer needed for public purpose. These properties have previously been adjudicated to theParish of East Baton Rouge for unpaidtaxes. Anyone wishing to offer ahigher price for theproperty or wishing to oppose the property being declared surplus, or wishing to oppose the sale must file awritten offerorwritten opposition with theCouncilAdministrator,c/o The Parish Attorney’sOffice, Room 905, Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70801, by 2:00 P.M. on June 18, 2025. Anyonewishingtooffer an amount greater than theminimumbid indicated below for the property shall bring acertified check or money order payable to theParish of East Baton Rouge in theamount of the deposit indicated below.Ifmorethan oneperson is interested in any particular piece of property,all parties who have submitted the required deposit shall be allowed to submit additional verbal bids at theAuction that will be heldonthe first floor of theGovernmental Buildingatthe Security Desk at 3:00 p.m. on June 18, 2025. TheMetropolitan Councilat 4:00 p.m. on June 25, 2025, in theCouncilChambers(Room 348), aftera public hearing, shall decide whether to declarethe propertysurplus and whether to accept thehigh bid. For additional information, contact the Parish Attorney’sOffice, Property section at 389-3114.”

Authorizing the Metropolitan Counciltodeclarethe followingproperties previously adjudicated to East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, surplus property,and to authorize thesaleofsaidproperties to theindicated persons, theiragentsorassigns for the consideration mentioned (Minimum Bid Amount), or to thehighest offerorwho submits their offer with acertified check or money orderinthe amount indicated: Lot 15-A&17-A, Square48, Bank

y cil BE IT ORDAINED by the City Councilfor theCity of Zacharyata regular meetingofthe City Coun‐cilconvened, that the said budgetsand pro‐gram having been pre‐sented by Mayoronthis Aprilday of April, 2025, andthatthe required public hearinghaving been duly called for, duly advertised andheldon the10thday of June 2025 that: Thegeneral fund,utility fund,special revenue fund andcapital im‐provementfund budgets forthe fiscal year com‐mencingJuly1,2025 and ending June 30, 2026, as attached hereto and made aparthereofare adoptedand approved That MayorDavid Mc‐Davidtothe best of his informationand belief hasherebycertified that therewillbesufficient fundsnecessary to ac‐complishthese appropri‐ations

This Ordinanceshall be‐come effectiveatthe ex‐piration of ten(10) calen‐dardaysafter publica‐tion by theCityCouncil forthe City of Zachary unless thereferencedor‐dinanceshall specifyan‐othereffective date,all pursuant to §2-10(C) of theHomeRuleCharter adoptedbythe electors forthe City of Zachary. INTRODUCED FORADOP‐TION by theCityCouncil of theCityofZachary as aregular meetingofthe said Councilheldonthis

22ndday of April, 2025.

ATTEST:

DavidMcDavid,Mayor Dana LeJeune -Clerk of theCityCouncil Jennifer Landry -Mayor ProTem‐pore SUBMITTEDFOR FINAL APPROVAL AND ADOPTED by theCityCouncil of the City of Zacharyasa reg‐ular meetingofthe said Councilafter beingduly noticedand publicized public hearingheldon the10thday of June,2025 anduponwhich thefore‐going ordinancewas read in full, therollwas called on theadoption thereof, and theOrdi‐nancewas adopted. ATTEST:David McDavid, Mayor Dana LeJeune -Clerk of theCityCouncil Jennifer Landry -Mayor ProTem‐pore Ordinance2025-06 PRE‐SENTED TO THEMAYOR PURSUANT TO HRC§ 211(A),this_ dayof 2025 at ____: M. Dana LeJeune,Clerk of theCityCouncil IDOHEREBYACT TO ADOPT/ ____VETO THIS ORDINANCE, this dayof