The Times-Picayune 06-17-2025 by The Advocate

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Benson buys another N.O. office tower

27-story building on PoydrasSt. across from Superdome

STAFF PHOTO By CHRISGRANGER

GayleBenson and her real estate firm are purchasing 1515 Poydras St.,the building next to theSuperdome in the photo above

BY ANTHONYMCAULEY Staff writer

Saints andPelicansowner Gayle

Benson said Monday she has agreed to buy one of the largest ofﬁce towers in the Central Business District, in amove she said reflectsconfidenceinthe developing New Orleans medical district

In astatement, Benson said she is under contract to buy 1515 Poydras St., a27-story tower across the street from Caesars Superdome and the Benson Tower and annex, both of which she alreadyowns.

The sale from current owner FCAPartners, aCharlotte, North Carolina-based real estate investment ﬁrm —isexpected to beclosed by mid-July,when the management of the building will transfer to Benson’sreal estate management ﬁrm, Corporate Realty,the statement said Benson bought Corporate Realty in late 2021,saying at the time that she aimed to expand herrealestate holdingsthroughout theGulf region She has since made investments in

“There is no specificplanin placeright now.But this is our neighborhood, and it is an opportunity to make something good happen.”

MICHAEL SIEGEL, president of Corporate Realty

residential real estateinAtlanta and Dallas, as well as buying an ofﬁce blockfromthe estate of former car dealer Ray Brandt.

She hasalsotaken advantage of an ailing national ofﬁce market to take over management of two ofﬁce towersformerly run by Hertz Investment Group: the Energy Centre in New Orleans and the Pinnacle building in Jackson, Mississippi.

The sale price for1515 Poydras wasn’timmediately disclosed. FCA Partners bought the 529,000-squarefoot building in 2000 for around $30 million, according to public records. Completed in 1984 withanindoor car park of more than 400 spaces, the

building was valued by theOrleans ParishAssessor’sOffice at justabout $25 million in the latest tax year FCA Partnersalso owns 1555 Poydras, which it bought in 2000 for just under $27 million, records show The 1515 building has by far the lowest levelofoccupancyofthe 15 so-called ClassAdowntown office buildings,withless than 23% of its spaceleased out, according to CorporateRealty’s2024 office market report. FCA Partners had applied four years ago to convert the bulk of the space —about 300,000 square feet, floors 14-27 —into apartments or condominiums, keeping the lower floors for office rental. However,they made little progress on thatproject because of soaring inflation for construction materials and other related costs. FCA didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Michael Siegel, president of CorporateRealty,said Benson will take afresh look at thebuilding before

ä See BENSON, page 7A

CassidysilentonRFK Jr.’smoves to reshapevaccination committee

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.’srecentappointments to atop vaccination advisory committee, including three new members who have madea splash in conservative circles for their opposition to the government’sresponse to the COVID-19 pandemic and for spreading vaccine misinformation.

Last week, Kennedy said he “retired” all 17 scientists on the

Centersfor DiseaseControland Prevention’sAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices known asACIP,which advises the federal government on vaccine policy.Kennedy, alongtimeskeptic of vaccinations, said theTrump administration wanted members more closely aligned with the president.

“A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public conﬁdence in vaccinescience,”hestated.

All 17 members of thenonpoliticalscientiﬁc committee hadbeen appointed during the Biden administration

As chairofthe Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy,more than any other senator,isresponsible for conﬁrming Kennedy as the secretaryofthe Department of Health and Human Services. Several Republican senators withheld their support of Kennedy until Cassidy, aphysician, weighed in.

In aspeech explaining his vote to conﬁrm Kennedy,Cassidy said the nominee had promised not to encourage parents to stopvaccinating their childrenand work closely

ä See CASSIDY, page 7A

Supreme Courttohear wetlands cases

Move couldimpactsimilar lawsuits seeking billions

BY ALEXLUBBEN Staff writer

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Mondaytohear arguments from Chevron and Exxon that coastal wetlands lawsuits ﬁled by twoLouisiana parishes shouldbetransferred to federal court —a decision that could ripple across dozens of similar cases seeking billions of dollars in damages. The oil companies say they were fulﬁlling federal contracts during World WarII, adefense that lower courts have so far rejected. How the high court rules could affect arecentlandmark $745 millionjury verdict in Plaquemines Parish and shape the future of 42 similar lawsuits accusing oil companies of destroying muchofLouisiana’s coastline.

“Chevron is pleased that the Supreme Court has decidedtograntreviewinthese cases,and we lookforward to presenting ourargumentstothe court,” Chevron’scounsel, Paul Clement, said in astatement. Each of the lawsuits ﬁledinstate courts accused oilcompaniesofdamaging coastal wetlands by dredging canalsand leaving behind pollutionafter they wrapped up their operations, in violation of state coastal regulations that went into effect in 1980.

The question of whether major environmental lawsuits belong in federal or state court has been “arising moreand more,” andnot just in Louisiana, according to Michael Gerrard, the founder of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at

ä See WETLANDS, page 7A

Public defender boardclashes over pay, jobs

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Three members of the board that oversees Louisiana public defenders have quit amid continuing turmoil over ﬁve district chiefs losing their jobs and an ongoing dispute over pay

Freddie Pitcher Jr., TedHernandez and Peter Thomson have all resigned, Louisiana Public Defender Oversight Board Chair Gerard Caswell said during aboard meeting Monday

The state has already found two replacements —Jeffrey Hufft joins as agubernatorial appointee, while Senate President Cameron Henry,

ä See BOARD, page 7A

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO By JOHN McDONNELL Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, left, greets Secretary of Health and Human Services RobertF.KennedyJr. before Kennedy testifies at ahearing on May14.

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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-

Smoke

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

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.

Boelter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARIEL SCHALIT

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 Donald Trump is abruptly leavingthe Group of Seven summit, departingaday early Monday as the conﬂict between Israel andIranintensiﬁesand the U.S. leader has declaredthat Tehran should be evacuated “immediately.”

World leaders had gathered in Canada with the specific goal of helping to defuse aseries of global pressure points, only to be disrupted by ashowdown over Iran’snuclearprogramthat 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 curbits nuclear program before it’s “too late.”Hesaid Iranian leaders would “like to talk” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on theirnuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began. “They have to makea deal,” he said. Asked what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in 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 the summit and skip aseries of Tuesday meetings that would address the ongoing war in Ukraine and global trade issues.

As Trump posedfor apicture Monday eveningwith the other G7 leaders,hesaid simply,“Ihave to be back, very important.”

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

Crises abound

The sudden departure

only heightened thedrama of aworld thatseemson verge of several ﬁrestorms.

Trump already has hitseveral dozen nationswith severe tariffs that risk aglobal economic slowdown.There has been little progress on settling the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

But in adeeper sense, Trump saw abetter path in the United States taking solitary action, rather than in building aconsensus with the other G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy,Japan and theUnited Kingdom British Prime Minister Keir Starmer,French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni andGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz held an hourlonginformal meetingsoon after arriving at thesummitlate Sunday to discuss thewidening conﬂict in the Mideast, Starmer’sofﬁcesaid.

And Merz told reporters thatGermany wasplanning to draw up aﬁnalcommuniqueproposalonthe IsraelIran conﬂict that will stress

Canada.

that “Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weaponscapable material.”

TheEuropean 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 shouldtalk and theyshould talk immediately before it’s too late.”

But by earlyMondayevening, as he planned to depart Kananaskis andthe Canadian RockyMountains, Trump seemed willing topush back against his own supporters who believe the U.S. should embrace amore isolationist approach to world affairs. It wasasign of the heightened military,political and economicstakesinasituation evolving faster than the summit could process “AMERICA FIRST means many GREATthings,including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE ANUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREATAGAIN!!!” Trumpposted on TruthSo-

Jurors seeclips of ‘freak-off’sex marathonscentral to Combs’ trial

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRYNEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEWYORK The jury at Sean

“Diddy” Combs ’sex trafficking trial got aglimpse Mondayatsome of the “freak-off” sex marathons at the heart of the case, with prosecutors showing excerpts of explicit videos that the hip-hop mogul recorded during the drug-fueled sessions.

Prosecutors played portions of three sex videos recovered from aCombslinked account on acellphone that his former longtime girlfriend Cassie provided to authorities, giving jurors aclose-up view of the encounters they’ve heard about repeatedly since testimony kicked off on May 12.

One videowas from Oct. 14, 2012, the same day prosecutors say Combs had a “freak-off” in New York City with Cassie and sex worker Sharay Hayes, known as

“The Punisher.”

Before playing the clip, prosecutors showed jurors an invoice for an Oct. 14, 2012, stay at theTrump International Hotel &Tower in Manhattanthat was booked underCombs’ alias, Frank Black. Anoteonthe invoice said theguest requested to have the room at 3a.m. Prosecutorsalso showed jurors text messages in which Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name isCasandra Ventura, arranged the Oct. 14 meetup with Hayes. In one message, she wrote: “Can we actually do 3a.m. at the Trump hotel,ColumbusCircle?” Hayesreplied: “Great. I’ll text when I’mon my way,”and told herhis fee for the encounter was $200 cash Jurors were also shown excerptsofvideostaken on Oct. 20, 2012, andDec. 4, 2014. Collectively,the clips shown to jurors were several minutes long. Defense lawyers have said the

videos prove thatCombs was engaging in consensual sexrather thancommitting crimes.

Because of theirgraphic nature, the excerpts were available for viewing only for jurors, the prosecution anddefense teams and Combs, all of whom wore headphones to hear the audio portion. Reporters and membersofthe public were not allowed to seeorhear thevideos.

Thevideos werethe most notable part of an otherwise dry day in court as prosecutors wind down theircasewithso-called summary witnesses —government agentswho are reading aloud heapsoftext messages, travel records andother document-based evidence.

Aftersix weeks of witnesses and evidence, prosecutors said theyplan to rest on Wednesday.After that, Combs’ lawyers said they’ll start calling witnesses.

Carnival argument shooting

kills3 in Salt Lake City area

BY MEAD GRUVER Associated Press

A16-year-old boy shot five people in aconfrontation between two groups at acarnival in aSalt LakeCity suburb Sunday,killing three of them including an 8-monthold infant, police said. The shooting in West Valley City aday after an apparently unrelated shooting killed aman at a“No Kings” protest made for an unusually violent weekend in the Salt Lake City area. Police working at WestFest at Centennial Park, about 6miles southwest of downtown Salt LakeCity, saw the two groups Sunday night “As they approached to break up the altercation,a 16-year-old male from one of thegroups pulled out a gun and fired,” the department posted on X. Oneofficer fired back butdid nothit anyone. The shooter struck and killed an 18-year-old man in one of the groups, police said. Besides the infant, a 41-year-old woman bystand-

er also was killed. Twoother teens, a17-yearoldgirland a15-year-old boy, were both hit in the arm, police said. It was not clear if theywere connected to thegroups involved. Apregnant woman was hurt while trying to get over afence to ﬂee, police said. The 16-year-old was quickly taken into custody,police said. His namewould not be released because he was a juvenile, West Valley City spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said at anews conference late Sunday

mit’sopening session, Carney could be heard as he turnedtoTrump andreferenced how the U.S. leader’s remarks aboutthe Middle East,Russia andChina had already drawnattention to the summit.

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

The German, U.K., Japanese and Italian governments had each signaled a beliefthatafriendlyrelationship with Trumpthis year can help to keep any public dramaataminimum, after theU.S.president in 2018 opposedajoint communique when the G7 summitwas last held in Canada.

Going into thesummit, there wasnoplan for a joint statement this year

Ukraine,” according to Macron spokesperson JeanNoël Ladois.

On Tuesday, Trump had been scheduled before his departure to meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Zelenskyy said one of thetopicsfor discussion would be a“defense package” that Ukraine is ready to purchase from the U.S. as part of the ongoing war with Russia,a packagewhose status might now be uncertain. Tariff talk

cial, his social media platform.

It’sunclear howmuch Trumpvalues the perspective of othermembers of theG7, agroupheimmediately criticized while meeting with Carney.The U.S. president said it was amistaketoremove Russiafrom the summit’smembership in 2014 and doing so had destabilized the world. He also suggested he was open to adding China to the G7. Trump also seemed to put agreater priorityonaddressing his grievances with other nations’ trade policies. He announced with Starmer that they had signed atrade framework Mondaythat was previously announced in May,with Trump saying that Britishtrade was “very well protected’ because ”I like them, that’swhy.That’s their ultimate protection.”

High tension

As the newsmedia was escorted from the sum-

The Trump administration appeareddisinterested in building ashared consensus with fellow democracies if it viewssuch astatement as contrary to its goals of new tariffs,more fossil fuel production and aEurope that is less dependent on the U.S. military

The G7,whichoriginated as a1973 ﬁnance ministers’ meeting to address the oil crisis and evolved into a yearly summitmeant to foster personal relationships among world leaders and addressglobalproblems. It briefly expanded to the G8 withRussiaasamember, only forRussia to be expelledin2014 after annexing Crimea andtakinga foothold in Ukraine that preceded its aggressive 2022 invasion of that nation.

Beyond Carney and Starmer,Trump hadbilateral meetings or pull-aside conversationswithMerz, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba andEuropean CommissionPresident Ursula von der Leyen.

He talked withMacron about “tariffs, the situation in the Near andMiddle East, and the situation in

The U.S. president has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as 25% tariffs on autos. Trump is also charging a10% tax on imports frommost countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90day negotiating period set by him would expire. The trade framework signed Monday with the UnitedKingdom included quotas to protect against some tariffs, but the10% baseline would largely remain as the Trumpadministration is banking on tariff revenues to help cover the cost of its incometax cuts. Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, through some products are still protected under the 2020 U.S.-MexicoCanada Agreement signed during Trump’sﬁrst term Merz said of trade talks that “there will be no solution at this summit,but we could perhaps comecloser to asolution in small steps.” Carney’sofﬁce said after theCanadianpremiermet with Trump on trade that “the leaders agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.” Associated Press writer Kirsten Grieshaber contributed to this report.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

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,

Trump official tours Baton Rouge sites

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 Trump-backed bill, Loeffler visited industrial construction company Performance Contractors and toured a pipefabrication 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

Jimmy Swaggart in hospital, family says

Pastor in critical condition after cardiac arrest

Staff report

The Rev Jimmy Swaggart, an evangelical pastor, was in critical condition Monday after being rushed to a hospital Sunday from his Baton Rougearea home, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries said in a news release.

Swaggart went into cardiac arrest shortly after 8 a.m. on Father’s Day Emergency personnel were able to revive his heartbeat, the church said.

“He remains in the ICU, where he is under close medical care,” Jimmy Swaggart Ministries said in a statement.

In a prayer service Sunday night, Swaggart’s son, the Rev Donnie Swaggart, described the events of the morning.

Donnie Swaggart said that after he and his son, Gabe, learned what happened, they rushed to his mother’s house.

“He never regained con-

sciousness,” Donnie Swaggart said. “We both took turns giving him chest compressions until EMT could get there. I’ve never seen so many people arrive at one time, and I want to thank them. They were able to get a heartbeat back. Right now, he is in ICU and without a miracle, his time will be short. But we believe in God — we’re not giving up.”

Jimmy Swaggart, 90, from Ferriday, is the founder of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.

At his peak in the mid-1980s, he was the country’s top-rated TV preacher, broadcast to 2 million households He also built a church complex on Bluebonnet Boulevard, which included dormitories, television studios and warehouses.

But two widely publicized encounters between Jimmy Swaggart and prostitutes took a toll on the ministry

The ministry survived the scandal, though in a much smaller form, and still operates out of its Baton Rouge headquarters, running TV and radio networks a school and a Bible college.

Landry visits Paris for economic development trip

Air show is largest aviation event in world

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT Staff writer

Gov Jeff Landry and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois are attending the Paris Air Show this week on a mission to “attract new investment and showcase Louisiana’s growing role in global industries,” according to a news release. The event in France is the largest aerospace and aviation event in the world, according to the release. Louisiana has had a presence there for nearly 20 years, though it’s Landry’s ﬁrst trip there.

Then-Gov John Bel Edwards visited the air show in 2023. The news release does not say when Landry left the state or when he plans to return, and a spokesperson did not respond to questions about his schedule. Visiting the air show matches the economic development department’s new strategic plan, which “prioritizes global impact, growth in aerospace and defense and high-wage job creation,” the release says. Landry and Bourgeois are highlighting $62 billion in new investments in Louisiana announced recently, including a

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 per-

colate 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.

“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.

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.

Trump fires nuclear safety commissioner

BY JENNIFER MCDERMOTT and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies.

Christopher Hanson, a former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in a statement Monday that Trump terminated his position as NRC commissioner without cause, “contrary to existing law and longstanding precedent regarding removal of independent agency appointees.”

The firing of Hanson comes as Trump seeks to take authority away from the independent safety agency, which has regulated the U.S nuclear industry for ﬁve decades. Trump signed executive orders in May intended to quadruple

Jury

BY COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press

DENVER A federal jury in Colorado on Monday found that one of the nation’s most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, defamed a former employee for a leading voting equipment company after the 2020 presidential election.

The employee, Eric Coomer, sued after Lindell called him a traitor and accusations about him stealing the election were streamed on Lindell’s online media platform Coomer was the security and product strategy director at Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, whose voting machines became the target of elaborate conspiracy theories among allies of President Donald Trump, who continues to falsely claim that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was due to widespread fraud.

Dominion won a $787 million settlement in a defamation lawsuit it ﬁled against Fox News over its airing of false claims against the company and has another lawsuit against the conservative

domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach. To speed up the development of nuclear power the orders grant the U.S. energy secretary authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement that “all organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction” and that the Republican president reserves the right to “remove employees within his own executive branch.”

Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. In a similar move, two National Labor Relations Board

network Newsmax. Newsmax apologized to Coomer in 2021 for airing false allegations against him.

Coomer said during the two-week Lindell trial that his career and life were destroyed by the statements. His law-

members were fired Willie Phillips, a Democratic member and former chairman of the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, stepped down in April telling reporters that the White House asked him to do so.

Trump also signed an executive order to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called Hanson’s ﬁring illegal and another attempt by Trump to undermine independent agencies and consolidate power in the White House.

“Congress explicitly created the NRC as an independent agency, insulated from the whims of any president,

knowing that was the only way to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the American people,” Pallone said in a statement. Senate Democrats also said Trump overstepped his authority Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that “Trump’s lawlessness” threatens the commission’s ability to ensure that nuclear power plants and nuclear materials are safe and free from political interference. Hanson was nominated to the commission by Trump in 2020. He was appointed chair by President Joe Biden in January 2021 and served in that role until Trump’s inauguration to a second term as president. Trump selected David Wright, a Republican member of the commission, to serve as chair Hanson continued to serve on the NRC as a commissioner His term was due to end in 2029.

yers said Lindell either knew the state-

Swaggart

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the U.S Small Business Administration, thanks a worker Monday while touring Performance Contractors in Baton Rouge.

Questionsstill unanswered in Haitianpresident’s death

Leader killed nearly 4years ago

BY EVENS SANON and DÁNICACOTO Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti— Not one suspect imprisoned in Haiti has faced trial after being chargedinthe killing of President Jovenel Moïse, who was gunned down at his home in thenation’scapital nearly four years ago.

Gang violence, death threats and acrumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation defined byoutbursts and tense exchanges between suspects and judges.

“You failed in yourmission. And you are not ashamed to declare yourself innocent,” Judge Claude Jean said in abooming voice as he stood and faced aHaitian policeman responsible for protecting the president, who was shot 12 times in Port-au-Prince on July7, 2021.

Jean is one of six Haitian judges investigating whether there is enough evidence to warrant atrial for the 20 suspects held in the troubled Caribbean country.Authorities said some of the suspects envisioned acoup, not an assassination, leadingto lucrative contracts under a new administration.

The suspects include 17 former soldiers from Colombia and three Haitian ofﬁcials: an ex-mayor,aformer policeman and aformer Haiti Ministry of Justice employee who worked on an anti-corruption unit. Missing are several key Haitian suspects who escaped last year after apowerful gang federation raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons,including Dimitri Hérard, ex-headof security at Haiti’sNational Palace.

Three other suspects, all Colombians, were killed hours after Moïse was slain,

while akey suspect in the case, Haitian Superior Court Judge Windelle CoqThélot, died in January while still a fugitive.

Courthouse undersiege

Theinvestigation was repeatedly halted by the resignation of judges whofeared for theirlives. Defense attorneys then appealed after thecourt ruled there was sufﬁcientevidencefor trial. Jean and ﬁve other judges are now tasked withrestarting the inquiry.But determining complicityamong 51 suspects isonlyone of numerous challenges.

Last year,powerful gangs seized control of the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse where the judges were interrogating suspects

Thehearings were suspended untilthe government rented ahomeinPacot, a neighborhood once considered safe enough for the French embassy.But gangs controlling85% of Haiti’s capital recently attacked and forced the government to move again

Thehearings restarted in May,thistimeinaprivate home in Pétion-Ville,a communitytryingtodefenditself from gangs seeking full control of Port-au-Prince.

‘Nothing we coulddo’

As afan swirled lazily in thebackground, JudgePhemond Damicy grilled Ronald Guerrier in lateMay

One of several police officers tasked with protecting the president, Guerrier insistedhenever entered Moïse’shome and couldn’t ﬁght theintruders because he was dazed by astungrenade.

“Theattackerswere dressedall in black. They wore balaclavas and blinded us with their ﬂashlights. Icouldn’tidentify anyone,” Guerrier testified,adding they used amegaphone to claim they wereU.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. “The attackers operated as if they were

entering their own home. It seemed they knew theplace perfectly.”

Damicy asked if they shot at drones that Guerrier said were buzzing above the president’s home.

“The attackerscovered the entire area with their fire,” Guerrier replied. “There was nothing we could do.”

Damicy grewexasperated. “Undernocircumstances should an enemy cross you withimpunity to commit his crime,” he said.

“Inyourplace, Iwould ﬁre on the enemy.Iwould even die, if necessary.”

‘I don’tknow’

Inside theinvestigation’s heavily guarded, stone-andconcreteheadquarters in a leafyresidential community, raised voices have dominated tense interrogations.

Onejudge stood and thundered aquestion about a gun: “On theday of the death

of President Jovenel Moïse, were you in possession of a Galil?”

In another outburst in March,a judge repeatedly pressed Joseph Badio,the former Ministry of Justice ofﬁcial who spent two years on the run, about his call to formerPrime Minister Ariel Henry after theassassination. At thetime, Henry hadonlybeen nominated as primeminister by Moïse.

“You can say whatever you want withyour mouth,” Badiotold the judge, who ordered himtosit as he rose while speaking. “There is no prohibitionfor me to communicate with anyone Iwant.”

The tensionhas carried over into interrogations of theColombian suspects, who maintain they werehired by aMiami-based security ﬁrm to provide securityfor power and water treatment plants anddiplomaticofficials, as well as train Haitian

police and soldiers.

The Colombians have denied involvement, while their attorney,Nathalie Delisca, said there has been no presumption of innocenceduringthe interrogations.

“The treatment inflicted on the detainees was inhumane,” she said, alleging mistreatment by authorities after their arrest.

The former soldiers said they were beaten, threatened with death, forced to sign documents in alanguage they don’tunderstand and barred from communicating with their lawyers and families for long stretches.

“I have been subjected to degrading treatment. Ihave been subjected to physical and psychological torture,” Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flores said during arecent hearing.

He spoke Spanish in a clear and loud voice, some-

times correcting an interpretertranslating his testimonyinto French.

“I have no involvement because Idon’tknow when or where the president was assassinated,” Carmona Flores said, claiming he wassummoned to provide security at theperimeter of Moïse’s house anddid notknowthe presidenthad been fatally shot.

Workingunder threat

While the case in Haiti has stalled, the U.S. has charged 11 extradited suspects, with fivealready pleading guilty to conspiring to kill Moïse. Five other suspects are awaiting trial, which is now scheduled forMarch 2026. They include Anthony “Tony” Intriago,owner of Miami-based CTU Security,and Haitian-Americans James Solages, akey suspect, and Christian Emmanuel Sanon, apastor,doctor and failed businessman who envisioned himself as Haiti’s new leader Moïse’swidow, Martine Moïse, is expected to testify in the U.S. case. Shewas injured in the attack and accusedbya Haitianjudge of complicity and criminal association, which her attorneys deny Court documents say the planwas to detain Jovenel Moïse andwhisk himaway, butchanged afterthe suspectsfailedtofind aplane or sufficient weapons. Aday before Moïsedied, Solages falsely told other suspects it wasaCIA operation and the mission was to kill the president, the documents allege. Bruner Ulysse, alawyer and history professor in Haiti, lamented howthe local investigation hashighlighted what he called “profound challenges” in Haiti’s judicial system “While international efforts have yielded some results, thequest forjustice in Haiti remainselusive,” Ulysse said. “Judges, prosecutorsand lawyersoperate under constant threat.”

BY WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Israeli troops opened ﬁre Mondayascrowdstried to reach Israeli- and U.S.-supported food distribution centers in Gaza, witnesses said. The 34 people killed, accordingto health ofﬁcials, made it the deadliest day of such shootings sincethe newaid system launched last month.

The Israeli military didn’t immediately comment on Monday’sshootings.But after some previous ones that have beena near-daily occurrence since the aid centers opened three weeks ago, it said its troops had ﬁredwarningshots at what it called suspects approaching their positions, though it didn’tsay whether those shots struck anyone.

Palestinians say they face the choice of starvingorrisking death as they make their way past Israeli forcesto

reach thedistribution points, which are run by aprivate contractor,the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Health Ministry in Hamascontrolled Gaza says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centers opened.

The ministry said33Palestinianswere killed Monday trying to reach the GHFcenternearthe southern city of Rafah andanother was killed while headed to aGHF hub in central Gaza.Itsaidfour other people whoweren’t trying to get to distributioncenters were killed elsewhere.

Palestinians are desperate to feed their families after most food ran out during the 21/2 months this year whenIsrael barredall suppliesfrom entering the territory.Israel haseasedthe blockade since last month to let in atrickle of aid

Israelitroopsstarted ﬁring as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4a.m. at the

Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of theRafah food center, according to HebaJouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the crowd.

People fell to theground, trying to take cover,they said. “Fire was coming from everywhere,” saidJouda, whohas repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over thepastweek “It’sgetting worse dayby day,” she said.

The RedCross ﬁeld hospital nearby received some 200 injured Monday,the highest single mass casualty event it has seen, theInternational Committee of the Red Cross said in astatement.Only a day earlier,itsaid, around 170 were brought tothe facility, mostofthem wounded by gunshots while trying to reach theGHF center.The Health Ministry toll madeit thedeadliestday around the food sitessince June 2, when 31 people werekilled.

Khalil requests transfer from La. jail afterjudge blocks hisrelease

BYJAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK Attorneys for the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil requested that afederal judge immediately release him on bail, or else transfer him to NewJersey to be closertohis family, as theTrumpadministration seeks to keep him in custody in Louisiana Thelatest request, filed Monday afternoon, follows awhirlwind week in the legalcaseagainst Khalil, a lawful permanentresident who has beendetained since March on allegations that his presence in the country

posesa threattoU.S.foreign policy

While the judge,Michael Farbiarz, ruled that Khalil could not be deported for that reason,hedeclined Friday to grant Khalil’s release, pointing to asecondary rationaleadvancedby the government: that he had omitted informationonhis green card application about his work history and afﬁliations. In theirfiling, lawyers for Khalil said the government’smove to keep him detainedonthose grounds was “exceedingly rare and extremely unusual,”reﬂectingthe retaliatory natureof

their case. Khalil hasstrongly disputedthathewas not forthcomingonthe application

If the release is not granted,Khalil’sattorneys urged thejudge to at least transfer him to adetention facility in New Jerseysohecould be closertohis wife and newborn son. Their request cited an internalU.S.Immigration andCustoms Enforcement directivethatsaysdetained parents shouldbeheld “as close as practicable” to their children. Emailedinquiries to the JusticeDepartment and ICE were not returned.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByODELyNJOSEPH

Colombians and Haitians whoare accused of involvement in the 2021 assassination of Haitian PresidentJovenel Moise are escorted in handcuffs to theircourthearing Mondayin Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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.

BUSINESS

NOLA.COM/BIZ

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 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

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.

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

with the senator and his committee. He also said that Kennedy 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,” Kennedy said “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. Cassidy is 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,

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R-Metairie, appointed Stephen Dwyer.Both new board members are attorneys in the greater New Orleans area.

Thenew recruits’ ﬁrst meeting was an eventful one.Five top public defenders battled for their jobs, accusing Rémy Starns, the state public defender,ofretaliationand even discrimination.

Starns denied their claims and argued he was wellwithin his rights not to renew the contracts of the ﬁve district chiefs.

Starns also clashed with board members over his attempts to include his compensation plan in the contracts of other district chiefs Under statestatute, the board has the right to set acompensation plan, andithas declined to adopt Starns’, stickingwith aprevious plan.

In February,Starns sent letters to ﬁve district chiefssaying their contracts, which expire July 1, would not be renewed. Those chiefs were: n Michelle AndrePont, of Caddo Parish

BENSON

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deciding what furtherinvestment to make and what leasing strategy to pursue

“There is no speciﬁc plan in place rightnow,” he said.

“But this is our neighborhood, and it is an opportunity to make something good happen.”

He said the Benson real estate group is optimistic about the developmentof the BioDistrict and plansto

WETLANDS

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Columbia University in New York. “It’snot shocking that the Supreme Court wants to set the ground rules.” Companiesoften prefer federal courts, which are seen as friendliertotheir interests.

The Supreme Court’sdecision to take up the caseis the latest in alegal saga that started over adecade ago. The first of the 42 coastal lawsuits, all brought by governments against oil companies and litigated by the lawﬁrm Talbot, Carmouche, and Marcello, were ﬁledin 2013. Since then, oil companies have tried three times to move them from state to federalcourt.

After the New Orleansbased5th Circuit Federal Appeals Court sent the cases back to statecourt, ajury

it directly contradicts acommitment he made to you before he was conﬁrmed that he would not make anysigniﬁcant changestothisimportant 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 achievementsofU.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 nothingabout 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

n Trisha Ward,ofEvangeline Parish n Brett Brunson, of Natchitoches Parish n Deirdre Fuller,ofRapides Parish

n JohnHogue, of East Carroll, Madisonand Tensasparishes

State statute allows public defenders who feel they’ve been wrongfully terminated to appeal to the board. That’swhatthe ﬁve defenders have done.

They argueStarns’ actions against them did not have good cause and were retaliatory,because thedefenders publicly opposedStarns onvariouspolicy issues. For example, they testiﬁed last year against abill that gave Starns andGov.Jeff Landry more power over the public defense system

Some also opposed Starns’ proposed compensation structure, which wouldcut the salaries of some district defenders by tensof thousands of dollars.

Brunsonbelieved his termination was retaliation not just for speaking against legislation, but for standing up to Starns over a “pattern of bullying andmistreatingwomen.” AndrePont alsosaid she believed

renovate the derelict Charity Hospital, which hasTulaneUniversity as an anchor tenant. Therenovation is set to get back on track after stalling due to ﬁnancial difﬁculties.

Charity is at the heart of plans to bolster theBioDistrictinNew Orleans as ahub of biomedical research and entrepreneurship, where startup companies can be spun outofthe universities and incubators likethe New Orleans BioinnovationCenter.New companies willbe able to build their presence

awardedPlaquemines Parish$745 million in damages in April.

VicMarcello, aco-founder of Talbot,Carmouche, and Marcello, said the court’s decisionwill affect 11 of the 42 lawsuits brought by six coastal parishes in Louisiana.

Marcello called thesethe “refinery cases,” where a single companybothproduced and refinedoil unlike the other lawsuits where production and reﬁningwere handled by separate companies. The companiesargue theserefinery operations which are linked back to federal directives during World WarII, provide the justiﬁcation for moving the cases to federal court.

Chevron disagrees that the ruling will be limited tojust those 11 reﬁnery cases, and noted that it will be up to the courtto decide which cases itsruling applies to.

away abarrage of questions asking 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 MedicalSchool after refusing to mask andbevaccinated, which the 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

Starns discriminated againstwomen.

“My termination is not just unwarranted. It’s retaliatory.It’s my punishment for speaking out andisatleast in part because I’m awoman,” AndrePont told the board. “Under Mr.Starns’ leadership, there has been atroubling andconsistent pattern of disparate treatment of women.”

AndrePontsaid Starnshas terminated six women since 2023 and two men,both of whom defended women. Those numbersinclude thecontested ﬁrings.

Starns denied those allegations.

“I completely and unequivocally deny anyofthe allegations made againstmeregarding discrimination on any purpose,for anyreason,” Starns told theboard. “Those statements were false, and Ibelieve they knew them to be false.”

Starns has maintained that he neverﬁred the district chiefs to begin with —hesimply opted not to renew their contracts.

“I nonrenewed contracts.There’s been alot of loose language thrown out here today about terminations. No such terminations ever took place. They have aterm;termis expired,” Starns said Monday.“As of July 1, Iplan to moveforward

in proximity to University Medical Center,the New Orleans VA Medical Center andother learning andresearch centers.

Benson’sstatement said she remains “steadfast” in her commitment and belief in the future of the city

“Weare working on plans that will enhance and expand the Sports and Entertainment District that are geared to addressing abetter fan experience for those attending Saints andPelicans games,” she said.

TomBenson had originally

What’sclear is that the ruling could affect Plaquemines v. Rozel, the case whose trialconcluded with the$745 millionverdict. Marcello said that if theSupremeCourt rules thatcase belongs in federal court, afederal judge would decide whether to change thestate court’sruling.

Chevron pointed to the verdictinPlaqueminesin its appeal to the high court.

“If serving thenation during wartime leads to cripplingverdicts from statecourt juries drivenbyparochial concerns,” attorneys wrote in aMay 13 brief, “the government will not be able to enlist private-sector help when it needs it most.”

Marcellonoted that the SupremeCourt won’trule on whetherthe companies caused environmental harm, and emphasized that the ruling would be “procedural.”

“Thisisn’tabout the merits of our claim,” he said.

worked on nutritional neurosciences at the National Institutes of 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 votesthan anyone other than Trump in thehistory of Louisiana. But he enraged conservativesbyvoting in January 2021 to convict the president on impeachmentcharges stemming fromMAGAsupportersinvading the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6inhopes of stoppingconﬁrmation that Joe Biden had won that presidential 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,

with interim district defenders.”

Asupporting opinion from AttorneyGeneral LizMurrill stated that, because thedefenders’ contracts had lapsed, they did not have theright to aboard hearing or investigation.

But abrief by StephenHaedicke, an attorney forthe five district chiefs, argues nonrenewal of the contracts should not have been an option for Starns. State statute requires him to renew them,according to the brief It cites astatute that reads, “In an effort to maintain continuity of public defender services in each judicial district, any person serving as the district public defender of ajudicial district shall continue to contractwith 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 investigatethe ﬁrings in March. After an April 7hearing, Paul deMahy,the committeechair,issuedarecommendation saying that “Mr.Starns hadnoobligation to enter into new contracts with these defenders.”

But on Monday, theboard voted to furtherinvestigate the matter, saying it hadreceivednew infor-

acquired Benson Tower and annex in 2009 as part of a deal to renew theSuperdome lease.The building, whosetenantsare mostly state and federal government agencies, was badly damagedbyHurricane Katrina.

Champions Square replaced theNew Orleans Centre Mall as part of the renovationofthe combined million-square-foot space acquired in that deal.The

2026, party primary before the Nov 3, 2026, general election.

He already hasattracted one 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 ruled that pregnant women and children don’tneed the COVIDvaccines anymore. He cited scientiﬁc studies that were unpublishedorunder dispute, KFF Health News reported.

Kennedy also canceled vaccine contracts, pressured the Federal Food andDrug Administration’s head of vaccines to resign, and announced 10,000 jobs would be cut from the health department.

mation sincethe April 7hearing, both from Haedicke and in legislative hearings.

Specifically,boardmember Frank Thaxton cited statements from legislators indicating that, when they passed Act 22 of the second special session in 2024 which gaveStarnsmorepower over contracts—theydid not intend to allow him to get rid of district defenders without an appealsprocess.

“The committee madea decision right after we had ourhearing, anditwas basedonwhatwe had at that time,” deMahy told the board.“Personally Idon’t like the decision but Ithought that’sthe decision that had to be madebased on what we had.”

Thecommittee will hold ahearingWednesday to reconsiderits recommendation.

The LouisianaIlluminator ﬁrst reported that Hernandez and Pitcher hadresignedfromthe Louisiana Public Defender Oversight Board.

Starnsalso hasclashedwiththe five chiefs over the state’scompensationplan. He presentedan alternate plantothe boardlast June,but the boarddid notadopt it, standing by an older proposal.

540,000-square-foot Benson Tower officebuilding (formerly Dominion Tower) and theadjacent115,000-squarefoot Benson Tower Annex (formerly the Lord &Taylor store) are 100% leased to acombination of Ochsner Clinic and Foundation and the state of Louisiana, Gayle Benson noted.

The annex has lined up the newXavierOchsnerCollege of Medicine as anew anchor tenant.

Other nearby Benson properties include the Mercedes-Benz VanCenter of NewOrleans, which was opened on Poydras Street three years ago. Gayle Benson was also part of the owner group that bought the 1,100-room Hyatt Regencynexttothe Superdomein2019.

Email Anthony McAuley tmcauley@theadvocate. com.

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LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Louie’s legend liveson

For nearly 35 years, Frenchie was the circusringleader at Louie’sCafe, the Baton Rouge institution just north of LSU. Early on aSaturday night two weeks ago, about 50 people gathered at Louie’storemember Frenchie, the longtime chefwho loved to sing and dance. Frenchie’sreal name wasMarcusCox.

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

Wetherford describes Frenchie as “a short-order standupcomedian. He was quick on hisfeetwith the wit —amaster of the comeback.”

Frenchie retired in November 2022. His last shift was the Sunday after LSU’sovertimedefeat over Alabama. He passed away March 19. Wetherford wanted to honor his longtime and much-loved employee with agathering of friends From the time Frenchiestarted at Louie’sin1988, he was apresence. For many,hewas partofthe cultural fabric of the LSU experience.

“When he ﬁrst started atLouie’s, he worked the dayshiftand the late-night shift. Louie’swas a 24-hour diner in the ’80s and ’90s when north of campus had an activenightlife,” said Wetherford. “He wasthe 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 Avoyelles Parish and spoke enough French to getthe moniker from fellow soldiers Once out of the military, he used his GI Bill to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to become achef. “Frenchie was agunner ona helicopter in Vietnam,” Hampton Peele told those gathered to remember the legendary cook.

Peele, who has adish at Louie’s named after him, shared amemory of once watching Frenchie working three different cooking stations. He was singing threedifferent songs as he went down the line —one song for each station “He would pick up the same song he had been singingateach 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 chefwho used his training to runLouie’s —where, at 2a.m., tipsy college students used to ﬁnd refugeina Mitchell omelet to help restore a little order to the world.

These days, Louie’sisopenfrom 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. sevendays a week.

Frenchie was known for his pancake prowess. He couldmake pancakes in whatever animalshape a child of any age couldconjure. A few yearsago, he mademegiraffe pancakes. Fred Simonson, generalmanager at Louie’s, spoke at the unconventional memorial service Simonson worked in the trenches at Louie’swith Frenchiefrom 1991 through 2023 and describes the timesthey shared as “raw-ass real life.”

“Frenchie’sstar power was already in full bloom when Istarted at Louie’s,” Simonsonsaid. “Back then, Frenchie didn’ttrust my abilities as adishwasher.”

On Simonson’ssecond night on the job, Frenchie gave him the

Twohomelessbills stallout

Controversialmeasuresdon’t come up for finalvotes

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

Twocontroversialbills that would have banned homeless encampments in New Orleans and beyond failed to come up for ﬁnal votes during thelegislative

session, following criticism from advocates, city ofﬁcials and some legislators.

Astate Senate bill thatwould have made unauthorized camping illegal statewide, authored by state Sen. Robert Owen,R-Slidell, was approvedbyaSenate com-

mitteebut never received afull Senatevote. Astate House bill by Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, that would have directed local governments to enforce aban on encampmentsorface possible lawsuitswas voted down by the HouseAppropriations Commit-

tee. The 2025 state legislative session ended on Thursday Both bills provokedloudbacklash from critics whoargued that

TURTLE CHECKUP

endangeredKemp’sridley seaturtle namedDorado.

Delta, Entergydeal nearscompletion

Naturalgas takeover expected July 1

BY BENMYERS Staff writer

New Orleans residents will soon have anew natural gas provider, as Delta Utilities nears completion of a$285 million deal to takeover local gas infrastructure from Entergy New Orleans. Entergy’s109,000 gas customers in New Orleans will automatically transfer to Deltaonce the sale closes, which is expected on July 1. Customers should start seeing billsfrom thenew company thefollowing week. Delta executives say customers will

receive instructions for setting up online accountsand enrolling in autopay in the weeks ahead. More information for future customers is available on Delta’s website.Entergy will continue providing electricity.

“Customers will be able to pay their bills withDelta Utilities in the same manner and method as they have paid their Entergy bills,” Delta’sChief Legal Ofﬁcer Taryn BrowntoldCity Council members at acommitteemeeting on Monday DeltaUtilities,which formed in 2023, expects to become thelargest gas provider in Louisianaand Mississippi upon closing deals

Arescuedloggerhead sea turtle named Francois hangs outina rehabpoolasDr. Logan McAllister andNicole Kieda,far left, an assistantstranding andrehab coordinator, carry boxes holding two Kemp’sridleysea turtlesbacktotheir holdingarea aftergiving them ahealth checkup on Mondayatthe Freeport-McMoRanAudubonSpecies Survival Center.The two Kemp’sridley seaturtles are thelasttwo out of 31 turtlesthat were rescuedand rehabilitated followingasevere cold stunning along theNew England coast late last year.Thischeckup is thelast step in ensuring theturtles nowhavethe strengthand health to return to thewild.The other turtles were released severalmonthsago into theGulf off thecoastofGrandIsle.Acoldstunning occurs when weather and seaconditionscause the turtles to gettrapped, which can lead to frostbite, pneumonia andheart ratesaslow as ﬁvebeats perminute. If thetwo turtlesget the ‘all clear’ they will be released somewhere along theGulfwithin thenext10days.

Family says woman went missing June9

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

Authorities in St. John the Baptist Parish say theyhavetentatively identified the body of woman recovered from the Mississippi River in LaPlace on Saturday Tattoos and other physical identifiers on the woman’sbodyappear to match the description of 20-year-old Jameshia Selders, a New Orleans woman who relatives say disappeared after fallinginto the river near the NewOrleans Riverwalk, according to St. John the BaptistParishSheriff Mike Tregre.

Authoritieshavenot yet conﬁrmedthe identiﬁcationwith 100% certainty,Tregre said. Investigators are awaitingthe resultsofan autopsy Butrelatives say thebody is Selders. Hercousin, Ieishe Harris, on Mondaycalled Selders “a bundleofjoy.” In an interview with WGNO-TV, Selders’ mother,Bianca Duplessis, said herdaughter went missingabout 1a.m. June 9atthe New Orleans Riverwalk whileout with friends.

TheU.S. Coast Guard received areport of aperson in the water andlaunched an 18-hoursearch of the area, according to Petty Ofﬁcer Cheyenne Basurto. The agency suspended the search about 6p.m. that same day

Dr.Logan McAllister and NicoleKieda exam acritically

Slidellsuspect located usingdogs, drone

Police sayman shot at officers

BY BOBWARREN Staff writer

Asuspect ina domestic violence case who shot at Slidell police officers responding to a 911 call was later caughtand arrested after asearch using dogs and adrone, police said.

The Slidell Police Department said in anews release Monday afternoon thatthe suspect ﬁred at least two shots. The officers were not hit and did notreturn ﬁre, thedepartmentsaidin the news release.

The suspect, Corey Grifﬁn, 39, was in custody,police said “This was an exceptionaldemonstration of teamwork, precision and courage,” Slidell Police Chief Randy Fandal said. “I’m proud of every member involved and thankfulthat no one was injured in what could have been a tragic situation.”

Officers responded to a911 hang-up call from aresidence in the 3600 block of Riviera Drive just after midnight, police said. Whentheyarrived, officers sawadomestic dis-

turbance involving aman and woman in thedriveway of the home

Officerstried to speak with the woman, but Griffin pulled a firearm and fired at them, police said.Griffinfledback into the house and officers discovered there wasalso ayoung child inside.

Ofﬁcers secured the outsideof thehome andaSWATteam was called in. SWAT members went inside the home, found thechild asleep and brought the child outside, policesaid

Theydetermined that Griffin hadfled the house through the backyard.

Officers launched adrone to searchbyair,and ofﬁcers with police dogs tracked Griffin through some nearbywoods. He waslater found hiding in the back seat of an abandonedvehicle and wastaken in without incident, police said.

LouisianaState Police and the St.TammanyParish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce assistedinthe search, police said.

Grifﬁn was being held Monday at the Slidell CityJailonacount of domestic abuseaggravated assault.Additionalchargesofattempted ﬁrst-degree murder are pending, policesaid.

Ex-Grand Isle council membersentenced

Manconvicted of sexual abuse

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

Elgene Gary Sr., an 81-yearold former Grand Isle councilmember and police officer wassentenced to 45 years in prison Monday after he was convicted of sexually abusing twochildren over thecourseof decades,accordingtothe Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Ofﬁce.

Gary was found guilty May 29 on two counts of sexualbattery and one countofsexual battery of avictim under the ageof13ina case prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys ErichCatheyand Brooke Harris.

Louisiana State Police opened itsinvestigation in October 2021 after athen-16-year-oldgirl told authorities that Garyhad been sexually abusing her since she was about 7, the DistrictAttorney’sOfﬁce said.

As authorities continued the investigation, a40-year-old woman came forward and reported that Garyhad similarlyabused her when she was between the ages of 7and 10, authorities said.

HOMELESS

Continued from page1B

punishing homelessnesswas inhumane and would not be effective without providing additional housingormental health or drug treatment resources.

The bills’ failure comes as ablow to one of Gov.Jeff Landry’s priorities during the legislativesession, with the governor promising in January to “enact legislative reformsthat should produce the framework necessary to properly move people from homelessness to housing.” Aspokesperson for Landry did not respond to arequest for comment on Monday

The state Senate, led by Cameron Henry,R-Metairie, has emerged as astumbling block for some of Landry’sbiggest initiatives, including his private school funding program, LA GATOR, and apush he supported to ban state agencies from participating in diversity,equity and inclusion programs. Henry did not return acall for comment on why the Senate stalled out Owen’shomelessness bill.

But speaking about Knox’ssimilarbill, Rep. Jack McFarland, RJonesboro, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, criticized what he said was Knox’slack of engagement with statedepartments.

“It involved (the Louisiana Department of Health), other state agencies, and you didn’thaveone state agency sitting at the table

Inmate dies afterhealthworsens

BY MARCO CARTOLANO Staff writer

An OrleansParish jailinmate with preexisting health conditionsdied recentlyafter being taken to an area hospital for treatment, theOrleansParish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce said in anews releaseMonday.

Ulysses Cooks, 57, wastransferred to the hospital for treatmentwhen his condition worsened. He laterdied with his family by hisside, according to the

Sheriff’s Office. “Weare grateful that several of Mr.Cooks’ family members were able to be by his side duringhis final hours,” aSheriff’s Officestatement read. “This is adeeply difficult time forhis family, and we askthattheir privacy be respectedasthey mourn.”

The newsreleasedid not say when Cooks died. Cooks had been convicted of several offenses,largely drug and theft-related,inOrleans

Parish dating back to 1988, according to courtrecords In 2010, ajuryconvicted Cooks as aprincipal in theMarch 10, 2009, shooting of Donnie Floyd andhewas sentenced to 50 years. However,anappeals courtreversedCooks’sentence in 2012.

He wasmost recently arrested in Orleans ParishonMay 28 for counts of theft, unauthorized entry of abusinessand illegal possession of stolen things between $1,000 and $5,000.

RISHER

Continuedfrom page 1B

nickname “Fredrico Suave.”

Thefirst victimtoreport theabuseappeared in JeffersonParishDistrict Court on Monday for Gary’ssentencing hearing. Invictim impact testimony,she said herlifehas been filled with difficulties, accordingto the District Attorney’s Ofﬁce.

“It’sstill hard to look into the mirror,because if Ilooktoo long, Isee someone who was very young and didn’tknowwhatwas happening,” the victim, nowan adult, said of theabuse.“I’mso sorryfor herand sorryfor everyoneelsewho has ever methim It’s going to take alongtime to nothate myselffor notknowing sooner.Itwasn’t my fault, Iknow that.”

Judge EllenShirerKovach sentenced Garyto25years for a sexual battery charge involving avictimunder 13. She sentenced him to 10 years foreachcount of sexual battery and ordered that allthreesentences be served consecutively,according to the ofﬁce.

The victim who testiﬁed Mondayasked the judge to impose themaximumsentence. Sexual battery of avictimunder 13 is punishable by up to 99 years in prison

“Given thatheis(81) years old andhas numerous health issues, Ibelieve this is alife sentence,” Kovach said

“He’s the reason Idon’ttrim celery. Ijustthrow the whole thing in the stew,”Simonson said. “He walks withmeinways Idon’t even know.”

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

DELTA

Continuedfrom page1B

with Entergy forthe Baton Rouge andNew Orleans markets.Earlier this year,Delta completed a$1.2 billion deal for CenterPoint Energy naturalgas accounts in large swathes of Louisiana and Mississippi. When all planned acquisitions arecomplete, Delta says it will service 600,000 accounts and be among the 40 largest utilities in thecountry

The company is afﬁliated with Baton Rouge-based Bernhard Capital Partners but operates its corporateheadquarters at 201 St CharlesAve.indowntownNew Orleans. Thecompany is also planning to open two “customer care” locations, at 3400 Canal St.

saying they wanted to do that or couldtheyprovide the services,” said McFarland in an interview on Monday.“Youhave to get people on board. You’ve got to getpeople to see thevalueofit.”

Advocates and New Orleans ofﬁcialsalsoshowed up in force to oppose thetwo bills at committee hearings during thetwo-month legislative session. Aloose coalition of morethan30advocacy organizations also shared opposition with lawmakers repeatedlybehind closed doors, said Angela Owczarek, advocacy director at Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative, aNew Orleans housing justice organization. “Imprisoning people or punishing them in any way will only delay

their housing options later,” said Owczarek.The bills’failure “emphasizedfor me howmuchispossible when we get together and are persistent,despiteitfeeling like a David and Goliath type ﬁght,” Owczarek added.

Lawmakers receivedemails from more than 600 people in oppositiontoOwen’s bill andfrom more than400 people to Knox’sbill through an email campaign coordinatedbythe Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center,according to policy analyst Monique Blossom In astatementonMonday,Knox defended his bill as striking “a fair and humane balance —respecting thedignityofunhoused individuals while addressing theurgent need to restore public health and

Smiley Anders. “Theywere the same kind of characters,” Engstersaid. Annabelle Hansen worked as a waitress at Louie’sfor 21/2 years withFrenchie. She incorporated special instructions as part of the training she would give newly hired waitresses to address the Frenchie factor

“I told them that you are going to learn to love Frenchie, but he will make youcry ﬁrst,” she said.

“Onmyﬁrst day,Idropped atray full of food.” Frenchie watched it happen. He yelled butnever stopped moving. He just started cooking the food all over again. “It taught me something. You just got to keep going. Youhave to pick things up and do it again,” Hansen said. Aspirit like Frenchie’sdoesn’t comealong often —and whenit does, it doesn’tjust vanish. Frenchie is still showing up. He’sthere in the stories. He’s there in the laughter.He’sthere whenthe kitchen is humming and the place is full. When atray crashes to the ﬂoor,it’sFrenchie’s spirit that says, “Wedon’thave to wash that one, boys,” as the line cook, without missing abeat, starts preparing the orders all over again.

and 535 Gen.DeGaulle Drive, where customers canpay bills in person andaddress other issues.

TheCity Council, which is the city’s utility regulator,approved Entergy NewOrleans’ sale of its gas business in December after months of contentious debates with opponents concerned about higher bills andcontinuedreliance on fossil fuels.

Before approving the deal, council members said they had secured Delta’s commitment to limit transition costs and improve efﬁciency, which theysaid would limit future rate increases to $3 permonth. Any rate increases are more than ayear away,since Delta has committed to freezing rates for theﬁrst 15 months.

The council’sutility advisers previouslywarned monthly bills

safety,order,and quality of life in impacted neighborhoods.” He said he remained committed to “pursuing thoughtful, compassionate, and effective solutions,” but did not say whether he plannedtoreﬁle the bill next year.Aspokesperson forOwen did not respond to arequest for comment. Under Owen’s Senate Bill 196, camping on public property would have become acrime. Thebill would have also allowed judges to createcourt programs dedicated to homelessness cases, which could aim to put defendants through drug and mental health programsinstead of sending them to prison. In acommittee meeting in April, Owen said the court program would help people with “mental illness, drug addiction” whocycle in andout of homeless shelters because “they’re not in the right state of mind to follow anykinds of rules.” Critics noted that the bill did notinclude funding for those programs.

Under House Bill 619, local governments would have been required to enforce camping bans or face legal action,includingfrom local residents and business owners.The bill also would haveallowed municipalities to designate speciﬁc areas for public camping undercertain circumstances. In aJune meeting, House AppropriationsCommitteemembers raised concerns about potential costs associated with the bill. A study by the legislative ﬁscal office identifiedthe costs to state agencies andmunicipalitiesas

EmailJan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.

could shoot up by $13 if Delta seeks to recoup costs associated with openingits newheadquarters and an information technologyupgrade Council members on Thursday elicited promises from Delta to quickly respond to service outages andother problems.District Bcouncilmember Lesli Harris said Entergy has adesignated contact foreach council district who quickly responds to problems.

Delta CEO TimPoché said the company would have similar stafﬁng.

“Wewill makesure that each district has the appropriate representativesthatanswer quickly should issuesarise,” Poché said. Email BenMyers at bmyers@ theadvocate.com.

“indeterminable.” The public cost of designating camping areas “are speculative andsubject to actions by political subdivisions,” the ofﬁce wrote.

Aspokesperson for Mayor LaToya Cantrell declined to commentonthe failed legislation on Monday

But in aNew Orleans City Council committeemeeting on Monday,aconsultant hired by the city to aid its initiative to address homelessness reiterateda repeated request by city ofﬁcials forfunding assistance from the state. Cityofﬁcials have requested $8.5 millioninstate funding to help the city reach its goal of housing 1,500 people by the end of 2025. The city has housed 1,133 people so far, said Mandy Chapman Semple, of Clutch Consulting Group.

“Weare really hopeful that there’sanew opportunity to coalesce around this plan,”said Chapman Semple.

Aspokesperson forLandry did not respond to arequest for commentonthe funding request.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRISGRANGER

LouisianaState Police troopers huddle as theyprepare to remove a homeless encampmentfrom downtown NewOrleans just before sunrise on Jan. 15.

STAFFFILE PHOTOByJAN RISHER

Marcus ‘Frenchie’ Coxalways had timefor asmile, pictured here at Louie’sCafe in Baton RougeinApril 2022. Coxpassed away March 19

Belknap, Janet

Coblentz,Donald

Davis, Geraldine

Faia,Gregory

Gaubert,Mary

Holman, Linda

Scott, Uthrelle

Thibodaux, Cassandra

Scott, Uthrelle

Belknap, Janet

Davis, Geraldine

Faia,Gregory

Gaubert,Mary

JanetElaineBelknap aged 71, passedaway peacefully on June 13, 2025 at Passages Hospicein NewOrleans,Louisiana Janetwas born June 21, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan, to Donn RichardBelknap (June 24, 1927 -Nov.29, 2014) andElaineEllaBelk‐nap(néeJohnson)(Oct. 12, 1927 -Feb.21, 2015).Asa childshe wasespecially closewithher grandfather, Hartwell A. Johnson, and herbestfriendJudie.She graduatedfromLee M. Thurston High School in RedfordTownship, Michi‐gan(Classof1971).After a brief firstmarriage, Janet movedtoGrand Rapids, Mich andenrolledat GrandValleyState College. Thereshe metand started dating ayoung improv the‐ater performerand U.S. Army veterannamed Thomas Andrew Toohey, laterknown professionally to NewOrleans television audiencesasTom Foote. In thesummerof1979, Janet andTom traveled together throughEurope, buskingin public squaresand street‐corners, Tomasa mime andJanet playingthe flute. In 1980, Janetand Tom movedtoNew Orleans, La., where they were married andhad twosons: Justin BelknapToohey,born1983, andMarkBelknap Toohey, born 1985. Janetattended Tulane University and graduatedwitha Bache‐lor's degree in Anthropol‐ogy in 1987. Aftergradua‐tion,Janet felt shewanted to be closer to family again, so she, alongwith herhusband andkids, moved firsttoEastLans‐ing, then to Lansing, Mich There, shedivorcedTom, who movedaway, and Janetworkedhardfor yearsthereafter,going to grad school at Michigan StateUniversitywhile workinga full-time jobat theMSU Museum.A single mom in adepressedecon‐

omywithnothing in the wayofoutside help,Janet nevertheless managedal‐ways to keep aroof over herboys' head andfood on thetable.She attained her Master's degree in Labor andIndustrialRelations from Michigan Statein 1997. Aftercompleting grad school,Janet begana newcareer workingfor Big Oil: shewas recruitedby theAmoco Corporationin 1998, which merged with BP less than ayearlater Shewenttoworkasanex‐ecutiveinthe HumanRe‐sourcesdepartmentofthe company'sNorth American headquarters in Chicago, andmoved along with her twoboystoMontgomery, Illinois.Janet retiredfrom corporatelifein2008, at theage of 55, after having worked tenyears at BP.In 2010 shemoved back to NewOrleans followingthe birthofher ﬁrstgrandchild there. Forthe last 15 years of herlifeshe livedina houseatSt. Mary andPry‐taniastreetsinthe Lower Garden District,where she wasknown andloved by many supportive friends andneighbors.She worked part-timeatSaucy's BBQ on Magazine Street with herclose friendsRichand Gary.She spentuncount‐able hoursofquality time on herfront porchand with hergranddaughter,Luna, whomshe lovedim‐mensely. Shecharmed many andinfuriatedsome with herwit,sarcasm,and strong opinions on awide varietyofsubjects. As stubborn as amule, she wasalsoa pillar of strength to thoseclosest to her; herdeterminedper‐severance, hereverlasting resilience,and herstout in‐dependence standasan inspirationthatwillendure long hereafterfor herfam‐ily. In addition to hertwo sons andher granddaugh‐ter, Janetissurvivedby hersisterNancy Lynn Mor‐ris, herniece Sara Eliza‐beth Gulick,aswellas grand-nieceEllaand grand-nephew Alex.A memorial will be held at JacobSchoenand SonFu‐neralHome, 3827 CanalSt. NewOrleans,La. on Thurs‐day, June 19, 2025. Visita‐tion will beginat10am, fu‐neralat11A.M.Condo‐lences maybeleftat www schoenfh.com

Donald Eugene Coblentz passedawayinSlidell, Louisiana, on June 11, 2025, just oneweek shyofhis 77thbirthday. Born in Day‐ton, Ohio,onJune18, 1948, Donald liveda life rooted in decency, carriedbyquiet strength,and coloredbya legacy that stretched across centuries. Though he oftenled with humility, thelifehe lived—andthe lineagehecarried—was anything butordinary. EarlyLife andJoysDon‐ald’searliestdaysinDay‐tonweremarkedbycurios‐ity, kindness, anda tireless work ethicwhich he car‐ried with himthroughout hislife. His ﬁrstjob wasa paperroute—a simple but tellingbeginning that fore‐shadowed hislifelong senseofresponsibility. A gifted swimmerwithnearOlympic-levelability, he became alifeguard as a teenager,earning there‐spect of peersand elders alikeaswellasmanytro‐phies. He also played trom‐bone in hishighschool band,blendingdiscipline with performance. His band wassoaccomplished they were invitedtoper‐form in Miami, Florida—a trip they made by train. Some of hisfondest memo‐ries were of playingwith friendsonthe sweeping groundsofthe MiamiVal‐leyHunt andPoloClub. It wasthere that he found joy, connection,and the ﬁrsttaste of indepen‐

Duetothe Juneteenth Holiday ouroffices will be closed June 19,2025. We willreturntothe office on Friday,June20th.

dence. He oftenspoke fondly of timesspent with hismanycousins at his grandparents’house.Lela RayAllen,his grand‐mother,was asteadfast moralcompass ever pre‐sent in hisyouth.A LouisianaLegacy—anda Love That LedHim Home Donald came to Louisiana notjustbychance, butby love.Itwas here that he metPeggy,the woman who wouldbecomehis wifeand theloveofhis life Theirmeetingshapedthe course of hisfuture, an‐choringhim permanently in theSouth.His move in hismid-thirtieswas no or‐dinary relocation—itwas thebeginning of adeeprooted bond with thestate that hadbrought them to‐gether.Louisiana didn’t just become home;itbe‐came theheart of hisstory Throughhis paternal grandmother’sWestlin‐eage,Donaldwas a first cousin sixtimes removed of WilliamC.C.Claiborne the firstAmericangover‐norofLouisiana.Claiborne helped usherthe territory into statehood following theLouisiana Purchase With ancestry stretching back to theearliestdaysof thestate,Donald’slifein Louisianabrought hisfam‐ily’sstory full circle and with Peggy they shared a love so perfectthatfew areeverblessedto find TheWarnerLine: Founders, Patriots,and Presidents Throughhis maternal Stewartand Warner lines, Donald wasa firstcousin eighttimes removedof George Washington,Amer‐ica’s firstPresident,de‐scendedthrough Augus‐tine Warner Sr.and his daughter MildredWarner, Washington’s grand‐mother.The Warnerswere majorlandholders and civicleaders in Virginia, andtheir legacyisdeeply intertwinedwiththe foun‐dationsofthe United States.Royal Ties andEu‐ropean Nobility Donald wasa ninthcousinof Queen ElizabethII, through theirshareddescent from

theWarnerand BowesLyon families.BeyondEng‐land &Scotland, hisroyal andnoble bloodlinesex‐tended deep into theEuro‐pean continent—he was descendedfromPhilipp I 'the Magnanimous' of Hesse, theMedicifamily throughCatherine de Medici ‘Queen of France & granddaughterofLorenzo theMagnificent’and held ancestraltiestothe noble houses of Zollern, Hohen‐staufen, Mecklenburg, and theBavarianroyal family, Wittelsbach.Hewas also a direct descendant of Mary Boleyn,sisterofQueen Anne Boleyn andaunt to Queen ElizabethI.These were notsymbolic links— thesewerebloodlines passed from throne to tableto field. Maryland’s FoundingVisionaries Don‐aldwas also adirectde‐scendant of George Calvert, 1stLordBaltimore who founded thecolonyof Maryland as ahaven for religiousfreedom.The Calvertline flowed into the Towneleys,thenthe Bur‐wells,and ultimately into theCoblentzline. Hisan‐cestorsshapedthe civic, cultural,and legalframe‐works of earlyAmerica Coblentz Hall stillstandsat Hood Collegealong with many othernamesakes stampedacrossFrederick, Maryland.The Continental BankingLine: Coblenzof LixheimDonald’ssurname traces back to theancient RomancityofCoblenz on theRhine Riverinpresent dayGermany,where his ancestor Johann Coblenz wasborninthe fortress overlookingthe confluence of theMoselle and Rhine. Johann wouldlater leave Europe in 1743 aboard the St.Andrew, embarkingon thejourney that brought thefamilytoAmerica.His voyage,departing from Rotterdam,planted the firstAmericanrootsofthe Coblentz name.While re‐latedtothe Coblenzbank‐ingfamilyofLixheim (Pre‐sent dayFrance)—aninflu‐ential forcewithinthe fi‐nancialsphereofthe Holy

RomanEmpire—Donald’s storywas anchored in the resilience of thosewho left thecourtsand counting houses behind to builda legacy in theNew World. Hiswas aheritageofboth statureand striving.That persistenceand determi‐nation to succeed were at hiscoreand ever present. Thetorch of duty now passestohis descendants, with theunderstanding that he wouldnever settle foranythinglessthanthe best and wouldexpectus to strive forevengreater achievements than before Family Donald waspre‐cededindeath by his belovedwife, Peggy Coblentz;his parents, Don‐aldMiller Coblentz and Dezzie Emogene'Jean' Coblentz Beigel;his belovedstepfather, Louis A. Beigel,our grandpa; his daughter,Sherry SealeDe‐rigo Moore; hisson,Donald “Donnie” McCarley,and his granddaughter, Paige Arledge. He is survived by hischildren: Jennifer Michael(William) and JasonCoblentz. Hisgrand‐children,inorder of birth: MichealDerigo(Amanda) —childrenKai andKade; ZacharyCoblentz(Megan); Lena Nesbit (Corey)— chil‐dren Caleband Lilah; Tay‐lorDerigo; Wesley Michael (Lyndsay); Olivia Michael —son MichaelChapman; CeCeliaMichael;William Michael; Lisa Jean Michael (namesakeofour grand‐mother); andLeigha Michael. Also survivingare thechildrenofhis late granddaughterPaige Arledge(Luke): Tanner Elaina,and Landon as well as his ﬁrstwife, Sara Stan‐ley. Legacy He leaves be‐hind notonlya largeand loving family, buta legacy carriedthrough centuries —ofhonor,resilience,and aquiet understandingof one'splace in alongand noblestory.InDonald, the past didnot sleep.Itlived gently,and it endured. His moralcompass wasnoble; he wasa dear friend to many with agenuine heart. He carriedthe strength

andhonor of hismother andthe matriarchs who came before herwithhim daily. Dadnever meta stranger andcould strike up aconversationwith anyone he met. We as his familyhavesomuchto carry on andare eternally grateful forhis exampleof honoring theimportant things in this life.For the past 7years he hasgreatly missedthe love of hislife andweare thankful and take peaceinknowing that they arereunitedonce more.ServicesA celebra‐tion of Donald’s life will be held on Wednesday, June 18, 2025—whatwould have been his77thbirthday—at HonakerFuneral Home, 1751 GauseBlvd. West Slidell, Louisiana. Visita‐tion will take placefrom 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.,fol‐lowedbya funeralservice at 1:00 p.m. Theinterment will follow in Forest Lawn Cemetery,where Donald will be laid to rest beside hisbeloved wife,Peggy Flowersare welcomeand maybesentdirectlyto HonakerFuneralHome. Please visitwww.honaker forestlawn.comtosign guestbook.Arrangements by HonakerFuneralHome, Inc.,Slidell, LA

Davis,Geraldine May 'DiDi'

Geraldine"DiDi" May Davis passedaway peace-

Coblentz,DonaldEugene

Coblentz,Donald Belknap, JanetElaine

See more DEATHS, page

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

UNO’sUpwardBound doesn’tdeserve to be cut

Iamwriting to express my strong opposition to theproposeddismantling of the UniversityofNew Orleans UpwardBound program as part of the Trump administration’sbroader education policy changes

This decision threatens to undermine decades of progress in educational equity and accessfor underrepresented students

Since its inception in 1965, the Upward Bound program has been avital force in leveling the playing ﬁeld for studentsfrom economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

It has provided critical support academic tutoring, mentoring, ﬁnancial guidance and college preparation —that empowersstudentstopursue and succeed in higher education.

In an era marked by theexpansion of voucher programs, charter schools and efforts to privatize public education, the services offered by Upward Bound are more essentialthanever.

The impact of UpwardBound is not just theoretical —itismeasurable and profound. Consider the following:

n Postsecondaryenrollment: Students who participate in TRIO’sUpward Bound andUpward Bound mathand science programsenroll in postsecondary education

at rates of 82% and89%, respectively

n Graduation success: Over 6million TRIO studentshave earned college degrees since theprogram’sinception in 1965.

n National reach: TRIO programs currently serve morethan 880,000 students.

n Economic mobility: TRIO participants aresigniﬁcantly morelikely to persist in college and graduate, leading to higher lifetime earnings and lower unemployment rates.

n Equity and inclusion: These programs speciﬁcally support low-income, ﬁrst-generation college students and students with disabilities—populations that are often overlooked and underserved.

Eliminating Upward Bound would not only be adisservice to these students but alsoastepbackwardinour nation’scommitment to educationalopportunity and social mobility Iurge our policymakers to stand up for educational equity by rejecting this proposal. The future of countless students depends on it.

JULIA BLAIR BATTLE president, FriendsofNAACP ACT-SO NewOrleans

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

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

Cost of deathpenalty should be deciding factor

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.

Inote the continued letters regarding the death penalty debate. For many years, Iwas ambivalent, weighing the urge for retributive justice vs. therare but horrifying thought of executing an innocent person. However,years ago, Ilearned afact that madethe choice of life without parole over the deathpenalty simple. That fact is that it costs the taxpayers more in legal and administrative costs to ﬁnally execute aconvicted murderer than the cost of life imprisonment. Additionally, someofthe moreunhinged with delusions of martyrdom (think Timothy McVeigh) might actually prefer apublic execution and life in prison would be amore condign punishment

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

CANNON Baton Rouge

DALE MORRIS Destrehan

HERBERT

DANGALLO Baton Rouge

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.

“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-

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

DEATHS continued from

fullyonFriday, June 13, 2025 at the age of 92. She was anative of New Orleans and resided in Kenner. Geraldine was preceded in death by her husband, Arthur W. Davis, Jr after 70 wonderful years of marriage. She is survived by her loving son, Arthur "Butch" Davis, III (Terri). She was the adoring grandmother of Ben (Jennifer) and Matt (Melissa); and greatgrandmother of Gabrielle and Grant Davis and Shelby Bordelon. Geraldine was the daughter of the late Louis Matthew May and the late Clara Arrigo May. One of eleven children, she was called"DiDi by her brothers and sisters who preceded her in death, Juliet Carrigee, Gerald May, Louis James May, Marion May, Milton May, Ines Egan, Elizabeth Serpas, Theresa Barry and Teddy May; and her surviving brother and sister-inlaw, James May and Barbara May. The family would like to give special thanks to the staff at Chateau de Notre Dame and Chateau Hospice for taking such wonderful care of her. Relatives and friends are invited to attend services for "DiDi" on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 held at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. New Orleans, LA. Visitation will be from 12:00 noon until Mass begins at 2:00pm. Interment will follow in All Saints Mausoleum.

AnativeNew Orleanian, he

will lowerrain chancesand bringback the hot and humid feel this time of year.This Friday,June 20, is

of summer.Asfor thetropics,nodevelopment is expected in thenext week

wasa longtimeresident of Metairie, Louisiana. Mr.Faiaearned hisJuris Doctorate fromLoyola University School ofLaw in 1990.Since 1999, Mr.Faia wasactiveinboththe title and real estate industries wherehewas theowner of Security TitleofLouisiana, LLC. Hislaw practiceFaia and Associates, LLC was dedicatedtointellectual property as well as corporatelaw includingformerly workingasgeneral counsel to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. In 2008, he wasnamed President of Strive Incorporated,a nonprofit organizationcommittedtoassistingdisabledadults with employment challenges, arolehe wasmost proud of and continued until hisdeath. In 2010, Mr.Faiawas appointed Trusteeofthe JeffersonParishFinance Authority and in 2016 was appointed Chairman of the Boardand served until his death. He wasanowner of Ads Squared, LLC. which ledhim tobecomea Yahoo RelationshipPartnerwith theYahoo Search Partner AdvisoryCouncil. Greg was aleader in the search optimization industry and internet advertising. He was amember of theAmerican Land and TitleAssociation theLouisiana Bar Association, NewOrleans BarAssociation, and the American BarAssociation. Gregwas also amember of theSouthernYacht Club. Heispreceded in death by hisparents, Ronald Lawrence Faiaand Jane Durning Faia. He is survivedbyhis loving wife Michelle A. Faia, hisson, Philip G. Faiaand those he calledhis own, TheodoreJ Picou, III (Geneva),Taylor Picou and her son,Parker, hisstepsons,Tyler Molero (Isabella), Hunter Molero andBrennan Molero,his sister,Jane F. Mentzand brother, RonaldL.Faia, Jr (Tracy) as well as ahost of nieces andnephews. Greg's employees were likefamily,especially his assistant, Jewel Davis, and his paralegal,GinaB.Grob. He washard-working, had agenerous spirit, and wasundeniablythe life of theparty. He enjoyed boating, fineart, traveling, and spending timewith his beloved dogs,Sadie and Coco. The legacy he leaves behind in bothhis family and professional endeavorswill foreverbecherished and celebrated by those whoknew andloved

him. The family will holda privatecremation service through Lake Lawn Metairie FuneralHome. In lieu of flowers, please considera contribution in Greg's memory to Strive Incorporated An onlineguestbook is available at www.LakeLaw nMetairie.com

Gaubert, Mary Elizabeth Triche 'MaryBeth'

Mary Elizabeth“Mary Beth” Triche Gaubertborn May 5, 1967, in NewOr‐leans,LA, passedaway June 14, 2025, from compli‐cations after heartsurgery NativeofGood Hope,LA and spentmostofher life and career in Norco, LA She dedicatedher life to educating thestudentsof SacredHeart of Jesus, Norco andSt. Clementof Rome, Metairie forover25 years,where shereshaped the livesofmanyyoung childrenalong theway.She issurvivedbyher loving husband of 31 years, Terry JosephGaubert,her daughter, Lily Elizabeth Gaubert,parents Larry Ed‐wardTriche, Sr andMary Billson Triche.Sisters,Pam McCarter(Burley), Patti Gaubert (Gery),Penny Cantrelle (Casey), andher brother Larry “Bully” Triche, Jr.She is also sur‐vived by herbrothers-inlaw,Keith Gaubertand Chris Gaubert(Julie),and manynieces, nephews, aunts, uncles,cousins,and friends to cherishher memory. Shewas pre‐ceded in deathbyher grandparents, Edward and Irma Triche andJohnand Mildred Billson, andher inlaws, Carrolland Lillie Gaubert.MaryBethwillbe rememberedasa loving wife, mother,daughter, sister, aunt,and teacher’s assistant.Serviceswillbe on Thursday,June 19, 2025,

at Sacred HeartChurch in Norco,LA. Visitation will begin at 9AMwithMassof Christian Burial to follow at 11AM. Burial to take place atSt. CharlesBorromeo CemeteryinDestrehan,LA.

Holman,Linda Lee Linda Lee (Avants) Holmanpassed away peacefully on May 18, 2025 in Denison, Texas at the ageof85. She wasthe oldest child born to Hubert E. and Nathalie K. (Riedlinger) Avants on September 25, 1939 in Metaire, Louisiana. Lindawas aformersupervisory Contracting Officer in New Orleans at Naval Support Activity,a jobthatshe enjoyed. Because of her deep roots in Louisiana, she really lovedMardiGras and allof itsactivities. Her greatest joy was her family and she absolutelycherished her grandchildren. She was quite an adventurer with them, Ridingrollercoasters and parasailing. Linda lovedwater and enjoyed life on thelake. She absolutelyloved animals, many times she rescued them and provived ahome and a safe haven. Linda was a painterand acrossword queen. She waspreceded in death by her husband, Elbert "Ray" Holman; her parents, Hubert and Nathalie Avants; sister, Merlyn Cruze; son, Gregory Alexander. She is survivedbyher daughter in law, Elisa Alexander; grandchildren, Nathalie Valdezand husband Jose, Nicholas Alexander; greatgrandchildren, Kovu and Kion Valdez;along with an extendedfamily of cousins, nieces, and nephews. Arrangementsare with Mullican-Little Funeral Home Bells, Texas.Anonline registry may be signed at www.mullicanlittle.com

Uthrelle DoyleScott, age 58, peacefully enteredinto eternal rest on Thursday, June 5, 2025 surrounded by his family. Uthrelle wasa nativeNew Orleanian. Son ofthe late BennyCharles Buckley andMargaret Scott-Simmons(Emmett Simmons). Father of Uriane and Jordan Scott. Bonus fa‐therofAlton Roman. Brother of ShaniSimmons Grandsonofthe late Doyle and JosephineScott Grandfather of six, Telmus, Cevyn,Jordyn, J'uri, Jac'quor, andBran’dyn. Alsosurvivedbya host of aunts, uncles,cousins and friends.All areinvited to attend aCelebration ser‐vicehonoringthe life and legacyofthe late Uthrelle Doyle Scottinthe Chapel ofCharbonnetLabat Glapion FuneralHome, 1615 St.PhilipStreet,New Orleans,LA70116 on Wednesday,June 18, 2025 at1 p.m. IntermentPrivate Visitation12noon in the chapel. Please sign online guestbook at www.cha rbonnetfuneralhome.com. Charbonnet LabatGlapion, Directors (504) 581-4411.

September 3, 1943, when she wasborn to herloving parents, AnthonyChisesi, Sr.and Evelyn Stagno Chisesi, in thevibrantcity of NewOrleans.Raised in thecharming streets of uptownNew Orleans, Cassie built thefoundation of a remarkable life surrounded by thecity's rich culture andtraditions. An alumna of Redemptorist High School, Cassiecarried her NewOrleans spirit wherever life took her. Shelater moved to Metairie, where she spentmost of herlife, continuing to embracethe essenceofher hometown. Hercareersaw hershine at SouthCentral Bell and AT&T, whereshe dedicated many years of service earning therespectand admiration of hercolleagues. Cassie'slove for herfamilyand friends was unmistakable, and she embodied theheart andsoul of atrueNew Orleanian Herwarmth and generosity left alastingimprinton all whohad theprivilege of knowing her. Cassieissurvived by herdevoted husband, John Thibodaux. She leaves behind alegacy through herchildren, Kellie Barnes (Richard Barnes, III) andCharlesMengel, Jr (DebraMengel).Her role as agrandmotherbrought herimmense joy. Her grandchildren: Caroline Barnes, Madeline Barnes, Remington Mengeland KelsieMengel, remember herasa source of unconditional love and inspiration. Cassandra C. Thibodaux's life is atestament to dedication, compassion and a deep connection to the people and thecityshe cherished.She will be profoundly missed butfondly remembered for herenduringlegacyoflove and commitment. Relatives andfriends are invited to attenda Memorial Mass at 11:00 AM on Thursday, June 19, 2025 at Tharp Funeral Home, 1600 N. Causeway Blvd Metairie, LA 70001. Visitation willbegin at 9:30 AM.Expressions of love and sympathy may be viewed andplacedat www.tharpcares.com.

Scott, Uthrelle Doyle

Faia,Gregory Gerard

GregoryG.Faia, 61 years old, passed away at his homeonThursday, May 8, 2025, following acourageous battlewith Glioblastomabraincancer

Thibodaux, Cassandra Chisesi

Cassandra Chisesi Thibodaux, affectionately known as Cassie, passed away on Sunday, June 1, 2025, at the age of 81. Her journeybegan on

WEATHERING STORM

BYERIC OLSON AP sports writer

OMAHA, Neb GageWoodof Arkansas pitched the third 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 ahit in theRazorbacks’ 3-0 victory Wood joined Jim Ehrler of Texas in 1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State in 1960 as the only pitchers to throwCWS no-hitters, and his defense never was challenged as he dominated aRacers team that was making its ﬁrst Omaha appearance.

The junior right-hander,who set the CWS record for strike-

outs in anine-inning game, was subdued in the aftermath.

“Theonly special thingwas I didn’twant to go home. That’sit,” he said. “We’re not going home. We get to play tomorrow night But it’spretty cool.”

Arkansas (49-14) plays another elimination game Tuesday night against the loser of Monday night’sgame between LSU and UCLA.

Murray State(44-17), onlythe fourth No.4 regionalseed since 1999 to reach Omaha, went 0-2 in its ﬁrst appearance.

Wood’sbid for aperfectgame ended in theeighth when his 2-2 breaking ballhit Dom Decker in

ä See CWS, page 4C

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

STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU starting pitcherAnthonyEyanson celebratesafter getting astrikeout on Monday in the College WorldSeriesbetween the Tigers and theBruins in Omaha, Neb.Severe weather in Omaha delayedthe game with LSU leading5-3 after threeinnings. Thegame hadnot resumedbypress time.

‘Dialed in’

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

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 se-

ries 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 2024 WNBA draft, but she missed the entire season due to knee surgery In February, the Storm signed Holmes to a rookie contract, but she was waived during the preseason. Holmes scored nine points on 80% shooting and recorded eight rebounds

LOUISIANA 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 offseasonboosts

McCaffrey’shopes

SanFrancisco RB coming offinjury-plaguedseason

BY JOSH DUBOW AP pro football writer

TarHeels playerslikewhat they’veseenfromBelichick

BY AARON BEARD AP sportswriter

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Jordan Shippremembers theconversation with hisroommatesafter learning Bill Belichick was North Carolina’snew coach.

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

Belichick’sarrivalhas triggeredplenty of change for the TarHeels,who are making abig betonthe man who won sixSuper Bowlsas an NFL head coach to spark their football program. No one knows thatbetter than the players —both theholdovers and the transfer-portal arrivals —after months of Belichick overhauling the rosterand buildingthe foundationonhis ﬁrst college team.

family and friends.”

Formativestages

The school hiredBelichick in December to elevate the program at atimewhen football’srole as the revenue driver in college sports has never been bigger

“They’ve made aton of improvementand these guys arealot better than theywerewhenwestarted in January,onevery level. So it’sexciting to see where that’sgoing to take us.”

Enticing opportunity

SANTACLARA, Calif. The biggest beneficiary of an extended offseason forthe SanFrancisco 49ers just might have been star running back Christian McCaffrey Ayear after he was limited to just four games because of injuries to his Achilles tendon and knee, the engine of San Francisco’shighpoweredoffense was on the practice ﬁeld for the offseason program and is hoping to get back to the form that made him the AP Offensive Playerofthe Year duringa run to the Super Bowl in the 2023 season.

Ahealthy McCaffrey would be akey component for San Francisco to rebound from a6-11 season that at least provided aside beneﬁtofmoretimeoff in the winter following three straight years of long playoff runs.

“Being fully transparent, obviouslylast year didn’t go the way Iwanted,” McCaffrey said.“It didn’tgo the way anyone wanted. Buthaving this time off has allowed me to startfrom scratchand have the time where Ican build abase again, come intoOTAs, play footballand now get back into it mentally,emotionally,physically in allways 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 becomingafather.McCaffrey and his wife, model Olivia Culpo,are expectingtheir ﬁrst child “right around the corner.”

McCaffrey looked fresh during the offseason program after sitting it out last yearasherecovered from agruelingseason andwaited for anew contract that came last June.

McCaffrey had 798 touches from scrimmage during the2023-24 regular season and playoffs —more than 100morethan anyother player in the league during thatspan. That workload likely

contributedtothe Achillestendinitisthatsidelined McCaffrey early in training camp last season andforced him to miss the ﬁrst eight games of the season

He then injuredhis posterior cruciate ligament in his fourthgame back and missed theﬁnal 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 astep back last season Coach Kyle Shanahansaid he is awarethat he needs to manage McCaffrey’s workload this summer in order “to protect him from himself” andmakesure he’s healthyand freshwhenthe games count “Heisapsychoina good way and so like he does everything imaginable every single day,”Shanahan said. “Last yearhecouldn’tbecause he wasbattlinginjury all last year.And this year he is healthy so he is right back to beingwho he is always been andit’sreally fun to watch.”

McCaffrey,who turned 29 earlier this month, said

Flores ﬁnds joyasVikings 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 thecall 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’sthe Brian Flores effect on the Vikings offense, arecurring 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, becausetoday he ran some stuff that Ididn’t even know was in there,” O’Connell said. “That’sFlo.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, apleasant surprise of sorts for ateam 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 guyswho were certainly deserved,” Flores said. “It was agreat experience, and Ienjoyed it.I’m

also veryhappytoberight where Iam.” Flores, who was fired by theMiami Dolphins after three seasons as theirhead coachfrom2019-21, still hasa racial discrimination lawsuit pending againstthe league in response to losing that job.But if there’sany bitterness Flores is harboring, he’shiding it well Since O’Connell hired him in 2023, he hasembraced this experience withthe Vikings and all that has come with it forhim and his family

The Vikings ranked ﬁfth in theleague inscoring defenselast season after ﬁnishing 14ththe year before. Theywere 28th in 2022 before he arrived. Successful spending in free agencyhelpedenhancethe depth chart, but Floreshas also helped turn unheralded players such as safetyJosh Metellus and linebacker Ivan Pace into keycontributors. Last season, the Vikings

tied forthe league lead with 33 takeaways, leading to many on-ﬁeld celebrations

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

Thefrequentuse of Metellus as an inside linebacker or an edge rusher was one way Flores hasused unorthodoxschemes to takeadvantageofhis players’ quickness —ofbody and mind —and keep the opponent constantly guessing.Onsome 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 anew look.

“He’salwaystryingto evolve. He’salways trying to be onestep ahead,”edge rusher Andrew VanGinkel said. “That’s one

NorthCarolina players hadn’tspoken to reporters since lastyear’steam ended itsseason with aFenway Bowl loss to UConnthree days after Christmas, all of which came after Belichick had been hired as coach for the2025 season. So last week marked the firsttime UNC had made players available toreporters sincethentodiscuss Belichick’sarrival. That has meantbeing coached by someone with alongtrack record of success at the sport’s highest level, along with getting apeekbehind the terse and grumpy persona he was known for with theNew England Patriots.

Defensive back Will Hardy said the players are used to curiositythat comes with being coached by the NFL lifer nowgiving collegea try.

“There’salot of that, you getalot of ‘How is coach Belichick? What’snew? What’s different?’ ”Hardy said. “So I’verehearsed these questions alot with

He andgeneral manager Michael Lombardi have described their goal as buildinga pro-stylemodel at the college level. It’sbeen akey pitch as the 73-yearold Belichick madehis ﬁrst foray onto therecruiting trail, as well as the volume of players transferring in and out of the program

Belichick’sfirst on-field work in Chapel Hill came during spring workouts, lodged between portal windows in Decemberand April.

“Look, these are great kids to work with, they really are,” Belichick said Tuesday. “We’vehad great buy-in. There have really been no problems at all. These guys areontime, they’re early,they work hard,theyput in thework in the weight room, outon the ﬁeld. They spend time on theirown, whetherit’s doing extra training or coming over andwatching ﬁlm and that type of thing.

For the players, part of the adjustment had been thereality that theircoach 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,”saidoffensive lineman Christo Kelly,a Holy Cross transfer and Belichick’sﬁrst portal commitment. “But when you get here andyou seethe way he cares, you see the waythat he approaches the game, you see how hard he works, there’snoquestionwhy he has the success that he has.

“The attention to detail, the emphasis on fundamentals, andreally just kind of creating competition for the guys, that’swhat’sgetting built here. Guys are embracing it.Hetreatseverybody withtremendous respect andit’sbeen great.”

McCaffrey

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By JEFF CHIU

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

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO By CHRIS SEWARD

North Carolina coach Bill Belichickwatches his team during aspring football practice on March 5inChapel Hill, N.C.

“It’sawesome because we had 120,000 (shots)ready for us,” McEvoy said. “Wedon’t have to worry about making them overnight or something breaking, or something freezing, or something not setting or the mess.”

World-famous room

When LSU was lastinOmaha, shots at Rocco’scouldbepurchased in the back-left cornerof the restaurant. Now the shots can be acquired only in aback room that in 2023 was designated for private parties.

The newly branded “World Famous Jell-O Shot Room” has provided more space for customers and has kept the restaurant 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,reallymessy,” McEvoy said “And so it got to the point where we built a17-foot bar in 2023 the last time LSUwas here —and we realized that split the room in half because so many people are in line, you couldn’teven get to the bathroomand 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 couldget Brian Kelly and Joe Burrow and everybody in here that they wanted to bring in,” McEvoy said. “And it was really

cool,but it gottothe pointwhere we need thatspace to serve everyonethatwants to come in.”

Thelack of aparty room hasn’t stoppedLSU celebritiesfromvisiting Rocco’s. Former LSU gymnast and social media star Olivia

Dunne and Raising Cane’sowner

Todd Graves visitedthe restaurant before Saturday’sgame for Jell-O shots. “They’ll stillbehere. We’llstill seeour friends,” McEvoy said. “They’re going to make it up.

Continued from page1C

his back foot.

“When Ihit the guy in the foot, Iknew Iscrewed up,” saidWood, who got afoul out and consecutive strikeouts to end the inning, then lookedskyward and gave aprimal scream and did acouple of high steps as he headed to the dugout.

Wood (4-1) hit pinch-hitter Nico Bermeo in the back of his leftelbow with afastball to startthe ninth. Bermeo initially was awarded ﬁrst base, but Arkansas challenged the call, arguing Bermeo moved his elbow into the pitch. The call was overturned and Bermeo wasout Wood struck out Connor Cunningham and Jonathan Hogart to ﬁnish the game.

“The dudewas electric tonight,” Hogart said.

Wood was mobbed by teammates, with the celebration moving from behind the moundtothe area betweensecond andthird base

“Gage wasjust executing pitch after pitch, getting ahead in the count and elevating hisfastball in and out. What agreat job,” Arkansascoach Dave VanHorn said. “The fewplays we hadto make behind him —maybe nine, eight? —just glad we made all those plays.”

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

“I think Gage Wood madehimself some money today.Holy cow,” Racers coach Dan Skirka said. The closest Murray Statecame to breaking up Wood’s no-hitter was CarsonGarner’s hot grounder that pulledﬁrst baseman ReeseRobinett to hisleft.Robinett snagged theball and touched the bag for the last out of the seventh inning. Wood showed early signs that this could be aspecial day. He had excellent command of his signa-

LSUsupporters takesome of the 50 Jell-O shots they purchased at Rocco’sas fansconverge on the area surrounding Charles Schwab Field on Saturday before LSUcompetes against Arkansas in the College WorldSeries in Omaha, Neb

STAFFPHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

And yeah, (Shane Morrison) and Graves andGordon (McKernan) and everybody,we’ve already heard from them.”

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

ture four-seam fastball, breaking ball and changeup. Of his first 20 fastballs, 19 were strikes, and he fannednineofthe first 12 batters he faced —seven in arow fromthe third to fifth innings. Wood hasgonefromcloser as a freshmantomiddle reliever as a sophomore to weekend starter as a junior.Heinjuredhis right shoulder 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 wentinto 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,” Arkansascatcher Ryder Helfrick said. “I think everybody was really ﬁred up forhim. The main thing is we’re still here and we’re still playing.”

The Razorbacks broke open the game afterGrahamKelham relieved Isaac Silva to start the seventh. SEC player of the year Wehiwa Aloy doubled in arun and another scored when right ﬁelder DustinMercer tried to make a shoestring catch on LoganMaxwell’sshallow ﬂy and the ball got under his glove.

Silva (9-3) kept his team close in his six innings, with Charles Davalan’sthird-inning RBIsingle producing the only run against him. He allowedsix hits, walked two and struck out seven.

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.

“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

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.

“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

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.

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 Coun-

try 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 Spaun. “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 like-minded mentality. So for me, this (hiring Chaney) was a nobrainer 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

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

LIVING

Planning keywhen traveling with dog

Expert tips formaking most of your journey

BY DR. JERRYKLEIN

American Kennel Club (TNS)

The key to traveling withyourdog is planning.

The right plan ensures that going from point Atopoint Bwill go smoothly for you and your pup. There are several things to consider when preparing for your departure.

Air travel. While booking reservations for your ﬂights, you must makereservations for your dog too. Always check the airline’spet policies and requirements, including size restrictions for carriers and any additional fees you might encounter.

Car travel. Whentraveling by car, a crate or harness can attach to the seatbelt for your pup’ssafety. When your dog is safe on the journey, it allows you to better concentrate on theroad. Never leave your dog in the car unattended. To help prevent motion sickness,feed your dog about1/3 their full amount before departing Petcarriers or crates. Crates and harnesses can be found at most pet supply stores. Make sure of the following when shopping around:Ensure the crate is largeenough to allow your dog to sit up, turn around andlie down; make sure the crate can be secured to thevehicle;see that the crateismade from astrong material and has handles and grips; check that it has aleak-proof bottom; andensureproper ventilation to prevent blocked airflow.Ifflying, be sure the crate has a“live animal” label, arrowsupright, with owner’sname,address and phone number Vetcheckup. Schedule acheckup with your veterinarian days before you plan to travel. This will ensure you know that your dog is healthy enough to travel. If flying, obtainany necessary health certificates. Confirm your dog’s vaccinations are up-to-date and check on the status of your pup’sheartworm, flea and tick preventatives, especially if you are spending time outside at your destination. Identification and microchip. Make sure your dog has amicrochip and updated ID tags with your current contactinformation, including acell phone number.Iftraveling across state or internationallines, double check thatyou have all the documents you need relatedtoyour pup. Create apacking list. Include all your dog’snecessities on your packing list. Food, water, first-aid kit, poop bags, leash and collar, andany comfortitems that will help your pet along the way –such as their favorite toy or blanket. While on the road, take rest stopsoften forbreaksand exercise. Remember that if travel is stressful for you, it’sstressful for your pup too! Stick to your plan and remain calm and patient during the journey For moreinformation on responsible dog ownership, visit theAKC at www akc.org.

BITE CLUB

‘Jaws’

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

BY TEDLEWIS Contributing writer

Dun-dun dun-dun.

Even ahalf-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 back of mymind,” said George Robichaux, of Houma. “I’d try to get in themiddle of the pack so I’d feel safer.”

Suchisthe lasting impact of theStephen Spielberg-directed thriller that marksthe 50th anniversary of itsrelease on June 20.

“Jaws” was asensation in the summer of 1975, setting abox ofﬁce record that stood until“StarWars,” two years later

The ﬁrst summer blockbuster,“Jaws” spawned three ofﬁcial sequels plus ahost of imitatorsand an enduring mania for sharks from “Shark Week.”

About this time every year,thereare reminders in the news of the danger of shark attacks, rare as they might actually be.

Added Robichaux, “The water will always have the allure of things we can’t

PROVIDED PHOTO

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

see. We allhaveatleast alittle fear of theunknown.” Greer Naudin, of Baton Rouge, who

wroteher master’s thesis at theUniversity of South Florida on Spielberg and the way he crafts music, is abig “Jaws” fan.

“The movie is incredible,” she said. “It was shot on the water,whichhad never been done before, and Spielberg worked with (composer) John Williams to incorporate the score so closely that you can’t think of the movie without the music.

“The movie’snot as scaryaspeople 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 forthe score and the way it’sdone overall.”

In NewOrleansback in 1975, “Jaws” played at the Joy Theater on Canal Street withcrowds lineduparoundthe block forsold-out showings.

Wrote Times-Picayune critic Frank Gagnard, “‘Jaws’ is atremendous horror movie, maybe one of the best ever,with slickly engineered jolts andharrowing suspense.”

“Jaws” and its sequels are now

ä See BITE, page 2D

STAFF PHOTO By JOHN MCCUSKER

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

Contentcreator sister makesithardtoconnect

Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITy

DEAR HARRIETTE: My sister is trying tobecome acontent creator While Iwant to support her dreams, it’sstarting to take atoll on our relationship. Every time we spend time together,whether it’sgetting coffee, going on awalk or just hangingout 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 capturethe “perfect shot.”

Iget that this is important to her, and Iknow building aplatform

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday,June 17, the 168th day of 2025. There are 197 days left in the 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 murderinthe deathsofhis exwife, Nicole Brown Simpson, 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, who suffered 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 Hooversignedthe SmootHawley Tariff Act, 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’sPrayerorreading 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 samesex couples got married across California on the ﬁrst full day that same-sex marriage became legal by order of the state’s highest court; an estimated 11,000 samesex couples would be married under the California law in its ﬁrst three months.

In 2015, nine Black worshippers were killed when a gunman 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 andhate crime charges and sentenced to death.)

In 2021, the Supreme Court, in a7-2 ruling, left intact the entire AffordableCareAct, rejecting amajor Republican-led effort to kill the national health care law known informally 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 Ken Loach is 89. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is 82. Musician Barry Manilow is 82. Comedian Joe Piscopois74. Actor Jon Gries is 68. Filmmaker Bobby Farrelly is 67. Actor Thomas Haden Church is 65.Actor Greg Kinnear is 62. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Dan Jansen is 60. Fashion designer Tory Burch is 59. Actor Jason Patric is 59. Actor-comedian Will Forte is 55. Latinpop singer-songwriter Paulina Rubio is 54. Tennis Hall of FamerLeander Paes is 52. Tennis star Venus Williams is 45. Actor Jodie Whittaker is 43. Rapper Kendrick Lamar is 38. Actor KJ Apa is 28.

takes work, but Imiss when we could just be present witheach other, talking, laughing and sharing memorieswithout it needing to be documented orcurated for public consumption. It feels like I’m spending time withher online persona,not my actual sister. Isometimes feel used as aprop for her brand instead ofappreciated as a person. HowdoItalk to her about this without sounding dismissive of her goals or unsupportive of her hustle? —Used

DEAR USED: Just tell her.Point outthat you need to create some boundaries when you are together so that every moment isn’twork. Theworkaholic nature of her behaviorisinterfering withyour time together,and you need it to stop —oratleast not be so inva-

BITE

Continued from page 1D

streamingonPeacock. But if you need to see it on abiggerscreen, you’llprobably have to waituntil Labor Day weekend fora return to theaters.

Oneexception is Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, where themovie has been playing since Memorial Day, complete with shark-head bucketsofpopcorn. Unfortunately, the franchise doesn’t have any theaters in Louisiana.

However,there’snolack of “Jaws”merchandise available andmanyfansare headed to Universal’s theme parks in Orlando and Los Angelestoget aclose-up scare from “Bruce,” the sharkused in the movie.

To commemorate the ﬁlm’sgolden anniversary,weasked readers about their memories of seeing “Jaws” for the first time andits lasting impact on them

No.1 fan

Even at age6,Kevin Caywood of Chalmette wanted to see “Jaws.”

Maybe it was because his father, William,was an oyster ﬁsherman.

Whatever the reason, when Kevin’s father took him to the Joy that opening weekend, he washooked andhas been ever since, estimating that he’sseen the movie hundreds of times.

Kevinhas collected dozens of “Jaws”-related items, although many were lost in Katrina, and visited both Universal Hollywood andOrlando to see “Bruce,”the mechanical sharkprop.

Upcoming are trips to LosAngeles for the Academy Museum’s “Jaws” exhibit (the ﬁrst dedicated to asingle ﬁlm) andMartha’sVineyard.

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

“The movie doesn’thaveall of the special effectsyou see now, but that’swhy it holds up so well. It’swhatyou don’tsee that draws youin.”

Oscar, please

New Orleansjazz musician Matt Lemmler was 8when he ﬁrst saw “Jaws,” deciding to sit on thefront row of the Lakeside Cinema II in Metairie while his father and two older brothers were farther back.

“I wanted to show how brave I was,” Lemmler said. “Butassoon as that JohnWilliams 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 LouisianaPhilharmonic’stribute to Williams, which included an extended segmentfrom “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 gets old.”

Babyshark

SpencerCain wasborn a“Jaws” fan—literally. Hisparents, Nicky

sive. 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

seemed tonotice me was when Ihad aproblem.When Ithink about it, the bad stuffiswhat drew themost attention. Now it’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,itisincumbent 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.

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

and Jimmy Cain of Covington, chose to aira Blu-ray 25th anniversary director’scut of the movie in Nicky’sbirthing suiteatOchsner Medical Center in 2001. The show even attracted hospital staffers unconnected to the blessed event.

“I’ve neverheard of anybody else coming intothe world like that,” said Spencer.“But my parents are super fans and it makes a great family story.”

Here’sone just about as good as teenagers, his parents, Nicky andJimmy,were at thesame showing at the Joy on the day “Jaws” debuted, although they didn’t know each other and would not meet until two decades later

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

Just when youthink it’s safe

Slidell’sSusanDonovanisa lifelong competitiveswimmer and lifeguard, but shestill circles pool decks, “just checking,”and doesn’t go in over heranklesinany “nonchlorinated body of water,always scanning the horizon for thefin withthe music always playing in my mind.”

Not everyone is quite that traumatized. When ChrisDarnell of Baton Rouge watched at the University Cinema, aguy behind her grabbedher shoulders when the shark madeits first appearance. She didn’tlet it affect her love of themovie or the beach.

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

“There’sawildlife refuge nearby,” she said. “And sharks prefer sealstopeople, so nobody worries.” Partytime!

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

Buther true love is “Sharknado,” theover-the-top aquatic menace film thatspawned five sequels, three morethan “Jaws.

“Every year,anew one was released (thelast was in 2020), we had aparty with costumesand themed snacks,” Branzaru said. Jaws’and ‘Sharknado’ bring up such great memories.

“That’s theway Iknow summer hasarrived.”

AmityChoo-Choo

Therearen’tany railroadson

Amity Island. But that didn’tdeter Kurt Sauers of Ocean City,Maryland, from building atrain garden running through amodel village of what’sshown in the movie. The train garden is Sauers’ tribute to his late father,from whom he inherited the trains, and took four years to construct in his basement. Sauers used morethan 2,000 pieces of wood andother building materials.

“My dad took me to see ‘Jaws’ when Iwas 8, and Iheld my feet off the ﬂoor for the whole timeso theshark wouldn’tget me,” Sauers said. “But Ilove ‘Jaws’ now “Most scary movies, you see what’scoming. 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 fearofpotential shark attacksinany body of water after he saw thebloodyblockbuster Ironically,Griswold’sfamily was vacationing on Martha’sVineyard in 1974 when“Jaws” wasbeing ﬁlmed, and he could see themechanical sharks being set up in Katama Bay.Itdidn’tmake him less worried.

“That showsyou how great the

movie is,” Griswald said. “It taps into our primordial fear that there’s apredator coming to eat you.

“Itwasn’tamonsterand it wasn’t aserial killer.Kids today are callous about special effects, but ‘Jaws’ scared thewillies out of all of us.”

Louisianaconnection

When Matt Hooper performs the shark autopsy and extracts a Louisiana license plate, prompting Chief Brodytoask,“He didn’t eat acar,did he?” the wording on the plate wasnoaccident.

Spielberg wanted to direct a James Bondfilm andwas sending a message to producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. The first three numbers on the plate are “007” and the bottom says “72 LOUISIANA 73” —references to the years “Live and Let Die” waspartially shot in the New Orleans area and released. Spielberg’spitchdidn’twork. For some reason, Broccoli never thought the mostsuccessful director in movie history was good enough to helm aBond film

Partytime

Although Jessica Cogan of New Orleans confessestohaving the “Jaws” theme running in her head even whenshe’sswimming in pools or freshwater lakes, that hasn’t stopped her from being aregular at thePrytania’s annualcostumethemed watching parties.

This year’sfestivities are planned forLabor Day.

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

“It’sjust about perfect.” 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, “If you want to ruin your life, go ahead.” Brown, nowdirector of thesocial work programatSUNO, was apparently not permanently scarred.

“I graduated from Ben Franklin, have twomaster’sdegrees and a Ph.D. and have received national awards formywork,” Brownsaid. “I feel like Icontributedsignificantly to society

“All that despitehaving seen ‘Jaws’ at the Joy.”

When ‘You make me sick’ismeant as acompliment

Judith Martin

MISS MANNERS

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Ihave skills andinterests that arerather unusual in modern times. Ienjoythese hobbiesimmensely though Imakea pointofnot bringing them up with new acquaintances, since they are not likely to make a two-way conversation ﬂow When Imeet a friendofafriend, however,myinterests are invariablyapart of the

introduction, usually followed by acomment like, “She’ssogood at everything, it makes me sick! Iamcertainly not good at everything.There are plenty of things I am just terrible at! Perhaps there is talent in what Idowell, beyond thelearning of askill, but Ihave worked hard to develop that talent —not to show off, but just because it fascinates me. Iwould be absolutely thrilled to teach anyone who wanted to learn, since Ihate to think of these skills becoming extinct. Really,anybody who wanted to learn could.

Irealize that my friends mean to express admiration for skills they do notpossess and do not care to gain, but being told I“make them sick” is very off-putting to me,and Ihave no ideahow Iamsupposed to respond.

GENTLE READER: “Oh, I’msosorry! Inever dreamed my little interests would upset you. Are you going to be allright?”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My hair is so thin on top you can see my scalp. Iamgoing to an upscale evening wedding. Would it be asocial error to wear ahat?

GENTLE READER: Aren’tweddings

whathats are for? Well, enhancing heads, too. Perhaps you are concerned because it is an evening wedding. But in that case, you wear whatisaptly called afascinator something whimsicalbut without a brim, strategically placed.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St Kansas City,MO 64106.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Elena Branzarushows off her Sharknadoheadwear

PROVIDED PHOTO

KurtSauers poses 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.

ToDAy's cLuE: M EQuALs G

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

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

peAnUtS

zItS

And erneSt

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of thesudoku increases from monday to sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

Bridge

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.

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

wuzzles

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

dIrectIons: make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row. add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

ken ken

InstructIons: 1 Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 thorugh 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

WiShinG Well

HErE is a

Scrabble GramS

Get fuzzy

jump Start

roSe iS roSe animal crackerS

DuStin

Drabble

Wallace the brave

breWSter rockit

luann

trictofthe City onJune 18, 2025 at12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit: 7543 SCOTTWOODDR NEW ORLEANS, LA70128 SQUARE C, LOT 14 THIRDMUNICI‐PAL DISTRICT ACQMIN:921851 WRIT AMOUNT: $114,991.02

y Order. No Per‐sonal Checks FACE MASKS AND TEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPONENTERING BUILDING. SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans BD 14 LAWOFFICESOF HERSCHELC ADCOCK, JR. LLC (225) 756-0373 DENNISF.WIG‐GINS, JR TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $95.13

MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 5316 DRYADES STREET,THIS CITY,IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:JPMOR‐GANCHASE BANK,NA‐TIONAL ASSOCI‐ATIONVERSUS RICHARDJ CAMPEAU CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-5530

p ceed to sell by publicauction, onthe ground ﬂoor of theCivil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue inthe FirstDis‐trict of theCity onJune 18, 2025, at12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit: 5316 DRYADES STNEW OR‐LEANS,LA70115

cause,I will pro‐ceed to sell by publicauction, onthe ground ﬂoor of theCivil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue, in theFirst Dis‐

Seized in the above suit, TERMS -CASH. Thepurchaser atthe moment ofadjudication tomakea de‐posit of tenper‐centofthe pur‐chase price, and the balance withinthirty daysthereafter. Note: Thepay‐mentmustbe Cash, Cashier's Check,Certiﬁed CheckorMoney

Byvirtueof a WritofSeizure and Sale di‐rectedtomeby the Honorable JudgesofCivil DistrictCourt for theParishof Orleans,inthe above entitled cause, Iwill pro‐d ll b

y days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

BT 16 LOGS LEGAL GROUPLLP 504838-7535 AMYR.ORTIS

The N.O. Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $86.13

ADVERTISE‐MENT

THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 7038 MILNEBOULE‐VARD,THISCITY, IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:CAS‐CADE FUNDING MORTGAGE TRUSTAB2 VER‐SUSROBERT C. LAUERA/K/A ROBERT LAUER ANDLISALAUER

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2023-11487

7038 MILNEBD NEWORLEANS LA 70124 LOT27& 28 SQUARE 59, SECOND MUNIC‐IPAL DISTRICT ACQMIN#: 1130795 WRIT AMOUNT: $488,392.89

trictofthe City on June 18,2025, at 12:00o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit: 969 PORTEOUS ST NEWOR‐LEANS, LA 70124 LOT: A, SQUARE: 155 SECOND MUNIC‐IPAL DISTRICT ACQMIN: 1129334 WRIT AMOUNT: $183,868.91

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH 5 DEAN MORRIS, LLC318-3881440 CANDACEA COURTEAU

TheN.O.Advo‐

cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025

may14-jun17-2t $88.24

UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

RB 6 DEAN MORRIS, LLC318-3881440 ZACHARYGAR‐RETT YOUNG

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $90.36

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND,BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NO.5844 TULLIS DRIVE, CITY OF NEWORLEANS, IN THEMATTER ENTITLED:CITY OF NEWOR‐LEANSVERSUS BARBARAROD‐NEYCARPENTER

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2019-8550

TRUSTI VERSUS CEDRIC B. RICHARDA/K/A CEDRIC RICHARD

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-7282

3400 MANDEV‐ILLE ST NEWOR‐LEANS, LA 70122 LOTG -SQUARE 2279 3RDMUNICIPAL DISTRICT

ACQMIN: 1200256 WRIT AMOUNT:

$78,305.00

LOTS 33 AND34 -SQUAREA 3RDMUNICIPAL DISTRICT ACQMIN: 1408705 LAKEFRONT SUBDIVISION WRIT AMOUNT: $108,300.26

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order.NoPer‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

RB 24

THELAW OF‐FICESOFHER‐SCHELC.AD‐COCK,JR.,L.L.C (225) 756-0373 DENNISF.WIG‐GINS

ACQMIN: 750985 WRIT AMOUNT: $332,483.12

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

RB 21 LAWOFFICESOF HERSCHEL C. ADCOCK,JR. LLC (225) 756-0373 COREYJ.GIROIR

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $95.13

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $90.36

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT

THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 11206 CURRANBOULE‐VARD,THISCITY, IN THEMATTER ENTITLED:FMM BUSHNELL LONG LAKES, LLCVER‐SUSA ANDC DE‐VELOPERS,LLC AND ALDOLPHUS WILSON,JR

Courtfor the Parish of Or‐leans, in the aboveentitled cause, Iwillpro‐ceed to sell by public auction, on theground ﬂoor of theCivil District Court Building,421 Loyola Avenue, in theFirst Dis‐trictofthe City on June 18, 2025, at 12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit:

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans GH 9 JACKSON& MCPHERSON, LLC504-5819444 CRIS JACKSON

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $92.48

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH 11 LAWOFFICESOF HERSCHEL C. ADCOCK,JR. LLC (225) 756-0373 COREYJ.GIRIOR

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $88.24

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 400 COUNTRYCLUB DR,CITYOF NEW ORLEANS, IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:FED‐ERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE AS‐SOCIATIONVER‐SUS JOHN BELLINI III

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-6666 By virtue of a Writ of Seizure andSaledi‐rected to me by theHonorable Judges of Civil District Court forthe Parish of Orleans, in the aboveentitled cause, Iwillpro‐ceed to sell by public auction, on theground ﬂoor of theCivil District Court Building,421 Loyola Avenue, in theFirst Dis‐trictofthe City on June 18,2025, at 12:00o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit: 400 COUNTRY CLUB DR NEW ORLEANS, LA 70124 LOT24- SQUARE B 7THMUNICIPAL DISTRICT ACQMIN: 1271130 LAKEWOOD SOUTHSUBDIVI‐SION WRIT AMOUNT: $347,577.09

By virtue of a Writ of FieriFa‐cias directed to me by theHon‐orable Judges of CivilDistrict Courtfor the Parish of Or‐leans, in the aboveentitled cause, Iwillpro‐ceed to sell by public auction, on theground ﬂoor of theCivil District Court Building,421 Loyola Avenue, in theFirst Dis‐trictofthe City on June 18, 2025, at 12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit: 5844TULLIS

DRIVE LOT13, SQUARE 202, FIFTHMUNICI‐PALDISTRICT, TALL TIMBERSTULLIS DRIVE SUBDIVISION ACQUIRED MIN 1274282 WRIT AMOUNT: $42,278.33

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

BD 1 CITY OF NEW ORLEANS(504) 658-4346 CHARMAINEL MARCHAND

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $87.18

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT

THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 3400 MANDEVILLE ST, CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:UMB BANK,NA‐TIONAL ASSOCI‐ATION, NOTIN ITSINDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, BUTSOLELYAS LEGALTITLE TRUSTEEFOR PRLTITLE

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

RB 22

LAWOFFICES OF HERSCHEL C. ADCOCK,JR. LLC (225) 756-0373 COREYJ.GIROIR

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $91.95

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 7920 REDFISHST, CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:FIRST HORIZONBANK VERSUS DOMONIQUE ANISE BERTHOLOTTE A/K/A DOMONIQUEA BERTHOLOTTE A/K/A DOMONIQUE BERTHOLOTTE CI VI L DI ST RI

Case No: 2025-1021

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $92.48

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 51 PARK TIMBERS DR,CITYOF NEW ORLEANS, IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON FKATHE BANK OF NEWYORK AS TRUSTEEFOR THECERTIFI‐CATEHOLDERS OF CWABS, INC., ASSETBACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2004-3 VERSUS LISA MATTHEWS MOOREA/K/A LISAM.MOORE A/K/ALISA MOORE

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-7162 By virtue of a Writ of Seizure andSaledi‐rected to me by theHonorable Judges of Civil District Court forthe Parish of Orleans, in the aboveentitled cause, Iwillpro‐ceed to sell by public auction, on theground ﬂoor of theCivil District Court Building,421 Loyola Avenue, in theFirst Dis‐trictofthe City on June 18, 2025, at 12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit: 51 PARKTIM‐BERS DR NEW ORLEANS, LA 70131 LOTS 25 &26SQUARE A 5THMUNICIPAL DISTRICT

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 8410 OLEANDER STREET,THIS CITY,IN THEMATTEREN‐TITLED:JPMOR‐GANCHASE BANK,NA‐TIONAL ASSOCI‐ATIONVERSUS SARAHBROWN RICHARDSON (A/K/A SARAH BROWN, SARAH RICHARDSON, SARAHCOLLINS

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-4090

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter

Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH 17 LOGS LEGAL GROUPLLP 504838-7535 EMILYA MUELLER

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2025-678 By virtue of a Writ of Seizure andSaledi‐rected to me by theHonorable Judges of Civil District Court forthe Parish of Orleans, in the aboveentitled cause, Iwillpro‐ceed to sell by public auction, on theground ﬂoor of theCivil District Court Building,421 Loyola Avenue, in theFirst Dis‐trictofthe City on June 18, 2025, at 12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowing de‐scribedprop‐erty to wit: 11206CURRAN BD NEWOR‐LEANS, LA 70128 LOTS:1 AND2-A SQUARE:160 THIRDMUNICI‐PALDISTRICT ACQMIN: 1348396 WRIT AMOUNT: $151,617.37

Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks. FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH 19 NEWMAN MATHIS,BRADY &SPEDALE, APLC 504-8379040 WAYNEA.MAIO‐RANA JR.

TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $88.77

THATCERTAIN PIECEORPOR‐TION OF GROUND,TO‐GETHER WITH ALLTHE BUILD‐INGS ANDIMPROVE‐MENTS THEREON, AND ALLTHE RIGHTS WAYS,PRIVI‐LEGES, SERVITUDES, APPURTE‐NANCES AND ADVANTAGES THEREUNTOBE‐LONGINGORIN ANYWISEAP‐PERTAINING, SITUATED IN THESIXTH DIS‐TRICTOFTHE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, STATE OF LOUISIANA, IN SQUARE NUMBER 776 (FORMERLY SQUARE NO 146) THEREOF, WHICHSQUARE IS BOUNDEDBY S. TONTI, GEN‐ERAL PERSHING (LATE BERLIN),S ROCHEBLAVE ANDMILAN STREETS, DESIG‐NATEDASLOT CONA PLAT OF SURVEY BY JOHN S. PEARCE, C.E.,DATED NO‐VEMBER 28, 1921. ANDAC‐CORDINGTO WHICHSURVEY, SAID LOTCOM‐MENCES 33 FEET 8INCHESFROM THEINTERSEC‐TION OF GENERAL PERSHING AND TONTISTREETS ANDMEASURES THENCE 43 FEET 2 INCHES FRONT ON SOUTH TONTISTREET BY ADEPTH OF 100 FEET,MORE OR LESS, BETWEEN EQUALAND PARALLEL LINES; SUBJECT TO RESTRIC‐TIONS, SERVI‐TUDES, RIGHTS OF WAY ANDOUTSTAND‐INGMINERAL RIGHTS OF RECORD AF‐FECTINGTHE PROPERTY WRIT AMOUNT: $213,500.00 Seized in the abovesuit, TERMS- CASH Thepurchaser at themoment of adjudication to make ade‐positoften per‐cent of thepur‐chaseprice,and thebalance within thirty days thereafter Note:The pay‐ment must be Cash,Cashier's Check, Certiﬁed CheckorMoney Order. No Per‐sonalChecks FACE MASKS ANDTEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPON ENTERING BUILDING SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH 7 DEAN MORRIS, LLC318 388 1440 ZACHARYGAR‐RETT YOUNG TheN.O.Advo‐cate Date (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $125.83

LLCD/B/A SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SER‐VICING VERSUS THEUNOPENED SUCCESSIONOF ANDUNKNOWN HEIRSOFJAMES LOUISJASMIN, SR.AND GLADYS GREENJASMIN

22 BBEING COMPOSEDOF PARTS OF FOR‐MER LOTS 22 A AND 23 A.

WRIT AMOUNT: $61,420.88

noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit:

Case No: 2018-6255

Byvirtueof a WritofFieri Fa‐ciasdirectedto mebythe Hon‐orableJudgesof Civil District Court forthe ParishofOr‐leans,inthe above entitled cause,I will pro‐ceed to sell by publicauction onthe ground ﬂoorofthe Civil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue, inthe FirstDis‐trict of theCity onJune 18, 2025, at12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit: 1523 TITA STREET LOT20, SQUARE I, FIFTH MUNICI‐

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2024-1992

Seized in the above suit, TERMS -CASH. Thepurchaser atthe moment ofadjudication tomakea de‐posit of tenper‐centofthe pur‐chase price, and the balance withinthirty daysthereafter

Note: Thepay‐mentmustbe Cash, Cashier's Check,Certiﬁed Check or Money Order.NoPer‐sonal Checks FACE MASKS AND TEMPERA‐TURECHECKS

WHEAT

TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $88.77

PUBLIC NOTICE

SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT CERTAIN PORTIONOF GROUND BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL NUMBER 2147 HOLIDAY DRIVE, THIS CITY,IN THE

Byvirtueof a WritofSeizure and Sale di‐rectedtomeby the Honorable JudgesofCivil DistrictCourt for theParishof Orleans,inthe above entitled cause,I will pro‐ceed to sell by publicauction, onthe ground ﬂoorofthe Civil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue, inthe FirstDis‐trict of theCity onJune 18,2025 at12:00 o'clock noon, thefol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit: THAT CERTAIN LOT OF GROUND, TOGETHERWITH ALL THEBUILD‐INGS AND IMPROVEMENTS THEREON, AND ALL THERIGHTS, WAYS, PRIVI‐LEGES,SERVI‐TUDES, APPURTE‐NANCES AND ADVANTAGES THEREUNTOBE‐LONGING OR IN ANYWISE APPERTAINING SITUATED IN THE FIFTHDIS‐TRICT OF THE CITYOFNEW ORLEANS,IN HOLIDAY PARK, SECTIN“A”,IN SQUARE BOUNDEDBY HOLIDAY AND FIESTADRIVES, WALL BOULE‐VARD, AND COLLINSAV‐ENUE, DESIG‐NATED AS LOT NO. 22 BONA SURVEY MADE BYERROLE KELLY,SUR‐VEYOR,DATED AUGGUST 23 1967, ACOPY OF WHIH IS AN‐NEXED TO ACT OFPURCHASE BYHOMESTEAD SAVINGS ASSO‐CIATION DATEDSEPTEM‐BER 6,1967, BE‐FOREJOHNH HAMMELL, III, NOTARYPUBLIC, AND ACCORDINGTO SAIDSURVEY, SAIDLOT NO.22 B COMMENCES ATA DISTANCE OF 340.25 FEET FROMTHE COR‐NER OF HOLIDAY DRIVE AND WALLBOULE‐VARD, AND MEASURES THENCE 68 FEET FRONT ON HOLI‐DAY DRIVE, THE SAMEWIDTH IN THE REAR,BYA DEPTH OF 112 FEET BETWEEN EQUAL AND PARALLEL LINES; SAID LOT NO

Seized in the above suit TERMS -CASH. Thepurchaser atthe moment ofadjudication tomakea de‐posit of tenper‐centofthe pur‐chase price, and the balance withinthirty daysthereafter Note: Thepay‐mentmustbe Cash, Cashier's Check,Certiﬁed Check or Money Order.NoPer‐sonal Checks FACE MASKS AND TEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPONENTERING BUILDING. SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans GH 13 LAWOFFICES OF HERSCHELC ADCOCK, JR. LLC (225) 7560373 COREYJ.GIROIR

1900 EVER‐GREEN AVENUE NEW ORLEANS, LA70114 LOTS 1AND 2, SQUARE"B" FIFTHMUNICI‐PAL DISTRICT ACQUIRED MIN 853771 WRIT AMOUNT: $57,100.48

Seized in the above suit, TERMS -CASH. Thepurchaser atthe moment ofadjudication tomakea de‐posit of tenper‐centofthe pur‐chase price, and the balance withinthirty daysthereafter.

3755 PITTARI PLACE LOT19, SQUARE 7, FIFTHMUNICI‐PAL DISTRICT RIVERPARK ACQMIN: 1185245 WRIT AMOUNT:

$9,315.00

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans

GH2 CITY OF NEW ORLEANS (504) 658-4346 ANNA T. LEE

PUBLIC NOTICE SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT THAT PORTION GROUND OF GROUND,BEAR‐INGMUNICIPAL 1900 EVER‐GREEN AVE. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, IN THEMATTER

ENTITLED: WILMINGTON TRUST, NA‐TIONAL ASSOCI‐ATION, SUCCES‐SORTRUSTEE TO CITIBANK,N.A AS TRUSTEEFOR LEHMAN XS TRUST2006-17 MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-17 VERSUS MONIQUEL DUNCANA/K/A MONIQUEDUN‐CAN

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2021-6585

Note: Thepay‐mentmustbe Cash, Cashier's Check,Certiﬁed Check or Money Order.NoPer‐sonal Checks FACE MASKS AND TEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPONENTERING BUILDING. SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans GH25 THELAW OF‐FICES OF HER‐SCHEL C. AD‐COCK, JR.,L.L.C (225) 756-0373 COREYJ.GIROIR

TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025

may14-jun17-2t $86.66

TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025

may14-jun17-2t $95.66

PUBLIC NOTICE

SALE BY SHERIFF JUDICIAL ADVERTISE‐MENT

THAT PORTION OF GROUND, BEARINGMU‐NICIPALNO. 3755 PITTARI PLACE, CITY OF NEWORLEANS IN THE CASE ENTITLED: CITY OF NEW ORLEANSVER‐SUSSTELLA LOUISE WILLIAMSON MARCELLE

CI VI L DI ST RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2018-1850

By virtue of a WritofFieri Fa‐ciasdirectedto mebythe Hon‐orableJudgesof Civil District Court forthe ParishofOr‐leans,inthe above entitled cause,I will pro‐ceed to sell by publicauction, onthe ground ﬂoor of theCivil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue, inthe FirstDis‐trict of theCity onJune 18, 2025, at12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit:

NEWORLEANS IN THEMATTER ENTITLED:1137 N. ROBERTSON, LLCVERSUSFE‐LICEON CHRISCHELL JACKSON

VI L DI

RI CT CO UR TF OR PA RI SH OF OR LE AN S Case No: 2018-2547

By virtue of a WritofFieri Fa‐ciasdirectedto mebythe Hon‐orableJudgesof Civil District Court forthe ParishofOr‐leans,inthe above entitled cause,I will pro‐ceed to sell by publicauction, onthe ground ﬂoor of theCivil DistrictCourt Building, 421 LoyolaAvenue, inthe FirstDis‐trict of theCity onJune 18, 2025 at12:00 o'clock noon,the fol‐lowingde‐scribed prop‐ertytowit: ACERTAIN PIECE OR POR‐TIONOF GROUND, TO‐GETHERWITH ALL THEBUILD‐INGS

ANDIMPROVE‐MENTS THEREON, AND ALL THERIGHTS, WAYS, PRIVI‐LEGES SERVITUDES, ADVANTAGES ANDAPPURTE‐NANCESTHERE‐UNTOBELONG‐INGORIN ANYWISEAP‐PERTAININGSIT‐UATED IN THE SECONDDIS‐TRICT OF THE CITY, IN AN UNDESIGNATED LOTINSQUARE 199, WHICH SQUAREIS BOUNDED BY N. ROBERTSON STREET (FOR‐MERLY ROBERT‐SON STREET), GOVERNOR NICHOLLS (FOR‐MERLY HOSPITAL OR BAYOU ROAD), N.CLAIBORNE AVENUE(FOR‐MERLY CLAI‐BORNE AVENUE)& UR‐SULINES STREET, WHICHSAID PORTION OF GROUNDCOM‐MENCES63 FEET FROM THE CORNEROFN ROBERTSON STREET AND& GOERNR NICHOLLS,AND MEASURES THENCE 33 FEET FRONT ON N. ROBERTSON STREET,WITHA WIDTH IN THEREAR, OF 34 FEET 10 INCHES 5 LINES,ACTUAL (35 FEET,TITLE), BYA DEPTHON THESIDELINES NEARERURSU‐LINES STREET OF67FEET TALL 11INCHES4 LINES, ACTUAL (70 FEET,TITLE) AND 56 FEET 3 INCHES 3LINES, ACTUAL(50 TITLE)ONTHE OPPOSITE SIDE‐LINE. ALLAS MOREFULLY SHOWN ON SUR‐VEY BY DADING, MARQUES &ASSOCIATES, INC.,DATED APRIL 16, 1997. THEIMPROVE‐MENTS THEREONBEAR THE MUNICIPAL N0. 1141 43 N. ROBERTSON STREET

WRIT AMOUNT:

$30,000.00

Seized in the above suit TERMS -CASH. Thepurchaser atthe moment ofadjudication tomakea de‐posit of tenper‐centofthe pur‐chase price, and the balance withinthirty daysthereafter. Note: Thepay‐mentmustbe Cash, Cashier's Check,Certiﬁed Check or Money Order.NoPer‐sonal Checks FACE MASKS AND TEMPERA‐TURECHECKS AREREQUIRED UPONENTERING BUILDING.

SusanHutson Sheriff, Parish of Orleans RB 23

TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $133.24

TheN.O.Advo‐cateDate (s): 5/14/2025 & 6/17/2025 may14-jun17-2t $130.07 THELAW OFFICE OFKYLES SCLAFANILLC KYLE S. SCLAFANI

NOTICE 24THJUDICIAL DISTRICT COURTFOR THEPARISH OF JEFFERSON STATEOFLOUISIANA NUMBER:769-858 DIVISION:“F” SUCCESSION OF MARGUERITE CLAIRE ROSERMEYERS NOTICE OF APPLICATION FORAUTHORITY TO SELL IMMOVABLE PROPERTY AT PRIVATE SALE NOTICE IS GIVENthat HELEN H. PEARCE,Ad‐ministrator of theSUC‐CESSION OF MARGUERITE CLAIREROSEMEYERS has,pursuanttothe pro‐visions of theLouisiana CodeofCivil Procedure, article 3281, petitioned thisHonorable Courtfor authority to sell at pri‐vatesale, to AndreA.Ho‐tardand Lunden C. Ho‐tardhavemadeanoffer topurchasethe Succes‐sion’sone-half(½)undi‐vided interest in theim‐movable property and improvementsthereon for theprice andsum of $118,750.00 cash,lessthe balance of anyencum‐brances bearingagainst the property in andto the followingdescribed property: TWOCERTAIN LOTS OF GROUND, together with all thebuildings andim‐provementsthereon,and all of therights, ways privileges, servitudes advantages, andappur‐tenancesthereuntobe‐longing or in anyway ap‐pertaining, situated in the Second District of the CityofNew Orleans, des‐ignated as Lots 15 and16 inSquareNo. 57,onthe map of theNew Orleans LandCompany,and also asper survey made by H. E.Sutch,Surveyor, dated September 5, 1946, a copyofwhich is annexed toanact passed before GeorgeE.Konrad, Notary Public, datedSeptember 16, 1946. Accordingto saidsurvey, thelots measure as follows: Lot 15measurestwenty-five feet,one line (25' 1") front on Catina Street,by a depth of onehundred twenty-sixfeet,three inches, four lines(126' 3" 4 )along theadjoining Lot 16,witha width in the rear of twenty-five feet (25'). Lot16mea‐sures twenty-five feet two lines(25' 2")front on CatinaStreet,bya depth ofone hundred twentyfive feet,two inches,four lines (125' 2" 4‴)along the line adjoiningLot 15 and onehundred twentyfourfeet,one inch,four lines (124' 1" 4 )along MoutonStreet,with a width in therearof twenty-five feet (25'). SquareNo. 57 is bounded byWalker, Mouton Catina, andWuerple Streets, with both Lots 15 and 16 runningthrough the square andthus also frontingonWuerple Street

Theimprovementsbear the MunicipalNumber: 6901 Catina Street NOWTHEREFORE,inac‐cordancewithlaw,no‐ticeisherebygiven HELEN HPEARCE, Admin‐istrator, proposes to sell the aforesaidimmovable property, at privatesale, for theprice andupon the termsaforesaid,and the heirs, legatees,and creditors arerequiredto makeopposition,ifany theyhaveorcan,tosuch sale, within seven(7) days, includingSundays and holidays,fromdate whereon thelastpublica‐tionofthisnoticeap‐pears.Anorder authoriz‐ing theAdministrator to dosomay be issued seven days afterthe date ofthe second publication ofthisnotice. Opposition tothe applicationmay be ﬁledatany time prior tothe issuance of such anorder By Orderofthe Court: /s/B. Calongne By:DeputyClerk of Court JONA.GEGENHEIMER,SR. CLERKOFCOURT 24th JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FORTHE PARISH OF JEFFERSON Attorney: Evan Park Howell III (18957) Attorney at Law OneGalleriaBoulevard, Suite1900 Metairie,LA70001 Telephone: (504) 343-4346 ehowell@ephlaw.com Counselfor Petitioner: HelenH.Pearce 142779-may27-jun17-2t $134.26

PUBLIC NOTICE

24THJUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF JEFFERSON STATEOFLOUISIANA CASE NO:862-424

DIVISION:“M”

SUCCESSIONSOF EVELINAANDERSON, WIFE OF/AND GEORGE PETTY,JR. NOTICE TO SELL IMMOVE‐ABLE PROPERTY AT PRIVATESALE WHEREASthe Adminis‐tratrix,FarrahPetty,of the aboveestatehas madeapplicationtothe Court,for thesale, at pri‐vatesale, of theimmove‐ablepropertyhereinafter described,to-wit: ACERTAIN PIECEORPOR‐TIONOFGROUND, to‐getherwithall thebuild‐ingsand improvements thereon andall of the rights, ways,privileges, prescriptions,servitudes, advantagesand appurte‐nancesthereuntobe‐longing or in anywiseap‐pertaining, situated in the Parish of Jefferson, State of Louisiana, in SQUARENO. 134, SOUTH NEW ORLEANSSUBDIVI‐SION, bounded by Lafayette,Breaux(late 11thSt.)Washingtonand Manhattan Avenues, des‐ignated as LOTS NOS.1 and 2onthe survey by Gilbert,Kelly &Couturie, Inc.,Surveying andEngi‐neering, datedAugust19, 1978, acopyofwhich is annexedtoanact before Richard A. Hammel,No‐taryPublic, datedAugust 29, 1978, andaccording tosaidsurvey, said Lots Nos.1 and2 adjoin each other andmeasure each 25' feet fronton Lafayette Avenue,the samewidth in therear, bya depth of 100' feet between equaland paral‐lel lines; said LotNo. 1 forming thecornerof Lafayette andBreauxAv‐enues, andmeasuring 100' feet frontonBreaux Avenue (less& except that por‐tionexpropriatedatCOB 3503/59) Beingthe same property acquiredbyEstateof EvelinaAnderson, wife of/andGeorgePetty,Jr. April 23, 1979 COB 955/165 Theimprovements thereon,asofthisdate, bearthe MunicipalNo. 2300 Lafayette Avenue, Harvey, LA 70058. UNDERTHE FOLLOWSING TERMS ANDCONDITIONS, TO-WIT: a.)Any taxesowedwill beproratedbetween the parties at closing; b.)Propertyistobesold as is with no warranties impliedorstatedfrom the Seller; c.)The sale is contingent uponclear titleprior to the agreed time period to close; d.)The Buyeristobe given access to theprop‐ertyfor evaluation of re‐pairs needed,appraisal ofsaidpropertyfor se‐curing ﬁnancing; and e.)Price andconsidera‐tionofFORTY THOUSAND AND 00/100 DOLLARS ($40,000.00), cash NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TOALL PARTIESWHOMIT MAY CONCERN, including the heirsand creditorsof the decedentsherein, and of this estate,beor‐dered to make anyoppo‐sitionwhich they have or may have to such appli‐cation, at anytime, prior tothe issuance of the order or judgment autho‐rizing, approvingand ho‐mologatingsuchapplica‐

andthatsuchorder