The Acadiana Advocate 07-02-2025 by The Advocate

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Trump’sspendingbillpassesSenate

Houseexpected to take up measure

Wednesday

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON Louisiana’sU.S.

senators voted Tuesday with their Republican Party colleagues to narrowly pass PresidentDonald Trump’sflagship legislation, the

One Big Beautiful Bill. Thebill passed the Senate on a vote of 51 to 50,withVicePresident J.D. Vance casting thevote that broke thetie. All Democrats voted no, along withthree Republicans: Rand Paul, of Kentucky; Thom Tillis,of North Carolina; and Susan Collins, of Maine.

Both Sen.Bill Cassidy,ofBaton Rouge, and Sen.John N. Kennedy, of Madisonville, approved keeping the bill, which encompasses Trump’sdomestic agenda, on track

“Wekeep taxes low,cut taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security,extend theChild TaxCredit, fixour broken education system, supportour military,secure our border,and build abusiness environment that creates better paying jobs especially in Louisiana.”

SEN. BILL CASSIDy, R-Baton Rouge

to be enacted July 4. Cassidy said after thevote, “We keep taxes low, cut taxes on tips, overtime, andSocialSecurity, extend the Child TaxCredit, ﬁx our

broken education system,support our military,secure our border, andbuild abusiness environment thatcreates better paying jobs— especially in Louisiana.”

Among its dozens of facets, the bill increases spending on border security, including completing a wall alongthe Mexican border,on military armaments, and extends tax breaks and creates new ones for income fromtips andovertime. Those expenses are partially paid for with spending reductions for health care, nutrition andgreen energy programs.

The legislationnow heads to the U.S. House for conﬁrmation of or

TelevangelistJimmy Swaggart dies at 90

Massiveglobal broadcast ministry plagued by scandal in mid-1980s

Staff report

The Rev.Jimmy Swaggart, who built one of thenation’s biggest broadcast ministries in the1980s from his Baton Rouge headquarters, died Tuesday. Swaggart,who wentintocardiac arrest on Father’sDay,was 90 years old.

Once called “the most charismatic televangelist of the 20th century,”by1986, he was the country’stop-rated TV preacher Buttwo widely publicizedincidents involving Swaggart and prostitutes threatened to derail the ministry.His televised confession to the first encounter —“Ihave sinned”— was seen across the country.

At its peak, his Jimmy SwaggartTelecast was being broadcast by upward of 200 television stations and watched by two million households. His thriving church complex on Bluebonnet Boulevard consisted of more than adozen buildings, including dormitories, television production studios and warehouses to handle the bundlesofmail thatcame into theministry every day

Four decadeslater,Jimmy Swaggart Ministries still operates out of Baton Rouge, offering a24-hour TV network of current services andother programs,a nationwideradio network of 75 stations, theK-12 Family Christian Academy and

aBible college.

“Today,our heartsare heavy as we share that Brother Swaggart hasfinishedhis earthly race and entered into the presence of HisSavior, JesusChrist. Today was the day he has sung about fordecades.Hemet his

beloved Savior andentered the portalsofglory.Atthe same time, we rejoice knowing that we will see him again one day,” the church posted on Swaggart’s Facebook page.“He was not just apreacher —hewas aworshipper,awarrior,and a

witness to the grace and mercy of God.”

Gov.Jeff Landry on Tuesday issued astatement: “Rest in peace to Rev.Jimmy Swaggart. He devotedmuchofhis life to

See SWAGGART, page 6A

Lake Charles’ firstelected Blackmayor swornin

Four newCityCouncil membersalsojoin ceremony

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN

Staff writer

The city of Lake Charles officially swore in its ﬁrst elected Black mayor Monday evening before acrowdofmore than 1,500 people. Lake Charles city officials sworein

newly elected Mayor Marshall Simien Jr., fournew City Council members and three incumbents Monday at theSudduth Coliseum, locatedinside the Lake Charles Event Center on Lakeshore Drive. While theswearing in is typically held in the mezzanine of the event center, city of LakeCharles Public Information

Ofﬁcer Katie Harrington said theysaw theanticipationinthe community and moved it into the coliseum.The previous venue holds around 250 people. The city estimatedthat1,500to2,000 attendees

were at Monday’sevent

“Throughout the campaign, we touched people, we talked to people, we heard everythingthatwas said, and everyone has thesame vision for our great city,” Simien said. “They want good qualityoflife. They wantsafety.Theywant to be able tohave agood job. They want to have aplace to laytheir head,create their memories and raise their children that they can be proud of, and we are doing that.”

STAFFPHOTO By COURTNEy PEDERSEN

Louisiana Supreme CourtJusticePiper Griffin, left, swears in LakeCharlesMayor MarshallSimien Jr during ceremonies on Monday. ä See MAYOR, page 6A

STAFFFILE

PHOTOBySTEPHAN SAVOIA

TheRev.Jimmy Swaggartpreaches at his Family Worship Center in Baton RougeinFebruary1987.

Flossie could become major hurricane

MEXICO CITY Hurricane Flossie strengthened to a Category 2 cyclone on Tuesday off the Paciﬁc coast of Mexico and could become a major hurricane before weakening later this week, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said Flossie had maximum sustained winds at 110 mph and that rain was falling over parts of coastal Mexico. The hurricane was centered 180 miles west-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. On Tuesday afternoon, it was on the brink of becoming a Category 3 hurricane.

The hurricane was forecast to continue strengthening and could be a major hurricane as soon as Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. A major hurricane is classified as Category 3 or higher, with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

Flossie was moving to the northwest at 7 mph and was expected to generally continue that motion over the next few days. The system should move away from southwestern Mexico by Tuesday night, forecasters said. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Punta San Telmo to Playa Perula. Rainfall totals up to 6 inches were possible in some areas, the hurricane center said.

Forecasters expect Flossie to weaken starting late Wednesday Russia’s ex-defense official convicted

MOSCOW Russia’s former deputy defense minister was convicted on Tuesday on charges of embezzlement and money laundering and handed a 13-year prison sentence in a high-proﬁle case that exposed rampant military corruption widely blamed for Moscow’s military setbacks in Ukraine.

Timur Ivanov is the most visible figure in a far-ranging probe into alleged military graft that also targeted several other top officials close to former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu, a veteran official who had personal ties to President Vladimir Putin, survived the purges of his inner circle and was given the new high-profile post of secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

Ivanov 49, was named deputy defense minister in 2016 and oversaw military construction projects, as well as property management, housing and medical support for the troops. He was known for his lavish lifestyle that outraged many in Moscow just as the fighting in Ukraine exposed glaring deﬁciencies in Russian military organization and supplies that resulted in battleﬁeld setbacks.

Ivanov who has been in custody since his arrest in April 2024, was convicted by the Moscow City Court of embezzling 3.9 billion rubles (about $50 million), the charges that he denied. The court also conﬁscated his assets that included prized real estate and a collection of several dozen vintage cars.

Dozens evacuated from Austria after mudslide

VIENNA — Dozens of people were being evacuated by helicopter in Austria on Tuesday after a mudslide covered homes and mountain huts in the Gschnitztal valley in Tyrol in the southwest of the Alpine country The Austrian Armed Forces used a Black Hawk helicopter to fly out around 100 people from the village of Gschnitz and three mountain huts higher up Severe thunderstorms on Monday set off a mudslide, leaving homes covered with water and debris Roads leading to the homes were no longer accessible. The Bremerhütte, Innsbruckerhütte and Tribulaunhütte mountain huts were also no longer accessible via hiking trails due to the landslides, Elmar Rizzoli, head of Tyrol’s Center for Crisis and Disaster Management, told Austria’s public broadcaster ORF Local fire department commander Lukas Braunhofer told ORF that after one of several mudslides hit the village of Gschnitz around 6 p.m. on Monday the Gschnitzbach creek also burst its banks, leading to flooding in the area Braunhofer said the mudslides did not appear to have injured anybody but caused a great deal of damage.

Ukrainian drone hits Russian plant

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV and EMMA BURROWS

KYIV Ukraine A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian industrial plant some 800 miles from Ukraine, a local ofﬁcial said Tuesday after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prioritized the weapon’s development and Russia pounded Ukraine with a monthly record of drones in June.

Both sides in the more than three-year war following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor have raced to improve drone technology and enhance their use on the battlefield. They have deployed increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones, turning the war into a testing ground for the new weaponry

Ukraine is under severe strain from a Russian push at places on the roughly 620-mile front line, but analysts say its defenses are largely holding ﬁrm. With recent direct peace talks delivering no progress on U.S.-led international efforts to halt the ﬁghting, Russia and Ukraine are bulking up their arsenals.

Russia last month launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine, a new monthly record, according to ofﬁcial data collated by The Associated Press

Ukraine stepping up drone production

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone hit an industrial plant in Izhevsk, about 620 miles east of Moscow, killing three people and injuring 35, Alexander Brechalov, head of the Udmurtia region, said.

The plant’s workers were evacuated, he said.

The drone struck the Kupol Electromechanical Plant, which produces air

defense systems and drones for the Russian military, according to an ofﬁcial with Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU.

At least two direct hits were recorded on the plant’s buildings, the ofﬁcial said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly Ukraine has for months been using domestically produced long-range drones to strike plants, storage sites and logistical hubs deep inside Russian territory In May last year a Ukrainian drone hit an early-warning radar in the Russian city of Orsk, some 1,120 miles from the Ukrainian border, Kyiv ofﬁcials claimed.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s domestic production of drones is about to increase in response to Russia’s expanded barrages.

“The priority is drones, interceptor drones and long-range strike drones,” he said on Telegram late Monday

“This is extremely important,” he added. “Russia is investing in its unmanned capabilities, Russia is planning to increase the number of drones used in strikes against our state. We are preparing our countermeasures.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 60 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight over several regions, including 17 over Crimea, 16 over the Rostov region and four over the Saratov region.

At the same time, four Russian Shahed drones struck the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzia during the night, leaving more than 1,600 households without power according to authorities.

Ukraine’s air force said Tuesday that Russia ﬁred 52 Shahed and decoy drones at the country overnight.

Europe sizzles in summer heat wave

BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN and JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press

PARIS Europe sizzled in its ﬁrst major heat wave of the summer on Tuesday, as Barcelona recorded its hottest June in over a century and the summit of Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors.

Health warnings remained in effect in several countries. The abnormally hot weather “is exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress” with temperatures more typical of July and August, said Samantha Burgess of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Spain: Record temps

Barcelona’s Fabra Observatory reported an average temperature for last month of 78 F, breaking records since the data began in 1914. It said a single-day high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit for June was recorded Monday Barcelona is usually spared the worst heat in Spain, thanks to its location between hills and the Mediterranean Ramón Pascual, a delegate for Spain’s weather service in Barcelona told The Associated Press the “very intense heat wave” is clearly linked to global warming.

Pascual said inhabitants of the Mediterranean region are not being helped by the rising sea temperatures, which greatly reduce any cooling effects of a nearby body of water

Spain’s weather service said recent surface temperatures for the Mediterranean near the Balearic Islands are 5 to 6 degrees Celsius higher than average.

Spain’s national average for June of 74 degrees Fahrenheit was 0.8 C hotter than the previous hottest June in 2017.

Madrid was forecast to reach 102 degrees Fahrenheit.

“We’re just surviving,” said Miguel Sopera, 63. “At night it’s impossible due to the terrible heat.”

France: Closed schools

Temperatures were forecast to reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in Paris. National weather agency Météo-France placed several departments under the highest red alert. More than 1,300 schools were partially or fully closed.

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower without tickets were told to postpone their visits as the summit was

Trump tours Fla. immigration lockup, jokes about escapees

BY ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

OCHOPEE, Fla. — President

Donald Trump on Tuesday toured a new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-ﬁlled swamps in the Florida Everglades, suggesting it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations.

Trump said he’d like to see similar facilities in “really many states” and raised the prospect of also deporting U.S. citizens. He even endorsed having Florida National Guard forces possibly serve as immigration judges to ensure migrants are ejected from the country even faster

“Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,” Trump said of the Florida site known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The president said the moniker is “very appropriate because I looked outside and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon.”

“The only way out, really, is deportation,” Trump added

Hundreds of protesters converged outside the site a remote airstrip with tents and trailers. They waved signs calling for the humane treatment of migrants as well as the protection of the expansive preserve that is home to a few Native American tribes and many endangered animal species.

Location as a plus

The White House has delighted in the area’s remoteness — about 50 miles west of Miami and the fact that it is teeming with pythons and alligators It hopes to convey a message to detainees and the rest of the world that repercussions will be severe if the immigration laws of the United States are not followed

Before arriving, Trump even joked of migrants being held there, “We’re going

to teach them how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.”

“Don’t run in a straight line. Run like this,” Trump said, as he moved his hand in a zigzag motion. “And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%.” Alligator experts suggest it is better to dash in one direction in the rare situation when the reptile gives chase, according to a website run by the University of Florida.

Trump on his tour walked through medical facilities and other parts of the detention center then held a lengthy roundtable where Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and assorted state and federal officials heaped him with praise.

Authorities originally suggested it could house up to 5,000 detainees upon completion, but DeSantis said it would actually hold around 3,000, with some starting to arrive Wednesday The center was built in eight days over 10 miles of Everglades. It features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet of barbed wire and 400 security personnel

Trump dismissed concerns about the impact on delicate ecosystems, saying that since the airstrip was already there, authorities wouldn’t have to be “dropping dirt.”

“I don’t think you’ve done anything to the Everglades,” Trump said. “I think you’re just enhancing it.”

Other, though, are appalled, including Phyllis Andrews, a retired teacher who drove from Naples, Florida, to protest Trump’s visit and called migrants “ﬁne people.”

“They do not deserve to be incarcerated here,” Andrews said Some Trump supporters showed up near the detention center as well, including Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of the Proud Boys whom Trump pardoned for his conviction related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. He suggested Trump won last year’s election because voters wanted “mass deportation” and “retribution.”

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closed until Thursday for “everyone’s comfort and safety.”

Climate experts warn that future summers are likely to be hotter than any recorded to date, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius expected every year by 2100.

Italy: A blackout

Italy’s health ministry said 17 of the country’s 27 major cities were experiencing a heat wave.

In Florence, where temperatures reached 100 Fahrenheit on Tuesday, parts of the city center experienced a blackout following a surge in electricity demand. Backup systems restored power, energy company Enel said. Near Bologna, the 46-year-old owner of a construction company collapsed and died while repaving a school parking lot, state-run RAI reported. An autopsy was being conducted but heat was suspected.

Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy

A Russian drone attacks a building during Russia’s massive missile and drone air attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 17.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETR DAVID JOSEK

A polar bear cools down on a pile of ice that was brought to its enclosure on a hot and sunny day at the Prague zoo, Czech Republic, on Tuesday.

Man accused of killing 2 Idaho firefighters once aspired to be one

BY MANUEL VALDES and LINDSEY WASSON Associated Press

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — A 20-year-old man’s life appeared to have begun to unravel in the months before authorities say he fatally shot two firefighters and severely wounded a third as they responded to a wildfire near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Wess Roley was living out of his vehicle and his former roommate, T.J. Franks Jr., said he shaved off his long hair and started to “kind of go downhill.” The two lived together for about six months in Sandpoint, Idaho, until Roley moved out in January, Franks said Monday Roley who authorities say took his own life after Sunday’s shootings, is suspected of killing two battalion chiefs whose ﬁreﬁghting careers in Idaho spanned nearly half a century combined. The deaths of Frank Harwood, 42, with Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, and John Morrison, 52, with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, have left their colleagues reeling, resulting in their departments adding law enforcement to every call, no matter how routine.

“I don’t know that we’re ever going to be able to guarantee people’s peace of mind, at least for a while after an incident like this,” Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Chief Christopher Way said. “But we are taking every measure we can to ensure safety of our responders.”

Roley had set a fire using flint at Canfield Mountain, a popular recreation area, according to authorities The

firefighters who rushed to the scene found themselves under ﬁre and took cover behind ﬁre trucks.

“There was an interaction with the ﬁreﬁghters,” Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said. “It has something to do with his vehicle being parked where it was.”

Two helicopters converged on the area, armed with snipers ready to take out the suspect if needed, while the FBI used his cellphone data to track him and the sheriff ordered residents to shelter in place. They eventually found Roley’s body in the mountains, his firearm beside him He had killed himself, the sheriff said Roley had once aspired to be a ﬁreﬁghter and had only a handful of minor contacts with area police, Norris said. A motive was still unknown, he said.

He had ties to California and Arizona and was living in Idaho “for the better part of 2024,” although it was unclear why he was there, Norris said. When Roley was living

Man to plead guilty in Idaho student stabbings to avoid death penalty

BY REBECCA BOONE and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to killing four University of Idaho students as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, an attorney for one victim’s family said Shanon Gray, an attorney representing the family of Kaylee Goncalves, confirmed Monday that prosecutors informed the families of the deal by email and letter earlier in the day, and that his clients were upset about it.

“We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” Goncalves’ family wrote in a Facebook post. “They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.” The family of Ethan Chapin, one of those killed, supports the plea deal, said family spokesperson Christina Teves on Tuesday The Goncalves family spoke with the prosecution on Friday about the idea of a plea deal and they explained they were ﬁrmly against it, the family wrote in another post. By Sunday, they received an email that “sent us scrambling,” and met with the prosecution again on Monday to explain their views about pushing for the death penalty

“Unfortunately all of our efforts did not matter We DID OUR BEST! We fought harder then anyone could EVER imagine,” the family wrote.

Delay of change of plea

A change of plea hearing was set for 11 a.m. Wednesday The Goncalves family has asked prosecutors to delay it to give them more time to travel to Boise, Gray said. Kohberger’s trial was set for August in Boise, where it was moved following pretrial publicity in rural northern Idaho.

Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Goncalves, Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen at a rental home near

campus in Moscow Idaho, early on Nov 13, 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.

At the time, Kohberger was a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, about 9 miles west of the University of Idaho. He was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, weeks later Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene.

No motive has emerged

No motive has emerged for the killings, nor is it clear why the attacker spared two roommates who were in the home. Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video shows that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings.

The murders shocked the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn’t had a homicide in about ﬁve years, and prompted a massive hunt for the perpetrator That included an elaborate effort to track down a white sedan that was seen on surveillance cameras repeatedly driving by the rental home, to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect through the use of genetic genealogy and to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings through cellphone data.

In a court ﬁling, Kohberger’s lawyers said he was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed

In the letter to families, obtained by ABC News, prosecutors said Kohberger’s lawyers approached them seeking to reach a plea deal. The defense team had previously made unsuccessful efforts to have the death penalty stricken as a possible punishment, including arguing that Kohberger’s autism diagnosis made him less culpable.

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK, LARRY NEUMEISTER and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press

NEWYORK The jury in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial said Tuesday that it has reached a verdict on four of ﬁve counts against the hip-hop mogul. But the partial decision remained under wraps after they were told to keep deliberating because they were stuck on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy Prosecutors, Combs’ defense team and Judge Arun Subramanian reasoned that

after just two days of deliberations, it was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts. So rather than taking a partial verdict, Subramanian told the jury to continue weighing the remaining charge. Deliberations will continue Wednesday

The developments came late Tuesday afternoon, when the jury sent a note saying it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge because there were jurors with “unpersuadable views” on both sides. After hearing about the

note, Combs appeared morose as his lawyers explained to him what was happening, at one point solemnly reading a piece of paper that attorney Marc Agniﬁlo handed to him. The hip-hop mogul’s mother and several of his children returned to the courtroom. After the jury came in for instructions and then exited the room, a subdued Combs sat in his chair for a few minutes. As he stood to leave, he faced his family and supporters, blew a kiss and tapped his heart, as he frequently has done at the start and end of each day

with Franks, his apartment cameras caught Roley throwing gang signs at them, which worried Franks to the point that he called police.

The landlord also called Franks one morning because neighbors reported that Roley’s vehicle had been left running for about 12 hours. Franks said Roley was asleep in his room and said he forgot about the vehicle.

Hours after Sunday’s shooting, people gathered along Interstate 90 holding American ﬂags to pay their respects as the two fallen firefighters’ bodies were taken to the medical examiner’s ofﬁce in Spokane, Washington, about 35 miles from Coeur d’Alene.

On Tuesday, a procession of police and fire vehicles accompanied a hearse as onlookers along a quiet street held ﬂags and in some cases saluted as the vehicles got underway People dotted an overpass, where a fire truck bearing a large U.S. ﬂag stood, as the procession passed on the interstate below

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LINDSEy WASSON

A crowd gathers on an overpass over Interstate 90 to honor the firefighters who were killed Sunday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Tuesday.

Musk proposes new political party, Trump retaliates

BY MEG KINNARD

Associated Press

Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump — and seemingly any congressional Republicans who support the president’s massive tax cuts and spending package — has reignited, with the tech billionaire threatening to launch a new political party, and Trump suggesting Musk could be punished for his opposition.

The dispute has laid bare not only the differences between the Republican president and one of his most vociferous one-time advocates, but also has reignited the possibility that the world’s richest man will — along with his billions reenter the political spending arena.

Musk reenters political fray

Musk — who spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign as the main contributor to America PAC said in May that he would likely spend “a lot less” on politics in the future. But his recent statements seem to indicate Musk might be rethinking that stance.

On Monday the tech billionaire and former Department Of Gov-

ernment Efficiency chief lashed out multiple times at Republicans for backing Trump’s tax cuts bill, calling the GOP “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” for including a provision that would raise the nation’s debt limit by $5 trillion and calling the bill “political suicide” for Republicans. After a post pledging to work toward supporting primary challengers for members of Congress who backed the bill, Musk responded “I will” to a post in which former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash asked for Musk’s support of Rep. Thomas Massie. Trump and his aides are

President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30 in Washington.

already targeting the Kentucky Republican for voting against the measure, launching a new super PAC devoted to defeating him Tuesday morning, Musk replied “You’re awesome” to an X post from Massie recirculating news coverage of Musk’s support of him Musk’s back and forth

Musk and Trump’s potent political alliance seemed to meet a dramatic end a month ago in an exchange of blistering epithets, with Trump threatening to go after Musk’s business interests, and Musk calling for

Trump’s impeachment.

Much of it has boiled down to Musk’s criticism of the tax cuts and spending bill, which he has called a “disgusting abomination.” Both the House and Senate versions propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles and related technologies.

Musk is the chief executive of Tesla, the nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, and SpaceX, which has massive defense contracts.

Overnight, Trump posted on social media that Musk has long known of his opposition “against the EV Mandate,” which he called “ridiculous.” Saying that, without subsidies, the Tesla CEO “would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump suggested that “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

Trump went further at the White House on Tuesday, responding, “I don’t know, I mean, we’ll have to take a look,” when asked by a reporter if he would consider deporting Musk.

“We might have to put DOGE on

Elon,” Trump said of the government-adjacent entity Musk once ran for him, slashing through federal agencies in a broad-based, cost-cutting spree. “You know what DOGE is. DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”

A new political party?

Several times, Musk has suggested that a new political party is needed to encapsulate the viewpoints he argues aren’t represented by the GOP

Overnight Monday, Musk reposted the results of an unscientiﬁc poll conducted through his X feed early last month, asking if the U.S. needs a political party “that actually represents the 80% in the middle?”

Monday afternoon, Musk suggested that the “America Party” would be formed if “this insane spending bill passes,” saying the U.S. “needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

Starting a new national party — which would be set head-to-head with existing major parties — has been done before, but recent efforts in that vein have struggled to catch on.

BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran is assessing the damage and lashing out over the American and Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear sites, though Tehran kept open the possibility Tuesday of resuming talks with Washington over its atomic program. The comments by government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani also included another acknowledgment that Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz — key sites within Iran’s nuclear program — had been “seriously damaged” by the American strikes. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Mohajerani as making the remarks at a brieﬁng for journalists.

That acknowledgment comes as Iran’s theocracy has slowly begun to admit the scale of the damage

wrought by the 12-day war with Israel, which saw Israeli ﬁghter jets decimate the country’s air defenses and conduct strikes at will over the Islamic Republic. And keeping the door open to talks with the United States likely shows Tehran wants to avoid further economic pain as another deadline over U.N. sanctions looms.

“No date (for U.S. talks) is announced, and it’s not probably very soon, but a decision hasn’t been made in this field,” Mohajerani said.

Iran offers rising death toll

Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran’s nuclear sites which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence

agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weaponsgrade levels of 90%.

On Monday, Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir offered a sharply increased, government-issued death toll from the war He said that the Israeli attacks killed 935 “Iranian citizens,” including 38 children and 102 women, IRNA reported.

“The enemy aimed to change the country’s circumstances by assassinating military commanders and scientists, intending to spread fear and exert pressure,” Jahangir added However, he asserted — like others up to 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — that Iran had “won” the war

Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty ﬁgures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said.

Activity seen at Fordo facility

Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian ofﬁcials now are assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, including those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 60 miles southwest of Tehran.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show Iranian of-

ﬁcials at Fordo on Monday likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work.

The tunnels likely had been ﬁlled in by Iran before the strikes to protect the facility The presence of trucks before the attacks has raised questions about whether any enriched uranium or centrifuges had been spirited away before the attack, something repeatedly claimed by Iranian officials. Even before the strikes, the IAEA warned that its inspectors had lost their “continuity of knowledge” regarding the program, meaning material could be at undeclared sites in the country

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

bringing people to Christ. Our prayers go out to the Swaggart family during this difﬁcult time.”

Swaggart grew up in Ferriday,the son of asharecropper.Hehad two famous cousins— JerryLee Lewis, the rock ’n’ roll pioneer,and country music starMickey Gilley Swaggart’spath toward the ministry can be traced back to his late grandmother,Ada Lewis Swaggart, who joined the Pentecostal movement and was eager to share her faith with her extended family “She taught him, and he drankitall in,” his cousin FrankieGene Lewis recalled during an A&Ebiography that aired in 2001. Swaggart was only 8years old when, standing on aFerriday street, he ﬁrst spoke in tongues, talking of atomic bombs and wars that had not yethappened,according to the A&E biography

Years later,Swaggart would decide to pair music withhis preaching when he set out on the back roadsof Louisiana.

Old black-and-white footage of tent revivalsshow a young Oral Roberts preaching at the podium. Roberts became arolemodel for Swaggart, who would later well surpass his mentor in popularity

Once dubbed “the Mick Jagger of religion” by TV reporter John Camp for combining gospel music and preaching, Swaggart began to attract largerand larger crowds In 1960, Swaggart was ordained as afull minister in the Assemblies of God church.

Swaggart continued to gain popularity, recording agospel albumevery year and traveling far outside Louisiana to evangelize. After years on the road, the family bought a house in Baton Rouge in 1968, and Swaggart’selectronic church was born. He launched atelecast in 1973 and began airing taped replays of his church services in 1975. Those services were latertranslated into dozens of languages Dana Robert, director of

theCenter for Global Christianity and Mission at BostonUniversity,said Swaggart was one of “the most important televangelists in American history.”

“Jimmy Swaggart was able to harness emerging media in the 1980sand was a master at using television to growhis brand andgrow his audience,” said Robert,aBaton Rouge nativewho went to high schoolwith Swaggart’s son,Donnie. “He rode the global Pentecostal wave into international prominence.”

By 1979,Swaggarthad outgrown his headquarters behind the former Bon Marche Mall that he had opened 10 years earlier. So he startedlookingfor anew homebase. Jimmy Swaggart World Ministries purchased more than 200 acres of land along Bluebonnet stretching from Interstate 10 to Perkins Road.The centerpiece was a7,500-seat church, in front of which the ﬂags of 40 nations ﬂew,representingeach of the countries where his services were televised

Swaggart wasnot only one of thebiggestprivate employers in Baton Rouge, but also one of the city’slead-

MAYOR

Continued from page 1A

Simien, an independent, won the city’smayoral runoff with 52% of the vote against two-term incumbent Republican Nicholas “Nic”Hunter,who received 48%. The margin between them was about 650votes, according to resultsfrom the Louisiana Secretary of State’sOfﬁce.

Alawyer and presidentat Simien Law Firm, Simien served as Lake Charles City Council member for District Afrom 2005 to 2013 and was on the Port Board from 2003 to 2005. While Simien is Lake Charles’ ﬁrst elected Black mayor, thecityhad one Blackmayor beforewho never appeared at the ballot box for the race. Rodney Geyen, former president of thecouncil, served as the city’s first Black mayor in 1999 and 2000 after former Mayor Willie Mount leftofﬁce to serve in the state Senate.

“It is an accomplishment that Idonot take lightly, because when Ilook in this room, Isee people that I’ve seen allofmylife,” Simien said. “You raised me. I’m a

son of Lake Charles. Ihear the voice of my father from heaven and thechorusofall those who’ve gone before us whose sacrifice has paved the way for where we are now.”

The new council members were also sworn in: n Incumbent Ronnie Harvey Jr.,DistrictA n Donald Fondel, District B n Tommy Bilbo, District C n Matthew “Matt” Young, District D n In cu mb ent St uar t Weatherford,District E n Incumbent Craig Marks, District F n MatthewVezinot,District G Simien and all seven members of the councilbegan their four-year terms Tuesday. Theﬁrst council meeting of the new termwill be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lake Charles City Hall. “I will work hard, and I will make youproud,and I willwork with these gentlemen, as they implement my vision,” Simien said. “I make each of them proud of the peoplethattheyrepresent, because we aregoing to be oneLakeCharles.”

EmailCourtney Pedersen at courtney.pedersen@ theadvocate.com

ing tourist draws. So many people came from out of statetovisit his church that a120-room hotel was built at I-10 and Bluebonnetinpart to accommodate them.

At its peak in the mid1980s, theministrywas bringing in nearly $142 million annually Alongwith his high-proﬁle U.S.and international television broadcasts, Swaggart was heard on 2,000 radiostations in 145 countries, hada TV studio,aﬂeet of luxury cars, aplane, abible college anda $2.5 million estate on Highland Roadacross from the CountyClub of Louisi-

ana. He ledreligious crusades in 40 countries, including Brazil,Russia,South Africa and the Philippines, where he would preach andsing beforestadiumsfull of worshippers.

ButinFebruary 1988, Swaggart made atearful public confession of sin, one day after it was reported that there were photos of himwith aprostitute at a Metairie hotel room.

The image of the weeping pastor and his admission that “I have sinned” became adeﬁning moment of theyear andwas widely

rebroadcast, discussedand parodied.

Three years later,asSwaggart’sministry wasrecovering, scandal struck again. He was found in the company of anotherprostituteafterthe pair was pulled over by apolice ofﬁcer in California.

Thatsecondfallfrom grace —Donnie announced that his father was temporarily stepping down for “a timeofhealing and counseling”— reduced the ministry to afraction of its former size. Where thousands of people regularly attended his services, the number of worshippers wasdowntoa

TO CONTRACTORS Notice is hereby given thatsealedbidswillbe receivedeitherelectroni‐cally at www.centralbidd ing.com or in theoffice ofthe Purchasing Divi‐sionatthe Lafayette ConsolidatedGovern‐mentBuilding, locatedat 705 West University Av‐enue,Lafayette Louisiana,until 10:00 AM CentralTimeonthe 31st day July,2025 forthe fol‐lowing: RASIED PAVEMENT MARKINGS andwill, shortlythere‐after,beopenedand readaloud in theCouncil Briefing Room locatedat 705 West University Av‐enue,Lafayette,LA. Bids receivedafter theabove specified time foropen‐ing shallnot be consid‐eredand shallbere‐turnedunopenedtothe sender. Biddersare en‐couragedtocallintothe bid openings at thefol‐lowingphone number 337-291-5100. ScopeofServices: The scope of theproject con‐sists of laborand mater‐ial to installraisedpave‐mentmarkingson64dif‐ferentstreetswithin Lafayette city andParish. All work to be completed within120 workingdays fromissuanceofNotice toProceed In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212. vendors maysubmit their bidelectronically at thewebsite listed above. BiddingDocuments are available to view only at www.centralbidding. com. Biddersmay re‐quest theelectronicbid package from Heather Kestler at hkestler@ lafayettela.gov Bidderssubmittingbids electronicallyare re‐quiredtoprovide the samedocuments as bid‐derssubmittingthrough the mail as soon as

fewhundred. Despite the dwindling crowd, Swaggartremained acharismatic and powerful preacher He also tapped his extensivepropertyholdings. BatonRougerealestateexperts speculated that Swaggart became areal estate magnate to help keep his ministry aﬂoat. He turned a12-story dormitory into an apartment complex. He sold properties that later becamethe Mall of Louisiana, Baton Rouge General’s Bluebonnetcampus and Perkins Rowe. A dorm that was partially completed before Swaggart’ssex scandal was sold to be turned into the RenaissanceHotel BatonRouge He leased ofﬁce space to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Qualityand The Advocate.

speciﬁcations. The successfulbidderwillbe requiredtoexecute per‐formanceand laborand materialpayment bonds inthe full amount of the contractasmorefully deﬁnedinthe biddocu‐ments.Nocontractors may withdraw hisbid for

LouisianaRe‐vised Statutes of 1950 and show theirlicense numberonthe frontof the sealed envelope in which theirbid is en‐closed. Contractorsshall belicensedfor theclas‐siﬁcation of “HIGHWAY STREET,AND BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION”. Bids in the amountsspeciﬁed above which have notbid inaccordancewiththe requirements, shallbe rejectedand shallnot be read. Additional informa‐tionrelativetolicensing may be obtained from the LouisianaState Li‐censing Boardfor Con‐tractors, BatonRouge Louisiana TheLafayette Consoli‐dated Government stronglyencouragesthe participation of DBEs (DisadvantagedBusiness Enterprises)inall con‐tractsorprocurements let by theLafayette Con‐solidated Government for goodsand services and laborand material Tothatend,all contrac‐torsand suppliersare encouragedtoutilize DBEsbusinessenter‐prisesinthe purchase or sub-contracting of mate‐rials,supplies, services and laborand material in which disadvantaged businessesare available. Assistanceinidentifying saidbusinessesmay be obtainedbycalling 2918410. PURCHASING DIVISION Lafayette Consolidated Government PUBLISHDATES:7/2,7/6 7/13 DPR977926 146642-JUL2-6-13-3T $207.21

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO By GERALD HERBERT

Televangelist JimmySwaggartspeaks at the funeral service for his cousin, rock ’n’ roll pioneer JerryLee Lewis,inFerriday on Nov. 5, 2022.

negotiation over the Senate’schanges. The House is expected to start voting on the bill Wednesday

The Senate worked through the weekend to get the bill into aposture fora floor vote. Democrats and some Republicans attempted to slow passage, including arequirement to read aloud the 940-page billon the ﬂoor of the Senate, which took about 16 hours

During an all-night sessionMonday,Cassidyand Kennedy helped their Republican colleagues with more than 45 amendments that adjusted the language or challenged nearly every element of the legislation —particularly changes and spending cuts for Medicaid and food stamps.

Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, spent the time lobbying Republicans who hadn’tvoiced support.

Trump also threatened senators with primary challenges.

Tillis withdrew fromhis reelection campaign, saying he could not vote for abill that shifts so much of the cost of Medicaid to the states because his state couldn’t afford to pay the additional costs andstill provide the same level of health care Budget hawks, like Paul, oppose the measure because it will addabout $3 trillion to the national debt. More moderateRepublicans fear voter reactions to the bill’s deep cuts to health care and nutrition.

Republican majority leadership chose to use the rules under the reconciliation process that allow attaching policy language to the budget bill —provided those provisions relate to how the ﬁnancial goals are met. The process allows the bill to win approval with asimple Republican majority without the need of any Democratic support.

HouseSpeakerMike Johnson, R-Benton, and House

Majority Leader Steve Scalise,R-Jefferson, now have to persuade House Republicans to accept the changes made in the Senate. Johnson wants to approve the bill and send it to Trump for signature byFriday.But that may not be asmooth process.

Like theSenate, House Republicans have raisedissues with the legislation.Six Republicans have voiced opposition to the changes theSenate made. TheHouse approved thebill by asingle vote in May,and if four GOP representatives sayno, the bill will fail.

Republican House leadership limited their comments to ajointstatement. “The House will work quickly to pass the One BigBeautiful Bill that enacts PresidentTrump’sfull AmericaFirstagendabythe Fourth of July,” said Johnson and Scalise, along with Majority Whip TomEmmer, R-Minnesota,and House Republican Conference Chair LisaMcClain,R-Michigan.

“Thisbill is President

Trump’sagenda, and we are making it law.HouseRepublicans are ready toﬁnish the joband put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump’sdesk in time for Independence Day,” theleaders added.

The House is scheduled to convene at 9a.m. Wednesday. TheSenate reconvenes Thursday morning, presumably ready to react to whatever the House doestothe bill.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByJ.SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.,center, flanked by Sen.John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip,left, and FinanceCommittee ChairMikeCrapo, R-Idaho, speakstoreportersafter passage of the budget reconciliation package of President DonaldTrump’ssignature bill of bigtax breaksand spending cuts on Tuesday.

Lafayette schools enact new oversight

Official to supervise construction department

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Amid an ongoing investigation into possibly forged construction bids, the Lafayette Parish school system associate superintendent will oversee the construction facilities department.

Mark Rabalais will temporarily oversee the construction, maintenance and facilities department

State passes cellphone usage law

In-hand usage made illegal under new restriction

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Starting in August, handheld phone use while driving will be illegal in Louisiana.

“You’re still allowed to use it hands-free, but we don’t want you to have your phone in your hand while you’re in motion while you’re driving,” said Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell, who sponsored the bill that was recently signed into law

That means it will be against the law to talk, text, be on social media, look at photos, or generally use any app if you are holding your phone while driving, and you could get a trafﬁc ticket for doing so. But it will be OK to use your phone while stopped at a red light or while parked.

Glorioso said the restriction is needed because distracted driving has led to increases in fatalities and severe injuries He said dozens of states that have already implemented distracted driving laws have seen decreases in deaths and serious injuries — as well reduced car insurance rates.

Gov Jeff Landry echoed that logic at a bill signing ceremony this week.

“One of the biggest things that we can do to affect auto insurance premiums is to ensure that we have a distracted driving law,” Landry said.

“If you quit texting and driving, there’s less accidents,” Landry said. Fewer accidents means fewer lawsuits, he added.

Glorioso argues that, with improvements in phone and car technology over the last several years that allow for voice-operated and hands-free use of devices, “it’s very easy to follow the law.”

During the legislative session, however, some Republican lawmakers opposed the measure, saying that it infringes on individual freedoms.

“Limited-government conservatives across this state would make an argument that this is intruding

ä See CELLPHONE, page 4B

effective immediately, according to a news release sent Tuesday afternoon. Rabalais will continue to report to Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr

“This decision ensures strong leadership and continuity of operations as LPSS transitions the department to a more centralized and accountable structure,” a spokesperson said in the release.

“The district is also continuing its

internal review of prior operational concerns.”

The school system has not yet responded to questions about what role the current director of construction, facilities and maintenance, Robert Geautreaux, is taking at this time.

The move comes as the district investigates possibly forged construction bids. The investigation was handed over to the Lafayette

Police Department last month. It also has met with the Legislative Auditor’s Ofﬁce to share information about the investigation.

As of June 26, it did not appear funds were misused district spokesperson Tracy Wirtz told The Acadiana Advocate.

Two employees who work in the school system construction, facilities and maintenance department were placed on administrative leave last month as the investigation into the possible forgeries continues, Wirtz said.

The possible forgeries were discovered while the state licensing board for contractors was investigating a complaint against a contractor that was doing work with the school system

The licensing board was investigating a complaint against Bosco Oilﬁeld Services in Maurice and its work with the district. That investigation centered around an August drainage pipe replacement project worth $74,500 completed

PUTT FOR THE DOUGH

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE

Mims Mitchell tees off on hole three of the Ace Run course during the Acadiana Disc Golf Association’s Late Spring Fling disc golf tournament on Saturday at Acadiana Park in Lafayette

ABOVE: A group plays hole three of the Ace Run course.

LEFT: Ian Corso, right, looks on as Kristofer Turner attempts a putt while playing hole three.

Last month, when Robert F. KennedyJr. came to PenningtonBiomedicalResearchCenter in Baton Rouge to watch Gov.Jeff Landry sign several new lawsthat aim to make Louisiana healthyagain,the Health andHuman Services Secretary bemoaned a“chronic diseaseepidemic” that has left the United States “literally the sickest nationinthe world.

As bad as things are around the country,Louisiana’shealth outcomes rankroutinelyamong theworst of any state, and thehealth disparities between different ethnic andracial groupshere have been demonstrated time andagain. So we’re deeply concerned thatPennington andother localinstitutions areseeingsteep drops in federal funding forresearchintothe diseases that make our residents sick.

Pennington has had to endits Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study,which had been tracking patients for decades, although it is appealing that and another terminatedgrant. It’salso coping with delayed grant renewals from the NationalInstitutes of Health worth $5 to $7 milliondue to aproposed cap on theindirect costs that support research, puttingongoing work at risk.

Asimilar story is playing outatinstitutions likeLSU Health SciencesCenter,TulaneUniversity and XavierUniversity,affecting work on topics as varied as infectiousdisease, reproductive health, HIV,chronic disease andthe effect of alcohol use on aging

Alist of canceled grants from Kennedy’s department for the ﬁrsthalf of thisyearreveals $2.5 million in cuts toprogramsthattrain students from underrepresented groups in biomedical research in Louisiana; thatinvestigate racial disparities in lupus, suicide andlung cancer; and that studyCOVID-19 immunity in diversepopulations and boost vaccinationrates

Another $95.3 million wascut from grantsto the state health department.

These cuts are all on top of theloss of money to Pennington for diabetes research, whichis run through Columbia University.

In all, roughly 900 clinical trials are underway in the state at any given time andabout half rely on NIH support, Claude Bouchard, professor emeritus and former executivedirector at Pennington,told reporterEmily Woodruff.

“If you don’thave your grants, you don’thave asalary,”Bouchard said.“This disruption is catastrophic.”

NIH says the targeted research is notinline with the agency’spriorities, but we have ahard time understanding why it wouldn’tbe.

No lessanexpert than U.S. Sen.BillCassidy, aphysician and chair of theSenate committee that oversees health,iscallingfor thefederal government to keep fundingthe study of root causes of chronic disease.

“You don’tjust become healthy by saying you’re going to make America healthy again,” Cassidy saidrecently

We think that’sobvious.

And we think something else is obvious: Few state populations stand to beneﬁt more from understandingwhatails us than Louisiana’s.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

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

TO SEND US A LETTER SCANHERE

Energy security is national security. In an era of global volatility, reliable and affordable domestic energy is critical to protecting American interests and strengthening community resilience. Veterans are helping lead the charge. They make up 10% of the clean energy workforce —twice thenational average —bringing mission focus, technical skill and a commitment to service that translates powerfully into theenergy sector.Their leadership is helping modernize infrastructure, create jobsand fuel economic development. Louisianahas long been acornerstone of America’senergy economy.With world-class ports, experienced labor and awealth of natural resources, thestate is uniquely positioned to lead in the transition to adiversiﬁed energy future —one that includes oil, gas, solar,wind, nuclear,hydrogen and new technologies. This all-of-theabove approach isn’tjust smart; it’snecessary Federal energy tax credits are making that vision possible. They’re not handouts —they’re es-

sential policy tools that lower utility costs, attract private investment and expand career opportunities for families and transitioning service membersacross Louisiana. Weakening or eliminating these incentives risks slowing progress, raising power bills and undermining energy resilience.

The issue is urgent. Data centers—digital infrastructure hubs already under development across thecountry and here at home— require massive, reliablepower Slashing clean energy credits or delaying domestic manufacturing investments could increase project costs and pressure thegrid, hitting consumers hardest.

Veterans don’task for favors. They ask for thetools to deliver results. As Congress debates America’senergy path, it must safeguard these credits and empower Louisiana to lead.

The grid is evolving. Oureconomy is adapting. And veterans are ready toserve again —this time, by powering thefuture. Let them lead

JAMES SUPPLE Lafayette

The budget negotiations for FY2026 areongoing in Washington.The cutsproposed in thepresident’sbudget would devastate Louisiana’suniversities, stiﬂe our innovation pipeline and stall the technical workforce training our economy relies on. Federal science agencies provide essential support to Louisiana schools and small businesses. Between 2019 and 2023, Louisiana’suniversities received more than $1.8 billion in federal science funding, and its small businesses received $89 million tosupport transforming innovative research into commercial products. Providing students with hands-on research training critical for American companies is only possible through federal research funding.

Ihave been aprofessor of physics at LSUfor more than 20 years, serving theﬂagship university and its studentsthrough research and teaching Federal science funding has allowed me to hire and train about 30 junior people in my research

group, in theform of undergraduate students,graduatestudents and postdoctoral scholars.

My former group members have gone on towork on many different things, spanning self-driving cars, quantum computing and ﬁnancial fraud detection.

My work is computational in nature, which means that almost 100% of the grant money Ibring to LSUisspent on paying salaries and is therefore funneled straight into thelocal economy.AtLSU,we estimate that every dollar of federal science funding leads to two or three dollars of economic impact.This meansthat large cuts to science funding will have adirect economic impact on the state, in addition to the loss of productivity and research competitiveness that will inevitably follow Oursenators must prevent these cuts from passing into law and keep Louisiana’seconomy strong by supporting sustained, robust investmentinU.S. science agencies.

METTE GAARDE Baton Rouge

Permit me to suggest amodest vision for the next logical step in the evolution of your so-called “United States.” Your country will collectively enjoy the honor of being welcomed as theeleventh province in our friendlyNorth American nation.Inremembrance of PresidentDonaldTrump, we’ll renameyour province, “SesCatchMeIfYouCan.” To remedy your unsatisfied longing for ceremony and spectacle, we’ll put on wonderful parades with the military dressed in bright red uniforms and tall lion-mane hats. There’ll be bagpipes and lumbering juggernauts with 14-pound flintlock cannons. To fill in the profound lacunae of leadership, we’ll restore the monarch of the United Kingdom to its rightful role as sole interpreter of your Constitution. This will do away with all those anxious months of waiting for the presentation of SupremeCourt decisions, buttressed by nonexistent historical precedent (starry-eyed decisis). Citizenship will, of course, be based upon genealogical blood tests with half rights extended to females and the Irish. Imagine all of the possibilities now denied to you by that long-outmoded Constitution thing. Let’sget started.

JAYEDWARDS Baton Rouge

Republicans, once purveyors of small, unobtrusive government, have now turned into afull-on, “big-gubment,” nanny state. Gov. Jeff Landry and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr have heard the clarion call and now want to dictate better food choices in order to promote ahealthy lifestyle for the Louisiana people. Forget about living in Cancer Alley and being forced to breathe almost every toxin known to mankind. After all, that creates jobs, my friends. Instead, through the power of his legislative pulpit and with all the ﬂair,pompand ceremony agood Southern governor deserves, Landry the Great unveils his utopian vision for Louisiana: MAHA. Kiss those boudin balls, crawﬁsh and fried seafood platters goodbye. Now is the time to eat healthy

Think how muchmore productive youcan be at work once you liberate afew inches from your waistline. Not to mention the cost savings from not having to buy so muchfood. In fact, you probably could afford another pay cut on your unemployment beneﬁts. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

MARK WALOCK Walker

Changestofederal broadbandprogram againleaving ruralresidents in limbo

They were so close.

The residents of Lake Providence, in East Carroll Parish, almost had it.Their town, along the river in the state’sextremenortheastern corner,could see the fast, reliable, cost effective internet they’d long wanted. Installers had put miles of cable down in the parish’s unincorporated areas, and they were supposedtodo the town this summer But now it’sstopped. Lake Providenceresidentsneed reliably fast internet service. If they had it, maybelocal officials could upgrade their outdated 911 systemand could move to acheaper,more efficient digital system. Maybe the district attorney’soffice could go paperless. Maybe residentswho purchased line-of-sight or satellite internet service would stop holding their devices out of windows or waiting for storms to end to finishaTV show or send an email.

Maybe kids could do virtuallearning, or sick residents could get atelemedicine appointment.

Now,those benefits are still buffering. Abatch of Trump administration rule changes to the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, meansthatmany companies that wereplanning to install fiber in Louisiana’srural communities have put their projects on hold while they wait to see whether theirprojects will get funding. Conexon, which was installing the fiber in Lake Providence, is one of those that’sstopped. The rule changes, announced last month but signaled soon afterTrump took office, are aimed, administration officials said, at eliminating“woke mandates” and “burdensome” red tape from the program. And, to be fair,the program’srollout was too cumbersome.

The new changes also aim to make the program “technologically neutral.”

That last part is key.Itmeansthe programcan now give awardstoother types of internet service besides ﬁber. Like satellite. It just so happensthat the leading satellite internet provider is Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk.

The second leading company is owned by newlywedJeff Bezos. Those two companies stand to beneﬁthandsomely from the rule change. It would be one thing if Starlink’s internet was as good aproduct as ﬁber Butit’snot. People in Lake Providence,

where Starlink is already available, toldreporter Jenna Rossthat thesatellite signal sometimes goes out during storms. Or that trees sometimes get in the way

Aprivate research company found that only 9% of LouisianaStarlink users get theminimum speeds to qualify as broadband. Starlink is also moreexpensive for consumers. At about$120 amonth, it’sa lot for manyofLouisiana’spoorer,rural residents. Conexon planned to charge half that for its base plan. The citizensofLake Providence may be surprised, and someofthem unpleasantly so, to ﬁnd that helping them getgood internet is a“woke mandate.”

It didn’thave to be like this.The BEAD program had bipartisan support when it passed Congress in 2021. Louisiana was the ﬁrst statetobe awarded grants under theprogram, getting more than $1.4 billion for projects across the state. It wasn’tperfect, but atleast in Louisiana, it was making progress.

In January,Gov.Jeff Landry trumpeted federal approval of Louisiana’s plans for $1.3 billion of that money, which was slated to roll ﬁber out to 140,000 homes across the state.

“Louisiana is pioneering thebroadband revolution across America as we set thenational standard for rural broadband investment,” Landry said, callingita“generational investment.”

Well, maybe it will have to be for the next generation. The rule changes, which took effect June 6, essentially rescinded those approvals and gave thestates 90 days to resubmit plans. Somecompanies, suchasConexon, may choosenot to participate this time around.

Andwhile this plays out, many of Louisiana’srural residentsstill won’t reliably be able towatch Netﬂix or YouTube. Or see adoctor online. Or use theinternet toresearch aschool project from their home.

Sadly,this is nothing new.Like rural residentsacross thestate, people in LakeProvidence areaccustomed to being overlooked. They really live in nowhere, atiny town tucked away next to an oxbow lake and the river surrounded by miles of farmland. Even one local described it to Rossasa “little bitty corner of nothing.”

Butit’sabout 50 miles from Franklin Farm, theRichland Parishsite where internet giant Meta plans to build a massive AI datacenter that will cost billions. The center will help fuel internetusage and next-level technology around the world.

It’sa good thingit’sclose, too, because for people without reliable broadband, theclosest they will get to all of that processing power is driving by on the highway

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

Recently,The Wall Street Journal did arare story on the Ukraine war,though it wasburiedonpageA 10, after afront-page teaser

Thathas been the pattern until Russia launcheda massive drone attack against Ukraine on Sundaywhich attracted some media attention. Otherwise, media hasseemed generally bored with the war

There’sareason God created dynamite.

The brutalist federal buildings that have blighted Washington, D.C., for decades deserve the same fateasCarthage after the Third Punic War, and the nation’scapital is ﬁnally beginning to moveon from these concrete monstrosities.

The Department of Housing and Urban and Development recently announced that it is leaving its god-awful headquarters in Washington for less hideous space in Northern Virginia. HUD Secretary Scott Turner has described the structure as “the ugliest building in D.C.,” which is adubious claim only becausethere are so many otherbuildings in Washington that compete for that distinction.

He’snot the ﬁrst HUD secretary to hate the building. Jack Kempcalled it “10 ﬂoors of basement.”

Meanwhile, the FBI is also departing its HQ, designated by theU.K. building materials retailer Buildworld as the ugliest building in the United States and the second ugliest in the world. The moves are in keeping withthe spirit of President Donald Trump’sexecutive order stipulating that federal buildings should “respectregional, traditional andclassicalarchitectural heritage in order to uplift andbeautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self-government.” That EO should be considered common sense, but has several trigger words for defendersofthe architectur-

LETTERS TO

al status quo, including “traditional,” “classical” and, perhaps foremost of all, “beautify.” In response, theAmerican Institute of Architects expressed its “strong concernsthat mandating architecture styles stiﬂesinnovation and harms local communities.”

According to The Nation magazine, Trump’sinitiative is part of an agenda to “make historical architecture on the whole inextricable from Eurocentric white supremacy.”

In short, it’sanunforgivable offense to want agovernment building to look nice Brutalism,with its blocky,minimalist structures made of poured concrete, was acreation of apost-war Europe that wanted to embrace thefresh and newand to economize on rebuilding. Althoughthe name “brutalism”perfectly capturesthe aesthetic effect, it actually comes from the French for “raw concrete,” “béton brut.”

To be sure,concrete is extremely important to modernlife, but no one haseversaid, “Oh, it’s so elegant and uplifting.”

Thebrutalist buildings in Washington were largely built between the late1960s and mid-1970s, an era of grievousarchitectural mistakes, including cookie-cutter multiple-purpose baseball stadiums and modernist Catholic churches.

The buildings never had aheyday, but werehated when they were erected andare still hated now

The seedbed of the trend was aKennedy administration commission that

advocated contemporary designs and said —laughably,inretrospect —that federal architecture should “reﬂect the dignity, enterprise, vigor and stability of the American national government.”

Instead, thebrutalist buildings speak of alumbering bureaucracy withno regard for thesensibilities or priorities of ordinary people. They are about what you’dexpect if aDMV were headquartered in amaximum-security prison or in amassive pillbox.

The buildings could easily be used as stage setsfor docudramas about East Germany.They are atributetosoulless monumentalityand agut punch to the human spirit.Ifthey don’teventually get awell-deserved appointment with a wrecking ball, they should be donated to North Korea. The original justiﬁcations of brutalism no longer apply.The buildings aren’tnew anymore, and aren’tcheap They haven’taged well in any sense, not aesthetically or functionally.The FBI building is literally falling apart, and the expense of maintaining the HUD building has becomeruinous. Defenders of thebrutalist buildings say that they are now part of our heritageand should be preserved as such That’snot fair,though, to thepeople who have to workinthem,orwho walk or drive by them every day.They are anet subtraction to the D.C. landscape and to human happiness. If one of them has to be kept for historical reasons, it should be madeintoaSmithsonian museum devoted to idiotic fadsthat were indulged for much too long. Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry

In recentweeks, the media againhas been pre-occupied by celebrities, including the ones attending the Bezos-Sanchez wedding in Venice, and the “news” thatittook 900 hours to make the bride’sdress. And yetthe killing grinds on between Russia and Ukraine with minimaladvances on either side andnoimmediate possibility of aceaseﬁre or peace deal

Ivan Bespalov is aUkrainianPresbyterian pastorinKiev, who is temporarily in the U.S. to rally support fromchurches and the public for his country.Inatelephone interviewfrom his NewYorkCity hotel, Iask him if he has anyhopethata peace agreement with Russia can be achieved andthe killing on both sides stopped?

“Our concerniswhether the Russians can be trusted,” Bespalov said. “When Russians feel theyare powerful it is very unlikely they will seek acompromise.” Bespalov says he thinks the killing will continue “until they establish their supremacy,their control. Only when Russia comestobelieve Ukraine is strong andtheyfeel theyare paying toohigh apricetocontinue this war, thenthey may come to an agreement.”

Bespalov deniesreports of persecution against certain segments of Christian churches in Ukraine

He says even the RussianOrthodox Union, which is largely supportive of Vladimir Putin, faces government restrictions only on its political positions, notits faith practices.

But he says while the Orthodox “don’tdo it openly,theydoencourage people to surrender(to Russiansoldiers) and not to resist. Theysupport the narrative ‘we areone people’and there is no harm with themtrying to establish Russian inﬂuence and Russian power. So naturally whenour government hearsthese kinds of messages, they warn the priests andothers who promote this narrative.And if they continue doing this, some of themwind up in jail or areremoved from their positions.”

This apparently accounts forwhere reports thatUkraine is persecuting certain churches have come from.

HowisBespalov trying to break through the multiple news and celebrity stories in the U.S. thathavereplaced what is taking place in Ukraine?

“Weare speaking to various churches and hadthe opportunity to speak to the General Assembly of the (conservative) Presbyterian ChurchinAmericaofabout four to ﬁve thousand people,” Bespalov said. “Weare asking people fortheir prayers and thanking them for the physical help they are sending us through acharity,Crates for Ukraine.”

Bespalov also says people who contribute arehelping Ukrainians who have been displaced from their homes. This reminds me of the CARE packages that were delivered to Eastern European nations occupied by Russia beginning in the aftermath of World WarII.

HowmuchlongerdoesBespalov think Ukraine can hold out if Putin doesn’tcome to an agreement to stop the war? He said, “I think thatUkraine will be resisting until the very end.”

By thatheclearly means the end of Ukraine’sindependent status, not the end of Russia

The key, though, as he told me,istomake Putin paysohigh aprice that he will seek peace.

Thatisnot likely to happenwithout further military andﬁnancialsupport forUkraine, especially fromEuropean nations. Nowwould also be agood time to gettoday’s equivalent of CARE packages shippedtoKiev.

Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditorstribpub.com.

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Lake Providence is still waiting for ahigh-speed internet rollout. Cal Thomas

Rich Lowry

Faimon Roberts

TrumptapsLa. attorney forpost

Selectionmade

forN.O.’stop fed prosecutor

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

President Donald Trump has tapped aveteran Jefferson Parish attorney as the NewOrleans region’snext federal prosecutor,culminating months of talks over who should lead the U.S.Justice Department’slargest Louisiana outpost. Trump on Tuesday nominated David I. Courcelle, whose work representinga series of prominent whitecollar defendantshas made him afixture of Louisiana’sfederal courts, as his pick for U.S. attorney over the 13-parish Eastern District of Louisiana,according to a document obtained by The Times-Picayune.

lican whoisclose to Trump, also sought to put hisstamp on the selection, according to people familiar with that process. Since taking ofﬁce, Trump has said he wants to use the Justice Department to exact revenge on his enemies whilebroadly overhauling the agency’s historic listof priorities.

His appointedU.S. Attorney General,Pam Bondi,has gutted the department’spublic corruption, civil rights and environmental crimes divisions while directing prosecutorsto ﬁlecases against immigrants for illegally reentering the U.S. and those involving drug trafficking and violent crime.

In Courcelle, Trump settled on alegal barveteran with Republican bona ﬁdes to pursue thosegoals across the New Orleansregion though one describedby courtroom peersasan affablenegotiator who maintains relationships with both prosecutors and defense attorneys,and withpeopleacross the political spectrum

judges all know him and like and respect him,” said Mike Magner,a veteran whitecollar attorney andformer federal prosecutor Outside his private practice in Metairie, Courcelle provides legal counselfor the solidly Republican parish government in Jefferson Parish.

In criminal court, he most recently represented Fouad Zeton, apolitically engaged business owner whose text messages formed the linchpinofa now-sputtering federal probe of New Orleans’ DemocraticMayor LaToya Cantrell.

Courcelle defended at least two men accused of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at theU.S.Capitol,which Trump, aRepublican, was accused by JusticeDepartment prosecutorsoffomentingin aseries of charges brought under former Democratic President Joe Biden. (The department dropped those cases when Trump took ofﬁce).

ing Trump’sinauguration. Simpson and another veteran prosecutor,Assistant U.S Attorney Jordan Ginsberg, had campaigned forthe appointment in recent weeks, according to multiple people familiarwith the selection process.

It’scustomary for new presidential administrations to sweepout U.S. attorneys from the prior administration, then to appoint an “acting” prosecutor,usually a veteran from within the ofﬁce, to leaduntil anominee is selected.

Once they receive Senate confirmation, the nominees then serve until the cycle repeatsatthe startofthe next administration.

AfterTrump wonthe November presidential election, aslew of others had emerged as candidates to lead the New Orleans ofﬁce.

BY HALEYMILLER Staff writer

TheLSU Board of Supervisors greenlit the next phase of the university’s multiyear housing project, this timefor the construction of two new residence halls with 1,266 freshman beds at the South Quad site near the College of Engineering andE.J. Ourso College of Business.

offered a$3,000 bonus for incoming Baton Rouge-area students if they chose to live at home withtheir parents instead of the dorms.

Courcelle must stillreceive Senate confirmation to officially secure the job. The nominationsignals he has won the approvalof Trumpaswell as Louisiana’s two U.S.senators, Republicans John Kennedy,ofMadisonville, and Bill Cassidy,of Baton Rouge. Cassidy and Kennedy hold sway over the confirmation process for federal appointees in the state “I’m honored to receive the nomination from President Donald J. Trump and Ilook forwardtothe confirmation process,” Courcelle said in a brief interview

The announcement followedlengthy discussion among Kennedy,Cassidy and Trump’steam over the department’sleadership during the president’ssecond term, in which Trump has set out to reshape the agency in his image, primarily through anew emphasis on immigration-related prosecutions.

Gov.Jeff Landry,a Repub-

SCHOOLS

Continued from page1B

by Bosco, which allegedly submitted the lowest bid. It did not have the proper licensing for that project, according to the licensing board.

The district received two otherbidsfor that project, but those companies denied submitting bids.

The owner of Clements Construction in Lafayette, Beavers wrote, which according to school system

CELLPHONE

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on their liberties,”Sen Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia,saidduring ﬂoordebate on the measure before voting againstthe bill.

House Bill 519 takes effect Aug. 1, but ofﬁcers can only issue warnings for handsfreeinfractions before January. Ofﬁcers aren’tallowed to pull someone over solely for violating the hands-free distracted driving law.They canonlychargesomeone with violating the law as a secondary offense, meaning afterstopping someone for adifferent, primary infraction.And they can’tseize or search your phone over a violation of the law

That’sdifferentinschool and construction zones, however,when you can be pulled over just for having your phone in your hand

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Courcelle is a“straight shooter,” saidMattComan, acivil lawyer and former assistantU.S. attorney who ledthe 2011 corruption case against city contractor Aaron Bennett. Courcelle defended Bennett alongside his legal mentor, therenowned Jefferson Parish defense attorney Vinny Mosca, who died in 2022.

“David is supersmartyet he’sapproachable and practical,” said Claude Kelly,the chief federal public defender forthe Eastern District. “This is notaceremonial political plum, which is so often the case inthese selections.”

Courcelle has no experience prosecuting felony cases, though he once worked as the city prosecutor in Harahan, ajob thatprimarilyinvolved charging misdemeanors. But hisyears working in federal court as adefense attorney endeared himtothose on the bench and the opposing sides of criminal cases.

“The line prosecutors and

documents bid on the project, “adamantly stated that he didnot submitabid proposalfor that project.”

The owner of the third company that allegedly bid onthe project, Siema Construction of Scott, also told astate investigator his company applied earlier in the year for district jobs but did notsubmitthisparticularbid.Henoted that the bid submission format forthe drainage project differedfrom thebidshe previously submittedto the school system for other work

while driving as aprimary offense

The ﬁne is $100 generally or $250 in school andconstruction zones.

“It’snot really about stopping people and giving people more tickets,” Glorioso said. The new traffic lawis

Courcelle alsorepresents Tulane quarterback T.J. Finley,who the team suspended in Aprilafter he was accused of stealing atruck, but later argued he’d been the victim of ascam

He will step into the prosecutor’sofﬁce at apivotal time for the Justice Department.

Trumphas moved to install prosecutors atopeachofthe nation’s 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices who he believes will zealously carry out his agenda. In some cases, theWhite House itself has directly fired career local prosecutors viewed as failing to adequately carry out theadministration’smarching orders. Some who wereinvolved in bringing in Jan. 6-related cases have been reassigned. If the Senate confirmshim, Courcelle will succeed acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson, acareer prosecutor Simpson held the acting job for only afew months after being namedtothat position in February,when the office’s Biden-era leader,Duane Evans, was reassigned follow-

BoscoOilfield Services, since January of 2024, has been awarded morethan $224,000 in district work through purchase orders, The Current reportedin May.Some of those projects required acontractor’slicense, which the company did not have.

Theschool system has since implemented additional internalsafeguards to protect the district’s bid process, Wirtzsaid.

Email Ashley White at ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

abouteducating the public, he said, and he’splanning to work with the Department of Transportation and Developmentand theattorney general toget the word out.

Email AlysePfeilatalyse. pfeil@theadvocate.com.

They includedPeter M. Thomson, alocal attorney who instead was nominated as inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency; James Baehr,who got ajob as general counsel at Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs; and Coman, the former prosecutor,who in the2010s secured acorruptionconvictionagainst former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Laura Rodrigue, aconservative lawyer close to Landry,was discussed as aleading candidate for the jobbut struggled to marshal support during the process, peoplefamiliarwith theselection have said. Rodrigue in abrief interview Tuesday said she had takenherself out of consideration forthe position.

The Eastern District is one of three U.S. Attorney’sOfﬁces in Louisiana.

In May,Trump tapped veteran Baton Rouge-area prosecutor KurtWall to lead the U.S. Attorney’sOfﬁce for the Middle District of Louisiana, based in the state’scapital city.The president has yet to nominatealeaderfor the Lafayette-based Western District of Louisiana.

The South Quad phase, which includes additional parking and transit options to offset the parking spots displaced by the project, is estimated to cost amaximumof$215 million and relieve some of LSU’songoing struggleswithhousing as enrollment increases

The dorms are scheduled to open in fall 2027, with constructionstarting in October.

“This is to meet avery pressing need foradditional first-yearhousing,” Patrick Martin, LSU assistant vicepresident of real estate, public partnerships and compliance, saidtothe boardFriday.

The new South Quad dorms will contain 650 units andwill match “traditional LSU architecture,” Martin said.

The proposal to the board calledthe project “essential” to maintaining the freshman residencyexpectation for incoming students if enrollment predictions are accurate. Students who live on campus during their ﬁrst year have higher retention and graduation rates thanstudents who live off campus, according to the proposal.

Housing was particularly strainedin2024,when LSU

“Last year we had to place over 800 ﬁrst-year students in apartments thatweredesigned for upper class students, whichisnot the ideal environment,”Martin said. According to theproposal, LSU’senrollment increased by almost 7,000 students from 2020 to 2024, from 30,793 to 37,490, respectively Along with housing, the university has dealt with pressure on parking.The campus haslost2,000 parking spaces due to theconstruction of the newlibrary andinformation commons andreduced on-street parking, according to the proposal. To easemounting parking problems, the South Quad phase of the housing project will include construction of theMobility Hub in thelot acrossfromthe VetSchool formerlyknownasthe Hayﬁeld lot. The hub will enable more students and staff to park further from the core of campus, Martin said, by providing awell-lit, air-conditionedareawithWi-Fito wait for transit. South Quad is part of LSU’smultistage public-private housing project with RISE real estate company Earlier phases included Nicholson Gateway,Spruce Hall, Greenhouse District andCedar Hall housing. Email HaleyMillerat haley.miller@theadvocate. com.

Courcelle

SPORTS

Clemson quarterbackCadeKlubnik passes againstCharleston

Summer scouting

BY WILSONALEXANDER Staff writer

HEISMANTROPHYODDS

Player,teamand positionOdds

Mulkey says plan not yetset forS.C.transfer

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

She picked asong, propped up her phone andstarted dancing. It was MiLaysia Fulwiley’sfirst time in theLSU women’sbasketball locker room,and she wanted to enjoy it. Ordinarily,transfers and high school recruits visit afew different programs before they choose one. NotFulwiley

The juniordroppedinonthe Tigers forthe ﬁrst timeonJune 24 —exactly twomonthsaftershe announced she was leaving herhometown South Carolina teamfor oneofits top rivals, completing oneofthe mostintriguing offseason moves. Fulwiley toured the LSU campus andposed forphotos.For oneshot, she stood back-to-back withcoach KimMulkey,their arms folded.

“She’staller than Irealized,” Mulkeysaid of the 5-foot-10 Fulwiley And that’sabout all Mulkey took away from hervisit with Fulwiley. The two didn’tdiscuss any basketball-relatedmatters,the ﬁfth-year LSU coach said. How will Fulwileyfit inside Mulkey’ssystem?How can she complement Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams? Will she play point guard? What exactly held her back from playing moreminutes with the Gamecocks? And what strides does she need to make before herjunior season begins? Those questions, Mulkey said, are best leftfor the fall.

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik planned to start watching ﬁlm of the LSU defense this week, getting ajump on hispreparation for alikely top10 matchup in the season opener

AfterLSU added nine defensive transfers, many of whom areexpected to have key roles, most of the players whom Klubnik sees on tape won’tbeonthe ﬁeld this fall. But that’snot really the point. He needstostudy second-year defensive coordinatorBlake Baker’ssystem.

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“At the end of the day, they’ve gotthe same coach, so they’re going to be getting coached the same way,” Klubnik said at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux last weekend. “They shouldhave thesame rules andthe same schemes.” Klubnik was familiar with LSU’sactivityinthe transfer portal,but he saidhewould have to see exactly who joined theteam. When he does, he could notice

Dodgerspitcher needsjustthree strikeouts to reach 3,000 forhis career

BY DAVID BRANDT AP baseball writer

some familiarfaces.Klubnik playedlast season against former NC Statesafety Tamarcus Cooley,former Florida State defensive endPatrick Payton and former Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane. He plannedtoexamine the aggression and technique of the LSU defensive backs —iftheir previous team asked them to do

thesame things as Baker “For me,asaquarterback, studying alittle bit of personnel,”Klubnik said, “but alot more, honestly,schemeand schematics and what they do.” Klubnik willgive the LSU defense an immediate test. A former five-starrecruit and the No. 1quarterback in the 2022 class, he was supposed to revive Clemson’squarterback playa couple of yearsafter Trevor Lawrenceleft. His development took alittle bit longer,but now entering his senior year,Klubnik is aprojected ﬁrst-round pick and potential Heisman Trophy contender The optimism comes from what he didlast season.Inhis second year as astarter,Klubnik completed 63.4% of his throws for 3,639 yards with 36 touchdowns and six interceptions.Healsorushed for

It’sabig number for oneofthe biggest baseball stars of thisgeneration —three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw is closing in on 3,000 strikeouts. He needs just three more punchouts to reach the mark, meaning it likely will happen in frontof an adoring home crowd at Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles hosts the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. Kershaw would become justthe 20th pitcher in MLB history —and one of three active pitchers along with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer —to hit the milestone. It’satime for celebration. It’s also atime for wistful contemplation Are we nearingthe end of these kinds ofcareercelebrations particularly for pitchers? Kershaw is one of the ﬁnal holdovers from his generation, one that included

6-foot-4 leftyled the National League in ERA ﬁve times, in strikeoutsthree times and wins twice. His peak arguably came in 2014, when he ﬁnished with a21-3 record, 1.77 ERA and 233 strikeouts to win both the Cy Young and MVP awards in the National League.

Kershaw,now 37, isn’tthe same pitcher these days, though his success over the past month is a testamenttothe knowledge, grit and willpower that only an 18year veteran can possess. He is 4-0 with a3.03 ERA through eight startssince returning from an injury,providing an injury-riddled Dodgers rotation with aspark despiteafastball that barely hits 90 mph on agood day

“He has given us ashot in the arm,” manager DaveRoberts said. “We’re sort of ailing on the starting pitching side. Coming in and giving us valuable innings. I just love that kind of edge that he gives on start day “Wecertainly feed off that.” Kershaw’stwilight is coinciding with the ﬁnal years of Verlander

“I just know that I’ve gottremendous perimeter players,” Mulkey said,“and it’s my job to ﬁgureout who needs to play with who and who’sgoing to be the point guard when that group’sinthe game and whocan moveover to the wing.” LSUappearstohaveadeeper more versatile collectionofguards ahead of Mulkey’sfifth season in

and Scherzer,and the trio is primed to join the Hall of Fame over the next decade. The group symbolizes what might be the last gasp of long-term excellence on the pitcher’smound.

The 42-year-old Verlander has won262 career games while Kershaw and Scherzer —who turns 41 this month —both sit at 216. After that, the career leaderboards fall off dramatically It’s fair to wonder whether any other MLB pitcher ever will reach 200 career wins again, much less 300, which was the gold standard forgenerations and last reached by the likes of Randy Johnson, TomGlavine, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens in the 2000s and 2010s.

Consider this: The current career wins leader forapitcher under 30 is 28-year-old Logan Webb, whohas agrand total of 62. Getting to 3,000 strikeouts is alittle morerealistic given the sport-wide increase in pitch velocity,but even that’sinquestion. Atlanta’sChris Sale (2,528 Ks)

Klubnik

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JACOB KUPFERMAN

PRESS PHOTO By JESSIE ALCHEH

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Gauffloses in 1stround of Wimbledon

Only twoother French Open champs suffered same fate

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer

LONDON Coco Gauffbecame

just the third woman in theOpen era to lose in the ﬁrst round at Wimbledon right after winning the championship at the French Open, eliminated 7-6 (3), 6-1 by unseeded Dayana Yastremska of UkraineonTuesday night.

The No. 2-ranked Gauff made mistake after mistake at No.1 Court, ﬁnishing with justsix winners and atotal of 29 unforced errorsthat included nine doublefaults.

“Dayanastarted offplaying strong,” Gauff said. “I couldn’t ﬁnd my footing out there today.”

She joined another highly seeded American,No. 3Jessica Pegula, in bowing out on Day2 of the tournament. In all, 23 seeds —13 men and 10 women —already are gone before the ﬁrstround is even done, tying the most at any Grand Slam tournament since they began seeding 32 players in each singles bracketin2001.

It was just alittle more than three weeks ago that Gauff was celebrating her secondGrand Slam title by getting past No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the ﬁnal on the red clay of Roland-Garros.

The quick turnaround might have been an issue, Gauff acknowledged.

“I feel like mentally Iwas alittle bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards,” said the 21-year-old Gauff, “so Ididn’t feellike Ihad enough time tocelebrate and also get back intoit.”

She didn’tthink it mattered Tuesday that their match location was shifted from Centre Court to Court No. 1orthat she was told about anew start time only about an hour before thecontest began.

Even though Gauff’sbig breakthrough came at the All England Club at age 15 in 2019, whenshe beatVenus Williams in her opening match and made it all the way to the fourth round, the grasscourt tournament has proved to be her least-successful major

Dayana yastremskaofUkraine, right, shakes handswithCoco

women’ssingles match at WimbledoninLondon on Tuesday

It’sthe onlySlam where Gauff hasn’tmade at least the semiﬁnals. Indeed, she hasyet to get past the fourth round and now has been sent home in the ﬁrst round twicein the pastthree years.

Thetransition from clay to grass hasproven tough for most players, andthe last woman to win the French Open and Wimbledoninthe same season wasSerena Williams adecade ago. Still,sincethe Open era began in 1968, only Justine Henin in 2005 and Francesca Schiavone in 2010 went from holding the trophy in Paris to exitingimmediately in London.

Gauffwas never quiteather best Tuesday againstYastremska, who had lost all three of their previous matchups and currently

is ranked 42nd.

Aparticularproblemfor Gauff, as it often is, was her serving. She managed to put only 45% of herfirst servesinplay, won 14 of her 32 second-serve points and had all of those double-faults, including apair in the tiebreaker and another when shegot broken to open thesecondset.

“WhenI canserve well,and some games Idid, it’sdeﬁnitely an added threat,” Gauff said. “I didn’tserve that well.”

Yastremska’s bestGrand Slam resultwas making it all the way to thesemiﬁnals on the Australian Open’shard courts last year although she entered this event witharecordofonly 10-11 in ﬁrst-round matches at majors. Gauff, by contrast, was 20-3 at

that stage, including aloss to Soﬁa Kenin at Wimbledonin2023. Yastremska’sdeepest run at Wimbledon wasmaking the fourth round in 2019, although she didget to the ﬁnal of the junior event in 2016.

“I was really on ﬁre,” said Yastremska, whoaccumulated 16 winners. “Playing against Coco, it is something special.”

She recently reached her ﬁrst tournament final on grass, at a smaller eventinNottingham, which she said gave her confidence heading to the All England Club.

“I loveplaying on grass. Ifeel thatthis year we are kind of friends,”Yastremska said with a laugh.“Ihopethe road will continue for me here.”

Arecord-tying23seeds gone in theﬁrstround

BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer

LONDON There was three-time Grand Slam finalistand No.3 seed Alexander Zverev,outplayed over ﬁve sets in aﬁrstround loss at Wimbledonto 72ndranked Arthur Rinderknech, who entered Tuesday with a1-4 career record at the All England Club and zero trips past the third round in 18 appearances at majors.

There was No. 7LorenzoMusetti, asemiﬁnalist at Wimbledon last year and at the French Open last month, sent home Tuesday by NikolozBasilashvili, aqualiﬁer ranked 126th who only once has made it as far as the fourth round in his 31 previous Grand Slamtournaments And, most striking of all,as night arrived, there was No. 2Coco Gauff going from the champion at Roland-Garros to a quick exit at Wimbledon. And on and on wentthe upsets on Day 2atthe grass-court major,meaning23seeds —13 men, 10 women —failed to get to the second round, equaling the highest total at any GrandSlam tournament since they began assigning 32 seeds in each singles bracket in 2001. No. 3Jessica Pegula also was among those leaving.

Kostyuk and No. 25 Magdalena Frech, whose opponent, 18-yearold Canadian Victoria Mboko, lost in qualifying last week and only got intothe ﬁeld when another player,Anastasia Potapova, withdrew with an injuredhip. Nothing was quite as out-of-nowhere, though, asRinderknech’s success.

At leastYastremskahas been a majorsemiﬁnalist, at last year’s Australian Open. “What amoment. Such emotions,” Rinderknech, a29-yearold from France, saidafter completing his 7-6 (3), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory across 4hours, 40 minutes against Zverev in a matchsuspendedMonday night at aset apiece. “I don’teven know where to start.”

He ended things with abackhand winner,thendroppedtohis stomach, face down,onCentre Court.

Zverev joined Musetti —who hadn’t playedsince aleg injury forced him to stop at RolandGarros and was a6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 loser against Basilashvili as top-10 losers on Tuesday, aday after No.8 Holger Runeand No. 9DaniilMedvedevdeparted

LSU adds athird LHP out of transferportal

Oregon sophomore left-handed pitcher Santiago Garciaistransferring to LSU, he announced on social media Tuesday

Garcia posted a4.20 ERAin30 innings last season,holding opponents to a.171 batting average and striking out 32% of thebatters he faced. He issued 5.70 walks per nine innings. Before arriving at Oregon, he spent his freshmanyear at Central Arizona Community College, where he had a3.04 ERA in 232/3 innings.

Garcia is the third left-handed pitcherLSU hasadded out of the transfer portal this summer LSU is also bringing back freshmanCooper Williams, and may bring back juniorConnerWare andredshirt sophomore DJ Primeaux.

TE Wallerunretires; Giants trade him to Dolphins

TheMiami Dolphinsare acquiringDarrenWallerfromthe New York Giants, about ayear after the veteran tight end announced his retirement from the NFL.

The Dolphins are sending aconditional2026 sixth-round draft picktothe Giants for a2027 seventh-rounder and the 32-year-old Waller,who will comeout of retirementtoplayona one-year deal worth up to $5 million, agent Drew Rosenhaus conﬁrmed.

The trade comes aday after Miami dealt Pro Bowler Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers after he had the mostproductive season of any tight end in Dolphins history Miamiwas unwilling to pay Smith what he sought and thus dealt him in atrade that also included AllPro cornerback Jalen Ramsey

OKC champion Williams gets right wrist surgery

Jalen Williams, the All-Star guard/forward whohelped the Oklahoma City Thunder win their ﬁrst NBA title, had surgery Tuesday to repair atorn ligament in his right wrist.

Thundergeneral manager Sam Presti said he expects Williams to be ready forthe startofthe regular season. Williamsaveraged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and1.6 stealslast season andwas named to the All-NBA third team andthe NBAAll-Defensive secondteam. He was injuredduring the Thunder’s125-112 win over the Phoenix Suns on April 9and playedinall 23 postseason games while nursing the torn ligament. Williams averaged23.6points and 5.0 rebounds pergame in the Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

Twinsbring Lewis back from IL for Marlinsseries

The Minnesota Twins reinstated third baseman Royce Lewis from the injured list Tuesday after a15game absencebecause of arecurrence of the hamstring strain that delayed his season debut. Lewis joined the Twins for the start of athree-gameseries at Miami.

He hurt his lefthamstring while running out agrounderinthe ninth inning of agame on June 13, aless severe strain than the one he suffered late in spring training. Thatinjurysidelinedhim for seven weeks, costing him the ﬁrst 35 games of the season. Lewis is batting just .202 with a.585 OPSand twohome runs in 30 games this season. He had 32 straight hitless at-bats from May 19 to June 3.

Driver Suárez to partwith Trackhouseafter2025

DanielSuárez, the only Mexicanborn drivertowin aNASCARnational series race,isout at Trackhouse Racing at the end of the 2025 season.

The American was the runnerup at last year’sU.S. Open and was coming off agrass-court title in Germany over the weekend, defeating Iga Swiatek in the ﬁnal, yet didn’tpose much of a challenge to 116th-ranked Elisabetta Cocciaretto in a6-2, 6-3 loss that lasted less than an hour Twoother major ﬁnalists, No. 5 ZhengQinwenand No.15Karolina Muchova,were eliminated Tuesday,aswere No. 26 Marta

Otherseededmen exitingon Day 2included No. 18 Ugo Humbert, No. 27 Denis Shapovalov, No. 28 Alexander Bublik andNo. 30 Alex Michelsen. Rinderknech pulled off his win thankstosome terriﬁc serving, delivering 25 aces and saving all nine break points he faced.He converted three break chances against Zverev and won thepoint on 44 of his 55 trips to the net.

Alexander ZverevofGermanyreacts as he plays Arthur Rinderknech of France during their first-round match at Wimbledon in London on Tuesday.

tova played her final match at theAll England Club, bowing out 6-3, 6-1 against No. 10 Emma Navarro.“This place holds the best memories Icould wish for,” said the35-year-old Kvitova, who will retire after the U.S. Open.

Suárezhas just two wins in 305 career Cup starts, and is adistant 29th in the points standings this season.The 33-year-old Suarez is in his ﬁfth season with Trackhouse Racing andwas the team’sfirst driver in 2021. On

“It’smyfirst top-five win, in the biggest stadium in theworld,” Rinderknech said. “My legs are still shaking. I’m justsohappy the match is finished.” Two-time champion Petra Kvi-

“I neverdreamed of winning a Wimbledon and Iwon it twice.” Defending women’schampion

BarboraKrejcikova andmen’s No. 4seed TaylorFritz both needed comebacks to win, No. 1Jannik Sinner wasnever troubled in astraight-set victory,and 24-time major championNovak Djokovic dealt with astomach issue during his 6-1,6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2 win against Alexandre Muller at night.

Trackhouse and Suárez ofﬁcially calledthe parting a“mutualdecision” that allows the driver an earlier opportunity to pursue anew ride fornext season. While Trackhouse did not name areplacementinthe No.99Chevrolet, Suárez’sdeparture opened the door for the team to promote teen sensation Connor Zilisch into the ride.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIRSTy WIGGLESWORTH

Gauff of the U.S. after winning the first-round

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByKIN CHEUNG

Bucks waive Lillard to land Turner from Pacers

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

Myles Turner is about to become teammates with Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Damian Lillard now has the chance to pick his next spot. And just like that, the second day of NBA free agency brought big surprises Tuesday Turner the longtime stalwart for the Indiana Pacers — agreed to a four-year deal to join the Milwaukee Bucks, who waived the ninetime All-Star Lillard to make the acquisition happen.

Turner is agreeing to a deal that ends with a player option, after spending the entirety of his ﬁrst 10 seasons with the Pacers, who went to the NBA Finals this past season. And the remaining $112.6 million owed to Lillard will be paid out over the next ﬁve seasons via the NBA’s stretch provision Turner agreed to a contract worth $107 million.

In both cases, Achilles tendon injuries played a role in how things unfolded.

Indiana expects to be without star guard Tyrese Haliburton for the entirety of the coming season because he ruptured his Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder while playing through what was diagnosed as a calf strain. Earlier, Lillard ruptured his Achilles tendon while playing for Milwaukee in the ﬁrst round against Indiana.

KLUBNIK

Continued from page 1C

463 yards and seven scores while leading Clemson to an ACC championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Klubnik said Clemson played the most freshmen in the country the past two years, and though that could have contributed to some rough losses, the team now has continuity and experience. Clemson ranks ﬁrst in the country in returning production at 81%, according to ESPN. It brought back eight starters on offense and nine starters on defense, including projected first-round picks TJ Parker and Peter Woods on the defensive line.

“They’re really consistent in their pace of play and

KERSHAW

Continued from page 1C

is 36 and could get there with a few more healthy seasons. New York’s Gerrit Cole (2,254) has a chance, too — if the 34-year-old can bounce back from elbow surgery

But again, the list of pitchers piling up strikeouts in their 20s is conspicuously absent.

The 29-year-old Dylan Cease is the under-30 leader with 1,133 career Ks, but he likely will need a decade of good health to get close. By comparison, Kershaw had 2,120 strikeouts entering his age-30 season. There are some young promising arms that might emerge in the future think Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal — but the trends aren’t pointing in the right direction. It seems like every few days, another star pitcher goes down to Tommy John elbow surgery or a similar procedure, leaving them out of action for at least a year

Miami Heat history, is headed back to Michigan for the next step of his career

A person with knowledge of the agreement said the Detroit Pistons will land Robinson on a three-year, $48 million contract, and the Heat will receive wing Simone Fontecchio in what will be a sign-and-trade.

Robinson started his college career at Division III Williams in Massachusetts before finishing at Michigan. He was an undrafted success story with the Heat, part of the 2020 and 2023 teams that went to the NBA Finals.

Lillard is likely to miss most, if not all, of the coming season. He will be free to sign with anyone he chooses, and teams could sign him now, give him a chance to continue his recovery and do so with hope that the seventime All-NBA selection is fully ready to go by the start of the 2026-27 season. Turner has averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in his 10 seasons with the Pacers, who had to make a decision this summer about whether to surpass the luxury tax threshold knowing that Haliburton likely cannot play this coming season.

Lillard, who turns 35 this month, has averaged 25.1 points and 6.7 assists in 900 regular-season games over 13 seasons — the first 11 with Portland, the last two with Milwaukee. Duncan Robinson, the leading 3-point shooter in

their effort,” Klubnik said of Parker and Woods. “They’re not guys who are going to take a play off. Every time that they’re in there, they’re going to be giving it their all They’re aggressive, and they’re conﬁdent guys. That’s what they are, they’re conﬁdent.”

Klubnik was complimentary of LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, saying “his ability for timing routes is one of the best in the country.” They had crossed paths a couple of times before seeing each other again at the Manning Passing Academy

“I’ve played some really good quarterbacks over the years, and Garrett is going to be one of the best that I’ve played,” Klubnik said. “I think being able to manage the game and take advantage of every drive is going to be huge.”

The ﬁrst game could be

Veteran point guard and German Olympic team member Dennis Schröder has agreed to join the Sacramento Kings on a three-year deal, the third of which is not fully guaranteed. The deal is for $45 million.

Schröder, who is entering his 13th NBA season, is joining his 10th club and ninth in the last seven years. He spent the ﬁrst ﬁve seasons of his career with Atlanta, then was with Oklahoma City, the Los Angeles Lakers (twice), Boston, Houston, Toronto, Brooklyn, Golden State and Detroit at various times over the past seven seasons. He has averaged 13.9 points and 4.9 assists in 849 regular-season games.

Sharpshooting wing Tim Hardaway Jr will sign a one-year contract with the Denver Nuggets, a person familiar with the player’s plans said Tuesday

one of the top nonconference matchups in college football this season. Klubnik has not won the opener yet as a starter, and he has never played one at home. But at least publicly, he downplayed its importance.

That’s because Klubnik knows the outcome won’t determine the rest of the season. Last year, Clemson lost 34-3 to Georgia in Week 1 before reaching the inaugural 12-team playoff.

“It’s just as important as any other game in my mind,” Klubnik said. “At the end of the day, I can’t treat that game any different than I would Week 2 or Week 3. It’s a long season, and I’m just trying to be my best self and trying to prepare myself and put my team in the best situation that I can to get ready for a long year.”

FULWILEY

Continued from page 1C

charge. Three of them, she noted, have proven they can play both on the ball and off the ball. Fulwiley is in that group. So, too, are Williams and Jada Richard, the sophomore from Lafayette who ﬂashed ﬂoor-spacing skills in the limited run she saw as a freshman.

“So I’ve got three that really could play multiple positions on the perimeter,” Mulkey said.

It’s a luxury LSU hasn’t had in recent years. In 2023, Alexis Morris ran almost exclusively as the primary point guard. In 2024, that job went to Hailey Van Lith. Shayeann DayWilson and Last-Tear Poa split most of those duties last season, but they sometimes passed the controls of the half-court offense over to Williams, who spent the second half of the year moonlighting as an initiator in special situations.

This offseason, Richard elected to return to LSU. But Day-Wilson exhausted her eligibility; Poa trans-

ferred to Arizona State; and Mjracle Sheppard transferred to California, leaving the Tigers with a need for an experienced ballhandler Fulwiley signed up to help LSU ﬁll that void. Mulkey has said that all it took was one phone call. Fulwiley said she wanted to play with the Tigers, and the Tigers decided to bring her aboard for what they hope are the most productive years of her career

“I thought MiLaysia was getting better,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told The Breakfast Club radio show in May “I saw a whole lot of growth, on and off the court. LSU’s going to get the best of her now We went through the hard part of just smoothing some rough edges and getting her to create good habits. I do think habits are the things that allow you to elevate.

“So I think what we’ve given her and what she’s given us, will allow her to have much better days, much more consistent days than she had with us at her next stop.”

Mulkey said she noticed some of that growth when Fulwiley visited LSU.

“She’s just got a maturity about her when you talk to her,” Mulkey said. “She already knows our players. I think people didn’t believe that was the ﬁrst time she’s made her visit. She made her decision based on what she played against and who she played against and who she wanted to play with.”

Now Fulwiley will share a backcourt with two established stars (Johnson and Williams), two returning shot creators (Richard and Kailyn Gilbert) and a trio of highly rated freshmen (ZaKiyah Johnson, Divine Bourrage and Bella Hines). The right blend of minutes could make that group one of the deepest, most dynamic collections of guards in the country It’s still too early, however, for Mulkey to start ﬁnding the right role for Fulwiley — one of next season’s most pressing questions. LSU only has just begun the process of adding her to the fold.

“You get them on the ﬂoor,” Mulkey said, “and as I like to say, it all takes care of itself, and you’ll be able to ﬁgure it out.”

Career-altering injuries have been a part of baseball forever, but this feels different. To dominate in today’s game, velocity is paramount. So is movement. The main goal is to make the baseball move as quickly and violently as possible, and today’s pitchers are throwing nastier pitches than ever before. A big fastball used to be anything in the 90s just a few decades ago. Now, that number is closer to 100. The big problem is that most human arms can’t handle the stress particularly for the lengthy amounts of time needed to chase

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU coach Kim Mulkey gives directions during a practice session for the NCAA Tournament on March 21 at the PMAC. The addition of South Carolina transfer guard MiLaysia Fulwiley gives Mulkey more options and versatility in the backcourt.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner dunks against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the NBA Finals on June 19 in Indianapolis

U-High’s Pinnockcommits to UL

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Decision day forUniversityHigh two-way football standoutJordan Pinnockwas Monday,and it came down to two schools.

The UL Ragin’ Cajuns were the early frontrunner,but NorthTexas madealatepush.

“It got pretty tough near the end,” said the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder from Baton Rouge. In the end, Pinnock stayed home and committed to the Cajuns.

“UL was the ﬁrstschool to get in on me and offer me ascholarship, so they’ve been on my radarfor a while,” Pinnock said. “They’ve kind of been in that No. 1spot as all the other schools started coming after me. UNT came tomyspring game and took me on an official visit. That made it areallyhard decision with the two OVs back-to-back, but ItoldthemI’d make thechoiceon

Monday andthatwas thechoice I made.”

As of June 30, Pinnock was UL’s 15th commitment for the 2026 class.

“Someschools aren’tgoingtotalk to youatall and then they’regoing to pop up everymonth or so,” Pinnock said.“Then thereare some schools who are going to badger youevery single day

“I feltlike the Ragin’ Cajuns did a really good job of ﬁnding that sweet spot in the middle. They talked to me, talkedtomymom and talked to my family and made it seem like it’safamily environment

“They’re going to be hospitable when Igothere —somewhere whereI canbefor four years.”

TheCajuns are recruiting Pinnockasadefensive end, but he’s going to be U-High’sstarting right tackle anda rotational player on the defensive line

“He’sgot speed,” U-High coach

Andy Martin said. “He’sbig and long. It’stough to get close to his body because he’ssolong. His long arms keep you away from him.

“He’svery good offthe edge and diagnoses plays very well. He continuestoget stronger.His best football is in front of him because he continues to get stronger. He’s still developing that strength.”

Further evidence of Pinnock’s versatilityisthatheplayed tight end last season and was aregular on specialteams,evenserving as one of the Cubs’ deep snappers.

Pinnock says his jobistoplay hard wherever he plays to show “how good can Imake the coaches look for putting me on the ﬁeld and howdumbcan Imakethemlookfor taking me off.”

He said his versatilitycomes from playing sportssuch as soccer andbasketball before starting football in the eighth grade.

“I didn’tjust learnhow to play

Legerresigns aftertwo

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

After two seasons of leading the UL pitching staff, former Ragin’ Cajuns All-America left-handed pitcher Gunner Leger has resigned his position as the pitching coach.

In hisﬁrst season withthe Ca-

juns, thenumbers were encouraging as the pitching staff played its part in the Cajuns taking the Sun Belttitle with a42-20 record Leger’sguys allowed 468 hits, 271 walks, hit80batters and struck out 597 battersin540 inningswitha4.48ERA. Opposing batters hit .232 in 2024. This past season, there wasno

dominant arm like LP Langevin, whostruck out 106 batters in 622/3 innings, and it showed. The UL pitchers struggled to a5.53ERA, allowing 539 hits, 252 walks, 88 hit batsmenand striking out460 in 5022/3 innings. Opposing hittersbatted.271. Defense wasalso an issuefor theCajuns this season with 57 un-

football,” Pinnock said. “I learned how to move and then Iapplied that to football.

“When you’re thinking about things in terms of movement insteadofjustall football,ithelps you to be open to thingsand learning and picking things up on the ﬂy.”

Martin said how much Pinnock grows in college could determine his eventual position.

“I think he’sa pass-rushing defensive end, but he’sgot athin frame right now,” he said. “He’s still putting weighton. With hisframe, he can put alot moreweight on and be able tohandle it well. It just depends on what his body does once he gets to college.”

Possessing “a high IQ and high football IQ”could also open more doors at UL for Pinnock.

The talk wasdefensive end during the recruiting process.

“I don’tthink it’sjust the speed,” Pinnock said of UL’s interest. “I

think it’sthe fact that Ican use my leverage. Ithink they believe in my ability to use my technique.I have long arms, pretty lanky guy so I think they believe in my ability to use technique to set the edge to be arun guy and apass guy “I can setthe edge andget away and get to the quarterback.They like to drop their field guys, so that’sanother thingthat they believe in me to be able to do.”

He also saidhecould be agood tight end, if he spent moretime there.

“I can run routes,” he said. “They threw me the ball once, but it was a little trick play.I wassupposed to be wide open andIlookedupand aﬁve-star DB Jacob Bradford is right there about 5yards in front of me eyeing me down, so it didn’t work too good.”

With his commitment out of the way,Pinnock is focusing on helping the Cubs win astate championship.

earnedruns compared to 40 in 2024.

Leger’sdeparture is the latest in an offseason of changes after a27-31 season, fallingshort of an NCAA regional berth for the ﬁrst time in four years. Along list of eligible players departed,including Carson Hepworth, Blaine Lucas, Matthew Holzhammer,Caleb Stelly,

SCOREBOARD

(Kikuchi3-6) at Atlanta (TBD), 6:15 p.m. Baltimore(Sugano 6-4) at Texas(Eovaldi 4-3), 7:05 p.m. Cleveland (Bibee 4-8) at Chicago Cubs (Imanaga

St.

(Gray8-2) at

(Keller 2-10), 11:35 a.m. San Diego (Cease 3-7) at Philadelphia(Abel 2-1), 12:05 p.m. Minnesota (Woods Richardson3-4)atMiami (Junk 2-0),5:40 p.m. Detroit (TBD)atWashington (Gore3-8), 5:45 p.m. Cincinnati (Martinez 5-8) at Boston (Bello 3-3), 6:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Misiorowski 3-0) at N.Y. Mets (Tidwell 0-1),6:10 p.m. L.A. Angels (Kikuchi 3-6)atAtlanta (TBD), 6:15 p.m. Cleveland (Bibee 4-8) at ChicagoCubs (Imanaga 4-2),7:05 p.m. Houston (Brown8-3) at Colorado (Gomber

0-1), 7:40 p.m. San Francisco (Roupp 6-5) at Arizona (Kelly 7-4), 8:40 p.m. Chicago White Sox(Burke4-7) at L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw4-0), 9:10 p.m. Tennis Wimbledon results Tuesday At All England Lawn Tennisand Croquet Club-London Surface: Grass Seedings in parentheses Men’s Singles First Round TommyPaul (13), United States, def. Johannus Monday,Britain, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. LorenzoSonego, Italy,def. Jaime Faria, Portugal, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Fabian Marozsan, Hungary, def. James McCabe, Australia, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. Alex de Minaur (11), Australia, def. Roberto CarballesBaena, Spain, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia, def. Alex Michelsen(30), U.S.,6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6). Sebastian Ofner, Austria, def. Hamad Medjedovic, Serbia, 7-6 (8), 3-1, ret. Jannik Sinner (1), Italy,def. LucaNardi, Italy 6-4, 6-3, 6-0. NikolozBasilashvili, Georgia, def. Lorenzo Musetti (7), Italy,6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Mariano Navone, Argentina, def. Denis Shapovalov(27), Canada, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 Arthur Cazaux, France, def. Adam Walton, Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-1. Aleksandar Vukic, Australia, def. Chun Hsin Tseng, Taiwan, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4). PedroMartinez, Spain, def. George Loffhagen, Britain, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 JaumeMunar, Spain, def. Alexander Bublik (28), Kazakhstan, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Daniel Evans,Britain, def. JayClarke,Britain,

6-1, 7-5, 6-2. JesperDeJong, Netherlands,def. Christopher Eubanks,U.S., 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (3). AugustHolmgren,Denmark, def. Quentin Halys, France, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4. Tomas Machac (21),Czechia, def. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. CorentinMoutet, France, def. Francisco Comesana, Argentina,6-4, 6-4, 6-2. FlavioCobolli (22),Italy,def. Beibit Zhukayev Kazakhstan, 6-3, 7-6(7),6-1. Marin Cilic,Croatia, def. Raphael Collignon Belgium,6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Jakub Mensik (15),Czechia, def. Hugo Gaston France, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. RinkyHijikata, Australia, def. David Gofﬁn, Belgium,6-3, 6-1, 6-1. Reilly Opelka, U.S.,def. AlexanderShevchenko,Russia, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Grigor Dimitrov (19),Bulgaria, def. Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan,6-2, 6-3, 6-4. JackDraper (4), Britain,def.Sebastian Baez, Argentina, 6-2, 6-2, 2-1, ret. Ben Shelton (10), U.S.,def. AlexBolt,Australia, 6-4, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4). JackPinnington Jones, Britain, def. Tomas Martin Etcheverry,Argentina,7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-5. Marcos Giron, U.S.,def. Camilo UgoCarabelli, Argentina, 7-6 (6), 7-6(4),6-3. Marton Fucsovics, Hungary,def. Aleksandar Kovacevic, U.S.,6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. Gael Monﬁls, France, def. Ugo Humbert (18), France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2. NovakDjokovic (6), Serbia,def. Alexandre Muller, France, 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2. Women’s Singles First Round Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Italy,def. Jessica Pegula (3), U.S.,6-2, 6-3. Suzan Lamens, Netherlands, def. IvaJovic, U.S.,6-1, 6-1. Ekaterina Alexandrova(18),Russia,def.Priscilla Hon, Australia, 6-2, 7-5. Daria Kasatkina(16),Russia, def. Emiliana Arango, Colombia,7-5,6-3. Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania, def. Kaja Juvan, Slovenia, 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-3. VeronikaErjavec, Slovenia, def. Marta Kostyuk (26), Ukraine, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. ClaraTauson (23),Denmark, def. Heather Watson, Britain,2-6,6-4, 6-3. Katie Volynets,U.S def. Tatjana Maria, Germany, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1. Liudmila Samsonova (19),Russia,def. Maya Joint, Australia, 6-3, 6-2. Anna Kalinskaya, Russia, def. Nina Stojanovic, Serbia, 6-3, 7-6(4) Zeynep Sonmez, Turkiye, def. Jaqueline Cristian, Romania, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Wang Xinyu, China,def. KarolinaMuchova (15), Czechia, 7-5, 6-2. Katerina Siniakova,Czechia, def. Zheng Qinwen(5), China, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. BarboraKrejcikova(17),Czechia,def.AlexandraEala, Philippines, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Lucia Bronzetti, Italy,def. Jil Teichmann, Switzerland, 6-4, 7-5. CatyMcNally,U.S def. Jodie Burrage, Britain, 6-3, 6-1.

Brooks Wright, CaseyArtigues, Riley Marcotte, Tate Hess, Luke Yuhasz, SamArdoin, ParkerDillhoff,Connor Cuff, Clayton Pourciau andJames Trimble. Shortly afterthe season,coach Matt Deggs added longtime McNeese State coach Jimmy Ricklefsen to the staff to help with recruiting efforts.

IgaSwiatek (8), Poland, def. PolinaKudermetova,Russia, 7-5, 6-1. Maria Sakkari, Greece, def. Anna Blinkova, Russia, 6-4, 6-4. Danielle Collins, U.S.,def. Camila Osorio, Colombia,6-3,6-2. MirraAndreeva(7),Russia, def. Maiar Sherif AhmedAbdelaziz, Egypt, 6-3, 6-3. Victoria Mboko,Canada, def. Magdalena Frech (25),Poland, 6-3, 6-2. Yuliia Starodubtseva, Ukraine, def. Francesca Jones, Britain,1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Emma Navarro(10),U.S def. PetraKvitova, Czechia, 6-3, 6-1. CarolineDolehide, U.S.,def. Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, 6-2, 6-2. Hailey Baptiste,U.S def. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 6-7 (0), 6-1, 6-2. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Spain,def.Ella Seidel, Germany, 6-3, 3-2, ret. Veronika Kudermetova,Russia, def. Zhu Lin China,6-3, 6-2. Belinda Bencic, Switzerland, def. Alycia Parks, U.S.,6-0, 6-3. SoﬁaKenin (28),U.S def. TaylorTownsend, U.S.,7-6 (5), 6-2. ElenaRybakina(11),Kazakhstan,def.Elina Avanesyan, Russia, 6-2, 6-1. Anastasia Zakharova, Russia, def. Victoria Azarenka,Belarus,6-2, 2-6, 6-1. Elsa Jacquemot, France, def. Magda Linette (27),Poland, 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4. Dayana Yastremska, Ukraine, def.

(2), U.S.,7-6 (3), 6-1 Pro basketball WNBAglance

Expressing gratitude can transform work, life

BY CATHY BUSSEWITZ

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The first thing

Alison C. Jones does when she wakes up is to name three things she’s grateful for It can be as simple as the breeze from a fan or as meaningful as the way a friend showed up for her emotionally Jones, an organizational development consultant, said the daily practice has helped her through hardships and the anxiety and vulnerability of starting her own business as a single mom.

“When you practice gratitude, you train your brain to always look for the positive in anything. It just completely shifts everything you’re going through,” she said. “You start to see the lessons in the pain. You start to see the beauty in the very difﬁcult times because you realize, ‘Hey, I’m growing stronger.’”

Practicing and encouraging gratitude can be a simple way to boost morale at a time when layoffs and economic uncertainty are causing stress and anxiety

Some employers have found that workers who receive expressions of gratitude show more engagement and willingness to help others.

Other proponents say expressing and receiving appreciation can help reduce stress, as well as improve a person’s mood and outlook.

But despite its beneﬁts, promoting gratefulness is often overlooked as a valuable way to spend time and resources in the workplace.

Experts in organizational change shared ways to incorporate more gratitude into the workday

“Being grateful absolutely doesn’t mean that we accept anything subpar or inappropriate. It’s important not to confuse gratitude with being passive.”

ALISON C. JONES, an organizational development consultant

Start small

If you’re new to practicing gratitude, you can start at home with a routine such as Jones’ custom of expressing gratitude before getting out of bed. She made her gratitude practice easy so it would become a sustainable habit. Her one rule is avoiding repetition and stretching her mind to find new things to be grateful for each day Jones also recommends finding a “gratitude buddy” to share with. A buddy may be a friend from work or your social circles, and ideas can be exchanged in person, by text or email, or during a phone call. Many people find it helpful to list what they’re grateful for in a journal.

Gratitude in the workplace

At work, a team leader can begin a staff meeting by expressing gratitude for what went well in the last week, suggested Peter Bonanno, a consultant who helps companies design mindfulnessbased programs. As humans, we often have a bias toward negativity, but gratitude “just does an enormous amount to shift people’s mindsets and the way they engage with each other,” he said. “Gratitude is especially powerful in that way It doesn’t take a long time for people to notice an impact.”

O.C. Tanner Institute, a software and service company, helps organizations find effective

ä See GRATITUDE, page 6C

Lafayette bakery’s hyper-realistic treats will have you asking:

‘IS

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

IT CAKE?’

Serving Acadiana for nearly a decade, Piece of Cake Lafayette makes specialty cakes, grab-andgo items and hyper-realistic cakes that will have customers asking if the designs are real or cake.

Whether it’s a life-sized ScoobyDoo cake, an almond-ﬂavored armadillo, a buttercream-ﬁlled cockroach, or a Popeyes Chicken cake that tastes more sweet than savory, Piece of Cake is the place to try it.

“I have replicated it all,” owner Morgan Reed said. “Cakes are so much grander now because people want spinning cakes, hyperrealistic cakes, life-size cakes.”

Reed’s cakes have caught the attention of notable faces over the years including rapper Paul Wall, singer Lauren Daigle, mixed martial arts ﬁghter Dustin Porier, and more.

Customizing cakes to cater to the buyer’s personality, Piece of Cake’s portfolio ranges from Paul Wall’s custom platinum silver cake with edible grills on top to a cockroach cake for a groom who was an exterminator Reed also created a Jack Daniel’s whiskey barrel cake that dispensed actual liquor for a small gathering.

What is Reed’s secret to perfect, uniquely baked cakes?

It’s all about the structure of the cake, she said. With a team of up

Whatever

Quesabirria

to ﬁve bakers, Reed sits down to sketch out ideas and design how to build each cake.

“The sketches usually take a full 24 hours. The fun part comes after that, but people don’t realize we are not only bakers, but also contractors, if you will. It took years of practice,” she said.

A New Orleans native, Reed said her cake customizing journey began back in 2010 when she visited a Michaels craft store and discovered a baking class.

Although baking wasn’t her forte,

trying new things was. After completing the baking class taught by well-known Lafayette-based cake instructor Geneva Breaux, Reed wanted to learn more. Soon after, she started working at local bakeries in Lafayette and in 2015 decided to open Piece of Cake Bakery With a marketing degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Reed said she always hoped to one day be a business owner or an art teacher

Popeyes fried chicken was another subject of a realistic cake baked by Morgan Reed.

PROVIDED PHOTOS By PIECE OF CAKE LAFAyETTE BAKERy

Piece of Cake Lafayette Bakery’s Morgan Reed made a hyperrealistic ground beef cake.

ä See CAKES, page 6C

Don’tlet makeup ruin your skin

Dear Heloise: Since Iread your column almost daily, I see people who write in and brag that they don’twash off their makeup yet have lovely complexions. Having worked with adermatologist for over 20 years, Ibelieve Ican say that they may think they have nice facial skin, but 99% of people we see who sleep in their makeup usually have very coarse complexions. People don’tseem to realize that your skin is actually abreathing organ. When you leave makeup on overnight, it’smuch harder for the skin to breathe, causing your skin to dry out and ﬁne lines to start forming. The skin cannot exfoliate dead skin cells, and it traps free radicals and pollution on the skin when makeup is blocking the pores

damaging your skin and causingpremature aging. It only takes afew minutes to wash your face and apply a night cream

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, July 2, the 183rd day of 2025. There are 182 days left in the year

—Kathy L., in Paterson, NewJersey Kathy, Ihave advocatedfor washingoff makeup every night, but Istill getletters fromwomen who sleep in their makeup nightly and refuse to wash it off. Ihope your letter hasmade afew of my readersunderstand howimportant it is to take care of their skin.

—Heloise Indoor pollution

furniture (especially if it’s new) can cause air pollution.Ask your doctor if they have alist of air pollutants that they can provide you with. —Heloise Afternoonslump

Dear Heloise: Ifound agreat way to beat the“afternoon slump” we all seem toget after lunch. Anew girl came to work in our ofﬁce, and she would bring alight lunch, which would be some almonds or walnuts, abanana, and maybe someyogurt or cheese. Afterward, she’d go for abrisk walk outside in the sunshine.

Today’shighlightinhistory:

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law asweeping civil rights bill passedbyCongress prohibiting discrimination and segregation based on race, color,sex, religionornational origin.

as White mobsattacked Black residents; at least 50 and as manyas200 people, mostofthem Black, are believed to have died in the violence.

In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight along the equator

We don’tsee ourselves as others see us, so it’spossible that someone thinks their skin is just ﬁne. But if you sleep in your makeup night after night, you are

Dear Heloise: My doctor said he thought my respiratory problems have been caused by indoor pollution. Icould understand it if it was outdoorpollution, butindoor pollution? Is there really such athing? —Jacob E.,Hagerstown, Maryland Jacob,yes, indoor pollution is aseriousproblem for thousands of people. Cigarette smoke, gas stoves, air fresheners, and even “offgassing” on some products such as rugs, wallpaper or

Onebyone, we all began to follow her example until there were about 20 of us walking down thesidewalk. At ﬁrst,myboss thought we were protesting but later joined us when he discovered that none of us got the afternoon slump! By theway,weall love reading your columnfor its terriﬁc ideas. Thanks! —Julie G., in Dallas

Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

their goat options.

—Serena Puang, features writer Carne asada bowl

n Luna Cocina, 3109 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge

On asunny day in Baton Rouge, alunch on acovered patio is always nice to enjoy the weather.Lucky for us, Luna Cocina now has two outdoor options: aside patio and arooftop!

After alook at the menu, Ipicked something new to try and ordered the carne asada bowl, which features everything anyone could ever want in abowl. The dish includes tender grilled skirt steak, cilantro,pickled onions, corn, tomatoes, peppers, refried beans, rice and adollop of sour cream. Ilove abowl for the main

reason that every biteaffordsanew ﬂavor burst —Lauren Cheramie, features coordinator

Oyster po-boy

n Phil’sOyster Bar,4335 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge

If Food Network celebrity host Guy Fieri didn’tmake room for an oyster po-boy when he ﬁlmed at Phil’s Oyster Bar in February,he missed out Ever in search of an authentic New Orleanspoboy,weheaded to Phil’son arecentSunday.Forgetting

that it was aLSU baseball gameday,Ihesitated as we entered the packed restaurant.Fortunately,Phil’s is used to acrowd, and we were quickly seated. Isettled upon ahalf oyster po-boy,while my husband decided on the best of both worlds —the whole half oyster,half shrimp po-boy

From theperfectly toasted traditional white po-boy bread down to the masterfully fried oysters, this sandwich was awinner.More times than not, we’ve found, the oysters at other restaurants have one of three problems: too much breading, under-fried or over-fried. These were crunchy on the outside and soft,yet not mushy,onthe inside, with thebatter used sparingly.Dressed with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and homemade pickles, Phil’s hit this one out of thepark. —Judy Bergeron, features assistant editor

Also on this date: In 1776, theContinental Congress passed aresolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought tobe, free and independent States.”

In 1881, President James A. Garﬁeld was shotby Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garﬁeld died thefollowing September.(Guiteau was hanged in June 1882.)

In 1917, rioting erupted in East St. Louis, Illinois,

GRATITUDE

Continuedfrom page5C

ways to showappreciation to theiremployees,such as managersgiving handwrittennotes of thanks. The companyhelpedAmerican Airlines develop asystem for managers and colleaguestorecognizegood workwith pointsthat can be applied to acatalog order

It also helped Amway creategift boxes to celebrate workers’ accomplishments and important personal milestones, such as buying ahome or adopting achild.

“Recognitionimpactsso manyfacets of the employee experience. And when you do it well, it connects people back to adeep sense of purpose andmeaning,” said Meghan Stettler,a director at O.C. Tanner

Somecompanies donate their own products to thank nurses, doctors,police officers,firefighters andother workers who serve their communities. Frontline Builders, anonprofit organization launched during the pandemic, connects donors of snacks, drinks and personal care items with recipients “We’ve all worked in that job where we weren’tshown gratitude andrealized how muchthat stinks,”said Jason Lalak,partnership director at Frontline Builders. “Showing someone gratitude or showing appreciation doesn’t really cost anything, and shouldn’tbethat difficult of athing, andyet

In 1976, the U.S. SupremeCourt, in Gregg v. Georgia, ruled 7-2 that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

In 1986, ruling in apair of cases, the Supreme Court upheld afﬁrmative action as aremedy forpast job discrimination.

In 2018, rescue divers in Thailand found alive 12 boys and their soccer coach, whohad been trapped by ﬂooding as they explored acave morethan aweek earlier In 2022, thepolicechief

it’srarer than it should be.”

Taking it further

Wittsell is part of ateam of volunteers at Denver Health’sRESTORE program, whichconnects front-line hospital workers with trained peer responders for confidential emotional support.

The hospital started the programasa way to improve and sustain the emotional well-being of its workforce, said TiaHenry, the program’sdirector.Volunteers take shifts so someoneisavailable around-theclock to answer calls from hospital personnel who are strugglingwithstressful events such as losing apatient or witnessing violence.

Volunteers and staff regularly express gratitude for the program,Henry said.

“I’ve had calls on my way to work: ‘I’m having ahard timeand Ineed to talk with somebody who gets it,’ Wittsell said. “It’sagood waytogive back to the people that Iwork with.”

Aside frompeersupport, RESTORE also provides training andeducationto employees about stress, burnout and techniques to deescalateviolence, Henry said.

“We’re not doing counseling or therapy, but we’re using components of psychological ﬁrst aid to truly engage timely with our teammates when they’re distressed,helping them calm their nervous system and get back to the place of regulation where they can

forthe Uvalde, Texas, school district stepped down from his CityCouncil seat amidcriticism of his response to themass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school in which19students andtwo teachers wereslain on May24ofthat year

Today’sbirthdays: Former Philippine ﬁrst lady Imelda Marcos is 96. Actor Polly Holliday is 88. Racing Hall of Famer Richard Petty is 88. Former White House chief of staffand former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu is 86. Writer-directorcomedian Larry David is 78. Rock musician Roy Bittan (Bruce Springsteen &the EStreet Band) is 76. Actor Wendy Schaal is 71. Actor-model Jerry Hall is 69. Former baseball player Jose Canseco is 61. Race car driver Sam Hornish Jr is 46. Former NHLcenter Joe Thornton is 46. Singer Michelle Branch is

showback up anddowhat it is they need to do or they can lay something down and go back home,” Henry said.“That is gratitude from my lens.”

Work forchange

Indy Public Safety Foundation, an Indianapolis nonprofit organization that supportsfront-lineworkers shows gratitude to police, firefighters and paramedics throughawardsbanquets, trainings, andshowing up with food, shaking hands and saying thank you after acommunity tragedy Foundationstaff members take gratitude astep further by providing tools and equipment such as electric bikes for police patrols. While front-line workers were applaudedduring the pandemic, “their work has continued and arguably not gotten any less stressful, andsome of thatsupport has waned,” said DaneNutty,the foundation’spresident and CEO.

While practicing gratitude maymake for amore pleasant on-the-job environment, it’snot areplacementfor better working conditions. It’sgood to be grateful to have ajob that pays the bills. It’salso important to ask for what’sfair

“Being grateful absolutely doesn’tmean that we accept anything subpar or inappropriate,” Jones said, adding that people should advocate forbasic needssuch as meal breaks. “It’simportant not to confusegratitude with being passive.”

“As an artsy person, baking allowed me to utilize my degree for my business and express my artistic talent,” Reed said. “I got my LLC in 2011 in hopes of opening my own business one day and look where Iamnow.” Piece of Cake Lafayette bakery hasnow reached

over 20,000 likes and 32,000 followers on its Facebook page. With the overwhelming community support, Reed said she recently started a pay-what-you-can an event where buyers can come in the bakery andpay anywhere from 50 cents to $1 for up to four cake slices. Theﬁrst pay-what-you-can event happened in March andanother wasscheduled forJune.

“I wanted to give back to thecommunitythatgave to me. In other words, you feed my staffsoI’m going to feed you,” Reed said. Piece of Cake Lafayette bakery is located at 1507 Kaliste Saloom Road or visit the website forany information on customcakes and orders.

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.

Hints from Heloise

STAFF PHOTO By JUDyBERGERON The half oyster po-boyat Phil’sOysterBar

STAFF PHOTO By LAUREN CHERAMIE

Carne asada bowl from Luna Cocina

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Finish what you start. You must build momentum and maintain a solid grip on your goals before you face opposition. Actions speak louder than words.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Rethink what you want and how to make it happen. Put pressure on any person or situation that stands between you and your goal. A partnership will turn out better than anticipated.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Slow down, give yourself a chance to think and formulate the best path forward. Refuse to let anger set in when dignity and grace are necessary. Life is too short to let upset or people consume your mind and time.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Overreacting is the enemy. Talking with someone you trust to give you an honest opinion will help you figure out how to handle stressful emotional scenarios.

ScORPIO (Oct. 24-nov. 22) The lessons of experience will push you in the right direction. Displaying an open mind will be necessary, but don't feel obligated to donate cash.

SAGITTARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Spend only what you can afford. Concentrate on bringing in more cash and investing in your future. Maintaining a secure lifestyle will require additional funds

cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Avoid making the same mistake twice. Whether you are dealing with money, love or health, choose the route that has the best track record. A change within

will encourage those you love to follow suit.

AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) It's up to you to bring about change and to go after what you want. Be the one to start a conversation or take a step. Share your interests and find out where you stand.

PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) Let your heart lead the way, and opportunities will unfold. An energetic attitude will help you pursue happiness and manifest the life you want to live. Physical improvements will exceed your expectations. ARIES (March 21-April 19) Proceed with caution. Someone will be easily offended if you ask too many questions or make demands. Do your own thing, participate in something intellectually stimulating and let your success shine through.

TAuRuS (April 20-May 20) Engage in learning, expanding your interests and fine-tuning your skills. You have plenty to gain if you participate in a group activity that offers physical health benefits.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Make changes at home that improve your life. Discuss issues you have with anyone who is causing you concern or grief. Face situations head-on instead of letting your stress consume you.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

TODAy'S cLuE: Z EQuALS O

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

nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Forthelasttwodays,wehavelookedat responder’s inviting game with 5-4 in the majors opposite a one-no-trump opening bid. What does he do with game-forcing values? The best method is the Smolen convention. Responder bids two clubs, Stayman. If the opener shows a fourcard major, responder raises to game in that suit. But if the opener rebids two diamonds, the responder jumps to three of his four-card major. In this way, if they have a 5-3 major-suit fit, the opener becomes the declarer as in today’s deal. (Three no-trump would have been fine here, but if North had, say, a singleton diamond, the weakness in that suit might have been fatal.) West leads the diamond king against four hearts. How should South plan the play?

Note that if North is the declarer in four hearts, the diamond-10 lead from East, a likely choice, would be lethal. The defenders would get one heart, two diamonds and one club.

In contrast, when South is the declarer, he is in control as long as he ducks the first trick, executing a Bath Coup. What can West do next?

A trump shift is best. If declarer tries the finesse, he goes down because East wins and leads back a diamond. But South, anticipating that scenario, should win with dummy’s ace and call for the clubfive.IfEasttakesthetrickandplays a diamond, South wins, throws dummy’s lastdiamondonahighclub,andworkson trumps to take two spades, four hearts, one diamond and three clubs. Or if East duckstheclub,declarerwinsandreturns a club, discarding a diamond from the dummy.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

InSTRucTIOnS:

Average

Puzzle Answer

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

BRIEFS FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Delta Utilities closes purchase with Entergy Delta Utilities announced Tuesday it had closed on its $484 million purchase of Entergy’s natural gas business.

Ofﬁcials with both companies had said the deal would close in the second half of the year

Delta Utilities, headquartered in New Orleans, was set up by Bernhard Capital Partners Earlier this year Delta Utilities completed the purchase of CenterPoint Energy’s natural gas distribution operations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Delta Utilities is now the leading natural gas utility in Louisiana and Mississippi and one of the top 40 natural gas providers in the U.S., said Jeff Jenkins, Bernhard founder and partner Delta Utilities has nearly 600,000 customers across the Gulf Coast, including 209,000 in New Orleans and East Baton Rouge Parish. Entergy natural gas customers have been automatically transferred to Delta Utilities. However, account holders will have to reenroll in programs such as paperless billing, automatic payments, level billing and pick-a-date billing. Information on how to reenroll will be included in the ﬁrst gas bill and are available at deltautilities.com

Wall Street is split as tech drops

A mixed day of trading left the U.S. stock market split on Tuesday as Wall Street’s momentum slowed after setting record highs in each of the past two days. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% for its ﬁrst loss in four days The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 400 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8%. Drops for several darlings of the artificial-intelligence frenzy weighed on the market. Nvidia’s decline of 3% was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. But more stocks within the index rose than fell, led by several casino companies. They rallied following a report showing better-than-expected growth in overall gaming revenue in Macao, China’s casino hub. Las Vegas Sands gained 8.9%, Wynn Resorts climbed 8.8% and MGM Resorts International rose 7.3%.

Lululemon files suit against Costco

Lululemon has ﬁled a lawsuit against Costco that accuses the wholesale club operator of selling lower-priced duplicates of some of its popular athleisure clothing.

Lululemon Athletica claims in its lawsuit ﬁled in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that Costco has “unlawfully traded” on its reputation, goodwill and sweat equity by selling unauthorized and unlicensed apparel that uses knockoff, infringing versions of its patents

Lululemon alleges that Costco is known to use manufacturers of popular branded products for its private label Kirkland brand, but that the company and the manufacturers don’t tell consumers of the connection between them for many of the Kirkland-branded products

Because of this, Lululemon claims this leads at least some shoppers to believe that Kirkland-branded products are made by the authentic supplier of the “original” products. Lululemon claims Costco doesn’t try to dispel the ambiguity.

“As an innovation-led company that invests signiﬁcantly in the research, development, and design of our products, we take the responsibility of protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights very seriously and pursue the appropriate legal action when necessary,” a Lululemon company spokesperson said in a statement

Some of the products Lululemon says Costco is making duplicates of include its popular Scuba hoodies, Deﬁne jackets and ABC pants.

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON Federal Reserve

Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday stuck to his position that the central bank will keep its key rate on hold while it waits to see how President Donald Trump’s tariffs effect the economy, despite the steady stream of criticism from the White House, which wants lower borrowing costs.

Powell, speaking in Sintra, Portugal, at a conference hosted by the European Central Bank, also said that U.S inﬂation is likely to pick up later this summer, though he acknowledged that the timing and magnitude of any price increase from the duties is uncertain. But he said the Fed will keep rates on hold while it evaluates the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy.

“As long as the economy is in solid shape, we think the prudent thing to do is to wait and see what those effects might be,” Powell said, referring to the sweeping duties Trump has imposed this year Powell’s comments underscored the divide between the U.S. cen-

tral bank’s leader and the Trump administration. Trump has repeatedly urged the Fed to cut its key rate, which he says would save U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars on interest costs on the federal government’s massive debt, and boost the economy The fight has threatened the Fed’s traditional independence from politics, though, since the Supreme Court signaled the president can’t fire the chair, financial markets haven’t responded to Trump’s criticism.

The Fed chair also said that without tariffs, the Fed would probably be cutting its key rate right now The central bank went “on hold” after it saw how large Trump’s pro-

posed tariffs were, Powell said, and economists began forecasting higher inﬂation. Powell did not rule out a rate cut at the Fed’s next policy meeting July 29-30.

On Monday the president attacked Powell again and extended his criticisms to the entire Fed governing board, which participates in interest-rate decisions.

“The board just sits there and watches, so they are equally to blame,” Trump said. The attack on the board ratchets up pressure on individual Fed ofﬁcials, such as Governor Chris Waller, who have been mentioned as potential successors to Powell, whose term ends in May 2026.

BY MICHELLE L PRICE, BERNARD CONDON AND MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Elon Musk may ﬁnd out what happens when DOGE bites man.

The billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner who catapulted his zealous embrace of President Donald Trump into a powerful position, slashing government spending, now risks sweeping cuts to his own bottom line after resuming the feud that led to their very public bitter split last month.

Musk’s renewed heckling of Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, threatens to put billions of dollars of his government contracts in jeopardy if Trump retaliates. The rupture of their tenuous peace has resulted in a wobbling of the stock price of a marketmoving company and led the president to muse about deporting Musk to his native South Africa. In a Frankenstein-style twist, as Musk volleyed fresh critiques about the cost of Trump’s signature legislation, Trump mused Tuesday about turning Musk’s Department of Government Efﬁciency back on its creator

“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a tour of a new immigration detention center in Florida. Trump also suggested in an early morning social media post that if Musk lost his government contracts, he “would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”

Asked by a reporter later if he would deport Musk, Trump paused and said, “I don’t know We’ll have to take a look.”

In response, Musk wrote on X: “So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.” Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to messages seeking comment about their CEO.

The big bill divide Musk has called Trump’s big bill a ﬁnancial boondoggle for America that would kill jobs and bog down burgeoning industries. He’s not limiting himself to harsh assessments on social media On Monday, he threatened to reinsert himself into politics and try to oust every member of Congress who votes for the bill.

“They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk said in one post.

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer

NEW YORK Anne Wojcicki’s bid to buy 23andMe, the genetic testing company she cofounded nearly 20 years ago, has received the court greenlight.

That means Wojcicki’s nonproﬁt TTAM Research Institute will purchase “substantially all” of San Francisco-based 23andMe’s assets for $305 million. The transaction — which arrives more than three months after 23andMe ﬁled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — is

In other posts, he branded Republicans “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” and threatened to create a new political party Trump has said Musk is actually irritated by the legislation’s dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles and related technologies. Musk has denied this, but the rollback could hurt Tesla’s ﬁnances

“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social media network.

Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002, according to a biography of him by Walter Isaacson. It’s unclear if Trump would take the extraordinary step of having the government explore the rare process of removing his citizenship, known as denaturalization. Feud has high stakes for Musk Musk’s rocket and satellite company, SpaceX, is also in Trump’s crosshairs.

“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE,” Trump said in his post. “BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

SpaceX has received billions of federal dollars to help send astronauts into space and perform other work for NASA, including a contract to send a team from the space agency to the moon next year

But the most immediate fallout of their

feud was the tumbling stock in Tesla, down 5.3% on Tuesday Tesla stock’s performance can have an outsize impact on the stock market index funds in which millions of Americans’ 401(k)s have invested their retirement savings. The electric vehicle maker is one of the Magniﬁcent Seven, the group of companies that includes Apple and Google parent Alphabet and that account for about a third of the value of the S&P 500.

Musk’s social media outbursts come at a delicate time for his car company Tesla is just a week into its test run of its self-driving “robotaxi” service in Austin, Texas. Musk needs that test to succeed if he hopes to make good on his promise to investors that he will be able to quickly offer the service in other cities over the next few months.

One possible hurdle to that: federal safety regulators.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requested information from Tesla last week after videos began circulating on social media of a few of its autonomous cabs in Austin driving erratically including one heading down an opposing lane.

That followed a NHTSA request for data last month on how the driverless taxis will perform in low-visibility conditions, which itself followed an investigation last year into 2.4 million Teslas equipped with full selfdriving software after several accidents, including one that killed a pedestrian.

set to ofﬁcially close in the coming weeks.

“I am thrilled that TTAM will be able to build on the mission of 23andMe to help people access, understand and beneﬁt from the human genome,” Wojcicki said in a statement Monday later adding that, “the future of health care belongs to all of us.”

The sale, which was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brian C. Walsh on Friday, marks the end of a monthslong bidding war between TTAM and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals a biotech company that had previously agreed to buy most of 23andMe’s assets for $256 million in May But Wojcicki’s nonproﬁt later topped that offer, winning the ﬁnal round of bidding held last month.

Under the deal, TTAM will acquire 23andMe’s signature “Personal Genome Service” provided through the company’s salivabased DNA testing kits — as well as research operations and its Lemonaid Health subsidiary, a telehealth services provider that 23andMe previously planned to wind down. Wojcicki had worked to take 23andMe private for some time. With the company struggling to find a profitable business model since going public in 2021, she’s maintained that it would operate better outside market pressures. But that endeavor proved to be tumultuous — notably in September of last year, when all of 23andMe’s independent directors resigned from its board citing a “clear” dif-

ference of opinion with Wojcicki on the company’s future following drawn-out negotiations. Leading up to 23andMe’s March bankruptcy ﬁling, subsequent efforts from Wojcicki to acquire the company were unsuccessful. And when 23andMe ﬁled for Chapter 11 in late March, Wojcicki resigned as CEO — noting at the time that she was stepping down to be “in the best position” as an independent bidder Now that Wojcicki’s nonprofit will acquire 23andMe, it’s unclear whether the co-founder will step back into the CEO seat But despite stepping down from the top post months ago, Wojcicki has remained on the company’s board throughout the bankruptcy process.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

Elon Musk joins President Donald Trump during a May 30 news conference in the Oval Office of the White House.