Two years ago, Fort Polk became Fort Johnson, shedding its Confederate namesake and honoring a Black World War I hero.
On Friday, Louisiana’s largest military installation became Fort Polk once again.
But this time the base’s name refers to Gen. James H. Polk, awarded the Silver Star for his World War II service.
Founded in the early 1940s, the fort originally bore the name of Leonidas Polk, a Confederate general, slave owner and Louisiana’s first Episcopal bishop. The name change, required after Congress approved the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, was part of a broader effort to remove the names of Confederates from military facilities.
To get around that law, the new batch of names honors different people. Polk now refers to Gen. James H. Polk, a World War II cavalryman who became a commander of U.S. Army Europe, bolstering NATO’s defensive posture during the Cold War’s height, according to an announcement from the Joint and Readiness
La. better about holding prisoners, leaders say
But some skeptical overdetention problem has improved
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
In some cases, Louisiana has taken so long to convict defendants, calculate their sentences and then let them out of prison that they end up spending more time behind bars than their sentence requires.
For years, this overdetention has drawn criticism from federal judges and investigators and spurred multiple lawsuits.
But now, state officials say they have made big strides toward fixing the issue.
“This is not going to be an issue going forward,” Jonathan Vining, general counsel at the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections, said during a May meeting of the House Civil Law Committee. “I don’t believe it’s an issue. I really don’t. And you won’t find anybody in our agency to say otherwise.”
The agency set up an online portal where clerks of court and sheriffs can electronically submit an offender’s sentencing information, speeding up the calculation process.
Trump tours Texas flood damage
BY SEAN MURPHY and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
KERRVILLE, Texas President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded local officials amid mounting criticism that they failed to warn residents fast enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way
“The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable,” Trump told first responders and other state and local officials gathered at an emergency operations center in an expo hall in Kerrville.
ä See FLOOD, page 3A
Governor appoints new coastal protection agency chief
Landry taps Hare for executive director
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
Gov Jeff Landry announced Friday he has appointed a new head of the state’s coastal protection agency, a key role as Louisiana does battle against its worsening land loss crisis and intensifying hurricanes while facing upcoming money shortages. Michael Hare replaces Glenn Ledet as executive director of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Ledet recently departed to take over as secretary of the state Department of Transportation and Development.
Hare has served in a variety of roles in both government and the private sector related to environmental and coastal policy His past roles include deputy district director and legislative assistant to former U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany and director of government affairs and business development at RES, which bills itself as the nation’s largest environ-
mental mitigation company Before his appointment he was serving as founder of Wildhare Solutions LLC, consulting clients entering environmental markets, focusing on mitigation and coastal restoration, Landry’s office said in a statement Both of those issues are important to Louisiana, which is required to carry out mitigation plans when projects such as levee
construction damage the natural environment.
While not a scientist or engineer, he holds an MBA from LSU and a master’s degree in U.S. foreign policy from American University
His bachelor’s degree was in political science and economics.
“Michael has years of experience
ä See AGENCY, page 3A
Family members unveil a portrait of Gen. James H. Polk on Friday during the garrison renaming ceremony at The Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk in honor of the general, who was awarded the Silver Star during World War II and was named one of Gen. Black Jack Pershing’s 100 Heroes of World War I in Fort Polk.
The new sign hangs on the headquarters building at the newly renamed Fort Polk.
Tourist lost in Outback found after 12 days
MELBOURNE, Australia German tourist Carolina Wilga was found alive in Australia’s remote Outback on Friday 12 days after she went missing and a day after her abandoned van was discovered, police said.
The last known sighting of the 26-year-old backpacker and the last day family and friends heard from her, was June 29. She was seen a general store in the wheat farming town of Beacon, 200 miles northeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth. Beacon had a population of 123 during the 2021 census.
A member of the public found Wilga wandering on a forest trail late Friday, Western Australia Police Force Inspector Martin Glynn said. She was in a “fragile” state but had no serious injuries and was flown to a hospital in Perth for treatment, Glynn told reporters.
“I think once we do hear her story, it will be a remarkable story,” Glynn said, adding it was a “great result” for the backpacker’s family and those involved in the search.
“You know, she’s obviously coped in some amazing conditions,” he said. “There’s a very hostile environment out there, both from flora and fauna. It’s a really, really challenging environment to cope in.”
The reserve where Wilga was lost covers more than 740,000 acres. The Thursday-Friday overnight temperature was 36.7 degrees Fahrenheit in the area with no rain.
The crew of a police helicopter spotted her van Thursday in wilderness in the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve, 22 miles north of Beacon, Glynn said.
Truck plunges off bridge into the Delaware River WILMINGTON, Del A tractortrailer cab crashed through a concrete barrier Friday and plunged off the Delaware Memorial Bridge into the Delaware River, authorities said.
It wasn’t clear how many people were in the cab, which was found in about 20 feet of water, according to the Delaware River Bay and Authority. Authorities had not confirmed any deaths as of Friday afternoon.
The bridge, which has a clearance of about 175 feet above the river, has two four-lane spans and connects Delaware and New Jersey
The truck, which was heading into Delaware, crossed three lanes of traffic before striking the barrier and going into the river early Friday morning, according to the river authority.
Greene rants ‘they’ are controlling the weather
Far right-wing congresswoman and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene raged that an unspecified “they” are controlling the weather on X.
“First, they said we were crazy for saying they are controlling the weather and spraying chemicals in our skies,” the MAGA loyalist wrote “Now they are admitting that they are controlling the weather and spraying chemicals in our skies, BUT that it’s not causing any harm.”
Greene, who once claimed space lasers operated by prominent Jewish bankers might be to blame for California wildfires, frequently uses “they” to describe a vaguely defined liberal “deep state” that operates in secrecy
“Call me crazy I don’t care. but I’ll go ahead and say it,” Greene continued before declaring “weather modification and geoengineering is deadly and dangerous” and said “they” can’t prove otherwise. The 51-year-old firebrand said she’s championing a bill that will ban those practices without providing evidence on a meaningful level that either such process exists.
Plea deal in Sept. 11 case tossed
Agreement would’ve allowed accused mastermind to plead guilty
BY MARK SHERMAN and JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
WASHINGTON A divided federal appeals court on Friday threw out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks.
The decision by a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles.
It signals there will be no quick end to the long struggle by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks ever on the
United States. The deal, negotiated over two years and approved by military prosecutors and the Pentagon’s senior official for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a year ago, stipulated life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two co-defendants.
Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another of the hijacked planes flew into a field in Pennsylvania.
Relatives of the Sept. 11 victims were split on the plea deal Some objected to it, saying a trial was the best path to justice and to gaining more information about the attacks, while others saw it as the best hope for bringing the painful case to a conclusion and getting some answers from the
defendants. The plea deal would have obligated the men to answer any lingering questions that families of the victims have about the attacks.
But then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin repudiated the deal, saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as Sept. 11 should only be made by the defense secretary
Attorneys for the defendants had argued that the agreement was already legally in effect and that Austin, who served under President Joe Biden, acted too late to try to throw it out. A military judge at Guantanamo and a military appeals panel agreed with the defense lawyers. But, by a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found Austin acted within his authority and faulted
Father mourns 2 sons killed in Israeli strike
BY WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Three brothers in the Gaza Strip woke up early to run to a local clinic to get “sweets,” their word for the emergency food supplements distributed by aid groups. By the time their father woke up, two of the brothers had been fatally wounded by an Israeli strike and the third had lost an eye.
The strike outside the clinic on Thursday in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 14 people, including 9 children, according to a local hospital, which had initially reported 10 children killed but later said one had died in a separate incident.
The Israeli military said it targeted a militant it said had taken part in the Hamas attack that ignited the 21-month war Security camera footage appeared to show two young men targeted as they walked past the clinic where several people were squatting outside.
Hatem Al-Nouri’s 4-year-old son, Amir, was killed immediately. His 8-year-old son, Omar, was still breathing when he reached the hospital but died shortly thereafter He said that at first he didn’t recognize his third son, 2-year-old Siraj, because his eye had been torn out.
“What did these children do to deserve this?” the father said as he broke into tears. “They were dreaming of having a loaf of bread.”
In a separate development, Israeli set-
tlers killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry It said Seifeddin Musalat, 23, was beaten to death and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest in the village of Sinjil near the city of Ramallah. Both were 23.
The military said Palestinians had hurled rocks at Israelis in the area earlier on Friday, lightly wounding two people. That set off a larger confrontation that included “vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical clashes, and rock hurling,” the army said. It said troops had dispersed the crowds, without saying if anyone was arrested.
Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence, which has spiked — along with Palestinian attacks and Israeli military raids — since the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza while trying to get food, according to local health officials. Experts say hunger is widespread among the territory’s 2 million Palestinians and that Israel’s blockade and military offensive have put them at risk of famine.
Doctors Without Borders said it has recorded a “sharp and unprecedented rise” in acute malnutrition at two clinics it operates in Gaza, with more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women, and nearly 500 children, receiving outpatient therapeutic food.
Flash floods once again hit Vt.
BY AMANDA SWINHART and KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press
SUTTON,Vt.— Communities in rural parts of Vermont on Friday woke up once again to damaged homes and washed-out roads due to heavy rainfall and flash flooding, making it the third consecutive summer that severe floods have inundated parts of the state.
Up to 5 inches of rain fell in just a few hours on Thursday prompting rapid flooding as local waterways began to swell, said Robert Haynes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Burlington office.
Nearly 20 homes were cut off in the small town of Sutton as a local brook quickly rose from its banks and surrounded buildings, Fire Chief Kyle Seymour said. His crews were called out to help rescue people from two homes, which required help from swift-water rescue teams called in from neighboring communities.
“This was an incredibly strong, quick-moving localized heavy water,” Seymour said. “It overwhelmed all of our road culverts, all of our streams, all of our rivers. But the actual weather event lasted three hours, with the bulk of the rain
concentrated within one hour.”
Though the severity of the storms wasn’t as widespread compared to the past two years, local officials were still surveying the extent of the damage Friday morning and shaking their heads that they were dealing with flood recovery for three years in a row
“When I started seeing the reporters saying it wasn’t going to be that bad, I didn’t believe it,” Seymour said, adding that at least one member of his crew has contemplated retiring after experiencing such repeated flood emergencies.
the military judge’s ruling.
The panel had previously put the agreement on hold while it considered the appeal, first filed by the Biden administration and then continued under President Donald Trump.
“Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the ‘families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out.’ The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment,” judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote.
Millett was an appointee of President Barack Obama while Rao was appointed by Trump.
In a dissent, Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, wrote, “The government has not come within a country mile of proving clearly and indisputably that the Military Judge erred.”
Kurdish separatist fighters in Iraq lay down weapons
BY STELLA MARTANY and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press
SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq Fight-
ers with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq, the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm. Öcalan renewed his call in a video message broadcast on Wednesday, saying, “I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons.”
Most journalists weren’t allowed at the site of Fri-
day’s ceremony, in the mountains of Sulaymaniyah province in northern Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region.
Footage from the event showed fighters — both men and women casting rifles and machine guns into a large cauldron, where they were then set ablaze.
The PKK issued a statement from the fighters who were laying down their weapons, saying that they had disarmed “as a gesture of goodwill and a commitment to the practical success” of the peace process.
“We will henceforth continue our struggle for freedom, democracy, and socialism through democratic politics and legal means,” the statement said.
Turkish parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmus said the initial disarmament step had proceeded “as planned,” but cautioned that the process was far from complete. Previous peace efforts between Turkey and the PKK have ended in failure most recently in 2015.
Nidal Al-Nouri shows a school notebook that belonged to his 13-year-old daughter Sama, who was killed in an Israeli strike while waiting to receive nutritional supplements at a medical clinic, during an interview Friday at his family’s home in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
“You couldn’t get better people, and they’re doing the job like Idon’tthink anybody else could, frankly,” Trump said.
The president said his administration “is doing everything it can to help Texas” and insisted that “we’ve got some good people” running the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Since the July 4disaster which has killed at least120 peopleand left more than 170 missing, the president has been conspicuously silent on his past, repeated promisestodoaway with FEMA. Instead, he’sfocused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurredand the human tragedy.Hehas praised Texas and local officials while de-emphasizing the administration’sgovernment-slashing crusade that’s been popular with Trump’s core supporters.
Trump specificallymentioned victims from Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp in Texas Hill Country, where at least 27 people were killed. Thepresident called it a“legendary place.”
“They were there because they loved God. And, as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy,wetake comfortin the knowledge that God has welcomed those little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven,” said Trump whodescribed the floodwaters as “like agiant, giant
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in coastal restoration, andI am confident that his leadership and commitment to our state make him well-suited to lead CPRA,” Landry said Hare said he looks “forward to working with the coastal community to deliver projects that will protect and sustain our culture and way of life for future generations.” Beyond looming funding
PROBLEM
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And astate law passed last year gives incarceratedpeople less “good time” credit, which means fewer people will be immediately eligible for release upon sentencing,according to Vining. Inmates in Louisiana can earn such credits forgood behavior,shaving time off their sentence. On top of all that, the state is getting ready to launch a program that will perform automated release date calculations, Vining told lawmakers.
“The ability to compute time accurately was heavily affected by local variables out of the state’scontrol,including whether the pre-trial paperwork was provided in atimely fashion, the time the individual spent in pretrial custody,aswell as the sentence given,” state Attorney General Liz Murrillsaid in astatement. “The system has been overhauled. That has dramatically diminished, if not completely eliminated this problem.”
But some aren’tsosure the problem has been resolved
“I have seen no data supporting that,” said William Most, an attorney who represents plaintiffs in overdetention cases. Mostisone of the lawyers handlingthe two class action lawsuits.
Some state lawmakers also expressed skepticism
“When they say that they’ve fixed this problem, I’m not sure that they have,” said stateRep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge. “At this point, I’m alittle skeptical.”
Criticismofstate’s system
In January 2023,the U.S. Department of Justice releasedareport saying Louisiana held thousandsof inmates past theirrelease dates each year —and that the problem went back to at least 2012. In addition to delaysin
from
and
theysurvey flood damageinKerrville,
wave in the Pacific Ocean that thebestsurfers in the world would be afraid to surf.”
While concernshave swirled about the future of FEMAatthe federal level local officials have faced questions about how well they were prepared and how quickly they acted. Asked about such concerns, Trump calledareporter posing the question“evil”and said he thought “everyone didan incredible jobunder the circumstances.”
“I admire you, and Iconsider you heroes,” Trump said of the stateand localofficials aroundhim.
Before leaving the White House, Trump approved
shortages, Hare will also have to manage the futureof thestate’s largest-ever coastal project, the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion. That$3 billionproject, which Landry opposes in its current form, is paused indefinitely and the stateisevaluating potential replacements for it. It was largelypaidfor with money related to the 2010 BP DeepwaterHorizon oil spill. Using the money for aseparateproject requires approval fromtrusteesoverseeing those funds, whose usesare restricted to ashort-
gettinganinmate’s records from clerks of court and sheriff’s offices to the Department of Public Safety & Corrections, the report said the agency was tooslowto process sentencing calculations. Errors in those calculations could also contribute to overdetention, it said.
Between January and April 2022, 1,108inmates were heldtoo long,accordingtothe report
“The median number of days an overdetained individual was held past their release date was29; 31 percent were held over for at least 60 days; and 24 percent were held over foratleast 90 days,” it said At that rate, the DOJ estimated, overdetentioncost Louisiana about $2.5 million each year
Those findings prompted the DOJ to sue Louisiana over its detention practices at the end of theBiden administration.
Thestate hasdisputedthe DOJ report.
In astatement, Murrill said overdetention “has been blown entirely out of proportion by factually incorrect and flawed reports by the federal Departmentof Justice andwe’ve requested that they be retracted.”
Louisiana also is under less heat from thefederal government. Shortly after President DonaldTrump tookofficefor hissecond term,the DOJ put thelawsuit on hold. The agency declined to answer questions about whether it plannedtopursue the case.
Status of litigation
Thereare two potential class action lawsuits pending against thestate over its detention practices. Both arebeing handledbyMost and lawyers from thePromise of Justice Initiative.
The lawsuits, Giroir v. LeBlanc and Humphreyv LeBlanc,allege that Louisiana holds thousands of inmates past their release dates each year,and that
Texas’ request to extend the major disaster declaration beyond Kerr Countytoeight additionalcounties, making them eligiblefor direct financial assistance to recover and rebuild.
Trump’sshiftinfocusunderscores how tragedycan complicate political calculations, even thoughhehas made slashing the federal workforce and dramatically shrinking thesize of government centerpieces of his administration’s opening months.
Air Force One landedin San AntoniowithTrump deplaning in asuit andfirst lady Melania Trumpwearingmore casualclothing. Both wore ball caps against
list of possibilities, as well as lengthy environmental assessments
Futuremoney shortages will result from fines and settlementdollars related to the2010 spill expiring at the endof2031. Morethanhalf of theCPRA’s nearly$2billion projectbudgetfor the 2026 fiscal year comes from those funds.
The state has been seeking ways of at leastpartially replacing those dollars but has not yet found real solutions. It did, however,receive good news recently when
the problemgoes back to at least 2012.
In Giroir,the lawsuit asks the court to order the state to fix the problem, while in Humphrey,itseeksmonetary damages.
Kara Crutcher, an attorney forthe plaintiffs working on bothcases,said they are waiting on Judge John deGravelles to rule on “whether or notthe classes will be certified.” In class action lawsuits, judges must decide whether the suit’s individual plaintiffs can represent a larger group, Crutcher said. In a2022 court filing, the statedenied that overdetention was asystemic problem andsaid it didnot violate anyone’scivil rights.
Laws impact overdetention
This past legislative session, lawmakers passed two laws thatpertain to overdetention
Act46, formerlyHouse Bill 23, requiressheriffs to submit data about inmates electronically through the portal thestate saysitlaunched, according to stateRep. Nicholas Muscarello Jr., R-Hammond, who sponsored the legislation
Another bill was more controversial: it requires all individuals who wish to sue for monetary damages for overdetention claims to first go through the Department of Public Safety and Corrections’ administrative review process.
State Sen. JayMorris, RWest Monroe, sponsored Senate Bill 39, which became Act 317. Murrill, the attorney general, backed the legislation.
It is unclear howthe new lawwillimpactfederal lawsuits; it appearsmore likely to affect falseimprisonment claims brought in state court.
Advocates for the law argued that it would make resolving overdetention disputes moreefficient and prevent unnecessary litigation.
“The (administrative review) process is designed
fromUtopia,Texas, near Kerrville, said the flood devastation can be fully understood only by seeing it firsthand.
“Pictures do notdoitjustice,” Currie said.
Asked what officialson the ground needed most urgently from federal sources, KerrCounty Commissioner Jeff Holt, who also is avolunteer firefighter,stressed the need forrepairs to nonworking phone towers and “maybe alittlebetter early warning system.” Trump himself hassuggestedthat awarning system should be established, though he has not provideddetails on how that might happen.
the heat. The first couple saw the aftermath from the air then met privately with first responders andrelativesof flood victims. Roads in the center of Kerrville wereshut down for Trump’svisit, and people lined the streets,some wearing Trumphats and T-shirts and waving American flags. Green ribbons recognizing the lives lost at CampMystic weretiedaround trees,poles andalongbridges, andmarquees featured slogans such as “Hill Country Strong” and “Thank you first responders.”
Trump won KerrCounty with 77% of thevote last year Harris Currie, arancher
the tax andspending bill approvedinCongress and signed by PresidentDonald Trump boostedthe amount of money Louisiana will receive from offshore revenue by up to around $50 million ayear over adecade. That money mustbeusedfor coastal protection and restoration.
The CPRA oversees awide portfolioofcoastal projects, ranging from large-scale levee building to marsh reconstruction. It has a$50 billion, 50-yearmasterplantorestore partsofthe coast, but finding moneyfor thework
to resolve these disputes quickly to avoid any inmate being ‘overdetained,’” Murrill said in astatement.
Morris saidhebelieved overdetention was “rare” in Louisiana.
“The design of it was to prevent needless litigation but to still preserve their right if they wereindeed detained too long to have a claim,” he said of the law “Every legislator thatopposed this bill always comes down on theside of thecriminal.”
Critics, including criminal justiceadvocates and some Democratic lawmakers, say the new law adds barriers to obtaining justicefor an already vulnerable population.They say it also may require those who were overdetained to obtain afavorable ruling from a19th Judicial District Court judge in BatonRouge beforethey can sue.
During hisfirst weekend back in the White House in January,Trumpvisited North Carolina to scopeout damagefromHurricane Helene. He also toured the aftermath of devastating wildfiresinLos Angeles. The president used both trips to sharply criticize the administration of his predecessor, President JoeBiden andofficials from deep-blue California.
That was in stark contrast to Texas, America’slargest red state, where Trump thanked Republican Gov Greg Abbott and scores of other state officials.
Before the Texas flood, the president pledged— and as recently as last month —to begin “phasing out” FEMA and bring disaster response management “down to the state level.”He’snot talking about that now,though. Andpressed this week on whether the White House
in future years will be challenging.
Louisianahas lost around 2,000 square miles of land over the last century roughly the size of Delaware. Projected sea level rise connected to human-caused climate change will greatly worsen the problem in the decades ahead.
TheCoalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, anonprofit that hasworkedon land loss issues fordecades, welcomed Hare’sappointment,saying he “has built areputationfor busting
“Prior to SB39, inmates whowere illegally held past their release dates could file afederal lawsuit for compensation, without extra steps,” Most said in astatement. “Now they mayhave to filemultipleparallellawsuits in different courts meaning more use of public resources without any benefits to the public or to the person whowas illegally imprisoned.”
Some people file overdetention claims after they are released from prison. It is unclear whether released inmates have the right to file an administrative grievance, Most said, adding that he has never seen the administrative review process award damages.
will continue to work to shutterFEMA, presssecretary Karoline Leavitt would not say “The president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need,” Leavitt said. “Whether that assistance comes fromstates or the federal government, that is apolicy discussion that will continue.” Russell Vought, director of the OfficeofManagement andBudget, similarly dodged questions Friday aboutFEMA’s future,instead noting that the agency has billions of dollars in reserves “to continue to pay for necessary expenses” and that the president has promised Texas, “Anything it needs, it will get.”
“Wealso want FEMA to be reformed,” Vought added. “The president is going to continue to be asking tough questionsofall of us agencies, no different than any other opportunity to have better government.”
Darrin Potter,a Kerr County resident for25years who saw ankle-deep flooding in hishome and knew people whowere killed, said earlier this week,“As farasearly warnings, I’msuretheycan improve on that.” But he said all the talk about evacuating missed something important. The area where awall of water ripped through was atwolane road, he said.
“Ifyou would have evacuated at 5inthe morning,all of those people would have been washed away on this road,” he said.
through red tape and working with communities to get things done.”
“His experienceinboth the private and public sectors proves he can bring together stakeholders from across ourcoast,” EthanMelancon, CRCL’s government affairs director,said in astatement. EmailMike Smith at msmith@theadvocate. com. His work is supported with agrant from the Walton Family Foundation, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
“I just think that this is making it harderonpeople whohavea computational time problem,” state Sen. Gary CarterJr.,D-NewOrleans, whoopposed the legislation, said during aMay meeting of the Senate’sJudiciary ACommittee. If any other state department was making errors, Cartersaid, lawmakers would be making it harder on the department, not on thepeopleseeking aremedy. Somestate lawmakers, including Marcelle of Baton Rouge, said there ought to be astate lawrequiring Louisiana to compensate people who have been overdetained. Also this past session, state Rep.Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, said he filed abill that would have set up afund to provide such compensation by raising the gambling tax. House Bill 560 did not makeitout of the House’sAdministration of Criminal Justice Committee. Email Meghan Friedmann at meghan.friedmann@ theadvocate.com.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN
FirstladyMelania Trump,
left,
PresidentDonald Trumpgreet first responders Friday as
Texas.
200 immigrants arrested in raids on 2 Calif. farms
BY AMY TAXIN Associated Press
CAMARILLO, Calif. — Federal immigration authorities said Friday they arrested about 200 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally in raids a day earlier on two California cannabis farm sites. Protesters engaged in a tense standoff with authorities at one of the farms during the operation.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said.
Four U.S. citizens were arrested for “assaulting or resisting of-
ficers,” the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms at the Camarillo location to demand information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. A chaotic scene emerged outside the farm that grows tomatoes, cucumbers and cannabis as authorities clad in helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat.
On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the Camarillo farm to collect the cars of their loved ones and speak to managers about what happened. Relatives of
Jaime Alanis, who worked picking tomatoes for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm.
“The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital,” Juan Duran, Alanis’ brother-in-law, said in Spanish, his voice breaking.
A doctor told the family that others who brought Alanis to the hospital said he had fallen from the roof of a building.
Alanis had a broken neck, fractured skull and a rupture in an artery that pumps blood to the brain, said his niece Yesenia, who didn’t want to share her last name for fear of reprisal.
Glass House said in a statement that the company does not violate “applicable hiring practices” and does not employ children.
BY LINLEY SANDERS Associated Press
WASHINGTON Just months after President Donald Trump returned to office amid a wave of anti-immigration sentiment, the share of U.S. adults saying immigration is a “good thing” for the country has jumped substantially including among Republicans, according to new Gallup polling
About 8 in 10 Americans, 79%, say immigration is “a good thing” for the country today, an increase from 64% a year ago and a high point in the nearly 25-year trend. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say immigration is a bad thing right now, down from 32% last year
During Democratic President Joe Biden’s term in office, negative views of immigration had increased markedly, reaching a high point in the months before Trump, a Republican, took office. The new Gallup data suggests U.S. adults are returning to more pro-immigrant views that could complicate Trump’s push for sweeping deportations and other antiimmigration policies. The poll shows decreasing sup-
port for the type of mass deportations Trump has championed since before he was elected
Since taking office, Trump has called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do all in its power to deliver the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” His administration has also pushed to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status, sought to revoke the citizenship of immigrants who commit crimes and is working to end birthright citizenship for children born
to those without legal status or who are in the country temporarily
In general, Americans’ views of immigration policies have shifted dramatically in the last year, the Gallup polling shows including among Republicans, who have become much more content with immigration levels since Trump took office but who have also grown more supportive of pathways to citizenship for people in the country illegally
The broader trend also shows that public opinion is
Judge scolds DOJ for ‘refusal’ to detail deportation plans for Abrego Garcia
BY LEA SKENE and BEN FINLEY Associated Press
GREENBELT Md A federal judge in Maryland
scolded the Trump administration on Friday for its “utter refusal” to detail its deportation plans for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including where the government plans to send him and whether he’ll get a chance to fight his expulsion before he’s whisked away The Salvadoran national could be released from a Tennessee jail as soon as next Wednesday to await trial on human smuggling charges. U.S. immigration officials have said they would immediately detain him and begin deportation proceedings.
“I’m deeply concerned that if there’s not some restraint on you, Mr Abrego will be on another plane to another country,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told Justice Department lawyers on Friday Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint over Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March.
That expulsion violated a U.S immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shields Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador
The administration claimed that Abrego Garcia was in the MS-13 gang, although he wasn’t charged and has repeatedly denied the allegation. Facing mounting pressure and a U.S. Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. last month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called “preposterous.”
The administration argues now that Abrego Garcia is a danger to the community and can be deported before his trial to a country other than El Salvador Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have asked Xinis to order the government to send him to Maryland if he’s released in Tennessee, a request that aims to prevent his expulsion before trial.
The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers without any luggage.
generally much more favorable to immigrants than it was decades ago.
Majority: Immigration good Americans’ more positive view on immigration is driven primarily by a shift among Republicans and independents.
About two-thirds of Republicans now say immigrants are “a good thing” for the country, up from 39% last year And independents moved from about two-thirds last year to 80% this year
Democrats have maintained their overwhelmingly positive view of immigration in the last few years.
Satisfied with current level
In the time since Trump took office, Republicans have become more satisfied with the level of immigration in the country
The share of Americans who want immigration “decreased” in the United States dropped from 55% to 30%. While fewer Americans now want to decrease the number of people who come to the U.S. from other
countries, more want immigration levels kept the same than want higher immigration levels. About 4 in 10 say immigration should be kept at its current level, and only 26% say immigration should be increased.
The poll suggests Republicans’ sharp anti-immigrant views highlighted before November’s election which helped return Trump to the White House — have largely faded. The share of Republicans saying immigration should be decreased dropped from a high of 88% to 48% in the last year
Close to 4 in 10 Republicans now say immigration levels should remain the same, and only about 1 in 10 would like an increase.
Much of that Republican movement likely comes from support for the Trump administration’s stringent immigration enforcement, but there are also signs in the Gallup polling that Republicans have become more supportive of pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally and more likely to see
benefits from immigration that could be at odds with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Back pathway to citizenship
Most Americans favor allowing immigrants living in the U.S. illegally the chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time, the poll shows. Almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults, 85%, favor a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the U.S illegally as children, and nearly as many say they favor a path to citizenship for all immigrants in the country illegally as long as they meet certain requirements. That increased support for pathways to citizenship largely comes from Republicans, about 6 in 10 of whom now support that, up from 46% last year Support was already very high among independents and Democrats. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults now favor deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, down from about half a year ago.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL OWEN BAKER
Rebecca Torres stands in front of a military vehicle approaching a federal immigration raid Thursday in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif.
State Department firing 1,300 employees
Positions are being ‘abolished,’ letter says
BY MATTHEW LEE and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press
The U.S. State Department is firing more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America’s global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad.
The department has begun sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Staff began to receive notices shortly after 10 a.m. Friday saying their positions were being “abolished” and that they would be losing access to the department’s headquarters in Washington as well as their email and share drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy of one of the notices obtained by The Associated Press.
Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to a separate internal notice. For most civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.
“Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices,” the notice says.
While lauded by President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their Republican allies as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner, more nimble and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by
current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S influence and the ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
Big changes to how things work
The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals driven by the Department of Government Efficiency and moves to dismantle whole departments like the U.S Agency for International Development and the Education Department.
USAID, the six-decade-old foreign assistance agency, was absorbed into the State Department last week after the administration dramatically slashed foreign aid funding
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court cleared the way for the layoffs to start, while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue to play out. The department had advised staffers Thurs-
day that it would be sending layoff notices to some of them soon.
The job cuts are large but considerably less than many had feared. In a May letter notifying Congress about the reorganization, the department said it had just over 18,700 U.S.-based employees and was looking to reduce the workforce by 18% through layoffs and voluntary departures, including deferred resignation programs.
Rubio said officials took “a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.”
“It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions,” he told reporters Thursday during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.”
He said some of the cuts will be unfilled positions or those that are about to be vacant because an employee took an early retirement.
Critics say U.S. standing suffers
The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats, said Friday that it opposed the Trump administration’s cuts during “a moment of great global instability.”
“In less than six months, the U.S. has shed at least 20 percent of its diplomatic workforce through shuttering of institutions and forced resignations,” the organization said in a statement. “Losing more diplomatic expertise at this critical global moment is a catastrophic blow to our national interests.”
If the administration had issues with excess staffing, “clear, institutional mechanisms” could have resolved it, the group said.
“Instead, these layoffs are untethered from merit or mission They target diplomats not for how they’ve served or the skills they have but for where they happen to be assigned. That is not reform,” AFSA said.
Former U.S. diplomats echoed that sentiment, saying the process is not in line with what Congress had approved or how it’s been done under previous administrations.
“They’re doing it without any consideration of the worth of the individual people who are being fired,” said Gordon Duguid, a 31-year veteran of the foreign service under Trump and Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “They’re not looking for people who have the expertise they just want people who say, ‘OK, how high’” to jump.
He added, “That’s a recipe for disaster.”
In a notice Thursday, Michael Rigas, deputy secretary for management and resources, said that “once notifications have taken place, the Department will enter the final stage of its reorganization and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy.”
Undergoing a big reorganization
The department told Congress in May of an updated reorganization plan, proposing cuts to programs beyond what had been revealed a month earlier by Rubio and an 18% reduction of U.S.-based staff, higher than the 15% initially floated.
The State Department is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the U.S. military
Jessica Bradley Rushing, who worked at the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, knowns as CARE, said in an interview with AP that she was shocked when she received another dismissal notice Friday after she had already been put on administrative leave in March.
“I spent the entire morning getting updates from my former colleagues at CARE, who were watching this carnage take place within the office,” she said, adding that every person on her team received a notice. “I never even anticipated that I could be at risk for that because I’m already on administrative leave.”
The State Department noted that the reorganization will affect more than 300 bureaus and offices. It says Rubio believes “effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy.”
That letter was clear that the reorganization is also intended to eliminate programs — particularly those related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion that the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies.
BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said in a let-
ter that he will raise taxes on many imported goods from Canada to 35%, deepening a rift between two North American countries that have suffered a debilitating blow to their decades-old alliance.
The Thursday letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is an aggressive increase to the top 25% tariff rates that Trump first imposed in March after months of threats. Trump’s tariffs were allegedly in an effort to get Canada to crack down on fentanyl smuggling despite the relatively modest trafficking in the drug from that country Trump has also expressed frustration with a trade deficit with Canada that largely reflects oil purchases by America.
“I must mention that the flow of Fentanyl is hardly the only challenge we have with Canada which has many Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter The higher rates would go into effect Aug. 1. In a social media post, Carney said Canada would continue to work toward a
new trade framework with the U.S and has made “vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl.”
“Through the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and business,” Carney said. While multiple countries have received tariff letters this week, Canada America’s second largest trading partner after Mexico — has become something of a foil to Trump. It has imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods and pushed back on the president’s taunts of making Canada the 51st state. Mexico has also faced 25% tariffs because of fentanyl, yet it has not faced the same public pressure from the Republican U.S. president. Carney was elected prime minister in April on the argument that Canadians should keep their “elbows up.” He has responded by distancing Canada from its intertwined relationship with the U.S., seeking to strengthen its links with the European Union and the United Kingdom Hours before Trump’s letter, Carney posted on X a picture of himself with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying, “In the face
of global trade challenges, the world is turning to reliable economic partners like Canada.” Implied in his statement was that the U.S. has become unreliable because of Trump’s haphazard tariff regime, which has gone through aggressive threats and reversals.
When Carney went to the White House in May, the public portion of their meeting was cordial. But Trump said there was nothing the Canadian leader could tell him to remove the tariffs, saying, “Just the way it is.”
Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said Trump’s latest move will make it more difficult for Canada and the U.S. to reach a trade deal, Beland said.
“It doesn’t mean a new trade deal between Canada and the United States is impossible, but it shows how hard it is for the Canadian government to negotiate with a U.S president who regularly utters threats and doesn’t appear to be a reliable and truthful interlocutor,” he said.
Trump has sent a series of tariff letters to 23 countries. Those form letters became increasingly personal with Canada as well as a Wednesday note that put a 50% tar-
iff on Brazil for the ongoing trial of its former President Jair Bolsonaro for trying to stay in office after his 2022 election loss. Trump was similarly indicted for his
efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In June, Trump said he was suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans
to continue its digital services tax, which would hit U.S. technology companies. A few days later, talks resumed when Carney rescinded the tax.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Federal workers and supporters rally June 27 outside of the State Department in Washington.
Shown
BY ELDAR EMRIC Associated Press
SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Thousands of people from Bosnia and around the world gatheredin Srebrenica to mark the 30th anniversary of amassacre thereof more than 8,000 BosniakMuslim boys and men —anatrocity that has been acknowledged as Europe’sonly genocide after theHolocaust.
Seven newlyidentified victims of the 1995 massacre, including two19-year-old men, were laid to rest in acollective funeral at avast cemetery near Srebrenica Friday, next to more than 6,000 victims already buried there. Such funerals are held annually for the victims who are still being unearthedfrom dozens of mass graves around the town. Relatives of the victims, however,often canbury only partial remains of their loved ones as they are typically found in several different mass graves,sometimes miles apart. Such was the case of Mirzeta Karic, who was waiting to bury her father
“Thirty years of search and we are burying abone,” she said,crying by her father’scoffin which was wrapped in green cloth in accordance with Islamic tradition
“I think it would be easier if I couldburyall of him.Whatcan I tell you, my father is one of the 50 (killed) from myentirefamily,” sheadded.
July 11, 1995, is the day when the killings startedafter Bosnian Serb fighters overranthe eastern Bosnianenclaveinthe final monthsof theinterethnicwar in the Balkan country
After taking control of thetown thatwas aprotected U.N. safe zone during the war,Bosnian Serb fighters separated Bosniak Muslim men and boys from their families and brutally executed them in just several days. The bodieswerethen dumpedinmass graves around Srebrenica which they later dug up with bulldozers, scattering the remains among other burial sites to hide theevidence of theirwar crimes.
The U.N. General Assembly last yearadopted aresolutiontocommemorate the Srebrenica genocideonthe July 11 anniversary Scores of international officials and dignitaries attendedthe commemorationceremoniesand the funeral. Among themwere European Council PresidentAntonio Costa andBritain’sDuchess of Edinburgh, Sophie, whosaid that “our duty must be to remember all those lost so tragically and to nev-
ThousandsgathertomarkSrebrenicamassacre
er let these things happen again.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said he felt “humbled” because U.N. troops from theNetherlands were based in Srebrenica when BosnianSerbs stormed the town.
“I see to what extent commemorating Srebrenicagenocide is important,” he said.
In an emotional speech, Munira Subasic, whoheads theMothers of Srebrenica association,urged Europe andthe worldto“help us
fight against hatred, against injustice and against killings.” Subasic, who losther husband and youngest son in Srebrenica along with morethan 20 relatives, told Europe to “wake up.”
“AsIstandheremany mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are going through what we went through in 1995,” Subasic said,referring to ongoingconflicts. “It’sthe 21st century but instead of justice, fascism has woken up.” On theeve of theanniversary,
Exhibition showspersonalitems of victims
BY ARMIN DURGUT Associated Press
days three decades ago after Bosnian Serb fighters overran thesmall eastern Bosnian town during the final monthsofthe interethnic war in the Balkan country The bodies weredumped in mass graves around Sre-
center were found in the mass graves or in the forests around the town.
“Itisa unique exhibition in the way thatithighlights individual stories,individual lives and it does that by showing artifacts belonging to the victims,” Dutch Ambassador Henk vanden Dool told The Associated Press.
The exhibition, he added, is showing that “genocide is not about factsand figures and statistics, but that genocide is about individual people, individual lives, young people, older people, men, women, people with dreams and people with ambitions.”
The exhibition also contains recorded testimonies of the survivors of the Srebrenicamassacre —partofa joint project by the regional BIRN investigative network and the memorial center
an exhibition was inaugurated displaying personal itemsbelonging to the victims thatwerefound in the massgraves over the years.
TheconflictinBosniaerupted in 1992, when Bosnian Serbs took up armsinarebellion against the country’sindependence from the former Yugoslavia andwithan aimtocreatetheir own stateand eventually unite with neighboring Serbia. More than 100,000 people were killed and millions displaced before aU.S.-brokered peace agreement wasreached in 1995. Bosnia remains ethnically split while both Bosnian Serbs and neighboring Serbia refuse to acknowledge that the massacre in Srebrenica was agenocide despite rulings by two U.N. courts. Bosnian Serb political and military leaders Radovan Karadzic and RatkoMladic,along withmany others, were convicted and sentenced forgenocide.
Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic expressed condolences on Xwhile calling the Srebrenica massacre a“terrible crime.”
“There is no room in Europe or anywhere else —for genocide denial, revisionism, or the glorification of those responsible,” European Council President Costa said in his speech. “Denying such horrors only poisons our future.”
AirIndia Boeing 787crash preliminaryreportreleased
BY PAIGE CORNWELL and LAUREN ROSENBLATT The Seattle Times (TNS)
The two engines on the Air India flight shut down within one second of each otherbeforethe Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed last month in Ahmedabad, India,killing at least 260 people,according to apreliminary report released Friday. Both engine fuel control switches that, if pulledwhile in flight,cut power to the engines, transitioned from the “run” to “cutoff” settings as the plane took off, according to the report.
In the recovered cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heardaskingthe other whyhecut off fuel to the engine.The otherpilot
responded that he didn’t, according to the 15-page report. The preliminary report, released by India’s Aircraft Accident InvestigationBureau,comes 30 days afterthe fatal crash, following guidelinesfrom the International Civil Aviation Organization. Thenew information matches media reports this week that, citing anonymous sources, said that investigatorswerefocused on theengine fuelcontrol switches. On June 12, the Boeing 787 crashedinthe northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad less than a minute after takeoff, killing 241 of the242 people on board and 19 people on the ground.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByDARKO BANDIC
Awoman mourns Friday nexttothe graveofher relative,a victim of the Srebrenica genocide, at the Memorial
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARMINDURGUT Personaldocuments found in amass graveare shownas apartof theexhibition ‘Lives Behindthe FieldsofDeath’ opened Thursdayatthe Srebrenica Memorial Center in Potocari, Bosnia.
Youngsvilleincreases police pay
Councilbumps starting salary to $45,000ayear
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
The Youngsville City Council
votedinfavor of increasing police pay for local law enforcement. The council, during aThurs-
Ed Orgeron seeks rehearing
Ex-LSU coach wantsbuyout decision reversed
BY ANDREA GALLO
Staff writer
Former LSU football coach Ed Orgeron has asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to rehear and reverse theirdecision in hisdivorce case, arguing that thehigh court went against long-established precedent in theirrecent ruling saying Orgeron owes $8 million from his LSU buyout to his ex-wife, Kelly Orgeron Ed Orgeron’sattorneys submitted the application for rehearing Friday to the Louisiana Supreme Court —with 20 new lawfirms signed on to represent theformer LSU coach “in aunified effort to correct this error andtopreserve the integrity of the law and this Court,” they wrote. The filings say the Supreme Court’srecent ruling in his case bulldozes more than 50 years of court precedent and centuries of community property principles.
“Unless reversed, the decision will generate absurd and unjust consequences with wide-ranging implications far beyond this case,” wrote Ed Orgeron’sattorneys, led by Randy Smith in New Orleans.
The high court ruled late last month that Orgeron’s$17 million buyoutfromhis firingatLSU should be split equally between the coach and his ex-wife.
At the crux of the decision was acontract extension thatEdOrgeron signed shortly after winning theNational Championship in 2020, which gave him araise and included provisions for afuture buyoutincaseOrgeronand LSU parted ways. The coach signed theextension 43 daysbeforehe filed for divorce, thenhewas fired from LSU without cause the nextyear in 2021.
The Louisiana Supreme Court found that the 2020 term sheet was alegally bindingcontract while Ed Orgeron was still married and ruled that Kelly Orgeron was entitled to half the buyout.
“Unless reversed, thedecision threatens to turn anycontractsignedduringthe community into atrap —even when the resultantpayment compensates entirely post-community losses of separatewages,” Ed Orgeron’sattorneys said in legal filings. “That is not the law ” Reached late Friday,attorneys forKellyOrgeron said they had not had the chance yet to review the application for rehearing
“The Louisiana Supreme Court properly applied Louisiana lawtothe facts of this case,” said Kelly Orgeron’sattorneys, Robert Lowe and Paula Lee, in ajoint statement. “The legal issues have been briefedad nauseam.” Meanwhile, the filings from Ed Orgeron’sattorneys also say the Supreme Court made amistake by ignoring tax implications when awardingKellyOrgeron half her ex-husband’s gross earnings from the buyout. They
day night meeting, passed an ordinance that would increase the department’sstartingsalary from $42,000ayearto$45,000 Thenew paymentplan will cost the city around $240,000 ayear, a slight decreasefrom theoriginal $300,000.
Police officers would see their average pay increase by 11.3%,sergeants by 16.1%, lieutenantsby9.5%and deputy chief by 6.3%. On top of the salary increase, YPDemployees see an annual 2% increase based on continuous years of service
Council member Nick Niland suggested and motioned for a 3% yearly raise, but gained no traction among the council. The 1% increase would have costthe city an additional $166,000 for the first year alone, acityemployee said.
Police received an annual 3% yearly increase previously. Po-
lice lastreceived astarting salary raise in 2022 whenitmoved from $36,000 to its current level. Cityemployees, thecouncil and the mayor recently received 3% salaryincreases
CouncilmemberMattRomero said he wasn’tsure if 3% wasfeasible at this time, arguing that the city wentinto the vote expecting 2%.
RECENT RENOVATION
Body foundinRayne pond identified
TheRayne PoliceDepartment has identified the personfound dead in aprivate pond as 45-yearold Joshua Marshall, of Rayne. Police Chief Carroll Stelly said the circumstances surrounding Marshall’sdeath arestill underinvestigation. Marshall’sbody was discovered by afisheron Church Point-Rayne Highway near theInterstate 10 ramp. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lt. Richard Gray at (337) 393-2930 or Crime Stoppers ofAcadiaParish at (337) 789-8477.
Carencro manaccused of animal pornography
St.Landry Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested aCarencro man in connection with possession of alleged animal pornography Quintin Harvey Guillot, 41, faces onecount of sexual abuse of an animal, according to aSt. Landry ParishSheriff’s Office announcement. Thearrest stems from an 2024 investigationintovideo voyeurism, or filming someone without their knowledge. Deputies obtained several hard drives and other electronic devices during their investigation. Guillotisbeing held at theSt. Landry ParishJail. Hisbail is set at $5,000.
BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer
ABOVE: Attendees gather during a ribbon-cutting ceremonyfor the newly renovated Milton Volunteer Fire Station on Friday.
LEFT: Damon Broussard, chief of the Milton Volunteer Fire Department,from left, hisfather,Paul,and former stateSen.Page Cortez chat following theceremony.
The city of Broussard recently announcedthe city has completed the $3.67 million purchase of severalbuildings in the heart of its downtown, including aformer schooland theMadisonBanquet and ReceptionCentre on Madison Street Bourque announced the completed sale in aFacebook post on Wednesday “Wewanttocontinue to provide thehighest quality services to residents and prepare the city for future growth,” Bourque wrote.
Theformer Broussard Elementary School will house the new city hall. Theother building will be used for various city offices, departments, and services, such as the CityCouncil chamber and the municipal complex. In June,Borque said the discussion to purchase the 3.6-acre property hadbeen ongoing for afew months and wasprimarily driven by alack of space in their current dwellings, which are spread across four buildings. The move
STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIE WESTBROOK
BollingerShipyards to buildrocketlanding platform
Reusable rockets
BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer
Bollinger Shipyards, aLouisianabased builder of vessels for commercial, government and military customers, is aiming for the sky
The 79-year-old shipbuilder has been hired to convert abargeinto alanding platform for RocketLab, aCalifornia-based company that’s competing in the commercial spaceflight industry,according to anews release.
“We’re looking forward to working with Bollinger to create the conditions to modernize Louisiana’sshipyard capabilities tomeet the demands of the aerospace industry’scutting-edge capabilities ” Rocket Lab Vice President Shaun D’Mello said in astatement.
The retrofitting project, which began just before thisweek’s announcement,includesadding thrusters so thewaterborne platform remains stable during landings. Special communications equipment will allowemployees to control the vessel from afar,and blast shields will protect the ship from rocket exhaust.
Rocket Lab saidthe platform, which will be deployed on the East Coast nearits Virginia launch site, is key to its planto establishareusablerocket programthat will compete withthose from high-profile spaceflightcompanies SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk; and Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’sJeff Bezos.
“Bollinger is proud to partner with Rocket Labona project that showcases both the ingenuity and innovation of American shipbuildingand thefuture of space flight,”
Bollinger Shipyards President and CEO Ben Bordelon saidinastatement
The new vessel, acquired from New Orleans-based Canal Barge in February, has been dubbed “Return on Investment.” Its 400-footlong landing platform will be built to accommodateRocket Lab’s Neutron lineofreusable rockets, designed to carry heavier payloads than predecessors.
Rocket Lab said the 141-foot rockets, capable of delivering a13tonpayload to space, will be used to launch satellites and for national securitymissions.
The work is happening primarily at Bollinger’sshipyard in Amelia. The vessel is expected to be completeand enter service next year Bollinger,whichhas manufactured more than 4,000vessels over eight decades, is one of the largest employers in the bayou parishes and has estimated annual revenues of more than $1 billion.
Rocket Lab was established in 2006 by Peter Beck, arocket-
obsessed college dropout in New Zealand. In 2013, he moved the company’sheadquarters to Long Beach,Calif
Thecompany hasgrownbyacquisition over the past six years and nowhas roughly 2,000 employeesglobally.It’scompeting with high-profile companies led by household-namebillionaires.
SpaceX leadsthe industrywith itsreusable Falcon 9and Falcon Heavy rockets, adeep-space exploration platform and its Starlink satellite internetservice. Blue Origin has made its ownbreakthroughs in reusable rocket technology,while billionaire Richard Branson’sVirgin Galacticprioritizes space tourism Like Rocket Lab, Virgin Galactic is publicly traded.
Rocket Lab does alittle bit of everything, providing satellite launches, spacecraft design and manufacturing. Yahoo Finance reported thecompany’sstock reached arecord high this month
on the heels of anew deal with theEuropean Space Agency. The company said it has delivered more than 200 satellites to orbit forprivate and public sector organizations, and one of its spacecraft platforms was selected to support several NASA missions.
Bollinger’scontract with Rocket Lab is the latest link to aerospace in aregionthat’sbeen home to NASA’s Michoud Assembly facility for morethan 60 years. There, generations of workers have helped build the engines that have powered the country’sSpace Age. “As commercial space explorationcontinuestoexpand, so will theneed forrocket, satelliteand roverrecovery,”saidJosh Tatum, vicepresident of business growth andretentionatGreater New Orleans Inc. “A lot of this activity will be happening outat sea.”
Email RichCollinsatrich. collins@theadvocate.com.
NewLSU arenacould be namedfor OurLadyofthe Lake
Naming rights for proposed venuemay go to hospital, according to renderings
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
On renderingsofa proposed new arena on the LSU campus is signage bearing its potential name: Our Lady of the LakeArena. The images, part of apreliminary presentation by architecturefirm Populous obtained by TheAdvocate through apublic records request, show the Baton Rouge hospital could have thenamingrightstoan arena that supporters hope will serve as thehome to several LSU athletic teams in the near future.
Though adeal has yet to be inked, OLOL spokesperson Alexandra Deiro Stubbs confirmed Friday that the hospitalhas pursued an agreement to have its name attached to the building “While no formal agreement has been reached, we have been in discussions as apotential anchor investor for this project,” Stubbs said.
ORGERON
Continued from page1B
say Ed Orgeron never received anet payment of $17 million from his buyoutbecause of taxes, and that the highcourt should, at minimum, setKelly Orgeron’s portionofthe buyoutto$4.5 million “or remandfor an equitable tax reallocation.”
Ed Orgeron’sfilings includeseveral examples of scenarios that could happenindivorce cases under the Supreme Court’srecent decision.
For example, they describe adoctorwho signs afive-year contract that includes araise, has anon-
Records show that Populous is thearchitecture firm chosen to plan the arena alongside developer Oak View Group. Populous’ renderings —dated April 2025 —show multiple exterioroptions for the arena’s design, all with Our Lady of theLake Arena on the side of the building. No other potential name for thearena is mentioned in those records.
In an emailed statement, Stubbs called thearena project“generational”for Baton Rougeand the local economy
competeand allows for liquidated damages if they arefired. If the doctor’s spousefiles fordivorce theday after the contract is signed, then the doctorisfiredwithout cause aweek later,the spouse wouldbeentitled to half themoney thatthe doctor receives from liquidated damages over losing their job, thefilings warn. Meanwhile, thedoctorcannot continueworking because of thenoncompete, they say. The filings from Ed Orgeron also describe acase in which ahusband is catastrophically injured on an offshore oil rig and previously hadanemployment agreement allowing for liquidateddamages if he
“Clinical care, economics and social circumstances all contribute to the health and vibrancy of ourregion,”she said.“As LSU’s Championship Healthcare Partner and the health care leader in the capital region, we are always lookingfor waystoinvest into ourcommunity in meaningful ways thatwill help stimulate economic growth andultimately createhealthier,morevibrant communities.”
More details on the arena were alsoincludedinthe architectural plan, though thespecifics could
lost income because of a job-related injury. If his spouse files for divorce on dayafter he’sinjured, the spouse would be entitled to half hisliquidateddamages from his employer based on the highcourt’s recent ruling, the filings state.
Ed Orgeron’s attorneys described it as a“morally jarring result.
The former LSU coach’s attorneys emphasized that hisex-wife has already received ashare of $13 million from his compensation, half the $1.775 million he earned after the National Championship winand assetsworthadditional millionsinproperty, retirement accountsand more
change
The arena would have acapacity of more than 15,000 people for concerts where the stageisinthe centerofthe building and 14,840 for basketball games
The335,404-square-foot facilitywould be built on Nicholson Drive south of Gourrier Avenue, where theLSUGolf Course is currently It’snot clear when —orwhether —the project will break ground.
On Wednesday,Oak View Group’sCEO Timothy J. Leiweke wasindicted on federal charges that he rigged the bidding process for an arena at theUniversity of Texas at Austin.
Leiweke has since stepped down as CEO. Thecompany itself has not been charged with anycrimes but is to pay $15 million in fines to thefederal government as part of anonprosecution agreement.
On Thursday,LSU said it was “evaluating theimplications on the potential arena project in Baton Rouge,considering this week’s newsregarding the Oak View Group.” LSU Athletics spokesperson Zach Greenwell would not confirm Friday whetherOLOL had the naming rights
“No terms had been presented
to the boardoruniversity leadership for approval,” he said.
“The information made public related to the potential arena project was preliminaryand was part of an ongoing negotiation process,” Greenwell said. Charles Landry,LSU’s consulting attorneyfor theproject, declined to comment.
Stubbs said OLOL’s involvement would serveasanother example of thehospital’scommitment to the LSU area.
“Forover 100 years, we’vesupported the Gulfregion beyond exceptional healthcare delivery in waysthat make asignificant difference in thecommunities we serve,” she said. “This initiativeisanother exampleof thatcommitment, and we look forward to working together to make this exciting vision a reality.”
The health system that includesOur Ladyofthe Lake, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady HealthSystem,was given naming rights to thefootball facility at theUniversityofLouisiana at Lafayette after a$15 million donation to theschool in 2021.
Email Patrick Sloan-Turner at patrick.sloan-turner@ theadvocate.com.
BROUSSARD
Continued from page1B
will be the centerpieceofour vision of downtown Broussard, withnew multiuse sidewalks and street lighting along Main Street and moreparking, to makedowntownmore appealing to residents, businesses, and visitors,” wrote Bourque.
PROVIDED PHOTO Arendering of the potentialLSU arena with‘OurLadyofthe LakeArena’ on the side, submitted to officials by international architecture firm Populous.
BUSINESS
BRIEFS
FROM WIRE REPORTS
Michigan clock runs out of time on tariffs
ZEELAND Mich. — A Michigan clock company that has helped people keep time for 99 years says it’s going out of business due to tariffs and other economic conditions. Howard Miller Co., which makes grandfather clocks, wall clocks and furniture, said production will be phased out this year The company will stick around in 2026 to sell its inventory
“We are incredibly disappointed to have reached this point in our journey,” CEO Howard J. “Buzz” Miller grandson of founder Howard C. Miller, said Thursday
The Zeeland-based manufacturer, 175 miles west of Detroit, has sought a buyer but so far hasn’t found one Miller said tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have increased the cost of essential components that aren’t available in the U.S. The company employs roughly 200 people in Michigan and North Carolina.
The closing of Howard Miller also includes Hekman Furniture Co., which it acquired in 1983. The clock business was founded in 1926.
Walmart recalls water bottles over caps
NEW YORK Walmart is recalling about 850,000 stainless steel water bottles because the lid can “forcefully eject” and unexpectedly strike consumers — resulting in permanent vision loss for two people to date.
The recall covers Walmart’s “Ozark Trail 64 oz Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottles,” which have been sold at the chain’s stores across the country since 2017. According to a notice published by the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday, these products pose “serious impact and laceration hazards.”
That’s because when a consumer attempts to open the bottles “after food, carbonated beverages or perishable beverages, such as juice or milk, are stored inside over time,” the lid can eject forcefully, the CPSC notes
As of Thursday’s announcement, Walmart had received three reports of consumers who were injured after being struck in the face by these lids when opening their bottles. And two of those people “suffered permanent vision loss after being struck in the eye,” the CPSC added.
Wind turbine maker to pay settlement
NANTUCKET, Mass. — The maker of a massive wind turbine blade that broke apart off Nantucket Island and washed up on beaches for months has agreed to a $10.5 million settlement to pay local businesses for their economic losses, officials said Friday
Fiberglass fragments of the blade began washing ashore last summer during the peak of tourist season after pieces of the wind turbine at the Vineyard Wind project began falling into the Atlantic Ocean in July 2024
GE Vernova, which agreed to the settlement, blamed a manufacturing problem at one of its factories in Canada and said there was no indication of a design flaw It reinspected all blades made at the factory and removed other blades made there from the Vineyard Wind location.
Crews in boats and on beaches, along with volunteers, collected truckloads of debris. The company said the debris was nontoxic fiberglass fragments and that the pieces were one square foot or smaller
The settlement calls for establishing a fund along with a process to evaluate claims from businesses and distribute payments Nantucket officials said.
The development’s massive wind turbines with blades more than 328 feet long began sending electricity to the grid at the beginning of 2024.
Wyoming’s new coal mine to open
But it won’t rely on the fossil fuel to make money
BY MEAD GRUVER Associated Press
CHEYENNE,Wyo.— The developer of what would be the first new coal mine in Wyoming in decades is launching a potentially half-billion-dollar effort to extract rare earth metals from the fossil fuel that are crucial for tech products and military hardware.
Energy
Secretary
Chris Wright,
former West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, Wyoming Gov Mark Gordon, and Wyoming’s congressional delegation were at a Friday groundbreaking ceremony for Ramaco Resources, Inc.’s Brook Mine outside Ranchester in northeastern Wyoming. Wright’s involvement underscores President Donald Trump’s determination to advance fossil fuel projects and mining and reverse former President Joe Biden’s moves to support for renewable energy Administration officials on Monday moved toward selling federal coal leases in the top U.S. coal-
producing region in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. On Thursday, officials announced a proposal in Utah that they said would be the first coal exploration project on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property since 2019. Those moves came on the heels of legislation signed last week that lowered royalty payments for companies mining coal on public lands and mandated officials make available for potential mining an area greater in size than Connecticut. Meanwhile, local officials in Utah hope the administration will
support plans to build a railroad spur to boost oil drilling. A coalition of eastern Utah counties wants Trump’s Transportation Department to approve $2.4 billion in bonds for the 88-mile spur to export oil from the Uinta Basin, a project that may proceed after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. On Friday, the minerals capturing the administration’s attention were not just coal but rare earths — a family of 17 metallic elements with unusual properties that make them useful in modern technology, from electric car batteries and wind turbines to military targeting devices.
Trump administration sues California over egg prices
Animal welfare laws blamed for high prices
BY STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers’ pocketbooks.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008 They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens.
The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the state’s outsize role in the national economy
“It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution,” U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday “Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this overreach.”
Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer
“Pointing fingers won’t change the fact that it is the President’s economic policies that have been destructive,” the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday
“We’ll see him in court.”
The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5% higher than a year earlier
“Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything,” Gov Gavin Newsom’s office said in a social media post.
BY CARSON HARTZOG
The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)
After a trickling of return-tooffice policies within individual teams, Target is officially calling back all headquarters workers from one of its largest business units three days a week.
The commercial unit, overseen by Target’s Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez, includes buyers, assistant buyers and planners. Those affected were notified through a departmentwide email on Thursday and are expected to return to offices the first week of September.
“More time together, in the office, will help us grow our business faster, solve problems quickly, and build stronger relationships,” Gomez wrote in the email.
The move comes a little over a month after multiple teams had been notified by managers that they would be expected to work at the office soon. Those teams were in various departments from mer-
The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government’s legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures.
“Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement “Under President Trump’s leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.”
While 2018’s Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don’t meet minimum size requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state’s egg rules.
Humane World for Animals, which was named the Humane Society of the United States when it spearheaded the passage of Proposition 12, says avian influenza and oth-
er factors drove up egg prices, not animal welfare laws.
And it says much of the U.S. egg industry went cage-free anyway because of demand from consumers who don’t want eggs from hens confined to tiny spaces.
“California has prohibited the sale of cruelly produced eggs for more than a decade — law that has been upheld by courts at every level, including the Supreme Court. Blaming 2025 egg prices on these established animal welfare standards shows that this case is about pure politics, not constitutional law,” Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement.
The American Egg Board, which represents the industry, said Friday that it will monitor the progress of the lawsuit while continuing to comply with California’s laws, and that it appreciates Rollins’ efforts to support farmers in their fight against bird flu and to stabilize the egg supply
“Egg farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of egg production, and continuing to provide options in the egg case for consumers,” the board said in a statement.
chandising to design.
Employees will be allowed to set their own schedules and choose which three days work best for them and their immediate work
teams, he wrote. Target declined to share how many employees will be returning to the office, but there are a total of 7,100 workers assigned to headquarters.
More people work downtown Tuesdays to Thursdays, and on those days, office workers can number 150,000, or 70% of prepandemic numbers, said Adam Duininck, CEO and president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. The start and end of the work week, however, sees those numbers dip. U.S. Bank, Xcel Energy and Ameriprise have already called workers back to the office at least three days a week.
Duininck said he hopes downtown worker traffic will rise to pre-pandemic numbers of 200,000 to 215,000.
Target’s corporate policy still has not changed. Besides five mandated in-office weeks, the company lets work groups decide if they should work in the office.
“Our goal here is to align around a common expectation that allows us to maximize the potential of our hybrid, remote, and global commercial team and move forward with clarity connection and purpose,” Gomez said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE ART
The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring
OPINION
ANOTHERVIEW
Will theBig BeautifulBillsink Republicans?
Some say these are the worst of times,others say they’re the best of times. Whichever, theseare certainlyinterestingand oftenconfusing times It’salways worthwhile tokeep trackofpublic opinion on the big issues of the day.Let’stakea look at one of those issues, and that’s President Donald Trump’sOne Big Beautiful Bill. Anew poll findsthatonly35% of Americans support Trump’soverall budget plan incorporated inthe bill, and 53% oppose it.While 78% of Republicans favor it,only25% of independents and2%ofDemocrats do, accordingtothe Economist/YouGov survey.Other pollinghas shown similar or even more lopsided results. The problemfor GOP candidates in next year’s midterm elections is not the92% of Democrats who oppose Trump’sbudgetplan, but the57% of independentswho do.Close partisan electionsare usually determined by voters who are neitherDemocrats nor Republicans.
GOP leaders also have to worryabout the22% of Republicans who don’texpress supportfor thebill; many of them are fiscal conservatives that Republican candidates for Congress need to keep on their side. Moreover,only28% of those surveyedbelieve the bill will help average Americans. Even 4in10Republicans don’tsay it will
The bill’simpact on the national debtisa problem for Republicans, especially those whoalwayswant less spending and debt but never seem to get it. They howledwhentheyfound outthe One BigBeautiful Bill had an ugly aspect. It will increase deficits by $2.8 trillion over10years, according to theCongressional BudgetOffice. That deficit will be fundedby raising the national debt, which now totals $37 trillion, equating to $323,000 per taxpayer.
No wonderfiscal conservatives are disappointed.
The same polling showed that 52%ofAmericans —55% of independents, 80% of Democrats and22% (there’sthat samenumber we saw above) of Republicans —believe the federal budget deficit will increase as aresult of the bill’spassage.
Another hot issue in thebill is Medicaid,a program that provides health care coveragefor 85 millionlowincomeand disabled Americans.Democraticleaders claim the bill willdevastate the program and kill people. Republican leaders claim the bill will actually strengthen Medicaidbystreamlining eligibility; they say Democrats are dishonestly overstating its effects. Youbethe judge.
In an effort to downplay changes to Medicaid, whichthe bill makes, Republicans point to other, more popular aspects of theOne Big Beautiful Bill, such as increased fundingfor border security,construction of aGolden Dome missile defense,modernization of the air traffic control systemand avariety of taxbreaks for individuals andbusinesses.
Time will tell which side winsthe politicalargument. But when RepublicansinCongressare perceived as swinging the ax at healthcareand pension benefits, they usuallysuffer.Here’swhy: 74% of U.S adultswantMedicaid funding to either staythe same or increase; 50% of Republicans, 74% of independents and 95% of Democrats agree
If Republicans had limited Medicaid changesto only eliminating waste and fraudaspartofanoverall plan to reduce the national debt,they’dhave amore solid defense, and their own political base would be much happier. Instead, they tightened Medicaid eligibility as part of abill that increasesthe national debt. Of course, if theactual consequencesofthe bill’s impact on Medicaid prove tobepolitically untenable, Republicans in Congress could always passa “fix” to ease all or mostofits most unpopularaspects;that’s something fearful legislators from both parties often do. On the other hand, if negativeconsequences of the bill ultimately prove to have been exaggerated, Democrats may turn their focuselsewhere We’ll see. Only time will tellwhat thepolitical impactofthe One Big BeautifulBillwill be —not to mentionthe impactonthe lives of theAmerican people. The budget swamp is always atreacherous place for politicians to be, DemocratsorRepublicans. As is any swamp, it’sfilled with sinkholes, stagnationand dangerous predators. In Louisiana, we know something aboutthose things.
Ron Faucheux is anonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana.
YOUR VIEWS
There’sa path to asensibleimmigration solution
There is strengthincommonsense. If you came to ourcountryillegally, there should be consequences. Unfortunately, for thepastthree decades, lack of enforcement of our immigration laws has caused families to settle here. Most work, pay taxes, raise theirfamilies and appreciatebeing in the U.S. Then, there arecriminals, terroristsand sex-trafficking individuals who should be immediately deported without the opportunity to return. Our borderisclosed. The environment is ripe forimmigration reform. Simply stated, it would make sense to allow any illegal immigrant who has
been in the U.S. for five or more years, has no criminal record post illegal entry and is gainfully employed paying taxes to be allowed to pay afine, meet the requirementsofnaturalization (fluency in English, etc.) and become alegal citizen. No benefits should be paid until they have 40 quarters of taxes paid as alegal citizen. If you entered illegally in the last five years, you don’thave invested history and should be deported, but with the opportunity to re-enter legally Democrats bend to immediate deportation for the bad guys and those without invested history in our country.Republicans bend by offering es-
Universities hostile to conservatives? Answer dependsonwho’s asking
Iread with interest Gerald Kennedy‘s letter regarding why universities tendtobemore liberal.
As aliberalishPh.D. myself, I must disagree with his reasoning.
The flaw in his argument is that he accepts President Donald Trump’sperception of his politics as conservative. Trumpism is not conservative but is a
radical, reactionary movement. True conservatives, while not necessarily opposed to change, have acautious approach to it. Historically,universities have been aplace for lively discussion among people across a range of attitudes. We don’t learn to think by talking only to those with whom we agree.
CHARLOTTE HUMPHRIES Hammond
Thosecriticizing ICEdon’t know what it does
Blessed that no child you know was avictim of sex trafficking?
Thankful that one less shipmentoffentanyl or heroin made it across the border before it killed afew hundred more American teens?
Relieved that the illegal immigrant withthe gun was detained before he took your friend’slife yesterday?
Feel safer while flying since 9/11?
Who did your bank call when someonetapped into your 401(k)
account from overseas?
Yes, you can thank Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So thinkabout that. To the young girl Isaw the other day with the“(Expletive) ICE” T-shirt on, you have no clue. While Itotally support your right to your opinion, Ifind it amazing and am convinced that most areclueless about what they’re protesting. This was surely agoodexample. Just sickofit.
CLAUDIACOMEAUX Baton Rouge
Padilla’sactions at news conference indefensible
With all due respect to ElizabethBrooks’ letter praising U.S. Rep.Alex Padilla, if she had watched the beginning of the video, her opinion may be different but probably not.
Youactually see alarge man bullying his way intoahearing room, unannounced, out of
order,with no visible identification.Afirst grader would have moredecorum than Padilla. His only goal was to use the camera for achildish political stunt. Watch as he bullies his way into thehearing one more time.
JIM CARRUTH Baton Rouge
tablished contributing illegals apath that includes consequences, but also a way to make amends and stay Sanctuary cities are made illegal at the federal level. Then increase the number of work visas issued, especially for the industries that rely on them,such as agriculture. The process in place today includes vetting, paid for by employers. And while it mayneed to be tweaked, it offers away to quickly boost the workforce diminished by a closed border There is strength in commonsense.
Erosionofour democracywas the work of decadesof right-wing plotting
In fifth grade, the sameyear Imemorized those three civics lessons that begin “When in the course of human events,” “Wethe People,” and “Fourscore and seven years ago,” Ialso learned that in somecountries, governments could arrest people fordisagreeing with policy,control what books werepublished or broadcasts weremade and barge into people’shomes or businesses without awarrant. Ilearned about our Bill of Rights and whyitwas important to preserve democracy.I wassoproud to live in this country,where “liberty and justice forall” was our agreed-upon goal, even if we sometimes fell short.
Now,itseems, that country is gone, without afight, with little resistance from Congress, because the ugly head of greedy fascism is raised not in somefar-away foreign land to be pitied, but right here in the United States.
The takedownwas well-coordinated and orchestrated over the last several decades, with fear-mongering motivating ever-further right-wing ideas. Many of voting age can no longer recite the three passages that weremyfoundational understanding of our country’sstrengths; instead, they scroll social media and are convinced by foreignbased propaganda.
DoesRussia run our country now?Qatar? Israel? Whose puppet are we? One thing is certain: We are no longer abeacon of light forhumanity,and the Statue of Liberty stands sadly and ironically over our Eastern seaboard.
Think carefully about what sort of country you want your children to be living in, then vote forthat.
CAROLYN DEYO Baton Rouge
SUSAN ROTOLO
Slidell
Ron Faucheux
FUTURE PROSPECTS
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
After winning its eighth national championship in program history, LSU has a litany of players who is eligible to be selected in the 2025 MLB Draft.
Some of those players won’t have a difficult decision to make when it comes to their future, while others will have a tough choice when the draft begins Sunday and continues into Monday
The same goes for LSU’s 17 high school signees, the majority of which will have a challenging decision to make this weekend: Go to school or start their professional careers early
Here’s a look at where the Tigers’ drafteligible players and high school signees stand heading into the draft: Draft-eligible LSU players
KADE ANDERSON: There’s a legitimate chance Anderson is picked by the Washington Nationals with the No. 1 overall pick. If Washington doesn’t choose him, it’s hard to imagine him sliding outside of the top five.
ANTHONY EYANSON: Eyanson’s late-season surge propelled his draft stock into the top two rounds. MLB.com pegs him as the
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
tennis
LONDON First, Carlos Alcaraz did his part to set up the Grand Slam rematch the tennis world wanted, barely averting a fifth set and getting past American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the semifinals Friday to move
All England Club for the first time. So get ready for Sunday: No. 1 Sinner vs. No. 2 Alcaraz for the title on the grass courts of Wim-
No. 40 player in the draft, and The Athletic has projected him as a first-round pick.
CHASE SHORES: Shores’ move to the bullpen midseason seemingly helped his draft stock. With a tumbling fastball that sits at 100 mph, MLB teams can envision him as a reliever who still has the potential to start. ESPN has Shores as the No. 68 player in its draft rankings.
DANIEL DICKINSON: Dickinson played with a
bledon, exactly five weeks after their riveting and remarkable final on the red clay of the French Open. Sinner grabbed a two-set lead in that one, then held a trio of match points before Alcaraz came all the way back to win after 5 hours, 29 minutes filled with brilliance from both. Asked to reflect on what happened in Paris, Alcaraz began by saying, “Probably the best,” then cut himself off “I mean, ‘probably,’ no. It was
broken hamate bone for nearly the entire NCAA Tournament, but his strong showing in his first season in the Southeastern Conference has made him a consensus top-100 prospect. The Athletic has him at No. 79 on its latest draft rankings
ETHAN FREY: Frey’s stock has an air of uncertainty heading into the draft The junior broke out with a 1.061 on-base plus slugging percentage this season, but he also hasn’t played in the field much in his three years in Baton Rouge. ESPN has
BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer
LSU football has built out its front office over the past week, making three hires who will assist general manager Austin Thomas with the roster in a new era of college sports.
The Tigers added assistant general manager Kelvin Bolden, executive director of player personnel Jeff Martin and director of scouting and personnel strategy Sam Petitto, sources confirmed with The Advocate. Petitto, whose hire was finalized Friday, will be the last hire for the time being, a source said. LSU also is expected to adjust the roles of some current staff members as it reconstructs the front office under Thomas and coach Brian Kelly
The additions come after a wave of attrition and as colleges begin paying players for the first time this month. LSU football has $13.5 million to spend on its players during the upcoming school year, and the number is expected to increase annually over the next 10 years.
In coordination with the coaches, Thomas and the rest of the staff will continue to shoulder a lot of responsibility for managing the money, scouting players and making roster decisions. Thomas has been essential in all of that for the past year, and now he has more help.
After LSU recently lifted a hiring freeze, Bolden accepted his position earlier this week. Bolden, a former wide receiver at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Southern Mississippi had been a key figure in Ole Miss’ recruiting since 2022. He overlapped with Thomas for two years there.
Bolden’s hire continued a trend.
Since Thomas returned to LSU in January 2024, the team has hired three staff members who worked with him at Ole Miss Preston Tiffany spent a year as the Tigers’ director of player
BY ROD WALKER Staff writer
Derik Queen has plenty to remember about his first Summer League game. There was the good, such as a double-double in his first outing in a New Orleans Pelicans uniform. And there was his nifty behind-theback assist to Hunter Dickinson. But there was the not-so-good, such as his rough showing in the first half. And his seven turnovers. Oh, and there was also the trip up the court when some spit from his mouthpiece flew into his eye. Yeah, he’ll probably always remember that moment from the Pelicans’ 98-91 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Las Vegas. Queen, drafted with the No. 13 overall pick after the Pelicans traded up 10 spots for him, now has his first game out of the way and can hardly wait for the second one. “Just really redemption,” Queen
Thomas
STAFF
PHOTOS By HILARy SCHEINUK
ASSOCIATED
UL baseball adds RHP transfer from Oklahoma
UL baseball added another state product from the transfer portal with former Oklahoma pitcher Landon Victorian.
The 6-foot-3, 178-pound righthander pitched two scoreless innings in his only outing as a true freshman last season Victorian was ranked as the No. 2 righthander in Louisiana and No. 3 overall player after his senior season at Barbe High.
He joins forces with former Barbe teammate Donovan LaSalle, who transferred from Oklahoma State last month.
Anisimova to battle Swiatek in final
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP tennis writer
LONDON Either Amanda Anisimova or Iga Swiatek will leave the All England Club’s grass courts as Wimbledon’s eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion.
Why has there been such a revolving door? Chris Evert has some thoughts about various elements that, as she put it ahead of Saturday’s final, “make it difficult to feel completely secure and confident on this elusive surface.”
For one, there’s the amount of talent in the game — “deeper now than ever,” said Evert, a Hall of Famer who won three of her 18 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in the 1970s and 1980s and was the runner-up six times during an era when Martina Navratilova won a record nine singles championships there.
Plus, Evert noted, there’s a short turnaround after the red clay of the French Open, leaving only two to three weeks to practice and prepare for what she called a “polar opposite” surface. Another contributing factor are the uneven bounces and other adjustments required on grass.
And with no completely dominant figure since Serena Williams retired after the 2022 U.S. Open, there is more room for new faces such as the 13th-seeded Anisimova, a 23-year-old American who will be participating in her first major final against Swiatek, a former No. 1 who won four trophies at Roland-Garros and one at the U.S. Open but hadn’t been past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon until now
“I never even dreamt that it’s going to be possible for me to play in the final,” said Swiatek, a 24-yearold from Poland who hadn’t been in a title match as a professional at any grass-court tournament until three weeks ago, when she was the runner-up at Bad Homburg, Germany
“I thought I experienced everything on the court, ” Swiatek said.
“But I didn’t experience playing well on grass.”
She sure did Thursday during her 6-2, 6-0 win against Belinda Bencic in the semifinals.
“Maybe I would have had to play my absolutely best tennis of my life and risk every shot to beat her today, the way she played,” Bencic said.
Like Swiatek, Anisimova also was a recent runner-up on the surface, reaching the final at Queen’s Club last month. Her powerful, flat strokes are a natural fit for the turf, and she showed just how good she can be on the stuff during a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory against No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday
“I have to say,” Sabalenka said, “that she was more brave.”
A sign of Anisimova’s skill on grass came three years ago, when she reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. But she hadn’t played at the event again until now, because she sat out the tournament during a mental health break to deal with burnout in 2023, then was ranked too low to get in automatically a year ago and lost during the qualifying rounds.
“A lot of people told me that you would never make it to the top
again if you take so much time away from the game. That was a little hard to digest, because I did want to come back and still achieve a lot and win a Grand Slam one day,” Anisimova said, adding that she is pleased to be “able to prove that you can get back to the top if you prioritize yourself.”
Since Williams won her seventh and last Wimbledon championship in 2016 — a repeat performance from a year prior — every woman to hold the trophy was doing so for the first time. There was Garbiñe Muguruza in
2017, Angelique Kerber in 2018, Simona Halep in 2019 and Ash Barty in 2021 — all of whom are now retired — followed by Elena Rybakina in 2022, Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024 (the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19).
Contrast that sort of variety to the much smaller circle of men to win Wimbledon lately: Since 2003, just five have done it — Roger Federer with eight, Novak Djokovic with seven, and Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Carlos Alcaraz with a pair apiece.
Flagg has off shooting night in pro debut
Mavs rookie still draws rave reviews
BY W.G. RAMIREZ Associated Press
LAS VEGAS Cooper Flagg may not have been happy with his professional debut on Thursday night in the NBA Summer League, but he still drew some rave reviews after the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 87-85.
“Super fun to play with, he’s a super unselfish guy,” teammate Ryan Nembhard said “All he wants to do is win. Can guard five positions, can score the ball really well.” Flagg finished with 10 points on 5-for-21 shooting, including 0 for 5 from 3-point range. The rookie also had six rebounds, four assists, three steals and the biggest block of the night.
With 1:10 remaining and the Mavericks trailing by one, Flagg blocked Los Angeles shooting guard DJ Steward, and Nembhard capitalized at the other end with a 3-pointer to give Dallas its 87-85 lead.
“Obviously, it wasn’t his night tonight, but the gravity he has out there helps other guys get
good looks,” Nembhard added.
“He’s a super talent, and it’s been fun to play with him so far.” Mavericks Summer League coach Josh Broghamer said considering the team had just four practices to get acclimated with one another before arriving in Las Vegas, he was impressed with the effort in the second half.
“Once they played basketball, you saw that ball moving. Cooper making the right decisions, Ryan making our decisions, Jordan Hall, so that was something to me that by second half, those guys all played basketball together,” Broghamer said. Broghamer said he was especially impressed with Flagg’s conditioning after seeing how the Lakers picked him up full court defensively, trapped him from the outset, and continued to play him physically
“I think he just makes the right play over and over again, and shots will fall,” Broghamer added. “He makes winning plays, whether it’s offense or defense. I think that’s as advertised.
Whether it’s a right pass or defensive possession or scoring the ball, that’s what he does.”
Flagg, who played 31 minutes and 43 seconds admitted he was nervous for his first professional
game, attributing an entirely different environment from college to pro to his off night.
But he also felt comfortable knowing his coaches and teammates had confidence.
Though Flagg said “that might be one of the worst games in my life,” Lakers second-year player
Bronny James was also complimentary
“He’s a quick, powerful big,” said James, who finished with eight points and spent much of his time defending Flagg.
“I watched him in college, an amazing player He’s going to be something special.”
After double-digit losses in the transfer portal, the Cajuns have bolstered their roster by adding NAIA infielder Rigoberto Hernandez from William Carey, righty Garret Carter from Tyler Junior College, and a few others.
Red Sox activate third baseman Bregman from IL
The Red Sox activated All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman from the 10-day injured list before Friday’s game against Tampa Bay Bregman, who has been sidelined since May 24 with a right quad strain, returned to his customary spot in the field and was slotted in the No. 2 spot of Boston’s lineup for the second of a four-game series against the Rays. He suffered the injury when he rounded first base and felt his quad tighten up, and since has missed 43 games. Bregman signed a $120 million, three-year contract in February At the time of the injury, he was hitting .299 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs, which led to him joining the American League All-Star team for the third time since entering the majors with the Astros in 2016.
Judge is second in MLB jersey sales, behind Ohtani
The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge has moved into second behind the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani in Major League Baseball jersey sales heading into the All-Star break. Judge rose from fifth to second, Major League Baseball said Friday He was followed by the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts.
Judge and Ohtani also were the top vote-getters in the first round of fan balloting for starters in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, gaining the first two roster spots. San Francisco’s Rafael Devers, Boston’s Jarren Duran, San Francisco’s Jung Hoo Lee, the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal entered the top 20 for the first time.
Venus Williams accepts wild-card invite for DC Open
Venus Williams accepted a wildcard invitation to play singles at this month’s DC Open, which would be the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s first tournament in more than a year Williams, who turned 45 in June, is listed as “inactive” on the WTA Tour’s website. She hasn’t competed in an official match since the Miami Open in 2024. Williams also played in the nation’s capital in 2022. Her five championships in singles at the All England Club came in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008 and she won the 2000 and 2001 U.S. Open singles trophies, too. She also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles alongside her younger sister, Serena, whose last tournament was the 2022 U.S. Open, and a total of four Olympic gold medals.
Baltimore boxer Davis arrested on battery charge
Baltimore boxing champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis was arrested Friday morning in Florida, nearly a month after an alleged domestic dispute involving his former partner, according to the Miami Dade County State’s Attorney’s Office. Davis, a 30-year-old lightweight, was taken into custody on a misdemeanor battery charge in Miami Beach, court records show Davis struck his former partner on Father’s
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIN CHEUNG Poland’s Iga Swiatek returns to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic during a singles match at Wimbledon in London on Thursday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIN CHEUNG
Amanda Anisimova of the U.S returns to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during a singles match at Wimbledon in London on Thursday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID BECKER
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg drives the ball against Los Angeles Lakers guard DaJaun Gordon during a Summer League game on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Jannik Sinner of Italy,right, and NovakDjokovic of Serbia chat
WIMBLEDON
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thebest match that Ihave ever playedsofar.I’m not surprised he just pushed me to the limit. Iexpect that on Sunday —just to bein the limit, to be on the line. Justgoing to be agreat day,a great final. I’m just excited about it,” Alcaraz said.
“I just hope not to be 51/2 hours on courtagain. If Ihave to, Iwill. But I think it’sgoing to be great.”
Whowouldn’t expectthisone to be?
“Hopefully it’sgoing to beagood match, like the last one,” Sinner said. “I don’tknow if it’ll get better, because Idon’tthink it’spossible.”
Sinner,a23-year-old Italian, and Alcaraz, a22-year-old Spaniard, are far and away the leaders of men’s tennis —and areatthe height of their powers right now.This will be the seventhstraight majortournament won by one or the other Alcaraz is 5-0 in GrandSlam finals. Sinner owns three major trophies.
“The thingsweare doing right noware great for tennis,” Alcaraz said. He takes acareer-best 24-match
LSU
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personnel, and LSUhirednew associate directorofplayer personnel Jai Choudhary in the spring. Martin, aNew Orleans native andLSU graduate,had worked in various capacitiesunder Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, eventually becoming the assistant director of playerpersonneland development in 2017. Martin left in 2021 for Southern Cal. After one year there, he worked in wealth management with athletes until LSU hired him again. Petitto, an Amite native, spent thepastyear as Ohio State’sdirector of playerpersonnel after Saban retired at Alabama.Petitto worked forSaban foreight years as Alabama’sdirector of personnel operations, helping the Crimson Tide win two national championships and sign future Heisman
QUEEN
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said about his anticipation for the next game. “I’ve got to redeem myself. Iknow I’ve got 82 games (in the regular season).Twitter and Instagram are probably going crazy right now.Ihave to redeemmyself for me and all the outsidenoise.”
For Queen, Saturday’s7:30 p.m tipagainst the Los Angeles Lakers can’t get here soonenough. He wants to show he’smorelike the Queenwho played in thesecond half Thursdaythanthe onewho played in the first half.
Queen went scoreless in the first half, then scored his first basket with less than four minutes remaining in thethird quarter before finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. He shot 5of9from the floor and knocked down hisonly3-pointer, showing off the versatility that made Pelicans executive vice president of
winning streak into Sunday.Sinner will be in his fourth Grand Slam final in arow,after winning theU.S. Open in September andthe Australian Open in January Alcarazleadstheir head-to-head matchup8-4, takingthe last five. He doesn’tthink what happened in theirmost recent meeting will have acarryover effect on Sinner this time.
“He’sgoing to be better physically.He’sgoing to be better mentally He’sgoing to be prepared on Sunday to give his100%,” said Alcaraz, who trailed the fifth-seeded Fritz 6-4inthe fourth-set tiebreaker before winning the next four points to end it.
Sinnerand Alcarazhave taken over the sport as the so-called Big Three of Djokovic,Roger Federer andRafael Nadalceded center stage.
Federer and Nadalare retired.
Forthe 38-year-old Djokovic, who wasdiminishedtwo days aftera “nasty” and “awkward” fall in the last game of hisquarterfinal victory,his lopsided loss brought an endtohis latestbid foraneighth Wimbledon title and an unprecedented25thmajor trophy Djokovicsaid he definitely plans to comeback for at least one more appearanceatWimbledon. He had
Trophy-winningreceiver DeVonta Smith, afellowAmite native. He gothis start as aLouisianahigh school coach. The hires markedthe latest changes to LSU’snon-coaching staff in ayear filled with them.
In January,LSU parted withfive staff members who had roles in operations or personnel, anddirector of nutrition Matt Frakes left for a similar job with the NewYork Giants. LSU alsodid someinternal shuffling at the time, naming JR Belton the new director of football operations and promotingDonovan Tate to director of recruiting.
Other staff members have left since then. Director of player development DF Arnold starteda job three weeks ago in Grand Valley State’sathletic department after coming to LSU when Kelly was hired. ArnoldtoldThe Advocate that he left on hisown volition and thatKelly understood the move, which he hopes will help him become an athletic director
basketball operations Joe Dumars give up a2026 first-round draft pick for him
Pelicans Summer League coach Corey Brewer liked what he saw in Queen’sability to shake off the first half woes and get going in the second half.
“It showsthat he’s aspecial player,”Brewer said.“He’s talented. The first half wasn’tgoing hisway.Igot on himathalftime andtoldhim to just be yourself.
These guys are young. Rookies First NBA game.Hebounced back great. That’swhat youwant to see.”
While Queen’sbest halfwas the second half, fellow firstround draft pick Jeremiah Fears played hisbest in thefirst half.Fears finished with 14 points and2 assists
Butlike Queen, he also had 7turnovers.
“It’sour first game,” Queen said.
“None of us aregoing to be perfect. Fears knows what he’sgot to do better.Iknow what I’ve got to do better.Ifeel like it was areally good debut for him.”
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him ranked him as the No. 132 player in the draft.
JARED JONES: After passing up an opportunity to go pro last year, Jones almost certainly will move on to professional baseball this summer.Where he’llget picked is abit of amystery.MLB.com lists him as the No. 101 player in its rankings while ESPN has JonesatNo. 249.
CHRIS STANFIELD: Stanfield’s speed, ability to make contact against strong velocity and experience in center field make him astrong candidate to get drafted andsign with an MLB team. If that happens,look forLSU to shift freshman Derek Curiel or sophomore Jake Brown to center
ZACCOWAN: Cowanhad asplendid2025 campaign. He posted a2.94 ERA in 52 inningsand allowedjustone earned runin 51/3 innings against Arkansas in the College WorldSeries.But even with all of that success, his below-average fastball velocity and lack of aplus breakingball means he’ll likely return to LSU in 2026.
He’sthe No. 31 player in ESPN’s draft rankings and the No. 42 prospect accordingtoThe Athletic. Among LSU’ssignees,he’s the most likely to be drafted and signed.
QUENTIN YOUNG: Young, the nephew of former major-leaguers Delmon and Dmitri Young, is a shortstop fromCalifornia with a big arm anda powerfulbat.His athleticism and tantalizing tools meanhe’ll likely be picked on Day 1ofthe draft. He’s theNo. 36 player in ESPN’s rankings
BRIGGS MCKENZIE: McKenzie is a left-handed pitcher from North Carolina.His fastball velocity is in the low 90s,but his big curveball andprojectable physical frame has captured the attention of MLB teams.Asthe No. 69 player in MLB.com’srankings, expectMcKenzie to be drafted Sunday
OMAR SERNA: Serna declared June 27 that he’ll forgothe draft and begin his college career at LSU. TheTexas nativeprovides LSU athird catcher to join Yamin and Arrambide in next year’s room. Offensively,Serna is best known forhis rawpower
reached the last six finals, winning four and finishing as therunner-up to Alcaraz in 2023 and 2024.
With five-timeWimbledon champion Bjorn Borgand celebrities such as Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio lookingonFriday, Alcaraz produced his usual brand of magic,markingsome shots against U.S. Open runner-upFritzwith a shout of “Vamos!” or araised index finger
Thetemperaturetopped 85 degrees with no clouds interrupting the blue sky overhead to offer protection from the sun. For the second consecutive day,spectators had trouble in the heat
Thepop of aChampagne cork could be heard in the stands just before the start, and Alcaraz burst out of the gate, breaking for a1-0 lead. Thefirstpoint wasillustrative: He returned a135 mphserve, then capped a10-stroke exchange with adelicate drop shot.
Fritz played quitewell for stretches, conjuring quality with hisneon-orange racket frame that would have been enough to overcome most foes on grass.
As anyone paying attention —includingSinner —knows, Alcaraz is not just any foe.
“Hehas so many different ways to win,” Fritzsaid.
Also in June, staff member Jordan Arcement was hiredbythe agency Athletes First;Tiffany left for ajob with the Philadelphia Eagles;and assistant director of recruiting Bobby Barham announced his departure in asocialmedia post.
LSUhas made several other personnel hires this year.MorganPhillips, nowthe directorof recruiting administration and events, returned to LSUafter a year at Ohio State, and Keava SoilCormier came back to LSUtoassist withNIL. Eric Held, the directorofthe Louisiana High School Coaches Association, also replaced former LSUrunning back Nick Brossette as thedirector of alumni relationsand high school outreach Allofthe changesoverhauled theLSU staff, especially thefront office. It is an essential cog fora moderncollege football team, and after thehiresthis week,Thomas hasmorehelpinrunning hisportion of the operation.
Fearswasn’tsurprised to see Queen bounce back in the second half
“He just continues to be resilient,”Fears said.“We sawita ton in these past fewpractices. Him keeping hisconfidence and keeping his motor is something our teammates can learn from as well.”
Queen says he got some extra motivation in the second half from aTimberwolves’ player who was trash talking him from thebench.
Now Queen wants to see his play from the second half Thursday spill over into all four quarters Saturday night against Bronny James and the Lakers.
“I feellike Ihave thisgameunder my belt and Ifeel like I’m goingtobegreatnextgame,” Queen said. “… It was kinda sloppy in the first half.But adouble double is a double double. Ithink Iflipped the switchinthe second half. Ifeel like Igot the hang of it now.”
Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com
JACOB MAYERS: Mayersimproved as theseasonwentalong,allowingmore than one earned runin just one of his last 11 appearances.That progressshould help his draftstock, as his elitefastball and sharp slider make him an intriguing bullpen piece for an organization.
JADEN NOOT: Injurieslimited Noot to just one appearance in his first twoseasons at LSU.But after a healthy spring in which he posted a4.13 ERAand showcased an effective fastball-splitter combination, Noot could be selected in the draft if the price is right. Returning to LSU appears to be the morelikely scenario, especially if he’sgiven astrong chance at competing for aspot in the startingrotation.
CONNER WARE: Ware nearly cracked thestarting rotation to begin the season, but alack of control resulted in him not pitchingfor LSU during the postseason. Heading into theyear,the junior-college transfer seemed destined for professional baseballonce the season was up.That outcome now is uncertain.
CONNOR BENGE: Benge’sworkload tailed off during the second half of the season after he spentthe start of the year as abig piece of thebullpen. Walks have been an issue, but he still has the talent to be draftedonDay 2.
TANNER REAVES: Reavesstarted 19 games and played in 43 aftercoming to Baton Rouge as ajunior-college transfer.His quickhands in thebatter’sbox mayinterest teams,but hislack of ahome defensively likely will result in him returning to school.
GRANTFONTENOT: Fontenot showed signs of improvement in the fewappearances he earned during the second half of the year.Perhaps coming back to LSUfor asecondseason means he canbuild offofthose stronger outings DJ
PRIMEAUX: Primeaux was excellent in theCape Cod League last summer butwas up and down this spring outofthe LSU bullpen. If he can find away to expandhis role andface more right-handed hitters, perhaps he can improve his draftprospects ayear from now
GAVIN GUIDRY: Guidry missed this entire year with aback injury The ailment almost certainly meanshe’ll return to Baton Rouge next season as aredshirt juniorand be atop option for LSUout of the bullpen.
EDDIEYAMIN: Afterredshirting this past season after transferring from Dayton, Yamin is on track to return to LSU andback up freshman catcher CadeArrambide next spring.
JOSH PEARSON: Pearson’s time at LSU is up after fouryears and two national championships. His speed and pull-side power should give him an opportunity to be draftedonDay 2.
MICHAELBRASWELL: Braswell can’t return to school after spending twoseasons at South Carolina andtwo more at LSU.Hestruggled at the plate this year,but hisprogressdefensively at third base may givehim ashot at being drafted.
LUIS HERNANDEZ: Hernandez provedthat he was capable behind thedishthisspringafter he hadcaught sparingly in three seasons at Indiana State. Perhaps that will be enough to hear his name calledonDay 2.
DALTON BECK: In his finalseason of eligibility,Beck never started agamefor theTigers. The likelihood of himgetting drafted is low.
High school signees
JADEN FAUSKE: Fauske is acenter fielderand catcher fromIllinois
WILLIAM PATRICK: Patrick has been lauded forhis athleticism, speed and raw power.Those tools allowed the outfielder to crack The Athletic andMLB.com’s top-100 rankings. Patrick is from Monroe, meaning his Louisiana roots could help keep him in-state.
BRADYEBEL: Ebel is an infielder from California who spent the majority of thispastseasonat third base. He’salso theson of LosAngeles Dodgersthirdbase coach Dino Ebeland is the No. 64 player in MLB.com’srankings. His major-league rootsand defensive versatility likely means he’llbeoff to professional baseball.
DEAN MOSS: Moss is an outfielder who attended IMG Academy in Florida despite being from California. He’s aleft-handedhitter and the No. 56 player in MLB. com’sdraft rankings. Whether he actually signs outofthe draft is abit of amystery given hislack of power
MARCOSPAZ: Paz underwent Tommy John surgery last July, but theright-handed pitcher threw in front of scouts in May before working out for them again in June at thedraft combine. His surgery complicates matterswhenitcomes to his odds of signing with an MLB club. He’sthe No. 108 player in ESPN’s rankings
REAGAN RICKEN: Ricken announced two days before the draftthat he’ll forgo his chances of being selected in the draftand will cometoLSU instead. Adding Ricken is amajor addition to thepitching staff.He’sa righthanded pitcher from California with five pitches,and his fastball has topped out at 97 mph. He also playedquarterback in high school andwas theNo. 121player in ESPN’s rankings.
MIGUEL SIME: As aright-handed pitcher from New York, Sime has hit 100 mph on the radar gun and consistently sits in the upper 90s with his fastball. Thatsort of talentisusually what professional baseballcraves.ESPNhas him as theNo. 85 player in itsdraft rankings
RIVER HAMILTON: Hamilton is from Oregon andwas originally committedtoOregon Statebeforethe right-hander flipped his pledge to LSU. As the No. 184 playerin ESPN’s rankings, his prospects of coming to Baton Rouge are uncertain.
LANDON HODGE: Hodge could provide more young talent in the catcher room.But first, the Tigerswill need to get himthrough the draft.Thatwon’t be easy as theCalifornianativeisthe No.65 player in TheAthletic’srankings.
MASON BRAUN: Braun is an outfielder from Indiana who is the No. 231 player in ESPN’srankings.Given his relative standing among draftexpertsand LSU’s need foroutfield depth, he’ll likely wind up at LSU.
JACK RUCKERT: Ruckert was teammates with LSU freshman righthander William Schmidt at Catholic High in Baton Rouge. Unlike Schmidt, he hasnot been hailed as atop draftprospect and will more thanlikely end up at LSU.
ETHAN CLAUSS: Clauss is alefthanded-hitting shortstop from Las Vegas, butheisnot considered an elite prospectinthe draft. That standing should result in himmaking the trip to Baton Rouge aheadofthe first semester.
ZION THEOPHILUS: Theophilus is from Ohio and is theNo. 241 player in ESPN’s rankings. Expect the right-handedpitcherto end up at LSU.
JONAH AASE: Alongwith McKenzie, Aase is one of two left-handed pitchers committed to LSU. Expect him to arrive on campus. Email Koki Riley at Koki.Riley@ theadvocate.com.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOANNA CHAN
afterSinnerbeat Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in their singles semifinal match FridayatWimbledon in London. Sinner advancedtothe Wimbledon final forthe firsttime
LSU strength coach still a ‘go-getter’ despite amputation
BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer
The LSU strength and conditioning coach who needed to have part of her leg amputated after a jet ski accident earlier this month is doing as well as can be expected and is “thankful to be alive,” according to LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark.
Katie Guillory, who trains athletes on the LSU gymnastics and beach volleyball teams, suffered the accident on the Fourth of July. She later had to have her left leg amputated below the knee after doctors were
Guillory
unable to restore proper blood
flow
“She’s doing well under the circumstances,” Clark said Friday “Her outlook is tremendous.”
A former LSU softball player from Carencro, Guillory posted a photo on her Instagram page on Thursday showing a group of athletes visiting her in her hospital room. She underwent surgery
Sunday “My heart remains full!” Guillory posted of social media. “A great visit from my girls tonight who came with a gift basket to remember!”
“She’s still very much engaged,” Clark said. “If you know Katie Gill, you know that she’s a beast of a person. As much of a go-getter as you will find.”
Clark said Guillory will continue to work for LSU in the same capacity In fact, she has continued to provide summer workout instructions for the gymnastics team.
Guillory played softball for the Tigers from 2009-13 After working at Liberty and Illinois, she returned to LSU three years ago to work with gymnastics and beach volleyball.
SCOREBOARD
5. Matteo Jorgenson, USA, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, same time.
6. Remco Evenepoel, Belgium, Soudal QuickStep, same time.
7. Kevin Vauquelin, France, Arkea-B&B Hotels, same time. 8. Johonatan Narvaez, Ecuador, UAE Team Emirates XRG/UAE, 04:05:46
9. Axel Laurance, France, Ineos Grenadiers/ GBR, 04:05:54. 10. Tobias Johannessen, Norway, Uno-X Mobility, 04:06:00. Also 44. Sepp Kuss, USA, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 04:09:43. 53. Neilson Powless, USA, EF EducationEasyPost, 04:10:31. 78. Quinn Simmons, USA, Lidl-Trek, 04:13:51 150. William Barta, USA, Movistar Team, 04:19:52. Overall standings 1. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 25:58:04
2. Remco Evenepoel, Belgium, Soudal QuickStep, 25:58:58. 3. Kevin Vauquelin, France, Arkea-B&B Hotels, 25:59:15
4. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 25:59:21
5. Mathieu van der Poel, Netherlands, Alpecin-Deceuninck, 25:59:33
6. Matteo Jorgenson, USA, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 25:59:38
(Lorenzen 5-8), 3:10 p.m.
(Ogasawara 0-1) at Milwaukee (Woodruff 1-0), 3:10 p.m.
(Wheeler 9-3) at San Diego (Darvish 0-1), 6:35 p.m. Arizona (Gallen 7-9) at L.A. Angels (Kikuchi 3-6), 8:38 p.m.
Sunday’s games Chicago Cubs at N.Y. Yankees, 12:35 p.m. Miami at Baltimore, 12:35
p.m. L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m
at L.A. Angels, 3:07 p.m
at San Diego, 3:10 p.m.
England Lawn Tennis and Croquet
Club; London Surface: Grass Men’s singles
als Carlos Alcaraz (2), Spain, def. Taylor Fritz (5), USA, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Women’s doubles Semifinals Veronika Kudermetova, Russia, and Elise Mertens (8), Belgium, def. Desirae Krawczyk, USA, and Olivia Gadecki, Australia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Jelena Ostapenko (4), Latvia, def. Taylor Townsend, USA, and Katerina Siniakova (1), Czechia, 7-5, 6-4.
Cycling
Tour de France results
7th stage A 122 mile ride from Saint Malo to Mur-deBretagne Guerledan
1. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 04:05:39. 2. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, same time.
3. Oscar Onley Great Britain, Picnic PostNL, 04:05:41. 4. Felix Gall, Austria, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, same time.
7. Oscar Onley, Great Britain, Picnic PostNL, 26:00:53. 8. Florian Lipowitz, Germany, Red Bull — BORA — hansgrohe, 26:01:06
9. Primoz Roglic, Slovenia, Red Bull — BORA — hansgrohe, 26:01:10 10. Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark, LIDL-TREK/ USA, 26:01:47 Team standings 1. Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 77:58:21
2. UAE Team Emirates XRG, 78:03:54
3. Groupama-FDJ, 78:11:45
4. Arkea-B&B Hotels, 78:12:55
5. Decathalon AG2R La Mondiale Team, 78:15:15. 6. Red Bull — Bora — Hansgrohe, 78:19:14
7. Ineos Grenadiers, 78:21:39
8. EF Education — EasyPost, 78:24:14
9. Alpecin-Deceuninck, 78:26:18. 10. Team Picnic Postnl, 78:26:25. Golf
PGA Tour
ISCO Championship Friday At Championship Course Louisville, Ky. Purse: $4 million Yardage: 7,056; Par: 70 Second round Chan Kim, USA
Thomas Rosenmueller, Germ,y
Kris Ventura, Norway
Vince Whaley, USA
Zac Blair, USA
Nick Hardy, USA
Rico Hoey, Philippines
Beau Hossler, USA
Kevin Kisner, USA
Paul Peterson, USA
David Skinns, England
Callum Tarren, England
Cameron Champ, USA
Steven Fisk, USA
Peter Malnati, USA
Trevor Cone, USA
Manuel Elvira, Spain
Will Gordon, USA
Will Chandler, USA
Patrick Fishburn, USA
Luke List, USA
Ben Martin, USA
Troy Merritt, USA
Maximilian Kieffer, Germany 73-68—141 +1
Matthew NeSmith, USA 68-73—141 +1
Chez Reavie, USA 68-73—141 +1
Jack Senior, England 71-70—141 +1
Stephen Stallings Jr., USA 70-71—141 +1
Carl Yuan, China 72-69—141 +1
Julien Brun, France 70-72—142 +2
Bronson Burgoon, USA 73-69—142 +2
Brice Garnett, USA 69-73—142 +2
Fabian Gomez, Argentina 71-71—142 +2
Bill Haas, USA 70-72—142 +2
Adam Hadwin, Canada 71-71—142 +2
Justin Lower, USA 68-74—142 +2
Mac Meissner, USA 69-73—142 +2
Andrea Pavan, Italy 70-72—142 +2
Adam Schenk, USA 73-69—142 +2
Greyson Sigg, USA 70-72—142 +2
Brian Stuard, USA 75-67—142 +2
Thomas Aiken, South Africa 69-74—143 +3
Kevin Chappell, USA 70-73—143 +3
Drew Doyle, USA 72-71—143 +3
Takumi Kanaya, Japan 69-74—143 +3
Joel Moscatel, Spain 70-73—143 +3
Jacob Skov Olesen, Denmark 70-73—143 +3
Kaito Onishi, Japan 74-69—143 +3
Jeremy Paul, Germany 68-75—143 +3
Chandler Phillips, USA 73-70—143 +3
Miles Russell, USA 70-73—143 +3
Richard Sterne, South Africa 69-74—143 +3
Nick Watney, USA 72-71—143 +3
Robin Williams, South Africa 74-69—143 +3
Fabrizio Zanotti, Paraguay 70-73—143 +3
Michael Balcar, USA 73-71—144 +4
Quade Cummins, USA 72-72—144 +4
Jens Dantorp, Sweden 71-73—144 +4
Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Spain 76-68—144 +4
Andreas Halvorsen, Norway 71-73—144 +4
Patton Kizzire, USA 70-74—144 +4
Alexander Knappe, Germany 74-70—144 +4
Cooper Musselman, USA 74-70—144 +4
Seung-Yul Noh, South Korea 71-73—144 +4
Sam Ryder, USA 72-72—144 +4
Andrew Wilson, England 71-73—144 +4
LPGA Tour
Evian Championship
At Evian Resort Golf Club
Evian-les-Bains, France Purse: $8 million Yardage: 6,504; Par: 71 Second round Somi Lee 67-65—132 -10
Grace Kim 65-68—133 9
Jennifer Kupcho 65-69—134 -8
Casandra Alexander 67-68—135 7
Hye Jin Choi 67-68—135 7
Andrea Lee 65-70—135 -7
Aditi Ashok 67-69—136 6
Leona Maguire 65-71—136 -6
Gabriela Ruffels 65-71—136 6 Rio Takeda 69-67—136 6
Jeeno Thitikul 68-68—136 -6
Auston Kim 69-68—137 5
Nelly Korda 67-70—137 -5
Minjee Lee 66-71—137 5
Emily Pedersen 70-67—137 5
5
-4
4
4
-4
4
-4
4
-3
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark shoots over Atlanta’s Brionna Jones during the first half on Friday in Indianapolis.
TerryRobinson FAITH MATTERS
With roots in Acadiana, Atlanta preacher a dynamicsoul
As much as Ienjoy visiting our many wonderful congregations in the Baton Rouge area, Imake apoint to do the same when I’m out of town—whether traveling for business or pleasure —onSunday mornings. Last week, Ihad the blessed pleasureofattending worshipatthe historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta— famouslyonce co-pastored by Martin Luther King Jr.Iwas deeply moved by apowerful message titled “Sit Down, Sis,” delivered by the Rev Neichelle Guidry,adynamic preacher with deep family roots in the Opelousas area. Guidry grew up in Texas and graduatedfrom Clark Atlanta University,Yale Divinity Schooland has aPh.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Illinois. The first time Ivisited Ebenezer with my family more than 25 years ago, we were startled at the obvious and heavy security presence to enter aHouse of God. We later learned the horrific story of agunman who opened fire during aservice on June 30, 1974, killingKing’s mother and adeacon.
I’ve returnedtothe church several times since. It’sone of my favorite churches to attend in the Atlanta areaand onein which Ihighly recommend for severalreasons. Chief among them, of course,isthe church’s rich history dating back to its founding in 1886 and its status in the “Sweet Auburn” community of Atlanta and the world.It served as afocal point for the Civil Rights Movement. The present church, erected in 1999, is referred to as the Horizon Sanctuary.Itislocated on the Martin Luther KingJr. National Historic Site, which is composed of several buildings located around King’schildhood home.
The 1,700-seat Horizon Sanctuary abuts the Martin Luther Jr.Center for Nonviolent Social Change and sits across the street from the original Ebenezer,which is part of the National Register of Historical Sites. The area draws nearly a million visitors ayear Ebenezer is atraditional Black Baptist space that never seems to disappoint with its worship experience and welcoming environment. Last week’sservice featured the choir offering abeautiful
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CHURCH, STCINEMA,ILLNESS
Along, hot summer dayonthe grounds of historic area church conjures moviemagic
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
The movie’stitle came to mind whileturning the car left on St. Andrew’s Street from Plank Road
It was called “The Long Hot Summer,”and as IdrovefromChurch Street into St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church’sdriveway,Iwondered if the days were as hot as this oneduringthe movie’sfilming in Clinton.
PaulNewman and Joanne Woodward werethe leadsinWilliam Faulkner’sstory about suspected arsonist Ben Quick, whose charisma wins theadmirationofWill Varner,the richest man in town
Newman played Ben, Orson Welles played Varner,and Woodward playedVarner’s straightlaced,schoolteacherdaughter, Clara,whose dad decides to match herupwithBen. By 1957,whenthe movie was
Joanne Woodward, right, as Clara, watches as Paul Newman, as Ben, claims her picnic basket at achurchauction in the 1958 film,‘The Long Hot Summer.’The movie was filmed in Clinton, parts of it at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
filmed, Welles was already afilm legend.Newman andWoodward would get married afterward and become legends in their ownright. Andtothink, they all gathered in EastFelicianaParish’sseat, thesetting for the story’sfictional
Frenchman’sBend. The film was released in 1958. Ifirst saw it years ago on aSaturday afternoon. Maybe on Turner Classic Movies? It doesn’tmatter
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BR salonopens newlocation
BYJOY HOLDEN
PROVIDED PHOTO
STAFFPHOTO By ROBIN MILLER
Aside viewofSt. Andrew’sEpiscopalChurch in Clinton. Though the 1871 structure’sdoors usually are locked during the week, the congregation meets at 9a.m.each Sunday for Holy Eucharist three Sundaysamonth and Morning Prayeronthe other Sunday.Coffee and fellowship followimmediately in the parish hall.
By The Associated Press
Today is Saturday,July 12, the 193rd day of 2025. There are 172 days left in the year
Todayinhistory:
On July 12, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which acrate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of adoubleheader; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.
Also on this date:
In 1543, England’sKing Henry VIII married his sixthand final wife, Catherine Parr
In 1812, United States forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the Warof 1812 against Britain. (However, Hullretreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War, President AbrahamLincoln signed abill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor
In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senatein passing the16thAmendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for afederal income tax,and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)
In 1962, the Rolling Stones playedtheir first show, at the Marquee Club in London
In 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey,over the police beating of aBlack taxi driver; 26 people werekilled in the five days of violence that followed.
In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his runningmate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on amajor-party ticket.
In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi,who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’sItalian translator was attacked in Milan.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany,went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for aliving president,was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2012, ascathing report by former FBIDirector Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and othertop Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations againstJerry Sandusky more than adecade earlier to avoid bad publicity.
In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media companyafter Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company.(He would eventually become Twitter’sowner three months later.)
Today’sbirthdays: Writer Delia Ephron is 81. Singer Walter Egan is 77. Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 74. Actor Cheryl Ladd is 74. Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The BlindBoysofAlabama) is 73. Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 69. Actor Mel Harris is 69. Boxing champion JulioCesar Chavez is 63. Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 60.Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 56. Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 54. Actor Anna Friel is 49. R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 49. Actor Topher Grace is 47. Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 47. Country singer-musician KimberlyPerry (The Band Perry) is 42. Actor Natalie Martinez is 41. Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 37. Actor Rachel Brosnahanis35. Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 30. Nobel Peace Prize laureateMalala Yousafzai is 28. NBA guard Shai GilgeousAlexander is 27.
COSTCO
Continued from page5C
Arealevent that definitelyhappened
Dear Miss Manners: Acar wash I patronizehas two single-occupant washrooms, one labeled “Men,” the other “Ladies.” Ihad availed myself of the men’sroom, and as Iwas closingthe door, someone pushed it open. Istepped back, and in walked a30-something woman. She closed the door,locked it andsmiled at me as she walked by The men’swashroom has atoilet and aurinalonone wall with asink between them. The woman stood at the toilet, partly facing me, smiling, then dropped her slacks and underwear, giving me aview
At thesink, she thanked me, adding that her need had been pretty urgent.Ismiled andtold her she was welcome. We continued somesmall talk,and she said, “Thanks again,” as we were walking out.
to aminimumand be strictlymundane. That is probablywhy your friends are nottalking aboutit.
they show up at your house in the first place? That is not how hosting works.
Martin MISS MANNERS
As she was sitting, she told me to go about my business. Listening to herfurther stimulated me, so Iproceeded to use theurinal. As Iwas zipping up, she stood, partly faced me again, giving me another view,then pulled up her clothing
Asmallpathand garden are located between the sanctuary and church hall of St.Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Clinton.
CHURCH
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IjustknewthatIwas walking through apiece of the movie’shistory while exploring St. Andrew’s Church and its surroundings this month. The picnic scene, akey point in thestory,was largely filmedonthese grounds
Ben places the winning bid on Clara’spicnic basket at the church charity auction, andboth retreat to aquiet placetoshare thefood. Then Clara,harboring resentment, insults Ben.
ButBen keeps his cool because he knows Clara is secretly attracted to him.
The small town’sgiddy celebration fills theframe behind them, whichsomehowmakes this day’s exploration ghostly.With theexception of theoccasional passing car, only silencelingers outside thechurch’slocked doors. No blue-eyed Newman.NoWoodward. No food or music.
The stillnessamplifiesSt. Andrew’slone existence while calling attention to its features that charmed filmmakers into setting up their cameras here almost 70 years ago. Thestructure stands in aremote, fairy-tale setting on the corner of St. Andrew’sand Church streets, and its Carpenter Gothic architecture is magical.
Carpenter Gothic is characterized by pointed arches, steepgables anddecorative wooden trim, and the trim along St. Andrew’s eaves lookslike the snowy cover of aChristmas card
Some passersby would compare
MATTERS
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rendition of “How Great Thou Art” among severalwonderful selections andthe band performinganmagnificent instrumental medley. Then, there’sthe preaching, led by SeniorPastorand Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock. In the tradition of Dr.King and other predecessors, Warnock continues to preachhard on such issues such as social justice and racial equity
In her uplifting message, “Sit Down, Sis,” from Luke 10:38-42, Guidry directed her words primarily toward women, but it could very well apply to all of us.
SALON
Continued from page5C on it to see what we’re going to have in our location because different locations have different things.” For now,the food court area is shut downand blocked off. Jones said that they apologize for the inconvenience. Email Serena Puang at serena.puang@theadvocate. com.
makeup artists andmore, is occupying the formerAvant Tous salon in TheVillageatWillowGrove next to Pizza Byronz.Brittany Thrower the owner of Salon du Sud and Le Sud Studios,says she has long wanted asuite space for independent workersand spa-like services Honey Nails Studio, afull-service nail salon, shares the space
This isn’tthe first time I’ve been in this situation. Ihaven’tmentioned these occurrences to anyone else, nor have they mentioned any similar ones to me. From awoman’spoint of view,how should Ihave reacted?
Gentlereader: Do Miss Manners afavor: Refrain from using theword “stimulated” when it is not meantsexually.And save your adult film-like descriptions of bathroom interactions for adifferent sort of column.
Forany gender,using the bathroom is an eyes-on-your-own-paper sort of activity.Smiling, eye contact and small talk should be kept
Dear Miss Manners: My friends managetoarrive at mostplaces at aspecific time—doctors’ offices, work meetings, etc. However,two of my friends respond to my invitations by saying that they will be at my place “between 1and 2.”
To me, this meansthat they disrespect my timeand schedule, and they are unwilling to makea time commitment to me like they do to others.
Also, what am Isupposed to do in that hour —twiddle my thumbs?
From this point forward, Iwill be tellinganyone whogives me an “arrival window”that that doesn’t work for me and that I’ll need a specific time. Anyone else have this experience?
Gentlereader: Why is it that your friends are dictating what time
Miss Manners suggests you retrain them by giving afixed timetoshow up and not accepting counteroffers. (“No, Darlene, I said 1p.m., not between 1and 2. I have to timethe soufflé.”) There will be an awkward period as they get used to the change, and they might be unpleasant when you have to enforce it (flat soufflé, anyone?). But, as with training adog or achild, you will all come out stronger and less resentful forit. And with abetter soufflé.
Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite,www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postalmail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.
AviewofSt. Andrew’sEpiscopalChurch from the
The church wasbuilt in 1871.
it to agingerbreadhouse, and they’d be right,because St. Andrew’sfrilly trim hangs like batten lace from its gables. In atown wherecolumnedfacades rule,St. Andrew’sisananomaly —aphotogenic anomaly that translates well on film.
Butit’salso an anomaly that has withstood time and elements since itsconstruction in 1871, and its placement on the National RegisterofHistoricPlaces preserves itsstory.The church also is commemoratedbya state historic markeratthe end of the long sidewalk leading to its entrance from Church Street.
Though itsdoors usuallyare locked on weekdays, St. Andrew’s congregation still meetsat9 a.m. for Holy Eucharist three Sundays amonth, along with morning
The sermon centered on sisters Martha and Mary,who welcomed their friend Jesus into their home. Martha worked so diligently to prepare for Jesus that she nearly missed him Martha representsthose who have grown “tired” by thebusyness of life and may be anxious stressed and overwhelmed.
“Wehave been standing for so long, and we have been standing so strong, and we have been standing unwaveringly,” Guidry said. “It’s high time that some of us sit down —not as an act of giving up. Not as act of turning our backs on our communities. Not as an act of ignoring the pain around us. Not as act of act of resignation.…You might be in for asittingseason, so God can heal you, so God can restore you. So God
with thehead spa as wellasthree estheticiansand two hairstylists who use thespace. “The head spa was an ideafrom aclientofmine whosaidtheyare becoming popular in other states,” Thrower said. “Wehave some amazing shampooers at the salon, so Iknew it would be ahit.” Salon du Sud offersa30-minute relaxation treatment for $80 that includes eucalyptusoil infusion, gentle dry scalp stimulation and warmsteam to awaken circulation. Exfoliation tools lift buildup andre-
prayer on theremaining Sunday St.Andrew’shosts other events throughout the year.Perhaps even achurchpicnic is occasionally included on the calendar
In themovie, though, the church stands aloneonthis long, hot summerday while Newman and Woodwardplay out the picnic sceneon its grounds elsewhere on somebody’scable movie station. Andwho knows? Maybe somebodyelse watching that scene will be inspired to drive northonPlank Road from Baton Rouge to Clinton to see the church in person —all while wondering if the day that scene wasfilmed wasashot as today’s summer days.
Email Robin Milleratromiller@ theadvocate.com.
can turn things around.”
Guidry,who grew up in Texas with family from the Opelousas area, said Jesus’ presence may have saved Martha’slife.
“Jesus is in this room today to intervene on someMartha in the sanctuary,afull-one intervention for thestressed-out sister.He’s here because he loves you too much to leave you in this frazzled condition,” Guidry said.
Martha nearly missed her opportunity.
“Somewhere along the line, Martha began doing so much to serve Jesusthat Jesus could not longer serve her,” Guidry said. “We’ve gottobecareful not to cross the line where our worship becomes ourwork, and our work becomes adistraction that keeps us from the feet of Jesus.”
lease tension before ascalp scrub. A moregentlemassageandhalowater therapy round outthe service. For another$40,ablow-outcanbeadded. The 60-minute rejuvenation treatment contains allofthe elements of the relaxation treatment, but also includes an extended massage, an oil-infused scalp and bodytreatment anda bond repair conditioning mask. The rejuvenation ritual costs$130and canalso include an added blow-out for$40. Salon du Sud will now have two locations, and the one on Bluebon-
Fromthe inside, thisstained glass windowwouldappear at the front of the sanctuary, but fromthe outside, it is at the backofSt. Andrew’sEpiscopal Church.
Guidry said Mary,onthe other hand, broke social normsasa woman during 1st-century Palestine to rest at Jesus’ feet as a student.
“I don’tthink we talk about his feet enough, because this is aplace of surrender and stillness,” Guidry said. “This is the place of simplicity.This is the place of revelation. His feet is where Mary could listenand she could learn. The feet of Jesus was where she could pause for herdoing andsimply rest in her being.”
Another good word. Another excellent Ebenezer experience. For moreinformation, go to www.ebenezeratl.org.
Contact Terry Robinsonat terryrobinson622@gmail.com
net Boulevard will remainopen for current hair and makeup services. Current hours for Salon du SudVillage Plaza are 9a.m. to 2p.m. Tuesday,10a.m. to 5p.m. Wednesdayand noon to 7p.m. Thursday. In August, the hours will be 9a.m. to 7p.m. Tuesday through Friday,
Email Joy Holdenatjoy.holden@ theadvocate.com.
Judith
STAFFPHOTOSByROBIN MILLER
cross marking the groundsasSt. Andrew’sGrove in Clinton.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) Take the plunge, join in and do something that makes you feel good about yourself and what you stand for. A pragmatic approach to handling money and health issues will make a difference.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) It's time to catch up. Once you start, there will be no looking back, regrets or hesitation. Focus on the finish line, and don't stop until you reach your destination.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Explore the job market in your area. Having a plan will put your mind at ease and encourage you to get back on track regarding what you enjoy doing most. Opportunity is apparent, but you must initiate the first move.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Take the high road and avoid outside interference, negativity and burdens that don't belong to you. Let your actions and message lead the way, and your enthusiasm will deter anyone from stopping you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Say little, do a lot. Live up to your word and go above and beyond the call of duty. What you accomplish will win favors, respect and the support of critics. Think things through.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Shoot for the stars and discover things you can do that you never thought possible. Expect to face opposition from someone looking out for your best interests.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) When oppor-
tunity knocks, open the door and meet it. Distance yourself from negativity and people trying to exploit you. Concentrate on what you do best and make yourself heard.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Taking time to do what makes you happy will soothe your soul. Dress up and make special plans with someone who quickens your pulse.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Interaction with those who spark your interest is essential. Participating in a community event will bring you closer to someone who makes you question your next move.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Participate in group activities, competitions or networking events. Interacting with others will raise your profile Don't underestimate a domestic expense.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Refuse to let emotions take control. Attitude is everything; turning a negative into a positive will help you achieve what's necessary to boost your ego and send you to victory.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) The gates will open, and you'll be off to the races with plenty to gain if you put your energy, enthusiasm and expertise to the test. Leave some time to relax with someone you love.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
TODAy'S CLUE: X EQUALS V
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM
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 Bridge
Victor Cherbuliez, aFrench novelist who died in 1899, said,“What helps luck is ahabit of watching foropportunities, of having apatient but restless mind.”
At the bridge table, you have lots of opportunities, especially if you have a restlessmindthat workslogically If things seem desperate, restlessly lookfor alie of the cards that will allow you to get home.Inthis deal, for example, Southisinfour hearts. West leads hissingletonclub.Eastwinswithhisace andreturnstheclub10,hishighestbeing asuit-preference signal for spades. So West,afterruffing, shifts to the spade 10, which runs to South’sace. Declarer cashes hisheart ace, but both opponents followlow. Should South continue witha low heart, hoping the king falls,orwith the heart queen, tryingtopin the jack?
AfterEastopensoneclub,Southmight overcall one heart or four hearts. One heartwillworkbetterifNorth-Southcan have an uncontested auction, and especiallyiftheycanmakeaslam.However, since Northisapassed hand, aslam is unlikely. And jumping straight to four hearts might keep the opponents out of four spades.
Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed toDAY’s WoRD PALIMonY: PAL-ih-moh-nee: Acourt-ordered allowance paid by one member of aformerly unmarried, but cohabiting, couple to another. Average mark32words Time
