The Advocate 07-21-2025 by The Advocate

Lake Maurepas plan facesnew battle

Opponents

comparecarbon captureworkto now-banned activity

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL |Staff writer

Anew battle is shaping up over Air Products’ controversial plans for carbon injection wells beneath Lake Maurepas,withthe extensive digging required now coming into focus and stirring fresh opposition to the project.

The carbon injection and storage ﬁeld is expected to require enough underwater digging that the removed mud could fill LSU’sPete Maravich Assembly Center nearly twice over,company estimates show

The digging will helpmake way for anetwork of underwater pipelines for carbon dioxide, natural gas and ﬁber optic cablesthat will form roughly the shape of two“T’s” touching end to end,plansshow

Air Products announced its plans to build the ﬁrst carbon capture and sequestrationoperationinLouisiana nearly four years ago,but theextent of the work has come into sharper focus with recent permit applications. With this information in hand, longtime legislative and other opponents recently announced anew strategy to ﬁght theproject.They

An Air Products drillingrig used to drill the hole for the test detonation on Lake Maurepas stations for ademonstration for locals to secure apermit fora six-month surveyinAkers on Dec.5,2022 TOP: The locations of the seismic testing sites are unmarked on LakeMaurepas in Manchac on Oct. 14, 2022. STAFF FILEPHOTO By MORGANWERTHER

plan to invoke the history of damaging shell dredging in the laketoencouragecloser regulatory scrutiny, they said.

This plan comes with thepublic commentperiods having opened this month forAir Products’ clean

waterand waterway permits with theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers andits coastal use permit from the Louisiana Department of Energy andNatural Resources.

ä See PLAN, page 4A

Livingston libraryoptions divide community

Director,4 members of boardgone

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD |Staff writer

The search for anew Livingston Parish library director is takingoff, and it’s already shaping up to be divisive. Theparish Library Board of Control met Friday night to initially discuss the possibility of removing the requirement for amaster of library and information sciencedegree forthe library director position. The proposal drew acrowd, butultimately it was tabled by the board and the meeting abruptly ended when the quorum was lost after

aboard member walked out. Despite no actionbeing taken,many peopleinthe crowd voiced their frustration and confusion about theproposal and the search overall. The short-lived meetinghappened onlythree daysafter Parish President Randy Delatte and the majority of library board members did notrenewthe contractfor librarydirectorMichelle Parrish. The decision caused fourlibrary board members, including board leadership, to quit and walk out of the meeting. There are now only ﬁve board members, six including Delatte, when he useshis ex ofﬁcio role.

Parrishhad been thedirectorfor a little overtwo yearsafter her prede-

cessor,Giovanni Tairov,resigned after months of commotion surrounding contentrestrictions for minors.

An agenda for thelibraryboard meetingwas posted Thursday witha proposed policy change from recently elected boardpresident Jonathan Davis that the next library director would need only amaster’sdegree, not necessarily one in library science.

Astate law thatsays library directors no longerare required to hold amaster’sdegreeinlibrary sciencewentinto effect August 2024.

TheLivingston Parish librarysystem’scurrent policystates its library

ä See LIBRARY, page 4A

Judge mullsD.R. Horton case

BY MATT BRUCE |Staff writer

West and Alicia Dixon have spent the past threeyears ﬁghting forcompensationfor a homethey say was not built to stand up to Louisiana’s witheringsummertimehumidity.

The couple sued D.R. Horton, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, claiming the Youngsville house theTexas-based company sold them in 2014 had afaultyventilation system that causedwater damage, mold growth and health issues.

After years of legal wrangling, the Louisiana couple had their day in court last week and told aBaton Rouge judge about living in ahouse they said theycan’tafford to ﬁx and how it hasimpacted themand their four children.Itwas testimony that underscored their lawsuit, which claims D.R. Hortonknowingly built substandard homes across southern Louisiana and sales representatives duped them and other buyers into signing sales contracts with arbitration agreements.

Thecase is poised to become aclass-action lawsuit involving hundreds of Louisiana residents who purchased homes fromD.R. Horton after 2007.

Landry choosesnew childwelfare agency chief

Governor shakes up troubled division’s leadership

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN |Staff writer

As the agency continues to struggle with staffing shortages and recruitment, Gov Jeff Landry has announced that Rebecca Harris will take over as secretary of the Department of Children &Family Services.

Landry saidinanews release that Harris will replace David Matlock, who hasheaded the agency since early 2024.

Harris’ “experience in operational improvement and her commitment to protecting our mostvulnerable children make

ä See CHIEF, page 6A

STAFFPHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS LibraryBoard of Control President Jonathan Davisspeaks during the Friday meeting at the Livingston Parish Main Branch Library.

Harris

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Syria’s armed Bedouins withdraw from city

MAZRAA, Syria Syria’s armed Bedouin clans announced Sunday they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida following weeklong clashes and a U.S.-brokered ceaseﬁre, as humanitarian aid convoys started to enter the battered southern city

The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria’s already fragile postwar transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins.

The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins

A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the province, which later spread to Sweida city, the provincial capital. Government forces were redeployed to halt renewed ﬁghting that erupted Thursday, before withdrawing again.

Interim President Ahmad alSharaa who has been perceived as more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying that they “cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country’s affairs and restoring security.”

Pope renews call for Gaza ceasefire

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy Pope Leo

XIV renewed his call on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect international laws and the obligation to protect civilians.

“I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conﬂict,” the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

Leo also expressed his “deep sorrow” for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest.

“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,” the pope added.

The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.

“We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,” the pope said earlier Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano.

3 still missing from deadly Texas floods

KERRVILLE, Texas Just three people remain missing — down from nearly 100 at last count — since the Texas Hill Country was pounded by massive flooding on July 4, officials said Saturday Officials praised rescuers for the sharp reduction in the number of people on the missing list: Just days after the catastrophic flooding, more than 160 people were said to be unaccounted for in Kerr County alone.

“This remarkable progress reﬂects countless hours of coordinated search and rescue operations, careful investigative work, and an unwavering commitment to bringing clarity and hope to families during an unimaginably difficult time,” Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said in a statement. The death toll in Kerr County, 107, held steady for much of this week even as the intensive search continued.

The ﬂash ﬂoods killed at least 135 people in Texas over the holiday weekend, with most deaths along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio.

Officials: 85 seeking aid killed in Gaza

Israel widens evacuation orders

BY WAFAA SHURAFA, FATMA KHALED, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip

Gaza saw its deadliest day yet for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war as at least 85 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach food on Sunday, the territory’s Health Ministry said.

There was new alarm as Israel’s military issued evacuation orders for parts of central Gaza, one of the few areas where it has rarely operated with ground troops and where many international organizations trying to distribute aid are located. One group said several offices were told to evacuate immediately There was no immediate Israeli comment.

The largest death toll was in devastated northern Gaza, where living conditions are especially dire. At least 79 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach aid entering through the Zikim crossing with Israel, Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry’s records department, told The Associated Press. The U.N. World Food Program said 25 trucks with aid had entered for starving commu-

nities” when it encountered massive crowds.

A U.N. ofﬁcial, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment on the incident to the media, said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to take food from the convoy. Footage taken by the U.N. and shared with the AP showed Palestinian men running as automatic gunﬁre was heard.

“Suddenly, tanks surrounded us and trapped us as gunshots and strikes rained down. We were trapped for around two hours,” said Ehab Al-Zei, who had been waiting for flour and said he hadn’t eaten bread in 15 days. He spoke over the din of people carrying the dead

and wounded. ”I will never go back again. Let us die of hunger, it’s better.”

Naﬁz Al-Najjar, who was injured, said tanks and drones targeted people “randomly” and he saw his cousin and others shot dead.

Israel’s military said soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. But it said the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found. It accused Hamas militants of creating chaos.

More than 150 people were wounded, some in critical condition, hospitals said.

Al-Waheidi said Israeli gunﬁre killed another six

Palestinians in the Shakoush area, hundreds of yards north of a hub of the recently created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israel-backed group, in the southern city of Rafah. The GHF said it was not aware of any incident near its site. Witnesses and health workers say several hundred people have been killed by Israeli ﬁre while trying to access the group’s aid distribution sites.

Separately, seven Palestinians were killed while sheltering in tents in Khan Younis in the south, including a 5-year-old boy, according to the Kuwait Specialized Field Hospital, which received the casualties.

The new evacuation orders cut access between

the central city of Deir alBalah and Rafah and Khan Younis in the narrow territory The military also reiterated evacuation orders for northern Gaza. Palestinians were startled to see the orders for parts of Deir al-Balah, a relative haven “All of Rafah is under evacuation, and now you have decided that half of Deir al-Balah is under evacuation. Where will we move to?” asked resident Hassan Abu Azab, as others piled everything from bedding to live ducks onto carts and other vehicles. Smoke rose in the distance, with blasts and the sound of a siren. The United Nations was in contact with Israeli authorities to clarify whether U.N. facilities in the southwestern part of Deir alBalah are included in the order, according to a different U.N. ofﬁcial who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. The ofﬁcial said that in previous instances, U.N. facilities were spared from such orders.

The Medical Aid for Palestinians group said several humanitarian organizations’ ofﬁces and guesthouses had been “ordered to evacuate immediately” and nine clinics, including the MAP one, had been forced to shut down. It was not immediately clear what other groups were affected.

Russia seeks to achieve Ukraine goals despite ultimatum

Trump gave Moscow 50-day deadline for ceasefire

By The Associated Press

Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, days after President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceaseﬁre or face tougher sanctions.

Peskov and other Russian ofﬁcials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Mos-

cow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,” Peskov told state television in an interview

“The main thing for us is to achieve our goals,” he said. “Our goals are clear.”

The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine

withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022, but never fully captured. It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces — demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.

In his nightly address on Saturday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his ofﬁcials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city Trump threatened Russia on July 14 with steep tariffs and announced

Japanese leader’s coalition loses majority in upper house election

BY MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press

TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition failed Monday to secure a majority in the 248-seat upper house in a crucial parliamentary election, NHK public television said.

Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito needed to win 50 seats on top of the 75 seats they already have to reach the goal. With two more seats to be decided, the coalition had only 46 seats

The loss is another blow to Ishiba’s coalition, making it a minority in both houses following its October defeat in the lower house election, and worsening Japan’s political instability It was the ﬁrst time the LDP has lost a majority in both houses of parliament since the party’s foundation in 1955 Despite the loss, Ishiba expressed determination to stay on to tackle challenges such as U.S tariff threats, but he could face calls from within his party to step down or ﬁnd another coalition partner

“I will fulﬁll my responsibility as head of the No. 1 party and work for the country,” he said.

Ishiba had set the bar low, wanting a simple majority of 125 seats, which means his LDP and its Buddhist-backed junior coalition partner Komeito needed to win 50 to add to the 75 seats they already have Exit poll results released seconds after the ballots closed Sunday night mostly showed a major setback for Ishiba’s coalition.

The LDP alone won 38 seats, better than most exit poll projections of 32, and still

Voters fill in their ballots Sunday in the upper house election at a polling station in Tokyo.

the No. 1 party in the parliament, known as the Diet

“It’s a tough situation. I take it humbly and sincerely,” Ishiba told a live interview with NHK. He said the poor showing was because his government’s measures to combat price increase have yet to reach many people.

The poor performance in the election will not immediately trigger a change of government because the upper house lacks the power to file a no-confidence motion against a leader, but it will certainly deepen uncertainty over his fate and Japan’s political stability Ishiba could face calls from within the LDP party to step down or find another coalition partner Soaring prices, lagging incomes and burdensome social security payments are the top issues for frustrated, cashstrapped voters. Stricter measures targeting foreign residents and visitors also emerged as a key issue, with a surging right-wing populist party leading the campaign.

a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after months of frustration following unsuccessful negotiations aimed at ending the war The direct RussiaUkraine negotiations in Istanbul resulted in several rounds of prisoner exchanges but little else.

The U.S. president said that he would implement “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but suggested they would target Russia’s trading partners in

an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy In addition, Trump said that European allies would buy “billions and billions” of dollars of U.S. military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country’s supplies of weapons. Included in the plan are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and missiles. Doubts were recently raised about Trump’s commitment to supply Ukraine when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that U.S. stockpiles were running low

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI

Palestinians carry sacks of humanitarian aid on Sunday in the Gaza Strip.

Expert:Movetounseal

Epsteintranscripts

likely to disappoint

BY LARRYNEUMEISTER

Associated Press

NEW YORK AJustice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser JeffreyEpstein and his formergirlfriend is unlikely to producemuch,ifanything, to satisfy the public’sappetite for new revelations about the ﬁnancier’scrimes, formerfederal prosecutors say Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistantU.S.attorneyinManhattan from 2008 to 2021,calledthe request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisonedBritish socialite Ghislaine Maxwell “a distraction.”

“The president is tryingtopresent himself as if he’sdoing something here and it really is nothing,” Krissoff told The Associated Press in aweekend interview

Deputy Attorney GeneralTodd Blanche made the request Friday,asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying “transparencytothe American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”

The request came as the administration sought to contain the ﬁrestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional ﬁles from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would.

Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federaljail cell in August 2019, amonth after his arrest on sextrafficking charges,while Maxwell, 63, is serving a20-year prison sentenceimposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luringgirls to be sexuallyabusedbyEpstein Krissoff andJoshua Naftalis,a Manhattan federal prosecutorfor 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief.

Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to agrand jury to get anindictment but “it’snot going to be ev-

erything the FBIand investigators have ﬁgured out aboutMaxwell and Epstein.”

“People want the entire ﬁlefrom however long. That’sjust notwhat this is,” he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amounttoafew hundred pages.

“It’snot going to be much,”Krissoff said, estimatingthe lengthat as little as60pages “becausethe Southern District of NewYork’s practice is to put as little information as possibleintothe grand jury.”

“Theybasically spoonfeedthe indictment to thegrand jury That’swhatwe’re going to see,” she said. “I just think it’s notgoingtobethat interesting. Idon’t think it’sgoing to be anything new.”

Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jurywitnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witnessinterviews

That practice might conflict with the public perception of some stateand federal grandjuryproceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at atrial are brought before grand juriesduring lengthy proceedings priortoindictments or when grandjuries are used as an investigatory tool.

In Manhattan, federal prosecutors “are trying to geta particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jurywhat they wantthem to do,” Krissoff said.

Krissoffpredicted thatjudges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government’s request.

With Maxwell, apetition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not beenexhausted.

With Epstein, thecharges are relatedtothe Maxwell case and the anonymityofscores of victims whohavenot gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested thatvictim identities be protected.

“Thisisnot a50-, 60-, 80-yearold case,” Krissoff noted. “There’s still someone in custody.”

AttorneyGeneral

the Drug Enforcement Administration in Arlington, Va Bondi requested judges unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against JeffreyEpstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

She saidciting “public intrigue, interestand excitement” about a case was likely not enough to convince ajudge to release the transcripts despite a1997 ruling by the2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsthatsaidjudges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justifyreleasing grand jury information.

Krissoff calledit“mind-blowinglystrange” that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directlyfiling requests andarguments in the Southern District of New York, where theprosecutor’sofﬁcehas long been labeled the“Sovereign District of New York” for itsindependence from outside inﬂuence.

“Tohavethe attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,” she said.

Cheryl Bader, aformer federal prosecutor andFordhamLaw School criminal law professor, said judges whopresided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases maytake weeks or months to rule

“Especially here where thecase involvedwitnessesorvictims of sexualabuse, manyofwhich are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,”she said.

Bader said she didn’tsee the government’squest aimed at satisfying the public’s desire to explore conspiracy theories “trumping —pardonthe pun— thewellestablished notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.”

“I’m sure that all the line pros-

ecutorswho really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are nothappy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,” she added.

Mitchell Epner,aformer federalprosecutor now in private practice,calledTrump’s comments andinﬂuence in theEpstein matter “unprecedented” and “extraordinarily unusual” because he is asitting president.

He saiditwas not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unsealthe grandjurymaterials came two days after the ﬁring of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey,who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

“If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with thepolitical or personal agenda of powerfulpeople,then we areinavery different place than I’ve understood the federal Department of Justicetobein over the last 30 years of my career,” he said.

Krissoffsaidthe uncertain environment that has current prosecutorsfeeling unsettled is shared by government employeesshe speaks with at otheragenciesas part of her workinprivate practice.

“The thing Ihear most often is this is astrange time.Things aren’t working the way we’reused to them working,” she said. Associated Press WritersEric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

EU to ready retaliation plan as U.S. trade stance hardens

BY ALBERTONARDELLI

Bloomberg News (TNS)

European Union envoys areset to meet as earlyasthisweektoformulate aplan for measures to respond to apossible no-deal scenariowith President Donald Trump, whose tariff negotiatingpositionisseen to have stiffenedahead of an Aug. 1deadline.

The overwhelming preference is to keep negotiationswithWashington on track in abid foranoutcome to theimpasse ahead of next month’sdeadline.

Still, efforts have yet to yield sustained progress following talks in Washington last week,according to people familiar withthe matter Negotiations will continue over the next two weeks.

The U.S. is nowseen to want a near-universal tariff on EU goods higherthan10%,withincreasingly fewerexemptionslimited to aviation,some medical devices and generic medicines, severalspirits, and aspeciﬁc set of manufacturing equipment that the U.S. needs, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Aspokesperson for the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the bloc, said theyhad no commenttomakeonthe ongoing negotiations.

The two sideshavealso discussed apotential ceiling forsome sectors, as well as quotas forsteel andaluminum and away to ring-fence supply chains fromsources that oversupply the metals,the people said. The people cautioned that even if an agreement were reached it would need Trump’ssignoff —and his position isn’tclear

“I am confident we’llget adeal done,” U.S. Commerce Secretary HowardLutnicksaidonCBS’s “Face theNation” on Sunday.“Ithink all these key countries will ﬁgure out it is better to open their markets to the United States of America than to paya signiﬁcant tariff.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

PamBondi, center,speaks Tuesday at anews conference at

director is required to hold a master of library and information science degree.

No public libraries in the Baton Rouge region have reported hiring a director without this degree since the state law change.

Before Friday’s meeting, Davis said he proposed the change after speaking with a former high school teacher

He said there are many good educators in the parish with master’s degrees just not in library science. But Davis did not say the board was explicitly looking at educators for the job.

“That would open the pool for anyone (with a master’s degree) to apply for this position,” he said. “It would make the application process more competitive.”

PLAN

Continued from page 1A

Air Products disputes the comparison with shell dredging and calls the planned work on the lake bottom relatively minimal.

Its plans involve injecting up to 5.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year more than a mile deep into porous rocks millions of years old. That would allow it to produce low-carbon hydrogen and potentially ammonia at a $7 billion plant proposed in Ascension Parish that has garnered local and state backing due to the project’s sizable job and tax beneﬁts.

‘Deserve a real say’

A now-banned practice that dated back to 1914 along Louisiana’s coast and its inland estuaries, oyster and clam shell dredging was the subject of a hot-button environmental dispute in the 1980s until it was ended in the early 1990s.

Opponents successfully argued then that the pollutants and mud stirred up by the practice — using suction dredges to pull up shells from lake and coastal bottoms — caused long-term harm to water quality and aquatic wildlife while removing protective oyster reefs.

In the mid-1980s, the state sued in federal court to force the Corps of Engineers to do the kind of deeper analysis now sought for Air Products, known as an environmentalimpact statement.

State Rep Kimberly Coates, R-Ponchatoula, recently told a crowded bingo hall in Tangipahoa Parish that the case established a precedent that she believes will help.

“This ﬁght for Lake Maurepas is about protecting our communities, our ecosystem, and our constitutional right to public input. The people deserve transparency, and they deserve a real say in what happens to their lake,” Coates said in a later statement after the town hall in Ponchatoula last week

The November 1987 Corps

Davis said board members don’t have any speciﬁc person in mind for the job, but they are looking someone to be interim director as quickly as possible. At Friday’s meeting, Davis ultimately decided to table the item and bring it up at the next meeting, which does not have a set date yet. “It looks like we do have a full room, but I can assure you, there are probably plenty more people that were not able to make it here on such short notice, and I do not want to take away the chance for them to come and give public comment,” he said.

A handful of residents attempted to voice their frustrations during public comment to the library board.

Parish resident Cathleen Hyde, who previously spoke out against the removal of Parrish, disagreed with the proposed master’s degree policy but also asked the board what the plan was for

analysis that the suit forced ended up opposing shell dredging in Lake Maurepas due to its small size, shallowness, fresh water and other factors. The practice wouldn’t be halted in nextdoor Lake Pontchartrain and elsewhere statewide for a few more years

The Corps’ conclusion came a few years after state regulators recognized the particular sensitivity of Maurepas. They banned shell dredging in that lake in the mid-1980s after a resumption of the practice in 1983 following a long hiatus In internal memos, state Department of Environmental Quality ofﬁcials detailed the nearly immediate and extensive impact shell dredging had on Maurepas’ shallow waters in the spring of 1983 and winter of 198384, even after they tried to reduce digging from three dredges to one dredge only for ﬁve days over a 10-day period.

Air Products ofﬁcials say they remain open to an EIS, which could take up to two years, and to new public hearings that opponents are also seeking, but pointed out those decisions are up to the Corps.

“Any comparison of shell dredging to our work would be inaccurate and misleading,” said Christina Stephens, a company spokeswoman “We are proposing to conduct very minimal improvements to the lake bottom in order to provide safe navigation into Lake Maurepas.”

Corps will evaluate

Air Products has already finished seismic and other testing and received its state air permit in June, but it is waiting on DENR’s technical review of its underground injection plans, company ofﬁcials said.

The carbon storage project is however facing renewed internal scrutiny following an investor-led leadership shakeup earlier this year

Air Products is looking for investors to take over the carbon capture and ammonia production piece of the operation, and the comple-

getting an interim director “I think that the public is lacking clarity on what the immediate goal is and what the timeline of that will be,” she said.

The board did not necessarily want to take public comments about the director search after the requirement proposal was tabled. Eventually during public comment,

board member Dewanna Christian got up and left — causing the quorum to be lost and ending the meeting.

Direct questions about the search were not entertained

then, but a group of people did ask board president Davis questions afterward. Davis said he doesn’t expect the next meeting to held within the next three to four weeks, due to members being absent. As of Friday, he did not have an update about if or when applications would be ofﬁcially posted and that he has to work with the acting directors on that move.

While the seeming majority of the room expressed frustration with the week’s events and the proposal for the director requirement, some people said they are less worried about the search.

Former library board member Summer Smith, who was in favor of the removal of Parrish, said after the meeting that it is a tough conversation, but she is open minded about it. “If it’s in the state law, why not?” she said.

tion date has been pushed back two to three years.

Corps officials say they can’t consider whether to have public hearings or require an EIS until after their comment period ends July 30.

Air Products plans to use a barge with a water jet to carve 6-foot-deep, 4-footwide pipeline trenches and dig out other parts of the lake for other infrastructure That will require the excavation of about 209,500 cubic yards of lake bed, according to a state permit application.

Whether the Corps does an EIS or a lesser review known as an environmental assessment depends on the likelihood of a significant impact from the project.

Corps spokesman Ricky Boyett said the agency’s analysis “will evaluate the impacts associated with construction of Air Products’ proposed project, which would include disturbing Lake Maurepas water bottoms due to pipeline installation.”

He said “it’s not clear how the construction impacts from pipeline and (carbon capture and sequestration) well construction and several decades of clam shell dredging in Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain are comparable, but it is something we may consider.”

‘Least disruptive paths’

Air Products says it has tried to limit the impact of temporary construction and its permanent operations.

The company plans to have surface structures contained in 17 sites, including 16 injection and monitoring wells, and has tried to locate the different facilities together to limit the visual impact

“Once completed, Air Products’ presence on Lake Maurepas will only represent around 0.0008% of the entire surface of the lake,” said Stephens, the company spokeswoman.

The company also will locate underwater pipelines next to one another in parallel routes of two or three channels and use a mud curtain and other practices

during dredging to reduce clouding the water with dirt

Spoil mud from the new pipeline trenches would be spread along their sides and would be no deeper than 6 inches, Air Products says.

“We have worked with regulators to find the least disruptive paths for our pipelines and at every step of the process we are implementing ways to minimize our environmental impact on Lake Maurepas,” Stephens said.

Kristi Trail, executive director of the Pontchartrain Conservancy, said her group remains concerned about the wetlands destruction required for pipeline and other construction on land and about the impact dredging could have on the lake and parts of the food web.

“It’s a very sensitive ecosystem, and it was well recognized, the beneﬁt of halting dredging, which is why it was stopped,” said Trail, whose nonproﬁt is dedicated in part to the health of the two lakes.

Provided the DEQ memos from the 1980s, Trail said they show the impact dredg-

ing of just about a month caused and argued Air Products’ work over potentially a few years could cause “irreversible harm to the lake.”

“Why are we repeating the mistakes of the past? Is his-

Notice is herebygiven pursuant to Article 7, Section 23(C) of the Louisiana Constitution and R.S. 47:1705(B) that a public hearing of the Livingston Parish Fire Protection District 8will be held at the regular meeting place,French Settlement Volunteer Fire Department at 15160La. Hwy 16,FrenchSettlement, La.70733, on Tuesday, September 02, 2025 to consider levying additional or increased millage rateswithout further voterapproval or adopting the adjusted millage ratesafter reassessment and rolling forwardtorates not to exceed the prior year’s maximum. The estimated amount of tax revenues to be collected in the next year from the increased millage is $299,083.97, and the amount of increase in taxes attributable to the millage increase is $37,684.58.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Livingston Parish residents fill the room during the library board meeting at the Livingston Parish Main Branch Library on Friday.

If

You’re Over ThirtyThis is the BEST TREATMENT you canuse foryour SCIATICA, BACK PAIN, and HERNIATEDDISCS

Finally, there’sa treatmenttoconquer low back, neck,leg andarm pain without dangerous medications orpainful surgery.

If yousufferfrom:

•LOW BACK PAIN

• SCIATICA •NECKPAIN

•HIP PAIN

•LEG PAIN

•NUMBNESS IN ARMS, LEGS OR FEET

Non-surgicalSpinal Decompressionmay be theanswerfor you!

We areDr. ScottLeBlanc andDr. Dana LeBlanc, a husbandand wife team,thatown LeBlancSpine Center. We have helped thousandsofpatientsget outof pain with Spinal Decompressiontherapy treatments, andwelove what we do.Discissuesare common,and patients sufferingare usuallygiven limitedoptions of treatment. We runthese bignewspaper advertisementstolet people in thecommunity know thereis anotheroptionoftreatment forpain- withoutmedication,injections, or surgery!

NON-SURGICALSPINAL DECOMPRESSION is a breakthrough,non-invasive treatmentthathas been proventoreverse disc herniationsand relievenerve pain in theneck andlow back. During theprocedure aspinaldiscisisolatedand aseriesofdistraction andrelaxationphasesoccur at averyspecificangle targetingthe source of pain.A vacuum canbecreated inside thediscand thenegativepressuredeliversnutrients, oxygen,and fluidfromsurrounding tissues, to assist with repair of thedamaged disc Thetreatment is not painfulatall,and most patients read or even take anap whileontreatment!

PROOFTHIS TREATMENTWORKS There’splentyof researchtobackupthe claims of Spinal Decompression Therapyand itseffectiveness.Hereare just afew of thepublished scientificstudies

•“Patients reported amean88.9% improvement in backpainand better function .Nopatient required anyinvasivetherapies (e.g.epiduralinjections, surgery).”-AmericanAcademy of Pain Management

•“We thus submit that decompressiontherapy should be considered first, before thepatient undergoesa surgical procedurewhich permanentlyaltersthe anatomyand function of theaffectedlumbarspine segment.”-Journal Of Neuroscience Research

•“86%ofthe 219patientswho completedthe therapy reported immediateresolutionofsymptoms.”-Orthopedic Technology Review

•“Vertebralaxial (spinal) decompressionwas successfulin71% of the778 cases”- JournalofNeurologicalResearch

•“Good to excellentreliefin86% of patients with Herniateddiscs”- TheAmericanJournal of Pain Management

•“Decompression Therapyreporteda76.5% with complete remissionand 19.6%withpartial remission of pain anddisability” -Rio Grande Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery

At LeBlancSpineCenter, we utilizeadvanced, FDA-clearedtechnologythatisproventoeffectively

Ihavesuffered with numbness in my legs for 5monthsbeforegoing to LeBlancSpine Center. Afterthe first initialconsultation, I startedSpinalDecompression treatmentsand within 3months, Ihad ahuge difference in mobility,reduced pain,and thenumbness was subsiding. Ihaveimprovedabout 80%from thetreatments. Isleep better,walkwithout pain,and duetocervicaldecompression,my migrainesare almost non-existent.Dr. Scott listenedtomysymptomsand began to treat therootofmyproblems. The doctorsand staff are compassionate andverycaring. It feelslikeafamilyand their patient’swellbeing really matterstothem. I 100% recommendLeBlancSpine Center! JoyLewis Hometown -Baton Rouge,LA

alleviatepain.

It’s importanttonotethatnot everypatient is a candidatefor Spinal Decompression, whichiswhy we prioritize athoroughindividualassessmentfor each person whowalks throughour doors. Our high successrateinpainreliefstems from our commitment to only taking on patients whom we confidently believewecan help

Forthe next 7days, we areofferingaspecial “Decompression Evaluation”offer,atnocostto you! What does this offer include? Everything we normally do in ournew patientevaluations:

•Anin-depthconsultationabout your health andwellbeing wherewewilllisten. really listen to thedetails of your case.

•Acompleteneuromuscular examination

•Afullset of specializedX-rays(if clinically necessary)

•A thorough analysis of your exam andX-ray findings

Youwillsit with thedoctorone on onetogoover your x-rays,and you’ll gettosee everything first hand

At LeBlancSpine Center,weare honest with our patients andwegivepersonalizedattention and analysis to each case.Wetruly enjoymeeting with patients to answer theirquestions andtohelp find outifSpinalDecompression treatments couldbe theanswertotheir pain

Thereisnochargeatall andyou don’tneedtobuy anything.You have nothing to lose by taking us up on this specialoffer andyou will getanswers to

what is causingyourpain. If youhave seen ourads in thepastand have thoughtabout calling, don’thesitate. Youdon’t have to go on living in pain,missingout on activities andother part of lifethatyou enjoy. Call us today!

I first came to LeBlancSpine Center with numbness in my arms andlegs. Iwas also experiencinglower back pain andneckpain. I had beensuffering with this forover10years I hadpreviouslytriedone epidural injection in my lowerbackand physical therapy, an I was stillsufferingwiththese symptoms.Since beginning Spinal Decompressiontreatments, Ihavehad consistent improvement in my back condition, andIamnow 70%improved! Iam liftingwithout pain,sleepingbetter, andI now have theability to walk withouttiring! Iwould highly recommendDr. LeBlancand LeBlanc SpineCenter!

L. J. Dupuy (College Baseball Coach) Hometown -Addis,LA

IcametoDr. LeBlancbecause Ihad been sufferingwithseveresciatica. Thepaininmylow back andlegswas so severe that Ibegan staying home rather than attendingsportingorsocial events

Ibegan Spinal Decompression treatments and sincethen, Iam70% improved! Iamfeeling well enough andenergetic afterworking allday to cook,dohousehold chores,attendfunctions, etc. Ihavemoremobility andIamnot exhausted from thepain! Thestaff andDoctors here are wonderful.Everyoneissokindand friendlyand will do whatever is needed to decreasethe pain What Ilikemostabout my care at LeBlancSpine Center is THERESULTS!Ihighlyrecommend LeBlancSpine Centerdue to thenon-invasive treatmentand results! As amatteroffact, Ihave recommendedDr. LeBlanctopeoplealready SabrinaRuggiero Customer ServiceRepresenative/Insurance Agent Hometown -Plaquemine, LA

Rose,LA

After listening to nearly eight hours of testimony Wednesday from the Dixons and several other D.R. Horton homeowners, 19th Judicial District Chief Judge Donald Johnson now has a key decision: Should the case remain before him in state court, or should it be litigated in arbitration?

Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue the matter should remain in state court, where they say they would have more access to evidentiary documents and the matter would be less expensive for their clients

Johnson has presided over the case for much of the past three years since the Dixons originally lodged their petition for damages in March 2022. The case was transferred to a federal district court for about 10 months before a federal judge remanded it to the 19th JDC in September 2023. In a July 8 ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeal gave Johnson a deadline to rule on two motions ﬁled by D.R. Horton that will settle the arbitration issue in the case.

The appellate court ordered Johnson to render his ruling by Tuesday Last Wednesday’s marathon evidentiary hearing provided testimony that can inform his decision.

The hearing marked the first time the Dixons had a chance to tell their story in a courtroom. They were buoyed by expert witnesses and ﬁve other D.R Horton homeowners who said the company strung them along with “Band-Aid” repairs to their faulty HVAC systems until the two-year warranty for their respective homes expired.

After that, company ofﬁcials deserted them and left families on the hook to pay for the expensive repairs, witnesses testiﬁed.

“They kept coming out. But they kept coming out and not fixing the issue,” said Anna Pollock, a mother of four who had to evacuate

CHIEF

Continued from page 1A

her the right choice to lead DCFS,” Landry said. “I have full confidence she will strengthen this department and deliver positive outcomes for our most vulnerable citizens.”

Harris previously served as an undersecretary and, most recently, as a deputy secretary In a statement, Harris said she is “honored and excited to serve as Secretary during this great time of opportunity and transformation, focusing on strategic commitments to improve outcomes for those we serve.” Matlock will stay on as the confidential assistant to the secretary, according to the release, which says the changes go into effect Aug. 1.

her home in the same Sugar Ridge subdivision where the Dixons live. She and her family were forced to move to Georgia to escape the mold issues that intensiﬁed her youngest daughter’s asthma.

“When they realized they weren’t ﬁxing it, they abandoned us,” Pollock testiﬁed.

“They just stopped coming, stopped returning texts. They left holes in the wall we just couldn’t get them on the phone anymore.”

Arbitration hurdle

One key moment during Wednesday’s hearing came when Dustin Cole took the stand. Cole, who owns a Lake Charles heating and cooling company, testiﬁed as an HVAC expert. He inspected the Dixons’ home in October 2023 and said he found negative pressure” that was causing outdoor air elements to be pushed into their indoor environment. It was so bad in their master bedroom, it was depressurizing the entire home, Cole explained to the judge.

“An HVAC is designed to circulate the air throughout the house and return it,” he said. “In the event that it is not allowed to return the air, then you can start having different imbalances. You can have a pressure imbalance.”

“It was an honor to serve as Secretary of DCFS, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made together for Louisiana’s children and families,” Matlock said in the release. “I look forward to focusing my energy on building strong, supportive environments for the children who need us most.”

The DCFS has long been criticized for its staffing shortages. A recent report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found the agency had 140 child welfare staff position vacancies in February, up from 118 at the end of the 2023 ﬁscal year

The audit also found that between July 1, 2022, and Feb. 10, 2025, the number of ﬁlled child welfare positions decreased by 108. That change comes despite an alarming number of child abuse deaths that brought the agency under

In a December 2022 ﬁling, the Dixons amended their lawsuit to expand the proposed putative class, setting the stage for a class-action claim that could include as many as 1,000 plaintiffs. The Dixons would become class representatives, suing on behalf of themselves and “all other individuals similarly situated” who bought a D.R. Horton-built home after Jan. 1, 2007.

James Alcee Brown, the New Orleans attorney leading D.R. Horton’s legal defense, said the company has sold more than 18,000 homes across Louisiana since 2007. He later clarified that statistic and said nearly 14,000 D.R. Horton-built homes were sold statewide between 2007 and the end of 2022.

The Dixons’ amended complaint indicates hundreds of Louisiana homeowners whose residences were built with “defective design and construction” could possibly join the class-action suit as plaintiffs.

In order to reach that milestone in the case, however, the Dixons must first clear the hurdle of arbitration.

Lance Unglesby, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney described the evidentiary hearing as a pivotal “mini trial.” The objective was to convince Judge Johnson that the Dix-

scrutiny in 2022, prompting lawmakers to demand change.

In a statement, the DCFS said one of its key initiatives for the current fiscal year includes a recruitment campaign and increased stafﬁng.

A 2022 investigation by The Advocate | The TimesPicayune found that, when adjusted for inﬂation, DCFS lost nearly half of its funding between 2007 and 2021. It also found that DCFS caseloads were three times the national standard.

Meanwhile, Louisiana faces a shortage of foster care families

“As of July 2, 2025, there were more than 4,200 children in care and less than 2,000 certified foster homes,” according to the agency

Email Meghan Friedmann at meghan.friedmann@ theadvocate.com.

ons’ lawsuit should remain in court.

Attorneys for D.R. Horton have insisted from the outset that the issue should be settled in arbitration, citing the fact that the Dixons signed a sales contract with a binding arbitration clause that directs any legal disputes into mediation under construction industry arbitration rules. The two exceptions, or motions for dismissal, that First Circuit Court of Appeal judges ordered Johnson to rule on by this Tuesday were both ﬁled by D.R. Horton in April 2022 — less than a month after the Dixons lodged their original petition.

The motion for the company argues that court is an improper venue for the Dixons’ claims under the U.S. Arbitration Act, the federal law that enforces arbitration agreements.

Brown, D.R. Horton’s lead counsel in the case, drove home that same argument last Wednesday, telling Johnson the courts have no legal authority in the matter

“It is undisputed that the Dixons signed the contract of sale and initialed the arbitration clause on two separate occasions,” Brown said. “We submit that is all we need to prove to the court to carry

our burden on our original arbitration exceptions.”

But West and Alicia Dixon said the sales representatives pressured them to sign the contract, telling them the homes were selling fast and it was necessary so they could pay a $1,000 deposit to secure the four-bedroom LaSallestyle house they eventually purchased. Both testiﬁed that none of the sales representatives ever mentioned the arbitration clause or explained to them that it could prevent them from taking legal action in court. “I would not have signed it,” Alicia Dixon said. “I took it in good faith from the company representative that I was buying a home from that what he told me was 100% accurate,” West Dixon said. “That this document was a purchase agreement, and that it was just for the $1,000 we put down to hold the lot.”

West Dixon testified the only hazard sales representatives warned them about was that they could lose their deposit if they backed out of the house purchase after signing the contract.

Adhesive contract

D.R Horton’s legal team did not cross-examine any of the witnesses. Brown made

several objections as plaintiff attorneys questioned the witnesses. But he said he was reserving his questions for arbitration, where all evidence should be presented. The one follow-up question Brown did offer up was to ask West Dixon if he signed the sales contract a second time in June 2014. West said he did.

LSU law professor Kenya Smith, a specialist in contracts, testiﬁed that the arbitration agreements amounted to an adhesive “take-it-or-leave-it” contract that heavily swayed in D.R. Horton’s favor It gave the company exclusive remedies and hidden opt-outs like keeping homebuyers’ deposits or seeking attorney fees — that were not afforded to purchasers who signed the sales contracts. He opined the Dixons didn’t have “nearly the equal bargaining power” in the deal. Arbitration under construction rules is a relatively expensive route that would likely cost the Dixons well over $10,000 to pursue litigation. Unglesby the plaintiffs’ attorney, said D.R. Horton officials knew the HVAC systems installed in the homes were faulty and used the arbitration agreements to ward off lawsuits so they wouldn’t have to honor the mandates of Louisiana’s New Home Warranty Act. That state law requires builders to repair construction defects in new homes for two years after the properties are sold. Unglesby also argued that the couple’s signatures don’t lock them into the contract’s arbitration clauses because they didn’t knowingly consent to those terms.

“A party cannot be bound to a contract term if they had no reasonable opportunity to read and understand it,” he said during one point of the hearing. “The question isn’t did they sign the contract? The question is did they consent to all of the terms in the contract.”

Email Matt Bruce at matt. bruce@theadvocate.com.

aSpecial Eventduring the month of March! During this event, we will be offering these FREE services:

•FREE Hearing Consultations

•FREE Video Otoscope Exam: Hearinglossorjust earwax?

•FREE Clean &Check on currenthearing aids

•FREE Baseline Audiogram Assessment

•FREE Familiar Voice Test

•FREE Demo of Audibel’s latest hearing technology!

AreYou or Anyone YouKnow Experiencing the Following?

1. Asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?

2. Turning theTVuploud tounderstandwhat is being said?

3. Ringing or noises in your ears?

Audibelis NOW Offering...

•Hearingaids at NO COST to those who qualify!•

• That’s Right. No Co-Pay!NoExamFee! No AdjustmentFee! If youhavethiscard, youmay qualifyfor free hearing aids! Call today to verifyyour benefits

N.O. site of collapse marked historic

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

The intersection of Canal and North Rampart streets, where the proposed Hard Rock Hotel collapsed and killed three people in 2019 and where civil rights activists held sit-ins at the former Woolworth’s in 1960, has been named a historic landmark.

The Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission granted a historic designation to the site last week, a decision that followed a push by the City Council to commemorate the space.

The designation comes nearly six years after the building supports at the now-demolished Hard Rock construction site gave way, sending the top three ﬂoors of the 18-story proposed hotel tumbling, killing three workers and injuring dozens more.

The collapse, which triggered widespread scrutiny of the city’s Safety and Permits Department, remains under investigation.

And it comes 65 years after seven local college students staged the ﬁrst sit-in protest of the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans at the former Woolworth’s lunch counter, which was demolished, along with the retail building, in 2014.

The move is meant to honor two important parts of the city’s history council members said this week

“The decision by the commission marks a powerful step forward in honoring the layered history of this location a place that remembers both the undeniable courage of the Civil Rights Movement and the sorrow of lives lost too soon,” said City Council Vice President Helena Moreno in a statement on Monday Moreno and District C council member Freddie King both pushed for the designation. The council members’ request for the designation came after family members of the victims of the Hard Rock collapse — Jose Ponce Arreola, Anthony Magrette and Quinnyon Wimberly requested a permanent memorial to honor them, the statement said.

“This site tells two powerful stories — one of courage in the ﬁght for civil rights, and one of tragedy that must never be forgotten,” said King. Angela Magrette, twin sister of Anthony Magrette, said the landmark designation was an important step in keeping her brother’s memory alive.

“The next step is to see what they’re actually going to put out there to get it marked for the guys so that people will remember what happened,” said Magrette. She believes the site should be turned into a park, with a plaque commemorating the workers.

The loss of her brother is “an everyday struggle,” said Magrette, adding that the city should “step up their game with inspectors” to prevent similar tragedies. A spate of building collapses across the city’s core at the end of last year “hit hard” for the family, Magrette said.

The landmark designation doesn’t entail additional protection or oversight of the property, said Bryan Block, director of the Historic District Landmarks Commission at the commission’s meeting on July 9. Any plaque or memorial at the site would need to be approved by ofﬁcials separately

While the Historic District Landmarks Commission does not typically designate vacant lots as landmarks, staffers wrote in a report that the “site overwhelmingly meets the criteria for landmark designation it exempliﬁes or reﬂects the broad cultural, political, economic or social history of the nation, state, or community and is associated with important events in national, state, or local history.”

“The memory of the protests which happened there are ever present,” staffers wrote. “The collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel is a more recent tragedy, and it’s hard to say what the effects on the psyche of the City will be moving forward. For now, the current empty lot stands as a silent monument to the senseless deaths of three men, Jose Ponce Arreola, Anthony Magrette, and Quinnyon Wimberley, an uncomfortable and visceral reminder of the horrors of October 19, 2019.”

Email Sophie Kasakove at sophie. kasakove@theadvocate.com.

METRO NEWS

La. organ donations below need

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

There are currently 105,501 candidates wait-listed for organ donation across the United States as of July according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network that updates data monthly In Louisiana, there are 1,867 candidates on the waitlist for donated organs: n 1,656 patients are on the Louisiana waitlist for kidneys, n 132 patients are on the Louisiana waitlist for livers, n 4 patients are on the Louisiana waitlist for pancreases, n 66 patients are on the Louisiana waitlist for kidneys and pancreases, n 33 patients are on the Louisiana waitlist for hearts, n 4 patients are on the Louisiana wait-

list for lungs. There are no patients on the waitlist for intestine, abdominal wall, head and neck, upper limb or uterus transplants in Louisiana, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. In 2024, 618 donors participated in the transplant program in Louisiana (for all organs) — 524 were deceased donors and 99 were living donors. So far in 2025, 284 donors participated in the transplant program including 244 deceased and 40 living donors.

Organ donation candidates are counted as one patient waiting at more than one center, or for multiple organs. Data on organ donation registrations (counting each organ and center as one waitlist) is available at otpn.transplant.hrsa. gov

SyNCHRONIC CHESS

ABOVE: National chess master Charles Campbell makes a move in his game against Carter Camp, 15, during a simul chess match against 15 opponents as the BBR Chess Club celebrated International Chess Day on Sunday at the South Branch Library in Baton Rouge.

RIGHT: A player makes a move as two others plan their next move.

Lafayette illustrator behind new license plate

Specialty plate reflects state’s creative arts

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

The Louisiana Partnership for the Arts recently unveiled a new specialty license plate designed by Lafayette illustrator and author Denise Gallagher

The specialty plate features a book to symbolize the state’s literary culture, a pencil and paintbrush representing visual arts, a variety of musical instruments reflecting Louisiana’s music scene and sea creatures that pay tribute to the state’s seafood industry

“I thought of creative ways to represent the arts in Louisiana, including theater music dance and visual arts,” Gallagher said. “It was important to showcase the things that make up our rich, creative community.”

After an open call to artists in 2023, Gallagher was selected

PROVIDED By DENISE GALLAGHER

Lafayette author Denise Gallagher was selected through an open call by the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts to create a new Louisiana specialty license plate

by the state arts organization to create the plate’s design. With a degree in graphic design from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Gallagher has illustrated library cards for the Lafayette Parish Public Library in 2023 and authored and illustrated children’s books. She created the 2025 Festival International de Louisiane ﬂag and, in previous years, served as the official

visual artist for both Festival Acadiens et Créoles and Festival International. “I love what I do and thinking creatively,” she said. “Designing this plate was such a a great opportunity to represent the state and the culture and everything that I love about Louisiana.”

A portion of the license plate sales will support the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts, which

provides assistance to artists across the state.

Gallagher chose an egret as the central ﬁgure in the license plate design rather than the state bird, the pelican. Pelicans, she said, are beautiful in their own way but egrets have a graceful elegance.

“And I later discovered, egrets can be found throughout the entire state — more so than pelicans,” she said. To buy a specialty plate, visit artoﬂouisiana.com.

STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Asimple way to lowerauto insurance ratesin

Louisiana

Louisianadrivers paysomeof the highest auto insurance rates in the country.Despite dozensof insurers in the state, premiums keep rising while service stays poor.It’stime for abold, marketbased reform.

Let’sﬂip the system: Instead of letting every company in, hold a sealed-bid auction once ayear Thetop four bidding insurers would earn the exclusive right to operate in Louisiana for 12 months. The auction proceeds —potentiallytens of millions— would go directly to ﬁxingour roads

This isn’tgovernment overreach—it’sabout restoring discipline and accountability. Insurance companies would have to compete hard not just on price andservice, but for the chance to do business here at all

We’d also ban paidadvertising, which drives up costs andclutters the market. Instead, all licensed insurers would list their offeringsand claims performance on a state-run comparison website— no mascots, no slogans,justfacts. Some might argue this reduces choice. But the current system gives us dozens of optionsand no real savings. By tighteningaccess and raising standards,we’d create real competition —onmerit, not marketing. This reform puts consumers ﬁrst, funds infrastructurewithout raising taxesand forces insurers to deliver value. It’stime to ﬁx what’sbroken.

RICHARD BOYD Lafayette

of policies.

YOUR VIEWS

the case.

What the5th Circuitmissed on TenCommandmentslaw

Blocking the TenCommandments in student classroomscontinues the weakening of America’sreligiousculture. Pilgrims and immigrantscame to the“newworld” for religious freedom. Religion strengthens ethics, morals andhuman relationships. The Declaration of Independence asks God to help support our freedom.“In Godwetrust”isonour money.In Will andArial Durant’s“The Lessons of History,” the Pulitzer Prize winners declare thatour Judeo-Christian heritage created “cooperation that fostered Western Civilization.”

My second grade public school class opened with the Pledge of Allegiancecontaining “one nationunderGod” and aprayerending “in the name of Jesus Christ.”What’swrong withchildrenreading,“Thou shall notkill,” “Honor thy Mother andFather”and eight morecommandments thatstarted social order for mankind? OurConstitution says themajority of people rule, not minorities.The 5thCircuit Court of

Appeal held that, “unwanted exposure to religious displays”may offend, but Christians and Jews are amajority of Americans. We study and follow the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. Judges are appointed forlife, but Louisianans directly elected our Legislature and governor,and they passed the bill posting theTen Commandments. In thenext session, let’sadd Jesus Christ’s Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

Ihad avery bright Chinese student when teachingatTulane. Iasked himwhat was thebiggest difference between the U.S. and China? He said “In China, we obey the law out of fear of government. In America, you obey thelaw out of love of God.” America’senemies must enjoy the way our courts have weakened our connection to religion. Let’shope the SupremeCourt restores love of God for our kids.

SIDNEYPULITZER NewOrleans

LSUwilllearn howmoney canspoil funincollege sports

The impressivefinancial gymnastics Taylor Jacobs, whooversees name, image and likeness,and her team executed to enable LSU to be financially competitive in paying their athletestoplay gives aliteral definitiontowinning at allcosts. There areliabilities associated withpay to playthat should be considered. Amateurism in college and high school sportsnolonger exists Excelling at sports used to be about fulling a dream to be the best through hard workand sacrifice and toexperience the sheer joyofaccomplishment Now,competing is complicated by apaycheck.

Havecollege athletes become mercenaries playing for thehighest bidder? The moneyhas become preeminent in discussions with players and has irrevocably changed players’ relationships with coaches andtheir teams. Forget about mentorship and team loyalty,just show me the money LSU athletes areprofessionals by deﬁnition. They are contract workersbut could become employees if they areallowed to collectively bargain. How will thatwork?

Wining is agood thing except when the costs aretoo high.

JIM ROBERTS St. George

Whyhavewe allowed public discourseto sink so low?

“Have you no

decency,sir?” This was the exasperated question by chief counsel Joseph Welch directed in 1954 to Sen. Joe McCarthy during his “Red Scare” congressional hearings.

This reaction came to mind when reading arecent story about a Major League Baseball player being brought to tears by aspectator yelling atrocities about his late mother.More and moreover the last decade, this has becomethe norm.The Pandora’sbox of social media and its cowardly license to engage in anonymous thuggery has transformed our lives.

Itsdeepest cesspool lies in the ceaseless name-calling and unfounded accusations that occur every day in the political arena. Can we all simply reboot our brains? Ifondly recall the days when as a nation we preferred “we” to “they.” There is afundamental difference between disagreeing with others’ positions and demonizing their character.Weare better than this. Let us all worktogether to Make America Gracious Again.

No oneshould want taxcutsat expenseoffuture generations

As an elderly person with conservative principles, Iamdeeply concerned about federal tax cuts that we cannot pay for. This problem is compounded by cuts to the bureaucracy at the Internal Revenue Service. Salaried workers pay taxes with each paycheck. But corporations and the wealthy have access to write-offs that are subject to interpretation. Without adequate stafﬁng IRSpersonnel are ill-equipped to pursue questionable returns. We have also raised the threshold above which estates are taxed. Do we really wanttotell the next generation that hard work is not expected of them?

OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER SCAN HERE

Catholic Church should drop outdated ideasonwomen priests

In response to athread started about a monthago by Jim O’Neill and continued by two readers, Itoo feel it is time for the Catholic Church to admit women into thepriesthood.

Responders to O’Neill’sletter seem to debate whether or not the scriptures sanction this idea. Ioffer no scholarship on such adebate, which may be moot, anyway.Ido, however, feel strongly that the idea of Catholics keeping

women in asecond class is woefully outdated and unjust.

Governments local and worldwide, not to mention other religious denominations, recognize the equality of women. The Catholic Church may well ﬁnd that one of the solutions to declining attendance may be to rectifytheir stale and discriminatory views on this matter EDWARD TEDROW Slidell

Ourlawmakers in Congressforgotabout neediest Louisianans

Wouldsomeone please explain how Republican representatives in Louisianavote to cut SNAPand Medicaid to thousands? We want to make Louisiana healthier.Really? We are last in almost everything when it comes to services for our residents. Howcan these repre-

sentatives explain what they are doing? Is this who we really are? Who pays the cost? People will die for lack of basic services. The rich will get richer on the backs of the poor JERMAINE DUPLESSISLEWIS NewOrleans

President Donald Trumphas rightly urged members of the European Union to assume ﬁnancial responsibility fortheir own military defense. That is an example of sound ﬁscal leadership. Irecently heard state Senate President Cameron Henry speak at aprivate gathering in Old Metairie. He told his listeners that the state cannot spend what it doesn’thave. Yetstates are being told that FEMA grants will not be awarded this year Like everyone else, Iwant my taxes to be as low as possible, but not if my children and grandchildren will be stuck paying downa ballooning national debt.

MARCIA B. COOKE NewOrleans

Entire GOPbuysinto Trump’sdelusion

Donald Trump’spresidency is like the old Woody Allen joke. He is the crazy uncle whothinks he’sa chicken, and the Republican Party keeps him around because they need the eggs. DAVE MEEKS NewOrleans

VINCENT FORNIAS Baton Rouge

STAFF FILE PHOTO By ANDyGRIMM

Aruling by athree-judgepanel of the 5th U.S. Circuit CourtofAppeals blocking Louisiana’sTen Commandments lawhas been putonhold,creating an opening for the full courttorehear

FILE PHOTO

State Farm is thelargest auto insurance companyinLouisiana when rankedbymarket share with about one-third

COMMENTARY

WALT’S CAPTION CONTEST

COURSEPRO

Mini golf is asummer favorite for kids and adults everywhere. No beach vacation is complete until you’venavigated the windmill hole or aced number18 forafree game! But something alittle strangeishappening here. So, what’s going on in this cartoon? youtell me. Be witty,funny, crazy,absurd orsnarky —just trytokeep it clean. There’snolimit on the number of entries. Thewinning punchline will be lettered into the word balloon and runonJuly 28 in our print editions and online. In addition, the winner will receiveasigned print of the cartoon along with acool winner’sT-shirt! Some honorable mentions will also be listed.Toenter, email your entries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com. Don’t forget! Allentries must includeyour name, home addressand phone number Cell numbers are best. Thedeadline for all entries is July 24 at midnight. Good luck,everyone! —Walt

Protecting hydrogen taxcredits benefits La.

Louisiana has long been acornerstone of American energyleadership From our wealth of oil and naturalgas resources to our expansive pipelinenetworksand world-class ports, thePelican State has helped power the nation for over acentury

It knows ﬁrsthand that energysecurity is national security.And asglobal threats mount and demandfor reliable fuel and power grow,itistime we reafﬁrm that leadershipbyadvancing the next chapter of American energy independence: hydrogen.

Population policy must center women

Every year on July 11, World Population Day offers amoment to reﬂect on how demographic trends —births, deaths and migration —shape acountry’sfuture. In the mid-20th century,fears of asocalled population explosion led to coercive population control policies in manynations, including forced sterilizations that disproportionately targeted poor and minority women. Today,the conversation has ﬂipped: Rather than too manybirths, manycountries —including the United States —now fear too few. In response, somegovernments are once again turning to women’sbodies as tools of demographic strategy.Policies such as baby bonuses and restricted access to reproductive health care are framed as solutions to declining birthrates. But these pronatalist policy measures risk repeating history’smistakes —substituting one form of reproductive coercion (preventing births) with another (pressuring women to give birth). These global concerns are central to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)2025 State of World Population Report, which Ico-authored.

The report ﬁnds that across the globe, millions of people are unable to have the number of children they desire —whether that number is none, one or ﬁve. Though these issues affect people across demographic lines, it is once again poor and minority womenwho bear the brunt of policies andbarriers that limit their reproductive choices. These constraints are not just unjust —they also contribute to worse health outcomes forwomen and children.

Louisiana, too, must reckon with these realities. While the state has not seen the same steep decline in birthrates as the national average, it faces acrisis of maternal and infant health.

Louisiana consistently ranks among the worst states formaternal and infant mortality,with Black womenand infants suffering disproportionately.These statistics are not abstract. They represent lives lost, families broken and futures cut short.

Hydrogenisnot afuturistic dream —itisatechnological solutionavailable today that is ﬂexible, domestically sourced and capable of being deployed across sectors critical to oureconomy and national defense. In fact, Louisiana’senergyintensive industries reﬁning, petrochemicals, shipping andmanufacturing —already use hydrogen in daily operations. Now,with the right policies in place, we have the chance to scale production in away that simultaneously strengthens oureconomy,reduces emissionsand cements U.S. leadership in acritical global market. This is not apartisan issue—itisa strategic imperative.

That’swhy the passage of theOne Big Beautiful BillAct, and thepreservation of the Section 45V hydrogen production taxcredit, marks asigniﬁcant milestone for American energy.Withthe credit intact, the U.S. is sending astrong, bipartisan message: We are serious about competing in the global hydrogen economy We commend Congress for recognizingthe value of this policy,and we are especially grateful to Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy for their steadfast leadership and support for Louisiana’s hydrogen future Congress saw Section 45V for what it is: apro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-security policy.Section 45V is neither ahandout norclimate gimmick. It is atargeted incentive designed to encourageprivate investment in American energy infrastructure —investment that keepsjobs here at home, reduces ourdependence on foreign energy sources andstrengthenssupply chains in vital sectors like

agriculture, transportation and defense. Louisiana alone is seeing proposed hydrogen and ammonia projectsvalued in the billions. These projects are being drivenbyprivate capital, but they depend on thestability andclarity of policies likeSection 45V to move forward. The credit provides thecertainty companies need to break ground, hire workers and produce fuels for energy tradewith key allies in Europe and Asia —countries that are urgently seeking hydrogen and arecurrently looking to China and theMiddle East to meet that demand

Hydrogen is not only an opportunity for domestic supply —itisa powerful newtool for U.S. energy exports. Just as Louisiana helped pioneer America’s leadership in LNG exports, it can now serve as alaunch point for hydrogen andammonia exportstopartners across theAtlantic and Paciﬁc. This means more energy produced and shipped from the United States and more long-term energy trade surpluses that beneﬁtAmerican workers and communities.

While thepassage of this legislation is amajor win, work remains to ensure that Section 45V is implemented effectively.The credit should reward Americaninnovation and efﬁciency —not punish producersbased on theoretical

models or burdensomered tape. Implementation guidance must be grounded in science and engineering, and ﬂexible enough to support regional realities like those in the Gulf Coast.

This is wherecontinued congressionalleadership matters most. The goal should be to ensure hydrogen development is botheconomically viable and environmentally sound —without overreaching bureaucracy or unrealisticmandates that stiﬂe growth. We need smart regulation, not strangulation

Section 45V stands todeliver enormousbeneﬁts to Louisiana and to the nation —and now,with this legislation passed, we have thefoundation to move forward. Energy policy should be built on strength, strategy and sovereignty. Hydrogen gives us arare chance to check all three boxes. Louisianahas never shied away from leading the nation through the next great energy evolution. With hydrogen, we can continue that leadership —and thanks to Congress, and to Cassidy and Kennedy in particular,wenow have the tools to do it

Adam PetersisCEO of AirLiquide North America. Frank Wolak is president &CEO of the Fuel Cell& Hydrogen EnergyAssociation.

Driving these outcomes are structural barriers: Widespread maternal health deserts, especially in rural parishes, and persistent racial health inequities will be exacerbated by Medicaid cuts. Medicaid is avital lifeline in Louisiana, supporting maternal care and preventive services forchildren. Reducing birth disparities requires more than encouraging childbirth. It requires guaranteeing that womenand families have access to comprehensive, high-quality health care throughout pregnancy,birth and beyond.

Rather than incentivizing births with cash or limiting reproductive autonomy with policy restrictions, Louisiana would be better served by adifferent path —one that centers women’s health and agency.The investments we need are clear:

n Guarantee access to the full range of reproductive and maternal health services in every parish

n Ensure and expand Medicaid reimbursement to sustain maternal care providers, particularly in rural areas

n Scale up midwifery and doula services to provide culturally competent, community-based care

n Maintain and build on postpartum Medicaid coverage beyond 60 days —Louisiana’s12-month extension is astrong start Globally and locally,people are not constrained by lack of desire to have children. They are constrained by economic, structural and geographic barriers that block their ability to choose freely

Yettoo often, public discourse blames womenfor “not having enough babies,” rather than addressing the real barriers that makepregnancy and parenting untenable formany

As the UNFPA reminds us, fertility is not anumber to be engineered. It is amatter of agency and dignity forwomen.

Louisiana must respond not by pressuring womentobear morechildren, but by empowering them with the freedom, resources and support to maketheir own reproductive decisions. That’show we strengthen families, communities and society as awhole.

AnitaRaj is public health researcher based in NewOrleans.

Anita Raj GUEST COLUMNIST

STAFF FILEPHOTO By DAVIDJ.MITCHELL

The long,narrowsite where Air Products is planning to build ablue hydrogencomplex in Darrowsitsbetween the Impala BurnsideTerminal and the Veolia Burnsidesulfuric acid plant along the MississippiRiver just upriver of the Sunshine Bridge

Scheffler dominates in British Open victory

Golfer is one step closer to career Grand Slam

BY DOUG FERGUSON

AP golf writer

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The enormous yellow scoreboard above the 18th green at Royal Portrush perfectly illustrated the state of golf these days. Scottie Schefﬂer’s name was at the top. No one was close.

That’s how it was in the British Open on Sunday when Schefﬂer never gave anyone a chance from the time his 9-iron settled a foot away for birdie on the ﬁrst hole until he tapped in for a 3-under 68 and a four-shot victory over Harris English

That’s how it is in the sport, a level of dominance not seen since Tiger Woods.

“He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to,” Masters champion Rory McIlroy said. “In a historical context, you could argue that there’s only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run the one that Scottie’s been on here for the last 24 to 36 months. Incredibly impressive.” Schefﬂer not only won his second major this year — and fourth in the last three years — he captured the third leg of the career Grand Slam, now missing only the U.S. Open

He became the ﬁrst player in more than a century to win his ﬁrst fourth major title by at least three shots, and if not for his lone blunder from a bunker on the eighth hole when he had a seven-shot lead, he would have played bogey-free on the weekend.

“Being able to walk up 18 with the tournament in hand is a really tough thing to

ä See OPEN, page 3B

Tigers’ legend Haleigh Bryant on her return to LSU gymnastics as assistant coach

Lafayette native bid farewell to 16-year UFC career with final fight in New Orleans

BY ANDREW VALENTI

About two years ago, LSU gymnastics great Haleigh Bryant told Jay Clark she was interested in coaching. The idea intrigued Clark. The timing just had to be right.

Then the stars aligned, giving Bryant an obvious launchpad for the coaching career she’s wanted to pursue ever since she was a college freshman. Ashleigh Gnat, another Tiger great who worked on Clark’s staff for ﬁve seasons, decided to step away from her assistant coaching gig near the end of the 2025 season — around the same time Bryant had to start charting the path she’d take after she hit the end of her legendary competitive career

“This sport has been my whole entire life,” Bryant told The Advocate in a phone interview “I want to give back.”

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

BY REED DARCEY and SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writers

AP PHOTO By FRANCISCO SECO

Scottie Scheffler poses for photographers with the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open on Sunday at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Hamlin survives delay to win Dover

BY DAN GELSTON AP sportswriter

DOVER, Del. — Denny Hamlin went back-to-back at Dover Motor Speedway holding a late lead through a rain delay and an overtime finish Sunday for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s series-best fourth victory of the season.

Hamlin won in the No 11 Toyota for the second straight time at Dover to add to wins this season at Martinsville, Darlington and Michigan.

Hamlin has 58 NASCAR Cup Series victories, leaving him two short of Kevin Harvick for 10th on the career list. The 44-year-old Virginia driver might hit that mark this season as he chases his ﬁrst career Cup championship.

“Winning here at Dover is super special to me,” Hamlin said. “This is a place that I’ve not been very good at the ﬁrst half of my career. To go back-to-back here the last two years is amazing.”

Hamlin took the checkered ﬂag days after he suffered a setback in court with his own 23XI Racing team’s federal antitrust suit against NASCAR

On Thursday, a federal judge rejected a request from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court, meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover, next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at risk of going out of business.

Hamlin vowed this weekend “all will be exposed” if the case goes to its scheduled Dec. 1 trial date.

The courtroom drama hasn’t affected Hamlin’s performance on the track. Hamlin held off JGR teammate Chase Briscoe for the victory Hendrick Motorsports drivers took the next two spots, with Alex Bowman third and Kyle Larson fourth.

“I thought I did everything I needed to,” Briscoe said. “I thought I had him there for a second. I wish the Camry, the back, was about 3 inches shorter I was so close to clearing him. I just couldn’t do it. Obviously, racing a teammate, I wanted to make sure at least a JGR

car won.”

Hamlin held off Kyle Larson down the stretch last season to earn the second of his three career wins at the Monster Mile.

The first July Cup race at Dover since 1969 started with steamy weather and drivers battled the conditions inside the car during a relatively clean race until rain fell late and red-flagged the race with 14 laps left. Hamlin said the during the break he planned to change his firesuit — temperatures inside the car soared to 140 degrees.

He also returned to the car after the 56-minute delay with old tires. Hamlin who was the betting favorite to win, per BETMGM Sportsbook - had enough to win on cool tires at Dover and park the Toyota in victory lane.

“We’ve got a lot left,” Hamlin

said. He became the 19th Cup driver to win three times at Dover and the 13th driver to win consecutive races on the mile concrete track.

“I just studied some of the greats here,” Hamlin said. “I was very fortunate to have Martin Truex as a teammate. Jimmie Johnson, watching him win (11) times here. You learn from the greats and you change your game to match it, you have success like this.”

The Tys have it in NASCAR.

It’s Ty Gibbs vs. Ty Dillon next week at Indianapolis to decide the ﬁrst winner in NASCAR’s $1 million mid-season tournament NASCAR seeded 32 drivers for the first In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Both drivers are winless and Dillon made it as the No. 32 seed. Gibbs finished fifth Sunday for JGR. John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick were eliminated. Joey Logano finished 14th for Team Penske in his 600th career start.

Logano has made every start since the 2009, 597 straight, putting him within striking distance of Jeff Gordon’s Cup record of 797 straight starts. Logano was 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday, making him the youngest driver to reach that milestone. He topped seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months. Petty is the only driver to have won his 600th start.

Collier’s performance leads team to victory

BY DOUG FEINBERG AP basketball writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Napheesa Collier made a statement with her record play on the court and the players made one with warmup shirts for the WNBA All-Star Game.

Collier scored a record 36 points to help her team beat Team Clark 151-131 in the WNBA All-Star Game that was devoid of defense but full of 4-point shots. This record offensive effort came a year after the league’s annual exhibition game was a competitive contest that pitted the U.S Olympic team against WNBA All-Stars.

The game capped off a weekend where negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement took center stage.

Players wore T-shirts while warming up before the game that said “Pay us what you owe us.”

“The players are taking this seriously, I think it sends a really strong message that we’re standing really ﬁrm in certain areas that we feel really strong that we need to improve on. I think we got the message across,” said Collier, who was named the game’s MVP As she waited to get her trophy the crowd chanted “Pay them more” and All-Star Brittney Sykes held up a sign saying “Pay the Players.” Captain Caitlin Clark was unable to play for her team because of a groin injury she suffered earlier this week. She still served as ambassador for the weekend. Known for her deep logo 3-pointers, Clark would have loved a chance at the 4-point shot that was added to this game which was 28-feet from the basket. Both teams took advantage

of the deep shot en route to the record-setting offensive night.

They combined to hit 20 of the shots on 65 attempts.

The 151 points scored by Team Collier broke the mark put up by Team Stewart of 143 in 2023 for the most in an All-Star Game.

Collier’s point total broke Arike Ogunbowale’s previous record of 34 points scored last year

The combined total of 282 also surpassed the previous high total of 270 set in 2023.

While there was little defense played, both teams challenged plays in the fourth quarter with the game not in doubt.

One was successful and one wasn’t.

The game also featured rookies Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen making up the largest rookie contingent at the game since 2011.

Citron and Iriafen were on Team Clark, and Bueckers was a starter for Napheesa Collier’s team.

Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever and Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces were announced earlier in the day as starters for Team Clark replacing Clark and Satou Sabally of Phoenix.

Mitchell received a loud ovation from the fans who were happy to have another one of their players in the starting lineup.

Young didn’t actually start as Gabby Williams took her spot as a starter Young injured her hip in Las Vegas’ last game before All-Star weekend.

Besides the 4-point shot, the game also included a 20-second shot clock instead of the normal 24 and the ability for teams to substitute during live play

There also were no free throws shot — not that there usually are many in an All-Star Game until the ﬁnal two minutes of the

Astros place third baseman

Paredes on 10-day IL

Houston Astros third baseman

Isaac Paredes was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with a right hamstring strain.

Paredes was injured running to ﬁrst base on a single to left ﬁeld during Saturday night’s 7-6, 11-inning loss to the Seattle Mariners. Paredes left the game and was replaced by Zack Short.

The 26-year-old is hitting .259 with 19 home runs and 50 RBIs this season. Additionally, catcher César Salazar was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land.

In corresponding moves, inﬁelders Shay Whitcomb and Jon Singleton were recalled from Sugar Land.

To make room for Singleton on the Astros’ 40-man roster, inﬁelder Brendan Rodgers was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Sinner, Djokovic, Draper withdraw from Toronto Wimbledon champion Jannik

Sinner, 24-time Grand Slam title winner Novak Djokovic and No. 5-ranked Jack Draper all withdrew Sunday from the Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto, citing injuries.

The No. 1-ranked Sinner blamed his right elbow, which he hurt in a fall in the fourth round at the All England Club on the way to his ﬁrst title there and fourth major trophy

He won his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto in 2023.

Djokovic said a groin injury was why he pulled out from an event he has won four times.

Draper will miss Toronto and the Cincinnati Masters next month because of a problem with his left arm.

Seahawks release TE Fant ahead of training camp

The Seattle Seahawks released tight end Noah Fant on Sunday ahead of the start of training camp.

The 27-year-old Fant spent the past three seasons with the Seahawks after being acquired in the 2022 blockbuster trade that sent quarterback Russell Wilson to Denver Across his Seattle tenure, Fant racked up 130 receptions for 1,400 yards and ﬁve touchdowns.

Fant was entering the ﬁnal season of a two-year contract, and was due a non-guaranteed salary of $8.49 million this year

The Seahawks will save $8.91 million against the salary cap with the move. In parting ways with Fant, who was a 2019 ﬁrst-round pick of the Broncos, the Seahawks’ stable of young tight ends ﬁgure to be featured more prominently in 2025.

Memphis guard Parker arrested on assault charge

Memphis guard Sincere Parker was arrested Saturday on an aggravated assault charge for an attack on his girlfriend, who told police that he choked her and hit her The attack occurred on May 27 at the Memphis apartment the couple shared where Parker pushed her, slapped her in the face and choked her, leaving her bruised and bloodied, according to a police report. A warrant for Parker’s arrest was issued Friday and the 22-year-old was taken into custody Saturday The 6-foot-3 Parker transferred to Memphis after averaging 12.2 points last season for McNeese, helping the Cowboys and coach Will Wade reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He played his ﬁrst two seasons for Saint Louis.

Journalism rallies in burst to win Haskell Invitational

Journalism launched a dramatic rally to win the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park. It was Journalism’s first race since the Triple Crown. He was the only colt to contest all three legs, winning the Preakness while ﬁnishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

game. Instead players were automatically awarded the points. The only free throws were shot was by Skylar Diggins with 1:01 left in the game. She made both. Diggins also had the ﬁrst triple-double in AllStar history

All four rules had been used at some point during previous All-Star Games, but not all in the same one.

The All-Star Game brought the stars out in Indianapolis.

Rapper GloRilla performed at halftime while musicians Common and Jennifer Hudson sat courtside near WNBA legends Lisa Leslie and Tamika Catchings.

Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton sat in a suite and got the loudest ovation from the crowd when he was shown on the videoboard.

Heavily favored at 2-5 odds, Journalism broke poorly under jockey Umberto Rispoli and wound up trailing the early leaders. He kicked into gear rounding the final turn where Journalism roared down the center of the track to win by a half-length. The Haskell victory was Journalism’s sixth in nine starts for Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL CONROy

Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier stands by the All-Star MVP trophy following a win against Team Clark on Saturday in Indianapolis.

WNBA ALL-STAR GAME

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DERIK HAMILTON

Denny Hamlin makes a pit stop at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday in Dover, Del.

BRITISH OPEN

‘An awesome week’

BY STEVE DOUGLAS The Associated Press

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland Scottie Scheffler was walking down the first fairway at Royal Portrush when a shout came from outside the ropes: “Go Rory!”

They were all over the Dunluce Links again Sunday, those passionate supporters of Rory McIlroy cheering on their favorite son in the ﬁnal act of his homecoming — whether they were watching him or not.

The big disappointment for McIlroy was that he couldn’t deliver what they craved.

“It’s been an awesome week,” McIlroy said after shooting 2-under 69 to tie for seventh at the British Open. “I’ve gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a claret jug, and that’s just because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us.” That might be an understatement.

Schefﬂer, the world No. 1, won by four shots to capture his fourth major title. He was seven strokes clear of McIlroy and playing on a different level in this pretty corner of Northern Ireland McIlroy even acknowledged as much.

“He’s an incredible player,” he said of Schefﬂer. “He’s been dominant this week. Honestly, he’s been dominant for the last couple years. He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to.” As for Schefﬂer, he could only apologize for spoiling the McIlroy party

“I know I wasn’t the fan favorite today,” he said, grinning, in his post-round speech on No. 18, “but I did hear a lot of USA and Dallas,

Continued from page 1B

describe. It’s a really cool feeling. I have a lot of gratitude towards being able to accomplish something like this,” Schefﬂer said, the silver claret jug on the table next to him

“It’s taken a lot of work not only a lot of work, but it takes a lot of patience,” he said. “It’s a high level of focus over 72 holes of a tournament. This was, I felt like, one of my best performances mentally.”

The emotions he showed were telling.

Until he had his name etched on golf’s oldest trophy, Schefﬂer had a week marked by his extraordinary insight on how he views winning. He said celebrations last only a few minutes. He has wondered, “What’s the point?”

He loves the work required to be the best. He thrives on competition. But in terms of fulﬁllment, he often questions why he wants to win so badly when the thrill of winning is ﬂeeting.

On the golf course, his biggest fist pump was for a par on the sixth hole. As he crouched to line up his birdie putt on the 18th, he rested his head on his hand with a slight smile of deep satisfaction. When he tapped in the ﬁnal putt, he plucked the ball from the cup and put it in his pocket as if he had just won a regular PGA Tour event. But when he finally found his family — wife Meredith, 15-month-

-10

Corey Conners $304,650 74-69-66-66—275 9

Brian Harman $304,650 69-65-73-68—275 9 Russell Henley $304,650 72-70-65-68—275 -9 B. DeChambu $304,650 78-65-68-64—275 9

Rickie Fowler $240,000 69-72-70-65—276 8

Nicolai Hojgrd $240,000 69-69-69-69—276 -8

T. Fleetwood $185,257 73-68-69-67—277 7 R. Hojgaard $185,257 69-68-70-70—277 -7

H. Matsuyama $185,257 74-69-68-66—277 -7

Justin Rose $185,257 69-71-68-69—277 7

Jesper Svnssn $185,257 71-72-68-66—277 -7

Tyrrell Hatton $185,257 68-69-68-72—277 7 John Parry $185,257 72-71-67-67—277 7 Ludvig Aberg $138,040 73-67-68-70—278 -6

Lucas Glover $138,040 69-72-68-69—278 6 M. McNealy $138,040 69-74-69-66—278 6

J.J. Spaun $138,040 73-69-68-68—278 -6

D. Johnson $138,040 73-69-67-69—278 6

Harry Hall $119,950 73-67-68-71—279 -5

Oliver Lindell $119,950 72-68-68-71—279 -5

Daniel Berger $104,850 72-70-70-68—280 4

Akshay Bhatia $104,850 73-68-70-69—280 -4

Keegan Badly $104,850 72-67-70-71—280 4 Kristoffer Rtn $104,850 72-68-68-72—280 4 C. Bezuidenht $86,517 67-73-69-72—281 -3 Aaron Rai $86,517 69-72-71-69—281 3 Justin Thomas $86,517 72-69-69-71—281 3

Sergio Garcia $86,517 70-73-70-68—281 -3

Jon Rahm $86,517 70-72-69-70—281 3

Lee Westwood $86,517 69-70-69-73—281 -3

Takumi Kanaya $68,340 71-72-69-70—282 -2

Shane Lowry $68,340 70-72-74-66—282 2

Jordan Spieth $68,340 73-69-72-68—282 -2

Nathan Kimsey $68,340 71-72-68-71—282 2

Jason Kokrak

$68,340 71-70-71-70—282 2

Sam Burns $51,186 70-69-72-72—283 -1

Thomas Detry $51,186 72-71-70-70—283 1

T. Lawrence $51,186 73-70-68-72—283 1

Matt Wallace $51,186 73-69-66-75—283 -1

M. Jordan $51,186 68-72-73-70—283 1

Jordan L. Smith $51,186 71-68-72-72—283 -1

Henrik Stenson $51,186 75-68-69-71—283 -1

Sepp Straka $44,350 72-71-70-71—284 E

Sungjae Im $44,350 71-71-67-75—284 E

$44,350 73-68-68-75—284 E

Marc Leishman

Adrien Saddier $44,350 72-71-72-69—284 E

Tony Finau $42,333 70-68-72-75—285 +1

Jhonattan Vegas $42,333 72-70-70-73—285 +1

$42,333 70-72-76-67—285 +1

Phil Mickelson

Justin Leonard $41,550 70-73-70-73—286 +2

Antoine Rozner $41,550 72-70-73-71—286 +2

$41,100 71-71-76-69—287 +3

Dean Burmester

R. Langasque $41,100 71-71-72-73—287 +3

$40,280 73-69-73-73—288 +4

Viktor Hovland

F. Molinari

Andrew Novak

$40,280 72-71-71-74—288 +4

$40,280 71-72-74-71—288 +4

Ryggs Johnston $40,280 74-66-74-74—288 +4

Riki Kawamoto $40,280 72-70-78-68—288 +4

$39,400 67-76-73-74—290 +6

J. Skov Olesen

Matti Schmid $39,100 73-70-79-70—292 +8

S. Soderberg $38,900 73-70-75-77—295 +11

Texas chants.”

Schefﬂer might have won two majors this year and asserted himself as the game’s dominant

old son Bennett, and his parents

— Schefﬂer went crazy He thrust both arms in the air, pumped both arms, screamed and threw his cap in the air That’s what it’s all about for the 29-year-old from Texas.

“She’s always the ﬁrst person I want to celebrate with,” he said.

“She knows me better than anybody That’s my best friend. It takes a lot of work to be able to become good at this game, and I wouldn’t be able to do it without her support.”

McIlroy had referred to the outcome as “inevitable” when Scheffler built a four-shot lead going into the ﬁnal round, and it was every bit of that.

The tap-in birdie on the ﬁrst hole. A brilliant approach between two knobs to 7 feet for birdie on the fourth. A 15-foot birdie on No. 5 Most telling was his biggest celebration, a powerful ﬁst pump when he made a 15-foot par putt on No. 6.

It was reminiscent of when Woods saved his biggest ﬁst pump for a par on the 16th hole of his historic 15-shot victory at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open, when it was clear Woods was competing mainly against himself.

That’s what it felt like until Schefﬂer’s one wobble a double bogey on No. 8 when it took two shots to get out of a fairway bunker

That ended his streak of 32 consecutive holes without a bogey. The lead was down to four shots when Scottish Open winner Chris Got-

terup birdied the ninth. And then

Schefﬂer birdied the next hole. He played the back nine with eight

DeChambeau set for Ryder Cup return after strong rally at Portrush

BY STEVE DOUGLAS AP sportswriter

PORTRUSH,Northern Ireland Bryson

DeChambeau was among the players receiving a personal message from American Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley at Royal Portrush this week.

“He put something in our lockers that was pretty inspirational,” DeChambeau said Sunday

“It meant a lot.”

Helped by a strong comeback at the British Open, DeChambeau appears to be headed for a return to the U.S. team for the matches against Europe at Bethpage Black in September

player Yet, for many, 2025 still belongs to McIlroy after his dramatic win at the Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam. Fans came in droves this week to celebrate McIlroy’s achievements, and produced some of the loudest roars he has ever heard on a golf course.

If McIlroy didn’t quite deliver, then Royal Portrush — where he shot 61 as a 16-year-old for the course record — certainly did, gaining widespread rave reviews.

When the Open returned to Portrush in 2019 for the ﬁrst time in 68 years, McIlroy was so emotional he hit his opening drive out-ofbounds, shot 79 and missed the cut.

He made amends six years later

“I feel so thankful and just so lucky that I get to do this in front of this crowd,” McIlroy said “Hopefully I’ll have one or two Opens left here, if the R&A decide to keep coming back — probably one while I’m still competitive and another one while I’m more gray than I already am.”

McIlroy started Sunday six strokes back from Schefﬂer after a wild third-round 66, and needed a minor miracle to catch his big rival.

He got up-and-down for birdie at the par-5 second hole but couldn’t make a fast enough start. A bogey at No. 4, after missing the green with his approach, was a mistake he couldn’t afford and he suddenly was eight shots adrift of Schefﬂer, who played as steady as ever A double at No. 10 ended his hopes.

McIlroy couldn’t reproduce his Saturday charge but at least played all four days this time.

“I tried as best as I could to keep my emotions in check, especially walking up the last there and that reception,” McIlroy said.

“It’s just been incredible to come back here and to play and at least feel like I had a chance today going out there. Just an awesome week.”

He looked to be on his way home after shooting 7-over 78 in the first round Thursday, only to dig deep and bounce back with 65-68-64 finish. He was in a tie for 10th place, following up a tie for fifth at the Masters and tied second at the PGA Championship.

DeChambeau has seven top-10 ﬁnishes in his last 13 appearances in the majors, including a win at the U.S. Open last year

DeChambeau solidiﬁed the No. 5 spot in the points standings for U.S. Ryder Cup qualifying. The top six qualify automatically to the team and Bradley also has six picks.

Because he plays on the LIV Golf circuit, DeChambeau cannot gain any more points before the qualifying period ﬁnishes after four more tournaments.

One way or the other, DeChambeau ﬁgures to be at Bethpage for his third Ryder Cup.

“I hope I can bring a lot of energy and a tsunami of a crowd that’s going to be rooting for Team USA,” said the 31-year-old DeChambeau, whose popular YouTube channel adds to his status as one of the world’s most famous golfers.

The U.S. team will be looking to win back the cup from Europe after a loss in Italy in 2023, when DeChambeau didn’t play

“This year’s no joke,” he said “We’re tired of it. We’re tired of losing.”

DeChambeau was proud of the way he recovered from his poor round on Thursday at Portrush, helped in part by the better-thanforecast conditions at the links course off the North Atlantic.

“I always told you guys I like it when it’s fair conditions. I can play well,” said the player nicknamed “The Scientist.” “I still have to crack the code when it’s raining and windy But I feel like we’re getting close to some opportunities and solutions for that.

“It just takes a long time to develop stuff. I’m starting to learn.”

Garcia’s rage

Sergio Garcia played his last 16

pars and a birdie because that’s all he needed. No one could catch him

“I played with him the ﬁrst two days, and honestly I thought he was going to birdie every hole. It was incredible to watch,” Shane Lowry said. “If Scottie’s feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott’s, we’d be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods. His bad shots are really good. That’s when you know he’s really good.”

Schefﬂer, who ﬁnished at 17-under 267, won for the fourth time this year He now has won 20 times

worldwide in the last 30 months.

This was the 11th straight time he turned a 54-hole lead into a victory

“I don’t think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here’s Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance,” said Xander Schauffele, the defending champion who tied for seventh.

“You can’t even say he’s on a run.

He’s just been killing it for over two years now,” he said. “He’s a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leader-

holes at the British Open without a driver after snapping it in a rage after a bad drive.

Garcia slammed his driver onto the ground after hooking his tee shot on No 2. It split in two and he threw the half containing the club head toward his golf bag.

“I’ve done that 50 times, and I’ve never broken a club,” he said. “The shaft just snapped in half and I was surprised.” Garcia went on to make birdie at the second hole and had four more in a 68 to ﬁnish 3 under for the tournament.

Lowry’s grandstand finish

Shane Lowry stood over his ball beside the green at No. 18 and thought of Justin Rose 27 years ago.

Lowry said it would have felt “pretty cool” to hole out at the 72nd hole to cap the Irishman’s homecoming at Royal Portrush, just like Rose famously did as an amateur at Royal Birkdale in England in 1998.

The ball rolled toward the hole, struck the ﬂagstick and stayed out. Lowry signed for a closing 5-under 66 but there would be no second claret jug for him at Portrush, after 2019. Who knows, the next time the island of Ireland stages a British Open it might be at Portmarnock a course 30 minutes from Lowry’s house. The R&A has started a feasibility study regarding whether the seaside links north of Dublin can be added to the 10-venue rotation.

“I’d be able to stay at home and play in an Open,” Lowry said “It’s one of the best golf courses in the world. I think it’s good enough to host an Open, and hopefully it will soon.”

board, it sucks for us.”

English capped off a memorable two weeks in the United Kingdom. His caddie of eight years couldn’t get a new travel visa because of a 10-year prison term he served two decades ago. English had a replacement last week at the Scottish Open and another this week.

It didn’t stop him. English closed with a 66 and was runner-up in a major for the second time this year both times to Schefﬂer as he strengthened his case for the Ryder Cup team.

“The only guy to beat me at the PGA and this week I’m playing some good golf,” English said. “I wasn’t playing professional golf when Tiger was at his peak. But it’s pretty incredible, just how good of a front-runner he is.”

Li Haotong of China (70), Matt Fitzpatrick (69) and Wyndham Clark (65) tied for fourth. That gets Li into the Masters next year As for McIlroy, there were few complaints. He needed an electric start like he had Saturday and was eight shots behind an hour into the ﬁnal round. No matter The Masters champion soaked up adulation across Royal Portrush, closing with a 69 to tie for seventh.

“I wish I had have been closer to Scottie going into today and been able to make a real push,” McIlroy said. “But he’s been on a different level all week and he’s been on a different level for the last two years to the rest of us. He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to at this point.”

AP PHOTO By MIKE EGERTON Bryson DeChambeau waves to fans on the 18th green during the final round of the British Open on Sunday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JON SUPER Rory McIlroy plays out of the

British Open on Sunday at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

NFLPLAYER RANKINGS

FOUR YEARSINTHE MAKING

Garrett’s14sacks in four straightseasons earnshim topedgerusher

BY ROBMAADDI

AP pro football writer

Myles Garrett is afour-time

All-Pro, the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of theYearand theonly player to register14sacks in four straight seasons His dominant stretch earned him the No. 1edge rusher spot Thursday in apreseason survey by The Associated Press. Apanel of eight AP Pro FootballWriters rankedthe top ﬁve players at the position, basing selections on current status entering the 2025 season. First-place voteswere worth 10 points. Secondthrough ﬁfth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2and 1points.

Garrett received five first-place votes, two seconds and one third. Trey Hendrickson got two firstplace votes and Micah Parsons received theother.T.J. Watt finished second overall, onepoint

ahead of Parsons. Hendrickson came in fourth and Nick Bosa ﬁnishedﬁfth.

Nik Bonitto, Aidan Hutchinson, Kyle VanNoy andMaxxCrosby also received votes.

1. MYLESGARRETT,Browns Garrett has been adominant presence for Cleveland’sdefense over his first eight seasons. He became the youngest player in NFL historytoreach 100sacks last season when he finished with 14. Garrett finished third in voting for Defensive Player of theYear, earned hisfourthAll-Prospotand sixth Pro Bowl trip.

TheBrowns made him the highest-paid edgerusher in NFL history,giving him a$160 million, four-year deal 2. T.J. WATT,Steelers Watt, the 2021 NFL Defensive

Five ﬁrst placevotes make Surtaintop CB

BY ROBMAADDI AP pro football writer

Patrick Surtain II became only theseventh cornerback to win the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, doing so last season. His shutdown season al so helped him earn thetop cornerback spot in voting by apanel of eight AP Pro Football Writers who rankedthe top five players at theposition,basing selections on current status entering the 2025 season.

First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifthplacevotes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1points. Surtain received fivefirstplace votes and three seconds. Sauce Gardner got two firstplace votes, finishing second. Cooper DeJean gotthe other first-place vote, appearing on only one of eight ballots. Derek Stingley Jr.finished third, TrentMcDuffie was fourth and DeJean placed fifth. Jaylon Johnson, Marlon Humphrey,Charvarius Ward and DJ Reed also received votes.

1. PATRICKSURTAIN II,Broncos

Surtain had an outstanding season,allowing just 37 receptions and recording four interceptions to earn All-Pro honors. Opposing quarterbackshad a 61.1 passer rating when targeting Surtain, who became justthe second Broncos player to win the AP Defensive Player of the Year award. He receivedthree secondplace votes along with the ﬁve ﬁrsts.

2. SAUCEGARDNER,Jets

After earning All-Pro honors his ﬁrst two seasons in the NFL,

Gardner had a down year by his standards. Still, he appeared on seven ballots to finish behind Surtain.

Gardner has forced aleaguehigh 46incompletions andallowed aleague-low0.60yards per cover snap since his rookie season.

3. DEREKSTINGLEYJR.,Texans

Stingley was aﬁrst-time AllPro last season, emerging as one of the NFL’sbest cover cornerbacks.

Selected one spot ahead of Gardner at No. 3overall in the 2022 draft, Stingleyhad abreakout season lastyear

He hadﬁve interceptions and gave up 40 catches for 382 yards and four TDs. Stingleygot three secondplace votes and ﬁve fourths.

4. TRENTMCDUFFIE, Chiefs

McDufﬁe earned All-Pro honors as aslot cornerback in 2023 andwas second-team All-Pro after moving back outside last season.

While the Chiefs don’tuse McDuffie to shadow opposing receivers, he is anelite cover guy

McDufﬁe allowed 54 catches for545 yardsand four TDs in 2024.

He receivedone second-place vote, two thirds, onefourth and four ﬁfth.

5. COOPER DEJEAN,Eagles

DeJean’sﬁrst career interception was apick-6 against Patrick Mahomesinthe Super Bowl, helping the Eagles dominate the Chiefs in a40-22 victory

Asecond-roundpickin2024, DeJean was asuper slot cornerback for Philadelphia. He didn’tallow aTDon97targets.

Player of theYear,was named to hisseventh Pro Bowl after registering 111/2 sacks, aleagueleading six forced fumbles, 27 quarterbackhits and19tackles for loss.

He was asecond-team All-Pro aftermaking first team four times. Watt received four secondplace votes, three thirdsand one ﬁfth.

3. MICAHPARSONS,Cowboys

Despitemissing four games, Parsons had 12 sacksin13games andearned his fourth straight Pro Bowl trip.

Thetwo-time All-Prohas been one of the most dynamic pass rushers in theNFL since the Cowboysselected him 12th overall in 2021. Parsonshas at least 12 sacksineach season He’sdue to getanew contract that will likely surpass Garrett’s. Parsons receivedtwo second-

place votes, one third andthree fourths to go with the one ﬁrst.

4. T. HENDRICKSON, Bengals

Trey Hendrickson led the NFL with 171/2 sackslast season after registering 171/2 in 2023. He was afirst-team All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl for the fourth straight year Hendrickson hassought a newcontract from theBengals throughout the offseason. He got one third-place vote, two fourths and onefifth to go with two firsts.

5. NICK BOSA,49ers

Bosa had nine sacks in 14 games lastseason, earning his ﬁfth Pro Bowl appearance The 2022 NFLDefensive Player of the Year has 531/2 sacksoverthe past four seasons. He received onethird-place vote, one fourth andtwo ﬁfths.

Raven’sjackofall trades earnsNo. 1safetyspot

BY JOSH DUBOW AP pro football writer

Kyle Hamilton hasquickly proved that he can be ajack of all trades on Baltimore’sstellar defense, thriving in theslot, thebox or as adeep safety Butitwas the decision to move Hamilton to free safety midway through last season that helped eliminate the big plays and boost theRavens’ defense.

Hamilton’stalentand versatility helpedhim earnthe honor of beingvoted the topsafety in the league by TheAssociated Press.

Apanel of eight AP Pro Football Writers ranked thetop ﬁve players at safety,basing selections on current status entering the 2025 season.

First-placevotes were worth 10 points.Second- through fifthplace votes were worth5,3,2 and 1points. Hamilton gotfive first placevotes, onesecondand onethird to claimthe top spot.Detroit’s Kerby Joseph got theother three first-place votes and finished second. Green Bay’sXavier McKinney, Detroit’sBrian Branch and Derwin James of the LosAngeles Chargers rounded out the top five. Atlanta’sJessie Bates, Tampa Bay’sAntoine Winfield Jr., Miami’s MinkahFitzpatrick,Denver’sBrandon Jones,Arizona’s Budda Baker and Houston’sC.J. Gardner-Johnson alsoreceived votes.

1. KYLE HAMILTON,Ravens

Hamilton has been themost importantpiece on Baltimore’sdefense thanksinlarge part to his versatility. He has the ability to stop the run, excelagainst thepassand rush the quarterback and was

BY JOSH DUBOW AP pro football writer

Whether it’s stopping therun game, dropping into pass coverage or even rushing the quarterback, Fred Warner thrives for the San Francisco 49ers.

Warner’sstrong all-around play forSan Franciscohelpedhim win the honorofbeing voted the top offball linebacker in the league by The Associated Press. Apanel of eight AP ProFootball Writers ranked the topﬁve playersat off-balllinebacker, basing selections on current status entering the 2025 season.

First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through ﬁfthplace votes were worth 5, 3, 2and 1points.

Warner got seven of the eight first-place votes to go with one second to winthe voting easily.Three other players were selected on alleight ballots, with Baltimore’s Roquan Smith getting the other first-place vote to come in second, Philadelphia’sZack Baun finishing third andWashington’sBobby Wagner coming in fourth. Indianapolis’Zaire Franklin rounded out the top five. New Orleans’ Demario Davis, Denver’sDre Greenlaw,Minnesota’sBlake Cashman andPittsburgh’sPatrick Queenalsoreceived votes.

1. FRED WARNER,49ers

Despite playing most of last season with abroken bone in his ankle, Warner still performed at ahigh level and earned his third straight andfourthoverall ﬁrstteam All-Pro honor Warner had131 tackles, five tackles forloss, two interceptions, seven passes defensed and four forced fumbleslastseason.Warner has 10 sacks, 10 interceptions, 15 forced fumbles, sixfumblerecoveries, 36 tackles forloss and 53 passes defensed in his ﬁrst seven seasons.

He is one of three active players with at least 10 sacks, interceptions and forced fumbles, along with Minnesota safety Harrison Smith and TampaBay linebacker Lavonte David.

2. ROQUAN SMITH, Ravens

voted aﬁrst-team All-Pro in 2023 and second-teamer last season. Hamilton played the majority of his snaps starting in Week 11 last season as afree safety and theRavens wentfrom allowing 4.7 pass plays of at least 20 yards per gameto1.6 after the switch.

2. KERBYJOSEPH, Lions Joseph emerged as abig-time playmaker in his third season, leading the NFLwith nine interceptions to earn ﬁrst-team All-Pro honors. His 17 career interceptions are themostfor any safety in his ﬁrst three seasons since Hall of Famer Ed Reed had 21.

3. XAVIER MCKINNEY,Packers McKinneymadeamajor impact on Green Bay’s defense in his ﬁrst season after signing with thePackers as afree agent. He was at his best in pass coverage as adeep safety McKinney hadeight interceptions last season andalloweda 56.4 passer rating whentargeted in coverage, according to Pro Football Focus.

4. BRIANBRANCH, Lions Branch has becomeanimmediate impact player on Detroit’sdefense since being drafted in the second roundin2023. He led allsafeties with 16 passes defensedlastseasonand was tiedfor third with eight tackles for loss as he performed at ahigh levelboth in therun andpass game.

5. DERWIN JAMES, Chargers James bounced back from a down 2023 season to earn second-team All-Pro honors in his ﬁrst season in coordinator Jesse Minter’sdefense. James is oneofthe most versatile safeties, getting extensive time working in the slot, as abox safety,adeep safety and even as apass rusher,where he had the second-most pressuresofany safetylast season.

The midseason trade in 2022 that sent Smith from Chicago to Baltimore helped liftthe Ravens’ defense by solidifying the middle of the ﬁeld. In 41 games with Baltimore, Smith has398 tackles, ﬁve sacks, three interceptions and 15 passes defensed as he has earned firstteam All-Pro honors the past three seasons.

3. ZACK BAUN,Eagles

After struggling to get on the ﬁeld on defense as an edge rusher his ﬁrst four seasons in New Orleans, Baun was arevelationat linebacker in his first year with the Eagles. He had 151 tackles, 31/2 sacks and one interception in the regular season and also had apick against Patrick Mahomes in the Eagles’ Super Bowlwin.

Baun earnedAll-Pro honors, ﬁnished ﬁfth in voting forthe AP Defensive Playerofthe Year award andcashedinwitha three-year, $51 million deal in the offseason.

4. BOBBYWAGNER, Commanders

Coach Dan Quinn brought his former linebacker from Seattle to Washington in hisﬁrst season as coach of the Commanders forveteran leadership. Wagner,who turned 35 last month, showed he can still perform at ahigh level.

Wagner had his 13th straight season with at least 100tackles and earned his ﬁfth second-team All-Pro selection to go along with six ﬁrst-team picks.

Only Reggie White(13)and Jim Otto (12) have been picked as a ﬁrst or second-team All-Pro more than Wagner

5. ZAIREFRANKLIN, Colts Franklin led the NFL with 173 tackles last season, becoming the second player since at least 2000 with three straight seasons with at least 165 tackles. His 518 tacklesinthreeseasons since becoming afull-timestarter in 2022 arethe most in the NFL in that span.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By KIRK IRWIN

Cleveland Browns defensiveend Myles Garrett runs offofthe line of scrimmageagainst the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 29 in Cleveland.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By TERRANCE WILLIAMS PittsburghSteelers linebacker T.J. Watt in action during agame against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 11 in Baltimore.

Warner

Hamilton

Pacquiao’s comeback falls short

BY MARK ANDERSON AP sportswriter

LAS VEGAS Manny Pacquiao pushed back against his doubters, the odds and even Father Time on Saturday night — and nearly made some history. But Pacquiao, in the end, fell just short on the judges’ scorecards as Mario Barrios escaped with a majority draw to retain the WBC welterweight championship. Two judges scored the bout a draw, and judge Max DeLuca awarded Barrios a 115-113 victory

The Associated Press scored the ﬁght 115-113 in favor of Pacquiao.

“I thought I won the ﬁght,” Pacquiao said.

Barrios landed more total punches (120-101), according to Compubox, but Pacquiao had the edge in power shots (81-75). Pacquiao, enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month, was trying to break his own record for oldest welterweight champion. He was 40 when he emerged in 2019 split decision over Keith Thurman. This also was his ﬁrst appearance in the ring in nearly four years for the 46-year-old Filipino, a loss by unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugás.

Barrios, a 30-year-old from San Antonio, was a -275 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook. He hoped to bounce back from a split-decision draw on Nov 15 against Abel Ramos, but didn’t exactly come away with an emphatic victory in improving to 29-2-2. The heavily pro-Pacquiao crowd loudly booed the decision.

“It was an honor to share the ring with him,” Barrios said.

“This is by far the biggest event I’ve had to date, and we came in

POIRIER

Continued from page 1B

A teary-eyed Poirier walked out the Octagon and down the aisle for the final time as a competitor with the Acadiana flag draped over his back as a raucous crowd of 18,000 cheered his exit. This was Poirier’s first loss to Holloway (27-8) in their last two meetings after winning in 2012 and 2019.

“The Diamond” has had a decorated career with two wins against Conor McGregor and owns 15 wins by knockout and eight by submission. Poirier has said he will return home to Lafayette, where he and his wife will raise their daughter and prepare for the birth of their son following his retirement.

While Poirier landed a number of blows throughout the match and knocked Holloway down in the second round, the Hawaii native was the more consistent striker.

“It sucks to do it against a man like that,” Holloway said. “I did it against Korean Zombie and now I did it against Dustin. He’s a great human being, and I have nothing but love and respect for him.”

The co-main event featured two of the best knockout artists in the middleweight division in No. 13 Paulo Costa and No. 14 Roman Kopylov Costa had 11 knockouts in 14 wins, and Kopylov notched 12 of his 14 wins via knockout. But this match went all three rounds, with the Brazilian Costa coming away with the unanimous decision victory by outstriking the Russian Kopylov

The rest of the main card had all three matches go the distance.

Daniel Rodriguez (20-5) notched a unanimous decision win against the No. 14 welterweight Kevin Holland (28-14). Rodriguez had more strikes and looked to have the edge heading into the third round.

LSU

Continued from page 1B

Bryant said she wants to run her own program one day For now though, in her role as LSU’s newest assistant coach, she’ll help fellow assistant Courtney McCool Griffeth instruct the Tigers’ balancebeam and ﬂoor-exercise lineups

The Tigers are planning to put her in charge of one rotation — be it beam, ﬂoor or even vault, her signature event — once she’s farther along in her coaching career

“It’s a win-win,” Clark said.

“Recruits already respect her tremendously She’s our Heisman winner, our Jayden Daniels or our Joe Burrow The kids don’t remember (Gnat) as an athlete When I tell them Haleigh is go-

here and left everything in the ring. I have nothing but respect for Manny

“His stamina is crazy He’s still strong as hell and his timing is real He’s still a very

awkward ﬁghter to try to ﬁgure out.” Pacman (62-9-2) moved swiftly around the ring from the beginning, often looking more like the younger champion who captured

12 world titles in eight divisions. He began to be take control in the seventh, lantding several big left hands to win the following three rounds on two cards and two on the other

But Holland came out swinging in the third frame and landed a ﬂurry of blows that dazed and knocked Rodriguez to the mat twice. Rodriguez landed multiple strikes later in the round to hold on for the win

Patricio Pitbull (37-8) downed the No. 11 featherweight Dan Ige (19-10) in a unanimous decision.

Lightweight division veteran Michael Johnson (25-19) showed he still has a lot left in the tank after dispatching Daniel Zellhuber (153) also by a unanimous decision. The preliminary ﬁghts featured some Louisiana ﬂavor too.

Covington native and the No. 11 middleweight Brendan Allen (25-7) snapped a two-match losing streak via a unanimous decision against No. 10 Marvin Vettori (199-1) While the Italian had some moments in the third round, Allen consistently landed more strikes and was the more dominant ﬁghter throughout the match.

ing to be their coach, their faces light up. When she walks into a room, she’s the biggest name in collegiate gymnastics with Jordan Bowers and Jordan Chiles

She’s the gold standard.”

It’s ﬁtting that Bryant is taking over for Gnat.

Gnat, Bryant said, was the LSU gymnast who helped show her around campus on the visit she took with the program as an eighth grader A young Bryant — even then a recruiting priority for longtime coach DD Breaux committed not long after her ﬁrst trip to Baton Rouge and stuck to that pledge all the way through high school, setting the stage for her all-time great career Bryant, a native of Cornelius, North Carolina, can claim a pair of individual NCAA titles (allaround and vault), ﬁve individual

The win for Allen will more than likely vault him into the top-10 rankings of the division.

Allen still resides in Covington with his family and has been commuting to New Orleans from the northshore during ﬁght week.

“The fight just happened, and there are still so many ﬁghts that can come,” Allen said. “We’ll see what UFC wants and what’s next for me. But for now, I’m going to go home and see my kids and my wife and give them a hug and a kiss and tell them thank you and be a dad and a husband for a little while.”

Carli Judice (5-2), who also ﬁghts out of Lafayette, downed Brazil native Nicole Caliari (8-4) by a technical knockout in the third round of a ﬂyweight bout. The 26-year-old dropped Caliari to the canvas with a knee straight to the body Judice has now won two matches in a row as she looks to steadily climb the division rankings.

Southeastern Conference titles and the highest all-around score in LSU history (39.925). She also posted 18 perfect 10s across her ﬁve-year career more than any other Tiger and all but eight gymnasts who have ever competed at the NCAA level — and completed both the season and career gym slams (at least one perfect 10 in every event). No LSU gymnast has more career all-around wins (33) than Bryant, and only two have more career event wins (105).

Those accomplishments put her in the company of program greats such as Gnat, who returned to LSU as a coach at the same time Bryant arrived as a freshman. They each then played key roles on the 2024 team that won the Tigers’ ﬁrst national championship.

“She just ﬁts from a character

But Barrios was the better fighter at the end, coming out more aggressive knowing he might be in trouble with the judges. All three, in fact, awarded Barrios each of the ﬁnal three rounds.

“I didn’t think the ﬁght was getting away from me, but I knew I had to step it up to solidify a win,” Barrios said. Both sides they would be interested in a rematch.

“I hope this is an inspiration to boxers that if you have discipline and work hard you can still ﬁght at this age,” Pacquiao said.

Sebastian Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs) retained his WBC super welterweight title when Tim Tszyu (25-3) didn’t come out for the eighth round in the comain event Fundora floored Tszyu with a left hand in the ﬁrst round and dominated the action with 118 power punches, according to Compubox, by repeatedly backing down the Australian.

“I’m the bigger guy,” said Fundora, who led 69-63 on all three judges’ cards. “Everyone says I’m a bully in the ring, so I thought I should start really bullying these guys. I just kept working on aggression my whole career and we’ve just been adding.”

It was a big week for Fundora, who was accepted into Harvard and then won the rematch with Tszyu. The ﬁrst ﬁght on March 30, 2024 was much closer, with Fundora emerging with a split-decision victory The Coachella, California, resident also had been the WBO champion, but that organization stripped him of his belt for not fighting mandatory challenger Xander Zayas.

take them to the big game.

three-peat in Super Bowl history

Training camp dates

The Chargers and Lions were the ﬁrst teams to have their full roster in camp. The Cowboys and Chiefs will have theirs on Monday The rest of the league starts Tuesday The Falcons and Steelers arrive Wednesday

Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers face off against Dan Campbell’s Lions in the Hall of Fame game on July 31 in Canton, Ohio.

A pair of division rivalry games will open the season The Eagles will host Dallas to begin the regular season on Sept. 4. The Chiefs and Chargers meet in Brazil the following night.

New head coaches

Pete Carroll is back in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders after just one year out of coaching. Carroll, who turns 74 in September has a tough task building the Raiders into a playoff contender in a difﬁcult division.

Former Patriots star linebacker

Mike Vrabel takes over in New England, replacing Jerod Mayo who lasted one season after replacing Bill Belichick.

The Bears turned to former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. The Jets hired former Lions DC Aaron Glenn. Kellen Moore left Philadelphia after one championship season to take over in New Orleans. Liam Cohen’s success as Tampa Bay’s OC landed him the head job in Jacksonville. Jerry Jones gave Brian Schottenheimer a chance to lead Dallas.

Teams with new quarterbacks

The Steelers are going all-in on Aaron Rodgers, hoping the 41-year-old, four-time MVP can

perspective and a philosophy perspective,” Gnat said. “Being in the gym with her every day, the way she goes about her business, her preparation, I know will carry over to her coaching.”

Bryant says she plans to use her coaching inexperience to her advantage. She can relate to the LSU gymnasts on both a personal and athletic level, she said, because she was “in their shoes” so recently Clark and his staff want to bring Bryant along slowly Because some fortuitous timing allowed her — like she’s executing one of her famous vaults to springboard down the path she chose in hopes of giving back to the sport that gave her a decorated competitive career “I just didn’t think it would happen this soon,” Bryant said.

The Raiders acquired Geno Smith, reuniting Carroll with the quarterback he chose to replace Russell Wilson in Seattle. Sam Darnold ended up with the Seahawks after a career-year in Minnesota.

Joe Flacco is back in Cleveland where he was the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2023. The Browns also traded for Kenny Pickett and drafted Dillon Gabriel in the third round and Shedeur Sanders in the ﬁfth.

Wilson and Jameis Winston ended up in New York, but the Giants also selected Jaxson Dart in the ﬁrst round.

Justin Fields has a third chance with the Jets.

J.J. McCarthy is the man in Minnesota after he missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury Saints rookie Tyler Slough gets an opportunity to replace Derek Carr, who retired.

The Titans have No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.

Quarterback competition

The Browns have to choose between Flacco, Pickett, Sanders and Gabriel. Veteran Daniel Jones is competing with Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis. Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in 2023, has been injured often and has a lingering shoulder problem

Shough and Spencer Rattler are battling in New Orleans. Wilson, Winston and Dart should make it a tough decision for the Giants.

Ward has to beat out Will Levis in Tennessee.

On the road

Six teams the Bills, Cowboys, Colts, Chiefs, Rams and Steelers — will spend their entire camp away from their facilities. Dallas, which trains in Oxnard, California, is the only team going out of state.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU gymnast Haleigh Bryant celebrates with teammates following her balance beam performance on Feb 28 at the Raising Cane’s River Center

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ELLA HALL

Max Holloway, left, hits Dustin Poirier during their title fight at UFC 318 on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOHN LOCHER

Manny Pacquiao, left, fights Mario Barrios in a welterweight title match on Saturday in Las Vegas.

IN THE PIPELINE

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

Amysterious blob sits on alab table in TulaneUniversity’s Stern Hall. It’sslimy,squishy anda little biggerthan ahockey puck

Whatcan we do that’snovel?’ And it took us awhile to ﬁgureitout,” Grayson said.

Rare attributes

What are some brain conditions that can cause dementia?

Somecommonalities between Alzheimer’sdisease and other dementia and certain brain conditions like tumors and subdural hematomas involve memoryimpairment, difﬁculty in communication, poor concentration, personality changes, problemsperforming routine tasks, social withdrawal and disorientation.

Typically,with abrain tumor or hematoma, the onset is more rapid and in addition to possible cognitive impairments, the conditions are associated with headaches, vomiting, seizures, incontinence, and somegait and motor dysfunction.

If you or aloved one is experiencing unusual cognitive changes, it is very important to ﬁrst consult aphysician and undergo testing to conﬁrm a diagnosis. Sometypes of dementia are very treatable and/ or reversible, and symptoms might not necessarily indicate Alzheimer’s, either Brain tumors can be cancerous or noncancerous and can result from several conditions. Any type of brain tumor is a serious risk to an individual’s health and lifebecause of its invasive nature.

Grayson

Chemistry professor Scott Grayson calls it hydrogel, andhis team has spentthe pastyeardevelopingthe material with a grant from theDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research anddevelopment arm of the Defense Department created in response to the launch of Sputnik in 1957

The nice thing about DARPA projects, Graysonsaid, is thatresearchers completeasmany steps as possibleina fixedamount of time,soit’sfast-paced.The hydrogel is thestart of what will eventually become along-term project lasting adecadeortwo, he said. “Wewere trying to figure out, ‘what canwedothat’sinteresting?

Weighing about apound and a half, theblobofhydrogeliselastic porous and swells in water like those magic, rubbery toyﬁgurines you’dleave in the bathroomsinkasa child.

Thehydrogel is conductive,whichopens many doors forpotentialfunctions. It can press buttons on phone screenslike a ﬁnger can, and can hold an electric current, making it possible to create abody suit with sensors.

Sincethe material is nontoxic and can stretch to five timesits original size, it might be usedto fashion “superhero”suits for the military,completewith wearable body sensors. It might become a special medical tapetohelptreat burn injuries, Grayson said. The hydrogel uses atechnology that theMayas invented —rubber

“If you have rubberbands, you can stretch them at least three, four or ﬁve times, but if you do that alot of times …itsnaps,”hesaid. Grayson and his team’shydrogel is even stretchier andstronger, withadditional properties andcapabilities.

Auniquemolecular makeup

It all starts in the hydrogel’smolecular makeup. After researchers addsubstances together,heat them andperform puriﬁcation anddialysis processes, aliquid base takes the shape of whatever container it dries overnight in, like cake batter,resulting in the hydrogel. If placed in water,the substance takes abouttwo to three days to swelltoits maximum size. To revert to the original shape, researchers can place thehydrogel in theovenat70degreesCelsius (158 F) to dry it out Right now,the possibilities are

ä See BLOB, page 2C

We want to actually figure out …ifwetry to stretchand strain, how much we can stretchand strain.”

SCOTT GRAySON,Tulane Universitychemistryprofessor

Somecommon symptomsof brain tumors include severe headaches, vomiting unrelated to any illness, stiffness in the neck, acute intracranial pressure, behavior changes or rapid decline in cognitive ability

There are no knownenvironmental factors that are directly related to the development of brain tumors. Many inherited diseases may increase the risk of brain tumors, such as Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, multiple endocrine neoplasia and Type 2Neuroﬁbromatosis. Another brain condition is a subdural hematoma, or SDH, which is aclot of blood just beneath the outer covering of the brain. These clots usually form in conjunction with an atrophy of the brain and typically occur in individuals over 60 years old. Most SDHs becomevery large before they are ever noticed because of the lack of symptomsinthe early stages. Similar to brain tumors, symptomsofa subdural hematomainclude headaches, difﬁculty recalling memories and also include confusion, physical weakness, impaired vision, nausea and vomiting. In the advanced stages, the condition can cause paralysis or acoma. One of the biggest risk factors for SDHs is brain atrophy linked to aminor trauma, which oftentimes goes completely unnoticed. Other risk factors include alcohol abuse, previous tendencies for seizures, and use of Coumadin or other bloodthinning medications.

Treatments forbraintumors andSDHsvary accordinglywith theindividualand thenature of thecondition. Cognitive impairment is always acause forconcern,and it is always important to fully understandand discuss

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

AgraduatestudentatTulane Universityholds abrick of hydrogel. It’sslimy and squishy, and it took ayear for researcherstodesign.

Crucialtouse sterilized waterinnasal irrigation

Dear Doctors: Wheneveryou talk about neti pots, you includea warning about always usingdistilledwater.Itseemed to me like an overreaction, but now there’s newsthat someone died from not doing that. Why would that be, whendrinkingwater is treated andgoes through testing?

Dear reader: Nasal saline rinse, or nasal irrigation, is apersonal hygiene practice using warm, sterilized water to gently clear debris from the nasal passages. The debris can include dirt, dust, bacteria, pollen, dander or other allergens. Nasal irrigation also thins out mucus and moistensthe delicate tissues of the sinuses to ease congestion and inﬂammation

The practicetypically involves the use of asmall, spouted vessel,

GAME NIGHT

Continued from page1C

Trevor Noah, Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen, among others. The parties balance highandlowbrow fun. Themost recent game night Rong, 28, planned was just before the Met Gala, and the dress code called for sweat suits. And last July,Brunson and Questlove teamed up to host one in Los Angeleswith an ice cream truck, Scrabble, anda “GameofThrones”-themed version of Monopoly

“Game Night has always been my thing,” Questlove captioned an October 2023 Instagram post. “Even 10 yearsago.”

They’ve also always been Rong’s, who grew up in California before moving to NewYork City to attend New York University.After working as an executive assistantatGaryVaynerchuck’sVaynerMedia and Complex, Questlove hired Rong in 2022 to help him juggle his various creative projects. Outside of work, she plays Catan with her friends, obsesses overgaming tables, and hasacloset shelf dedicated just to tabletop games. No-phonespolicy

Admittedly the game nights Rong plans for Questloveare more curated than casual with astrict no-phones policy and an onsite photographer.Previous swag bags have included upscale dice, silk pillowcases, and custom Uno boosters.

None of those, said Rong are required for agood time, but there are still some guidelines for taking game night from adud to aslam dunk.

“Sitting at atable and startingwith the same set of ruleskind of equalizes everyone. There’snoego,” saidRong. “I think of (game nights) as away to be intentional about setting aside time for fun.”

Looking to level up your game nights? Here are Rong’sfour tips for planning agame nightsogooda celebrity might show up Gamesgalore

Agood game night should feel like achoose-your-ownadventure book, according to Rong.

Rong prefers long-form gameslikeCatan andWingspan (a cozy-yet-competitive strategy card game where you collect birds to build

BLOB

Continued from page1C

endless, and researchers are still ﬁguring out the hydrogel’sfull capabilities.

“Wewant to actually ﬁgure out …ifwetry to stretch and strain, how much we can stretch and strain,” Grayson said.

Oneofmanylab projects Students work on multiple projectsevery day in the lab, and thehydrogelisjust one of them. The element of surprise brings graduate student Amman Nadeem back to the lab.

“That was an exciting thing —that if Iset up areaction tonight, then I’m going to come in tomorrow to

Dr.Elizabeth Ko

Dr.Eve Glazier

ASK THE DOCTORS

commonly known as aneti pot. Youﬁll it with asaline solution (plain water can be irritating) made with warm, sterile water

With the spoutﬁtted to one nostril, you lean forward and tilt your head, and water ﬂows through thenasal passages and exits the other nostril. Then you repeat this in the other direction.It’scrucial that nasal salinerinses use either

distilled or sterilized water due to risk of infection. Youare correct that tap water in the United States is ﬁltered and disinfected tokill potential pathogens. However,some bacteria, viruses and other organisms can survive this process,including Naegleria fowleri. Commonly known as the “brain-eating” bacteria, Naegleria fowleri is actually an amoeba. When ingested in drinking water,Naegleria fowleri dies in stomach acid, but when it enters thebody through thenose, it can migratealong the olfactory nerve and reach the brain. Once there, the amoeba quickly begins to multiply and destroy brain tissue. This is acondition known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

WESTBROOK

Agood game night shouldfeel likeachoose-your-ownadventurebook

the best wildlife preserve), but acknowledges thatmost people prefer something you canwin quickly.

“Not everyone has the patience to sit through Catan and pick it up,” Rong said “Some peopleprefer something snappier and faster that can take, like,two minutes around.”

Rong recommendsoffering amix of games. Recent hitsather and Questlove’s parties have been Tetris-adjacent puzzle game Blokus andUno,which Questlove toldHot Ones host Sean Evans he uses as a“personalitytester”for game night newbies.

Another unexpected game nighthit:Speak Out, which asks teams to guess what words or phrases players are sayingthrough amouthpiece and isafavoriteofgame night regularChrissy Teigen.

Howmanyguests?

Whatcomes first: The chicken or the egg, or —er —the games or the guest list?

For Rong, the games in circulation determinehow many people she invites since some —like Catan or mahjong—require aspecific amount of players or extraspace. Andwhile some people like to spectate, game night hosts should notgoin with the expectation that people will be OK sitting out. The point, afterall, is to play

“The numberofpeople doesmatter,” Rongsaid Rong also recommends circulatingYouTube tutorials of lesser-known games ahead of time to level the playing field. It goes without saying that board game haters— and sore losers don’tmakethe cut.

“Beyond personalities, a loveofgaming is the first prerequisite” for beinginvited to her and Questlove’s game nights, said Rong, not

see if itworked, ifitdidn’t work,” Nadeem said Nadeem and other researchers arefully optimizingthe hydrogel recipe, a process that takes time.She learned how important the ratios are when concocting thegel because ifthe ratio of an ingredient is off, the product might notbea gel, or it mightnot bestretchy enough,she said. Now that theﬁrst year of research has elapsed and the team no longer must submit monthly reportstoDARPA, the hydrogel will soon head to the University of SouthernMississippi, whichhas alab dedicated to polymer research.

Email Maddie Scott at madison.scott@ theadvocate.com

being acelebrity

Finger foods, partyfavors

For thegame nights she plans,Rong enjoys amix of noveltyand self-serve foods, like pizza cupcakes from WholeFoods,ice cream, and cereal bars.AtQuestlove’s most recent game night, Rong tappedBronx-born culinary team Ghetto Gastro to create aspecialmenu of takeout-style ﬁnger foods, including oxtail patty burgers, fried chicken topped with caviar,and matchaswirled Swiss rolls.

Rong’s personal game nightsare amore “casual” affair sans swag bags, but shedoesrelish curating the partyfavors for Questlove’s gatherings.

The best goodies, she explained, elevate the gaming experience. Once, Rong said, shecommissioned acustom +25 Unocard themed after her boss for guests.

Competitionrules

Though Rong describes herself as “in themiddle” on the casual-competitive spectrum, she said that some trash talk andlow-stakes rivalry can be agood thing.

Actually,Rongsaid,competition is part of what makes her and Questlove’s gamenights so fun.

Reading-born Swift, for example, is aknown Uno hustlerwho Questlove said takes the card game“to levels of excitementthat I didn’tknowone could do.” Rong said comedian Trevor Noah is similar,while actress Stephanie Hsuruns the mahjongtable. “She wins like basically every game.”

“Itgetstiringtogoto onePRevent after another this is just like ahobby club,”Rongsaid. “There’s a huge competitive streak in theroom. There’strash talk, there’sspectators. Everyone lets their guard down.”

CONDITIONS

Continuedfrom page1C

withyour family physician which condition is causing the symptoms, as dementia or Alzheimer’sare not always the source.

Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease.” She hosts“The Memory Whisperer.” Emailher at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.

Symptoms of PAMappear about ﬁve days after infection. It starts with headache, fever,nausea and vomiting. As the infection progresses, it causes confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations. The destruction of brain tissue, along with the resulting immune response, causes swelling. This pressure gets so intense that the connection between the brain stem andthe spinal cord eventually severs. This is what can lead to death. There are no effective treatments forPAM at this time.

Naegleria fowleri infection of thebrain is quite rare. In the U.S., we see fewer than 10 cases each year.Most are infections acquired while swimming in warm fresh water.However,PAM is possible from using tap water fornasal irrigation. In the recent incident you’re referring to, awoman in Texas developed afatal infection after using tap water from a campground to perform nasal irrigation. So, to repeat the warning that prompted your letter,always use distilled or sterilized water fornasal irrigation. Youcan buy sterilized water,oryou can sterilize your own tap water by boiling it forthree to ﬁve minutes then letting it cool.

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday,July 21, the202nd day of 2025. There are 163 days left in theyear

TodayinHistory

On July 21, 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tennessee, withJohn T. Scopes found guilty of violating statelaw for teaching Darwin’sTheory of Evolution. (Theconviction was later overturned.)

Also on this date:

In 1861, during theCivil War, theﬁrst Battle of Bull Runwas fought at Manassas, Virginia, resulting in a Confederate victory

In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during World WarII, capturing it from theJapanese some three weeks later

In 1954, theGeneva Conference concluded with accords dividing Vietnam into northern and southern entities.

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage

Send yourquestions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask theDoctors c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

of the lunar module for docking with the command module.

In 1970, construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed.

In 1972, the Irish Republican Armycarried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what becameknown as “Bloody Friday.”

In 2002, Ernie Els won the British Open in the ﬁrst sudden-death ﬁnish in the 142-year history of the tournament.

In 2008, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s top warcrimes fugitives, wasarrested in aBelgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. (He wassentenced by aU.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and warcrimes.)

In 2011, the30-year-old space shuttleprogram endedasAtlantislanded at Cape Canaveral,Florida,after the135th shuttleﬂight

In 2012, Erden Eruc becamethe ﬁrst person to

complete asolo, humanpowered circumnavigation of the globe. In 2023, the “Barbenheimer” buzz reached its peak as the films“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened in theaters; the critical and public acclaim forboth filmsled to the fourth-largest weekend box office of all time.

Today’sBirthdays: Singer Yusuf Islam (also known as Cat Stevens) is 77. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is 77. Author Michael Connelly is 69. Comedian Jon Lovitz is 68. Retired soccer player Brandi Chastain is 57. Rock-soul singer Michael Fitzpatrick (Fitz and the Tantrums) is 55. Actor/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg is 54. Actor Justin Bartha is 47. Actor Josh Hartnett is 47. Reggae singer Damian Marley is 47. Basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings is 46. Former MLB All-Star pitcher CC Sabathia is 45. Singer Blake Lewis (“American Idol”) is 44. Latin singer Romeo Santos is

CANCER (June 21-July22) Simplify your life. Keep informationtoyourself and concentrate on personal and professional gain. Take care of matters that influence your home,finances or health.

LEO(July 23-Aug. 22) Explore your options by participating in events that connect you to people who can helpyou Leavenothing to chance when it comes to your lifestyle and concerns. Strive forwhat serves you best.

VIRGO(Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Carefully delegateyourtime and effort. Common senseand good manners will help you navigate any controversy you encounter. Keep an open mind, but makesure to check all information you receive.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Big dreams, temptation and hope will lead to mixed emotions. When in doubt,ask an expert. Don't take on unnecessary debt, responsibilities or someone else's drama. Pay attention to how you look and feel.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Revise your plans to meet your demands. Trying to accommodate too many people will lead to disappointment. Mix business with pleasureand make the most of your day.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Put more effort into combining functionalityand comfort. Awell-run home can make your life easier andgive you more timetonurture your relationships with loved ones.

CAPRICORN(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Honesty will keep you out of trouble. Look for

opportunities andavoid exaggerating or making promises youcannot keep. Set goals, establish boundariesand create realistictimelines.

AQUARIUS(Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You've got all theright moves to get thingsdone andenjoythe outcome. Focus on home, personal gains and worthwhile partnerships. Self-improvement, networking and heart-to-hearttalks are featured.

PISCES(Feb. 20-March 20) Explore people, places andpastimes that pique your interest. Attend events that offer insight intohow others live.Put your energy behind your plans,and it will positively impact your perspective.

ARIES (March 21-April19) Discipline coupled with ingenuitywill help youward off temptation. Networking and marketing yourself forsuccess will take you to the winner's circle.

TAURUS (April20-May 20) An open mind will help yougain perspective and reduce thelikelihood of getting into ano-win situation.Stubbornness gets you nowhere; find the paththat leads to new beginnings and abetter future.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You'll thrive on change.Whether youinstigate it or are sweptupinsomeone else's whirlwind, hang on and enjoy the ride. Put your energy to good use. Keeping busywill ward off interference.

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms arecreated from quotations by famous people, past and present.Each letter in the cipherstands foranother.

TODAy'SCLUE:V EQUALS

FAMILY CIrCUS

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the samenumber onlyonce. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

When you are in atrump contract, perhaps your first question is: “Howquickly shouldIdraw trumps?”

There is no simple answer, but the basic guideline is that the more trumps youhave,thequickeryoushouldremove the opponents’, especially when you can do it without losing thelead.

When you have only eight or nine trumps,you might delay drawing them; in fact, youmight never touch them at all. In particular, if youdonot have the trump ace, think twicebeforeleading a trump.

In today’s deal,how should South plan the play in fourspades after West leads the club king?

Declarer looks at his 13 cards, takes dummy’shigh cards into account, and counts his losers. Here, he has five: two hearts,two diamonds and one club. The minor-suitlosers are unavoidable, so South must ruff his two heart losers on the board.

However, suppose declarer wins with hisclubace,cashesthespadeaceandtop hearts, then ruffs aheart on theboard. What happens next?

South cannot get back to his hand. And whenheplays, say, aclub, Westwill win andsurely return atrump, killing the second ruff. Instead, declarer should immediately take histop hearts, ruffa heart with dummy’s spade eight (so the mean andnasty East cannot overruff), play aspade to his hand, and ruff his last heart with thespade king. Then 10 tricks rollin.

Yes, Southcould alsoduck thefirst trick,allowing him to ruff aclub in his hand. This week we will look at various trump-suit techniques

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

Previous answers:

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,”

toDAY’s WoRD

DEM-uh-gah-jee: Using people’s prejudices and emotions to gain power.

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles

Jury Type: Civil Judge: Tonya S. LurryDate: Tuesday,August 12, 2025

ACOSTA, PRESTON PAUL 59405 ISLAND DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7424

ALBERTSR, RAYMOND E61465 BAYOU RD PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-6033

ALBRITTON, LESLIE JOSEPH 24447 KYLIE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3838

ALEXANDER, CHARLOTTE RENEE 5475 MORRIS ST CARVILLE, LA 70721

ALFANO, CHUCK N55420 GRAND RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4620

ALFANO, HAILEY ALCINA 55420 GRAND RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4620

ALLEN,ALBERT32360 CHAIRMONTE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2020

ALLEN, TERRENCE NATHANIEL23017 JADE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5232

ALMONTE, MARYANN CLARK 5460 MARKS LN CARVILLE, LA 70721-2209

ANDERSON III, IRA ANDREW 23095 JACOB ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2318

ANGELLOZ III, ALBERTJ 21035 HWY 77 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3503

ANTHONY,DERRICK JEROME 23911 TAYLORST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

BANKS, ALMA JEAN 57375 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR #C BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3122

BANKS, DAEMON MIGUEL57335 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3122

BANKS, RUSSELL CLIFTON58329 MERIAM ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-2847

BANKSTON, KATRINA FRICKE79435 MUSSONLNMARINGOUIN, LA 70757-3910

BARBAY, LEONARD AUSTIN 1510 SIDNEYSTSUNSHINE, LA 70780-3216

BARBIER JR, ROLAND J58620 VILLAGE DR PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-7423

BARKER, JAMES LOUIS 35475 HWY 69 WHITE CASTLE ,LA70788

BARTON, BENJAMIN ALLEN 1712 SHADOWBRUSH WAYSTGABRIEL, LA 70776-5350

BASCO, JANET SMITH 16275 DEER BUCK RUN ROSEDALE, LA 70772-3829

BATTISTE,BROOKE JADA 57935 MCDANIELSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2039

BATTON, STERLING 57930 PANAMSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4142

BELLOCK, DEQUAN 32555 ALICE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2501

BELVIN, TRISTAIN JANAE 22860 AIDAN RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5238

BENOITIII, JOHN FOSTER 58330 BUBBA ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3905

BERGESON, ASHLEY MORGAN 255 FIELD HOUSE AVESTGABRIEL, LA 70776-4444

BERTHELOT,RANDY J38810 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7729

BLANCHARD, BRENT DAVID 59235 EMMA AVEPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3411

BOUDREAUX II, MICHAEL PAUL 57935 MCDANIELST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-2039

BOUILLION, KRISTINA LYNN 20195 HWY 77 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3422

BOUQUET,LISA M57225 HWY 404 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4227

BOURGOYNE, MELISSA SANCHEZ 59112 LAUREL ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3814

BRISCO, CARLANCIA DIONCA 54810 SOUTH ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2323

BROWN, ROQUEL MEISHAWN54925 GLEASONSTWHITECASTLE,LA70788-2308

BUNCH, LACHELLE DONSHAY58055 WASHINGTON ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-4045

BUNCH, LORETTAFOSTER 33920 BOWIE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2733

BUTLER, CHARLES ANTHONY 58785 MERIAM ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2947

CALLEGAN, LESA WUNSTEL 20335 SALLIE DR PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-5324

CARR, SHENEKA M58853 ALLENSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3063

CARTER, CHASE DOUGLAS 58465 IRONFARMRDPLAQUEMINE,LA70764

CARTER JR, MICHAEL 1430 BUR OAK DR ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4613

CHAMBERS III,THEODORE D58055 CAPTAIN THARRIS ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3239

CHRISTOPHE JR, KERRYPAUL 23985 TAYLORST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3040

CLOUATRE, BRENDA FRANN YOUNG 63390 OLD HWY 77 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5616

COACHMAN, DANA B58225 PEAR ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4011

COLEMAN, ROSEMARYJAMES 23229 NADLERSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2420

COLLINS, AUSTIN J39129 BAYOUPIGEON RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7746

COLLINS, BAILEE MARIE 59370 EVANGELINEAVE PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3418

COOK, KARIN SANTOS 58805 ISLAND DR PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-7440

COOPER, SHERWINE BROWN 32790 BOWIE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2612

DAVIS SR, ANTHONY RAY5530 MARTIN LUTHERKING JR PKWY CARVILLE,LA70721

DAVIS, DENNIS 57670 ELI CRAIG ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-4542

DAVIS, DWAYNE DARRELL 34220 BOWIE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2736

DAVIS, MALINDIARENATE 510-B BAYOUPAUL LN ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-5404

DAY, MARK 5800 HWY 74 ST GABRIEL, LA 70776

DECAREAUX III, RAYJOSEPH 36209 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7703

DELONE, MICHAEL WENDELL 56580 BREAUX ST BAYOU GOULA,LA70788-3031

DEVILLIER, BRIAN K38907 BAYOU PIGEONRD PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-7744

DOMINIQUE, KENNETH E56695 CHURCH ST BAYOU GOULA,LA70788

DORSEY,ROCKEASHA SHERMAINE 22750 BLAKENEY LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5234

DORSEY,TERRANCE JAMAL 58040 GEORGE ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-2208

DOTSON, PAUL CHRISTOPHER 10260 GROSSE TETE DR MARINGOUIN, LA 70757

DUPARD III, CHARLES RAY5661 MAGNOLIA DE CHRISTOPHE DR CARVILLE,LA70721

DUPONT,LAUREN WHITE 21825 TALBOTDRPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5211

DUPRE, TESSA PICOU 35955 RICHLAND RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-4243

EARL, ASHLYVAN 58250 CANAL ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3619

EDWARDS, AMANDA RATAJCZYK 26210 HWY 77 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5705

EDWARDS, MALINE DAVIS 57944 CENTER ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-4365

EDWARDS, MARLENE ANNETTE 56740 CHURCH ST BAYOU GOULA,LA70788-3154

EDWARDS, REITAC 60130 CHOCTAW ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4631

FAVORITE, VANESSA DENISE 57674 ELI CRAIG ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4542

FONTENOT,RUSSELL JOHN 66315 STAMPLEYDRPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7311

FOSTER, MARYLOUISE33195 ADAMS DR WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2607

FRAZIER, EDITH MAE 4885 MARYLAND ST ST GABRIEL, LA 70776-4250

GANUS, TIMOTHY 58330 LABAUVE AVEPLAQUEMINE ,LA70764-3122

GAUTHIER, BYRON JAMES490 CLOCK TOWERDRSTGABRIEL, LA 70776-4449

GEORGETOWN, SHARMAIN CORXLEUIL 57886 LAVILLE ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-2324

GOFF,WILLIAM DALE 58360 ELM ST PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3152

GORDON, TAYLOR D5535 ROSE DOWN AVESTGABRIEL, LA 70776-5211

GOURGUES, KEVIN PATRICK 23700 KIRTLEY DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5538

GOVERNOR, SANDRA EDWARDS 59057 MARTIN LUTHERKING BLVD PLAQUEMINE,LA707643033

GRANT,MARQUIS JARROD23860 PUNCHY WILSONSTPLAQUEMINE,LA70764-3456

GRAVES, JACOB RYAN 59730 THOMAS ROSS DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5271

GRAVES, MACKENZIE BROOKE 16840 RAMAH RD MARINGOUIN, LA 70757-4708

GRAY, CASSANDRA DARLENE 32410 CHAIRMONTE ST WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2022

GREENE, JERVONTE LAMAR 55095 TASSIN DR WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-2343

GUERIN, JULIE COUPEL 60250 CHOCTAW ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4632

HANDY,ALEXIS JEFFERY77320 PARISH LN MARINGOUIN,LA70757

HARRIS, TRINTON 77600 H&HSTMARINGOUIN, LA 70757

HEBERT, CALLIE HOLLIER 65391 BELLEVIEWRDPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6217

HIMEL, TYLER MITCHELL 35490 RICHLAND RD WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-3809

HOBBY,JON BRADFORD 57820 TROSCLAIR ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2334

HRACEK, CHANCE ALLEN 27584 HWY 405 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6909

HUGUET SR, MICHAEL ROY 29810 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE,LA70764-6108

HYMES, BERT57945 JOFFRION ST #9PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2046

JACK, MARCUS RASHAD 10710 1ST ST MARINGOUIN,LA70757

JACKSON JR, BERNELL 57185 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3120

JACKSON, KAREN 54198 BHWY 995 WHITE CASTLE, LA 70788-5018

JACKSON, KENDALL JERMAINE 57215 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3121

JAMES, ROBERTLEE 57920B CENTER ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4310

JENKINS, TELIYAHLYNTRELL 57748 GROVE RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4538

JOHNSON JR, ELIAS 1580 ST FRANCIS LN ST GABRIEL,LA70776-4918

JOHNSON JR, GEORGEHENRY 25905 WINTER ST #APLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6326

JOHNSON, SHANTELLE L58515 IRON FARM RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3070

JONES, MICHEAL WAYNE33095 BOWIE ST #7WHITE CASTLE,LA70788-2314

JUMONVILLE,LAYLA A55685 MYLESRDWHITE CASTLE,LA70788-4610

KELEHAN,CHRISTOPHER BLAINE 205 CHANCELLORAVE ST GABRIEL,LA70776-4450

KIMBLE, CATHYL 5624 MAGNOLIA SPRINGS PKWY #BCARVILLE,LA707212102

KING, TERESEA D22800 HWY 77 GROSSE TETE, LA 70740-3626

KNIGHT, DELDRICK DOMAR 57010 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3119

LANCON, ADAM JOSEPH 59655 HWY 1148 #49 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5334

LANDRY, DEAN JOSEPH 37205 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7713

LANDRY, DUSTINJOSEPH 58520 VILLAGEDRPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7421

LANDRY, JEANNE P59655 KEMBER DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6559

LANDRY, LANDON CHRISTOPHER 57650 AUGUSTARDWHITE CASTLE,LA70788-3202

LANDRY, RODD 58325 ROBERTSON ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3517

LASSEIGNE, DANIEL ARMOND77125 HURDLERDROSEDALE, LA 70772

LAVIGNEIII, SYLVESTER R29630 HWY 405 BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3026

LEADER, JORDEN KELLEE 64590 GISCLARD RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6228

LEATHERMAN-JOSEPH, CHRISTINE MICHELL 2130 ELMCRESTWAY ST GABRIEL,LA70776-5354

LEE, ARTNEISHA24741 HUEYSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4152

LEFEBVRE, JOHN H16765 HWY 77 ROSEDALE, LA 70772

LEJEUNE,NEILIE FALCON 25600 SPRING ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6319

LEONARD, DANIELLE FREMIN38550 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7726

LEWIS, DAVID BRIAN 370 SOUTH CLUB AVESTGABRIEL, LA 70776-4440

LODGE, XAVIER ALEXANDER 5320-B MORRIS ST CARVILLE,LA70721

LONG, BROOKE ANGELLE 22210 WARREN ST #LOT TPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

MAJOR, MONICA ALLEN 55070 CYPRESSSTWHITE CASTLE,LA70788-2350

MALLET,VELMALEVISEE 16120 RAMAH RD MARINGOUIN,LA70757

MARIONNEAUX, MICHAEL 62460 BAYOU JACOB RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5525

MARKINS,MASON NATHANIEL59335 ISLAND DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7418

MATTHEWS, ANGELA S57920 JOSEPH ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2019

MCDANIEL, JAMESHAROLD 1865 WILLOW BENDRDSTGABRIEL, LA 70776-5351

MCDANIEL, SCOTT ANTHONY LANDRY 7005 BAYOU PAUL RD ST GABRIEL,LA70776-5606

MCGOWEN,JOSEPH CHAD24815 BRUCE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6042

MCNAIR,QUINCY LEVAR 58215 BELLSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2237

MCNELL JR, ERNEST LEE 57755 ELICRAIG ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4543

MELLION, AMAYA RENEE 59061 MARTIN LUTHERKING BLVD PLAQUEMINE, LA 707643033

MEREDITH, MICHAEL SCOTT 115 GRACES DR ST GABRIEL,LA70776-4443

MERONEK, CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL22755 TALBOT DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5220

MILLER, ANGELA D65110 LITTLE FARMS RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5823

MILLER, CALLIE 24669 EUGENEPSTEVENS ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

MIMS,SHAMIKAKAGLEAR 76425 COREY RD ROSEDALE,LA70772

MINK,JEFFREY WAYNE35165 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7601

MITCHELL, SHANDRIKA MARIE23470 RICHSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2646

MOLDEN, SHARON MARIE57250 CPL HERMAN BROWN JR DR BAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3121

MORGAN,ROMONAMARIE58505 WARE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4247

MURRELL, GEORGEA 761 RIVER RD SUNSHINE,LA70780-3203

MYLES, JY RIELLE LA SHAY 24620 HWY 405 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7500

NICHOLAS, ROBINLYNETTE 58715 COOLIDGE ST,#12 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3946

NICKS, ALICIAMONE 57735 MORRISON BLVD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7521

NOEL, BRANDON MICHAEL 24220 SEBASTIANSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3542

OBEAR, WADE RANDALL 55265 CAMBRE ST WHITE CASTLE,LA70788-2112

ONCALE, ELIZABETH L57740 BARROW ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4102

ORCINO,VINCENT24250 SEBASTIANSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3542

OUBRE, EDITH JONES 59360 SEXTON DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6575

OUBRE, VELMA COLLINS58065 NICHOLAS ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2238

PATRICK JR, RANDY ANTHONY58921 OBIER AVEPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3425

PAYNE,TISHA LEBLANC 58320 IRION ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3504

PHILLIPS, CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY 25060 PATUREAU LN PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5903

PICKETT,CASSANDRA BATTISTE 5400 MORRIS ST CARVILLE,LA70721

PIERSON,LAWRENCE ROYAL340-A BAYOU PAUL LN ST GABRIEL,LA70776-5406

PITRE JR, CURTISROBERT60235 GROSSE TETE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4634

PLANT, OCONNER LEE 24834 FRANK ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4316

PONSON, PERCY25134 DUBLIEUXSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6008

POSTON SR, CLINTON A33140 HWY 75 PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7110

POWERS, MAYA Q22560 GLORIA ST #EPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5207

PRUITT, MATTHEW BYRON 58580 VILLAGEDRPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-7421

RAY, GLENPHILLIP 5740 MONTICELLO ST ST GABRIEL,LA70776-4412

REAUX, HAILEY59155 DARBY AVEPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3403

REED, LILLIE MARIE57958 MCARTHUR ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4330

RICARD, JEFFERYA 22795 BLAKENEYLNPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5234

RICHARD, SHELIAJACKSON 55050 CYPRESSSTWHITE CASTLE,LA70788-2350

RIVERS, ANGELA D58750 ST CLEMENTAVE PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3536

RIVERS, GEORNEISHADEONDRA 58720 MERIAM ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2944

RIVET,CHADMICHAEL 59800 THOMAS ROSS DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-5273

ROBILLARF,KATIE ANN23135 KURZWEG ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2410

RODRIGUEZ JR, PIERCEPAUL56055 MEDINERDWHITE CASTLE,LA70788-4430

RODRIGUEZ, TERRICA BRIANNICA 1955 JAKE LN SUNSHINE,LA70780-3502

ROGILLIO, APRILDAVID 76570 DICKENSON ST ROSEDALE, LA 70772

ROMIG, CALVIN ELBERT77305 JESSIE ROMIG DR GROSSE TETE, LA 70740

ROSS, SHENIKEWA24429 KYLIE DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3838

ROSS, TRALYNNLEATRICE 1550-A BESSON LN SUNSHINE,LA70780-3537

ROSS, VANESSA LANDRY4955 MARYLAND ST ST GABRIEL,LA70776-4251

SANCHEZ, KOLBI RENE’ 35585 RICHLAND RD WHITE CASTLE,LA70788-3810

SANDERS, DALEN D58226 COURTSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-2806

SAVOY,CLIFTON GERARD 58280 HYMEL ST WHITE CASTLE,LA70788-4201

SAYLOR, CHRISTINA 31896 LACROIX RD WHITE CASTLE,LA70788-3620

SCHEXNAYDER, CHERYLANN 3665 GOLDEN GATE DR ST GABRIEL,LA70776

SCHOUEST,ANGIE MARIE57520 ERWIN DR PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-4504

SCOTT,BRIDGETTE WINFIELD 59205 NATHAN GEORGETOWN ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 707643071

SCOTT,MYESHA5585 POINT CLAIR RD CARVILLE,LA70721-2107

SEHON,ROBERTJOSEPH 495 SOUTH CLUB AVESTGABRIEL, LA 70776-4441

SHARBAUGH, FREDERICK CHARLES425 PECAN DR ST GABRIEL,LA70776-5514

SHIPLEY, SHANEA PITSLATA 76335 HUNTERS RUNROSEDALE, LA 70772-3838

SIMMS,JAYNEEROSE 25360-B TENANT RD PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6532

SIMPSON, TRISTANNY 5640 MAGNOLIA SPRINGS PKWY #B CARVILLE,LA707212102

SKIDMORE, TOMMY24744 DARDENNE ST PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-6012

SMITH, BRANDON K1445 JASPER AVEAPT ABATON ROUGE, LA 70810

SMITH, DOROTHYMAE 56621 BREAUXSTBAYOU GOULA, LA 70788-3032

SMITH, THEDA GONGRE 24100 SEBASTIANSTPLAQUEMINE, LA 70764-3540

IBERVILLE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES PUBLIC HEARING, TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2025 PROPOSED ORDINANCE

The Parish Council of Iberville Parish, State of Louisiana, held aPublic Hearing in the Council Meeting Room, 58050 Meriam Street, Plaquemine, Louisiana, on the 17th day of June, 2025 at 6:00 P.M. pursuant to aNotice of Public Hearing published on the 28th day of May,2025 in the Advocate and posted on the Iberville Parish website.

The Council Chairman, SteveSmith, calledthe hearing to order at 6:00 p.m. followed by the roll call with the following Council Members in attendance: Shalanda L. Allen, District 1; Chasity B. Easley; District 2; Thomas E. Dominique, Sr., District 3; Freddie Frazier,Sr.,District 4; Steve C. Smith, District 5; Raheem T. Pierce, District 6; Nadia Jenkins, District 7; Hunter S. Markins, District 8; Terry J. Bradford, District9;Matthew H. Jewell, District 12; Bart B. Morgan, District 13.

Absent: Martinez.

Councilman Dardenne arrived after roll call.

Chief Administrative Officer-Dwayne Boudreaux, and Chief Operating Officer-Randall Dunn werealso in attendance.

Mr.Dunn read the following ordinances in entirety

ORDINANCE 1 ORDINANCE TO ADOPT THE MILLAGE RATES FOR THE TAXYEAR 2025

The floor was opened to comments and questions. Therewas no opposition to this ordinance from the public.

Therebeing no further business to be conducted, the hearing was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

/s/ MACY W. OURSO /s/ STEVEC.SMITH COUNCIL CLERK COUNCIL CHAIRMAN IBERVILLE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES REGULAR MEETING, TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2025

The Parish Council of Iberville Parish, State of Louisiana, met in Regular Session, in the Council Meeting Room, 2nd Floor,Courthouse Building 58050 Meriam Street, Plaquemine, Louisiana, on the 17th day of June, 2025.

The Council Chairman, Steve C. Smith, called the meeting to order at 6:30p.m. followed by the roll call with the following Council Members in attendance: Shalanda L. Allen, District 1; Chasity B. Easley; District 2; Thomas E. Dominique, Sr District 3; Freddie Frazier,Sr.,District 4; Steve C. Smith, District 5; Raheem T. Pierce, District 6; Nadia Jenkins, District 7; Hunter S. Markins, District 8; Terry J. Bradford, District9;Chasity Martinez, District 10; Charles Dardenne, District 11; Matthew H. Jewell, District 12; Bart B. Morgan, District 13. Absent: None.

Parish President- Chris Daigle, Chief Administrative Officer-Dwayne Boudreaux, Chief Operations Officer-Randall Dunn werealso in attendance.

Aquorum was present and due notice had been posted and published in theAdvocate newspaper on the 12th day of June, 2025. The Pledge of Allegiance followed. Council Chairman Smith called for anyone wanting to make public comments to register with the Clerk.

ADDENDUM

A) None.

PRESENTATIONS AND APPEARANCES

A) Comprehensive Evaluation of the Iberville Substance Abuse Center by SouthernEvals

•Taylor Cottano and Joseph Thibaut, representing SouthernEvals, came beforethe Council to give apresentation on the strategic plan for the Iberville Parish Substance Abuse Center.Hestated that the current Substance Abuse Center is underutilized and is serving mostly court-mandated clients. The underutilization is due to alack of structureand outreach. The opioid settlement funds that areavailable will allow for atransformation of the substance abuse center

•They created a4-pillar plan to create moreaccess, education, infrastructureand collaboration. These education programs would start in the schools while also providing other forms of digital preventions and other community resources. He stated that expanding the center and providing morehelp to address more than just those that suffer from problems with substance abuse. Also, collaborating with those in the community will help remove the stigma of the substance abuse center

•Randall Dunn stated that the Parish’s first orderofbusiness to move this plan forwardistohirea clinical director for the Substance Abuse Center or the behavioral health director

•A copy of the presentation is available upon request in the Council’soffice.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Upon amotion by Councilwoman Jenkins, seconded by Councilman Markins, it was moved to wave the reading of the minutes of May 20, 2025and approve as written. The motion having been duly submitted to avote was duly adopted by the following yea and nay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique, Frazier,Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None.

ABSTAIN: None.

ABSENT:None.

The motion was declared adopted by the Chairman.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

President Daigle reported on the following:

•Hestarted by recognizing Stephanie Glynn for 27 years of service, Frederick Williams for 10 years of service, Hope Erwin for 10 years of service, Erik Willis for 5years of service, and Ronald Leblanc for 5years of service. He also introduced Brittany Dupont as the Director of Grants.

•Hestated that the HWY 1southclean up by Dow is complete.The Hwy 1culvert project is in progress and are working with the City of lower awater line.

•The Bayou Blue burnsite has been approved by DEQ and will be ready for hurricane season. He stated that National Weather Service meteorologistattended the Director Hurricane Meeting.

•Hestated that the 2new boom trucks areset to arrive in July and cameras have been installed at the Bayou Pigeon Boat Launch. Speed limit caution signs areon orderand theyhaveidentified 15 potentialsites forthe signs. The Bayou Blue water spray park will go out for bid in the next 2weeks.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Finance Director,Randall Dunn stated the Finance Department is currently working on the financial audit and it will be done by the June 30th deadline. He stated therewill be an audit presentation at the July meeting. He also stated that the council received their budget to actual financial statements. He also stated that we are back on par with the 2023 sales tax numbers.

OLD BUSINESS

ORDINANCE IPC# 009-25 ORDINANCE TO ADOPT THE MILLAGE RATES FOR THE TAXYEAR 2025 BE IT ORDAINED by the Iberville Parish Council, Louisiana, in an open meeting held on June, 17, 2025 and conducted

SECTION 2. Be It Further Ordained by the IbervilleParish Council, Louisiana that the method of collections of said

the time of its delinquency,penalties and other matters relating thereto, shallbeasnow provided by the law forthe collection of StateTaxes.

SECTION 3. Be it Further Ordained by the Iberville Parish Council Louisiana that allordinances or partsofordinances in conflictwith this ordinance herewith be and the same hereby arespecificallyrepealed.

SECTION 4. Be It Further Ordained that the Assessor of the Parish of

Iberville shall extend upon the assessment roll forthe year 2025 taxes herein levied, and the tax collectorofIbervilleParish shall collect and remit the same to the IbervilleParish Council in accordance with law

The foregoing ordinance which was previously introduced at the meeting of the Iberville Parish Council on May20, 2025 and acopy thereof having been published in the official journal on May28, 2025 the public hearing on this ordinance heldonthe 17th day of June, 2025, at 6:00 p.m.,in the Council Meeting Room, 58050 MeriamStreet, Plaquemine, Louisiana, was brought up for final passage with amotionbyCouncilman Frazier and seconded by Councilwoman Easley,having been duly submitted to a vote, the ordinance was dulyadopted by the following yea and nay vote on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique, Frazier,Pierce, Jenkins, Markins Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell

NAYS: None.

ABSTAIN: None.

ABSENT: None.

The ordinance was declared adopted by the Chairman on the 17th day of June, 2025.

NEWBUSINESS

A) IntroductionofOrdinances

1. Ordinance to adopt uniform water and sewer rates within the Parish of Iberville. Set for Public Hearing on July 15, 2025

2. Ordinance to amend the 2025 Fire District #1 special revenue fund budget to purchase a3,000-gallon commercial tanker truck in the amount of $525,000. Set for Public Hearing on July 15, 2025

3. Ordinance to authorize IbervilleParish Council to purchase immovableproperty owned by the IbervilleParish School Board and further authorizing the Parish President to sign the necessary documentation to purchase immovable propertyfor the Iberville Parish Library Set for Public Hearing on July 15, 2025

4. Ordinance to sell properties previouslydeclared to be surplus by IPCOrdinance #012-21 to neighboring property owners pursuant to the termsofIPC Ordinance #002-13 (Stephanie J. Jordan; Parcel 0110027950). Set forPublic Hearing on July 15, 2025

Upona motionbyCouncilman Markins, seconded by Councilman

Bradford, it was moved that apublic hearing be held on Tuesday,July 15, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. on the introduced ordinances.

The motion having been duly submitted to avote, was dulyadopted by the following yea and nay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique, Frazier,Pierce, Jenkins, Markins Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None.

ABSTAIN: None.

ABSENT: None.

The motion was declared adopted by the Chairman on June 17, 2025 RESOLUTION COMMITTEE REPORT

The Resolution Committee met on Tuesday,June 17, 2025 at 6:04 p.m., followed by the roll call with the following Resolution Committee Members only in attendance: Jewell,Dardenne, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Frazier Morgan, Dominique.

Absent:None.

Councilwoman Martinezarrived after roll call.

The following resolution was read aloud by Mr.Dunn:

A) Approve Resolution declarecertain used movable property as surplus property and to be sold at public auction/saleinaccordance with Louisiana Law

B) Approve Resolution supporting the development of certain property located within the Parish

Councilman Dominique made arecommendationtoforwardthe resolution to the regular meeting, seconded by Councilwoman Jenkins. The recommendation having been duly submitted to avotewas duly adopted by the following yea and nay votes on roll call by ResolutionCommittee Members only:

YEAS: Jewell, Dardenne, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins,Martinez, Frazier Morgan, Dominique.

NAYS: None.

ABSTAIN: None.

ABSENT: None.

The recommendation was declared adopted by the Chairman to forward this item to the regular meeting.

During the Regular Meeting:

•Bart Yakuozack, came beforethe Council to speak in favor of the proposed resolution supporting the development of certain property located within the Parish. He represents the family that owns the land and supports the development of the property.He stated that they arelooking forwardtodeveloping the property for atraining center for the Town of White Castle and continuing to grow in the communityand working with the Parish in the future.

RESOLUTION IPC #2025-000

RESOLUTION TO DECLARECERTAIN USED MOVABLE PROPERTY AS SURPLUS PROPERTY AND TO BE SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION/ SALE IN ACCORDANCE WITH LOUISIANA LAW(SP-2025-002)

WHEREAS,the Parish of Iberville, through its Parish Council, has been requested to declarecertain used movable property which is no longer required as surplus property WHEREAS,La. R.S. 49:125 provides that apolitical subdivision is authorized to sell surplus movableproperty at public auction/sale, and is authorized to employ aqualified licensed auctioneer to handle the said sale or to receive sealed bids forthe sale of the surplus property

WHEREFORE,the office equipment and furnishings, equipment and vehicles described on the list attached hereto is no longer useful or needed and should be declared as surplus movable property NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,bythe Iberville Parish Council as follows; “That the used movableproperty,office equipment and furnishings and equipment and vehicles contained on the attached list (Attachment SP2025-002) aredeclared surplus movable property and that the itemsbe sold at public auction or by sealed bid in accordance with Louisiana law after due public notice is published in the official journal of the Parish.

The above resolution was duly adopted in regular session on this 17th day of June, 2025 by the following votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley Dominique, Frazier,Pierce, Jenkins, Markins Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell NAYS: None.

ABSTAIN: None.

ABSENT: None.

The resolution was declared adopted by the Chairman on the 17th day of June, 2025.

RESOLUTION IPC #2025-000

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN

PROPERTY LOCATED WITHIN THE PARISH WHEREAS,the Iberville Parish Council (“Parish

around the Parish of Iberville; and WHEREAS,the Parish Council finds thatboth the Parish of Iberville, andits citizens, benefitwhensuitable businesses locatewithin the Parish of Iberville; and WHEREAS,Tower Land Company Inc., andJJLD, LLC (collectively “Owner”) own various properties located within the Parish of Iberville; and WHEREAS,four (4)suchproperties, whichare ownedbyOwner, comprisesapproximately 102.641+/-acres of land as shown on Exhibit A, whichisattached hereto andmade apart hereof (hereinafterthe “Property”); and WHEREAS,inorder to furtherthe economic developmentofthe Parish of Iberville, the Town of White Castle hasrequested, andthe Owner hasagreed, to donate Lot TLC/JJLD-1 to the Town of White Castle, for use as atraining facility,whichfacility will be usedtoenhancethe workforce potential of individuals residing within the Town of White Castle andthe Parish of Iberville; and WHEREAS,the Parish Council recognizesthatthe remaining portion of the Property is suitable for commercial andlight industrialdevelopment, andupon the futureadoption of zoning ordinances, the Parish of Iberville will designate the Property as zoned commercialand light industrial; and WHEREAS,the Parish Council’ssupportfor the commercialand light industrialdevelopment of the Property andits designation upon the future adoption of zoning ordinances in the Parish of Iberville, is acontributing factor to the Owner’sconsent to donating Lot TLGlJJLD-1 to the Town of White Castle. WHEREAS,the Parish Council hereby adopts this Resolution to express its support for the commercialand light industrialdevelopment of the remaining Property ownedbyOwner. ***

NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Parish Council of the Parish of Iberville, acting as the governing authority of Iberville Parish thatthe Parish hereby expresses its support for the commercialand light industrialdevelopment of the Property described herein andagrees that upon anyfutureadoption of zoning ordinances in the Parish of Iberville, it will designate the Property as zoned commercial andlight industrial; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,that, despite this Resolution, any proposed developmentofthe Property must still be individually reviewed andevaluated for compliancewith allIberville Parish Council Ordinances andregulations, andmust be consideredand approvedbythe Parish Council in aduly calledmeeting.

The above resolution wasduly adopted in regularsessiononthis 17th day of June, 2025 by the following votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique,Frazier, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT:None

The resolution wasdeclared adopted by the Chairmanonthe 17th day of June, 2025.

PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT

A) Approve Consideration of re-subdivision for NancyPatin Upon amotion by CouncilwomanAllen, seconded by Councilwoman Easley,itwas movedtoapprove as is. The motion having been duly submitted to avote,was duly adopted by the following yea andnay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique,Frazier, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None

ABSTAIN: None

ABSENT:None

The motion wasdeclared adopted by the ChairmanonJune 17, 2025

B) Approve Consideration of re-subdivision for JewellLeJeune &Dennis Cassard

Upon amotion by CouncilmanBradford, seconded by Councilwoman Allen, it was movedtoapprove as is. The motion having been duly submitted to avote,was duly adopted by the following yea andnay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique, Frazier, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None

ABSTAIN: None

ABSENT:None

The motion wasdeclared adopted by the ChairmanonJune 17, 2025

C) Approve Consideration of re-subdivision for Maxine Gossom and Others

Upon amotion by CouncilmanMorgan, seconded by Councilman Dardenne, it was movedtoapprove as is. The motion having been duly submitted to avote,was duly adopted by the following yea andnay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Allen, Easley,Dominique,Frazier, Pierce, Jenkins, Markins, Bradford, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan, Jewell.

NAYS: None ABSTAIN: None

ABSENT:None

The motion was declared adopted by the ChairmanonJune 17, 2025 D) Approve Consideration of Special Use Permit for Des Glaisse (AT&T) •Laura Carlisle, representing AT&T camebeforethe Council to describe how the proposed towerwould be utilized by AT&T The towerdoesnot anywaivers andmeetsall requirements in the ordinance. She stated at the Planning Advisory Meeting, there were some concerns of neighborsthatare not adjacenttothe property about the proposed celltower. She asked the Council to defer for one month if theywantedtoget moreinformation about the concerns thatwerepresented at the planning advisory meeting. She also stated thatfederal lawprohibits adenialof an applications based on aestheticsalone andalso federal law prohibits jurisdictions from denying an application based on perceived health effects. •There were discussions between the Council about whathad happened at the Planning Advisory Meeting for those who were not in attendanceatthe meeting.

Upon amotion by CouncilmanDominique,secondedbyCouncilman Allen, it wasmovedtoapprove the Special Use Permit for Des Glaisse (AT&T).

The motion having been duly submitted to avote,was duly adopted by the following yea andnay votes on roll call:

YEAS: Jewell.

NAYS: Allen, Easley,Dominique,Frazier,Pierce, Jenkins, Martinez, Dardenne, Morgan.

ABSTAIN: Markins, Bradford.

ABSENT:None

The motion failed.

BOARDS &COMMISSIONS REPORT

None

DISCUSSIONS

None

ANNOUNCEMENT

None

ADJOURNMENT

Therebeing no furtherbusiness, it wasmovedbyCouncilwomanAllen, andsecondedbyCouncilmanPierce, to adjournat7:33p.m. The motion wasunanimously adopted.

/s/ MACYW.OURSO /s/ STEVE C. SMITH COUNCIL CLERK COUNCIL CHAIRMAN