Twodecades after Hurricane Rita struck southwest Louisiana, one of its enduring impacts is how the region prepares for andresponds to disasters,havingpaved the wayfor stricter building standards and more detailed evacuationand shelter planning.
The Category 3hurricane’s storm surge flooded coastal parishes and its high winds
trees, splintered ut ity poles and peeled roofs fro homesinLake Charles,Sulph andWestlake.
afew weeks before Rit made landfall, Hurricane K trina’shit on the southeast ernside of thestate offere awarning for public officials in southwest Louisiana, who started to worry that they would eventually face ama jorstorm.The concern quick HurricaneRitachanged theway southwestLa. responds to disasters
See RITA, page 4A
Boat houses along Shell Beach DriveinLake Charles after Hurricane RitainSeptember 2005, right,and in August 2025, below
CLAIRE GRUNEWALD
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
torney’spretrialdiversion program offices, the indictment of five men, including Assistant District Attorney Gary Haynes and Louisiana Department of
See BRIBERY, page 4A
The old Charleston Hotel in LakeCharlesafter Hurricane RitainSeptember 2005, top left, and in August 2025, top right
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
PROVIDED PHOTO
PROVIDED PHOTO BY
Haynes
Judge extends measures for Guatemalan children
WASHINGTON A federal judge is temporarily keeping in place measures preventing the Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan migrant children in government custody
Judge Timothy J. Kelly’s decision Saturday keeps the government from removing Guatemalan children who came to the U.S. alone and are currently living in government shelters and foster care through Tuesday Kelly’s order said he needed a brief extension to continue to study the issue because up until a hearing on Wednesday the facts of the case were still changing. His decision comes after the government during that hearing backtracked on previous claims that the children’s parents requested them back.
The court decision stems from a Labor Day weekend operation when the Trump administration attempted to remove dozens of Guatemalan migrant children who had come to the U.S. alone and were living in U.S government shelters and foster care.
The government has said in court filings that it identified 457 children for possible removal to Guatemala although that list was eventually whittled down to 327. In the end, 76 got as far as boarding planes in El Paso and Harlingen, Texas, early morning on Aug. 31 and were set to depart to Guatemala in what the government described as a first phase Immigration and children’s advocates, who had been alerted of possible efforts to remove Guatemalan minors, immediately sued the Trump administration to prevent the children’s removal.
A federal judge in Washington granted advocates a 14-day temporary restraining order largely preventing the Trump administration from removing migrant children in its care except in limited circumstances where an immigration judge had already ordered their removal after reviewing their cases Kelly’s Saturday order extends that protection three more days.
Tornadoes hit homes in southeastern Utah
MONTICELLO,Utah Tornadoes destroyed several homes in southeastern Utah over the weekend, but authorities said there were no reports of people injured.
A storm produced two tornadoes in San Juan County in southeastern Utah over the span of an hour starting around 12:35 p.m. Saturday, according to meteorologist Kris Sanders with the National Weather Service’s office in Grand Junction, Colorado. The paths of the tornadoes that touched down near Montezuma Creek likely covered less than 10 miles, but the weather service hadn’t yet determined their exact tracks or wind speeds Sanders said by telephone.
Three homes in the area were demolished in the storm, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in a social media post No injuries were reported, but an unknown number of livestock and pets were reported missing, the Navajo Police Department said in a social media post. Images posted by the department showed the towering column of a tornado surrounded by dark clouds and also a flattened home surrounded by debris. Tornadoes are pretty unusual in that part of Utah, Sanders said, noting that the weather service had only confirmed two there since 1950.
Teen allegedly threatened to shoot up Minn. school
MINNEAPOLIS A 14-year-old student was arrested last week after he threatened to “shoot up” his school in northern Minnesota.
On Thursday, authorities were alerted by the Nevis Public School that a student had threatened to bring a gun to the school, according to a statement from Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes. Deputies learned that a boy told other students that he was going to “shoot up the school, shoot a particular student, and then shoot himself.”
The boy was arrested for making terroristic threats and was taken to the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center in Bemidji.
Ukrainian drones hit Russian refinery
By The Associated Press
Ukrainian drones have struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, sparking a fire, Russian officials and Ukraine’s military said Sunday
The overnight strike on the Kirishi refinery, in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region, follows weeks of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure that Kyiv says fuels Moscow’s war effort
The facility, operated by Russian company Surgutneftegas, produces close to 355,000 barrels per day of crude, and is one of Russia’s top three by output.
More than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drones continue to be a key weapon for both sides. Multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down and underlining longheld concerns that the fighting might spill over beyond Ukraine’s borders.
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, explosions and a fire were
reported at the Kirishi refinery It posted a photo appearing to show a blaze and clouds of smoke against a night sky
Regional Gov Alexander Drozdenko said that three drones were downed overnight in the Kirishi area, with falling debris sparking a fire at the facility He said that no one was injured, and the blaze was put out.
As of Sunday afternoon, Russian officials offered no further comment on the consequences of the strike, and it wasn’t immediately possible to verify these. At least 80 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russia, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the adjacent Sea of Azov according to the Russian Defense Ministry
Ukrainian drones previously targeted the Kirishi refinery in March, causing minor damage, according to social media posts published at the time by Drozdenko. Russia remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter, but a seasonal rise in demand and sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have caused gasoline shortages in re-
cent weeks. Gas stations have run dry in some regions of the country, with motorists waiting in long lines and officials resorting to rationing or cutting off sales altogether
To try to ease the shortage, Russia has paused gasoline exports, with officials on Wednesday declaring a full ban until Sept. 30 and a partial ban affecting traders and intermediaries until Oct. 31. Also in the Leningrad region a diesel locomotive was derailed during the night, local Gov Drozdenko said Sunday He said the incident occurred near Gatchina south of St. Petersburg. Russia’s No. 2 city, which was known as Leningrad during Soviet times, is surrounded by but not included in the region of the same name.
Drozdenko said the locomotive’s driver was trapped in his cabin, and later died of his injuries while being transported to a hospital. He added an official investigation would check for signs of sabotage.
Elsewhere, as some Russians headed to the polls to elect local governors and deputies on Sunday, the head of the Russia’s main
Pro-Palestinian protesters force early end to bike race
Spanish authorities say more than 100,000 people took part
BY TALES AZZONI Associated Press
MADRID Spanish authorities say more than 100,000 people took part in the latest pro-Palestinian protests that interrupted the final stage of the Spanish Vuelta and forced organizers to cut short the Grand Tour event on Sunday, capping a campaign of disruptions.
The central government’s representative for the Madrid region said authorities estimated more than 100,000 people joined Sunday’s protests. The number could not be independently verified.
Visma-Lease a Bike rider Jonas Vingegaard was confirmed as the overall winner of the three-week cycling race.
There were clashes between police and protesters near the route finale in Madrid. Some protesters carrying antiIsrael banners partly blocked the road and forced riders to stop.
There was no stage winner and the podium ceremony was called off because of security concerns. Organizers said the final stage “ended early to ensure the safety of the riders.”
“Due to the protests in Madrid, the race ended earlier than planned and there will
be no podium ceremony,” race officials said.
There were about 31 miles left on the 21st stage that was a mostly ceremonial ride into Madrid.
The protesters threw barriers onto the road on a finishing circuit in the Spanish capital. Riders had been expected to do nine laps on the circuit.
Several hundred protesters stayed on the road where the race was supposed to pass by Anti-Israel banners were also hung from nearby buildings. The protests continued well into the evening in Madrid, most of them peaceful.
Earlier protesters threw objects at police and officers used tear gas to try to disperse the crowds. Spanish media reported that authorities said 20 people were injured and at least two people were detained.
Protesters carrying Palestine flags jeered when the teams’ support cars passed by them along the route.
Police in riot gear had confronted protesters at different points along the route. More than 1,500 police officers had been deployed ahead of the last stage.
There had been no major incidents as the riders set off on the 64.3-mile final stage starting in nearby Alalpardo.
The Grand Tour event was largely disrupted by protesters against the presence of Israeli-owned team Premier Tech, which earlier in the race removed the team name from its uniforms.
Trump still trying to fire Cook
BY ALAN SUDERMAN Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s administration renewed its request Sunday for a federal appeals court to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, a move the president is seeking ahead of the central bank’s vote on interest rates.
The Trump administration filed a response Sunday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that Cook’s legal arguments for why she should stay on the job were meritless. Lawyers for Cook argued in a Saturday filing that the Trump administration has not shown sufficient cause to fire her, and stressed the risks to the economy and country if the president were allowed to fire a Fed governor without proper cause. Cook’s firing marks the first time in the central bank’s 112-year history that
a president has tried to fire a governor
“The public and the executive share an interest in ensuring the integrity of the Federal Reserve,” Trump’s lawyers argued in Sunday’s filing. “And that requires respecting the president’s statutory authority to remove governors ‘for cause’ when such cause arises.”
Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accused Cook of signing separate documents in which she allegedly said that both the Atlanta property and a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, also purchased in June 2021, were both “primary residences.” Pulte submitted a criminal referral to the Justice Department which has opened an investigation.
Cook referred to the condominium as a “vacation home” in a loan estimate, a characterization that could undermine claims by the Trump administration that she committed mortgage fraud.
electoral body told reporters that it and Russia’s electronic voting system were facing a large wave of cyberattacks.
Ella Pamfilova, of the Central Election Commission, said that “an unprecedented attack is underway” on its digital systems, but assured the public that it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the votes.
The commission’s website appeared to be down for much of Sunday, when 21 out of Russia’s more than 80 regions were set to elect new governors. Seats in nearly a dozen regional assemblies and various municipal bodies were also up for grabs.
But few expected a meaningful challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and its supporters, following a sweeping crackdown on dissent that came with Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Almost 100 denial-of-service attacks were recorded on Sunday on online resources linked to the elections, according to Alexander Izhko of Russia’s media and digital watchdog, Roskomnadzor
Qatar denounces Israel before major summit
BY JON GAMBRELL Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Qatar’s prime minister denounced Israel on Sunday as foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim nations met to discuss a possible unified response to Israel’s attack on Doha targeting the leadership of the militant group Hamas. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s foreign minister made the comments before a meeting Monday of leaders from those nations.
Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar remained committed to working with Egypt and the United States to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. However, he said that the Israeli strike that killed six people five members of Hamas and a local Qatari security force member — represented “an attack on the principle of mediation itself.”
“This attack can only be described as state terrorism, an approach pursued
by the current extremist Israeli government, which flouts international law,” the minister said. “The reckless and treacherous Israeli aggression was committed while the state of Qatar was hosting official and public negotiations, with the knowledge of the Israeli side itself, and with the aim of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Sheikh Mohammed stressed the moment had come for consequences to Israel’s attacks in the wider Middle East. “It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh Mohammed said in footage later released by Qatar’s government from the closed-door meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night again defended the strike.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” he posted on X. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANU FERNANDEZ Protesters block the road in an attempt to disrupt the 21st stage of the Spanish cycling race La Vuelta, from Alalpardo to Madrid, Spain, on Sunday. BRIEFS
Governor: Motive in shooting not yet certain
Suspect leaned to the left politically, he says
BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON Family and friends of the 22-year-old accused of fatally shooting conservative activist
Charlie Kirk described his politics as veering left in recent years as he spent large amounts of time scrolling the “dark corners of the internet,” Utah Gov Spencer Cox said Sunday Investigators were still piecing together information about the suspect, Tyler Robinson, and not yet ready to discuss a potential motive. But Cox noted that Robinson, who is not cooperating with law enforcement, disliked Kirk and may have been “radicalized” online
“There clearly was a leftist ideology,” Cox said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” citing interviews with Robinson’s relatives and acquaintances. “Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture,
and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”
He pointed to references found engraved on the ammunition used to kill Kirk, which included anti-fascist and meme-culture language. Court records show that one bullet casing had the message, “Hey, fascist! Catch!”
A Republican who has called on all partisans to tone down their rhetoric following the attack, the governor added: “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was a radicalized MAGA person, I’d be saying that as well.”
Cox stressed on several Sunday morning news shows that investigators are still trying to pin down a motive for the attack on Kirk, a father of two and Trump confidant who was killed Wednesday while on one of his signature college speaking tours at Utah Valley University
The governor said more information may come out once Robinson appears in court Tuesday
Cox said the suspect’s partner was transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign Robinson was targeting Kirk, the
erative, had no idea that this was happening.”
Investigators have spoken to Robinson’s relatives and carried out a search warrant at his family’s home in Washington, 240 miles southwest of Utah Valley University, where the shooting took place.
State records show Robinson is registered to vote but not affiliated with a political party and is listed as inactive, meaning he did not vote in the two most recent general elections. His parents are registered Republicans.
Online activity by Robinson’s mother reflects an active family that traveled widely In one photo, a young Robinson can be seen smiling as he grips the handles of a .50-caliber heavy machine gun outside a military facility
But he attended for only one semester, according to the university He is currently enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George.
Meanwhile, Kirk was memorialized with candlelit vigils and other events Sunday At Dream City Church in Phoenix, where Kirk hosted one of his “Freedom Night in America” gatherings, attendees viewed clips of the conservative activist discussing his desire to be “remembered for courage for my faith.”
During a question-and-answer session, a church pastor, Angel Barnett, called on the crowd to honor Kirk by carrying on his message.
founder of Turning Point USA, for his anti-trans views. But authorities have not said whether it is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive.
“The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female,” Cox said. “I can say that he has been incredibly cooperative, this partner has been very coop-
A high school honor roll student who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardized tests, he was admitted to Utah State University in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter that was posted to a family member’s social media account.
Pope honors 21st century martyrs
BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME Pope Leo XIV on Sunday honored hundreds of Christians who have been killed for their faith in the 21st century, praising their courage and lamenting that their numbers were growing in many parts of the world
The Vatican has been documenting these Christian martyrs, not as part of its saint-making process but to merely collect and remember their stories. Their numbers include cases of Christians being killed by Islamic militants, mafia groups or Amazonian ranchers upset at their defense of the rainforest and poor Leo presided over a Holy Year evening prayer service to honor them, inviting Orthodox patriarchs and Christian ministers from over 30 Christian denominations. It was part of the Vatican’s ongoing effort to underline what it calls the indiscriminate “ecumenism of blood” that unites Christians who are persecuted and killed for their faith, regardless of their particular denomination.
“Many brothers and sisters, even today, carry the same cross as our Lord on account of their witness to the faith in difficult situations and hostile contexts,” Leo said. “Like him, they are persecuted, condemned and killed.” The service, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, came 25 years after St. John Paul II presided over a 2000 Jubilee commemoration of new martyrs held at the Colosseum. Leo cited a few examples
BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla NA-
SA’s Mars rover Perseverance has uncovered rocks in a dry river channel that may hold potential signs of ancient microscopic life, scientists reported Wednesday They stressed that indepth analysis is needed of the sample gathered there by Perseverance — ideally in labs on Earth before reaching any conclusions. While acknowledging the latest analysis “certainly is not the final answer,” NASA’s science mission chief Nicky Fox said it’s “the closest we’ve actually come to discovering ancient life on Mars.” Roaming Mars since 2021, the rover cannot directly detect life, past or present. Instead, it carries a drill to penetrate rocks and tubes to hold the samples gathered from places judged most suitable for hosting life billions of years ago. The samples are awaiting retrieval to Earth — an ambitious plan that’s on hold as NASA seeks cheaper, quicker options Calling it an “exciting discovery,” a pair of scientists
of martyrdom since then, including Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who spent three decades trying to preserve the Amazon rainforest and defend the rights of poor settlers who confronted powerful ranchers seeking their lands. She was gunned down in 2005 in a hit ordered by ranchers.
“When those who were about to kill her asked her for a weapon, she showed them her Bible and replied, ‘This is my only weapon,’” Leo said. Leo lamented that despite the end of the “great dictatorships of the 1900s,” when Christians were persecuted in parts of Europe, Christians were still being killed and in some places, in even greater numbers than before A Vatican study commission created in 2023 has
documented more than 1,500 cases of martyrs since 2000, including the 21 Coptic Orthodox workers beheaded by Islamic militants in Libya in 2015. The commission has also documented stories of Christians killed by criminal organizations or imply because their presence and defense of Christian principles was bothersome, said Andrea Riccardi, vice president of the commission.
At a briefing last week, Riccardi said the complete list of names wouldn’t be released now because of ongoing security concerns in parts of the world. But he provided the breakdown of the martyrs the commission had added onto its list: n 643 in sub-Saharan Africa, most killed in Islamic militant attacks.
n 357 in Asia and Oceania, including the victims of the Eastern Sunday 2019 suicide bomb attacks on three churches in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
n 304 in the Americas, including missionaries and activists targeted for defending the Amazon.
n 277 in the Middle East and North Africa, many of whom were Christians of other, non-Catholic denominations.
n 43 in Europe, but Riccardi noted that among those killed elsewhere there were 110 Europeans, mostly missionary priests and nuns. Riccardi stressed that its work was completely separate from the process of beatification and canonization, which also considers martyrs for possible sainthood.
life, but there could be other ways to make this set of features that we see.”
Either way, Hurowitz said it’s the best, most compelling candidate yet in the rover’s search for potential signs of long-ago life. It was the 25th sample gathered; the tally is now up to 30. The findings appeared in the journal Nature.
who were not involved in the study — SETI Institute’s Janice Bishop and the University of MassachusettsAmherst’s Mario Parente — were quick to point out that non-biological processes could be responsible.
“That’s part of the reason why we can’t go so far as to say ‘A-ha, this is proof positive of life,”’ lead researcher Joel Hurowitz of Stony Brook University told The Associated Press. “All we can say is one of the possible explanations is microbial
Collected last summer, the sample is from reddish, clay-rich mudstones in Neretva Vallis, a river channel that once carried water into Jezero Crater This outcrop of sedimentary rock, known as the Bright Angel formation, was surveyed by Perseverance’s science instruments before the drill came out.
Along with organic carbon, a building block of life, Hurowitz and his team found minuscule specks, dubbed poppy seeds and leopard spots, that were enriched with iron phosphate and iron sulfide. On Earth, these chemical compounds are the byproducts when microorganisms chomp down on
“There is no evidence of
“The left is nervous,” Barnett said. “And they’re concerned because they’ve lost control. Charlie started that, and we will continue it.”
Added church panelist Brandon Tatum: “These cowards thought that they could end or eliminate the movement.”
“They just made it bigger They just made it stronger.”
Leo XIV marvels at his ‘huge learning curve’ as he turns 70
BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME Pope Leo XIV marveled at the “huge learning curve” he has taken on as pontiff and likened some aspects of the job to jumping “in on the deep end of the pool very quickly,” in excerpts of an interview released Sunday on his 70th birthday
The pope also lamented widening income gaps between the working class and CEOs, recalling the recent news that Elon Musk could be in line to become the world’s first trillionaire. “If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble,” Leo said in the comments, the pope’s first interview as history’s first American pope.
The comments came just a day after Musk’s brother’s company, Nova Sky Stories, staged a light show over the Vatican featuring 3,000 drones depicting images from the Sistine Chapel and even Pope Francis’ face.
The interview was conducted this summer by Vatican correspondent Elise Ann Allen for her forthcoming biography of Leo. Excerpts were published Sunday on Allen’s Catholic news site Crux, and in the El Comercio daily of Peru.
In the excerpts, Leo spoke about feeling both American and Peruvian, given his dual citizenship and 20 years of missionary experience in Peru. He
said that experience gave him great appreciation of the Latin American church and Pope Francis’ ministry as history’s first South American pope.
Asked whether he would root for the U.S. or Peru in a future World Cup, Leo drew parallels to his childhood in Chicago and the value of not shutting down opponents.
“Even at home, I grew up a White Sox fan, but my mother was a Cubs fan, so you couldn’t be one of those fans that shut out the other side,” he said. “We learned, even in sports, to have an open, dialogical, friendly and not angry competitive stance on things like that, because we might not have gotten dinner had we been!”
Francis promoted Leo to a top job at the Vatican in 2023, making clear he viewed him as a potential successor Nevertheless Leo said he wasn’t fully prepared for the job.
“There’s still a huge learning curve ahead of me,” he said, adding that he had found his footing as pastor, but that the challenge was the job as world leader
“On that one I had to jump in on the deep end of the pool very quickly,” he said.
The interview was released Sunday as Leo marked his 70th birthday, which was celebrated at the Vatican during his traditional noon blessing.
AP PHOTO By WADE PAyNE
A tribute to Charlie Kirk is shown on the Jumbotron before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Saturday in Bristol, Tenn.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GREGORIO BORGIA Pope Leo XIV presides over a commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century with representatives of other churches and Christian communions Sunday in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
PHOTO PROVIDED By NASA This image shows leopard spots on a reddish rock nicknamed ‘Cheyava Falls’ in Mars’
became a reality
“That shocked us into awareness,” said Randy Roach, who was mayor of Lake Charles at the time. “We knew what we were going to have to do. We just didn’t know we’d have to do it that quickly.”
Rita was the first major storm to hit the region in nearly 50 years, often overshadowed in the collective memory by Katrina. It challenged existing systems for preparing for and responding to disasters.
But those changes better prepared both public officials and residents when another major storm, Hurricane Laura, approached southwest Louisiana 15 years later
“We knew what to do as a team,” said Bryan Beam, who was the assistant parish administrator during Rita, then administrator during Laura. “We didn’t have that in 2005 There’s no substitute for experience.”
Early Katrina lessons
Katrina’s devastation a few weeks ahead of Rita also prompted some early lessons. While former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was widely criticized for how long he took to issue a mandatory evacuation order ahead of Katrina, southwest Louisiana officials were quicker to issue them ahead of Rita. And residents took them seriously: most fled.
Those who evacuated for the storm said they were anxious to return — and assess the damage — after Rita. But officials urged them to stay away while they worked to clear roadways and bring critical infrastructure back online.
Local leaders implemented a “look and leave” policy to allow residents to assess damage to property But residents couldn’t stay for long — it would take weeks to restore electricity, water, sewage and even health care services to the community.
“The hurricane was a ‘wow’ moment,” said Westlake Mayor Hal McMillin, who was Calcasieu Parish president when Rita hit “The devastation after was huge.”
The 2005 storm prompted local leaders, first responders and nonprofits to better coordinate preparation, recovery and communication efforts during major weather events. They created a new group to make unified decisions as they planned for and responded to disasters.
In the wake of Rita, elected officials also created evacuation plans for those who otherwise might not be able to leave. They included transportation plans for those without personal vehicles and shelter plans for family pets. And they also implemented digital mapping technology for debris clearing.
Continued from page 1A
Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Jack Montoucet, and three plea deals.
Haynes is on trial in U.S. District Court in Lafayette on six federal charges including conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, using a cellphone in aid of bribery (two counts), conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice.
The first week of Haynes’ trial, which began Sept. 8 and continues Monday revealed Dusty Guidry, a nonattorney contract consultant in the Lafayette Parish District Attorney’s Office, was the hub of several kickback schemes He worked a pretrial intervention kickback racket in the 19th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in East Baton Rouge Parish, where he was employed full-time for many years, and had similar “hustles,” as he called them, elsewhere.
Considered the pretrial intervention guru in Louisiana, Guidry pleaded guilty in March 2023 to three felony charges in a plea deal with the government that included testifying against others charged in the scheme He testified all day Thursday and part of Friday Haynes joined the Lafayette District Attorney’s Office when Don Landry took office in January 2021 To repay Haynes for helping with his campaign, Landry testified, he made Haynes the assistant district attorney over the pretrial intervention program. Also in early 2021, Landry
PROVIDED PHOTO Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach studies weather updates ahead of Hurricane Rita in September 2005.
After lengthy power outages during Rita, Calcasieu Parish also bought backup generators for water plants, lift stations and more.
The Sheriff’s Office purchased its own gas pumps, water tanks and other supplies to last for a few weeks.
The parish also adopted contracts after Rita that put companies on standby to start work immediately after future storms.
Those advanced contracts called for local entities to receive reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency
“It gets extremely detailed,”
Beam said “I’m very proud of us doing everything to get reimbursed because not everybody did.”
hired Guidry, who had worked briefly in the pretrial program under previous District Attorney Keith Stutes and had a kickback scheme with Joseph Prejean, a motivational speaker whose pretrial intervention contract was approved by Stutes. Haynes, Guidry said, did not know about the kickbacks when he was hired. A businessman involved in the scheme, Leonard Franques, invited Haynes in because Haynes also was the city prosecutor for misdemeanor court where many intervention-eligible cases were handled and he could increase the number sent to the program.
“It didn’t take convincing,” Guidry said. The District Attorney’s Office, Landry said, had a backlog of more than 6,200 pending cases after the COVID-19 pandemic closed and slowed courthouse operations Haynes and Guidry were instructed to reduce the backlog by directing pending cases to pretrial diversion, where defendants could take a few online courses, which they paid for, from approved vendors and have the charges resolved faster than the regular judicial process.
The District Attorney’s Office, Landry said, not him personally, received some of the fees from offenders in pretrial intervention, such as enrollment fees The rest was supposed to go to the vendors. The pretrial intervention program generated about $628,000 for the District Attorney’s Office the last year Stutes was in office and more than $1 million the first year Landry was in
Still, the response to Rita came under fire by some at the time, who criticized FEMA’s lack of focus on southwest Louisiana while they spent time in New Orleans after Katrina and Houston before Rita State lawmakers and congressional leaders also said at the time that the state and federal response to both storms was too slow
‘Response . quite different’
Reeling from Rita, Calcasieu Parish received $30 million from FEMA for hazard mitigation. They’d spent nearly all of it by the time Category 4 Hurricane Laura struck in 2020.
“I thought for so long we were about to move on from this,” said Jennifer Cobian, the parish’s grants director “And then we got it on an even bigger scale,” she added, referencing Laura’s blow to the region.
“But we were better prepared, as the local government, to manage the disaster recovery programs because we had so much experience.”
Calcasieu Parish received five times as much money for hazard mitigation, $150 million, after Laura compared with Rita. It has funneled 75% toward drainage improvement projects, which its past strategic plans had already
office, Landry said.
Under the scheme, Haynes and Guidry transferred more offenders into the program, often without the knowledge of the assistant district attorneys assigned to their cases, and pushed them to courses provided by cooperating vendors who, in some instances, charged more, and split the proceeds with Haynes and Guidry, witnesses said.
Haynes in May 2021 reactivated a previous company and opened a bank account in that company’s name. He shut down the bank account a year later on May 12, 2022, days after the FBI raided the program’s office and confiscated files and his cellphone.
Besides money Haynes used to open the account, lead FBI supervising agent Doug Herman said, “He didn’t deposit any money in that account. Not a penny.”
The FBI began closing in at the end of 2021, quietly raiding Franques’ home and office on Dec. 8, 2021. He and his wife, Michelle, who ran the office and knew of the kickbacks, met with prosecutors that same day and cut a deal, Herman said She was not charged or indicted.
Franques later wore a wire during meetings with Haynes and Guidry He pleaded guilty in January 2024 to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Hoping to put pressure on the group, Herman said he arranged with the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office to conduct a traffic stop on Guidry as he drove between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Guidry who the FBI knew was addicted to drugs, was
A row of Broad Street businesses in Lake Charles immediately after Hurricane Laura in August 2020, above, and in August 2025, left Calcasieu Parish received $150 million for hazard mitigation after Laura. It has funneled 75% toward drainage improvement projects, which its past strategic plans had already outlined as a priority STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
outlined as a priority The parish is using the remaining 25% to purchase properties in high-risk areas and to elevate structures above the base flood elevation.
Those buyouts and elevations have been slowly underway since 2005. The parish completed 44 buyouts and elevated 59 homes with FEMA grant funds from 2005 to 2021. Since then, the parish has completed 46 more buyouts and 95 additional elevations.
Nonprofit leaders also say Hurricane Rita changed their approach to major weather events.
The United Way of Southwest Louisiana had no formal disaster response plan during Rita. By the time Laura struck, the organization had a disaster plan, clear roles for staff and a better system for managing donations and volunteers.
“Our response was quite different,” said Denise Durel, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, about Laura. “All of our team evacuated, and within hours of the storm, there were two of us en route back to Lake Charles.”
Volunteers were called back into action soon again after Laura when another storm, Category 2 Hurricane Delta, struck southwest Louisiana just six weeks later The lower-grade storm turned roadside
arrested Dec. 10, 2021, in St. Martin Parish with more than 100 pills, including Valium and hydrocodone, in his possession, Herman said. The FBI did not interview Guidry who didn’t know they were aware of his kickback schemes, Herman said.
On Dec. 14, 2021, Guidry’s father texted Haynes asking him to tell Guidry his cellphone and his wife’s cellphone were bugged, according to testimony
After Guidry’s arrest on drug charges, which remain pending in St Martin Parish, East Baton Rouge
debris from Laura into projectiles while rainwater poured into blue tarped roofs. It wasn’t the end of the region’s weather-related troubles. A freeze in February 2021 strained the storm-ravaged water system, and a flood in May 2021 washed away much of the community’s progress.
Building higher, ‘better’
Louisiana adopted a uniform residential building code after Katrina and Rita, which has been updated over the last two decades to better protect new homes against high winds and heavy rains. In Lake Charles, many of the homes and businesses that took on severe damage from Laura were older and had been built to less strict standards, according to City Administrator John Cardone.
Lake Charles requires the public to build one foot higher than the base flood elevation level required by the state, and the city usually opts for even higher elevations for its own facilities. The city’s new fire safety complex will be two feet higher than the required elevation.
“We’re building higher, and we’re building better,” Cardone said. “We want our assets and our citizens’ assets to be more sustainable to these events.”
After both Rita and Laura, Lake Charles leaders say they also focused on improving quality of life when rebuilding, such as developing the lakefront boardwalk, designing the downtown streetscape and building inclusive playgrounds and recreation centers.
Rachel Judson, a Lake Charles native working toward a master’s degree in landscape architecture, said local and state leaders need to get creative when it comes to building codes, coastal resilience and public infrastructure.
Incentivizing residents and business owners to build to better standards is one way to do that. Louisiana’s fortified roof program gives grants of up to $10,000 for homeowners to upgrade their roofs, though the demand for the grants so far has far outpaced the money the state has available.
The Judson family was among those who entered the state lottery for fortified roof grants. They didn’t get one, but still decided to upgrade to a fortified roof to better prepare for the next storm.
“Our community, as strong as we are, is really tired of having to be resilient all the time,” Judson said “And everyone always says, ‘Oh, you’re so resilient. You’re so strong. Can’t break our Cajun spirit.’
“But we are tired,” she added. “I would like to see us moving forward by being creative and willing to not do things the way that we’ve been doing them.”
Email Megan Wyatt at mwyatt@ theadvocate.com.
Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore allowed him to retire.
Landry put Guidry on leave but allowed him to return to work in March 2022 after receiving letters from social workers and a priest at St. John Church asking Landry to give him a second chance, which Guidry used to continue his kickback schemes. Guidry said he and Franques were setting up another scheme in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries that was nearly ready to launch when Haynes overheard
him on his phone talking about it and wanted in.
Because they were friends, Guidry said he agreed to let Haynes in on that scheme in which Franques, Guidry and Montoucet would split the proceeds. Haynes, Guidry said, would get half of his cut. The wildlife and fisheries scheme was similar to the pretrial one. People who violated state hunting and fishing laws paid for online classes to clear their records.
In order to join the
ä See BRIBERY, page 5A
that with nature being perverse, that the first signal would be really hard to pull out of the noise. And then the signal came beautifully, beautifully clear,” said Joseph Giaime, head of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in Livingston.
The observatory is one of two in the United States funded by the National Science Foundation with its counterpart, LIGO Hanford, in Washington state.
Ten years and hundreds of gravitational wave detections later, LIGO is celebrating the anniversary of the historic event after a busy summer
Since May, scientists have been bracing for potential budget cuts after the Trump administration proposed slashing more than half of the foundation’s upcoming fiscal year budget. If the cuts are approved, a LIGO observatory could shut down.
The observatory also announced the discovery of the most massive black hole merger ever detected.
More recently, LIGO had its sharpest detection yet that proved one of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s theories to be correct
A black-hole hunting machine
Since the historic discovery in 2015, LIGO detectors have logged more than 300 gravitational wave events from black hole collisions.
This number has far surpassed scientists’ expectations from 10 years ago.
LIGO is able to detect so many events because the observatories are consistently improving and upgrading their gravitational wave detectors Typically, the detectors run for a few years, then shut down for a few years for improvements. LIGO Livingston has plans to shut down for upgrades in November
However, there is a number it is hoping to increase. So far, LIGO
BRIDGES
Continued from page 1A
planned to take “extraordinary measures” to prove transportation infrastructure projects can be done quickly, effectively and safely With Landry’s backing, they created the new Office of Louisiana Highway Construction, an entity independent of the DOTD designed to more swiftly fix minor thoroughfares that don’t involve federal money
The bridges — including several in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas — are relatively small: Most are between 25 and 150 feet in length, less than 30 feet wide, and cross ditches, canals, creeks and bayous.
Project costs for most of the structures, the majority of which will be torn out and replaced, are estimated by the highway office to be between $1 million and $3 million apiece.
But getting that work done can be game-changing for commuters, farmers, businesses and heavy industry, state leaders say “In some parts of this state, we’ve had bridges that have been out for years,” said state Rep. Ryan Bourriaque, a Republican from Cameron Parish who chairs the House transportation committee and led the overhaul effort.
That can mean commute times measured in hours rather than minutes, he said.
“The alternate route for some of these bridges in all parts of the state could be an hour And in my part of the state, it’s three hours,” Bourriaque said. Archie Chaisson III, the former Lafourche Parish president and a former city of Thibodaux public works director appointed by Landry to lead the new office, said a typical DOTD project for just one bridge could take two years.
tron stars,” she said.
González also said by building better and longer detectors, scientists could see systems farther away and ultimately more star mergers.
Funding up in the air
The fate of LIGO funding for the next fiscal year might be decided in the next few weeks, as the upcoming federal fiscal year for the U.S. government begins Oct. 1. In May, the Trump administration announced a proposed federal budget request for 2026 that would cut $5.2 billion, or 57%, of the foundation’s $9 billion annual budget.
Under the proposed federal budget, only one LIGO observatory would operate with a reduced level of spending for LIGO technology development in the 2026 fiscal year, according to the budget proposal.
has only detected at least two binary neutron star mergers. Gabriela González, LSU pro-
Louisiana. McFarland, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said that if the strategy works, it could serve as a model.
“If successful, I can see significantly more opportunities for investment,” he said.
The plan
Bridges deteriorate over time, losing structural strength. Sometimes officials must limit the weight that can be carried across a bridge or simply close it to all traffic. Both can lead to long and costly detours, especially for commercial and industrial carriers.
“In north Louisiana, much like in the swamps of south Louisiana, you have a lot of bridges,” McFarland said. “A lot of these are the only way people, especially in rural communities, have to get back and forth for everything from work to school to health care.”
The Legislature this year decided to withdraw $100 million stored in a state savings account and put it toward the bridge program.
The DOTD compiled a list of 62 bridges using factors such as condition and feasibility of a quick turnaround. Forty-seven of the selected crossings are designated as being in poor condition.
“In most cases it’s a complete removal of the old bridge and a complete construction of a new bridge,” Chaisson said. Construction on most projects will take 60 to 90 days, he said.
“A lot of these are the only way people, especially in rural communities, have to get back and forth for everything from work to school to health care.”
STATE REP JACK MCFARLAND
“We’re trying compress 62 of ’em into 15 months. So it’s a very aggressive schedule,” Chaisson said.
“It’s a quick solution to a long-standing problem,” said state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro who owns a logging company in northern
“A lot of these are not complicated bridges,” Chaisson said. “Most of them are no more than 100 foot long by 30-foot wide, what I would call more of a local, rural bridge. It’s not like we’re trying to build a new Mississippi River bridge.”
Chaisson said he hopes to have an initial set of several bridges demolished before the end of October with construction launching in December or January — and all 62 bridges complete and “100% done” by the end of 2026.
The bridges are grouped geographically into eight project bundles, with eight engineering firms each handling a bundle and, eventu-
fessor and also the spokesperson for the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration during the 2015
ally, “a whole host of contractors” selected for the construction work.
The engineering firms selected are Crescent Engineering & Mapping; Forte & Tablada; GIS Engineering; Huval & Associates; Lazenby & Associates; Linfield, Hunter & Junius; T Baker Smith and Volkert.
Within the next 30 days, once the design firms have some initial project data, the state plans to start engaging contractors, Chaisson said.
The idea is to get contractors in on the front end and let them work with the engineers, he said.
“You can drive down some cost,reducetheriskofchange orders and cost overruns, and you can speed that construction timeline up,” he added.
He acknowledged the accelerated approach is novel in some respects: “We’re kind of charting our own path,” he said.
Why move so quickly?
The bridge initiative was originally set up under the DOTD, but Landry recently decided to transfer it to the new highway construction office.
“By shifting the bridge bundling program to the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction, we’re finally cutting through red tape and getting our roads and bridges fixed faster than ever before,” Landry said. “We are finally delivering real results for the people of Louisiana.”
When the Legislature established the office earlier this year, it granted the new agency emergency procurement powers for six months, through Jan. 1.
That means there’s a short window during which the highwayofficeisexemptfrom the standard bidding process andfromadheringtothetimelines and procedures for state contracts typically required under the public bid law
Chaisson said the emergency procurement authority and the fact that his office is housed outside the DOTD allows him to move quickly Lawmakers could extend the emergency authorization, he noted.
“We have the ability to pick a contractor, pick an engineer, and speed that process up,” he said. “We don’t have to necessarily play by the same rule book as DOTD does.”
DOTDlikelywouldnothave been able to award the design contracts until the end of the year, Chaisson said. “We did
breakthrough, said these mergers are rarer than originally expected.
This cosmic event occurs when two neutron stars, which are remnants of collapsed massive stars, collide and produce a powerful explosion. They are detected by gravitational waves as well.
“That’s why we keep working on increasing the sensitivity of the detectors, because we want to see if we can see more of those neu-
that in a couple of days.”
Chaisson said his office selected engineering firms with experience working on DOTD projects and will do the same with choosing contractors.
While oversight of the bridge program is now under the highway construction office, the state’s two transportation agencies are collaborating on it That’s in part because some of the structures are on federal routes, which are managed by the DOTD, and others are on nonfederal routes, which are now managed by the highway construction office.
DOTD Secretary Glenn Ledet said the partnership allows Louisiana to “maximize” the new office’s emergency procurement authority
“You’ve got that workflow there so you can help repair, rehab and replace these bridges to get them back open to fully loaded traffic,” he said.
Chaisson said the approach is intended to achieve both speed and quality
“The governor gave me a lot of latitude to be able to do some things,” he said. “We’re trying to push the envelope a little bit and get some things done.”
Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse pfeil@theadvocate.com.
A U.S. House subcommittee in July proposed a budget that would cut only 23%, about $2 billion, from the foundation. A U.S. Senate subcommittee proposed a budget that would cut only $16 million from the science organization. González, along with 2,000 other top scientists in the country, recently signed an open letter to Congress warning it about the damage budget cuts could do to the nation.
González said she felt prompted to do so because she believes LIGO and other projects sometimes aren’t talked about enough.
“I think that when people read about science, they always think it’s happening somewhere else. This is happening in Louisiana. We have a detector that is discovering black holes in Louisiana,” she said.
Giaime does not know when a budget will be passed and said the scientists are nervously waiting to see what happens.
“LIGO will be an extremely different place, and many aspects of our program will be on life support,” he said about possible large budget cuts.
Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@theadvocate. com.
schemes, Haynes had to pay Franques, who was trying to recoup $200,000 or more he paid for the computer programs for the online classes, Guidry said. Haynes paid at least $172,000 through Guidry, writing checks from his personal account.
It’s unclear how much, if anything, Haynes received in return. Franques wrote Haynes two $10,000 checks in early 2022, after Franques agreed to cooperate with the FBI. Haynes did not cash or deposit either check.
Franques and Guidry also discussed in a recorded conversation buying an $80,000 truck for Haynes, who was heard in an Oct. 16, 2021, phone recording discussing it with Guidry, who said he hoped Franques would recoup his investment by January or February Guidry testified that he received an alligator skin from the friend of someone he and Haynes helped out by putting them in the pretrial program even though they weren’t qualified. Haynes, in a record-
ing, talked about using the hide for boots or loafers and maybe a belt or wallet It wasn’t revealed whether he received those items.
A federal judge earlier ruled that prosecutors could not tell jurors that Haynes’ wife went to federal prison in another bribery scheme about 10 years ago while Mike Harson was district attorney Haynes’ wife, Barna, was Harson’s longtime secretary She and others in the office accepted cash and gifts from a non-attorney private investigator to move his clients, mostly drunken driving offenders, through court quickly at times with forged documents.
A couple of times during the trial, prosecutors mentioned that earlier investigation, but came short of linking it to Haynes. Guidry Franques and Prejean are scheduled to be sentenced in October. Montoucet’s trial is set for May 11. Haynes’ trial resumes at 9 a.m. Monday when Herman is expected to testify a second time for prosecutors.
Email Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate. com.
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Gabriela Gonzàlez, LSU Boyd Professor of Physics, shows the crowd an image of LIGO’s initial gravitational wave detection in September 2015 during the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory’s 10-year celebration on Saturday.
Abigail Laxen, 11, looks at her reflection in a wall of soap film for bubble blowing
Bryce Laxen, 9, sticks his head in a live model tornado at LIGO in Livingston.
FESTIVAL POSTER MARKS HISTORY
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles organizers ready for event
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
This year, the poster for Festivals Acadiens et Créoles celebrates a moment of hope, optimism and awakening for Cajun and Creole music.
Fifty years ago, the “Hommage a la Musique Acadienne” concert, then held in Blackham Coliseum on the University of Southwestern Louisiana’s campus, was only in its second year Stars like Zachary Richard and Clifton Chenier were gathered, set to rock what was then an unusual paradigm in Louisiana music: a proto arena-style concert in front of a rapt audience. What followed was a night that no one would ever forget.
“That was the night, that was the show, that Clifton Chenier put a crown on his head and made a statement about being the king of zydeco,” said Cajun folklorist and cultural historian, and Festivals Acadiens founder, Barry Ancelet
“And this year is the 50th anniversary of Zachary Richard sticking his fist in the air, and waving a flag they had made the night before, and showing our community especially the younger generation that this music not only had a past, but it had a
future too.”
The 2025 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles poster, revealed Saturday during downtown Lafayette’s ArtWalk at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, is a reference to that moment.
It highlights a photo of Richard and his band raising their fists at the bottom, with the tree from his flag conceptualized above. The photo was taken at the 1975 concert by Louisiana photographer Elemore Morgan Jr., and the artwork was created by Nova Scotia artist François Gaudet, designed to evoke the solidarity, pride, resilience, continuity and memory of Acadian and Cajun identity
Ancelet said it was a moment of awakening, reminding the crowd assembled at Blackham that night that the Cajun people had a tragic past — but a bright collective future.
“We’re still enjoying the results of that,” he said. “When we started this in the 1970s, who knew what would come? The Jourdan Thibodeauxs, the Louis Michots, the Bonsoir Catins — all of this amazing modern, bright, smart, fresh music coming out of this tradition.”
While the 51st festival is about remembering the past, this year’s slogan, “Et asteur quoi?!” (“And now what?!”) reminds Cajun and Creole music lovers that the future is as open as it was half a century ago. Festivals Acadiens has grown into the world’s largest Cajun and Creole music festival, setting the tone for much of what was to come for the renaissance of live music and southwest Louisiana sounds.
Fifty years later, that renaissance has flourished into a continuallyevolving culture that has spread all over the world — and according to Ancelet, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles will continue to “try to pay attention and see what’s going on and honor that and stay the hell out of the way.”
“It’s served us well for 51 years,” he said.
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles will be held in Lafayette in Girard Park the weekend of Oct. 10-12. It is free to enter, and the lineup of Cajun, Creole and zydeco musicians can be found on the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles website
Email Joanna Brown at joanna brown@theadvocate.com.
9 Lafayette students honored for academic work
National Merit Scholarship finalists announced
Staff report
Nine Lafayette Parish students were named finalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program, which annually recognizes academically talented high school seniors.
The students are among the more than 16,000 semifinalists who will go on to compete for scholarships worth nearly $26 million.
The finalists are:
n Sophie Cheung, Lafayette High
n Spencer Croft, Lafayette High
n Zachary Hensgens, John Paul the Great Academy
n Sophia Justice, Early College Academy
n Ishan Kunada, Lafayette High
n Caleb Melancon, David Thibodaux STEM Academy
n Roan Menard, Lafayette High
n Kenzy Naquin, Comeaux High
n Ethan Thibodeaux, St. Thomas More Catholic High.
National Merit finalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors.
The Lafayette Parish school system finalists “represent the very best” of the district, Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr said in a statement.
“Their hard work, dedication and academic excellence make us proud, and we look forward to seeing the incredible opportunities that await them,” he said. “They are living
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
September marks Suicide Prevention Month, and Kiana Arceneaux, of Crowley, is sharing her daughter’s story to remind others they are not alone and that hope is possible.
On Aug. 27, Kyaria Arceneaux committed suicide two weeks after celebrating her 22nd birthday Before taking her life, she left letters for her siblings and her mother, explaining her struggles, her love for them, and her ‘No one
Lafayette drainage work seeks to alleviate flooding
Boulet pushes Johnston project
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
Lafayette Parish Mayor-Presi-
dent Monique Boulet introduced plans last week for a Johnston Street drainage project aimed at alleviating the flooding within the city’s downtown and core neighborhoods.
The conceptual plan, unveiled at a Tuesday night meeting, addresses flooding in Lafayette’s downtown, Freetown-Port Rico neighborhood and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s campus by intercepting runoff through subsurface drainage along Johnston Street.
The project could cost up to $12 million, with baseline estimates
starting around $5 million said Jimmy Ricks, of Southeast Engineers and Land Surveyors.
“There’s not a current drainage system in this area of Johnston. So any project that would be presented on Johnston Street, to meet any modern design standard, would require a drainage system,” Ricks said.
All water in the downtown and its surrounding 232-acre area eventually collects at the intersection of Lee Avenue and Jefferson Street, inundating the undersized drainage pipes underneath, Ricks said. The pipes would need to be roughly four times larger to meet their current needs.
“Those pipes have been in the ground 100-plus years. They were built for what was needed 100 years ago. We’ve developed out a lot since then, and we have a desire to develop out even more
And so what do you do?” Boulet said. Constructing and improving drainage along Johnston would intercept runoff from the area east of Lee, Ricks said. Further improvements include adding three drainage lines northwest of East Main Street and connecting with Johnston, capturing an additional 82 acres of runoff produced north of downtown. A fully realized plan would relieve water runoff to Lee by 70%. The next step is to collect community feedback and encourage people to become involved in the discussion, Boulet said. Construction could begin by the end of 2027 at the earliest. The city is seeking to secure state and federal funding, said Rachel Godeaux, Lafayette Consolidated
STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN
The poster for the 2025 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is unveiled Saturday during ArtWalk at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette. The artwork was created by Nova Scotia artist Francois Gaudet, using a photograph of Cajun musician Zachary Richard at the 1975 festival taken by Louisiana photographer Elemore Morgan Jr
PHOTO By ROBIN MAy Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet leads a community meeting about downtown drainage issues and possible plans at the Lafayette Main Library on Tuesday.
AMBERAlerts merely patch abroken system
When avulnerable, missing child is found deceased, thegrief is overwhelming, and the search for someone —orsome system to blame is immediate. Into this void, politiciansand well-meaning parents step. Before knowing all the factsand without consulting with experts, they push for new “stronger” laws or demand changestoalert systems. These premature interventions make for powerful optics but are child protection theater Politicians may present themselves to parents as protectors by championing more expansive alerting systems after tragedies. These gestures soothe public fear butare fueledbymyths about alerteffectivenessand fail to address the realities of complex missing child investigations. This is public safety by shortcut —and the consequences are serious. The real work of protecting missing children requires consistent investment in investigative resources, training, technical expertise and staffing. It means weighing risk factors, adhering to alert criteria and ensuring enough officers are available to process the flood of calls once an alert is issued. The truth is, not all tragedies are preventable. Competent law enforcement and alert activations cannot always overcome tragicaccidents or an abductor’sdecision to harm achild. What improves outcomes is disciplined, behind-the-scenes work —quiet and unglamorous butfar more effective than reactive gestures. Alert systems are crafted for specific purposes. Expanding themreflexively under political pressure undermines effectiveness and makes alerts vulnerable to abuse. Broader criteriaand faster alerts may look likesolutions, but likeacar alarm that sounds too often, overuse leads to alert fatigue. In rare cases, alerts can even escalate danger for the children they aim to save.
Restraint is not indifference —itisprotection. The best way to honor childrenlosttotragedy is through missing childpolicies grounded in data, expertise and sound principles —not symbolic measures born of grief.
STACEY PEARSON founder,The Pelican Project
WWIIera veterans and survivors sit in front during the Dr.Hal Baumgarten D-Day CommemorationCeremonyand Museum’s25thanniversarycelebration at the National WWII Museum in NewOrleans on June 6.
We aresquandering thelegacy left by braveWWIIveterans
The National WWII Museum is achronicle of America’s fight againstfascism. It tells astory of courage and tenacity in theface of unspeakable brutality and aggression. It is the storyofAmerican citizens coming togetherasanation to opposeand defeat the authoritarianaspirationsofMussolini, Hitler andHirohito. And why did thepeople of America do this? Whydid they sacrifice everything for this cause? Because they knew that fascism was wrong,thatitwas adagger to the heart of freedom. Because they knew that fascism meantslavery and worse It is perhaps just as well thatthe World War
II generation is mostly gone. For theywould likely be appalled at the eagernesswith which their descendants the beneficiaries of their sacrifice— have turnedaway from the democracy they fought so hard to preserve and instead have gleefully embraced existence under the fascist thumbofadim-witted martinet. Theywould be dismayed at the breakneck speed at which 250 yearsofAmerican progress has beenreversed, rocketing the country backward into anew Stone Age. Were theyalive today,they would just die
Funding forlevee inspectionsshould be easy fordelegationtoget behind
In light of thedeathand devastation of Katrina, one might think that inspecting the levees around New Orleanswould be a priority.One might think1,392 lost souls, some floating face down in 10 feet of water, others sucking for air in an attic or dying in awheelchair on Interstate10without medicine,might attract the attention of politicians. However,itseems Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and our two senators, one of whom is in the election cycle next year,could not care less when it comes to funding the inspection of ourlevees. As pointed out by thenewspaper,levee inspection was funded at $1.3 million in 2023, but virtually cut in half to $691,000 in 2025. Many cliches come to mind: Pay me now or payme later.Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Youget what you pay for.But I’ve comeup with my own —that seemsjust plain stupid. Afew years after Katrina, Iworked for the
one-time acting chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water.Wespent hours in conference committee negotiating withSen. Mary Landrieu over funding to rebuild thelevees. She was tenacious and dogged in insisting on asizable part of the eventual $14.5 billion to rebuild thelevees. Butnow we can’tfind $609,000?
My point is, there were serious politicians who cared about the people of New Orleans. Then. Butnone now
We have agovernor who only uses New Orleansasa prop to prove he’s meaner and crazier than the governor of Florida. And, thespeaker,majority leader and both senatorsonly care about New Orleans when their true “Lord and Savior” Donald Trumpgives his permission. In thewords of Randy Newman,“They’re tryin’ to washusaway!”
RICHARD PATRICK NewOrleans
Biden’sCHIPS Actbenefited La.companies
The semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology is using Baton Rouge-based MMR Group in an expansion project. An article Aug. 17 mentions government subsidies for critical technology as spurring the expansion.
We should be appreciative of the Biden administration. In 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act. The legislation directs hundreds of billions of dollars toward supercharging domestic production of advanced technologies such as semiconductors, also known as microchips or chips. Since its passage, private firms have announced nearly $400 billion in additional investments in chips and other electronics.
The CHIPS Act details are inspiring. The benefits are wide-ranging, including boosting manufacturing and the supply chain, research for better chips and other electronics, defense uses and training the workforce.
KAREN GRADY NewOrleans
Our daily news can be depressing and vile. It seems as if controversy has taken on alife of its own. Few would have ever imagined that something as benign as alibrary or its board could stoke such issues. My example wasjust that and not intended to elicit controversy Much-needed relief was found on Aug. 24’sSports page in an article by Jeff Duncan, “Manning Made.” No matter what your team or school loyalty,the message was uplifting and positive: class, dignity,leadership and family Arch Manning’sspecial relationship with his grandfather,Archie, defines simplicity,honor and lowkey dignity.Asort of respecting yourself before expecting others to respect you. Yougotta smile at Arch’snickname for his grandfather,“Red.” Simple, straightforward and Manning all the way through.
Column on immigrant workersafter Katrina wasbeautiful tribute
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
Trump’ssuccess makesitharderfor
Whether you love him or hatehim, President Donald Trumpisonapath to make midterm election victories for theDemocrats very difficult. As of this date, the economy is doing very well. The stock market is at an all-time high. The president is doing everything he can to stop foreign wars and negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine. The southern border is now secure, thetariffs don’tseem to be harming anything to date andmost people seem to be supportive of stopping crime in their communities, regardless of what the solution actually entails. If this kind of success holds up until the time of themidterms, and if Trumpcontinueshis pragmatic approach of addressing problems andsucceeding in fixing them, it would behard to imagine that the majority of the people in the United States would
Democrats
votefor aCongress that might impede such progress. Meanwhile, theDemocrats have done very little to define real leaders in their party. Andinstead of turning to amore moderate tone in their platforms, they’re doing thereverse. They are actively supporting a moreradical approach. Does the public want men competing in women’ssports? Is themajority in favor of children undergoing gender-affirming care without the consent of their parents?
Iwouldn’tthink so, but then, Idon’thave my thumbonthe pulse of what’shappening in America right now.For the record, Iama registered Democrat,but admittedly,I have lost faith in thedecisions of theDemocratic Party
PHILIP CANGELOSI Baton Rouge
Even though the world is on fire, the quietly brilliant columnbyErrol Laborde, “Hurricane Katrina and the workforce that saved New Orleans,” touched our souls and lifted shared memories to the surface regarding our Katrina rebuilding process. We might still be living in the Katrina trailer in our driveway if it wasn’t for the skills of the immigrant workers who were responsible for turning the wreck of our home into abeautiful residence again.
Unlike the American workers of the A+ rated Louisiana contractor we hired, they always arrived on timeand needed no special incentives; they completed their projects on time and as promised. Despite the disparaging remarks that I heard from someinour community about these workers, the immigrant men and women we were privileged to have workinour homewere the best among us.
TERRYVERIGAN, KATHY J. HIGGINS Metairie
TOMLEWIS Baton Rouge
MICHAEL RUSSO Baton Rouge
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
COMMENTARY
HERE COMES AUTUMN
It certainly doesn’t feel likefallisaround thecorner,but it actually startsnext Monday.These squirrels aregetting ajumponnut-gathering season and one hascomeupwith anew approach.
So,what’sgoing on in this cartoon? youtell me.Bewitty,funny, crazy,absurd or snarky —just trytokeep it clean.There’s no limit on the number of entries
Thewinningpunchline will be lettered into the word balloon and runon Monday, Sept. 22 in our printeditions and online. In addition, the winner will receiveasigned print of thecartoon along with acool winner’sT-shirt!
Some honorable mentions will also be listed.
To enter,email your entries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com.
DON’T FORGET! All entries must includeyourname, homeaddressand phone number.Cell numbers are best.
Thedeadline for all entries is midnightonThursday, Sept. 18
Gather your punchlines and send them in to win!
Good luck— Walt
Thegirlonthe traindeservesjustice
Killing science costslives
Donald Trumphas embraced the slogan MAHA —Make America Healthy Again but his policies are doing exactly the opposite. Fears are growing in the medical world that his war on science and research will make America sicker,not stronger Trump’slatest target is the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, the nation’spremier public health agency.Hefired the director,Dr. Susan Monarez, because she wouldn’t endorse the anti-science, anti-vaccine obsessions of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services. Four other senior officials then quit in protest.
Kennedy is considered a quack by serious researchers whoagree that vaccines are a safe, even miraculous, advance.
“The World Health Organization, an agency with someof the mostprominent medical experts around the globe, recently noted that over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives and reduced the infant deaths by 40%,” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in The NewYork Times
Dr.Fiona Havers, aleading vaccine researcher wholeft the CDClast spring, told the Times that if the Trump/ Kennedy crusade against immunizations isn’tthwarted, “a lot of Americans are going to die as aresult of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
The clash over vaccines is part of amuch larger campaign Trumpand Kennedy are conducting against health care providers and researchers. As nine former CDCchiefs wrote in the Times:“Mr.Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programsdesigned to protect Americans from cancer,heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury,violence and more. Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in ageneration, he’sfocused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines. He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us illprepared forfuture health emergencies.”
Shefled Ukrainefor fear she might be killed in the warwith Russia and came to America, whereshe thought shemight be safe. She was wrong. Iryna Zarutska, 23, was sitting alone on atrain in Charlotte, NorthCarolina, when asecurity camera showed aman getting up from his seat behind her and stabbing her to death. The suspect, Decarlos Brown, then walked up the aisle withblood dripping from the knife onto the floor of the train car
The incident occurred Aug. 22, but has only caught the public’sattention recently after the train company released avideo of the attack. Brown is acareer criminal who belongs in prison. He had been identified in 14 previous cases in Mecklenburg County and sentenced to just six years in prison on various countsthat included robbery with adangerous weapon, larceny and breaking and entering. He has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of Zarutska.
Themayor of Charlotte, Viola Lyles, aDemocrat, called Zarutska’sdeath “a senseless and tragic loss” and then made apitch to her legislature for money to hire more police officers. Howabout getting rid of cash bail, liberal judges and district attorneys who appear to care more for thecriminal than they do innocent citizens? When we tolerate crime (look at the videos of looting at stores across the country while security guards watch and do nothing) the more of it we will get. This is why,since President Donald Trump deployed National Guard to the streets of Washington, D.C., “violent crime is down byalmost half when compared to the same 19 days in 2024,” according to aCBS News analysis of crime data. When people planningtoperform criminal acts think they might get caughtand punished, then atough-oncrime approach is one way tokeep our streets safe. Keeping dangerous career criminals behindbars in order to protect thepublicwhich isone of the reasons we have prisons. Mayor Lyles also calledonthe media
not to show the video. No, that video should be repeatedly shown —and it has been on Fox News, as well as made part of Republican campaign commercials for the next two electionstodemonstratehow Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies lead to such tragedies. Speaking on religious freedom at The Museum of the Bible in Washington, Trump said of thestabbing, along with undocumented immigrants with criminalrecords he has ordered deported: “These are evil people. We have to be able tohandle that and if we don’t handle that we don’thave acountry.”
He is right Since the president spoke at the Museum of the Bible, someoneshould have given him this most appropriate verse from Ecclesiastes 8:11: “When the sentence for acrime is not quickly
carried out, people’shearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.” Exactly! To put it in away even the secular mind can understand: When we tolerate evil and refuse to sufficiently standagainstitwithswift and certain punishment,weare bound to get more of it. Butwhen we standagainstit, using not only thepolice, the courts and prisons,but teaching right from wrong in our homes and schools as we once did, we aremore likely to get better results. Unfortunately,wehave abandoned standards that were once taught and, yes, imposed on the young and we are now reaping thewhirlwind. The stabbing deathofthat girlonthe train is just thelatest example.
Email Cal Thomas at tcaeditorstribpub.com.
These actions have caused serious, selfinflicted wounds to vital government services. “I never have seen an instance of an advanced, affluent country with among the finest scientific resources and leaders in the world be under assault, not from small pockets of the public or people whohave unusual beliefs, but from the government itself,” Allan M. Brandt, apublic health historian at Harvard University,said in The Washington Post. “This has just been radically unprecedented.”
The firing of Monarez, whoheld the post for only amonth, mirrors awide-ranging purge of other government officials whodare to state facts that challenge Trump’smaniacal and misguided worldview
Twoimportant forces that restrained Trump during his first term are now largely gone: Seasoned professionals willing to tell Trump no have been replaced by bootlicking loyalists whoalways say yes, and Congressional Republicans have, with fewexceptions, embraced the president’sholy waragainst his critics.
The vaccine controversy is avivid example of the administration’sruthless determination to root out those “nonpolitical” experts throughout the government. In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of acritical committee that advises the CDConhow to employ immunizations. Their recommendations are then adopted by manydoctors, school systems, health insurers and others.
“Mr.Kennedy went on to nameeight new (committee) members, at least half of whom appear to share his antipathy to vaccines,” reported the Times.“Twohave testified against vaccine makers in trials.”
This panel is due to meet again later this month, and Monarez says she wasfired because she would not promise to accept the recommendations of acadre openly committed to anti-vaccine policies. As her lawyers stated, she “refused to rubber-stampunscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
“Itisabout the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts and the dangerous politicization of science,” they wrote.
The situation is so perilous that Sen. Bill Cassidy,a Louisiana Republican and physician whoonce helped establish clinics to vaccinate schoolchildren, has warned that any recommendations madebythe new panel “should be rejected as lacking legitimacy.”
Trumprecently said that as president, he has “the right to do anything Iwant to do” to protect the nation’ssecurity and safety.But his reckless rejection of medical research is putting that safety at great risk. Killing science costs lives.
Email Steven Roberts at stevecokie@gmail. com.
SCREEN GRAB FROM VIDEO
Iryna Zarutska, bottom right, is seen just before she was fatally stabbed on a commuter train on Aug. 22
Steve Roberts
Cal Thomas
Handy Stop site to be razed forcondos
BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadiana business editor
The downtown Lafayette building that most recently housed the Handy Stop Market and Café will be demolished in favorof amultifamily project.
Cliff Guidry,ofACTP Rentals, is planning to demolish the building and is seeking apreliminary plat approval fromthe Lafayette City Planning Commission to combine the spaces at 444 Jefferson St. and the adjoining parkinglot into onelot Planning officials with Lafayette Consolidated Government are recommending commissioners approve the measure.The board will meet at 5p.m. Monday Guidryisplanning a21-unit projectwith 23 parking spaces on the groundlevel,two floorseach featuring 10 condos andafivebedroom penthouse to be used for shortterm rentals, he said.
Demolition could start early next year,he said. The project still needs approval from the Board of Zoning Adjustment to move forward.
The building dates back to at least 1912 when it was afine men’sclothingand dry goods store operated by Lafayette businessman Maurice Heymann, according to Preserving Alliance of Lafayette research Thebuilding was used by multiple banks in the 1970s and ’80s, reports indicate Preserving the current building is not an option, Guidry said.
“Wetried to work around it butwe couldn’twith the new structure,” he said “Remember,those buildings —theybuilt them with cinder blocks and bricks.It can’t take the weight and support of the new building.”
Guidry is also requestinganamendment or waiver of atraffic impact analysis that is required if traffic is expected to generate over 100 trips per hour,documents show.
It’sthe latest in thehistory of the 6,400-square-foot building after it went back on the market in late2022, monthsafter the Handy Stop Market &Café closed. Guildry initially planned to convertthe building into ahair salon and build three levels of condos in the parking lot. He bought the building and the spacesat106 and 108 W. Congress St.for $1.1 million three years ago, landrecords show The building has remainedempty since Handy Stop closed.
“I hadacouple of people approachus (about it), but Ididn’tthink it was the right fit,” he said. “Wehad twodifferent people approach us thisweek to lease it. Imade the decision to move forward withthe condo building.”
SUICIDE
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wish for peace. One of her lastpostsonsocial media showed hersitting alone in her car on her birthday singing “Happy Birthday to herself.
Kyaria Arceneauxwas in the Louisiana Army National Guard and was afull-timecommercial truckdriver, whichkept her busy.Kiana Arceneaux often called to check in on her daughter “She wouldsay,‘Mama, I’mfine,’ but sometimes howshe soundedsaidotherwise. Maybe amother’s instinct, butI remember telling her,‘Iwant you to pray and come to me if anything is wrong,’”Kiana Arceneaux said.
Arceneaux described her daughter as silly,determined and someone who always wanted to make others smile. After her father died, she spent time at the Healing House,tutoring children and staying engaged. As theyoungestoffour, she enjoyed mentoring others; she was also on the Acadiana Zydeco Spice Women’sTackle Football team. In her final letters, Kyaria Arceneaux asked her family to always remember her and told them that she loved them. Kiana Arceneauxsaid those words gave her some closure, even through her grief.
“I didn’tread her letters to hersiblingsbut in mine, she said, ‘Don’tbeupset because I’m with God.’ So she gave me that closureI needed,”saidArceneaux “She also told me she was ill andnodoctor and medicine could have healed her.”
National research shows that nearly half of those who die by suicide havea knownmentalhealth condition. The National Al-
Environmentaljournalistwinsadvocacyaward
Schleifstein heralded for drawing attention to coastalissues
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
LongtimeTimes-Picayune environmental journalist
Mark Schleifstein is being recognizedwitha prestigious lifetime achievement award forhis workshining alight on Louisiana coastal issues.
Schleifstein, who retired from the newspaper at the endof2024, is being granted theaward by theCoalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the state’soldest coastal advocacy group. The organizationhighlighted Schleifstein’swork over the decades as vital in drawing attention to thestate’s coastal crisis, among otherenvironmental issues
“For more than four decades, Markhas been the voice helpingLouisiana make sense of the challenges andpossibilities for ourcoast,” Kim Reyher, CRCL executive director, said in astatement last week
“He has helped us all recognizeand understand our coastal land loss crisis. His work hasplaced restoration at the center of our state’sstory and his legacy will endurefor generations.”
Louisiana has lost around 2,000 square miles of land over the last century,roughly the size of Delaware. Thelevees holding the Mississippi River in placeset the problem in motion,but oil and gas activity and saltwater intrusion duetothe digging of shipping channels have played importantroles. Sealevel rise due to climate change is projected to greatlyworsen the problem in the future.
Schleifstein, 74, has been at the forefrontofreporting on those issues since joining thenewspaper in 1984. He has been viewed for years as thedean of the state’senvironmental journalists,consistently breakingstories and writing in-depth pieces exploring Louisiana’smyriad coastal challenges.
PHOTO PROVIDED Kyaria Arceneaux, 22, of Lafayette, sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to herself days beforeshe died on Aug. 27.
liance on Mental Health states, unlike otherhealth emergencies,mental health crises don’tcome with clearinstructions on howtorespond,which is whyprevention and awareness are so important.
“Noone can prepare for this, but Iwould tell anyone:Talktothat person. Evenif theysay nothingis wrong and you feel something is, let them vent to you,”Arceneauxsaid. Skasa Rideau,the suicide prevention coordinator with Acadiana Family Tree, anonprofit agency that providescounseling saidthe signs aren’talways easyto see. “Many people can seem fine on theoutside but are hurting deeply on the inside,” Rideausaid.“When Ilost my own parent in 2016, I realized how easyitwas to ‘fakethe funk’ whilebeing
He haswon alonglistoflocal, stateand national prizes, including fromthe Societyof EnvironmentalJournalists and theNationalAcademy of Sciences, on topics ranging from coastal erosion to industrial pollution andthe destruction caused by Formosantermites in New Orleans He hasalso shared in Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting on HurricaneKatrinaand its aftermath as well as for the paper’s1996 series ”Oceans of Trouble,” which explored the perilous state of the world’s fisheries
In addition to hisown work Schleifstein hasdedicated himselftomentoring younger journalists, including through activeinvolvement in arange of journalismorganizations Sincethe start of the year,he hasservedasaWalton Family Foundationenvironmental reporting fellow.
Predicting Katrina
He called the award an acknowledgement of both his workand thatoforganizations such as CRCL “to start restoring land lossinsouth Louisiana andtotie thatrestoration process to betterprotectionfrom hurricane storm surges.”
Schleifstein recalled the gradualunderstanding among the widerpublic of the importanceofcoastal land loss and itseffects on stormsurge.He has worked on at least three separate projects over the years highlighting theproblem, in addition to his sustained, day-to-daycoverage.
Those projectshave included a2007 series he co-authored, titled“Last Chance:The Fight to Save aDisappearing Coast,” which wonthe John B. Oakes Prize forEnvironmental Reporting from Columbia University
A2002 seriesheco-authored, “WashingAway,” identified problemswith the New Orleans area’slevee system threeyears before Hurricane Katrina and was eventually viewed as havingpredicted many of the effects of the devastating storm. That series also addressedthe problem of coastal land loss and its role in storm surge. In addition,Schleifstein
in alow place. That experience is why Idothiswork now.”
Rideau said the best way to help is through open, empathetic conversations where thatperson doesn’t feel judged becausesometimesjustletting someone know they’re not aloneis the first step.
Rideausaidwarning signsinclude changes in sleep or eating habits, withdrawing from loved ones or sudden mood swings.Hesaid stigma oftenprevents people from seeking help.
“When someone is physicallysick, people quickly help but whensomeoneis mentally sick,they’re oftenjudged,”hesaid.“I’ve seen firsthandhow quickly someonecan go from lookingperfectly healthy to being in crisis.That’swhy we have to keeptalking about it.”
Just days before Kyaria Arceneaux’s death, she texted her mother excited aboutanupcoming family event and being happy to see her family —but she never made it.
KianaArceneaux said she wishes therewere more resources available to advocate, raise awareness, and provide prevention for both those struggling and their families.
“I’d love to see events twicea month where families can come together get resources, and know they’re not alone,” she said. “When my daughter died, Ihad people
father of four Gordon Russell, the paper’s former managingeditorfor investigations who is now with TheBoston Globe, wrote in nominating him for the award that “without his reporting at The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, it’shardtoimagine where coastal preservation and restoration would rank among Louisiana’sproblems.” Schleifstein and other CRCL award recipients will be honored Nov.13atSoLou restaurant in Baton Rouge. Tickets can be purchased online. The other awardees in recognition of coastal stewardship include:
played akey role in the newspaper’scoverageofKatrina itself while also losing his Lakeview hometothe flood, like so many other NewOrleanians.His housetook on 15 feet of water In 2006, he co-authored with JohnMcQuaid the book “Path of Destruction: TheDevastation of NewOrleans and the Coming AgeofSuperstorms.”
An opportunity’
Schleifstein said he hoped state leaders consider innovative ways to combine wetlands restoration projects with hurricane protection measures as Louisiana looks forpractical andaffordable methods to address itsvulnerabilities. He noted the importance of building stronger protection to guard against larger storms, particularly in an era of intensifying hurricanes One waywould be combining levee improvements with wetlandsrestoration, which would work together to blockstorm surge. The state should look at such innovative approaches in the wake of the canceled MidBarataria Sediment Diversion, the controversial $3 billion project that drew strong opposition from commercial fishers andothers, he said.
“The state actually has an opportunity to do something different, but it’sgoing to have to work to do it,” said Schleifstein, afather of two and grand-
across the nation reach out,and that keptmegoing. Imagine if that kind of support was shown to people before they made the choice my daughter did.”
Rideau shares that vision.Hesaid he hopes to expand local conversations by working with schools, churches, youth groups, and community leaders— training pastors, coaches, and mentors to recognize signs of suicide early.
“People think if yousay the word suicide, you put the thoughtinsomeone’s head. That’snot true,” Rideau said. “By nottalking about it, the issueisn’t getting addressed.We need safe, honest conversations.”
ForArceneaux, speaking out is her way of carryingforward her daughter’s spirit. “If I can change the mindsof just five kids about taking their lives, then I’ve done Kyaria’swork,” she said. If anyoneisstruggling, call or text 988, theSuicide &Crisis Lifeline, forfreeand confidential support or visit acadianafamilytree.org for local resources
Email Ja’koriMadison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.
STUDENTS
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n Dr.Jelagat Cheruiyot, a Tulane professor who has inspired hundreds of students to work in coastal restoration and has spearheaded several restoration and stormwater management projects n New Orleans high school Brother Martin, whose studentsparticipateinaninterdisciplinarylessononcoastal issues that has included logging more than athousand volunteer hours working on CRCL’s restoration projects n Sandy Nguyen, theexecutive director of Coastal Communities Consulting, who for more than two decades has provided technical assistance, business support and capacity buildingtocommercial fishers, shrimpers and oyster harvesters in southeast Louisiana.
n Anne Milling, who founded Womenofthe Storm, anonpartisan, nonpolitical alliance that drew attention to theneeds of a post-Katrina New Orleans and theGulf Coast and to coastal restoration more broadly n Theresa Schmidt, whoretired this year after 47 years as ajournalist at KPLC in Lake Charles. Her work has included reporting on the region’s coastal and ecosystem issues n Dominique Seibert, the Louisiana SeaGrant agent for St. Bernard and Plaquemines parisheswho works to promote stewardship of thestate’s coastal resources through a combination of research, education and outreach programs. Email Mike Smith at msmith@theadvocate.com.
examples of our district’s commitment to growth, opportunity,culture and safety.”
Twostudents from Iberia Parish also were named finalists —PatraLiamkeo, a NewIberia High student, and Lucas O’Connor,a homeschool/online student.
About 95% of semifinalists are expected to be named finalistsinthe spring. About half will win aNational Merit Scholarship.
PROJECT
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Government’s chief administrative officer
Thereare six drainage projects under construction, clocking in at $82.3 million. An additional eight projects,valued at $11 million, areunder design.
Bertrand Drive revitalization efforts arealsounderway,Boulet said. Communication lines should be placed underground by the end of the year,with utilities to follow in the first or second quarter of 2026.
Students compete for the National Merit Scholarship Program when they take the Preliminary SAT as high school juniors. The highest-scoring test takers in each stateare named semifinalists. To becomeafinalist, semifinalists anda high school official submita detailedapplication that includesinformation about their academic records, participation in extracurricular activities, leadership and awards received. They also must writeanessayand score similarly on their SATor ACT
Theproject is projected to break ground sometime early next year,Boulet added.
WOE-AND-2
BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer
Here Spencer Rattler was again
For the second straight week, the New Orleans Saints quarterback was given the ball withachance to leadagame-winning drive. But this time,Rattlerfound himself having to shout louder than usual.Withchants of “DE-FENSE”carrying throughout the stadium, Rattler didn’thave to quite go to asilentcount, buthehad to raise his voice so his teammates could hear the play call. But Sunday wasn’taroad game for the Saints. The stands at the Caesars Superdome justlooked and sounded that way with the overwhelming number of fans cheering
forthe SanFrancisco 49ers.
“They traveled well,” Rattler said. Maybe the noise wasn’tthe ultimate reason that Rattler andthe offense couldn’t rally in Sunday’s2621 loss to theSan Francisco49ers, but make no mistake, it was afactor throughout the game. Plenty of peoplecheered,for instance, when Rattler fumbled thegame away on a fourth-down strip-sack thatclinched the win for San Francisco.
The consensus coming into the season was that the Saintswere in store for along year Twoweeks in,thatlooks to be painfully true. Yes, the Saints (0-2) fought down to thewire in back-to-back games —a
Brace yourself, Saints fans. A long season awaits.
Youknew it was going to be bad. In fact, some of you evenwent so far as to welcome the rebuilding campaign. But now that it’shere, the grimreality of ahopelessly forlornseason is starting to set in We’reonly two games into the2025 season, and it already feels like things are slipping away The Saints’ 26-21 loss to theSan Francisco 49ers dropped them to a0-2 start for the first time in eight years. Call it what you want. Overreaction.Hyperbole. Premature panic. Another word is perhaps moreap-
propriate: reality Sunday’ssetback followed an alltoo-familiar script.
Jeff Duncan
The sameculprits conspired to undermine the Saints’ chances of winning. Penalties. Dropped passes. Missed tackles and missed field goals. It washard to watch. Other than acouple of nifty pass completions from Spencer Rattler to Rashid Shaheed and Juwan Johnson, there wasn’tmuch to write homeabout.
The Saints never led and allowed backup quarterback Mac Jones to pass for279 yards and three touchdowns. Admirably,they fought until
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Hull wins LPGA event as Thai star four-putts No. 18
WNBA PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP
Collier, Lynx rout Valkyries
By The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS Napheesa Col-
lier scored 20 points to lead five players in double figures and the Minnesota Lynx breezed to a 10172 victory over the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-three first-round WNBA series.
Collier hit 7 of 11 shots with a 3-pointer and all five of her free throws, adding six rebounds.
Natisha Hiedeman made two 3-pointers and scored 18 for the Lynx, while Kayla McBride added 17. Jessica Shepard had 12 points and eight rebounds and Courtney Williams pitched in with 11 points and four steals.
Veronica Burton and Cecilia Zandalasini both scored 14 to lead Golden State. Burton added seven assists and three steals but also had seven of the Valkyries’ 16 turnovers. Janelle Salaün had 13 points and eight rebounds and Temi Fágbénlé scored 12 before fouling out.
Burton hit two 3-pointers for Golden State in an 11-4 run to start the game and the Valkyries led 2821 after one quarter
McBride had two baskets in a 12-3 run to begin the second period and Minnesota moved in front 33-31. McBride had 14 points by halftime and Collier scored 11 for a 47-39 lead.
Alanna Smith hit a 3-pointer with 8:47 left in the third quarter
for a 52-42 advantage and Minnesota led by double digits the rest of the way DiJonai Carrington sank two 3-pointers and Williams hit one in the final 70 seconds as the Lynx took a 79-58 lead into the final period
The Valkyries are still looking for their first win over the Lynx in their first year in the league after losing all four regular-season matchups three by double digits.
Minnesota’s 34-10 record led the league. Golden State will host Game 2 on Wednesday
DREAM 80, FEVER 68: In College Park, Georgia, Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard scored 20 points apiece to help the Atlanta Dream beat the Indiana Fever in Game 1 of the best-of-three first-round playoff series.
Naz Hillmon, who was the AP Sixth Person of the Year, added 16 points and nine rebounds for the third-seeded Dream. Atlanta can advance to the semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Brionna Jones made a tiebreaking layup and Gray hit a pull-up
jumper before Howard hit a 3-pointer that gave Atlanta a 47-40 lead almost four minutes into the second half and the Fever trailed the rest of the way
Kelsey Mitchell led No. 7 seed Indiana with 27 points. Odyssey Sims scored 10 points and Aliyah Boston grabbed 12 rebounds to go with eight points and five assists. The Fever were missing Caitlin Clark, who is sidelined for the playoffs with a groin injury she suffered in the middle of July LIBERTY 76,MERCURY 69: In Phoenix, Natasha Cloud scored 23 points, Breanna Stewart added 18 before hurting her knee in overtime and the New York Liberty beat the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round playoff series.
New York will advance to the semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Wednesday in New York. Stewart fell to the ground and grabbed at her left knee after making a layup with 3:01 to play in overtime. She stayed in the game and missed the free throw, trying to play through the injury She left the game about a minute later and didn’t return.
New York coach Sandy Brondello had no update on Stewart’s injury after the game. Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 15 points and Alyssa Thomas had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. DeWanna Bonner added 12 points.
JGR emerges as Cup championship favorite
BY NATE RYAN Associated Press
Whether it’s winning three Super Bowls or five NASCAR Cup Series championships, Joe Gibbs knows how to guide his teams to success through internal turmoil. So when Christopher Bell angrily called out his No 20 crew last week for questionable strategy during a 24-race winless streak, Gibbs let the emotions run their course rather than step in to defuse the tension.
“I’ve been on the sideline and heard some outbursts,” Gibbs said. “We’ve had some outbursts in our competition meetings in racing I’ve learned when you’re around sports, and things don’t go your way that’s going to happen every now and then.
“I let them handle it. I really do.”
With his fourth victory this season, Bell reaffirmed Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway that that’s a winning philosophy for Joe Gibbs Racing, which completed a first-round sweep of the
NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at the Tennessee short track. Bell, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe have won three consecutive races to stamp the team as the championship favorite. JGR’s
four Toyotas led a combined 757 of 1,107 laps in the first round of the playoffs which were cut from 16 to 12 drivers at Bristol with seven races and three rounds left.
“We’ve got fast cars right now,”
Gibbs said. “I think it just says a lot for the way we feel back at the race shop. It’s a big deal all the way across the board for us. It really means a lot.”
His hands-off approach won Cup titles with hot-tempered Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. Bell is mild-mannered by comparison, so he made headlines with a vulgarity-filled tirade on his team radio for losing “with the best car every week” after a seventh place at World Wide Technology Raceway.
He had only praise Saturday for his team and crew chief Adam Stevens, who deftly managed Bell’s pace and tactics over 500 hazardous laps at Bristol as many teams struggled with excessive tire wear on the 0.533-mile oval.
Charging from fourth to first on a late restart, Bell led the final four laps and held off Brad Keselowski for his 13th career victory “Winning fixes everything, that’s for sure,” Bell said. “It’s a huge morale boost for the team and myself as a driver.”
Jefferson-Wooden wins gold in women’s 100m sprint
Seville of Jamaica wins men’s 100 at world championships
BY EDDIE PELLS Associated Press
TOKYO Usain Bolt went crazy up in a luxury box.
Down below, sprinters in his country’s familiar colors — black, green and, of course, gold — were wreaking havoc on the track. It was a good night for the United States, too, as the sport’s past and the future collided in backto-back 100-meter finals at world championships on a steamy Sunday in Tokyo.
Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson sent Bolt into celebration mode by combining for a 1-2 finish in the men’s 100-meter sprint, while defending champion Noah Lyles took bronze. Moments earlier, America’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden had romped to a win in a women’s sprint that featured a newcomer silver medalist in Jamaica’s Tina Clayton, a fond farewell for the is-
land country’s Shelly-Ann FraserPryce, who finished sixth, and a fifth-place finish from former LSU star Sha’Carri Richardson, who never found her stride this year
“It’s a changing of the guard, in a sense,” Jefferson-Wooden said. “You’re going to see some new faces and things like that. It’s
great competition.” Seville won the men’s race in a career-best 9.77 seconds fulfilling the promise he’s shown since he made his Olympic debut in this stadium four years ago, but didn’t get out of the semifinals.
The 24-year-old Jefferson-Wooden turned her race into a laugher
MAINEVILLE, Ohio Charley Hull took advantage of top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul’s final-hole putting meltdown Sunday to win the Kroger Queen City Championship. Thitikul — a stroke ahead after Hull bogeyed the par-4 17th — four-putted the par-5 18th from about 50 feet, missing a 5-footer and a 3-foot comebacker Hull twoputted from about 30 feet, making a 2-footer for the victory Fighting ankle and back issues, Hull closed with a 4-under 68 to finish at 20-under 268 at TPC River’s Bend. The 29-year-old English player won her third LPGA Tour title and first since 2022. She also has four victories on the Ladies European Tour Lottie Woad of England was third at 18 under after a 66.
Noren holds off Saddier to win at Wentworth again
VIRGINIA WATER, England Alex Noren turned a bad shot into a playoff victory Sunday, chipping from short of a stream to 3 feet for birdie on the par-5 18th hole at Wentworth to defeat Adrien Saddier of France and win the BMW PGA Championship for the second time. In rain-softened conditions, both players faced problems on the par-5 18th in a playoff. Saddier found a tough lie well left of the green. Noren hit his fairway metal heavy and feared it would go into the stream. It was so bad it came up short, leaving him a good lie in thick grass. Saddier’s chip left him 15 feet from the fringe and it never had a chance.
Rory McIlroy closed with a 65 for his best round of the week to tie for 20th. Jon Rahm, winless this year on LIV Golf and the majors, shot 66 to tie for 13th.
Goosen wins fourth PGA Tour Champions title
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. Retief Goosen won the Sanford International on Sunday for his fourth career PGA Tour Champions victory, closing with a 3-under 67 for a two-stroke margin over Bo Van Pelt. Goosen finished at 13-under 197 at Minnehaha Country Club The 56-year-old South African star — the 2001 and 2004 U.S Open champion — won for the first time since The Galleri Classic in March 2024. Van Pelt finished with a 68. Ernie Els (73) and Darren Clarke (68) tied for third at 8 under Charles Schwab Cup leader Miguel Angel Jimenez was 7 under after a 71. Steve Stricker was unable to defend his title as he recovers from back surgery
Hatton, former world boxing champ, dies at 46 MANCHESTER, England Ricky Hatton, the former boxing world champion who rose to become one of the most popular fighters in the sport, has died. He was 46. Hatton was found dead at his home in Greater Manchester, Britain’s Press Association reported Sunday Police said they were not treating the death as suspicious. Friends of Hatton were quick to pay tribute Sunday morning.
right away She got about a step ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred in the lane next to her then kept expanding her lead and ran hard through the line when she could have coasted.
She finished in 10.61, breaking Richardson’s 2-year-old worldchampionship mark by .04. Her margin of .15 seconds over Clayton was a blowout the same gap Alfred, the Olympic champion who finished third this time, beat Richardson by in Paris last year
“This year was about accepting that I wanted to be a better athlete and putting in the work to do so,” Jefferson-Wooden said.
Another American success story came in the long-jump pit, where Tara Davis-Woodhall took care of yet another piece of unfinished business, adding the long jump world championship to the Olympic title she won last year
The victory in Tokyo comes two years after a second-place finish at worlds left her disappointed and sparked her to rededicate herself to the sport.
Also in the field, America’s Valarie Allman captured gold in the discus throw to round out her set of gold-silver-bronze from worlds. She also has two Olympic titles.
“Today we lost not only one of Britain’s greatest boxers, but a friend, a mentor, a warrior, Ricky Hatton,” former world champion, Amir Khan, posted on X. Hatton won world titles at lightwelterweight and welterweight and at the height of his career shared the ring with the best boxers of his generation, including Kostya Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Bradshaw’s filly wins big at Pocahontas Stakes
LOUISVILLE, Ky Four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw is a winner again. A 2-year-old filly co-owned by the 77-year-old Fox NFL Sunday analyst won the $251,250 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday Taken by the Wind earned 10 qualifying points for next year’s $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks and set up a potential start in the $2
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CARLOS AVILA GONZALEZ
Valkyries forward Janelle Salaun, left, shoots over Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, right, in Game 1 of the first round of the WNBA playoffs on Sunday at Target Center in Minneapolis.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By WADE PAyNE Christopher Bell, center, celebrates winning the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday in Bristol, Tenn.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS
U.S. sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden smiles after winning the women’s 100-meter finals at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday in Tokyo.
LSUoffense needsto improveahead of SECplay
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
LSU keeps winning. Its defense is wreaking havoc. Yet the tenor of coach Brian Kelly’slast two postgame news conferences hasn’tmatched the positive results the Tigers have found on the field Kelly chose not to hide his frustration after LSU picked up alackluster win over Louisiana Tech in its home opener.Then —after the Tigers caught five interceptions in a20-10 win over Florida —the fourth-year LSU coach found himself in atesty exchange with a reporter who made the first question posed on Saturday one about the offense’s struggles.
“That football teamjust worked their tail off to get an SEC win,” Kelly said angrily,“and you want to know what’swrong.”
What exactly is wrong with the LSU offense, which scored only 13 points against Florida?
The No. 3Tigers(3-0)went three-and-out five times on Saturday—and punted seven times. Before Caden Durham broke off a51-yard run on the last drive of the game, their rushing attack had produced only 68 yards on 20 carries. They converted only four of the 14 third downstheyfaced. Garrett Nussmeier threw an interception that could’ve helped the Gators eatinto LSU’s lead —except quarterback DJ Lagway tossed his fourth pick of the night nine plays later The point is thatthe Tigers struggledonoffense. For the second game in a row Theseasonisonly three weeks old, and LSU has faced threetough defenses. But the early returns on its retooled offense are not promising. TheTigers are struggling to findconsistent, efficient yardage on the ground, and Nussmeier isn’t completing explosive passing plays —two of the same issues they battled for most of last season.
“The offense, they’re going to get it rolling,” edge rusher Jack Pyburn said. “They have every single tool, everysingle key that they need.
“But at the end of the day, we got their back. It doesn’t matter what situationwe’re in. That’sour mentality.”
In 2024,LSU finished 14th among SEC teams in redzone touchdown conversion percentage (57%).Now,in 2025, the Tigers are 16th— because they’ve converted only five of their 11 red-zone trips into touchdowns (40%). LSUran foronly116 yards
pergame last year —the lowest rate in the SEC.
Now it’srushing for 111 yards per game —the second-lowest rate in theSEC.
In 2024, the Tigers excelledonthird down. Their 49% conversion rate —the sixth-highest mark among FBS teams —led theSEC
This season,however LSU has converted only 17 of its 41 third-down tries (42%).Now,11ofits league foes are converting third downs atahigher rate
The Tigers aren’tcompleting chunk passingplays either.Ten SEC teams have completed more passes of at least10 yards than LSU this season,and 14 have more completions of at least 20 yards. Nussmeier has thrown three touchdown passesand twointerceptions, including the onethat foiled the drive the Tigers could’veused to seal the win —and salvage aroughnight of offense.
Kelly said that kindof turnover “can’t happen,” especially because LSU reached the red zone so infrequently against Florida.
“We’ve talkedabout it enough,” he said, “and I’m not gonna beat him up here. He knows. We just gotta take care of the football, and the way we’re playing offensively, we have to be smart, right? And take what thedefense gives us.”
Kelly then pointed outthat Nussmeier is playingbehind abrand-new offensive line. Four of the starters from last season’sunit moved on to theNFL,and the fifth (DJ Chester) is now workingas LSU’ssixth offensive lineman. Braelin Moore, the transfer center from Virginia Tech, played through an ankle sprain on Saturday as well, and he helped the Tigers improve in pass protection
Nussmeier was pressured on only three of his 28 dropbacks against Florida,
according to ProFootball Focus. In Week 2against Louisiana Tech —agame that LSU playedwithout Moore—hewas pressured 11 times.
“These guys are working hard to getbetter,”Kelly said. “I’mwith themevery single day, andI watchthem, and they’regonna have to get better.There’snodoubt, but they’re committed,and we’regonna commit to them and we’re gonna keep working with them.”
Thereare some positive signs. Nussmeier, for instance, fought off aslowstart on Saturday to complete 10 of 11 pass attempts across akey stretch of thefirst half. Then, late in thefourth, Durham’s51-yard carry allowed LSU to line up in victory formation.
That run was theTigers’ third rush thatpicked up at least30yards. Only three SEC teams have moresuch carries this season.
And then there’sthe defense, theunit that Kelly preferred to discusson Saturday.Because it shut down Florida, LSUhas now allowed 10 points or fewer in three consecutive games for thefirst time since 2011.
Things havechanged quite abit on that side of the ball over the last two years. Now the concerns lie elsewhere.
“I mean, youguys were here when we had aprolific offense,” Kelly said. “That doesn’t work.Thatdoesn’t work.You can’toutscore people and be achampionship team. Youcan build your offense around the defenseifit’sthatgood. And that’s what we’regoing to do.
“We’re going to get better on offense —more efficient. But at the end of theday, we’re not going to put our defenseinabad situation, and that’swhat we have to get better at.”
UL passinggame‘scary’ fordifferentreasons
It’snot asecret to anyone who has seen any of UL’s first three games. So far,the Ragin’Cajuns have theoretically played a team from alower level, a team from thesame level and ateam from ahigher level.
ting the ball exactly where it needs to be at times. We’ve got to get everybody on the samepage.”
BYERIC OLSON AP collegefootball writer NEW YORK Texas A&M made abig jump into the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll Sunday afterits dramatic winat Notre Dame, and the Irish became the first team since 1988 to stay in the Top25 with an 0-2 record. Ohio State, Penn State and LSU remained the top three teams, with Miami moving up to No. 4and Georgia to No. 5even after aclose call at No. 15 Tennessee. Oregon slipped two spots to No. 6despite a20-point roadwin against Northwestern and was followed by Florida State, Texas, Illinois and the Aggies. Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Southern California made their seasondebuts in the Top25. Ohio State tussled with Ohio into the middle of the third quarter of a37-9win and received 55 first-place votes, two fewer than last week. Penn State got five first-place votes, LSU got two, Miami got threeand Oregon got one. The Hurricanes’ first-place votes are their first sincegettingthree on Nov.19, 2017. Alabama was rewarded for its 24-point home win against Wisconsin and moved up five spotstoNo. 14. Voters didn’tpunish Tennessee for its overtime homeloss to Georgia and
kept theVolunteers No. 15.
Texas A&M was promoted six spotsafter it overcame a scary injury to safetyBryce Anderson, ablocked punt returned for atouchdown and 13 penalties to win 41-40 on Marcel Reed’s fourth-andgoal pass to Nate Boerkircher with 11 seconds left. The Aggies, who opened withsolid wins over UTSA andUtahState,are 3-0for thefirst time since 2021 and have theirhighestranking sincetheywereNo. 10 entering November last season. Notre Damehas lost its first two games, both against ranked opponents, by atotal of four points.The Irish lost 27-24 at Miami and had an open date before Texas A&M visited. They fell from No. 8toNo. 24. The 1988 Michigan Wolverines, the previous team
and
The result of the passing game has been 26 receptions for 178 yards and one touchdown.
Three different quarterbacks have only completed 40.6% of 64 passes.
The leading receiver is Shelton Sampson withfive grabs for 63 yards on 19 targets.
“There’snohelp on the way,” UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. “There’s no waiver wire, so we got to get back to work.”
There’scorrecting disciplinary miscues.There’s blocking better with different combinations on the offensive line. There’sadjusting your defense to cover up aperceived weakness.
But is there away to create anon-existent passing game with backup quarterbacks and no oneclose to aNo. 1or No. 2onthe depth chart?
That’scertainly the task at hand for this coaching staff as the 1-2 Cajuns travel to Eastern Michigan to trytoget back to .500 next Saturday
“We’ve got to get those guys to play withsome moreconfidence and go out there and go play better,” Desormeaux said. “We’re just not doing the thingstobeeffective in thepass game.
“We’re not protecting it good enough, we’re not gettingopen frequently enough and we’re not put-
The easy thing is to point to starter Walker Howard suffering atorn oblique in the season opener,but it goes deeper than that much deeper
“A quarterback doesn’t throw it very good or whatever the case may be, but everyone’sresponsible forit,” Desormeaux said, “from protection to route running and to play design.
So that’smetoo. We’ve got to continue to find ways to get guys open.”
There’snoreal statistic foropen receivers, but we’ve seen very fewthis season. In Saturday’sloss, there were only three.
With the starters still in, the first one wasa5-yard completion to tight end Caden Jensen on the game’s first play,and the second one was to Charles Robertson, whocouldn’tget both feet down.
There’sjust no waytoenjoy anypassingefficiency when you’re consistentlythrowing to covered receivers.
“We’ve just got to continue to we’re going to have to throw the ball,” Desormeaux said. “So we’ve got to continue to workthrough the pass game. We’re going to need it, and we’re going to keep doing it. So it’snot just about winning one game.
“It’sabout trying to get this thing to where we need it to try to make arun and win aconference championship. And the only way you do that is to continue to work to improve.”
Could new personnel at receiver make adifference? That’scertainly a possibility.The problemis that the true freshmen the coaching staff is so excited
about are smaller,faster receivers Russell Babineaux and Trenton Chaney.That would require avery different style of passing game. How possible is it to pull that off with Sun Belt play just twoweeks away?
Throwing more passes to running backs and tight ends than receivers could be another path to consider Your best offensive players are your running backs. Perhaps there’sa wayto utilize them more often. Yes, the running game too wasstifled in Missouri —other than Zylan Perry’s 84-yard touchdown run, of course. Take away that one play and even Perry only had twoyards on four carries. Bill Davis waslimited to one yard on five carries and Lunch Winfield had twoattempts for13yards. Steven Blanco continued to shine with 31 yards on seven carries. Butagain, that was against Missouri. The Cajuns ran the ball for 466 yards in thefirst twogames. The passing gamehas been unproductive in all three.
“The reality of it is we knew this wasgoing to be an uphill climb,” Desormeaux said of the Missouri game. “You’ve got to moveonand go to the next one. We don’tplay Mizzou again.”
Both Perry and linebacker Terrence Williams agreed with their head coach that the Cajuns won’t have any problems moving past the 52-10 loss and are looking ahead to Eastern Michigan with confidence. That may very wellbe the case, but without finding somemagical beans in the passing gamebefore next Saturday,itfigures to be tough sledding.
STAFF PHOTO By HILARySCHEINUK
LSU quarterbackGarrett Nussmeier handsthe ball off to running back Ju’Juan Johnson in the second half of the Tigers’20-10 winoverFlorida on SaturdayatTiger Stadium
Kevin Foote
49ERS 26 SAINTS 21
Kamara’s fumble shifts momentum
San Francisco quickly capitalized on turnover
BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer
RUSHING_San Francisco, McCaffrey 13-55, B.Robinson 6-20, Jones 6-6, Pearsall 1-(minus 4). New Orleans, Kamara 21-100, Rattler 4-14, Miller 5-8. PASSING_San Francisco, Jones 26-39-0-279. New Orleans, Rattler 25-34-0-206.
RECEIVING_San Francisco, McCaffrey 6-52, Jennings 5-89, Pearsall 4-56, Tonges 4-31, Bourne 3-32, Farrell 2-15, Juszczyk 1-5, B.Robinson 1-(minus 1). New Orleans, Olave 6-53, Kamara 6-21, Johnson 5-49, Shaheed 4-52, Cooks 2-26, Vele 1-3, Miller 1-2. PUNT RETURNS_San Francisco, Moore 1-1. New Orleans, Shaheed 2-23. KICKOFF RETURNS_San Francisco, Guerendo 2-47. New Orleans, Miller 3-82.
TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS_San Francisco, Warner 8-2-0, Winters 6-2-0, Green 5-0-0, Stout 4-1-1, M.Williams 4-1-0, Bosa 3-6-1, Huff 3-1-1, Lenoir 3-1-0, Sigle 2-3-0, Pinnock 2-2-0, Davis 1-1-0, Gross-Matos 1-1-0, Lucas 1-0-0, Okuayinonu 1-0-0, Collins 0-2-0, Elliott
0-2-0. New Orleans, Davis 5-6-0, Sanker 5-3-0, Granderson 5-2-2, Yiadom 5-2-0 Reid 5-0-0, Werner 5-0-0, Taylor 3-3-0, Rumph 2-0-1, Shepherd 1-1-0, Godchaux 1-0-0, Jordan 1-00, McKinstry 1-0-0, Broughton 0-3-0. INTERCEPTIONS_San Francisco, None. New Orleans, None. MISSED FIELD GOALS_New Orleans, Grupe
40. OFFICIALS_Referee Shawn Smith, Ump Tra Blake, HL Jay Bilbo, LJ Jeff Seeman, FJ Dyrol Prioleau, SJ Boris Cheek, BJ Dino Paganelli, Replay Mike Wimmer.
The New Orleans Saints’ first turnover of the year could not have come at a more inopportune time.
Trailing 19-14 in the third quarter, the Saints were driving into San Francisco 49ers territory with an opportunity to take the lead Quarterback Spencer Rattler found Alvin Kamara open in the flat but put the ball just a little behind the running back Kamara hauled the pass in, but he couldn’t do it cleanly, pinning the ball on his shoulder pads. As he was being taken to the ground, San Francisco’s All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner stormed in and punched the ball out of Kamara’s hands.
Referees initially ruled Kamara was down by contact, but after a replay review they determined that while he maintained possession long enough for it to be considered a catch, he lost control before his knee hit the ground.
“The main component that they were discussing is if it was a catch or no catch,” said Saints coach Kellen Moore. “There’s enough action in there. I haven’t seen it. I just saw the TV perspective of it from the big screen. Obviously he had kind of controlled it with his hand. Once that happened, it became a catch, and there was a fumble.”
Kamara fumbled the ball at the 49ers’ 29-yard line and Warner recovered it at the 32.
San Francisco took possession of the ball and went on a sevenplay, 68-yard touchdown drive, culminating in a 42-yard touchdown pass from Mac Jones to Jauan Jennings on third and 11 to push the 49ers lead to 26-14.
Missed opportunity
After missing one field goal in the entirety of training camp and preseason Saints kicker Blake Grupe has now missed two in as many regular-season games.
Quarterback Rattler and Rashid Shaheed connected on a 39-yard
pass on the third play of the game, a deep shot that pushed the Saints to the San Francisco 26-yard line.
The next three plays gained just four yards, setting Grupe up for a 40-yard field goal to give the Saints an early 3-0 lead. But the ball took a hard right turn after it left Grupe’s foot and sailed wide of the uprights.
Last week, Grupe missed a 38-yarder to the left of the uprights — a miss he took the blame for after rushing his process when the play clock was winding down. He is now 1-for-3 on field goals this season.
“Blake’s got too much good going on,” Moore said. “He’s just got to get better and clean it up.” Flight plans
Looking ahead to the Saints’ Week 3 road matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, the team will depart a few days early for the Pacific Northwest.
The Saints will take a team charter to Seattle after Thursday’s practice, then conduct their Friday session at the Uni-
versity of Washington’s campus. This isn’t particularly new: New Orleans also practiced at Husky Stadium in 2019, spending the entire week there after a road matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. Moore said there are a couple of advantages to getting out there early beyond getting the players acclimated to the Pacific Time Zone.
“We’ve been here for close to a month now, so with the long travel up there, we felt like it would be a good opportunity for our team to spend some extra time together,” Moore said.
Odds and ends
Cam Jordan played in his 228th game as a member of the Saints Sunday, tying him with Drew Brees for the most appearances all time in a Saints uniform Michael “Beer Man” Lewis joined the team on the sideline as the Legend of the Game, and Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson was in attendance for the game as well Linebackers Demario Davis and Pete Werner led the pregame Who Dat chant.
sign that coach Kellen Moore is doing all that he can to keep his team competitive. But what does it say that so many Saints season-ticket holders appeared to sell their seats this early into the season? And more troubling for New Orleans, the product on the field couldn’t even beat a team missing its usual starting quarterback.
Mac Jones was not supposed to look like Brock Purdy, who’s reportedly out 2-5 weeks with turf toe. But the 49ers backup carved the Saints’ secondary, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns on 26-of-39 passing. Over the last few months, the Saints have made plenty of moves to indicate they’re on board for a rebuild Just a day earlier, New Orleans traded a late-round pick swap for an injured wide receiver who won’t suit up in 2025. Teams competing for the now don’t make that type of move.
Still, rebuilding a franchise takes time — and pain. And to start the season, the punches have come early “Our guys are competing,” Moore said. “It hurts when you lose games like this. That’s how it’s supposed to feel. There are no feelgood moments out of this.” It can be natural in games like this particularly in the first year of a new coach, to focus on the
positives. Rattler, for the second straight week, not only staved off calls for the Saints to turn to rookie Tyler Shough, but the quarterback is processing the defense fast enough to give his team a chance. Against the 49ers, Rattler made more of an effort to push the ball down the field — and his aggression paid off. His first pass was a 39-yard completion to Rashid Shaheed, and his first touchdown was an 18-yard strike to Juwan Johnson. Rattler, who went 25 of 34 for 207 yards and three touchdowns, was the main reason the Saints had a chance. The second-year quarterback helped New Orleans overcome a sluggish first half with a much more efficient second half. Rattler kept numerous drives alive with sharp throws and impressive scrambles such as when he used a quarterback keeper to pick up fourth-and-1 on a third-quarter drive that resulted in a 3-yard touchdown to Shaheed.
But the Saints can’t ignore the negatives, which have outweighed any silver linings of the first two weeks
Late in the fourth quarter, the Saints had two drives to potentially steal the game away from San Francisco. But each time, pressure from San Francisco’s defensive line wrecked any chance of a comeback
First, on third-and-6 with 3:50 left, All-Pro edge rusher Nick Bosa overpowered rookie Kelvin Banks to crumple Rattler Then, on fourth-and-2 with 1:03 left, Bryce
Huff quickly beat Taliese Fuaga to strip Rattler of the football, leading to a 49ers recovery “Really, we couldn’t even get the play started,” Moore said. The fumble, Rattler’s sixth in nine career games, was the play that sealed New Orleans’ loss. The Saints’ biggest problems, though, came well before that. Before their first touchdown to cut San
Francisco’s lead to 9-7, the Saints’ first four possessions resulted in a 40-yard field goal and three punts. Rattler missed an easy-looking, wide-open touchdown to Chris Olave on the first drive, too.
There was no more inexplicable problem than Jones. Too often on Sunday, the 27-year-old resembled the intriguing prospect that was drafted 15th overall in 2021 rath-
er than the bust who flamed out of New England, struggled as a backup in Jacksonville and landed with San Francisco as a reclamation project.
Jones was the quarterback responsible for the Saints’ last shutout in 2023, when he played so poorly the Patriots benched him en route to a 34-0 loss. But on Sunday, Jones executed all the hallmarks of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense. He thrived on rollouts, was accurate on quick throws and even made plays with his feet.
“He did a hell of a job,” Shannahan said.
Jones created separation in pivotal moments, keeping the Saints at bay Just before halftime, the fourth-year signal-caller hit seven of his nine passes and found running back Christian McCaffrey for a 7-yard touchdown to give the 49ers a 16-7 lead. Then, in what proved to be the deciding score, Jones helped the 49ers take advantage of a rare Alvin Kamara fumble by hitting Jauan Jennings on a 42-yard touchdown across the middle of the field — on third-and-11, no less.
The Saints, even with another scored touchdown, couldn’t close the gap. And now, with road trips to face the Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills on deck, who knows when their first win will finally come.
“We have to grow from this,” Moore said.
Email Matthew Paras at
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Saints tight end Juwan Johnson catches the ball for a touchdown in front of San Francisco 49ers safety Marques Sigle in the first half of their game on Sunday at the Caesars
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara fumbles the ball as San Francisco 49ers safety Ji’Ayir Brown defends during the second half of their game Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.
49ERS26, SAINTS
THREEAND OUT: RODWALKER’STOP THREETAKEAWAyS FROM SAINTS LOSS TO 49ERS
DEFENSIVEWOES
1
If youhad told me before the game that aMac Jones-led offense would hang 26 points on this Saints defense, Iwould have said “no way.”The bread and butter of these Saints is supposed to be their defense.With the 49ers missing both starting quarterback Brock Purdyand tight end GeorgeKittle, this was agame where the defense could perhapsfeast. The Saints’ Dletting the 49ers respond to atouchdown in the secondquarter was akiller.The third-down defense wasn’t good, either (the 49ers converted on 8 of 15).The defense boweduplate to givethe offense achance, but asking the Saints to score more than 26 points isa tallask.
DUNCAN
Continued from page1C
the end, but overall,their effortswerefutile —and not nearly enough to overcome their lack of talent, experience and execution.
“You have to play cleaner football,” Moore said. “You have to clean your own house in all three phases. We have to do more of what winning football teams do.”
The Saints have now lost five consecutive home games dating back to last season. Theyhaven’twon in New Orleans since Week 11 of last year on Nov.11, 2024.
No wonder so many Saints fans elected to skip the game and sell their tickets on the secondary market. The lower bowlof the Superdome had anoticeable scarlet red hue to it Sunday as Niners fans took overthe stadiumdown the stretch. Week 2might seem early to be throwing in the towel, but Saints fans are understandably trying to secure areturn on their investment where they can.
“There’spain with losing another (close) one,” Moore said. “It hurts when you lose games like this, and that’show it’ssupposed to feel. There’snofeel-good moments out this.”
Sunday’sloss should serve as awake-up call for anyone who might have deluded themselves into believing Mooreand Rattler might defy preseason predictions and ambush the league the way Sean Payton and Drew Brees did in 2006.
Back-to-back home losses to the Cardinals and 49ers —two winnable games againstbeatable and vulnerable opponents —only confirmed the dire forecasts from experts across the league. The Saints look like ateam that’salong way away from beingcompetitive
“I feel like we took astep(in theright direction),” Moore said. “We’ve just got to play at ahigher level.”
Such aprospect seems dubious at this point. The Saints have lost 14 of their last 17 games overall and 15 of their last 20 one-score games. That’snot bad luck. That’swhat stock analystscall amarket indicator
And with adaunting two-game road trip on deck, there is little reason to believe things will turn around in the weeks ahead. The Saints must fly from one corner of the country to the other while playing in two of the most hostile environments in the league. Seattle and Buffalo are acombined 3-1 and look like bona fide playoff contenders.
An 0-4 start doesn’tjust seem possible. It seems likely
“I wouldn’tsay the vibes are down at all,” Rattler said.“All these games come down to the little details. We’vegot to keep harping on those details. We’ve got alot ahead of us.”
That might not be agood thing the way the seasonhas started.
Normally,NFL seasonstend to fly by Week 1kicks off, and you look up andit’s December.That doesn’tfeel likethe case this year If the first two games are any indication, this season feels like aslog.
Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@theadvocate.com.
RATTLER REVIEW
2
Spencer Rattler’sstartwasn’tgreat. He completed just one of his first sevenpass attempts. Included in that slowstartiswhat shouldhavebeen an easy touchdown to Chris Olave, but Rattler’spass was behind Olaveinthe endzone.But eventually Rattler gotgoing,completing 14 consecutive passes at one point. He also had acoupleofkey runs for firstdowns.yeah, he missedsomethrows along the way. Hisprogression, though, fromwhere he was as arookie to where he is now, is noticeable. He completed 25 of 34 passes for206 yards and 3touchdowns.The Saintscan win gameswith Rattler at quarterback, but theywill need to playmuchbetter in otherareas.
3
DOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE?
Remember when the Superdome was intimidating? It isn’t now, and it definitely wasn’t on Sunday.The place wasa seaof49ers red Whenthe 49ersscoredtheir firsttouchdown,you would have thought the Saints had scored based on howloud it was.The Saints have nowlost five straight homegames. The last time they lost five straight homegames was in 2005, which deserves an asterisk considering those gamesweren’t in the Dome.Thelast timetheylost five in arow in this building was at theend of the 1994 and beginning of the 1995 season.The twolossestostart this season came against twobeatable teams,especially sincethe 49erswerewithout Purdy.
‘GOT TO GET
BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer
It was aone-score game earlyin the fourth quarter,and theNew Orleans Saints defense had aprime opportunity to give theiroffense ashot at ago-ahead drive.
And thenSan Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones stepped up into aclean pocket and threaded the needleinthe New Orleans Cover 2zone on third-and-11,dropping a pass behind the linebackers to Jauan Jennings, who took it to the house for a42-yard touchdown.
It wasthe lastand biggestblow the 49ers landed against the Saints defense on crucial third-down plays in the Saints’ 26-21 loss. At thepoint Jones and Jennings connected, San Francisco had converted eight of its 12 thirddowns.
Four of those conversions, including theJenningstouchdown, came when the 49ers faceda thirdand-10orlonger. That is coming on the heels of aperformance against theArizona CardinalsinWeek1 in which the Saints allowed Arizona to convert third downs of 10, 11 and 12 yards.
“Weare giving up waytoo much in that situation,” head coach Kellen Moore said.
“We’re doing such agreat job on first andsecond(down), andweget into these third-and-8-pluses, and they’re finding these windows and completing throws,” linebacker Pete Werner said. “That’s unacceptable.”
The inability to getoff thefieldon third down was morepronounced in Sunday’sloss to SanFrancisco because of theplayoutcomes: Each of Jones’ threetouchdown passes came
Email Luke Johnsonat ljohnson@theadvocate.com. Thirddownprovedtobedifferencebetween
when the 49erswereinthird down.
The first was athird-and-short where Jones kept the ball, rolledto his left and found an open Luke Farrell in the flat. Farrell broke through apoorAlontae Taylortackleattempt for an 11-yard score.
With seconds remaining in the firsthalf, Jonesagain steppedup into aclean pocket andfound running back ChristianMcCaffrey on an out-breaking routefor a7-yard touchdown on third-and-6.
Thecommon threadonmost of the conversions seemed to be New Orleans’ difficulties generating pressure on Jones. Carl Granderson sacked him twice in thefirst half, and Chris Rumph showed great hustle on astrip sack that set up aSaints touchdown, but Jones otherwise had aclean pocket to operate inside for much of thegame.
“Wehavetobeable to affect the quarterback,” said defensive end Cam Jordan. “Weknew we had to gethim off thespot. He was able to …get the ball out as fastashe could.”
Jones was a2022 first-round pick of theNew England Patriots,but Sunday’sgame was his debut for the 49ers. He played becausethe usual starter,Brock Purdy,missedthe game with toe and shoulder injuries.
Before his arrivalinSan Francisco, Jones’ star had dimmed considerably sincehis strong rookie season. But against the Saints, Jones compiled a113.1 passer rating and carrieda 49ersoffense that managed just 77 yards on the ground.
“This is thepros, andit’sthe pros for areason,”linebacker Demario Davis said. “The guys who come off the benchare very good players;
they can gethot and do good things just like starters, and he did that today.”
New Orleans came intothe game figuring theSan Franciscooffense wasnot going to change much despite the stylistic differences between Jonesand themoremobile Purdy.Thatmeanta lotofquick passes that attacked the middle of the field.
After the game, Saints players saidthey saw what they figured they were going to see with Jones in the lineup, and they didn’tsee their failuresasa defensive game plan issue. Werner said he believed the Saintswereinthe right coverages to answerwhatSan Franciscowas doing, but the players didn’talways execute the coverages properly
“Wejust weren’tinthe right spots,” Werner said. “Wecould’ve anticipated alot better.I don’tthink it had anything to do with the game plan, the rush plan; Ithink that was all great. Ijust think we’ve got to do better.”
The Saints ultimately did get some third-downstops —Jones threw third-down incompletions to end consecutive drives in the fourth quarter,giving the Saints achance at twogo-ahead drives late in the game. But the damage had already been done.
“The NFL, morethan anything else,issituational football,” safety Justin Reid said. “Wegave ourselves phenomenal position, winning first and second down. And it’sjust about winning third down. Gottoget off the field.”
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
San Francisco 49erswide receiver Jauan Jennings catches the ball over Saints linebackerPete Werner fora touchdownduring the second half of their game Sundayatthe Caesars Superdome.
NFL ROUNDUP
Browning relieves injured Burrow as Bengals win
By The Associated Press
CINCINNATI Jake Browning
passed for 241 yards in relief of the injured Joe Burrow and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard sneak with 18 seconds remaining as the Cincinnati Bengals rallied for a 31-27 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday Burrow, a former LSU standout, suffered a left toe injury in the first half and did not return, an ominous sign for the Bengals and their franchise quarterback
“It’s tough right now We’re going to be OK. He’s a strong guy,” wide receiver Tee Higgins said. “We look forward to seeing what the results are.”
Burrow was 7 of 13 for 76 yards and a touchdown before being injured. The sixth-year quarterback left after he was sacked by Arik Armstead with 9:02 remaining in the second quarter It was the Jaguars’ second sack of Burrow Browning completed 21 of 32 passes with two touchdowns and three interceptions. His best throw was a 42-yard touchdown to Tee Higgins in the fourth quarter that made it 24-24. On thirdand-5, Higgins got separation from Tyson Campbell and caught the ball at the Jacksonville 16. Campbell and teammate Andrew Wingard ran into each other at the 11, allowing Higgins to waltz into the end zone.
“I know it wasn’t my best game, but we won, so Sundays are happy,” Browning said. “But come Monday, we’ll come in and get better.”
COWBOYS 40, GIANTS 37: In Arlington, Texas, Brandon Aubrey kicked a 46-yard field goal on the final play of overtime after a tying 64-yarder to end regulation, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants in a thrilling duel between star quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson. The Cowboys (1-1) extended their winning streak against the NFC East rivals to nine games — the longest active streak in the NFL among division opponents and Prescott beat the Giants (02) for the 14th consecutive time since losing both starts against them as a rookie in 2016 Wilson was 30 of 41 while finish-
ing with the second-most passing yards of his 14-year career Prescott was 38 of 52 for 361 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
SEAHAWKS 31, STEELERS 17: In Pittsburgh, George Holani pounced on a live ball in the end zone for an improbable touchdown, and the Seattle Seahawks took advantage of sloppy play by the Pittsburgh Steelers to pull off a surprise win.
The Seahawks had taken a 3-point lead early in the fourth quarter on Jason Myers’ 54-yard field goal when the ensuing kickoff bounced over the hands of Steelers rookie Kaleb Johnson and into the end zone.
While Johnson turned his back and walked toward the bench, Holani raced to the end zone and fell on the ball just before it rolled out of bounds to give the Seahawks (11) a 24-14 lead. That was enough on a day Aaron Rodgers and the rest of Pittsburgh’s offense delivered a dud in the Steelers’ home opener
RAMS 33, TITANS 19: In Nashville, Tennessee the Los Angeles Rams clicked into high gear when they had to, scoring 20 straight points to spoil rookie Cam Ward’s NFL home opener
Matthew Stafford threw for 298
yards and two touchdowns and the Rams beat the Tennessee Titans.
Wide receiver Puka Nacua also ran 45 yards for a touchdown and had 91 yards receiving. Davante Adams had 106 yards receiving and a touchdown catch. Joshua Karty also kicked two field goals.
BILLS 30, JETS 10: In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Josh Allen’s nose might have taken the biggest hit by the Buffalo Bills against the New York Jets.
The defending NFL MVP shook off a bloody nose that sidelined him for two plays, James Cook ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns and the Bills cruised to a victory
With the game well in hand and the Bills leading 30-3 with 8:23 left, Allen came out and Trubisky finished. Allen was 14 of 25 for 148 yards and ran for 59 yards on six carries.
PATRIOTS 33, DOLPHINS 27: In Miami Gardens, Florida, Antonio Gibson’s 90-yard score helped the Patriots beat the Dolphins for New England coach Mike Vrabel’s first win as coach of the team he starred for as a player
Second-year quarterback Drake Maye threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another to help lead the Patriots top their AFC
East rival for the first time since 2022. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson finished with 142 total yards — five catches for 88 yards and 11 carries for 54. Maye completed 19 of 23 passes for 230 yards. He had an 8-yard TD pass to former Dolphin Mack Hollins and a 16-yard scoring toss to Kayshon Boutte.
RAVENS 41, BROWNS 17: In Baltimore, Lamar Jackson threw four touchdown passes and Baltimore’s defense harassed Joe Flacco throughout his return to Charm City as the Ravens dispatched the Cleveland Browns.
After blowing a 15-point, fourthquarter lead at Buffalo last weekend, Baltimore was up by 10 with 15 minutes to play against the Browns before scoring 21 straight points to turn a tedious divisional struggle into a rout.
The Ravens (1-1) managed only 81 yards of offense in the first half, and four of their five touchdowns were scored either by the defense or with the benefit of a short field.
LIONS 52, BEARS 21: In Detroit, Jared Goff threw for 334 yards and matched a career high with five touchdown passes, including a career-high three scores to Amon-Ra St. Brown, to help Detroit bounce back with a win over the Chicago Bears.
The Lions (1-1) dropped the opener at Green Bay and displayed resilience as they have consistently under coach Dan Campbell, avoiding consecutive losses in the regular season over the last 2 1/2 years.
Detroit had more than 500 yards on offense with five passing touchdowns and two scores on the ground for the first time in franchise history, and averaged a teamrecord 8.8 yards per play with offensive coordinator John Morton calling plays.
EAGLES 20, CHIEFS 17: In Kansas City Missouri, Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley had touchdown runs, and Andrew Mukuba came up with a big fourth-quarter interception of Patrick Mahomes, helping the Eagles to a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of a Super Bowl that Philadelphia won in a rout.
Hurts threw for just 101 yards and Barkley was held to 88 rush-
SCOREBOARD
2OT
49, Fayetteville St.
Northeastern
Virginia
Erskine
S.
Bethune-Cookman
SE Louisiana 56, MVSU 3 Southern Miss. 38, Appalachian St. 22 Tennessee Tech 72, Davidson 14 Tulane 34, Duke 27 UAB 31, Akron 28 Vanderbilt 31, South Carolina 7 Virginia 55, William & Mary 16 Weber St. 42, McNeese St. 41 West Georgia 35, ETSU 31 MIDWEST Ball St. 34, New Hampshire 29 Bowling Green 23, Liberty 13 Buffalo 31, Kent St. 28 Butler 16, Hanover 7 Cincinnati 70, Northwestern St. 0 Illinois 38, W. Michigan 0 Illinois St. 42, E. Illinois 30 Iowa 47, Umass 7 Michigan 63, Cent. Michigan 3 Michigan St. 41, Youngstown St. 24 Missouri 52, Louisiana-Lafayette 10 N. Dakota St. 41, SE Missouri 14 N. Iowa 17, E. Washington 14 Nebraska 59, Houston Christian 7 Ohio St. 37, Ohio 9 Oregon 34, Northwestern 14 S. Dakota St. 37, Drake 21 SMU 28, Missouri St. 10 South Dakota 24, N. Colorado 17, OT Southern Cal 33, Purdue 17 St. Thomas (Minn.) 20, N. Michigan 7 Texas A&M 41, Notre Dame 40 Toledo 60, Morgan St.
Punts 5-43.4 7-50.429 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 7-57 7-68 Time of Possession 37:46 22:14
x-Indiana 24 20 545 6 Washington 16 28 364 14 Connecticut 11 33 .250 19 Chicago 10 34 227 20
WESTERN CONFERENCE WLPctGB
ing, but the Eagles (2-0) defense stepped up, carrying them to their seventh straight win and 17th in a span of 18 games. They held the Chiefs to 294 yards, stopped them once on fourth down and came away with the only turnover at a pivotal point in the game. Mahomes had just 187 yards passing, once again struggling to find open playmakers without suspended wide receiver Rashee Rice and injured teammate Xavier Worthy Mahomes did have 66 yards and a touchdown on the ground but the two-time MVP didn’t get much help from anyone else as the Chiefs fell to 0-2 for the first time since the 2014 season.
CARDINALS 27, PANTHERS 22: In Glendale, Arizona, Josh Sweat had a strip-sack that led to an early defensive touchdown, Calais Campbell had a sack with 26 seconds left in the game to turn back a frantic Carolina rally and the Arizona Cardinals beat the Panthers.
Carolina trailed 27-3 with 9:23 left in the third quarter, but Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes in the second half to lead a comeback attempt. The third touchdown, a 1-yard throw to Hunter Renfrow, cut the margin to 27-22 with 1:58 left.
Young finished with a career-high 328 yards passing, completing 35 of 55 passes, but he missed on all seven of his throws on the final drive.
COLTS 29,BRONCOS 28: In Indianapolis, Indiana, Spencer Shrader made a 45-yard field goal with no time left after the Broncos were penalized for leverage on his missed 60yard try and the Indianapolis Colts beat Denver for their first 2-0 start since 2009.
Trailing by two with 3:15 left, the Colts played conservatively on their final drive, with Jonathan Taylor running the ball seven times and Daniel Jones throwing only one pass. Those plays netted 26 yards and set up Shrader’s attempt from the Colts logo at midfield that missed short and right. Jones went 23 of 34 for 316 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a 1-yard run in his second start with the Colts. It was his first 300-yard game since throwing for 321 yards on Sept. 17, 2023, for the New York Giants.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEFF DEAN
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning, right, is hugged by tight end Noah Fant after Browning’s rushing touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in Cincinnati
DIGITAL DISCIPLE
Awildlypopular 15-year-oldcomputerwhizis becoming theCatholicChurch’s fi
BY JESSIEWARDARSKI and NICOLE WINFIELD AssociatedPress
More research to be done on lithiumas possible treatment
Is lithium atreatment forAlzheimer’s disease?
Lithium is nature’slightest metal, enabling it to store energy at high density and discharge electrons rapidly.It powers our phones, laptops and electric vehicles. Probably less well-knownis that the original formulation of the softdrink 7UP contained lithium and wasmarketed under the nameBib-lable lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. The lithium was removed in 1948 after the Food and Drug Administration banned the lithium citrate in softdrinks.
Another form of lithium, lithium carbonate, has been widely prescribed in the treatment of bipolar disorder in the United States, and wasfirst approved by the FDA in 1970. This form of lithium is believed to be a mood stabilizer and can also be prescribed for long-term treatment of depression.
The specific mechanism of lithium carbonate is not known, but it is believed to suppress stress in the brain and helps restore neuroplasticity —the brain’sability to change and adapt as we get older
CHICAGO At aCatholic school in PopeLeo XIV’shometown, fifth graders read comic books about Carlo Acutis’ lifetitled “Digital Disciple.”They draw pictures of what theteenageItalian computer whiz might have had as hiscellphone wallpaper.They discussthe miracles that allegedlyoccurred thanks to Acutis’ intercession In the lead-up toAcutis’ canonization on Sunday,it’sall Acutis, all the time at the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parishand schoolinChicago. The parish was the first in the United States to take its name from Acutis, who died in 2006atage 15 and is about to become history’s first millennial saint. In recent years, Acutishas shot to nearrock star-like fame among many young Catholics, generating aglobalfollowing the likes of which the Catholic Church hasn’t seen in ages. Much of thatpopularity is thanks to aconcertedcampaign by the Vatican to givethe next generation of faithful arelatable, modern-day role model, an ordinary kid who used his technological talents to spread the faith. He’s notatoweringworld figure like Mother Teresa or St.John Paul II, butrathera “saint next door,” said the Rev. Ed Howe, thepastor at BlessedCarlo Acutis Parish in Chicago’sNorthwest Side.
alongside another popular Italian, Pier GiorgioFrassati, whoalso died young. Both ceremonies had been scheduledfor earlierthis year,but were postponedfollowing PopeFrancis’ deathinApril.
It was Francis who had fervently willedthe Acutis sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises andperils of the digital age.
Acutis was precociouslysavvy with computers long before the social mediaera, reading college-level textbooks on programming and coding as ayoungsterand making websites that at thetime were the domain of professionals. But he limited himself to an hour of video games aweek, apparently deciding long before TikTok that human relationships were farmore importantthan virtual ones.
“He’ssomeone who Ithink alot of young people today say,‘Icould be the saint next door,’”Howe said. Pope LeoXIV’s firstcanonization Leo, aChicago native, will declareAcutisasaint on Sunday in his first canonization ceremony,
“Carlo was well awarethat the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be usedtolull us, to make us addicted to consumerism andbuyingthe latest thingonthe market,”Francis wroteina2019
According to Mark Johnson, aWashington Post contributor, astudy written in NATURE recently found that the loss of lithium,anaturally occurring element in the brain, could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease as well as apowerful driver of the disease. Alzheimer’sdisease affects morethan 7million Americans today
In the article, Johnson wrote that the study,led by Bruce A. Yankner,aprofessor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School, found that lithium is important to the health of all the major types of brain cells in mice. Depletionof lithium in the brain also seems to be afactor in almost all of the major deterioration that occurs with Alzheimer’sdisease.
“Lithium hasbeen around for decades andwehavealot of evidencesupporting its use,” notesElizabeth Hoge,aprofessorofpsychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine
“It does help patients. We know thatitworks fromrandomized, controlledtrials.
Lithium had been reviewed previously as apotential Alzheimer’streatment and antiaging medication. A2017 study in Denmark found that the presence of lithium in drinking water might be linked to a lower incidence of dementia in the population.
Yankner becameinterested in the study of lithium after measuring the levels of 30 different metals in the brain and blood of people whowere 1) cognitively healthy,2)people in the very early stage of dementia, and 3) people with full-blownAlzheimer’sdisease. Only lithium,out of all the 30 metals measured, changed significantly among the three groups. Additionally,Yankner found that small amounts of lithium wereable to reverse a
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOSByJESSIEWARDARSKI
StudentsofSt. John Berchmans’school walk past aphoto of Blessed Carlo Acutis,who will be canonized asaint by Pope Leo XIV,afterMassatBlessedCarlo Acutis Parish in Chicago.
Ultrasound mayhelpdiagnoseradialnerve compression
Dear Doctors: I’m having radial nerve problems whenever Iuse my triceps, like pushing thelawn mower,opening doors or pushing up from the recliner.It’smaking my thumb and pointer finger very weak. An ultrasounddidn’t show any nerve compression.If compression happens only when Iflex the muscle, does that mean it won’tshow on adiagnostic workup?
Dear reader: Theradial nerve weaves its way from just below the armpit, through the elbow joint and down the length of the forearm. It animates the triceps, the muscle group at the back of the upper arm that engages during the pushing and pressing movements you have described. Abranch of the radial nerve continues down through the wrist and into aportion of the hand.It
Dr.Elizabeth Ko
Dr.Eve Glazier
ASK THE DOCTORS
controls extension and flexion of the wrist, thethumb, the index andmiddle fingers, andthe inner halfofthe ring finger.Italso provides sensation to the back of the hand andthose fingers. The meandering path of the radial nerve brings it close to bone, muscles andconnective tissue, makingitvulnerable to compression.This canoccur from overuse, trauma, injury,repeated or sustained pressure, structural
anomalies and inflammatory conditions, suchasarthritis or diabetes. If thenerve is squeezed or trapped by thesurrounding tissues, thepressure can interfere with its ability to function.
The weakness in your thumb and index finger are consistent with radial nerve compression. Additional symptomscan include adull ache in the outer forearm, just below theelbow,and numbness, tingling or aburning sensation in the fingers theradial nerve serves. These may becomeworse at night. More severe compression can cause weakness in the wrist or fingers, and may make it difficult to grip objects, turn the palm upward or perform precision movement. Diagnosis begins with aphysical exam and apatient history,and may include imaging tests, includ-
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document. “Yet he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit theGospel, to communicate values and beauty.”
Leo inherited the Acutis cause, but he too has pointed to technology —especially artificialintelligence—as one of the main challenges facing humanity Afast-tracktosainthood
Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to awealthy butnot particularly observant Catholic family.They moved back to Milan soon after he wasbornand he enjoyed atypical, happy childhood, albeit marked by his increasingly intense religious devotion.
In October 2006,atage 15, he fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which known for its association with another popular saint,St. Francis.
In aremarkably quick process, Acutis was beatified in 2020, and last year Francis approved the second miracle neededfor him to be made asaint.
In the years since his death, young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi, where through aglass-sided tomb they can see the young Acutis, dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and asweatshirt,his hands clasped around arosary.Those who can’tmake it in person can watch the comings and goings on awebcam pointedathis tomb, alevel of internet accessibilitynot afforded even to popes buried in St. Peter’sBasilica.
Theordinary, extraordinary
For his admirers, Acutis was an ordinary kid who did extraordinary things, atypi-
LPB
Continued from page7C
have supported us every step of the way,” said LPB President and CEO Clarence “C.C” Copeland. “Wecould not have reached this moment without the trust of Louisianans, the generosity of oursupporters and the countless stories that unite us.” Throughout the year,the network will offernew documentaries, specials and treasured programs from its archives, along with previews of future stories yet to be told.
cal Milan teen who went to school,played soccer and lovedanimals.But he also brought food to the poor,attendedMass daily and got hisless-than-devout parents backtochurch.
“When Ireadhis story for thefirsttime, it wasjustlike shocking to me,becausefrom avery earlyage, he was just really drawn to Jesus Christ and he would go to Mass all the time,” said Sona Harrison, an eighth grader at the St. John Berchmans’ school, which is part of the Acutis parish. “I feel like he’salot more relatable, and Idefinitely feel like I’m closerto God when Iread about him.”
Acutis earned the nickname “God’sInfluencer,” because he used technology to spread the faith. His most well-known tech legacy is the website he created about socalledEucharistic miracles, available in nearly 20 different languages. The site compilesinformation about the 196 seemingly inexplicable eventsoverthe history of the church relatedtothe Eucharist, which the faithful believe is the body of Christ.
Acutis was known tospend hours in prayer before the Eucharisteach day,apractice known as Eucharistic adoration
“This was thefixedappointment ofhis day,”his mother,Antonia Salzano, saidina documentary that was airing Friday night at the U.S.seminary inRome. Appeal that serves church Kathleen Sprows Cummings, ahistoryprofessor at the UniversityofNotre Dame, said Acutis’enormous popularity was clearly the result of aconcerted church campaign,pushed strongly by his grief-stricken mother.But she said that is nothing new,and that in the 2,000-year historyofthe church,saints have very often been pushed ahead to
Among those shows will be anew documentary on LSU football legend Billy Cannon.
Additional new productionsinclude therecently launched college football series “Game Notes,” “Zydeco Soul,” “The ColfaxMassacre,”“CapturingAmerica: TheCarol HighsmithStory” and the upcoming travel series “LA64.” “‘LA64’ is our chance to share thebeauty,culture, and history of Louisiana, not onlywith our citizens but with audiences acrossthe nation,” said Linda Midgett, executiveproducer of con-
respond to aparticular need at aparticular time.
“It doesn’tdetract from the holiness of theperson being honoredtosay that thereare choices that are made” about which cases move forward, shesaidina phone interview Sprows Cummings said that the Acutis phenomenoncaught on because he’s attractive to both young people and the institutional church, for using technology in apositive way to spread hisprofound beliefinEucharistic miracles at atime when manyCatholicsdon’t believe that Christistruly present in theEucharist
“Canonization is about marketing,” said Sprows Cummings, author of “A Saint of Our Own: Howthe Quest for aHoly Hero Helped Catholics become American.”
“Which stories are going to get told?Who is going to get remembered through this amazinglyefficientway of rememberingholy people?”
Acutisand hisstory are ever-present hereatthe parish named for him.DuringMass this week before thecanonization, students processed into thechapel under an Acutis banner carrying things he might have carried: asoccer ball, laptop and knapsack.
Howe, theparish pastor and priest of the Congregation of the Resurrection, pulled items out of the knapsack to explain Acutis’story to the youngest studentsseated up front: Acan of food he might have given to ahomeless person, aset of rosary beads he might have prayed with.
The message landed.
“He fed thepoor,hecared for thepoor,” said 9-year-old David Cameron, who called Acutis “a great man.” Cameron, afan of Sonic,Minecraft and Halo, also found inspiration in Acutis’ love of video games —and awe at Acutis’restraint.
tentdevelopment at LPB. In addition,aspart of America’s 250th anniversary celebration, LPB Education is creating “Louisiana’sHidden History: How Spanish LouisianaHelpedSecure America’s Freedom,” adigital series of curriculum-aligned resources that will debut on PBS LearningMedia in 2026.
“Louisianaplayed apivotal role in the American Revolution, andthisproject ensures teachers,parents, and studentseverywhere will have theopportunityto learnaboutit,”saidNancy Tooraen, LPB education services director
ing the ultrasound you underwent.
This technique involves adevice thatemitshigh-frequency sound waves that scatter as they enter the body.Asthey encounter solid tissue,the sound wavesbounce, each at aunique frequency based on the type of tissue encountered. On their return journey,the highfrequency waves are converted into electrical impulses, then processed by acomputer and presentedasvisual images.
Because the weakness in your thumband index finger occurs during movements that engage your triceps, ascan knownasdynamic ultrasoundcan be auseful diagnostic tool. Unlike regular ultrasound,which creates static images, this form of the scan allows clinicians to view their patient’sskeletal structures in motion.This, along with significant
advances in image quality,have madedynamic ultrasound an important diagnostic tool formusculoskeletal injuries and nerve impingement or compression. If leftuntreated, the discomfort, weakness and limits to range of motion associated with radial nerve compression can worsen. If nerve damage occurs, they can even becomepermanent. We think it would be wise foryou to ask your doctor about adynamic ultrasound scan. If they are dismissive or resistant, don’thesitate to seek asecond opinion. 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.
Guest’s‘jokes’ fail to land
take it seriously
Dear Miss Manners: My husband and Iregularly host eventsatour home for groups from five to 20 people. We all have awonderful time and enjoy one another’scompany However,there is one guest who always makes an offhand “joke” about somethinginour homeorthe way Irun my kitchen. Things like, “This is the dumbest dish I’ve ever seen,” or “Why do you always do thingsthis way?” She thinksshe’sbeing cute and funny,but Ifind it hurtful
Judith Martin MISS MANNERS
Ipride myself on being agood hostess and providing acomfortable place to let people unwind. Iwork very hard to makemy homeinviting. How can Iapproach this person without seeming rude or insulting? Inever want anyone to feel uncomfortable in my home.
Gentlereader: The way to kill atasteless joke is to
So the answer to the dumb-dish remark is, “I’m so sorry it offends you; let me take it from you.” And to the doing-things-thiswayremark, the response is, “Are you uncomfortable being here? Is something the matter?” The response will be, “I was only joking.” To which you reply,“Oh. What’s the joke?”
Miss Manners promises that you will not have to do this long before you get an exasperated “Oh, never mind.”
Problem solved.
Dear Miss Manners: My husband was invited to the wedding of one of his employees’ sons. The invite was clearly addressed only to him and did not include me. Over the years, my husband and this employee have had issues with their working relationship, which ultimately caused me to stop speaking to her
He does not want to attend the wedding because of the fact that Iwas not on the invitation. How should he respond to this rude situation?
Gentle reader: By saying that he regrets that he is unable to accept their kind invitation. Yes, Miss Manners knowsthat you do not consider it kind. The omission waswrong —whether or not it wasrelated to those altercations —aswas the employee’sfailure to understand that this is not a business occasion. But Miss Manners is trying to keep you from making the working relationship even worse.
Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners. com; to heremail, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
Gettingrid of skunkodors
Dear Heloise: Let’splease talk about how to cleanse animals that get skunked. Ihave seen people’sremedies for removing skunk odors from their animals. At best,most are iffy and take along time to removethe smell. Well, Ihave aproven method.Living in aremote area of Montana, Ifound this out from aCanadian officer whose dog tracked bears: Wash your animal using acommercial douche and alittle dish detergent. It sounds funky,but it works remarkably well. The smell is gone. —NormanG., Cascade, Montana Norman, thank you for
ByThe Associated Press
Hints from Heloise
your hint. There are also bottled skunk odor neutralizers on the market that are sold online and in pet stores as wellassome grocery stores. My own dog gets “skunked” about once amonth (he’ll never learn), and Ispray him with a spray that seemstowork welluntil the next timehe gets “skunked!” —Heloise Openingsafetyseals
DearHeloise: To easily open the freshness/safety seal on jars of peanut butter, vitamins, medicine containers, hand creams, etc., lift up the hard-to-grasp small tabs around the edge of the seal. Then take needle-nose
TODAYINHISTORY
pliers and pull up slowly on the tabs. The seal will open easily and cleanly Ienjoy reading your column and everyone’s hints. —Hannelore R., in Omaha, Nebraska Hannelore, thank you for your hint. Youmentioned one of my favorite tools: needle-nose pliers. Ihave a pair in my kitchen and another pair in my office. It’s surprising how manytimes I’ve used both pairs. When afriend buys a new home, Ilove to give them apair of needle-nose pliers, atape measure and alevel. These three tools will get alot of use in just about any home. —Heloise Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.
Today is Monday, Sept.15, the 258th day of 2025. There are 107 days left in the year
Todayinhistory: On Sept.15, 1963, four Black girls were killed when abomb went off during Sunday services at the 16th Street BaptistChurch in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in theblast.) Also on this date: In 1835, Charles Darwin reached the Galápagos Islands aboard theHMS Beagle.
LITHIUM
Continuedfrom page7C
mouse model of Alzheimer’sdisease and restore brain function.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Lawswere enacted in Nazi Germany,depriving German Jews of their citizenship.
In 1958, acommuter train headed forNew York City plunged into Newark Bay after missing astop signal and sliding off the open NewarkBay lift bridge, killing 48 people.
In 1978, Muhammad Ali became the first boxer to capture the heavyweight title three times, winning by unanimous decision in his rematch with Leon Spinks.
In 2008, as aresult of the subprimemortgage crisis, Lehman Brothers filed for
Yankner states that “things can change as you go from mice to humans,” and thus does not recommendatthis timethat people diagnosed with the disease start taking lithium because its use forAlzheimer’sdisease has not been validated in affected people.
Lithium can be toxic if not used properly.Further, the research is still in the early stages and it is unlikely that atreatment will be available in the near future.
Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’sadvocate and authorof“What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’sDisease.” She hosts “TheMemory Whisperer.” Email her at thememorywhisperer@ gmail.com.
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By JESSIE WARDARSKI
Alex Miller,a fifth-grade student at St. John Berchmans’ school in Chicago, draws apicture of Blessed Carlo Acutis, whowill be canonized asaint by Pope Leo XIV
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Plan with care andresponsibility. Establish abudget andexplore innovative ways to achieve your goals. Thesupport you drum up will encourage you to claim aposition thatallows youtocallthe shots.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Slowdown:take abreather andreconfigureyour routine to suit your well-being. Live lifeto accommodate what's importanttoyou andyou will discover thehappinessyou deserve.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Volunteer and raise your qualifications to match your demands. It's time for afresh perspective andtoshoot forthe stars. Trust your instincts; be bold andact.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Be careful who you let influence you. The input you receive from lovedoneswill be in your best interest. Listenand act accordingly to avoid poor choices.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Put your head down, focus on what youmust do and refuse to let anything getinyour way. Your reputation is at stake,so move forward with pride and dignity, and leavenothing to chance.
AQUARIUS (Jan.20-Feb. 19) Putmore energy into the things that makeyou happy. Seta budgetthatcan sustain the lifestyle youdesire. Timeisprecious, andbeing able to accommodate your dreams is the wayforward
PISCES (Feb.20-March 20) Keep your money in asafeplace. Peopleyou encounter today will be eager to take
advantage of you, and others will inspire youtotakecontrol of your life andprospects.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Look at every angle and pushyourself above and beyond the call of duty, andwhattranspireswillhelp you fulfill yourgoals. You can dream, but it's your actions that will make the difference.
TAURUS (April20-May 20) Tap into your emotionsand broaden your awareness regarding what's importanttoyou. Dealing with friends,family and colleagues can be overwhelming due to inconsistencies or inflated facts
GEMINI(May 21-June 20) Do your best to keep up. Askquestions,show interest and maintain good relationships. Being well connected help yousucceed when opportunities arise.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) Set higher expectations and useyour skills differently to suit each task you pursue. Ingenuity will getyou where youwant to go. Be bold; believe in yourself and your ability to thrive.
LEO(July 23-Aug. 22) Makechoices that align with how you envision your life unfolding. Incorporate alifestyle change thatfocuses on health and wellbeing. Takecare of yourself instead of burning out.
Cipher cryptogramsare created fromquotations by famous people, pastand present.Each letter in the cipher stands foranother.
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 same number only once. 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 PHILLIPALDER Bridge
Henny Youngman said, “I bet on a horse at 10 to one. It didn’t come in until half-past five.”
Bridge defendersmusttimegetting the tricks that they need to defeat the contract before the declarer has won the numberthatherequires In this deal, the defenders require five tricks to beat threespades. West leads the heart ace. What should happen after that?
West doubled on thesecond round to show five hearts, four diamonds and extra values.(To bidthreediamonds would have guaranteed afive-card suit.)
Northraisedspades to indicateapromising hand, but South had nothing to spare, andthose threelow heartswereawarning bell.
Underthe heart ace, East signals with his 10, starting ahigh-low (echo) with a doubleton. Now West can seefour defensivetricksviathespadeaceandthreetop hearts, but where is the fifth winner?
Next, West should consider thehighcard points.After checking the dummy andhis hand, he sees thereare only 11 points missing. Southmust have most or allofthemfor his advance at the twolevel, whichI think should be forcing by an unpassed hand. If East and West cannotget another side-suit trick, they must collect asecondtrump trick.
West should cash the heartking to con-
wuzzles
firm East’s doubleton, then shift to his singleton club. South will wininhis hand andplaya trump, but West takes the trickand continues with his heart two, thelowestcard beingasuit-preferencesignal.Eastruffs and returns aclub, which West ruffs for down one.
Each Wuzzle is awordriddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
INstRuctIoNs: 1. Words mustbeoffour or moreletters. 2. Words that acquire four letters
or “dies,”are not allowed. 3. Additional
a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper
or sexually explicit words are not allowed.
toDAY’s WoRD uPsILoN: OOP-sih-lon: The20th letter of the Greek alphabet.
Average mark 14
Time
Canyou
sAtuRDAY’s WoRD —NItRIFIEs
marmaduKe
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles
Forfive decades, Arthur Hardyhas been our neighbor,our guide,and the keeper of our Carnival memories. From his Gentilly kitchen table in 1977 to receiving the keytothe city in 2024,Hardy transformed himself from aBrother Martin banddirector into theman all about MardiGras. Hisannual guidehas reached over 3million readers, butfor us locals, Arthur is family,the trusted voice whogets it right,who rodewithRex after documenting themfor decades, whostoodwithusthroughthe police strikeof’79,Katrina’saftermath, andevery magical momentinbetween. This 112-pagecelebration bringstogether the stories onlyArthur could tell,filled with photographsthatcapture the paradesyou remember,the krewesyou cheered for,and the moments thatmadeyou proud to be apart of MardiGras. ArthurHardyhas preservedthe soul of what makes us NewOrleanians, makingthisthe perfectholiday gift for anyone whobleeds the purple,green andgold of MardiGras. Books ship in time for holidaygift-giving!
