“All Chuck Schumer needs to do is getover the tantrum that he’shaving with the results of the election from November,and vote yes to keep the government open.”
HOUSE MAJORITy
LEADER STEVE SCALISE, R-Jefferson
BY MARKBALLARD and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers
WASHINGTON —Congressional party leaders spent muchofWednesday,the firstday of agovernment shutdown, pointing the finger at each other and sayingthey did not know just how long some government services will remain closed.
Republican House leaders
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson— spentmuchof the day talking to the media. But real action, or lack thereof, wasin theSenate.The House last month passeda resolution, on alargely party-line vote, to authorize government spending past the Sept. 30 deadlinetoNov.21. For the third time Wednesday morning, the Senate rejected the
“continuing resolution”ona vote of 55-45. Sixty votes are needed for passage of financialinstruments, andRepublicans hold only 53 seats in the Senate.
“Weneedahandful of Democrats to joinRepublicans to reopen the government and once we do that, then we can talkabout theissues that Democratsare raising,” SenateMajority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said before thevote.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the only reason the government shutdown is “because Republicans refuse to negotiate.”
“All ChuckSchumer needsto do is get over the tantrumthat he’s having with theresults of the election from November,and vote yes to keep thegovernment open,”
ä See SHUTDOWN, page 13A
“What should be happening is negotiation, but that’snot happening yet.”
U.S. REP CLEO FIELDS, D-Baton Rouge
jobs by 2027
Rise in construction projects couldcontribute to growth
BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer
Thanks to industrial construction in Ascension Parish, Baton Rouge is forecast to be thethirdfastest growing metro area in Louisiana over the next twoyears. The region is projected to add 10,500 jobs in 2026 and 11,100 jobs in 2027, according to economist Loren Scott’sLouisiana Economic Forecast. Scott said morethan $20 billion in projects are in motion; most are in Ascension Parish, home of the 17,000-acre RiverPlex MegaPark, amixed-use development on thewestbankofthe parish bordering the Mississippi River Scott, the president of Loren C. Scott&Associates,presentedthe report Wednesday at theGreater Baton Rouge BusinessReport’s Louisiana Business Symposium. The report states that Baton Rouge’snonfarm employment growth has been upward and steady since 1990, barring adrop during the pandemic.
Scott
“You don’tprobably realize how fortunate you aretobeoperating here,” Scott said at the symposium With aprojected 5% increase in jobs, the Capital Region ranks third in the state for percentage growth, behind Lake Charles and Monroe, which are tied for first, but notches the top spot in absolute growth.
The RiverPlex MegaPark development will be anchored by the $5.8 billion Hyundai steel mill project, for which Gov. Jeff Landry and AscensionParish officials committed$600millionto upgrade the MegaPark land with awastewater treatment plant, road and rail updates and land purchases. The project will create 1,300 direct jobs. Otherprojects at theMegaParkinclude CF Industries’ $4 millionblue ammonia plant and Linde’s$400 million air separation unit. Entergy is spending nearly half abillion dollars on its Commodore substation in Iberville Parish, which will connect twovoltage systems to help power the MegaPark projects.
Roger Williams spent many long days in the state Capitol this year, taking time offworkand away
from his children to plead his case to lawmakers. He testified repeatedly that privatepreschools,like the one where he says hisdaughter was harmed by another student, must be better regulated.
But when Williamsreturned to the Capitol in August, it was to celebrate.
“Wedid it,” he told achild abuse
task force after the legislation he’d championed, Act 409, had been signed into law.“This law is not just words on paper —it’sa shield forLouisiana’schildren.”
The sweeping 32-page law regulates hiring and training, child supervision and abusereporting at day cares and preschools. It requires pre-Kprogramsatprivate
schools toobtain aday care center license —a lengthy process involving background checks and site inspections —and allows families to suefor damages if their children are abused at school.
Advocates like Williamstout the law,which thestate Legislature passed unanimously this year,asa major victory forchild safety and
school accountability. But critics callthe regulationsexcessive and unnecessary given private schools’ existing safety protocols and warn that tuition might rise to offset the costs of compliance, including extra teachers, background checks and facility upgrades.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
The West Lawn of theCapitol and
Mall stretch into the distance as seen from theterrace of theCapitol on the first dayofagovernment shutdown on Wednesday
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS
Activists: Israeli navy intercepts aid flotilla
JERUSALEM Activists on board
a flotilla of vessels sailing toward Gaza said late Wednesday that the Israelinavyhadinterceptedthree of its boats as they approached the besieged Palestinian territory. Israeli authorities said the activists on board, including Greta Thunberg, were safe and being transferred to Israel.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, composed of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists, was carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Sirius, Alma and Adara boats were intercepted some 80 miles from the coast of Gaza, according to organizers who shared live positions of the flotilla. The group, which includes Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau and several European lawmakers, said it remained undeterred in its mission to break the Israeli blockade and bring aid to Palestinians
6 homes collapse into the Outer Banks surf
Six unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks have collapsed into the ocean as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumble in the Atlantic, the latest private beachfront structures to fall as sea levels rise due to global warming Five of the homes once propped on high stilts, collapsed Tuesday afternoon in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the National Park Service. A sixth in Buxton collapsed overnight, the park service said on its website No injuries had been reported Tuesday, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media.
Oktoberfest reopens after bomb threat
MUNICH The Oktoberfest fairgrounds closed for several hours Wednesday as police conducted a security sweep of the famed beer festival due to a bomb threat by a suspect linked to an explosion across town in northern Munich. Police in Bavaria, the state where Munich is located, said the suspect was believed to be a 57-year-old German citizen who, according to preliminary findings, had died by suicide near a lake in northern Munich.
The Oktoberfest grounds were reopened after police determined that the bomb threat linked to the suspect “was not confirmed,” Munich police said on the X platform. The suspect, who had been living in the town of Starnberg south of the city, had been carrying a backpack containing an explosive device, a Bavaria police statement said earlier
Hunter S. Thompson’s death to be reviewed ASPEN, Colo. — Investigators in Colorado are reviewing the 2005 shooting death of journalist Hunter S. Thompson, which was ruled a suicide, authorities said.
There’s no new evidence suggesting foul play Thompson’s death, but the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office requested the review at the behest of Thompson’s widow, Anita Thompson, the Sheriff’s Office and Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Tuesday Investigators are committed to answering any “lingering questions” surrounding his death, Sheriff Michael Buglione said.
St. Thérèse’s relics begin tour of U.S ROYAL OAK, Mich. The sacred bones of a much-loved French Carmelite nun began a tour of the U.S. on Wednesday at a parish named in her honor A reliquary containing some of St. Thérèse’s remains will be on display through Oct. 8, before moving on to California. Other stops on the tour, which runs into December, are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
The National Shrine was founded in 1926, as one of the nation’s first parishes dedicated to the memory of the saint born Thérèse Martin and who died of tuberculosis in 1897 at age 24.
Israel tells Palestinians to evacuate Gaza City
Official: Those who stay will be considered militants
BY WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City saying it was their “last opportunity” and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive.
At least 21 Palestinians were killed across the territory, according to local hospitals, as Hamas weighed a new proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war and returning the remaining captives taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it.
A senior Hamas official told The Associated Press that there are some points in the proposal that are unacceptable and must be amended, without elaborating.
He said the official response will only come after consultations with other Palestinian factions Around 400,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive last month aimed at oc-
cupying it, but hundreds of thousands remain, many because they cannot afford to leave or are too weak to make the journey to tent camps in the south.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X. “Those who remain in Gaza will be (considered) terrorists and terror supporters.”
The road south was packed as Palestinians fled, with hastily loaded trucks and cars driving alongside people on foot carrying their belongings.
“We left barefoot,” Hussein alDel said. The Israelis “were striking at random, with no mercy for anyone. We left behind our food, our furniture, blankets, and everything. We left only with our souls,” he said.
At least seven people, including first responders, were killed when two Israeli strikes minutes apart hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Officials there said more than three dozen people were wounded.
Five Palestinians were killed later in a strike on people gath-
ered around a drinking water tank elsewhere in Gaza City, the hospital said. Shifa Hospital said a man was killed in a strike on his apartment. Strikes in central Gaza killed another eight people, according to Al-Awda Hospital.
Another strike hit a tent in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir alBalah, seriously wounding two people, according to hospital officials.
Earlier on Wednesday at the same hospital, dozens of people attended a funeral service for a Palestinian freelance journalist, Yahya Barzaq. He was killed Tuesday along with five other people in an airstrike while working for Turkish broadcast outlet TRT.
More than 189 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Wednesday’s strikes or the strike that killed Barzaq. Israel states it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying its militants are embedded in populated areas.
Indonesian rescuers race to find students in rubble
BY NINIEK KARMINI and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press
SIDOARJO Indonesia Rescue workers continued to search on Wednesday for dozens of missing students suspected of still being buried under the rubble of a collapsed school in the province of East Java.
The death toll following the incident on Monday has risen to six, according to Yudhi Bramantyo, deputy chief of operations at the National Search and Rescue Agency
Five survivors were successfully rescued after a tunnel was dug at the base of the building to their location.
“Their conditions were better as they were detected yesterday They can communicate since yesterday while their bodies are covered by concrete. We have been able to provide food and drink support since yesterday,” Bramantyo said.
Rescuers are racing against the clock in the search for other survivors, with dozens of students still unaccounted for, he added.
The structure fell on top of hundreds of people at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday in a prayer hall at the century-old al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island.
The students were mostly boys in grades seven to 12, between ages 12 and 18. Female students were praying in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said.
Most rescues typically happen within 24 hours after such disasters, with chances of survival decreasing each day after. More than 300 workers continued to work to try and reach those who have been detected to be still alive and
trapped below
“We hope that we can complete this operation soon,” Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters. “We are currently racing against time because it is possible that we can still save lives of those we have detected within the golden hours.”
In a sign of hope, rescuers pulled one boy out alive on Wednesday afternoon, loading him gently onto a stretcher to be taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
Of the approximately 100 injured, more than two dozen are still hospitalized, with many said to have suffered head injuries and broken bones, authorities said.
Before Wednesday’s rescue, Syafii’s agency said at least six children were alive under the rubble, but the search has been complicated with the slabs of concrete and other parts of the building remaining unstable. Heavy equipment is available but is not being used due to concerns that could cause further collapse.
Search for survivors continues after quake
Death toll rises to 69 in Philippines
BY JOEAL CALUPITAN and AARON FAVILA Associated Press
BOGO, Philippines
Rescuers used backhoes and sniffer dogs to look for survivors in collapsed houses and other damaged buildings in the central Philippines on Wednesday, a day after an earthquake killed at least 69 people and injured more than 200 others.
The death toll was expected to rise from the 6.9 magnitude quake that hit at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday and trapped an unspecified number of residents in the hard-hit city of Bogo and outlying rural towns in Cebu province.
Sporadic rain and damaged bridges and roads have hampered the race to save lives, officials said.
On Wednesday night, rescuers in orange and yellow hard hats used spotlights, a backhoe and bare hands to sift through the rubble of concrete slabs, broken wood and twisted iron bars for hours in a collapsed building in Bogo city No survivor was found.
“We’re still in the golden hour of our search and rescue,” Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said in a morning news briefing in Manila, the country’s capital. “There are still many reports of people who were pinned or hit by debris.”
The epicenter of the earthquake, which was set off by movement in an undersea fault line at a dangerously shallow depth of 3 miles, was about 12 miles northeast of Bogo a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province where about half of the deaths were reported, officials said.
The Philippine government is considering whether to seek help from foreign governments based on an ongoing rapid damage assessment, Alejandro said.
The United States, Japan, Australia and the European Union expressed condolences.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEHAD ALSHRAFI
A Palestinian man injured by Israeli artillery fire targeting a group of civilians fleeing from northern Gaza to the south is evacuated Wednesday on a horse-drawn cart.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
Rescuers search for victims Wednesday
Primatologist Jane Goodall, 91, dies
Conservationist renowned for groundbreaking research
BY HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press
Jane Goodall, the intellectual, softspoken conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking, immersive chimpanzee field research in which she documented the primates’ distinct personalities and use of tools, has died. She was 91.
The environmental advocate became a beloved household name who transcended generations through her appearances in documentaries and on television, as well as her travels to address packed auditoriums around the world.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced the primatologist’s death Wednesday in an Instagram post
According to the Washington, D.C.based institute, Goodall died of natural causes while in California on a U.S. speaking tour Her discoveries “revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” it said. While living among chimpanzees in Africa decades ago, Goodall documented them doing activities
previously believed to be exclusive to humans. Her observations and subsequent magazine and documentary appearances in the 1960s transformed how the world perceived not only humans’ closest living biological relatives but also the emotional and social complexity of all animals, while propelling her into the public consciousness.
“Out there in nature by myself, when you’re alone, you can become part of nature and your humanity doesn’t get in the way,” she told The Associated Press in 2021. “It’s almost like an out-of-body experience when suddenly you hear different sounds and you smell different smells and you’re actually part of this amazing tapestry of life.
She had been scheduled to meet with students and teachers on Wednesday to launch the planting of 5,000 trees around wildfire burn zones in the Los Angeles area. Organizers learned of her death as the event was to begin at EF Academy in Pasadena, said spokesperson Shawna Marino. The first tree was planted in Goodall’s name after a moment of silence.
“I don’t think there’s any better way to honor her legacy than having a thousand children gathered for her,” Marino said. Goodall in her later years devoted decades to education and advocacy on humanitarian causes and protecting the natural world. In her usual soft-spoken British accent, she was known for balancing the grim realities of the climate crisis with a sincere message of hope for the future.
From her base in the British coastal town of Bournemouth, she traveled nearly 300 days a year, even after she turned 90, for public speeches Between more serious messages, her speeches often featured her whooping like a chimpanzee or lamenting that Tarzan chose the wrong Jane.
Tributes from animal rights organizations, political leaders and admirers poured in following news of her death.
“I’m deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Jane Goodall, our dear Messenger of Peace. She is leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity & our planet,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres.
While first studying chimps in Tanzania in the early 1960s, Goodall was known for her unconventional approach She didn’t simply observe them from afar but immersed herself in every aspect of their lives. She fed them and gave them names instead of numbers, which some sci-
Bondi, Hegseth rally federal troops
BY ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press
MEMPHIS Tenn. — Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on Wednesday rallied members of a federal law enforcement task force that has begun operating in Memphis as part of President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting plan for the city
The officials met with Tennessee Gov Bill Lee, a Republican who has supported the project, before touring a staging area for the Memphis Safe Task Force and then speaking to a group of federal, state and local law enforcement officers and Tennessee National Guard members Miller called the task force an “all of government, unlimited support operation” that would make the city “safer than any of you could ever possibly imagine.” He predicted that “businesses and investment are going to pour in, and Memphis will be richer than ever before.”
“We’re not here to secondguess you,” Hegseth told them. “We’re here to have your back — to unleash you to do your jobs so you come home safely.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the Democrat who represents Memphis in Congress, said he was disappointed to learn about the visit in the media. In a letter to Hegseth and Bondi, he urged them to be more
$18B in funding for NYC projects frozen
Administration says tunnel spending based on DEI
BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s administration, citing the government shutdown, said Wednesday it was putting a hold on roughly $18 billion to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and an extension of the city’s Second Avenue subway
The White House budget director, Russ Vought, said on X the step was taken due to the administration’s belief the spending was based on unconstitutional diversity, equity and inclusion principles. In a statement, Trump’s Transportation Department said it had been reviewing whether any “unconstitutional practices” were occurring in the two massive infrastructure projects but that the shutdown, which began Wednesday, had forced it to furlough the staffers conducting the review The suspension of funds is likely meant to target Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, whom the White House is blaming for the impasse. He said the funding freeze would harm commuters.
“Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproduc-
tive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy,” he said on X.
The spending hold was a preview of how the messy the politics of the shutdown could get, with Vought later posting on X that $8 billion in funding for green energy projects in Democratic-led states would be canceled. The administration has shown a willingness to use its control of federal dollars to apply pressure on Democrats to reopen the government, with commuters and thousands of jobs hanging in the balance. The agency working on the subway line said it was blindsided by the announcement. For now, it looks like they’re just inventing excuses to delay one of the most important infrastructure projects in America,” read a statement from John McCarthy, policy chief and spokesperson for the New York state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority
At a news conference in New York City about the federal government shutdown, Gov Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., told reporters, “The bad news just keeps coming.” “That’s what a partnership with Washington looks like as we’re standing here. We’ve done our part. We’re ready to build. It’s underway,” she said “And now we realize that they’ve decided to put their own interpretation of proper culture ahead of our needs, the needs of a nation.”
collaborative and expressed concern about the “wartime rhetoric” coming from the Trump administration.
“Memphians are not enemies; they are Americans,” Cohen said. “They are entitled to constitutional rights, not their government working to ‘intimidate, demoral-
ize, hunt and kill’ them. We are not a training ground or target practice.”
The task force is part of a larger effort by Trump to use National Guard troops and surge federal law enforcement in cities, particularly ones controlled by Democrats. Following troop deployments in the District of Columbia and Los Angeles, he referred to Portland, Oregon, as “war-ravaged” and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago. Speaking Tuesday to U.S. military leaders in Virginia, Trump proposed using cities as training grounds for the armed forces.
Bondi said in a social media post earlier in the day that the task force has made more than 50 arrests over a two-day period. More than 200 officers have been deputized, including personnel from immigration and drug enforcement They are serving criminal arrest warrants and teaming with state agencies on traffic stops.
entists criticized Her findings were circulated to millions when she first appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1963 and then in a popular documentary A collection of photos of Goodall in the field helped her and even some of the chimps become famous.
Nominee for N.O. U.S attorney clears hurdle
Courcelle awaits final confirmation from Senate
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee forwarded Wednesday the nomination of David Courcelle as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, based in New Orleans.
The panel voted 14-8 without comment to recommend the full Senate confirm Courcelle as the lead federal law enforcement official for 13 parishes in southeast Louisiana: Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany Tangipahoa, Terre-
bonne and Washington. A graduate of De La Salle High School, the University of New Orleans and Loyola College of Law, Courcelle has a private law firm in Metairie. He represented two defendants accused of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump He is the former parish attorney for Jefferson Parish and has served as Harahan’s city attorney Courcelle will join other Trump nominees awaiting a final confirmation by the full Senate.
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.
Courcelle
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JEAN-MARC BOUJU Jane Goodall kisses Tess, a female chimpanzee, at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary near Nanyuki, north of Nairobi, in 1997. The celebrated conservationist died Wednesday at 91.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV People demonstrate Friday above Interstate 40 in Nashville, Tenn., against the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis.
HurricaneImeldapummels Bermuda
BY DÁNICA COTO Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
Hurricane
Imelda lashed Bermuda asa Cat-
egory 2storm late Wednesday as officials locked up the tiny British territory Heavy winds and rain that began pummeling theisland on Wednesdayafternoon were expected to continue through Thursday,with the eye of the storm forecast to pass near Bermuda overnight.
Ahurricane warning wasineffect for Bermuda, awealthy overseas territory with strong structures that have withstood powerful storms in previous years.
Imelda was located about100 miles west-southwest of Bermuda.
It had maximum sustainedwinds of 100 mph and was moving eastnortheast at 24 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“This is adangerous storm system that could bring destructive winds, heavy rainfall and significantcoastal impacts,” said Michael Weeks, Bermuda’snational security minister.
Bermuda closed public schools, government offices and international airport Wednesday as it deployed100 soldierstosecureinfrastructure, clearroadsand help at shelters aheadofthe storm
Imelda is expected to drop up to 4 inchesofrainacross Bermuda and produce adangerous storm surge that forecasters say could unleash
fl
ooding.Hundreds of customers werewithout power ahead of the storm The National Hurricane Center warned thatthe strongest winds may occur early Thursday morning after the center has passed Bermuda Earlier in theweek, Imelda battered the northern Caribbean, unleashing widespread flooding in eastern Cuba, where two people died. In the provinceofGuantánamo, more than 18,000 peoplewere evacuated, while in Santiago de Cuba, flooding and landslides cut off access to 17 communitieswheremore than 24,000 people live, according to state reports. On Wednesday, more than 3,500
Hegseth’sapproach counter to U.S. military’s typicalrole
Forcehas long been engine of social change
BY GARYFIELDS Associated Press
WASHINGTON Historically, the U.S. military has beenan engine for cultural and social changeinAmerica. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vision for the armed forceshe leads runs counter to that.
In comments Tuesday to hundreds of military leaders and their chief enlisted advisers, Hegseth made clear he was not interested in adiverseorinclusive force. His addressatthe Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, verbalized what Hegsethhas beendoing as he takes on any program that can be labeled diversity,equity or inclusion, as well as targeting transgender personnel.
Separately,the focus on immigration also is sweeping up veterans. For too long,“the military has been forcedbyfoolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things. In many ways,this speech
is aboutfixingdecades of decay,some of it obvious, some ofithidden,”Hegseth said. “Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrongcompass heading, and we lostour way. We became the woke department,but not anymore.”
Hegseth’sactions —and plans for more—are areversal of therole themilitary hasoftenplayed.
“The military has often been ahead of at leastsome broader social, cultural, political movements,” said Ronit Stahl, associateprofessorofhistoryatthe University of California,Berkeley ”The desegregationofthe armed forces is perhaps the most classic example.”
President Harry S. Truman’sdesegregationorderin 1948 came six years before the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education case —and, Stahl said, “that obviously takes along time to implement, if it ever fully is implemented.”
Truman’sorder was not a shortprogression through American society.Although the military was one of the fewplaces where therewas
organizational diversity, the races didnot mixintheir actual service. Units like the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo CodeTalkers andthe Buffalo Soldiers, formed in 1866, weresegregateduntil theorder openedthe door to integrated units.
Women were givenfull status to serve in 1948 with the Women’sArmedServices Integration Act.There were restrictionsonhow many could serve and they were generally not allowed to commandmen or serve in combat.Beforethen, they hadwartimeroles andthey did notserveincombat, although hundreds of nurses died and women were pilots, including Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.
TheWASPs and Tuskegee Airmen wereamong the first groups this year to be affected when Hegseth issued his DEI order
The Air Force removed training videos of the airmen along with ones showing the World WarIIcontributions of the WASPs at thebasic training base in SanAntonio. The videos were restored after widespread bipartisan outcry over their removal.
people remained evacuated in Guantánamo while crews began to repair damaged roads and bridges in the area. Meanwhile, authorities in Haiti said thatone person is missing and two wereinjured following heavy flooding in the country’ssouthwest and northwest regions. Hurricane Humberto, which had been racing ahead of Imelda, dissipated on Wednesdayafter passing west of Bermuda on Tuesday.Its remnantswere namedStorm Amy by U.K. forecasters, who warned it would affect muchofIreland and the U.K. starting on Friday Imelda and Humberto’sremnants were generating dangerous surf anddeadly rip currents affecting beaches along thenorth Caribbean,
By The Associated Press
SOUTHPORT,N.C.—
The three people killed during amass shooting lastweekendata waterfront barina southeastern North Carolina community have been identified as two out-of-state residents anda third who had recently movedtothe coastal town.
City government released the names of the victims who died from Saturday night’sshootingsatthe American FishCompany in Southport, located about 30 miles south of Wilmington. Five others were injured City spokesperson ChyAnn Ketchum said late Wednesday it was her understanding that the five remained hospitalized.
The city identified those killed as Joy Rogers, 64, of Southport; Solomon Banjo, 36, of Charlottesville, Virginia; and Michael Durbin, 56, of Galena, Ohio. The
Bahamas, Bermuda and muchof the U.S. East Coast. At least five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’sOuter Banks collapsed into the ocean on Tuesday, according to the U.S. National Park Service, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years. This Atlantichurricaneseason marks the first time in 10 yearsthat ahurricane hasn’tmade landfall in the U.S. through the end of September,according to AccuWeather,a private U.S. weather forecasting company “This hurricaneseason so far is quite unique, with several close calls forthe United States,”said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’slead hurricane expert.
names of those wounded weren’treleased Soon after theshootings, authoritiesarrestedNigel Edge,adecorated Marine veteran, and charged him with threefirst-degree murder counts alongwith five attempted-murder andfiveweapons-related assault counts. Edge, 40, remained held Wednesday in theBrunswick County jail without bond. His next court appearance is scheduledfor Oct. 13. Authorities have said Edge piloted aboat close to shore,stoppedbriefly and opened fire at acrowd of vacationers and other patrons in what Southport PoliceChief Todd Coring previously calleda“highly premeditated” targeted attack. An arrest warrant allegedthatEdgeused an AR-style riflewith asilencer andscope. Edge wasarrestedabout ahalf an hour later after
aU.S. Coast Guard crew spottedhim pullinga boat from the water at aramp on Oak Island, where he lives. Theinvestigation remains active,and Southport policesaidWednesday they were still seeking information from people who went to the bar Saturday or the day before. Edge hasnot entered aplea. The county’stop prosecutordescribedduringEdge’scourt hearing Monday the defendant as having “significantmental health issues” after experiencing atraumaticbraininjury.Edge,who changedhis name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, toldpolicehewas injuredincombat and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, Coring said. DistrictAttorney Jon David saidhis office would reviewwhether seeking the death penalty is appropriate in his case.
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI
Defense SecretaryPete Hegseth, center,sitswith U.S. militarysenior leadership Tuesday as theylistentoPresident Donald Trump speak at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Va
Rohingya Muslimsplead forU.N.help
Minority claims decadesof oppression in Myanmar
BY EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS Rohingya Muslims pleaded with the international community at the first United Nations high-level meeting on the plightofthe ethnicminority to prevent the mass killings taking place in Myanmar and to help those in the persecuted group leadnormal lives.
“This is ahistoric occasion forMyanmar,but this is long overdue,” WaiWai Nu, the Rohingya founder and executive director of the Women’sPeace Network-Myanmar,told ministers and ambassadors from many of the U.N.’s193-member nations in the General Assembly Hall.
The Rohingyaand other minorities in Myanmar have suffered decades of displacement, oppression and violence, while seeing no action in response to determinationsthat they are victims of genocide,she said. “That cycle mustend today,” Wai WaiNusaid.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the RohingyaMuslim minority to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982.
In August 2017, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel triggered abrutal campaign by themilitary that drove at least 740,000 Rohingyato Bangladesh. Themilitary is accused of mass rape, killings and burning villages, and the scale of its operation led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community,
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Products’ blue hydrogen manufacturing complex near Burnside,set to create 170jobs and support 2,000 construction jobs. Theproject won’tbegin production until at least 2028 or 2029; AirProductsistrying to find abuyer for the carbon capture and ammonia operations at the plant. The region has $800 million in nonindustrial projects planned for 2026 and 2027, led by developments at LSU. The university will construct two residence halls, set to open by the fall 2027 semester and will break ground on aconstruction management building next year.LSU is also planning for anew $400 million arena, whichstalled after theCEO of the OakView Group, the project developer,was indictedonbidrigging allegations related to aproject in Austin.
“Another construction rocketisabout to ignite,”he said.
The state is investing $757.3 milliononroadprojects in the Baton Rouge area, including the La. 1to La. 415 connector,reconstruction of Interstate 110 from North Street to Plank Road, and adding bike lanes
check for
Myanmar
including the U.N Myanmar hasbeen wracked by violence since the military oustedthe elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 andbrutallysuppressed nonviolent protests. That triggered armed resistance and fighting acrossthe country by pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnicminority armed forces seeking to oust the military rulers, including in western Rakhine statewhere tens of thousandsofRohingyas still live, many confined to camps.
TheUnited States in 2022 said it haddeterminedthat members of the Myanmar military committedcrimes against humanity and genocide againstthe Rohingya.
U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi, who recently visitedMyanmar,toldthe high-level meeting Tuesday that Bangladesh is now hosting close to 1.2million
and capacity onU.S. 61from Florida Boulevard to I-110.
The CoastalRestoration and Protection Authorityis investing$330.1 million for projects in theregion,including thereintroduction of theMississippiRiver into Lake Maurepas.
Scottadvises to keep an eyeonthe PortofBaton Rouge in thenext two years forprojects, including the $20 million expansion of the Northern Liquid Bulk Terminaland AtmosClearBR’s $800 million clean energy and carbon capture facility which has not issued a final investment decision.
Scott said Baton Rouge’s gaming market andits employment will geta boostafterthe Belle of Baton Rouge, which planstorebrandas Bally’s,moves onto landin December
“With ourforecast for Baton Rouge, we thinkthis is going to be areally great two-year time period for us, mainly driven by that construction,industrial construction sector,” he said. As an “energy-intensive” market,Scott said Louisiana is particularly sensitive to changes in oil andnatural gas prices.
He predicts oil prices will be in the high $70s if Saudi Arabia reduces its output, and natural gas prices will be in thelower $4 permillion British thermal units.
Rohingya refugees, and since fighting reignited in Rakhine in 2024 between themilitaryand theArakan Army,anadditional 150,000 have sought safety in the neighboring country
The ArakanArmy,the well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority,whichseeksautonomy,now controls almost all of Rakhine state, Grandi said, and the situation of the Rohingya there hasnot improved.
Theystill face discrimination, the burning of theirvillages,exclusion from work, aban on moving freely, restricted education and health care andthe threat of arrest, he said. “They are subjected to forced labor and forced recruitment” and “their livesare defined everyday by racism and fear,” Grandi said.
Julie Bishop, the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar,
But Scott said there are forecasts that show oil prices could fall between $40and $120 abarrel. The wide range of uncertainty is being driven by anumber of factors competing with each other,such as the rising tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump, slowing down theglobal economy while raisingthe cost of drilling, an increase in the amount of oil coming ontothe marketand efforts by Saudi Arabiatokeep oil prices at $80 abarrel for its budget
Themarginbetween U.S natural gas prices and those of Europeand Asia will boost expansions in Louisiana’schemical and LNG export facilities,the report states. Interest rateswill remain elevated for the next two years, thereport states,and Louisianawill operateina slow-growthnational economy with areal gross domestic productofabout 2% due to Trump’stariffs. The TaxFoundationsaid Trump’sBig Beautiful Bill, which includes temporary measures to eliminate taxes on tipsand overtime and lowered oil and gas royalty rates, will raise the national real gross domestic product by 1.2 percentage points, the report states,but Trump’s tariffs will bring it down by 0.5 percentage points.
said there was little sign that the political crisis could be settled, with no agreed ceasefire,pathway to peace or political solution.
Thegovernment is preparing for elections starting
in late December,but U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said they will notreflect the will of the people or createafoundationfor lasting peace. The election willbeheld undermilitary
control,the Rohingya can’t vote because they have been deprivedofcitizenship, and ethnic Rakhine parties have been disqualified fromrunning.
Rofik Huson, founder of the ArakanYouth Peace Network, told the assembly that despitedecades of persecution the Rohingya’s“deepest wish”istoliveintheir ancestralhomeland, Myanmar, in peace and security “Yet, the past decade has shown that it’snot possible foruswithout international support, without international pressure,” he said. He called forthe creation of a U.N.-supervisedsafe zone in northern Rakhine state alongthe border withBangladesh.
Maung Sawyeddollah, founder of the Rohingya Student Network, speaking in an impassioned voice, said without self-determination for the Rohingya and international protection in Rakhine there can be no lasting peace. “The U.N. must mobilize resources to empower Rohingya,” he told world leaders. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who chairedthe meeting, ended it saying, “Today is just astarting point, we have to do more.” She promised an action-orientedfollow-up
BUSINESS
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS
Gold prices soar to new records amid shutdown
NEW YORK As uncertainty deepens amid the U.S. government’s first shutdown in almost seven years, the gold frenzy continues to climb to new heights. The going price for New York spot gold hit a record $3,858.45 per troy ounce the standard for measuring precious metals — as of market close Tuesday, ahead of the shutdown beginning overnight And futures continued to climb on Wednesday, dancing with the $3,900 mark throughout the day.
Gold sales can rise sharply when anxious investors seek “safe havens” for parking their money. Before Wednesday, the asset — and other metals, like silver have seen wider gains over the last year, particularly with President Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs plunging much of the world into economic uncertainty
Wall Street sets more records; bond yields fall
Stocks rose to more records on Wednesday, as Wall Street still doesn’t care much about the shutdown of the U.S. government, but yields sank in the bond market following the latest discouraging signals on the economy
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to top its prior all-time high, which was set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 43 points, or 0.1%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields dropped after a report suggested hiring may have been much weaker across the country last month than economists expected. Employers outside the government actually cut 32,000 more jobs than they added, according to the survey by ADP Research, with the Midwest taking particularly hard hits. What’s worse, the survey also revised down its numbers for employment in August, to a loss of 3,000 jobs from a previously reported gain of 54,000.
Walmart to remove artificial food colors
Walmart said Wednesday that it plans to remove synthetic food dyes and 30 other ingredients, including some preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, from its store brands sold in the United States by January 2027.
The move announced by the the nation’s largest retailer amounts to an acknowledgment that American consumers and the U.S. government under President Donald Trump are paying attention to what goes into packaged foods. Walmart said its goal would affect about 1,000 products, including salty snacks, baked goods, power drinks, salad dressings and frosting. Several of the ingredients on Walmart’s list, however, already are banned, not widely used or have not been used for decades.
OpenAI to partner with S. Korean chip giants
OpenAIandSouthKoreantech conglomerates Samsung and SK on Wednesday announced partnerships to provide chips and other solutions for Stargate, a $500 billion project aimed at building infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence. The announcements came after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Korean corporate leaders in Seoul. Lee hailed the partnerships as a major opportunity for South Korea’s semiconductor industry to solidify its role in AI and create more jobs. The partnerships commit Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — the world’s two largest makers of memory chips — to accelerate their production of advanced chips to meet OpenAI’s increasing memory demands for the Stargate initiative, according to the companies’ statements.
Cook remains Fed governor for now
Supreme Court declines Trump’s effort to remove her
BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her from the central bank.
In a brief unsigned order, the high court said it would hear arguments in January over Republican
President Donald Trump’s effort to force Cook off the Fed board.
The court will consider whether to block a lower-court ruling in Cook’s favor while her challenge to her firing by Trump continues.
The high-court order was a rare instance of Trump not quickly getting everything he wants from the justices in an emergency appeal.
Cook will be able to take part in the remaining two Fed meetings in 2025, including the next meeting of its interest rate-setting committee in late October Separately the justices are
hearing arguments in December in a separate but related legal fight over Trump’s actions to fire members of the boards that oversee other independent federal agencies. The case concerns whether Trump can fire those officials at will. But a second issue in the case could bear directly on Cook’s fate: whether federal judges have the authority to prevent the firings or instead may only order back pay for officials who were wrongly dismissed.
Trump had sought to oust Cook before the September meeting of
the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee But a judge ruled that the firing was illegal, and a divided appeals court rejected the Trumps administration’s emergency appeal. A day after the meeting concluded with a one-quarter of a percentage point reduction in a key interest rate, the administration turned to the Supreme Court in a new emergency appeal. The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-today politics. No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the Fed’s 112-year history
U.S. takes minority stake large Nevada lithium mine
BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP business writer
The U.S. government is taking a minority stake in Lithium Americas, a company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada.
The Department of Energy will take a 5% equity stake in the miner, which is based in Vancouver It will also take a 5% stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mining project, a joint venture with General Motors.
Thacker Pass is considered crucial in reducing U.S. reliance on China for lithium, a critical material used to produce the high tech batteries used in cellphones, electric vehicles and renewable
energy Both Republicans and Democrats support the project and narrowing the production gap. China is the world’s largest lithium processor U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the deal with Lithium Americas “helps reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals by strengthening domestic supply chains and ensures better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars.”
Thacker Pass is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year in its first phase, enough to help power 800,000 EVs.
The equity stake in Lithium Americas is the latest example of the direct intervention by the Trump administration with private companies. The government is getting a 10% stake in Intel through the conversion of billions in previously granted gov-
ernment funds and pledges. The administration spent $400 million of taxpayer money in July on MP Materials stock to make the U.S. government the biggest owner in the Las Vegas rare earths miner.
Trump also made a deal with Nvidia and AMD to give the U.S government a 15% cut of revenue from selling certain chips to China.
Lithium Americas said Wednesday that it reached a nonbinding agreement in principle with the DOE to advance the first draw of $435 million on the federal loan
The DOE has agreed to defer $182 million of debt service over the first five years of the loan.
The White House and Canada’s Lithium Americas seemed to be moving forward with the deal late last month, as both parties agreed on changes to an approximately $2.3 billion federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal
used in electric vehicle batteries. GM has pledged more than $900 million to help develop Thacker Pass, which holds enough lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles annually
Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush, called Thacker Pass is a “massive opportunity” for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on China and other foreign adversaries for lithium.
“Despite having some of the largest deposits, the U.S. produced less than 1% of the global lithium supply but this deal helps reduce dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals strengthening domestic supply chains and ensuring better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars with lithium production set to grow exponentially over the coming years,” he wrote. Shares of Lithium Americas spiked more than 30% Wednesday
BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer
NEWYORK It’s official: AOL’s dialup internet has taken its last bow AOL previously confirmed it would be pulling the plug on Tuesday writing in a brief update on its support site last month that it “routinely evaluates” its offerings and had decided to discontinue dial-up, as well as associated software “optimized for older operating systems,” from its plans. Dial-up is now no longer advertised on AOL’s website. As of Wednesday, former company help
pages like “connect to the internet with AOL Dialer” appeared unavailable and nostalgic social media users took to the internet to say their final goodbyes. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the World Wide Web for the first time when its dial-up service launched decades ago, rising to prominence particularly in the ’90s and early 2000s. The creaky door to the internet was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone line used to connect your computer online —
along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, and an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance, doing away with dial-up’s quirks for most people accessing the internet today but not everyone. A handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated
163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide. While AOL was the largest dialup internet provider for some time, it wasn’t the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today Regardless, the decline of dialup has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other relics of the internet’s earlier days continue to disappear
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICK BOWMER
Scalise said Wednesday
At issue is the resolution passed by House Republicans last month that authorized government functions at the same level of funding and without any policy changes attached — a so-called “clean continuing resolution.”
GOP leaders point out that, when the other party was in charge, the Democrats vilified Republicans who tried to use the shutdown deadline to press unrelated policy concessions onto a “clean continuing resolution.”
And now, Republicans say, the Democrats are doing the same thing: pressing for policy concessions that could wait until all the mechanisms for proper government functioning are in place. Democrats counter they can’t trust the GOP to negotiate in good faith these days.
Democrats have a long list of health care demands, but the one most talked about is extension of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that low income working people use to purchase health insurance about 350,000 of whom live in Louisiana. That program expires in December
Unless the tax credits are extended, out-of-pocket premiums would increase from an average of $888 to $1,904 by 2026.
“We have until the end of the year to fix the ACA credit issue,” Thune said, adding that Senate Republicans, at least, are willing to negotiate the issue after government reopens.
Johnson spent much of this first day of the shutdown with a round of appearances with the media.
On the “Moon Griffon Show,” broadcast statewide from Lafayette, Johnson said Trump could use the shutdown to shrink the federal
PRE-K
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Less than a week after Williams spoke to the task force, Catholic school leaders appealed to the state board of education for waivers from some of the regulations, which took effect Oct 1. Howard Davis, head of Providence Classical Academy, a Christian school in Bossier City said he might file for an injunction to stop the law
“This is not fair to our schools,” he told the board. “It’s just ridiculous.” Now, some private school supporters are urging lawmakers to delay the law’s enactment during a possible special legislative session this fall State House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, REunice, said lawmakers are still studying the issue.
“I’m really hopeful that we can address the concerns that we’re hearing from schools and dioceses,” he said.
For Williams, a major in the Army National Guard who was a driving force behind Act 409, the backlash to the law has been demoralizing.
“In my head, we did it, it’s over, we turned this horrible situation into a positive,” he said. “And yet, here we are.” Act 409 might not exist were it not for a disturbing discovery Williams made one afternoon in March 2024. As his 3-year-old daughter was getting changed for gymnastics class, Williams said he noticed blood in her underwear The girl explained that a boy in her preschool class had touched her inappropriately, Williams said. Williams and his wife, a nurse anesthetist, took their daughter to the hospital and filed a police report They also informed the school, Kehoe-France Southshore in Metairie, which conducted an investigation.
The couple also contacted the state Department of Children & Family Services and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Both said the alleged incident fell outside of their jurisdiction, while the state Department of Education said it couldn’t intervene because pre-K programs at private schools were not licensed by the agency.
In August 2024, the couple sued the school, saying it failed to take proper safety precautions. The lawsuit alleges that the girl’s pre-K
government.
“It does give an opportunity to eliminate bloated, unnecessary federal programs that we would like to vote down, but we never had the votes in the Senate to do.
Now we have the moment,” Johnson said.
Even as the shutdown began, its effects were still being worked out.
Social Security benefits are still being paid. Mail is being delivered. The U.S. courts will remain open at least through Friday, Oct. 17.
But it’s not clear-cut.
Veterans Affairs medical facilities are open. But the VA’s regional benefit offices are closed.
Commercial flights are still on, but the lines could get longer as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees will be working without pay
Louisiana schools have enough federal money to operate the entire school year, said Lexi Pritchard, deputy chief of operations in the state Education Department.
But one exception could be Head Start, the federally funded preschool program for children from low-income families. Most Head Start centers are fully funded for this month, but if the shutdown stretches into next month, that could potentially interrupt their funding, Pritchard said.
Medicaid funding is not dependent on annual appropriations.
“Therefore, coverage for recipients and payments to providers generally continue during a shutdown,” said Louisiana Department of Health spokesperson Emma Herrock.
Those who are eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will
receive benefits, and Louisiana will continue to administer the program following federal regulations, she said.
The Louisiana National Guard won’t be conducting monthly drills, said Louisiana National Guard spokesperson Lt Col. Noel Collins.
The Guard “remains ready to respond to state emergencies and all-hazards events” such as hurricanes, she said. But Gov Jeff Landry’s request to activate a thousand troops for crime patrols hasn’t been mobilized.
Due to the lapse of federal funding, national parks, monuments and museums “will remain closed to the public until further notice,” said Meredith Hardy a National Park Service manager at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, which operates multiple sites scattered across south Louisiana in the New Orleans and Lafayette areas, including
Chalmette Battlefield, Chalmette National Cemetery, the Barataria Preserve, Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center, Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, the Acadian Cultural Center and the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.
The Senate will be off Thursday but back to work on Friday The House has been out since Sept. 19 and won’t return until Monday Nevertheless, Democratic House members have been working on Capitol Hill.
But not for long.
Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, headed home to Baton Rouge on Wednesday night to work from his district.
“What should be happening is negotiation, but that’s not happening yet,” Fields said.
Education reporter Patrick Wall contributed to this report.
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.
classroom was understaffed and that 3-year-olds were sometimes allowed to use the restroom unsupervised, which is where the couple believes the incident occurred.
The school denied the allegations in court filings, saying it found no evidence that the alleged incident occurred at the school. It also said the school complied with all of the state’s staffing and restroom-supervision rules.
“We maintain comprehensive health and safety standards that meet or exceed state requirements, and our staff receive ongoing training to stay current with best practices in child safeguarding and education,” KehoeFrance Executive Head of Schools Tanya Price said in a statement, adding that protecting students is the school’s “highest priority.” Price said she cannot respond to specific allegations due to ongoing litigation, but that the school is prepared to “vigorously defend” its position in court.
Williams said the situation highlighted glaring gaps in state law In January, he addressed a state task force on child abuse investigations, arguing that private schools like his daughter’s should face stricter safety standards.
“My daughter’s trauma could have been prevented,” he said, urging lawmakers to act. “We need your help.”
State Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, who led the task force, responded by sponsoring a bill in the legislative session earlier this year It required private school pre-K programs to be licensed, law enforcement to investigate allegations of abuse at schools and DCFS to assess the families of alleged child perpetrators It also limited the number of children that day care or preschool staffers can supervise and said staffers must be nearby when children use the restroom.
The Legislature passed the bill and Gov Jeff Landry signed it into law At the August task force meeting, Barrow marveled at the bill’s bipartisan support
“Not one ‘no’ vote,” she said. “Everybody understood it and wanted to make sure that we got this right.”
While lawmakers praise the new law private school leaders have been sounding the alarm about what they say are its unintended consequences.
Some say it will bust their schools’ budgets to hire
more teachers to meet new staffing requirements that took effect Oct. 1. Private school pre-K programs now must have one staffer for every 15 4-year-olds, down from 1 for every 20 students under the previous rules.
Last month, the state Education Department granted waivers requested by several Catholic schools, giving them an extra year to meet the new staffing rules.
Meanwhile, about 250 private schools with pre-K programs must apply for “early learning center” licenses by Jan. 1. The licenses, which standalone preschools and day cares already have, require state fire marshal and Health Department inspections and background checks for all staffers even those who previously completed the process.
Mark Williams, Catholic school superintendent in the Diocese of HoumaThibodaux, said he and his colleagues support the effort to bolster student protections. But he argued that the new mandates are redundant. His teachers already cleared background checks and were trained in child abuse reporting. Williams said the new requirements will cost his diocese an estimated $157,000 this fall, adding that because schools did not get any state funding to meet the mandates, they will have to pass the cost on to parents.
“It’s going to increase the tuition,” he said. “There’s no getting around that.”
Others say the day care regulations are ill-suited for pre-K programs embedded in schools.
Maria LaFleur, principal of St. Catherine of Siena School in Metairie, said the entire school’s dismissal procedures will be disrupted because under the new rules, young children cannot be sent home with older siblings. For pre-K students to leave their classrooms to attend enrichment classes like music or art or weekly Mass, they will now need signed permission slips, LaFleur said.
“We are being held to standards designed for day care facilities, not schools,” she said in an email. “Catholic schools have a rich history of preparing students academically, and that’s being undermined.”
Still others argue that it’s unfair that the new licensing requirement only applies to pre-K programs in private schools, not those in public or Montessori schools,
which received a carveout. The bill’s backers say the goal is to eventually include all pre-K sites.
Private school supporters have been relaying their concerns to Barrow, the bill’s author while also asking lawmakers and Gov Jeff Landry to delay or amend the law Barrow and Landry’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Email Patrick Wall at patrick.wall@theadvocate. com.
“We’ve got to make this right,” said Sister Carol Shively, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Shreveport diocese, during a recent private school advisory group meeting. The recent pushback has dismayed Roger Williams, but he also sees a silver lining. “This bill has made everyone so angry,” he said, “that everyone’s coming to the table now.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Top Republicans in Congress gather for a news conference to blame the government shutdown on Democrats on Wednesday. From left are Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton; Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip; Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson; and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.y., center, speaks as House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., left, and House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., listen during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Zelenskyywarns
BY ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press
KYIV,Ukraine Ukraine’s president and the U.N. nuclear agencyhead are sounding the alarm about increased safety risksatthe Russiaoccupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southernUkraine which lost its external power supply more than aweek ago as the war raged around it.
Emergency diesel generators areproviding power forcrucial cooling systemsfor the facility’s six shutdownreactors and spent fuel, and there is no immediate danger to Europe’sbiggest nuclear plant, according to International Atomic Energy Agency DirectorGeneral Rafael Mariano Grossi.
But “it is clearly not asustainable situationinterms of nuclear safety,” he said.
The backup generators have never neededtorun forsolong, according to Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“The generatorsand the plant were not designed forthis,” Zelenskyy said late Tuesday,describing thesituation as “critical.”
Zaporizhzhiaisone of the 10 biggest nuclearplants in theworld, and its fate amid the fighting has caused fears of apotential nuclear catastrophe. Russianforcesseized it daysafter thefull-scaleinvasion of neighboringUkraine beganon Feb. 24, 2022.
Thetension around thenuclear plant’ssafetyhas added to broader concerns about the course of the war,which showsnosigns of ending after aU.S.-led effortthis yeartostop the fighting came to nothing.
European leaders, spooked by recent violations of theirairspace by unidentified drones and Russian warplanes, gatheredWednesday in Denmarkfor two summits centered on security,defense and the war inUkraine
Zelenskyy blamed Russian artillery for cutting the power line to theZaporizhzhia plant, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saiditwas Ukrainian shelling. Peskov toldreporters Wednesdaythatitwas “stupid to accuse the Russian side of shelling the plant it controls.”
The Vienna-basedIAEA has been walking atightrope in the war, eager to maintain access to nuclear facilitiesand issuing warnings about the dangers withoutangering either side.Ukraine has four nuclear plants, though Zaporizhzhia is the only onein Russian hands.
The plant shut downits last reactor in thefall of 2022, meaning the nuclear fuel is relatively cool,but thedangerremains significant,according to Dmytro Gumeniuk, head of thesafety analysisdepartment at Ukraine’sState Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety.
“Thereisstill athreat thatifthe system cooling the nuclear fuelis lost, an accident could happen,” he told The Associated Press. “It is difficult to say what the result would be in theevent of suchan accident —the scale depends on how many units areaffected.”
Grossi,the U.N. nuclearchief, saidthat Zaporizhzhia’s emergency generators were coping with theextra strain so far
“The current status of the reactor units andspent fuel is stable as long as the emergency diesel generators are able to provide sufficientpowertomaintainessential safety-related functions and cooling,” he said in astatement late Tuesday
An IAEA teamatthe plantreported that it has fuel reserves ensuring the generators can operate for more than10days, with regular off-sitesuppliesmaintaining this level.
“Nevertheless,itisextremely important that off-sitepower is restored,” Grossi said, adding that he wasintouch with Russian
andUkrainianofficials about how to swiftly reconnect the plant to the grid. As Russia’sinvasion churns across the Ukrainian countryside, the Zaporizhzhia facility hasrepeatedly been caught in the crossfire It lost its off-site power forthe 10thtime during the war on Sept. 23, when its only remaining power line wasdamaged by military activity about 11/2 kilometers (a mile) fromthe plant,the IAEAstatement said.
Eight emergencydiesel generators are operating, with nine additional units in standby mode and three in maintenance, according to the IAEA. It said that over the past week, the plant hasbeen alternating thoseinuse andservicing idle generators in an efforttoensure continuous availability
Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.
Hundreds of migrants mountprotest in Mexico
Marchers seek to legalize immigrationstatus
BY EDGAR H. CLEMENTE Associated Press
TAPACHULA, Mexico— Agroup of about 1,200 migrants setout walking before dawn in southern Mexico on Wednesday aiming for the capital where they hoped to legalize their immigration status and find more work opportunities after along frustrating wait near the Guatemala border Cubans made up the majority of the migrants, but there were also people from Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil and Haiti Unlike earlier migrant “caravans” with agoaltoreachthe United States, Wednesday’sgroupand others over the past year are trying
to coerce Mexican authorities into speedingupthe processfor asylum andget out of southern Mexico where there are few work opportunities.
Cubanmigrant LosielSánchez and his wife arrived in Tapachula, nearthe borderwith Guatemala, in November.They had hopedtoget an appointment through aU.S.governmentapp called CBPOne that wouldallow themtocross theU.S border,request asylum and likely be paroled into the U.S. while that process played out.
However,U.S. PresidentDonald Trumphas ended that program, stranding tens ofthousands of migrants who had alreadybeen making their way toward theU.S border. Sánchez decided to stay in Mexico and seekasylum,but despite numerous visits to Mexico’s asylumagency, knownasComar, thecouple still doesn’thave an answer about their status.
He said he was scammed by someoneclaimingtobea lawyer who promisedtohelp speedthem through the process.
“Everythingisexpensive andI can’tpay rent,” said Sánchez, who hopes to have better luckinMexico City.“There’snowork, they don’twant to give you work if you don’thave papers.”
Anery Sosa, another Cuban migrant, has been in Tapachula for year.Her attempt to getasylum was derailed when someone stole herdocuments.She hadadaughter witha Mexican andhopes to find someone to take care of her during the daysothat she can work. Her husband’searnings alone don’t cover rent and food, she said. The group of migrants appeared to have organized without aleader over social platforms where frustrated migrants ralliedtotry to walk their wayout of southern Mexico. In thepast, Mexican authorities have allowed migrants to walkfor afew days and then offer to help with their documents and sometimes transportation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByEDGAR H. CLEMENTE
Migrants unable to formalizetheir legal status or receiveasylum in Mexico leave Tapachula, Chiapas state, on Wednesday.
LSU police arrested seven students at a meeting to discuss the search for a new LSU system president after one refused to stop speaking when the allotted public comment time was up and others blocked the police car that held her
arrested for violating La. R.S. 14:329.5.”
Juárez was booked at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on counts of interfering with an educational process, simple obstruction of a highway of commerce and resisting an officer, according to Wilson.
The other six students were released after being driven to the
The students Gabriela Juárez, Ryan Spalt, Margo Wilson, Carson Wall, Ziad Eissa, Enola Guyer and Scott Sonnier — are members of the Students for a Democratic Society club at LSU.
LSU Police Department headquarters and issued summonses.
According to the students, police arrested Guyer on the same counts as Juárez, while the remaining five were arrested on counts of simple obstruction of a highway of commerce and resisting an officer
Todd Woodward, the vice president of LSU marketing and communications, said in a statement that the university “fully supports lawful free expression.”
“During today’s Presidential Search Committee meeting, everyone had the opportunity to register, speak, and be heard during the public-comment period, which was limited to remarks related to the posted agenda,” he wrote. “Despite multiple warnings to adhere to the posted rules specifically yielding the floor when the time expired — one individual exceeded the time limit, refused lawful directives, and was subsequently
“Additionally, outside the venue, six other individuals were arrested for interfering with that lawful arrest,” he continued. “In situations like this, our priority is the safety of all participants and the orderly conduct of university functions.”
The incident unfolded at the end of the public comment period during the meeting, when seven students voiced strong objections to the presidential search committee.
PINK PUMPKIN PICKERS
Volunteers help organize a display of pink pumpkins ahead of Baton Rouge General’s ‘Protect Your Pumpkins’ campaign at the hospital system’s campus in Prairieville on Wednesday. The campaign, beginning Thursday, aims to promote annual mammograms for women 40 and over
Student accused of bringing gun to school
Situation handled ‘swiftly’ after tip received, officials say
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
A tip from a concerned resident allowed Glen Oaks High to catch one of their students when he arrived at school Wednesday morning with a firearm hidden under his clothes. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested Antonio Cooley 18, and booked him on counts of illegal carrying of a firearm, carrying a firearm or dangerous weapon on school property, and possessing a gun in a firearm-free zone. The gun found was a Glock 22 pistol that contained about 15 rounds. The agency reported that it was first notified about the matter around 10:30 a.m Wednesday and Cooley did not threaten anyone “At no point were students or staff in danger,” according to an official message sent later in the morning to Glen Oaks High parents The situation was handled swiftly, and the school remained secure throughout the incident.”
‘Handshake agreement’ at center of buyout suit
St. George council member seeks back payments for sale of Himmel’s
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
A St. George City Council member is suing his son, claiming he halted monthly payments required under a deal over ownership of the family business.
Max Himmel, 70, filed suit in state court in Baton Rouge on Sept. 26 against his son, Chad Himmel, 48, who he says reneged on a deal to buy him out of his ownership stake in Himmel’s Architectural Door and Hardware LLC. According to the court filing, the father sold 50% of his interest in the company to his eldest son via a “handshake agreement.” As part of the agreement, Chad Himmel would pay his father $16,666.50 every month for the rest of Max Himmel’s life, the lawsuit says.
company.”
When reached for comment Monday, Chad Himmel said he was unaware of the lawsuit. He added that he is no longer involved in the company’s operation and sold his stake.
Max Himmel first started the company in 1983, crafting cabinets before growing to building door frames and more. According to the company’s website, he set up headquarters on Airline Highway in the 1990s and later branched out into installation in the 2000s.
M. Himmel
Chad Himmel and Jay Himmel took over as co-presidents in 2016 and expanded into the Houston market two years later Today, the company now has locations in Prairieville, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and Nashville. Chad Himmel stopped making payments to his father for the business in July, according to the lawsuit. The father is demanding his eldest son pay back the nearly $50,000 owed for July, August and September and resume regular monthly payments.
Andrew Murrell, another St George City Council member and an attorney, is representing his colleague in the case. He says that, in 2018, Max Himmel turned the company over to his sons Chad Himmel, the eldest, and Jay Himmel, 43.
“The agreement was that each kid would pay a sum of money per month until Max died,” Murrell said “And, you know, Jay still does it and Chad does not despite the fact that his dad gave him a multimillion-dollar
“Just honor the deal,” Murrell said. “That’s all he wants.” Max Himmel was a figure in the St. George incorporation movement and was appointed to the city’s interim council by Gov Jeff Landry last year He was sworn in July as a full-time member after running unopposed for the seat in the city’s first election in March.
Email Patrick Sloan-Turner at patrick. sloan-turner@theadvocate.com.
Rouge Officials say he stole from banks in St. Mary Parish
BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer
A man believed to have stolen $149,000 from multiple ATMs in St. Mary Parish allegedly did so by “jackpotting”: hacking the machines so they dispense cash like a slot machine jackpot. But when Aiverson Paez-Pinango, 24, tried the same malware scheme at Bonvenu Bank on Perkins Road in East Baton Rouge Parish, he failed to win anything but a pair of handcuffs. Detectives with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office first became aware of Paez-Pinango’s attempts at “jackpotting” after he unsuccessfully tried to install malware on one of Bonvenu Bank’s ATMs 12 separate times between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. on the evening of Sept. 8. Paez-Pinango
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
New Orleans to host 2028 CFP game
It’s the second time Superdome has held finals
BY ANTHONY McAULEY Staff writer
New Orleans will host the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2028, bringing the title game back to the Caesars Superdome and thousands of fans and national media attention along with it.
The matchup will cap the 2027 season and marks the second time the Superdome has staged the College Football Playoff finale, the first being LSU’s victory over Clemson in 2020.
For a city renowned for major sporting events, festivals, and conventions, the championship represents a high-profile showcase as well as a potential boost to New Orleans’ tourism-driven economy
On Wednesday, Gov. Jeff Landry Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley and the other civic leaders were on hand at the Superdome to announce that New Orleans’ bid to host the game was accepted. They called the game another opportunity to showcase the city and state.
“This is what winning looks like This is what making New Orleans a championship city is all about,” Landry said.
Hosting the national championship is typically a major economic driver for host cities. Academic studies and industry reports
show that such events can generate hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, including spending by visiting fans on hotels restaurants, transportation, and local attractions.
Los Angeles’ 2023 CFP title game was projected to bring as much as $225 million in total economic impact, while the 2024 game in Houston generated more than $330 million.
Beyond immediate spending, the championship helps reinforce civic branding, boosts employment and benefits local vendors.
New Orleans saw that kind of boost from Super Bowl LIX in February, which drew tens of thousands of fans and earned the city broad praise from the NFL, national media and others for how well the event went off, especially coming so soon after the New Year’s Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street
A cornerstone of the College Football Playoff, which is the format used to crown a collegiate national champion since 2014, is its integration with the New Year’s Six bowl games, particularly the historic Allstate Sugar Bowl, which boasts a 91-year history as one of college football’s most celebrated classics.
The 92nd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, doubling as a CFP Quarterfinal, is scheduled for Jan 1, 2026, at the Superdome
The Sugar Bowl, which is expected to be either a quarterfinal or semifinal annually in the modern CFP format, gives elite programs a path toward the national championship while turning the Super-
dome into a multigame epicenter of college football. Still, the potential economic benefits from the games come with a price tag. Asked what the public contribution would be for the College Football Playoff Final, Hundley on Wednesday said it was premature to put a figure on it, since state appropriations can’t be made until the year of the event.
“We have yet ahead of us to raise several million dollars to cover the promises that we made to the CFP,” Hundley said, with the Sugar Bowl itself guaranteeing the bid if support from the state, which has a major events fund, comes up short.
Hosting the championship in New Orleans in 2020 cost $13 million. Hundley said the cost has “doubled since we last hosted,” a surge fueled by inflation and new CFP requirements such as paying for hotel rooms and community hospitality
The state’s contribution came in at $3.8 million for that game less than organizers had hoped — and Hundley stressed that private industry must do more. Oil and gas firms, hotel operators and other large employers, he said, are the kinds of partners needed to shoulder the load.
With every decision in college football now including a financial component, Hundley said New Orleans must prepare now to stay in the game once contracts open back up.
“We don’t want to become an also-ran bowl that draws 30,000 fans,” he said.
Police: Man wanted for rape, break-in
A Baton Rouge man is wanted after allegedly breaking into a woman’s residence through her window, raping her and keeping her from calling for police.
CRIME BLOTTER staff reports
Ridell Lambert, 37, has a warrant issued for his arrest on a count each of first-degree rape, aggravated burglary and interfering with emergency communication. Baton Rouge Police officers originally responded to a burglary call from a woman’s apartment in Mid City North at approximately 3 a.m. on Sept 8. Over the phone, the woman told the operator that someone was trying to break into her apartment. According to Lambert’s arrest warrant, a male voice can be heard on the line as the woman screams, “Stop.”
When officers arrived, the woman was seen fleeing from her apartment, screaming. Officers then saw Lambert chasing after her through the apartment’s front door According to his arrest warrant, his pants were partially down. He was detained at the scene.
Speaking to police, the woman said Lambert had broken into her apartment through a window, grabbed her by her hair, punched her and dragged her from room to room. He then took her into a bed-
room and forced himself onto her orally
When she saw an opportunity to escape, the woman ran out the front door, where she made contact with the police. The woman said Lambert had taken her phone while she was calling 911 for help.
Her phone was found in Lambert’s pants pocket after he was being questioned by police. Lambert was taken into custody, identified and later released pending further investigation.
The woman said she knew Lambert as a neighbor of one of her relatives and that the two had met the previous year. Lambert and the woman had been sexually intimate in the past, but not for several months, according to his arrest warrant.
Man killed by state trooper identified
Louisiana State Police identified a man shot and killed by a trooper after an altercation in Gonzales on Tuesday Brandon Nicholas, 34, of Sunshine, was shot by the trooper during a traffic stop near La. 431 and La. 935 in the early hours of Tuesday morning Nicholas was transported to a local hospital, where he died.
State Police detectives said they believe Nicholas and the trooper got into an altercation before the
shooting, according to a news release.
A loaded firearm was recovered from the scene.
The incident is under investigation, and State Police said more information will be released, including bodycam footage.
Police: Duo wanted in check-altering scheme
A man and woman are wanted by Baton Rouge police for allegedly altering business checks to steal over $52,000.
Mohammed Arif 47, and Jashanti Gilbert, 22, both have warrants out for their arrest on charges of theft, bank fraud and monetary instrument abuse.
Police first became aware of the thefts when an office manager at a law firm in downtown Baton Rouge reported that two business checks she had mailed had been compromised and altered.
The manager told police she placed the checks in a blue mailbox downtown, but later found out they had been deposited into two different people’s accounts.
One check was allegedly made out to Arif for $42,481 and the other was made out to Gilbert for $9,801.
Detectives found the funds had been spent or transferred as soon as they were deposited into those accounts.
Saints to announce long-term Superdome lease
BY ANTHONY McAULEY, JEFF DUNCAN and TYLER BRIDGES Staff writers
The New Orleans Saints are planning to announce they have
finalized a long-term lease of the Caesars Superdome, ending a contentious negotiation with state officials with a deal aimed at keeping the team in the city
The deal between the Saints organization and the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, known as the Superdome Commission, is expected to be unveiled during a news conference on Thursday State officials are expected to an-
nounce an official time and site for the news conference by Thursday morning. Gov Jeff Landry, on the sidelines of an event in the Superdome on Wednesday, confirmed that the lease was ready for his approval.
“I’m going to be back here tomorrow to sign the lease deal,” Landry said.
The stadium lease deal, which is expected to run for 10 years and then give the Saints options to renew every five years through 2055, has been finalized for a couple of weeks, according to negotiators for the Saints and the state. But the sides needed extra time to
finalize leases for other properties that were part of the larger deal, most notably the Benson Tower skyscraper Specific terms of the new deal have not been released.
The Saints’ current lease was negotiated in 2009 by Saints owner Tom Benson when Bobby Jindal was governor of Louisiana and Ron Forman was chair of the Superdome Commission. It is scheduled to expire in 2030.
The standoff between the two sides had jeopardized New Orleans’ chances of hosting the 2031 Super Bowl because of a Sept. 17 deadline set by the NFL.
Walt Leger, president and CEO of New Orleans & Company, the city’s tourism marketing agency, said the bidding environment for marquee college football games has become so competitive that the Sugar Bowl can no longer be treated like just another annual event. The state’s major events fund was originally intended for one-time spectacles like the Super Bowl or Final Four, and the Sugar Bowl has traditionally received little from it. But with playoff and championship games now in constant rotation, that dynamic has shifted.
For the upcoming Sugar Bowl, the state allocated $500,000 out of its $16.4 million annual major events budget, compared with a request for $1.5 million.
“We’re going to have to keep evaluating throughout the community on how do we make sure that we’re aligned in what we’re going after and have the funding necessary,” Leger said.
Beyond the gridiron, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. For the 2026 bowl game, the event received $500,000 from Louisiana’s Major Events Fund, administered by the Louisiana Economic Development agency, underscoring the championship’s impact both on and off the field.
The 2028 championship will be the 14th CFP title game, the fourth contested under the 12team playoff expansion and the Superdome’s second turn as host of the CFP finale.
HACKING
Continued from page 1B
to an affidavit for Paez-Pinango’s arrest. In each attempt, Paez-Pinango drives up to the ATM in a silver Toyota Corolla, opens it, attempts to manipulate it and then leaves. Minutes before the first jackpotting attempt, the same vehicle was picked up by a license plate reader 2.4 miles from the bank. Further searches revealed that the vehicle had multiple sightings in the St. Mary’s Parish system in the days following the attempted theft at Bonvenu Bank.
The car was spotted at two different banks on Sept. 9, one in Morgan City and another in Amelia in St. Mary Parish.
Paez-Pinango allegedly attempted ATM jackpotting at both of these locations, as well as at a third bank in Berwick, according to detectives with the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office. While downloading the “jackpotting” malware was unsuccessful in Morgan City, PaezPinango was allegedly able to steal $9,000 in cash from the ATM in Amelia, followed by stealing $140,000 from the ATM in Berwick.
Other vehicles were involved in these theft attempts and seen on video surveillance, according to detectives with St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office. Detectives located one of these additional vehicles in Berwick on Sept. 12, arresting two people and recovering $41,000 of the stolen cash. On Sept. 15, another vehicle was located and another two arrests were made, including Paez-Pinango.
EBRSO detectives identified Paez-Pinango through computer video surveillance from Bonvenu Bank, and his phone location data shows him searching for both Bonvenu Bank and the bank in Berwick in Google Maps prior to those robberies.
Paez-Pinango has a warrant out for his arrest for theft or criminal access of an automated teller machine. He is being held in the St. Mary Parish prison and will be extradited to East Baton Rouge at a later date.
STUDENTS
Continued from page 1B
In all, about 10 students attended the meeting. Several of those later arrested gave public comments, with Sonnier a U.S. Navy veteran, urging the committee to select a president who would defend academic freedom Some students, including Juárez, directly lambasted specific committee members.
More than one requested that the search committee add at least five students to the committee and have students vote on the final candidates.
Each member had three minutes to speak. When Juárez’s time finished, she refused to stop speaking. Two LSU police officers quickly moved up, removed the microphone, and then grabbed her She began yelling and swearing while she was taken outside the building.
Simultaneously, many of the students in the audience rose, yelling “shame on you” before following the police outside.
In the parking lot, police handcuffed Juárez and placed her in the back of a police vehicle.
A few minutes later in the same lot, a line of students refused to move away from the front of the police cruiser After warning the students that they risked arrest, police handcuffed the remaining six and eventually placed them in police vehicles before leaving.
At least 20 potential candidates
As the arrests concluded, committee members listed values they wanted to see in the next LSU system president: honesty and integrity, problem-solving skills, someone who understands the university’s impact, communication skills and respect for faculty and staff.
SSA Consultants President and CEO Christel Slaughter took notes, saying the feedback would be used to help her firm, hired to perform the search, evaluate potential candidates.
She then provided information about 20 people who have expressed interest in applying for the position and who meet the qualifications, including:
n Five to nine she described as “highly qualified.”
n Six are sitting university presidents.
n Six are either current provosts or senior or executive vice presidents of academic affairs.
n Five are from flagship universities.
n Four are from large university systems.
n Four are from land-grant colleges.
n Seven have a tie to Louisiana.
“None of those individuals are all of those things,” she clarified. “It’s kind of obvious, but it gives you an idea of the diversity and the caliber of the potential pool that we’re looking at.”
Later in the meeting, committee member James Williams raised concerns about the search firm’s screening and elimination of some candidates. Williams, who serves on the LSU Board of Supervisors, expressed concern about the firm eliminating candidates from the pool without committee input. He said it was “awkward” to have people applying for the job not be known to the group in addition to the selection criteria being set by SSA Consultants rather than the committee.
Slaughter responded by discussing the Louisiana public records law, stating that any candidates presented to the committee could be identified via public records requests. She said that if that happened, some quality candidates wouldn’t apply for fear it could be made public and then jeopardize their current positions.
Faculty Senate President Daniel Tirone suggested that Slaughter create a document outlining objective criteria that the group will use to narrow down the possible candidates, so that they have a clear understanding of how the final selection will be made.
Continued from page 1B
East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent LaMont Cole thanked the tipster as well as the quick work of both leaders at the Baton Rouge high school and local law enforcement in keeping people safe
“The system worked today,” Cole said. “Everyone was working together.” The incident was the first gun
found at an East Baton Rouge school this academic year, which began eight weeks ago, Cole said.
A tip was received Wednesday morning that the student was bringing a gun to school. Cooley often walks to school, but on Wednesday, he took an Uber Cole said the student had previously told school staff that he has been worried about his personal safety outside of school.
The superintendent said that law enforcement, after learning of the tip, tried to catch the student at his house, but the teenager
had already just arrived at the 6650 Cedar Grove Drive campus, so they sped back to the school. Glen Oaks has two weapons detection systems: a walk-through metal detector and an artificial intelligence-based Evolv weapons detector. Cole said that students walk through the Evolv when they arrive in the morning, but students who walk in through the office, as this student did, go through the metal detector When Cooley did, the detector went off and the student was searched for the firearm, which
was found underneath multiple layers of clothes. Cole said it looks like he was hoping the multiple layers would fool the Evolv detector
“He had on two pairs of tighter underwear and a pair of shorts,” Cole said.
While he’s happy that the system worked Wednesday the superintendent said he worries about the home lives of many schoolchildren in Baton Rouge.
“How many of our students are living in fear and think they have to do this to protect themselves?”
“The committee is being asked to delegate the initial screening authority to SSA, without having input necessarily into how SSA is going about that screening,” he said. “When I have to go back to the faculty who see me as their representative, I want to be able to explain to them, ‘Well, this is how we ended up at this pool.’” Slaughter agreed with the suggestion.
Blank Sr., Roy Sacred HeartofJesus Church,616 E. Main St.Gramercy, LAat 11am
Harelson, Brenda St.Theresa of AvilaCatholic Church, 1022N.Burnside, Gonzales,LAat 10am.
Haynes,Jeffrey
ElmGrove BaptistChurch, 1069 N. 38thSt, BatonRouge,LAat11am.
Martin,Jerrell
Faith BaptistChurchinLivonia at 11am
Thomas,Ruth
OurLadyofMercy Catholic Church at2pm
Obituaries
Bailey, Clarence Marius
Clarence Marius Bailey, Jr. passed away on Sunday, September 28, 2025,at the age of 97. He was anativeofBatonRouge, born in Lutcher, LA on May 14, 1928, Istrouma High School graduate, and retiree of Gulf States Utilities after 45 plus years of service Clarence enjoyed along and healthy life and many years of retirement surrounded by his loving family who greatly admired their family patriarch. Clarence was akind, strong, gentle man, afaithful husband, anda father to many. He enjoyed raisinghis children, spending time at his camp on the Amite River, gardening with his wife Ann, watching sports, being outdoors, and visiting with his many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Clarence is survived by his children, Dr. Kirk Bailey andMillie, Gary Bailey and Clothilde, Brett Bailey and Lynn, Mark Bailey and Debbie; grandchildren, Lisa Caruso, Kevin Pegues, Geoffrey Bailey, Claire Thompson, Dane Bailey, Lydia Bailey, Brandi Bailey, Nicholas Bailey, Paige Sutton, Alesha Bailey,Kelli McCoy, Cassie Comer and Garrett Bailey; as well as 30 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren. Clarence was preceded in death by his wife, Anna Mary Bailey; son, Thomas Craig Bailey; daughters, Gayle Bailey and Roxie Curry; grandchildren, Beaux Bailey and Kathleen Bailey; parents, ClarenceM.Bailey and Williamina Bourgeois; and his siblings. Pallbearers will be: Kevin Pegues, Geoffrey Bailey, Nicholas Bailey,Dane Bailey, Luke Caruso, and Edward Comer. Visitation will be held at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, 3625 Highway 75 St. Gabriel, Louisiana 70776,onFriday, October 3, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. until Mass of Christian Burialat 10:30 a.m. Interment in Resthaven Gardens of Memory. In lieu of flowers, please consider adonation to Hospice of Baton Rouge or St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to the familyat www.resthavenbatonroug e.com.
cock WhitneyBank. Les loved banking anddevelopeda loyal following of his many business customers. Growing up on Country Club Drive across fromWebbPark,Les started playinggolfatthe age of 10 with his best friend, Richard Daviet.Heloved golfand enjoyed the many golfoutings and tripshe took with sons Steven and Michael to the Masters, the Ryder Cup, the US Open and othertournaments. He enjoyed travelingwith Jean on their trips to London, Paris, Rome, Florence and Venice, as well as many trips throughout the U.S. Les was very active with Capital Area United Way. Heserved on the Board of Directors for several years, was Chairman of the Community Impact Committee,and served on the Finance Committee.He was aloyal participant in the funding programs for community agencies. As a banker he was often asked to serve on finance committeesincluding Associated Builders and Contractors, BREC,and his neighborhood Oakridge homeowner'sassociation Leswas an active member of St.Thomas More CatholicChurchfor many years and later St. Jude Catholic Church, servingas aEucharist Minister and on the finance committee. Les is survivedbyhis loving wife,Jean Barnett Gatz. Theyweremarried for 56 years. He isalsosurvived by his three children, StevenGatzand wife Catherine and their sons Carterand Hudson of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Michael Gatz and hiswife Shamiraand their two children Allison and Ahmadof Baton Rouge,and daughter JenniferGatz Fowler,her husband Marston and their threechildren, Henry,Will and Caroline ofBaton Rouge. He was precededin death by his parents, his sister, CharleneGatz Reis his sister, Laura Gatz Deaversand, brother-inlaw BobDeavers. He will be rememberedasa devoted family man who was fully present in the lives of his loved ones, especially his children and grandchildren. His love extendedbeyond his immediate family, touchingthe lives of his nieces, nephews, and all who wereblessed to know him. Les leavesbehinda legacy of extraordinary kindness. He was authentic, sincere and liveda life of good willtowards others. Rooted in his strong Catholicfaith,helived each daywith humility, grace,and compassion, always treating others with patience and love. He had agiftfor finding joyinevery moment, rising above life's challenges, and showing gentleness inall circumstances. His steady presence and the warmth he brought to otherswill be dearly missed.Hewas the embodiment of Luke 2:14:"GlorytoGod in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards man." The family wouldliketothank Dr. Brad Vincent, Dr.Kyle Champagne,and Dr. David Moll for taking such good care of Les for so long.The family wouldalsolike to thankthe Audubon Home Health Careteam, including the home health care professionals, palliative care team and hospice team. The family is grateful to the parishioners and clergy of St. Jude Catholic Churchfor their love, support, and grace. Funeral serviceswillbeFriday, October 3atSt. Jude the ApostleCatholicChurch, 9150Highland Road. Visitation from 9to11a.m. followed by Mass at 11 a.m. In lieuofflowers, donations may be made to CatholicHigh School.
SamuelHouston
Houston Harris, Sr and Emily Katherine Manville Harris.
While attending Baton Rouge High School, Sam discovereda lifelong love of golf, joking that he was the"worst member" of the school'sfirst golf team. He went on to earn abachelor's degree in Personnel Management from LouisianaStateUniversity, where he and his brother were members of Sigma Chi Fraternity. Both remained active as Life Loyal Sigma Chis. Samalso participated in AirForce ROTC, eagerly anticipating his dreamofbecoming afighter pilot, apassion rooted in his childhoodcollection of toyairplanes shared with his brother.
Sam'slife was defined by his warmth, laughter, and love forpeople. His parents instilled in him and his brotherstrongtiesto God and theEpiscopal Church. Bothserved as acolytesatSt. James Episcopal Church before their family helpedestablish Trinity Episcopal Church, where Sam proudly became thechurch's first acolyte.
Following graduation, Sam entered theU.S.Air Force,where he excelled as thetop fighterpilotin his class. Thougha peacetime veteran, he would havegladly served his country in wartime. After his militaryservice,he builta long career in finance and banking, ultimatelyworking 30 years in theDealer Loans Department at Capital One.He lovedhis workand cherishedthe friendships formed throughout his career, many of which lasted alifetime.
Atrue sportsenthusiast, Sam balancedhis career with an activelifestyle. He madeseven documented holes-in-one, played tennis, ran regularly, and cheeredonthe LSUTigers. He also poured himself into service: raising his three children after hisfirst marriageended, servingasan acolyte trainer, BoyScout leader, and Junior Warden at TrinityEpiscopal Church, and contributing to his community through theDowntown Lions Club, theShriners,the Masons (32nd Degree), and other civicorganizations.
In 1983, Samremarried, and he and hiswife enjoyed years filled with travel,love, and laughter until her passing in 2010.
Samisprecededin death by his parents; his belovedbrother, The Rev. Terence Manville Harris; and his twowives. He is survivedbyhis threechildren:PamelaHarris Welch, Mahlon Robert Harris, and Tracey AnnHarris; two grandchildren: Rachael Welch Tibbetts (husband Matt)ofDenhamSprings, Louisiana, and BrianHouston "Doc" Welch of Baton Rouge; and four greatgrandchildren: Madison LeighTibbetts,Hays Anthony Tibbetts,Noah HoustonTibbetts,and AnnaKatherine Tibbetts.Healso leaves behind hischerishedBoston Terrier grand -dogs, Missy and Jack Welch.
Areception willbeheld at TrinityEpiscopal Church (3552 Morning Glory Avenue,Baton Rouge) on Friday, October 3, 2025, from 9:00-10:00 a.m.,followedby thefuneralservice at 10:00 a.m. Interment will take place at GreenoaksMemorial Cemetery on Florida Boulevard.
In lieu of flowers,the family requeststhat donations be made to theTrinity Episcopal Church Endowment Fund in memory of Sam, at theMorning Glory address.
son John Lambert, and son Michael Lambert, father of Kaleb Lambertand AlexanderLambert.Asa young man in Sorrento, Louisiana, he assisted his father with theoperation of amodest grocery store, supplementing their inventorywith produce that he grew in a small vegetable garden. He achievedthe rank of Eagle Scout in theBoy Scouts of America. Excellentmarks in his civics class provided theopportunity to temporarily workasa page in theLouisiana state legislature.Building upon that momentum, and with encouragement from hisdevout and loving mother, he lobbiedhis local US congressman and was selected to become apagein Washington,DC. He graduated fromthe capital page schoolatthe topofhis class, in 1958, in aceremony that featured akeynote address givenbythensenator John FKennedy,with diplomas distributedby then Vice President Richard MNixon. He earnedaBAinpoliticalscience at LouisianaState University, and alaw degree fromLoyolaUniversity in NewOrleans. During his time at Loyola, he supported himself by driving an elementary school bus in themorning, teaching class at that school,then attending classes in the evening.HemarriedMary GayleSmith in 1966, after meeting her whileworking as alifeguardatthe Gonzalesswimming pool.They adopted threechildren through Catholic social services,forming afamily that wouldbeatthe center of his attention, care, and thoughts for theremainder of his life.In1968, he openeda law practice in Gonzales. He was elected to theLouisianastate senatein1972, then to the public servicecommission in 1974. He wouldservein thePSC for18years, building areputationasa fighter forhis constituents through constant oversightand theapplication of judicious regulations. In 1979, he joinedthe race for governorofLouisiana after theoffice was vacated by theterm-limitedincumbent. He securedthe Democratic nomination, butwas narrowlydefeated by DaveTreen, the Republican candidate, in what is considered theclosest gubernatorialrace in contemporaryLouisiana history.In1994, he was once againelected to the Louisianastate senate. He laterserved on theLSU BoardofSupervisors. Louis Lambert dedicated much of his life to publicservice, theruleoflaw, and hisdeepfaith. He was avoice forhis constituents, abelieverina nationoflaws, not men, and theConstitution of the UnitedStates. He was a mentor to many aspiring lawyers and nascentpoliticians, aboveall,hewas a man who lovedhis family, asentimentthathenever neglectedtoexpress. He introduced thelegislation to form the RiverParish Community College, which he would later say was his proudest accomplishment as asenator. He was also inducted into theLouisiana PoliticalHallofFame in 2024. The Lambertfamily has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be madeto theAmerican Cancer Society.The family would also like to extend their gratitudetoDoctor McCanless and his wonderful staff, Hospice of Baton Rouge and to Dr. Rajat Bhushan, as well as the many friends and neighbors who providedassistance and care during this difficult time. Avisitation willbeheldFriday, October 3, 2025 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM at St Anne's Catholic Church, 7348 Main St,Sorrento,LA70778, followedbya funeralMass at 11:00 AM. Louis willbelaid to rest in Hope HavenGardenofMemory, 604 E. Hwy 30, Gonzales, Louisiana 70737.
sons in law, Priscilla Lewis Haynsworth of Zachary, RobinLewis Overhultz (Jerry)ofBaker,and Tam‐mieLewis Fazio(Tommy) of BatonRouge;one son anda daughter-in-law, MichaelG.Lewis (Betty)of Central; 14 grandchildren, 32 greatgrandchildren, and9 great-greatgrand‐children and3 on theway Mary is preceded in death by herlovinghusband Lester Hunter Lewis; fa‐ther,AlbertJosephLopez; mother,Leontine BoudreauxLopez;son,Asa W. Lewis; 1grandchild, JamesHaynsworth; 3 brothers;and 4sisters Servingaspallbearers will be thegrandsons.Rela‐tivesand friendsare in‐vitedtojointhe familyfor thevisitationatSt. Isidore Catholic Church,5657 Thomas Rd,Baton Rouge, LA,onFriday, October3 2025, from 9:00 AM until the Mass of ChristianBurialat 11:00 AM,officiated by Fa‐ther CharbelJamhoury. Thegraveside service and burial will follow at Hill‐crestMemorialGardens,in Baker, Louisiana.
CatherineB.Moore, a retiredAssumption Parish educator,departedthislife on Sunday,September 28, 2025, at OurLadyofthe Lake Regional Medical Center in BatonRouge,LA. Shewas 88, anativeof Napoleonvilleand resident of BelleRose, LA.Visitation on Thursday,October 2, 2025, at St.Benedictthe Moor Catholic Church from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.Visita‐tion to continue on Friday October3,2025, from 9:00am to religiousser‐vicesat10:00am followed by Mass of ChristianBurial at 11:00am.Interment in thechurch cemetery.She wassurvivedbyher son, Gerard Moore(Brandie);1 daughter,Allison Moore; 4 grandchildren; ahostof nieces,nephews,other rel‐atives andfriends.She was preceded in deathbyher husband,UlyssesMoore; parents, Josephineand Clarence Beasley; 3broth‐ers, Ferman,Harris, and CharlesBeasley,Sr.;3 sis‐ters,Naomi Jones, OdamaryOliver, andRuth Dupaty.Arrangementsby Williams &SouthallFuneral Home,5414 Hwy1, Napoleonville, LA 70390. (985) 369-7231. To sign the guestbook or offercondo‐lences,visit ourwebsite at www.williamsandsouthall funeralhome.com.
Ourbeloved Delores Nancy Rhodes Stalling passedawayquietlyon September 23, 2025, at the age of 92, at the Baton Rouge General HospitalMidCity, in theButterfly Unit.She wasa lifelong residentofBaton Rouge, LA Funeral serviceswillbe held on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at 11 a.m. withvisitationfrom9:00-11:00 a.m. at NewSunlightBaptist Church.Interment will immediately follow the service at SouthernMemorial GardensCemetery.A receptionatthe McKinley High School AlumniCenter will follow the burial. Servicesentrusted to Desselle Funeral Home 263 Eddie Robinson Sr.Dr. Baton Rouge,LA.
Leslie Peter Gatz, known to all of us as Les, passed away on September 29th with his family at his side. He was born on January 10, 1947, to Charles Gatz and Margaret Hairston Gatz. Lesgraduated from Catholic High in 1964. He graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette witha degree in Economics and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. Les attended the LSU Banking School of the South and Commercial Lending School in Norman, Oklahoma. He retired after 45 years in banking as a commerciallending officer while working at City National Bank and then Han-
Samuel Houston Harris, Jr., of Baton Rouge, Louisiana,passedaway peacefully on September 23, 2025, at the ageof93, with his family by his side at OurLady of the Lake Hospital. Foreverthe humorist, Samloved to tellpeople that he was the firstinhis family to be born in ahospital.Hewas bornin Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which he proudly called "God's Country." He was the eldest son of Samuel
Louis JosephLambert Jr -born in Deridder, LouisianaonDecember 21, 1940 -passed away peacefully at his home on September 27, 2025, while surrounded by his family He was precededindeath by hisfather Louis JLambert Sr,Mother Roberta Lambert, brother Billy Lambert,and grandson Hunter Louis Lambert. He is survived by his cherishedwife of 59 years, MarySmith Lambert. He leaves behind his sister EdanaSparcino, daughter Jessica Lambert and her grandsonHayze Lambert,
Mary LeeLopez Lewis, 97 yearsold,was called to be with herLordand Sav‐ior, JesusChrist, on Sep‐tember 30, 2025, sur‐rounded by herlovingfam‐ily. Sheentered this world on February 20,1928, born to Leontine andAlbert Lopez, in BayouGoula,LA. Shewas amemberofSt. IsidoreCatholicChurch Mary is survived by her threedaughters andtwo sons-in-law, PriscillaLewis
Robert Jerome Neff,Sr. a native of Zachary, Louisiana wasbornon November 2, 1961 and peacefully passed away on September 24, 2025 at Baton Rouge General Hospital.Heleaves to cherish hismemories, aloving, devotedwife,Lisa Hills Neff, twosons, Robert Jerome Neff,Jr. andNicholas Jacolby Neff,three grandchildren,SerenidyWhitfield, Harmoni and Robert Neff, III;a dedicatedmother Clara L. Neff,two sisters, Brenda Neff Tate andConstance Neff Pittman,two brothers Earnest Neff and Gregory Neff
Viewingwill be held on Friday, October 3, 2025 at Greater Oak Grove Baptist Church, Zachary, LA 5-7. Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, October4, 2025 at MacedoniaMissionary Baptist Church, viewingat9 andservice to follow at 10.
Olga Bandi Riegel,a lifelong residentofNew Orleans, died Sunday, September 28, 2025, after a lengthybattle with cancer Shewas 80 years old. Olga wasbornon Christmas Day, 1944 and wasa gift and ajoy to her dear parents,Olga Parlongue Bandi and Nicholas J. Bandi,who cherished theironly child andtaught hertoshare thegift of herbeing by always thinking first of the otherand leaving no one behind. "Bringa friend Bandi" became hernickname early on andinthe decades that followed, Olga lived up to that sobriquet, forgingdeep and abidingfriendships with many from diverse culturesand countriesand welcoming them all to her sweet home for delicious home-cooked meals, warmth, laughterand stimulating conversation. Neverwithouther trademark sunglasses, Olga embracedlifeand therich culture of hernative New Orleans. Sheloved the city'sDixielandJazz, R&B, festivals andneighborhood restaurants andcelebratedlifeasonlytrue NewOrleaniansknowhow-not just at Mardi Gras and JazzFest buteveryday of theyear.She waszanyand funnyand made many laugh Olga attendedHoly Name of Jesus School and graduatedfromMercy Academy in 1962. Sheattended LSUfrom1962-1966, whereshe wasa proud member of ChiOmega sorority, andmade many lifelongfriends.She delightedraisingher three daughters and wasanactive volunteerattheir school, Academy of the SacredHeart,where she served as Mother's Club President. Shewas amemberofSt. Rita'sParish and several other religious, social andcivic organizations throughout heradult life. Shewas thrilledtobecome aNana whilestill in her50s and spentmany years playing an active roleinthe lives andcareof herseven grandchildren, wholoved herdearly and benefited from herwisdom andgenerosity. Sheispreceded in death by herparents. Sheissurvived by herloving husbandof60years, PhilipR Riegel;her daughters, Stephanie Riegel (Gregory Woolverton), TraceyKoch (David), andKristen Riegel (Jeff Thacher); seven grandchildren, Allison Woolverton,Madeleine Heyob (Ben), Michael Woolverton,Jon David Koch,Maggie Koch, Sarah Hook andChristopher Hook; andgreat-granddaughterCatherineHeyob. Thefamilywould like to give special thanks to her caregivers andhelpers, whose compassion and attention made herfinal months more comfortable: Santa Gamez, Raquel White, KylaAlexander and TericaWashington. Visitation will be held from10-11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 4, at St.Rita'sCatholic Church,2729 Lowerline St., followed by afuneral Mass at 11 a.m. Agravesideseri ill b i
See more DEATHS page
Moore, CatherineB.
Riegel, Olga Bandi
Neff Sr., Robert Jerome
Gatz, Leslie Peter 'Les'
LambertJr., Louis Joseph
Harris,
Lewis, Mary LeeLopez
OPINION
OUR VIEWS
Keep National Flood Insurance Program in business
If there’sone thing that Louisianans can take to thebank, it’s that the most recent floodwill not be the last.
So it would be really helpful if theycould count on something else: reliable and available flood insurance.
Yetonce again, the federal government, which writes the vast majority of flood policies inthe U.S., isn’tkeeping up its endofthe bargain. The government shutdown that began Wednesday alsomarkedthe expiration of the National Flood Insurance Program’sauthorization.
So what does this mean forthe morethan 400,000 Louisianans who rely on thiscoverage?
In the immediate term, currentpoliciesremain in effect. But new policies can’t be written, existing policies up for renewal can’tberenewed andreal estate purchases in zoneswhere lenders require flood coverage can’t go through. And potentially,the expiration could limit the payment of claims.
If all this sounds familiar,it should Congress routinely letsthe flood insurance programlapse, or comes close. Duringthe past decade, it’spassed no fewer than 33 short-term authorization extensions. Onesuch extension was included in the short-term spendingbill that has fallen victim to thelarger partisan stalemate. Another,astandalonemeasure, is proposed but awaiting action
These frequent extensionsare largely the result of Congress kicking thecan down theroad as it contemplates the larger goal of reforming the program to make it less costly,moreactuariallysound and simply more fair
That it has largely failed on that frontis telling, for charting adifferent pathrequires grappling withhardquestionsabout how much andwhether government insurance shouldsubsidize those who live in areas proneto flooding, andhow to discouragebuilding in flood-prone areaswithout punishing longstanding communities where living with water is simply afact of life.
Theprogram’smostrecent reform, called Risk Rating 2.0,provedcontroversialand punishingly costly for many Louisiana homeowners. Some who are not required bylenders to carry coverage have dropped it,leavingthem vulnerable to the next disaster andlikely putting others on the hook for theirrecovery. That said, there has been some isolated good news lately. Residents of unincorporatedJefferson Parish and Livingston Parish recently becameeligiblefor rate cuts, as aresultoflocal flood mitigation measures. Propertyowners in Youngsville could now qualify fora break too, sincecity officials wererecently approvedfor the NFIP’svoluntary community ratingsystem. But thebigger issues surroundingthe flood insurance program’sfuture remain,evenasthe Trump administration’sdeeply concerning talk of scaling back or eliminatingFEMA, which runs the NFIP,raises new ones. Still, none of that means that Congress can’t minimize damage in the short runbyextending the program’scurrentprovisions onemore time. Or even better,itcould extend them indefinitely,which would not precludereformbut would minimize disruption inthe meantime. That,atleast,would keep Louisiana’songoing insurance challenges from gettingevenworse
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR
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Supportfederal fundingto help Alzheimer’spatients
Today,nearly 7million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s—a number expected toincrease to nearly 13 million by 2050, including 95,000 in Louisiana. Without medical breakthroughs, this number is projected to rise. As aformer caregiver,Iunderstand firsthand theimpact this devastatingdisease has on families across America.
Alzheimer’sdeeply impacted my family when my grandmother,IrmaLee Dartez, passed away after her battle with the disease. Watchingher decline was heartbreaking and inspired me to dedicatemywork to honoring her memory.
Thankfully,U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields can play arole in addressing this critical issue. By increasing funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research at the National Institutes of Healthbyanadditional $113.485 million and supporting the dementia public healthinfrastructure with $35 million allocated in the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’sAct Congressman Fieldshas the opportunity
Kudos to Scott Rabalais for his column predicting SEC’sannual opponents, as well as to the teachers who taught him theskill and art of writing. Rabalais’ columns are consistently well-written, creative, informative, instructive, humorous and often selfdepreciating.
An avid Tiger fan who waited until her golden years to begin reading thenewspaper’sSportssection and who now
Ijust came back to Louisiana from a blessed JMJ Pilgrimage to Rome with others for the canonizations of Sts. Acutis and Frassati.
We were so fortunate as pilgrimsin this Holy Jubilee Year of the Catholic Church to walk through designated “holy door” church entrances and to receive eternal blessings.
What ajoy it was also to join Pope LeoXIV,who has somefamilial connections to New Orleans, at ageneral audience and for the canonizations, especially as he was driven by after-
to provide millionsofAmericans with a sense of hope. With this funding, scientists will beable to build on this momentumand continue working to advance basic disease knowledge, explore ways to reduce risk, uncover new biomarkers for early diagnosis and drug targeting and make discoveries that can lead to a treatment or acure. We can’tafford not to fund research.
This funding continues to help build resources and compassionate care inspired by my grandmother’sjourney.It allows me to turn apainful experience into something meaningful that supports other families walking the samepath.
Pleasejoin me and the Alzheimer’s Association in encouraging U.S. Rep. Fieldstolead in the fight to end Alzheimer’sand other dementias by supporting research funding andthe dementia public healthinfrastructure. We’re at a momentwhen knowledge and discoveries are changing the way we fight Alzheimer’sand all other dementias. Our progress must continue.
JORDAN BRISCO Opelousas
begins reading her morning newspaper with Rabalais’ column in Sports instead of the comics in Living, Ican testify to my appreciation forhis outstanding delivery.Beware, fellow nonsports page readers, Rabalais columns are addictive. By theway,his column characterizing Tiger Stadium was“icing on my cake.”
KAREN POIRRIER Lutcher
wards in the popemobile within 10 feet of us. Subsequently,itwas truly ablessing to take some St. Francis Waywalks from Assisi back toward Rome. Itruly have learned from these holy adventures —and especially from the charism of St. Francis —that we are at acritical “turning point” in our everyday walks of life to ever more adopt the songassociated with Francis: “Make Me AChannel Of Your (Jesus’) Peace!”
KEITH HORCASITAS Baton Rouge
Seeing, hearing andreading the pervertedjoy many people from the left have celebrated at the assassinationofCharlie Kirk is disgusting. The deflection of blame for this tragedy from Democrats andtheir propaganda mainstream media is hollow. Their constant labeling of President Donald Trump, Kirk andconservative people as Hitler, Nazis, fascists, deplorablesand everyphobe known to man over so many years hasfannedthe flames of hatred toward allconservatives. Along with riots, death and destructionofproperty when events aredeemed justified by Democrats for suchbehavior,it appearsthatmurderisnow also justified by many on the left. Trump’stwo near-assassination attempts, Luigi Mangione’s allegedmurderofthe UnitedHealthcareCEO andnow the deathofCharlie Kirk. Chaos, lawlessness andanarchy are the outcomes as their words and actions aretoo oftencondoned without consequences.
The Democrat Party appears to have been infiltrated with evil. Theyare godless. Their quest for powerispursuedthrough lies andpropaganda while proclaiming theyknowwhat is best for you. Their leadership’sagenda is outoforderand counter to life, liberty andthe pursuit of happiness. No happiness can be found in their beliefsystem. Is it now irrational to support this party,whichismiserable and full of hate?Ipray Godtochange their hearts. Until that time, it may be time for sensible middleof-the-road Democrats to flee thatparty.The alternative is to at leastbecome independent, capable of thinking for themselves in whatisright and wrong. True hope andhappiness for the future is found with faith in Jesus, not in those who want to controlyour life
WADE PERRIN Marrero
Iowa’s stunning immigrationmess
On May 16, 2023, the Des Moines, Iowa, School Board hired IanRoberts to be its new superintendent. Roberts, the first African Americanever chosen to run the city’s schools, formally began the job on July 1, 2023. By the end of July,the board got some surprisingnewsabout their new superintendent. He had been named in a$250,000 settlementwith an ex-employee at his previous job as head of the Millcreek Township SchoolDistrict in Pennsylvania. Melody Ellington, the Pennsylvania district’shumanresources director under Roberts, claimedshe hadbeen subjected to “unlawful treatment.” The nature of thattreatment was notrevealed.
Meanwhile, officials at the Des Moines board said Roberts’ problem was news to them. “Given the confidential nature of the settlement, thereis nothing that Des Moines public schools would have known about prior to the hiring of Dr.Roberts,” the board chair Teree Caldwell-Johnson, told the Des Moines Register.“For the same reason, this would not have been picked upby the search firm doingthe background check.” There was more. It turns out Roberts left two other settlementsinhis wake in Pennsylvania. Both of them, one for $87,500and the other for$66,000, went to school officials demoted by Roberts. Alltogether,Roberts left the Millcreek system on the hook for $403,500inlegal settlements. His new employers in Des Moines knew nothing about it.
Des Moines school officialswerein forafar bigger surprise lastFriday, whenthey learned that Roberts, who came to the United States from Guyana sometime in the 1990s, was in the U.S illegally and had,infact, receiveda final order of deportation last year.The board learned that from Immigration andCustoms Enforcement agents who
CREEPY CALLERS
arrestedRobertsand then issued this statement to the press: “Today,ICE Des Moines arrestedIan Andre Roberts, a criminalillegal alien from Guyanain possession of aloaded handgun, $3,000 in cash, and a fixedblade hunting knife. At the time of his arrest,Roberts was working as the Superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools despite being an illegal alien with a finalorder of removal and no workauthorization.”
ICE said Roberts “spedaway” when approachedbyofficers. Theyfound Roberts’ carabandoned in thewoods, andlaterlocated Roberts and arrested him. He remains in ICE custody
ICE said Roberts first entered the U.S. in 1999 on astudent visa and had a weapons possessioncharge against him from February2020. He never became apermanent legal resident or acitizen. He also did not leave. Even when he had theweaponscharge —that was apparently while he was running thePennsylvania school system— his illegal status did notcometopublic light
Then camethe final order of removal —deportation— in May 2024. Roberts said nothing to theDes Moines school board and continued in his role.
The rapid series of events left school officials frazzled. They stressedthat they relied on asearch firm to find Roberts when they were seeking anew superintendent in 2023. They thought Roberts was totally legit.“No one herewas aware of any citizenship or immigration issuesthatDr. Roberts may have been facing,” boardChairwoman Jackie Norrissaid afterthe news became public. Norris pointed to the I-9 form, aU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services document in which aprospective employee verifies to anew employer that he is authorized to workinthe U.S. “We can tell you that on his I-9, he stated he wasa citizen,”Norris said, “and he provided two forms of verification —a
With Halloween just afew weeks away, did youeverwonder what thesecreepy charactersdothe rest of theyear? So,what’sgoingoninthis cartoon? you tellme. Be witty,funny, crazy, absurd or snarky —just trytokeep it clean. There’snolimit on the number of entries.
driver’slicense and aSocial Security card.”
Norris referred frequently to “Dr. Roberts,”and therevelations caused some journalistsinIowa to take acloser look at his history.Itappears Roberts earned aB.A.fromCoppin State University,ahistorically Black university in Baltimore, in 1998. He earned amaster’sdegree from St. John’sUniversity twoyearslater.The Des Moines Registernoted that he “has claimed for many years” thatheearned adoctoral degree from Morgan State University,another historically Black university, but “a university spokesman [said] thatRoberts did not obtain adegree from the school, despite attending Morgan State from the fall of 2002 through the springof 2007.”
All this raises questions about why board membersknew so little about their superintendent. In her remarks, Norris, aformer topaide to first lady Michelle Obama who is now running for the Democratic nomination for senatorfromIowa, perhaps inadvertently hinted at areason. With his engaging personality and flamboyant dress —one article described Robertsin“amaroon three-piece suit,candy cane stripedbow tie and matching Nike Air Force One sneakers” —Roberts,the first black superintendent in the school board’s history,simply bowled people over.“He sparkedjoy in our kids,and an excitement in our kids,” Norris said. “This is an individual who brought alot of enthusiasmand vibrancy to ourcommunity.”
Finally,despite it all, despitethe lies, the deportation order, the gun, the evading police and more, Norris seemed positive about Roberts. “Two thingscan be true,” she toldreporters. “It is possible that you may not be acitizen, but you are still agood human being.”
Byron York is on X, @Bryon York. Email byronyork@yorkcomm.com.
The winning punchline will be lettered into the word balloonand runon Monday.Inaddition, the winner will receivea signed print of the cartoon alongwith acool winner’sT-shirt! Some honorable mentions will also be listed. To enter,emailyour entries to cartooncontest@theadvocate.com. DON’T FORGET! All entries mustinclude your name, home addressand phone number.Cell numbers are best.The deadline for all entries is midnight on Thursday. Send in your punchline treatsand win! Good luck! Walt
Ahiss overwhelmed theroom. We were on astage at LincolnCenter,talking about Kansas. And if theaudience walked in wanting me to be theenemy Ihad just inadvertentlyconfirmed that Iwas. All it took was aword.
The event was the screening of adocumentary based on the Thomas Frank bestseller “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” We’d justwatched apart of it focusing on George Tiller,the lateterm abortion doctor who was murdered in 2009 on aSunday in the church he regularly attended It was acruel, cowardly,evilact.I was the token pro-lifer onthe panel discussing all things Kansas in theBig Apple, and, as far as those gathered were concerned, Ihad just played to type. Iused the m-word. Murder Had youpointedthis out to me,I would have, in all innocence, been bewildered by my offense. Fellow panelist Joe Conason, who wroteacolumn for Salon.com and was known to be close to Billand Hillary Clinton, came to my defense.
proper wordtouse was “assassination,” because it had been a“political” murder.It was still amurder.Itwas evil. Evil seemed the most important thingtoacknowledge.
Can we at least agree that murder is murder and evil is evil? Ifeel similarly in the wakeofCharlie Kirk’smurder
Theman is dead because he hadthe audacity —the fortitude—togooncollege campuses andencourage young people to think and debate.
“She didn’tmean anythingbyit,” is what Irecall him saying,sternly and chivalrously.Iquickly learned that the
Former prime minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May is getting a nationwide hiss-like reaction for insisting that the assisted-suicide bill the House of Commons passed this summerisabout suicide. It is medically prescribeddeath. Iwonder if those blasting May would prefer,instead of callingitassisted suicide, just going ahead and calling it murder,asdoctors are beingrecruited to do harm as a matterofprotocol. Iwould easily go along with that classification,because it gets away from the lie that assisted suicide is mercy andmakes it clearer that it is actually abandonmentand elimination.
Thedevil wants us to believe we are
beasts, nothing morethan our base desires and usefulness as objectsfor others. Assisted suicide buys intothese lies. Is there anything more precious than ahuman life? Andaninnocent, vulnerable, weak human life at that? Only God knows what miracles can happen when given time. There may be reconciliations that happen at a hospital bedside, where nothing much can be done except to make peace and prepare for theend.
So, call it suicide. Or —don’ttwist my arm—certainly murder will cover it, too. Charlie Kirk was murdered. As was George Tiller.Both killings were wrong. Both were evil. Call them assassinations. That’s fine. Just don’ttry to justify them or water them down Evil was done. Let us uniteinrallying against it. Period. Murder is murder. Medically assisted suicide is not only suicide, but murder.Topretend otherwise is to devalue life and justify evil Even when it’swell-intentioned, it’s murder.It’ssuicide. To not acknowledge that is deadly —and to morethan just individual lives.
Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.
Reporter Tyler Bridges’ excellent Sept. 28 news obituary for longtime Louisiana politician Louis Lambert brought back a flood of memories. It also served as areminder that tiny amounts of votes can change history in major ways. Lambert served either in the state Senate or on the Public Service Commission for 30 of the 32 years between 1972 and 2004, leaving arecord of old-style populism. For now,let’sleave to others any assessment of his lawmaking legacy.What remains most remembered about Lambert, and what is so vivid in my own mind, was his doubly-excruciatingly close race for governor in 1979.
In arace with six major and three minor candidates, Lambert appeared to have missed ageneral election runoff by 1,149 votes behind then-lieutenant governor Jimmy Fitzmorris, with then-U.S. Rep. Dave Treen, the race’sonly Republican, another 14,000 —or1%—further ahead in first place. Somehow,though, when the machines were opened, Lambert’stiny deficit turned into a2,506-vote margin aheadof Fitzmorris, putting Lambert in the runoff. As Louisiana wasn’texactly known forhonest elections at the time, the switch in the vote count in Lambert’sfavor led to awidespreadbelief that skulduggery was involved. Fair to Lambert or not, those suspicions haunted him in the runoff against Treen, who was vying to be the first Republican to win astatewide election in more than 100 years.
Voter registration and behavior backthen stacked the odds heavily against Republicans. It took all those suspicions, plus the endorsements for Treen by all four of the othermajor candidates, plus acareful “ballot security” program on Treen’sbehalf led by then-Democratic state Rep. Ben Bagert, plus aspirited statewide system of phone banks operated by Republican women, to push Treen past Lambert in the runoff by only 8,557 votes. The margin wasjust seven-tenths of 1%.
The closeness of the race led to perhaps the strangest, most somber “victory party” I’ve ever seen. Worried that the runoff vote margin would evaporate the wayFitzmorris’ margin had disappeared in the primary,Treen seemed to take forever to show up at his own putative celebration and then, in atone befitting an undertaker,saidit “appeared” he had wonand that he “hoped” the margin would hold. He quickly left the podium and left the crowd deflated. It was not an auspicious start to his notably well-meaning but politically doomed governorship.
That election, both open primary and runoff, is where the “every vote counts” mantra wasobvious. There probably wasn’tasingle politically savvy analyst, then or now,who believes Treen would have defeated Fitzmorris if Fitzmorris rather than Lambert had made the runoff. Then it would have been Fitzmorris, amoderate, business-friendly Democrat, rather thanthe Republican Treen who would have been tasked with handling an oil-economybust that hobbled the state’seconomyfor four years.
Would flamboyant former Gov.Edwin Edwards have so easily wonacomeback over Fitzmorris —or, for that matter,over Lambert —ashedid over Treen? Or would the Democratic Party get blamed for the rottenstate economy, thus setting up adifferent Republican four years later for awin? And how would those political reverberations have played outinsubsequent years? Would the stage still have been set for the unexpected rise of national Ku Klux Klanleader David Duke,orthe nightmare of the 1991 Duke-Edwards runoff?
And if Treen had lost that race, he still would have remained in Congress, where he wasa rising star.Would his own political future, ironically,have benefited from aloss for governor?
On the other hand, would anyone else have notched some of Treen’sgubernatorialachievements, including the creation of the Department of Environmental Quality,workers’ compensation reform and an improved code of criminal procedure?
All of these “what if” questions arise because the 1979 primary would have resulted differently with the switch of just asingle voter per precinct statewide, and the runoff result would have changed with aswitchofbarely more than two voters per precinct.
As for Lambert, he brushed himself off from his bitter 1979 loss and spent most of the next 25 years in elective office, and —despite his Democratic populism —served while state Senate president pro tem as a“team player” for Republican Gov.Mike Foster.The legislative work was an honorable capstone to three decadesofpublic service.
In addition to the truism that every vote counts, there are lessons in Lambert’scareer: Bitter defeats need not be the last word, and constructive collaboration is possible across political lines. Those are not bad lessons to be taught by just one voter in every precinct.
EmailQuin Hillyer at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com
Quin Hillyer
Kathryn Jean Lopez
Byron York
DEATHS continued from
vice will beprivate. In lieu of flowers, please consider adonation to Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana.
Robert, Jacqueline Jackie
Jacqueline "Jackie"
Robert, age 92, anative andlong-time resident of Donaldsonville, LA, and current resident of Metairie, LA, passed away peacefully on Sunday, September 21, 2025. Jackie was aloving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend and neighbor. She was astay home Mom when her children were young and was involved in their school activities and Mother's Club. She then worked in the field of office management, clerical work and bookkeeping for over 30 years. Her passion was her family, helping and giving any way she could to care for her husband, children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. She loved helping her working children with their housework, laundry, babysitting and picking up the little ones from school. She also shared in the care of her own infirm mother for many years. She loved family gatherings with her and Red's siblings and their families. She was a great cook and hostess and loved holidays and all the preparations for them. It was so important to her to keep in touch with extended family, attending weddings, parties and reunions. She stayed in touchbyvisiting when able, and then when she could no longer get out, phone calls....many, many phone calls to friends and family, always thinking of
others, she wanted to stay connected. She and Red loved dancing, vacationing with friends, andmany trips to the casinos. She was so well liked by everyone who knewher and deeplyloved by her family Sheleaves behindtocherish her memoryher four children,Susan Robert Freeze,BruceRobert, Marcia Robert Briseno (Roy) and Gwen Robert; ten grandchildren, seven great -grandchildren and numerous nieces,nephewsand extended family. She is preceded indeath by her lovinghusband of seventy one years, Irby "Red Robert; parents Mike and Lucy Belle Messina Milano; four siblings, Lucy Belle Sotile, Mary"Teeda" Civello, Michel Mike "Tex"Milano and Beverly Leblanc; two sons-in-law, Steve Modica and RedFreeze and one daughter-in-law ClaireBecnelRobert. The family would like to thank the staffofHarmony Hospice, HeartofHospice, Metairie Healthcare Center and themany Donaldsonville in-homecaregiverswho lovedand cared forMrs.Jackie throughouther timesof need. Avisitation will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at St.Francis of AssisiCatholicChurchin Donaldsonville,LA, from 10amuntil Mass of ChristianBurial at 12pm. Conducting the service willFr. Cleo Milano. Interment to followinthe church mausoleum.
Robertson, Mollie
Mollie Ann Robertson, age79, of Baton Rouge, LA passedawaypeacefully at home on September 23, 2025.She was abeloved mother, grandmother,and friend whose warmth and kindness touched many lives.Mollie willberemem-
bered forher generous spirit, unwavering faith, and deep love forher children and lovedones.
Visitation willbeheld from9:00 to 11:00 a.m.,followed by funeral services at 11:00 a.m. on October 3, 2025, at Wilson-Woodale Funeral Home,1553 Wooddale Blvd Baton Rouge, LA 70806.
She willbedeeply missed and forever cherished.
Jane Laycock Staples, age 98, alifelong resident of BatonRouge, passed away on Tuesday, September30, 2025. Agraduate of LSUand an 85-year memberofChi Omega, she was adevoted homemaker, master seamstress, genealogyenthusiast,and avid reader. She was preceded in deathbyher husband, John Batson Staples, Jr.; son, David R. Staples; her parents; and twosisters, Ann Laycock Wise and BertaLaycock Mayer. She is survivedbyher sons, John Bowman (Cindy) Staplesand Douglas Clark (Debbie) Staples; threegrandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and extended family.Visitation willbeheldFriday, October3,2025, from4-8 PM at Rabenhorst Funeral Home East. For thefull obituary, please visit www.rabenhorsteast.com. In lieu of flowers,donations may be madetoHospice of BatonRouge
Thomas,BonnieMurl
BonnieMurl Thomas, a nativeofBaker, LA,passed away on Sunday, September28, 2025, at theage of 91. She is survivedbyher daughters, Sharon(Carlos) Kerrick of LosAngeles, CA, and ElizabethDevers of Shreveport,LA; her son, Michael Thomas of Houston, TX; and adevoted great-granddaughter, AddisonFaithJolla. She also leavesbehinda host of grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, other relatives, and friends. Visitation willbeheld Saturday, October 4, 2025, at Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 1414 Sora St., Baton Rouge, LA,from 10:00 a.m. until funeral services at 11:00 a.m.,officiated by Pastor Clee Lowe. Interment willfollow at Southern Memorial Gardens. Services entrusted to Hall Davis and SonFuneral Services. www.halldavisandson.c om
Thompson, LoisHatchell
Lois Hatchell Thompson, belovedmotherand grandmother, passed away peacefully in her home at 8:55 pm, Tuesday, September23, 2025. She wasborn Nov21, 1933, to Mildred Brown Carpenter and Ernest Lee Carpenter of DenhamSpringsand resid-
ed in Baton Rouge withher husband, Gerald "Jerry," of 38 years. Lois ownedand operated Baton Rouge SewerService for 10 years before retiring. Sheproudly embraced ablended familyoffivedaughters, eightgrandchildren, twelve great grandchildren andtwo great-great grandchildren. Herwisdom, guidance, patienceand support were the gifts she bestowedonall those who lovedher.Survivors includeher daughters, Laynette HatchellSpring (Donald), JulieHatchell Jumper (Daryl), Jayne Thompson DeJean,Marie Thompson Pierce (Mert), and Elizabeth Thompson Lemoine (Hansel); grandchildren, Cathleen BordelonSiersema(Tim), Curt Bordelon, Jason Spring (Jamie), Tommy Spring (Meg), Jeremy Lemoine (Joanna), Cory Lemoine (Jenna), Chev Pierce (Shantel),and Sharla Pierce;twelvegreat grandchildrenand twogreatgreat grandchildren. Lois waspreceded in death by herhusband, Gerald "Jerry" Thompson,brother, Carroll Carpenter, andher parents. Visitation will begin on Friday, October3,
from 5to8 pm at RabenhorstFuneral Home (11000 Florida Blvd,Baton Rouge), recitation of therosary at 7:00 pm. Visitation on Saturday, October 4, willbe from 10:00 to 11:00 am at St.Thomas More Catholic Church (11441 Goodwood Blvd)withthe Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 am. Father EddieMartin will preside. Burial will followinGreenoaks Memorial Park(9595 Florida Blvd) with Deacon JoeScimeca performinggravesiderites. Readings will be proclaimed by Beth Lemoine andMarie Pierce.Gift bearers willbeLois's granddaughters, Cathleen Siersema and Sharla Pierce.Pallbearers will be Lois's grandsons, Jason andTommy Spring, Curt Bordelon, Chev Pierce, Jeremy andCoryLemoine. Thefamilyisgrateful to TheHospice of Baton Rouge for theircompassionate care,and to caregiversPaula, Shywanda, Chiquita, Shakedria, and Dyranesha. Memorial donations in Lois'smemory may be sent to Baton Rouge Regional Eye Bank, 7777 Hennessy Blvd,#1005, Baton Rouge,LA70808.
but haven’tset
yet?
Staples, JaneLaycock
CA C’
BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer
Foster Moreau chose two words to describe what it felt like returning to the practice field with his New OrleansSaintsteammates this week.
“Deeply cathartic,”hesaid
It has been along road back from atornACL thatended Moreau’s2024 season in the fourth quarter of agamewithzeropostseason implications.
It’ssometimes easy to think about injuries such as the one Moreau suffered in football terms —how the surgery went, howmuch timehe’ll be forced tomiss, what is he like when he returns to practice
But there are life things to consider,too. Think abouthow theinjury occurred: Late in the fourth quarter of what would end up being the Saints’ 12th loss of the season, Moreau wascatchinga shallowpassand turning upfieldonly to have aTampa Bay Buccaneers defenderhit the side of hiskneewith the crown of his helmet
Less than twominutes remaining in his finalgameofthe season,and hislife plans changed in an instant.
“You make alot of calls;you cancel alot of trips,” Moreau said.“Youtell best friends that have just hadtheir newborn childrenthat you’re not going to be able to meet them. There’salot of weightthat obviouslygoes intothe people around youaswell. Like, OK, my girl’soffseason is canceled. My mom’sgot to help me out around the house.
ä See SAINTS, page 4C
It’sall hands on deck, because with like 108 seconds leftinthe 2024 season, Iget ahelmet to theoutside of the knee on a five-step out route, and my offseason is canceled. It’sbrutal, and that partofsports is one of the hardest parts.”
FOSTERMOREAU, Saints tight end
ever been handed to him’
went from walk-ontostarter
BY TOYLOYBROWN III Staff writer
ZakYassine dove and missedthe football after ahigh snap over aMississippi Valley State quarterback caused temporary chaos. The Southern defensive tackle didn’tlie on the turf andassume ateammate would get it.His eyes remained glued to the erratically bouncing ball that slipped through sixplayers.Yassine successfullyswooped in forthe fumble recovery on the opposing 4-yard line.
The play in that 34-29 win over MVSU is illustrative of Yassine’sfootball career
Acareer definedbynot giving up. Acareer in which he made the switch fromoffense to defense late in high school, became awalk-on at Lamar and is now aconsistent starter on Southern’sdefensive line. Shayna Yassine,Zak’smom,knows that her son is determined.
“He’s hadtoworkhardfor everything that he’s ever earnedwith football,” she said. “Nothing’sever been handed to him.” Zak Yassine, 22, has carved out an importantroleonthe defensive front andishaving anice redshirt senior season thus far The 6-foot-1, 285-pound defensive tackle has 15 tackles (10 solo), 11/2 tackles forloss, asack, twofumble recoveries and ablocked kick through five games. He is one of four players in the Southwestern Athletic Conference to have at least two fumble recoveries.
Alongside his on-field production, he has a leadership role after being in the Southern locker room since 2022.
hypes up teammates before the startofthe fourth quarter against PrairieViewA&M on Sept. 21, 2024.
N.O. needsto step up if it wantstostayin
fans who have suffered through an 0-4 start to the Saints seasonand back-to-back recent losses byTulane and LSU to Ole Miss. The 2028 game willenhanceNew Orleans’ long, proud historyofhosting college football title games. It will be the first time New Orleans has hosted thegame
ä See DUNCAN, page 3C
Tigers quarterbackstill battling abdominalinjury
BY REED DARCEY Staff writer
LSU won’t neglect its rushing offense. Coach Brian Kelly made sure to mention that concern as well on Wednesday,when he explained why the Tigers are devoting aconsiderable portionoftheir open date to their ailing passing attack.
“Everybody wantstotalkabout the run game,” Kelly said. “I get it.”
ButGarrett Nussmeier is asecond-year starter whothrewfor over 4,000 yards last year. LSUbrought back his leading receiver,his favorite field-stretcher and his uber-athletic sophomore tight end, then paired that trio of weapons with two transferwideoutswho had alreadyproven they could excel in the SEC. The moves could’ve created adeeper,more dynamic offense, butonly if theTigers playedto their strengths.
“And that’s our skill players and our quarterback,” Kelly said. “So, the problem for us more than anything else is we have not been eliteinthe passing game, and so that’sbeen ahuge focus this week.”
The run game wasalways an area of concern.LSU finished the2024 season ranked last among SEC teams in rushing offense, then lost four starters on the offensive line. The Tigers hired arun-game coordinator to Kelly’sstaffand retained sophomore tailback Caden Durham, but questions about that facet of the offense lingered into the preseason. The passing struggles, on the other hand, are new Last year,only eight FBS teamsthrew for more yards than LSU. Nussmeier’s yardage total (4,052) ranked fifthnationally,and his touchdowntally (29) finished 10th.Healsohelped theTigersconvert third downs at one of the six highest rates in the country —quite the accomplishmentfor an offense that lacked areliable rushing attack. Now things are different, in part because Nussmeier is still battling an injury that Kelly described Wednesday as an abdominal strain. This season, LSU ranks 80th in scoring offense, 90th in total offense and 46thin passing offense. Nussmeier has thrown more passesbehind the line of scrimmage(39), according to Pro Football Focus, than he has between 10 and 19 yards
Jeff Duncan
Saints tight end Foster Moreau celebrateshis touchdownreception against LasVegas Raiders duringa game on Nov. 29 at the Caesars Superdome. AP FILE PHOTO By GERALD HERBERT
Saints TE Moreau opensupabout lengthyrecovery, return from injury
Aces eye historic third title
BY MARK ANDERSO AP sportswriter
7 P.M. FRIDAy, ESPN
LAS VEGAS Not only does Phoenix await the Aces in the WNBA Finals, but so does history Las Vegas has the opportunity to become champions for the third time in four years, a feat surpassed only by the Houston Comets, who won the league’s first four titles in 19972000 The second-seeded Aces, who won championships in 2022 and 2023, open the best-ofseven Finals by hosting the No. 4 Mercury on Friday But minutes after getting past No. 6 Indiana 107-98 in overtime on Tuesday night, coach Becky Hammon wasn’t ready to think about the potential history the Aces can make.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Hammon said. “We’re just trying to make it through a quarter at a time.
“Look, we have a special group here. I’m not surprised that they’re here because I know who they are. I know how they’re built.” The Aces beat the Mercury in three of their four meetings this season, including both in August when Las Vegas was in the midst of compiling its 16-game winning streak to close the regular season. It’s tied with the second-longest streak in league history with the 2014 Mercury. The Aces are making their fourth Finals appearance in six years. They lost to Seattle in the COVID-19 bubble Finals of 2020, but then defeated Connecticut in 2022 and New York in 2023, securing both clinching victories on the road.
In defeating the Liberty the Aces became the first team since Los Angeles in 2001-02 to win back-to-back titles. Then this year, A’ja Wilson became the first fourtime MVP She was key to lifting the Aces out of a rut with that late charge in the regular season.
“When you’ve been in the trenches and you really don’t know what is the problem or you don’t know what’s wrong, you’re trying to figure out answers,” Wilson said. “At the beginning of every season, we write out our goals and our goals are always to win a championship. That’s everybody But to get there, the road, we weren’t expecting it to look like it is.
“It definitely does feel a lot different than the ones before.”
Pels look to build chemistry on, off the court in Australia
BY ROD WALKER Staff writer
The toughest part of the New Orleans Pelicans’ trip was the flight.
It took about 20 hours for the Pelicans to set up shop over 9,300 miles away in Melbourne, Australia. They left New Orleans on Sunday. Due to the 15-hour time difference, they arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday As the Pelicans adjust to the time difference, this trip can also be an opportunity for the players to adjust to each other
There are plenty of new faces on this year’s roster, which is why this trip can help a team looking to bounce back from a rough 2024-25 season.
Joe Dumars, hired in April as the Pelicans’ executive vicepresident of basketball operations, is responsible for adding all the new pieces to the roster
“Usually trips like this are great for bonding,” Dumars said.
“It’s a new group here now and a lot of new faces. So it’ll probably be really good in terms of that.
The first trip out is 20 hours, so that’s a long time to bond.”
Dumars will get his first glimpse of his team Friday You’ll have to wake up early to get your first glimpse.
The Pelicans will play Melbourne United at 4:30 a.m. Friday and will be broadcast on Gulf Coast Sports Network and NBATV It is one of two games they will play against teams from the National Basketball League, a professional basketball league in Australia. On Saturday night (11 p.m., GCSN), the Pelicans will
play South East Melbourne Phoenix. Both games will be played at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
It will be the first time an NBA team has played in Australia.
In years past, teams from the NBL have come to the United States to play preseason games
So now the NBA is returning the favor
“It’s a credit to the NBA and them being intentional about making the game as global as possible,” said Pelicans’ head coach Willie Green. “Australia is one of those countries where we’ve seen a number of good basketball players. They are excited about the game there and we are excited to go there and compete.”
There have been several Australian players to make it to the NBA in recent years, including Luc Longley Patty Mills, and former Pelicans’ guard Dyson Daniels.
Before the team’s departure, Green didn’t offer any insight into which players would play and how many minutes they would play But he wants to see his team play with the same intensity that it played with last week in Metairie at the start of training camp.
The trip isn’t all about just basketball, though.
The NBA, the NBL and the Pelicans will also conduct NBA Cares community outreach initiatives and lifestyle events there That includes a fan night.
“I’m looking forward to experiencing a different country,” Green said. “I haven’t been there
before, so I’m looking forward to the fan engagement, the fan interaction. We are excited to have this opportunity.”
The Pelicans are making sure to have some fun with this trip as well. Some of the shenanigans began even before the Pelicans arrived down under The veteran players had the rookies dress as if they were going on an Australian safari.
“I think it’s the only way to set the trip up right,” said Pelicans guard Jordan Poole in a social media video on the team’s website. “Good on them for wearing them.”
After the two exhibition games in Australia, the Pelicans return to the United States for their final two preseason games. They will play the Houston Rockets on Oct. 14 in Birmingham, Alabama. Two nights later, they’ll play on the road against the Orlando Magic.
The regular season opener is Oct. 22 when the Pelicans make the short trip to Memphis, Tennessee, to play the Grizzlies.
But first on the schedule is this game in Australia, where the team and coaches look to build some chemistry on and off the court.
“That’s one of the things we look forward to with trips like this,” Green said. “Just getting to see another side to our players, our staff You want to come out of this with a good connection and some bonds with your guys. We are going to go and continue to work hard and compete, but we are going to try to enjoy it as well.”
Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.
Collier slams WNBA’s leadership over CBA issues
BY DOUG FEINBERG AP basketball writer
Napheesa Collier is more than just a WNBA star who is critical of her league and its leadership
The Minnesota Lynx player is a vice president of the players union, which means she will be sitting across from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert at the negotiating table ahead of an Oct 31 deadline to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
If that doesn’t cause enough tension, Collier is also a co-founder of Unrivaled, a three-on-three women’s basketball league that plays in the winter and features WNBA stars. That could give her additional leverage to try to press the WNBA as talks unfold.
As an executive on the negotiating team, Collier will have a loud voice in the room when inperson negotiations between the two sides continue. She was at the face-to-face meeting at All-Star weekend in July that included dozens of players There have
been meetings since, but players haven’t really been able to attend because they’ve still been in season.
“We’re working hard to make sure that we are putting ourselves in the best position to negotiate for what we think is fair,” Collier said. “We have a lot of meetings internally to make sure we’re on the same page and we’re all lockstep for this. Just making sure we’re super aligned.”
There also is the trust fac-
tor During her comments at an end-of-season media session this week, Collier revealed conversations that were to remain private that she had had with the commissioner in February That could undermine trust that is often needed to carry out negotiations.
For all the faults that Collier cited in her prepared comments Engelbert has delivered on many of her promises since coming into the league in 2019.
She will have added six expansion teams by 2030 and secured a major new media rights deal for
the next decade that will bring in more than $2.2 billion Engelbert also had the league pay for a full charter flight program this season that the players hope will be added to the new CBA to address concerns about issues ranging from safety to travel time.
The commissioner has said all along that the league is hoping for a transformational agreement that includes significantly increased player salaries and benefits There’s little reason for Collier’s remarks to detract from that goal.
Players across the league backed Collier either on social media or at Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals series between Las Vegas and Indiana that the Aces won in overtime.
WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson said she was appreciative of Collier and the union for standing up for
Wembley Stadium to host Arizona State, Kansas Arizona State and Kansas will play in the first college football game at London’s Wembley Stadium next year
The Big 12 Conference announced Wednesday that the Sun Devils and Jayhawks will meet in the Union Jack Classic on Sept. 19. It will be the league’s third game in Europe over two seasons. Iowa State opened this season with a 24-21 victory over Kansas State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin on Aug. 23. TCU will face North Carolina in the same event to open next season.
Wembley Stadium, one of the world’s most iconic sports venues, hosted its first NFL International Series game in 2007. Kansas will be the designated home team for the Big 12 game there next season.
Rockies GM Schmidt steps down after terrible season
The Colorado Rockies announced Wednesday that it was parting ways with general manager Bill Schmidt and starting an immediate search for his replacement.
The Rockies emphasized looking at external candidates to break out of a losing cycle that’s seen them miss the playoffs the last seven seasons. The Rockies finished 43119 this season, narrowly avoiding the distinction of being the worst team since baseball adopted a 162game schedule in 1961.
The mark still belongs to the 2024 Chicago White Sox (41-121). Schmidt has been with the Rockies since 1999 when he became the director of scouting, steadily working his way up as the fourth GM in team history in 2021. He never had a winning season while in charge.
Dolphins bring back WR Wilson after Hill’s injury
The Miami Dolphins placed receiver Tyreek Hill on season-ending injured reserve Wednesday and brought back veteran receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr Hill posted Wednesday morning that he had successful surgery to repair multiple damaged ligaments in his left knee. The five-time AllPro suffered the injury after making a catch in the third quarter of Miami’s win over the New York Jets on Monday night Hill caught 21 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown in his four games this season. Wilson, who began his career in Dallas, started four games for the New Orleans Saints last season. Wilson played for the Dolphins in 2022-23 but made just three starts. He caught 34 passes with 432 yards and three touchdowns.
NASCAR fines Hocevar $50k after endangering officials
NASCAR fined Carson Hocevar $50,000 on Wednesday for putting safety officials in danger during the Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway The penalty was listed under a behavioral violation and was for Hocevar revving and spinning his tires while safety workers attended to his car after he spun the No. 77 Chevrolet. The Spire Motorsports driver was involved in an incident late in Sunday’s race when he spun on the backstretch.
He had flat tires and was unable to get the car rolling again. Hocevar had a shot at a top-10 finish before he was involved in some late race incidents including a part of the sixth caution when Hocevar spun in an 11-car crash on a restart. Hocevar ended up finishing 29th.
the players.
“I’m grateful to have those type of people to be able to continue to speak up for us,” Wilson said after the Aces advanced to the WNBA Finals. “I’m going to ride with Phee always. Obviously, she’s a business girlie and she has her own stuff going on, but moving forward, we’ve gotta continue to stand on business as we talk about this CBA negotiation.”
Nearly every player not on a rookie contract will be a free agent this offseason, hoping to cash in on a potential giant leap in the league’s salary structure. Free agency usually has taken place in January, with players meeting with teams and able to sign in February Players have been able to work out and get treatment for injuries at their former team’s facility in the offseason before becoming free agents. In a worst-case scenario where owners decided to lock out the players or the players decided to go on strike, those courtesies would go away
FIFA VP resists Trump over changing World Cup cities
U.S. President Donald Trump was reminded Wednesday that FIFA, not any government, ultimately decides which cities will host 2026 World Cup games. Trump’s comments last week were in response to a question about World Cup cities that oppose his immigration and crime crackdowns. Trump suggested last week he could declare cities “not safe” for the 104-game soccer tournament next summer and alter a detailed hosting plan that FIFA confirmed in 2022. It includes NFL stadiums near New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 11 U.S. host cities, plus three in Mexico and two in Canada, are contracted with FIFA which would face
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green calls a play against the Miami Heat during a game at the Smoothie King Center on April 11
Collier
ä Mercury at Aces.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By GERALD HERBERT
Hezly Rivera competes on floor during the U.S Gymnastics Championships on Aug. 10 at the
LSU commitment Rivera to miss world championships
BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer
Gymnastics
USA Gymnastics held its team selection event for the upcoming world championships Tuesday and Wednesday in Crossville, Tennessee, but LSU commitment and Olympic gold medalist Hezly Rivera was not part of it.
Rivera, who won the all-around title and three other events in August at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships at the Smoothie King Center, rolled an ankle in practice for the selection event and had to withdraw.
“I wanted to share personally that I recently rolled my ankle,” Rivera posted Friday on Instagram. “After talking it through
with my doctor and coaches, I’ve decided the best thing right now is to sit out of the Worlds Selection Camp. I’m definitely bummed about the timing, but I’m excited to cheer on my teammates and Team USA from home.
“My focus is on recovery and coming back stronger in 2026.”
Rivera, 17, who won team gold as the youngest member of the U.S. squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics, declined to give a timetable for when she will begin competing for LSU when asked at the U.S. championships in New Orleans. Speculation has been that she will defer until after the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The world championships are Oct. 19-25 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Federer leads Tennis Hall nominees
BY HOWARD FENDRICH AP tennis writer
Roger Federer leads the list of nominees announced Wednesday for the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s class of 2026. He was the first man to win 20 Grand Slam singles titles and ushered in an era of unprecedented greatness with younger rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Other nomineess are Juan Martín del Potro the 2009 U.S. Open champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist and Svetlana Kuznetsova, a winner of two major singles titles (2004 US
Open and 2009 French Open) and two major doubles titles
a doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Dunham grabs pair of wins at St. Amant
Tigers sweep past Gators, Christ Episcopal
BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer
Dunham and St. Amant were tied 5-5 early in the first set of a best-of-three match
The Gators had won five straight points, looking to swing momentum, but Dunham bounced back, winning the next two points. The Tigers continued to roll, never trailing in a 2-0 win (25-19, 25-12).
Dunham (19-4) also defeated Christ Episcopal 2-0 as part of a tri-varsity match held at St. Amant’s gym. The two wins were a return to form for the Tigers, who saw their eight-game winning streak snapped by Hannan on Sept. 24.
Dunham coach Meagan Herrington stressed the importance of trusting the process through losses, and Wednesday’s bounce-back was a byproduct of that.
“We stress the building blocks and trusting the process and really focusing on loving each other,” Herrington said. “That bonding has helped us a lot.”
Herrington said her side came out slow against Christ Episcopal, but was happy with how they managed the St. Amant game.
Wednesday’s results Dunham
Continued from page 1C
since the CFP expanded to a 12-team tournament format in 2024, but it hosted the CFP title game after the 2019 season and the BCS national title game every four years between 1999 and 2011. The national champion was crowned here numerous other times in de facto title games when the topranked team played in the Sugar Bowl.
“Everything about New Orleans makes this the perfect destination for a big event,” said Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff.
“It’s a destination city It has great accessibility. People can walk everywhere. The food. The hospitality People want to come here. And we’re excited to bring our game here and have that opportunity to raise our championship to the next level.” New Orleans has been a college football hotbed since the Sugar Bowl started in 1935. The Sugar Bowl, along with the other “Big Six” bowls in Atlanta (Peach), Dallas (Cotton), Los Angeles (Rose), Miami (Orange) and Phoenix (Fiesta), has been a mainstay in the rotation for national championship games Since 1934, no other bowl has hosted as many national championship teams as the Sugar Bowl’s 29. Since college football officials created a title game in 1998, New Orleans has hosted five championship games. The 2028 game will be the sixth When and if we land a seventh one, remains to be seen. The competition to host the game is more intense than ever In addition to
With a terrific forehand and serve, an attacking, allcourt style and footwork that helped make everything seem so effortless, Federer won 103 trophies and 1,251 matches in singles, totals surpassed among men only by Jimmy Connors in the Open era, which began in 1968.
Federer finished five seasons at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, spent a record 237 consecutive weeks in that spot, led Switzerland to the 2014 Davis Cup title and teamed with Stan Wawrinka to claim
the other Big Six markets, non-traditional markets like Indianapolis, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville and Tampa have elbowed their way into the mix As the demand has increased, so has the asking price from the CFP If New Orleans wants to stay in the game, city, state and corporate leaders will have to work hand in hand to make it happen.
That’s why Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley spent several minutes Wednesday making an impassioned pitch to the local and regional business community for support. The price tag to stage the event has doubled from the $13 million required in 2020, Hundley said. The Sugar Bowl had to invest $6 million from its reserve fund to make the event go. They invested a similar amount in 2020. In the 12 years of the playoff, no other bowl organization in the country has used so much of its own money to land the game, Hundley said
“The fact of the matter is, the dollars and cents just mean way more than they ever have in the history of the game,” Hundley said.
“If the funds are there, we’ll have a long and strong role in the future of college football. And if they aren’t, we won’t. We don’t want to become an ‘also-ran’ bowl with 30,000 fans here.”
The reality is that major college football has become big business. The advent of revenue sharing with college athletes and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy has generated a greater demand for resources than ever Every level of the college football food chain is stressed, including the bowl system. New Orleans can no longer rely solely on its intrinsic charm and time-honored
At the height of his powers, Federer reached a record 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005-07, capturing eight titles in that span; he extended that dominance by making 18 of 19 major finals into 2010. There also were streaks of 36 quarterfinals in a row and 23 straight semifinals.
Federer, an ambassador for the game who often spoke in English, French and Swiss German at news conferences, played his last match at Wimbledon in 2021. He was a month shy of 40 at the time.
reputation as a big-event town to lure future CFP title games. The Superdome and French Quarter are great and everyone loves them, but they only go so far in the grand scheme of things. The state and business community will need to step up if New Orleans wants to remain a player in the college football title game business.
There’s an argument to be made about how much support is enough. Let’s hope state officials are willing to make a contribution to the CFP title game from the major event fund similar to the $7 million and $3.5 million given to the help land the LIV Golf tournament event in New Orleans next June and the 2025 U.S. Bowling Congress (USBC) Open Championships in Baton Rouge this summer respectively
Officials say the 2020 CFP title game and Sugar Bowl combined to produce a $500 million economic impact for the region, including $50 million in direct tax revenue.
Economists might argue that number, but there’s an obvious prestige factor and economic benefit to hosting the game. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much competition from other cities to host them. Las Vegas reportedly anted up to $40 million to host the 2027 CFP title game.
“We’ve always fought above our weight class, and we will always have to fight above our weight class if we want to stay there,” Hundley said.
New Orleans has a decision to make. Do we want to be a championship city? Or an also-ran to Atlanta, Nashville and Las Vegas?
Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@theadvocate. com.
“I thought we did a much better job of just being dominant at the net,” Herrington said, “(We had) way less unforced errors, which really helped us out.”
Dunham opened the first set against the Gators with five straight points, including three aces from junior Katherine McDonald. She finished with five aces and 19 assists in the match.
St. Amant scored five straight to tie it, but Dunham responded by scoring six of the next seven points to take an 11-6 lead. The Tigers took a commanding 23-13 lead before a late Gators’ rally cut the deficit to five at 24-19. Dunham would hold on to take the first set.
The Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second set. Later in the second set, four straight St. Amant points cut the Dunham lead to 17-10.
Dunham closed out the contest on an 8-2 run to grab the 25-12 win in set two.
Junior Zadi Huggins led the team in kills with six. Junior McKenzie Llewellyn had 10 digs to lead the Tigers.
Despite the two victories, there’s still more Herrington hopes to see from her side.
“We definitely need to continue to improve ball control, serving and then just staying calm in pressure moments,” she said.
“I think we’re incredibly physical,” Herrington said. “Our ceiling is a consistent blocking team, and we know we can do it; we just need to lock in a little bit more.”
U.S. fans turned Ryder
Cup
into
global embarrassment
BY MIKE BIANCHI Orlando Sentinel (TNS)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Lee Greenwood’s anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.” and its refrain, “I’m proud to be an American” has long been a staple at sporting events. I’ve teared up many times when I’ve heard him sing the song that celebrates love of country, gratitude for freedom and pride in the values that bind us together It is, at its core, a ballad of unity
And yet, at the justcompleted Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, the behavior of some American fans was the very antithesis of Greenwood’s lyrics. Instead of embodying pride and respect, the galleries descended into vulgarity and hostility Instead of showing the world the best of America, they displayed our worst. European golfers were mocked mid-swing. Rory McIlroy, who is arguably the most popular golfer on the PGA Tour and its greatest active player, endured a torrent of insults about everything from his game to his height, to his heritage, to his personal life. His wife was even struck by a cup of beer And at one point, a master of ceremonies at the first tee even led the crowd in an expletivelaced chant against McIlroy before being fired in disgrace. What should have been a stage for sportsmanship became a national case study in boorishness.
Proud to be an American?
Hardly
The beer-soaked, foulmouthed fans at the Ryder Cup made us ashamed to be from the same country as those knuckle-draggers behind the ropes.
The scene grew so toxic that Tom Watson, one of America’s most respected champions, congratulated the Europeans after their victory felt the need to publicly apologize for the rude behavior of the crowds. “I’d like to apologize for the rude and mean-spirited behavior from our American crowd at Bethpage,” Watson wrote on social media. “As a former player, Captain and as an American, I am ashamed of what happened.
McIlroy himself pleaded for higher standards: “I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” he said. “Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons.
“It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people. Golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week.” Sadly, it’s more than just golf. Here’s the deeper truth: Ryder Cup fans at Bethpage weren’t an isolated problem. They were a mirror Their jeers and chants reflected a broader American culture that has grown coarser, meaner and more polarized in nearly every arena of life. Just as those fans heckled McIlroy in the middle of his backswing, our politicians heckle each other in the middle of speeches. Respect has vanished from Capitol Hill, replaced by insults shouted across aisles and venom delivered on social media. The other party isn’t treated as fellow elected officials anymore, but as an enemy to be mocked and destroyed. If lawmakers no longer respect the State of the Union, why should fans respect a player standing over a putt? And then there’s cable “news” networks — which only amplify this corrosive tone. These networks aren’t national news disseminators any longer; they are national provocateurs, whipping up outrage for ratings. A musician friend of mine, Jeff Willie Wilson, wrote a song about this phenomenon, appropriately entitled “Angertainment.” News, it seems, doesn’t sell anymore; insults do.
Of course, this mindset all plays out daily online where social media platforms reward the cruelest voices with clicks and shares. Trolls thrive. Mockery is monetized. Decency is portrayed as softness and is drowned out. The Ryder Cup gallery was simply the live-action version of a Twitter feed: fans yelling insults at golfers as
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Dunham’s Isa Richardon tips the ball over the net against Christ Episcopal on Wednesday in St. Amant.
Smoothie King Center Rivera, a gold medal winner in the Paris Olympics, won’t be able to compete in the world championships in late October because of an ankle injury.
Dart has ‘chip’ on shoulder after Saints draft snub
BY MATTHEW PARAS and LUKE JOHNSON Staff writers
Months after he evaluated quarterbacks for this year’s NFL draft, New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore recalled how impressed he was with Jaxson Dart’s football intellect. Moore said he was “blown away” by how much the Ole Miss prospect grasped, calling him one of the top quarterbacks in the class But when on the clock at No. 9 last April, the Saints bypassed Dart — preferring to take tackle Kelvin Banks. Dart went No. 25 to the New York Giants instead. And when the Saints took a quarterback in the next round, they selected Tyler Shough.
“I think that there’s always a chip on your shoulder any time that something like that happens,” Dart told reporters Wednesday
Dart said he’s “excited” to face the Saints when the two teams meet Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. The rookie, too, is coming off his first professional win — a 21-18 upset over the Los Angeles Chargers in Dart’s debut no less.
Despite the chip on his shoulder, Dart said there’s “no place” he’d rather be than New York But there was a time the 22-year-old perhaps thought he was headed to the Saints.
“I felt like my visit with them went good,” said Dart, who said he met with the franchise “multiple times” and formed a good relationship with the team’s coaching staff.
“So, you kind of have thoughts in your head during the draft of what
options are really realistic, and I definitely felt like that was a place that could have panned out.
“But things didn’t work out that way.”
On draft night, Moore said the Saints said “felt good” about not picking a quarterback in the first round. He said the team had discussions about trading back in the first round but chose not to pursue any such deal. The Giants, by contrast, traded the 34th overall pick, the 99th and 2026 third-round selection to jump up to No. 25 after taking pass rusher Abdul Carter at No. 3.
It is not known if the Saints would have drafted Dart over Shough had he been available in the second round. But the Saints said they believed investing in the trenches was more important at No. 9 and they were more than happy to draft Shough, who has yet to start a game.
“He’s going to be a really good quarterback in this league,” Moore said of Dart.
More absences
On a day when Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau practiced for the first time since last season, their returns were arguably overshadowed by those who were absent.
Saints guard Trevor Penning (ankle) and tight end Juwan Johnson (ankle) did not participate in Wednesday’s session, while defensive end Chase Young (calf) and guard Dillon Radunz (toe) were again listed as DNPs. Moore had already ruled out guard Cesar Ruiz days earlier for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants. And on Wednesday Moore again
ruled out Young meaning he’ll miss his fifth straight game.
Even though the team made the unusual move to declare the pass rusher out days before kickoff, Moore said Young did not suffer a setback with his rehab.
The injuries required New Orleans’ coaching staff to get creative along the offensive line.
While undrafted rookie Torricelli Simpkins filled in for Ruiz like he did over the weekend in Buffalo, Asim Richards a swing tackle took snaps in place of Penning. Richards has played in two games this season, but did so at right tackle.
The third-year pro hasn’t taken a snap on the interior in a regular-
Daniels returns to practice and plans to play against Chargers
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP national writer
ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels was medically cleared by team doctors and practiced on Wednesday after missing two games with an injured left knee, then declared: “I plan on going out there on Sunday.”
Daniels wore a brace on his knee during practice, something he said he doesn’t love but will do during a game if needed.
“He’s definitely chomping at the bit to get going,” coach Dan Quinn said.
Washington (2-2) plays at the Los Angeles Chargers (3-1) on Sunday
Asked whether he expects to play, Daniels responded: “I guess we’ll have to see Sunday.” And when a reporter wanted to know whether Daniels might wear a brace against the Chargers, he broke into a wide smile and replied: “I guess we got to see on Sunday.”
Daniels said he thought he was ready to get back on the field the past two weeks, but it wasn’t until this past weekend that Washington’s medical staff thought he looked like he was back to being himself
Another bit of good news for the injury-hit Commanders arrived on Wednesday: Starting right guard Sam Cosmi began his 21day practice window after starting the season on the physically unable to perform list.
Cosmi tore the ACL in his knee during the playoffs last season, when Daniels led the club to the NFC title game.
Daniels, last season’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, got hurt in the fourth quarter of
SAINTS
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“Like, it’s brutal. It’s all hands on deck, because with like 108 seconds left in the 2024 season, I get a helmet to the outside of the knee on a five-step out route, and my offseason is canceled. It’s brutal, and that part of sports is one of the hardest parts.”
But Moreau never doubted he’d be back where he was Wednesday, chatting with reporters about his return to the football field. He said he “wasn’t working for nothing.” The time away allowed him to get closer to people, including Taysom Hill, who about a month before Moreau’s injury,
star, watches during warmups before a game
Raiders on Sept 21 in Landover, Md.
Washington’s 27-18 loss at the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 11 and has not played since — or even been able to go through everything in practice with teammates.
The QB has been working on his own, including this weekend while the team was in Atlanta for a game, and did return to practicing in a limited fashion last week.
Without him, the Commanders went 1-1 while starting Marcus Mariota at quarterback, beating the Las Vegas Raiders 41-24 in Week 3, then losing to the Atlanta Falcons 34-27 in Week 4.
“As a competitor you want to go out there and help your teammates any way possible,” Daniels said. “Being sidelined these past couple weeks, it was super tough.”
Quinn declined to offer any
suffered a torn ACL of his own.
Both Moreau and Hill have spent the 2025 season to this point on the Physically Unable to Perform list, or PUP list. Moreau called Hill his “PUP brother” and appreciated having someone else around to ease the path back to the field
When practice concluded Monday, Hill broke the team down. It was Moreau’s turn on Wednesday
“You’re in the training room every day for eight and a half months,” Moreau said. “It’s brutal, because rehab is just pain dosing. It’s, ‘Hey we’re going to be careful with you. But how much can you take before your knee says, hey, you need to stop?’ And that’s tough. That’s brutal for anyone.
“But, I mean, I’m extremely,
sort of specific updates before practice about other injured players, such as wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown or tight end John Bates. The three of them sat out the game at Atlanta.
“All are trending up,” Quinn said.
McLaurin, who missed training camp while negotiating a new contract, injured his quadriceps muscle on a catch against Las Vegas and missed every practice last week.
The 2024 second-team All-Pro is Washington’s best receiver, and Quinn previously gave McLaurin’s status as “week to week.”
In two personnel moves Wednesday, Washington signed wideout Robbie Chosen to its practice squad and put defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste on injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle that needs surgery
fairly compensated, and I’m extremely grateful to be here
We broke the team down today, and it’s like like we don’t realize how blessed we are.” Eventually though, the questions do come back around to football. If Moreau had his way, he would make his debut this Sunday against the New York Giants. He also understands that by that point he will have practiced just three times since January of this year He views every practice rep as if it’s an entire day of the training camp he did not get. If he blows a rep, that’s essentially blowing a day of practice. He and Hill have tried their best to acclimate their bodies to football, but it was not really possible in their situation both because of the league’s PUP
turf toe.
Johnson’s absence, meanwhile, was also a mild surprise. The tight end played 60 snaps — 89.6% — against the Bills, although he was evaluated in the team’s medical tent after taking a hard hit in the first quarter
The Saints had a total of 11 players on the injury report. Six were listed as limited: Hill, Moreau, wide receiver Trey Palmer (ankle), safety Justin Reid (knee), defensive line John Ridgeway III (shoulder) and cornerback Isaac Yiadom (hamstring).
Ridgeway practices
season game since Week 1 of the 2024 season — when he played just one rep.
The Saints elected to use Richards over Luke Fortner, the interior lineman who they acquired in August from the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. Penning missed practice days after making his season debut, following more than a month-long absence due to turf toe. The former 2022 first-round pick was seen in a walking boot after the game, but smiled and told reporters that it was precautionary Moore confirmed Penning’s injury was new and not a re-aggravation of his
After he missed the first four games on injured reserve with a pectoral injury, the Saints opened the 21-day practice window for defensive tackle John Ridgeway Ridgeway whom the Saints acquired in a trade with the Washington Commanders last year, practiced with the team Wednesday for the first time since suffering the injury in the team’s second preseason game. He played 13 games in New Orleans last season as a rotational player, recording 15 tackles and one pass defended while playing 28 % of the defensive snaps. Davon Godchaux has handled the majority of the Saints’ defensive tackle snaps. Vernon Broughton, since placed on injured reserve, and Khristian Boyd have also taken snaps on the defensive interior New Orleans now has three weeks to bring Ridgeway back on the active roster
Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.
Longtime friends Nacua, Warner clash again when Rams host 49ers
BY GREG BEACHAM AP sports writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Fred Warner has embodied the San Francisco 49ers and their hard-hitting defensive style to Puka Nacua for the Rams receiver’s entire adult life.
That’s because Nacua was still in high school when he first got to know Warner, who played three seasons at BYU alongside Kai Nacua the older brother of Los Angeles’ star wideout — before he joined the Niners to begin a career that’s now in its eighth season. With the latest edition of this lively California rivalry kicking off Thursday night, Nacua knows he might have to take some punishment from the four-time All-Pro linebacker to keep the Rams (3-1) on their hot start.
The NFL’s leading receiver welcomes the challenge and the competition whenever he faces Warner and the 49ers (3-1).
“For me, it takes me back home,” Nacua said with a grin “I remember watching young Fred Warner out there playing with my older brother and being like, ‘Hey, I know that guy That’s the guy I’ve seen in the locker room.’ Those are some of the moments that immediately (come to mind) with the Rams-49ers, and now some of those moments where I’ve been at the bottom of the pile and Fred Warner was like, ‘Yeah, Puk.’ It’s just competitive.”
Warner has nothing but praise for his former teammate’s kid brother lauding Nacua’s blocking acumen and his trademark eagerness to seek out and even initiate contact.
Warner even gave advice to Nacua before the 2023 draft, in which Nacua famously went to
rules and because of what their bodies could actually take. Moreau feels good, but he doesn’t know exactly what that means because it hasn’t really been put to the test yet. He has to clear both physical and mental hurdles to get back to the field on Sundays, but he has to prepare as if it is going to happen immediately It’s a weird middle ground to occupy “I have to anticipate playing as soon as possible,” Moreau said.
“That’s what I have to do, right?
That’s my job. And so knowing that makes it extremely difficult. But after today, I felt great. And I was really, I was really enthusiastic about the performance.”
Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.
ä 49ers at Rams, 7:15 P.M.THURSDAy, PRIME
the Rams with the final pick of the fifth round as the 20th receiver chosen. Warner expected Nacua to be an NFL player but he acknowledges that “nobody could have seen this type of success that he’s seen. Only he knows that.”
“A big part of it as a young player is having the confidence of knowing that you belong,” Warner added “I think that’s really just the start of it all. Because just speaking from experience, when I came in, it was so overwhelming playing against guys that I’d watched on TV for so long and it’s like, ‘Do I really belong?’ For him, I think from Day One, he was out there and had back-to-back to back games with 10-plus receptions and was a guy that Matt Stafford could rely on. That spoke to his preparation level and he’s continued to obviously stay humble and find ways to get better in his game.”
Nacua tops the NFL after making 42 receptions for 503 yards in the Rams’ first four games, including a late TD catch in the Rams’ 27-20 comeback victory over Indianapolis last week Nacua had 13 catches for a career-high 170 yards.
Nacua came to national attention in his first meeting with the 49ers two years ago, when he caught an NFL rookie-record 15 passes for 147 yards in his second career game. The Niners somewhat limited Nacua in their most recent matchup, holding him to a mere eight catches for 97 yards last December — but one of those was a 51-yard reception to set up the goahead field goal in the Rams’ 12-6 win.
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD Saints tight end Foster Moreau gets past Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith for a first down on Oct. 13 at the Caesars Superdome.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NICK WASS
Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, a former LSU
against the Las Vegas
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ADAM HUNGER
New york Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart reacts after scoring a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Kelly decries ‘misinformation’ over QB Nussmeier’s health
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
LSU coach Brian Kelly described rumors claiming that injured
fifth-year quarterback Garrett Nussmeier needed surgery as misinformation” before also saying that his abdominal strain has been a “slow heal.”
“Those (rumors) are not based on any facts,” Kelly said. “They’re quite silly, actually, and I know you have to ask the question, so I’m certainly not throwing you under the bus for asking it, because people want to know, but this is misinformation.”
Notebook
Kelly said Nussmeier suffered a torso injury during preseason camp, an issue that has lingered into the regular season, and Kelly said after the Tigers’ win over Florida that it was a problem that wouldn’t resolve itself until LSU’s open date this week.
Kelly reiterated a similar message in a teleconference with reporters on Wednesday
“Yeah, early on, he had an AB strain, not a core injury, in terms of a core injury that we deal with,” Kelly said. “And it’s been slow to heal, but as I had mentioned, he’s on the backside of that, and he’s getting rest this week.
“He’ll be the Garrett Nussmeier that he needs to be as we get into the very difficult part of our schedule.”
Against Ole Miss, Nussmeier completed 21-of-34 throws for 197 yards. He threw an interception and seemed hobbled throughout the afternoon. As a result, the Rebels had over 200 more yards of offense and Nussmeier was outplayed by Ferris State transfer and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. LSU’s next matchup isn’t until Oct. 11 when it’ll host South Carolina That’s when we’ll see if Nussmeier has healed to the point where he can lift the Tigers’ offense back into a more competitive state.
“We knew coming to this bye week that this was going to be the time for us not to be pushing him,” Kelly said. “This is where
Continued from page 1C
downfield (34). He also completed only three of the 13 passes of at least 20 yards that he attempted in games against Clemson, Florida and Ole Miss. Through his first five starts of 2024, Nussmeier threw for 331 yards per game and threw 15 touchdowns.
This season, he’s thrown only seven touchdowns, and he’s averaging just 232 passing yards
LSU isn’t sustaining drives either Its offense picked up only 10 of the 36 third downs it faced in its three games against power-conference opponents. Each night, the Tigers’ average third-down distance was at least 7 yards. They could lean on their passing attack to convert those chances last season.
Now they’re struggling to find the same success.
“The details of the passing game have to be better,” Kelly said, “and that is from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. We just need to be
he could really, truly be the best version of himself.”
Anderson is banged up
LSU redshirt junior wide receiver AaronAnderson is dealing with toe, knee and hip ailments, Kelly said on Wednesday
Kelly added that he’d likely be able to play if LSU had a game this week but having an off week instead should help Anderson fully recover from his bumps and bruises.
“I think modern medicine will get him ready for the South Carolina game,” Kelly said, referencing the Tigers’ next game on Oct. 11.
Besides his aforementioned injuries, Anderson also suffered an elbow strain during the first half of the Tigers’ 24-19 defeat to Ole Miss this past weekend. He eventually tried to play through the injury by wearing a brace on his right elbow Anderson leads the Tigers in receiving yards despite the injury He has 23 catches for 305 yards after leading LSU in catches last season
A healthy Anderson can help spark an offense that has struggled through the first five games of the season LSU is just 10 of 36 on third down against its Power Four opponents this year Florida, Clemson and Ole Miss.
Durham making progress
Kelly is optimistic that sophomore running back Caden Durham will return for the Tigers’ next game against South Carolina on Oct. 11, Kelly said on Wednesday
“He was better today,” Kelly said, “much better.”
Durham missed the Tigers’ matchup at Ole Miss this past weekend with an ankle injury he suffered during the first half of their victory over Southeastern Louisiana the week before. In his stead, LSU turned to freshman Harlem Berry, junior Kaleb Jackson and sophomore Ju’Juan Johnson.
Berry led LSU in carries and yards with seven rushes for 22 yards. Johnson had six rushes for 18 yards, while Johnson had one 10-yard rush.
LSU’s offense struggled to run
better there.”
This week, LSU will have to work on its passing offense largely without Nussmeier taking on-field reps The fifth-year senior is focusing on “mental work” in the open date, Kelly said, so he doesn’t put too much strain on his injured abdominal muscles. He’s watching film and rehearsing livegame scenarios on the program’s virtual-reality headsets
QBs Manning, Lagway went from SEC hopefuls to disappointments
BY MARK LONG AP sportswriter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Texas’ Arch Manning and Florida’s DJ Lagway opened the season as Heisman Trophy hopefuls, even considered front-runners by some.
The highly touted quarterbacks with TV commercials, endorsement deals and probably as much name, image and likeness money as anyone in college were supposed to be the next great ones at their schools.
the ball without Durham in the lineup. The Tigers averaged just 3.1 yards per carry, not including lost sack yardage. They had just 57 rushing yards on 22 carries. Through five games, LSU is 119th in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging 3.56 yards per carry
Offensive line injury updates LSU redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Paul Mubenga suffered a high ankle sprain and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Weston Davis suffered a concussion and a fractured nose last Saturday at Ole Miss, Kelly said Wednesday Mubenga suffered his ailment during the third quarter and was replaced by redshirt freshman Coen Echols at left guard Echols and Mubenga have battled for the starting spot at left guard throughout the season.
“We’re going to play it day by day,” Kelly said. Davis suffered his concussion during pregame warmups and was replaced by freshman Carius Curne at right tackle. Kelly added on Wednesday that he believes Davis will work his way through the concussion protocol before LSU’s next game against South Carolina on Oct. 11. Curne came into the game as the Tigers’ backup at the position because redshirt sophomore DJ Chester, who replaced Davis to start the second half of LSU’s win over Southeastern Louisiana, was suspended for the first half of the Ole Miss game for targeting.
The violation Chester committed came in the second half, automatically triggering a first-half suspension for the Tigers’ next game at Ole Miss. Even though Chester was available in the second half, Curne was the Tigers’ right tackle for all 62 of their offensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Curne allowed just one quarterback pressure on Saturday, while Echols didn’t surrender any, according to PFF
Email Koki Riley at Koki Riley@theadvocate.com.
those defenders closer to the line of scrimmage, which would open up more opportunities for Nussmeier to throw down the field.
The problem, of course, is that LSU’s rushing attack has not posed such a threat.
“The details of the passing game have to be better and that is from a coaching
“There’s a number of different ways for us to build on what he needs to do on a play-to-play basis,” Kelly said, “without having him out there throwing the ball 100 times.”
standpoint and a playing standpoint. We just need to be better there.”
Until it does, the Tigers will use the breaks in their schedule to fine-tune their passing attack, so their offense can pose a greater threat to the six SEC defenses left on their schedule.
BRIAN KELLy, LSU coach
One of the situations Nussmeier could evaluate is one in which opposing defenses drop seven or eight players into coverage, which Kelly has said is how Ole Miss defended LSU 85% to 90% of the time. An effective ground game could bring one or two of
“It doesn’t mean we’re not working on getting better in the run game,” Kelly said. “We’re working diligently there. But my point being, our passing game has to be much more explosive than it has been up to this point.”
Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter
seven months rehabbing various injuries, including core-muscle surgery, a sore throwing shoulder and a strained left calf.
The layoff proved costly, with Lagway looking anywhere from rusty to lost. His mechanics have improved with each start, but his confidence remains a work in progress.
“We just need a little spark and it’s going to set a blaze,” Lagway said.
A month into the season Manning and Lagway are two of the most disappointing players in the Southeastern Conference, prompting some to wonder if their performance will ever match their pedigree.
Manning and Lagway will share the spotlight Saturday when the ninth-ranked Longhorns (3-1) open SEC play at reeling Florida (1-3, 0-1) in the Swamp. It’s a matchup that features the nation’s top QB recruit in 2023 (Manning) and the top QB recruit in 2024 (Lagway).
Both are searching for better results after four starts in 2025.
“Eventually it is going to pop,” Lagway said. “And when it pops, it is going to be hard to stop. I will tell you that right now.”
Manning, the nephew of retired NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning and the grandson of family patriarch Archie Manning, has nine touchdown passes, five rushing scores and three interceptions. But 10 of those TDs came against San Jose State and winless Sam Houston State. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 14-7 loss at thenNo. 3 Ohio State in the season opener He has looked more comfortable since but playing in front of 90,000 at raucous Florida Field and against a stout defense offer huge tests for the New Orleans native.
“I’m looking around the country at the high-profile players, I don’t know if any of them are living up to what everybody said they were supposed to be,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
Lagway was supposed to save Florida. He went 6-1 as a starter as a freshman and hoped to carry that success into his second season. But he spent the better part of
SOUTHERN
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“You always want guys to be leaders, especially guys that’s been around,” said coach Terrence Graves. “Being a guy that’s been around here, he’s been helpful for what we’re doing up front.”
Yassine may not have had a chance to show off his talents on a defensive line had it not been for a jaw injury in his junior season in high school at Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. When he returned, he was able to switch from starting center to the position he had always wanted to play: nose tackle.
In a shortened seven-game high school senior season because of COVID-19, Yassine had a teamhigh 13 tackles for loss and four sacks in four games played, according to MaxPreps.
The Division I college offers didn’t arrive in his mailbox and instead of going to a lower level, Yassine chose to try out for the Lamar football team. He made the cut and primarily played on the scout team in 2021.
His departure from Lamar was inspired by self-belief
“He felt like he deserved to be on scholarship,” Shayna Yassine said “He felt like he deserved to be on the field, not just the practice squad, not the scout team, whatever you want to call it. That’s him, he has something in his mind, he’s gonna do it.”
When Southern came knocking, Zak Yassine welcomed that chance to play in the same state as his favorite NFL team. He knew that once again, snaps weren’t promised The Houstonian played sparingly in his first couple of seasons. As a redshirt junior, he capitalized on
Lagway has thrown for 690 yards, with five touchdowns and six interceptions this season. Three of the TDs came in a victory against Long Island, and five of the picks came in a loss at LSU. He also threw for 61 yards at Miami in his last game.
Coach Billy Napier responded by getting Lagway consecutive days of 11-on-11 work during Florida’s off week in hopes of getting him caught up.
“I see the look in (his) eye,” Napier said. “We’re trying to do our best for him in terms of creating an environment where he can continue to get back in his rhythm. That’s the most important thing right now.” Texas is a 7-point favorite for its first game in Gainesville since 1940, an indication oddsmakers believe Arch Manning can do something Uncle Peyton failed to do in two visits with Tennessee (1996, 1998). Eli won his only game at Florida Field with Mississippi in 2003.
More recently, the Swamp has rattled a number of young QBs. The list includes Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart (2024), LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier (2024), Auburn’s Bo Nix (2019), LSU’s Joe Burrow (2018) and Missouri’s Drew Lock (2016).
None of them were Heisman contenders at the time. Odds for Lagway and Manning have dropped significantly in the last month, with BetMGM Sportsbook now listing Lagway at 300-1 (opened at 18-1) and Manning at 20-1 (opened at 6-1). The best they can hope for Saturday is a victory and some vindication after early season slipups.
“College football players are getting critiqued and criticized more now than they ever have in the past,” Sarkisian said.
“We’ve got to do a really good job of putting them in the right mental space to where they’re still enjoying playing the game of football with their college football teammates. They need to play football and not work football.”
a starting opportunity and never relinquished, ending the back half of the year as a starter
Yassine’s efforts to transform his former offensive line physique into what is needed to be a defensive lineman in the SWAC were rewarded. Now, he welcomes the pressure that comes as a vital player this season. He also has vivid memories of what it was like to not be that player
“To be honest, I’m blessed,” Yassinesaid “IjustpraiseGodthatIhave this opportunity to do what I do.”
“I can’t be mad my plate’s full when I was asking to eat.”
What kept Yassine from a second trip into the transfer portal was his passionfortheuniversityanditsfans
“I love Southern man, I love playing here,” he said. “There’s no other FCS that can compete with the way that our games turn out every Saturday It’s not a single school. You know, when I was at Lamar out, we were seeing maybe 2,000, 3,000 people in the stands.”
In the Jaguars’ last game against Jackson State, more than 27,000 fans were in attendance at A.W Mumford Stadium.
Yassine is committed to Southern shaking off its 38-13 defeat to Jackson State — its first SWAC loss. Over the years, he’s learned that a championship outcome is impossible without a connected team. That’s why it is second nature to help his teammates. Whether it’s star defensive end Ckelby Givens or redshirt freshman and LSU transfer defensive tackle De’Myrion Johnson, Yassine approaches them with honesty and care.
“He always talks highly of his teammates, because he knows that it’s a bond, and you’ve gotta be on each other’s side,” Shayna Yassine said. “He just wants to see everybody do well.”
Lagway
Manning
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier gets the pass off against Ole Miss on Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss Coach Brian Kelly said rumors claiming Nussmeier needs surgery are false
Memorabledebut
BY JOE REEDY AP sportswriter
CLEVELAND WhenChaseDeLauter walked outtoright field forthe seventh inning of Game 2ofthe AL Wild Card Series, the Guardians outfielder looked up to the upper deck of Progressive Field. That was the moment whenDeLauter was finally able to reflect on amemorable big league debut.
After dropping the first flyball hit to him, DeLauter ended up making the defensive play of the game as Cleveland beat theDetroit Tigers 6-1 on Wednesday to send the best-of-three series to adeciding game on Thursday
“Just unreal emotions the last couple days, and then we come out here and get awin and get tokeep playing ball,” said DeLauter,who turns 24 on Oct. 8. DeLauter was the firstCleveland player to make his big league debut in apostseason game. After telling him he would be on the wild card roster on Monday,manager Stephen Vogt told DeLauter there was agood chance he would be in the lineup on Wednesday Even thoughplaying DeLauter might’ve been considered arisk, Vogt noted it’snot any different from what the team has done all season.
“Wedon’tliketouse the gamble word aroundhereright now. It’s taking ashot. He’sone of our best players in the organization,” Vogt said. “We’ve pushed the envelope all year.Why stop now?”
Selected 16th in the 2022 amateur draft, DeLauter hit .278 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 34 games at Triple-A Columbus. He
likely would have been up at some point during the regular season, but was sidelined by injuries for much of this year
It wasn’t a great start though.
DeLauter started the game in center field and dropped ahigh fly hit by Detroit’sGleyberTorres during the first inning. He had atough time initially tracking the ball on asunny afternoon before moving acouple stepstohis right. The ball poppedout of his glove when he tried to haul it in near the middleofhis body.
It was onlyDeLauter’sseconderror after nearly 272 innings playing center field in theminors.
The gaffe put runners on first and second with no outs,but TannerBibee struck outthe next three hitters to end thethreat
“When that ball hit theground Iwas in shambles right away.I meanyou never want that to happen. Anybody,any situation, especiallyinaplayoff game,” DeLauter said. “I played the sun wrong. I mean, Ikind of letthe ball get into the middle of it and wasn’tableto getitout of it until theverylast second and unfortunately Ididn’t comedown with theball.”
Left fielder Steven Kwan said DeLauterwas putinatough spot with thesun,swirling winds in the outfieldand the stakesofthe game.
Bibeeapproached DeLauter in thedugout to give him apat on the back and somereassurance.
“It doesn’tmatter because Ifeel like even if that run did score, it wouldn’thave mattered because it’sjust ahard play.And one of those things where I’m going to have your backand eventually, you’re going to getmyback as
well.And literally,itcamea little earlier than expected,” Bibee said.
Three innings later,DeLauter came up with thedefensive play thatmight have ended up saving theGuardians’ season.
DeLauter fielded Javier Báez’s hit and made apinpoint throwto third base, where Zach McKinstry was taggedout by José Ramírez. McKinstrywas originally ruled safe, whichwould have put Detroit on top 2-1, but avideo review overruled the call, which took one run off the board and left it 1-1.
Vogt credited replay coordinator Gunnar Wilhelmyfor the quick decision to make areplay challenge.
DeLauterthought thethrow beat the runnerbut wasn’tsure thecall would be overturned.
“I didn’tlove that therewasn’t awhole lot of room for that to be turned over,but when they turned it over it was areally cool feeling,” he said.
DeLauter went 0for 2atthe plate but drew awalk in his first plate appearance in the second inning. He fellbehind0-2 in the count beforebeing walkedafter an eight pitch at-bat.
He hit aline drive to center field in theseventh inningthatmost days would have droppedfor a hit. But it got caught in the wind before Detroit’s Parker Meadows was able to snag it.
“Just his resilience to fight againstadversity.Something like that happens early,but Imean the at-bats he had after that, clearly thathad no effect on him,” infielder Daniel Schneemann said. “You couldn’ttell if he was nervous or not.He’ssuper even keeled and so Ithink that says alot about him.”
YankeesevenserieswithRed Sox; Machado’sHRlifts Padres by Cubs
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK JazzChisholm zipped all the way home from first base on Austin Wells’ tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees extended their season Wednesdaynight witha 4-3 victoryoverthe Boston RedSox in Game 2oftheir AL wild-card series. Unhappy he was left out of the starting lineup in the opener, Chisholm also made acritical defensive playatsecondbase that helped the Yankees send the best-of-three playofftoadecisive Game 3onThursday night in the Bronx. In the latestchapter of baseball’s most storied rivalry,the winner advances to face AL East champion Toronto in abest-of-five Division Series beginning Saturday Ben Rice hit an early two-run homer and Aaron Judge had an RBI single for the Yankees, who got three innings of scorelessrelief from their shaky bullpen after starter Carlos Rodón putthe first two batters on in theseventh Devin Williams worked aonehit eighth for the win, and David Bednar got three outs for his first postseason save Trevor Story homered anddrove in all three runs for the Red Sox, who won the series opener 3-1 on Tuesday night behind ace lefty Garrett Crochet.
PADRES 3, CUBS 0: In Chicago, Manny Machado hit atwo-runhomer, Mason Miller dominated again and San Diegobeat Chicago to send their NL wild-card series to adecisivethird game. Jackson Merrill hitanearly sacrifice flyasSan Diego avoided eliminationafterlosing 3-1 on Tuesday.DylanCease struck out five in 32/3 innings beforehanding the ball to his team’shard-throwingbullpen. Thefinaleofthe best-of-three series is backatWrigleyField on Thursday
Theplayoff-testedPadresare looking for arepeat of 2020, when they dropped Game 1inthe wildcard roundbefore advancing with
twostraight victories against St. Louis. Machadoalso homered in Game 2ofthat series. Chicago finishedwithfourhits. Thefranchise is making its first appearance in the playoffs in five years, and it hasn’tadvanced since it eliminated Washington in a2017 NL Division Series. SanDiego jumped in fronton Merrill’sflyball to right off Andrew Kittredge in the first,driving in Fernando Tatis Jr The Padresaddedtwo more runs on Machado’s404-foot drive to left off Imanaga in the fifth. Tatisreached on aleadoff walk and advanced on asacrifice ahead of Machado’s12thcareer playoff homer
at TEMPLE at NC ST.42½ 42½(61½) Campbell W. Michigan 10½ 13½(47½) at UMASS at ARIZONA 16½ 20½(55½) Oklahoma St J. Madison17½ 19½(53½) at GEO. ST at NOTRE DAME 16½ 20½ (62½)Boise St. Penn St. 27½ 24½(50½) at UCLA at UCONN 9½ 7½ (55½) Fiu at LOUISVILLE 6½ 6½ (62½) Virginia at APP.ST. 1½ 1½ (53½) Oregon St Texas7½6½(41½) at FLORIDA at ALABAMA 22½ 10½(55½) Vanderbilt Washington6½6½(52½)at MARYLAND at SMU 13½ 17½(58½) Syracuse at N’WESTERN 13½ 10½(40½) UL-Monroe at BUFFALO9½10½(54½) E. Michigan C. Michigan 6½ 8½ (45½) at AKRON Miami (OH) 3½ 5½ (37½) at N. ILLINOIS at OKLAHOMA 44½ 45½(53½) Kent St TexasSt. 11½ 13½(64½) at ARK. ST at NEBRASKA 11½ 10½(48½) MichiganSt. at OLD DOM. 18½ 20½(54½) Co. Carolina TexasTech 9½ 10½(51½) at HOUSTON at TROY3½2½(46½) S. Alabama UNLV5½3½(50½) at WYOMING at RICE4½4½(53½) Fau Kansas 4½ 5½ (54½) at UCF at OHIO ST.21½ 23½(44½) Minnesota at TCU12½ 13½(57½) Colorado Miami (FL) 3½ 4½ (53½) at FLA. ST at TEXAS A&M 14½ 14½(55½) Miss. St at MEMPHIS 20½ 20½(56½) Tulsa Duke1½2½(56½) at CAL at FRESNO ST.15½ 13½(44½) Nevada Major LeagueBaseball Postseason glance x-if necessary Wild-cardseries (Best-of-3) American League Detroit 1, Cleveland 1 Tuesday: Detroit2,Cleveland 1 Wednesday:Cleveland 6, Detroit1 Thursday: Detroit(Flaherty 8-15) at Cleveland (Cecconi 7-7),12:08 p.m. (ESPN) Boston 1, NewYork 1 Tuesday: Boston 3, NewYork 1 Wednesday:New York 4, Boston 3 x-Thursday: Boston at New York (Schlittler 4-3), 5:08 p.m. (ESPN) National League Chicago 1, San Diego 1 Tuesday: Chicago 3, San Diego 1 Wednesday:San Diego 3, Chicago 0 Thursday: San Diego (Darvish 5-5) at Chicago, 2:08 p.m. (ABC) LosAngeles 1, Cincinnati 0 Tuesday: LosAngeles 10, Cincinnati 5 Wednesday:Cincinnati (Littell 10-8) at Los Angeles (Yamamoto 12-8),n x-Thursday: Cincinnati (Abbott 10-7) at Los Angeles, 8:08 p.m. (ESPN) Cleveland 6, Detroit 1 Detroit Cleveland ab rhbi abrh bi
Cleveland Guardians center fielder Chase DeLautermisses aball hit by Detroit Tigers secondbaseman Gleyber Torres for a fielding errorinthe firstinning of Game 2ofthe AL wild-card series game WednesdayinCleveland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANK FRANKLIN II Newyork yankees second basemanJazzChisholm slides safely into home plate ahead of the tag from Boston Red Soxcatcher Carlos Narváez during the eighth inning WednesdayinNew york.
Sangria adds fruitiness, spiceto pork chops
BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER
Tribune News Service (TNS)
Icame across bottled sangria at the market and was inspired by its fruity,spiced notes perfect for pairing with tender pork loin chops. The sangria adds asubtle depth of flavor that complements the savory richness of the meat. To round outthis early fall dinner,orzo, ariceshaped pasta,issimmered with broccoli florets,makinga quick, colorful side dish If sangria is not available, here’sasimple substitutethat mimics some of the sangria flavor.Mix 1cup red wine with 2teaspoons ground cinnamon and ¼cup orange juice.
Sangria Pork Chops Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer
2teaspoons olive oil
2(6-ounce) boneless pork loin chops
1cup sangria
2teaspoons cornstarch
2tablespoons honey
2teaspoons grated fresh ginger (1 tablespoon ground ginger can be substituted) Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Heat oil in askillet over medium-high heat and add chops. Brown chops 4minutes, turn over,cover the skillet with alid andcontinue to brown second side 4minutes. Ameat thermometer should read 145 F. 2. Remove chops to aplate. Mix 1tablespoon sangriawith cornstarch. Set aside.
3. Pour the remaining sangria into the skillet, increase theheat anddeglaze the skillet by scraping up the brown bits on the bottom. Add honey andginger Stirtocombinethe honeywith thesangria.Add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thesauce thickens for about 2minutes.
4. Slice the pork chops anddivide in half. Place on two dinner plates. Spoon sauce on top.
NUTRITION INFO PER SERVING: 406 calories (22 percent from fat), 10.0 gfat (2.0 gsaturated, 3.8 g monounsaturated),96mgcholesterol, 40.9 gprotein, 27.4 g carbohydrates, 0.6 g fiber, 156 mg sodium.
One-Pot
Orzo andBroccoli Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer
3ounces orzo, about ½cup
1½ cups broccoli florets
3teaspoons olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Fill asaucepan three-quarters full of water and bring to aboil.
2. Add orzo and boil 8minutes. Add the broccoli and continue to boil 2minutes. The orzo should be soft. Boil aminute longer,if needed.
3. Drain and toss with the oil andsalt and pepper to taste.
Butternut Squash Soupwith Curry,Coconut and Apple
Serves 4.
2tablespoons olive oil
1shallot, peeled and diced 1onion, diced 1leek, thinly cut and diced (white partonly)
LIVING THE FLAVORS OF FALL
2garlic cloves, chopped 1piece of fresh ginger (about 1inch), peeled and diced 4cups roasted butternut squash (fresh or frozen) 1apple, cut into cubes 3cups chicken broth (or
vegetable stock for avegan version)
2teaspoons curry powder ½teaspoon cayenne (optional, if you likemore spice) 1teaspoon salt 1(14-ounce) can of coconut milk (shakewell; reserve some for garnish) 1lime (juiced)
1⁄3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds (or the reserved butternut squash seeds) 1tablespoon chopped cilantro
1. In alarge heavy pot over medium-high heat, addolive oil, shallots, onion, leek (optional), garlicand ginger. Stir these aromaticvegetables andherbs until soft,but do not brownthem.
2. Add the roasted butternut squash and apple into the onion mixinthe pot and stir until combined. Nextadd the chicken stock (orvegetable stock). Stir in thecurry powder cayenneand salt.Pourinhalfofthe canof coconut milk and stir until combined.
3. Turn off the heat and let the squash mixture cool.Ifyou have an immersive blender, use it to blend the souptoasmooth creamy texture. Alternatively,pourthe butternut squashsoup into ablender and blend until smooth. Depending on the size of your blender,you may need to workinbatches. Blend allofthe ingredientstogether until smooth.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish witha drizzle of theremaining coconut milk, toasted pumpkin (and/or squash) seeds, chopped cilantro and asqueeze of limejuice.
Despite the summertimetemperature, Iwas happy to find a farmer fromMississippi with a table full of acorn squash at the farmers market last week. These dark green ribbed squash looked to be artistically adorned with orange hearts. The farmer helped me select thebest fresh squash to enjoy the first taste of fall for dinner.Hetold me that he would have butternut squash the following week, so Imarked my calendar to go back. Butternut squash is an autumn treat with asweet, nutty flavor that makes it an ideal ingredient for asatisfying soup. After making twomeals with fall squash, Iwas reminded of the first timeI tried spaghetti squash. Long ago, when my children were preschool students, their teacher did alesson on this large yellow squash that excited
them so much that we tried it at home. We learned that spaghetti squash is called “spaghetti” because when you bake it, the flesh naturally separates into thin strands that resemble pasta. So it is ahealthy vegetable alternative to pasta that is perfect for people looking foralowcarbohydrate or glutenfree meal
Liz Faul
All three of these squash —acorn, butternut and spaghetti —are prepared the sameway Once you cut them in half,simply scoop out the seeds and stringy parts, brush the insides with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake them, flesh side down, for about 30-45 minutes. Once baked, the
Butternut Squash Soup with Curry Coconut
Apple PHOTO By LIZ FAUL
TNS PHOTO By LINDAGASSENHEIMER
GRETCHEN McKAY
Serves 4. ROASTED ACORN SQUASH:
2acornsquash (cut each squash in half)
2tablespoons olive oil
1teaspoon salt Fresh ground pepper GROUND TURKEY AND BEAN FILLING:
1. Preheat the ovento 400 Fand line alarge bakingsheet withparchment paper or tin foil.
2. Carefully cut the acorn squash in half with asharp chef’s knife. Use aspoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy parts (you can save the seeds to roast). Place the squash halves upside on the baking sheetand drizzlewith olive oil, salt and pepper Turn thesquash over to roast, cut side down. Usea fork or paring knife to cut asmall slit in the squash skin.
3. Place the prepared squash on the baking sheet in theovento bake for about 30 minutes or until thesquashisfork-tender
on the inside. Remove the squash from theoven.
4. While thesquash is roasting, make the filling: In alarge pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat.Add the ground turkey and completely cook through, breaking up themeat to a crumbled texture. Next, add the spices and stir into the meat.Add the drained black beans and cooked brown rice. Stir the mixture together.Add salt and ground pepper to taste.
5. Fill each squash half with themeat, bean and rice mixture. Garnishwith crumbled quesofresco and toasted pumpkin seed.Add adash of hotsauce for extraspice.
RoastedSpaghetti Squash with Tomatoes
Funeralflowersunwanted
Dear Heloise: Regarding funeral flowers, Iwas a funeral director for over 40 years and can tell you that nursing homes and hospitals do not want any flowers that even remotely look like they came from a funeral (for obvious reasons). Idid not have thetime or vehicle to transport them elsewhere after the ceremony.Tohire someone would have been an added expense. Iwould always suggest donations in lieu of this as an alternative. —BarbaraAnn Condon, formerlyofCondon Funeral Home, in Kearny,New Jersey Openingbottles
1. Preheat the oven to 400F.Prepare abaking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil. Place the de-seeded spaghettisquash halves fleshside up on thesheet and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to each half. Flip the squash over and place flesh side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutesoruntil the fleshside isfork-tender
2. Remove the spaghetti squash from the oven. Let cool slightly,then use afork to gently scrape the insides. The squashwill look like strings of pasta. Add the pasta-like squashtoaservingbowl
SQUASH
Continued from page1D
baking an acorn squash and filling it with asouthwestern rice stuffing. Or make butternut squash soup extra tasty by adding apple, curry and coconut milk. Andlast but notleast, spaghetti squash works well asa pasta substitute underatomato saucewith garlic and herbs. Likepumpkins, youcan save squash seeds to roast until golden.Add alittle salt to theseedsand use them to add acrunchy textureto soups, salads andmeals. It may not actually feel
2tablespoons chopped parsley FOR THE BECHAMEL: 4tablespoons unsalted butter
6tablespoons all-purpose flour Pinch of ground nutmeg
Fine sea salt
1⁄3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped freshparsley,for garnish
1. Place chopped eggplant on aclean dish towel andif usingGlobe or similar eggplants, sprinkle lightly with salt to draw out moisture. (Fairy Tale doesnot haveto be salted because it is not bitter.) Let sit for 15-20 min-
MOUSSAKA
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action in one pan. Instead of being sliced and roasted, the eggplant and accompanying baby potatoes are cubed and sauteed in a heavy pan with alittle olive oil until fork-tender The veggies are then tossed right in the
3. In alarge heavy pan over medium-highheat,add oliveoil and cherry tomatoes. Stir the tomatoes in the hot pan for about 5minutes. Addfreshly chopped garlic and fresh Italian parsley, salt and pepper.Cook down until the tomatoes meld with theherbs.
Skillet Moussaka
utes, then blot away all the surface moisture.
2. Preheatawide, deepovenproof pan over medium heat until hot. (I used a12inch,cast-iron skillet.)Swirl in 1tablespoon oil then add potatoes, paprika, saltand a few grinds of pepper to taste. 3. Cook,stirringoften, until the potatoes are lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Transfer potatoes to aplate.
4. Swirl 2tablespoons olive oil into the pan and add eggplant.Saute, stirring often,until brownedand just fork-tender,8-10 minutes. Transfer eggplant to plate with potatoes
5. Swirl the remaining 1 tablespoonolive oilintothe pan, add onion and saute until soft andtranslucent, about4minutes. Stir in garlic andtomato paste.
6. Addground lamb and cook until it’s no longer pink, breaking into crumbles, about 5minutes
7. Stir in cinnamon, allspice, ¾teaspoon saltand pepper to taste. Pour in tomatoesand bring to aboil. Turn down heat andcook uncovered until sauce thickens, 12-15 minutes.
theoven under ablanket of rich andcreamy bechamel. Adusting of gratedParmesan makes for acheesy, goldencrust. The result is adish that’s suitable for weeknights when you’ve got alittle extra time for meal prep (it’sreadyinabout2 hours) or when you get asudden cravingfor something heartythat shines alight on ground lamb. Iused Fairy Tale eggplant,atear-shaped, palm-
4. Add thetomato sauce to aserving of spaghetti squash. Garnish withgrated Parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts.
like fall in Louisianafor a little while longer,but these autumnal tastes help to usher in anew season.
Liz Sullivan Faul is a registered dietitian nutritionist whoenjoys cooking and sharing mealswith her friends and family
8. Stir in honey andparsley.Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, then remove pan from heat
9. Push meat sauce to one side of thepan andadd potatoes/eggplant mixture. Nudge the ground meat over the top of the veggies so they are mostly covered.
10. Preheat oven to 400 F, then make bechamel.
11. In medium saucepan overmedium heat,meltthe butter. Stirin flourand stir untila smooth pasteforms, about 1minute.
12. Gradually stir in milk and increase heat slightly to bring mixture just to aboil, then turn down the heat and stir constantly until it thickensenough to coatthe back of aspoon.Season with nutmeg andsalt to taste.
13. Ladle the bechamel evenly over themeat and sprinklewith Parmesan (I didn’tuse all the sauce.) Transfer pantothe oven and bake themoussaka until golden brown on top, 25-30 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes. Slice and servewarm, garnished with parsley
sized cultivar streaked with purple and white that’s known for itstender skin, lack of seeds and captivating name. But deep purple Globe eggplant or Italian eggplant will also work well. Whatever variety you choose, make sure you select firm and glossy eggplants that are free of bruises.
This dish easily serves 6, and reheats well. It will makeyour kitchen smell awesome!
Hints from Heloise
gets leftand right confused sometimes. But she doesn’tconfuse clockwise and counterclockwise. So, try remembering clockwise is lock-wise; to open it, you’ll have to turn it counterclockwise. Ialways enjoy your column! —Mike S.,inBatonRouge
Travel suggestions
Dear Heloise: To thelady who mixes up left and right when trying to open lotion bottles, my wife also
By The Associated Press
Today is Thursday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2025. There are 90 days left in the year
Todayinhistory: On Oct. 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall joined the U.S. Supreme Court as its first African American justice; he would serve on the bench for 24 years until his retirementin1991.
Also on this date:
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had aserious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.
In 1942, theRMS Queen Mary,anocean liner carrying thousands of American soldiers as aconverted troop ship during World WarII, accidentally rammed andsank the escort ship HMS Curacoa in theNorth Atlantic, killing over 300 crew members aboard the Curacoa.
Dear Heloise: Iread the letter from Georgia N. regarding hints on what to do when traveling. Ihave an additional suggestion: When my husband and Itravel, we always take apicture of the pickup station close to where we park our car.Then Iturn around and take apicture of our car from the station to show the direction it’sparked in. Ialso take a
TODAYINHISTORY
In 1944, German troops crushed the 2-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which aquarter of amillion people were killed.
In 1970, one of two chartered twin-engine planes flying the Wichita State University football team to Utah crashed into amountain near Silver Plume, Colorado, killing 31 of the 40 people on board.
In 2006, an armed milk truck driver took agroup of girls hostage in an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, killing five of them and wounding five others before taking his own life.
In 2016, HallofFame baseballbroadcaster Vin Scully signedoff forthe last time, ending 67 years behind themic forthe Dodgers as he calleda 7-1loss to theGiantsinSan Francisco.
In 2018, U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, acritic of Saudi Arabia’s
picture of our row number and last of all, Itake apicture of our license plate. If something happened to us on a flight, heaven forbid, people would have no idea how to find our car in alarge airport parking lot without these photos. —D.S., in Omaha, Nebraska Shutting offwater
Dear Heloise: Areader suggested turning off your mainhouse water supply before going on vacation. This is only if you have forced air heating. If your furnace is awater basedboiler system (hot water baseboards, radiators, etc.), it automatically feeds water from your mainsupply.Ifitcan’tget the water, it could overheat and cause a fire. —Mark Rust, viaemail Sendahinttoheloise@
government, waskilled by Saudi Arabian officials at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey In 2020, stricken by COVID-19, President Donald Trumpwas injected with an experimental drug combination at the White House before being flown to amilitary hospital, where he wasgiven Remdesivir,anantiviral drug. Today’sbirthdays: Film critic Rex Reed is 87. Singersongwriter DonMcLean (“American Pie”) is 80. Fashion designer Donna Karan is 77. Actor Avery Brooks is 77. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 76. Singer-actor Sting is 74. Actor Lorraine Bracco is 71. R&B singer Freddie Jackson is 69. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa is 62. Singer-songwriter Gillian Welch is 58. Actortalk show host Kelly Ripa is 55. Actor Efren Ramirez is 52.
PHOTO By LIZ FAUL Roasted SpaghettiSquash with Tomatoes
LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) Take pride in what you do, and you'll gain the respect and trust of those you deal with today. A change to your routine will enhance how you spend your time and encourage you to pursue new experiences.
ScoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Be careful how you handle friends, associates and lovers. Keep an open mind and give others the same freedom you expect in return. Stop spinning your wheels; it's time to evolve.
SAGIttARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Limitations are lessons; don't waste time. Take responsibility for your happiness, and you'll discover ways to diversify and make the most out of whatever comes your way.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Listen, dissect and adjust. You have more choices than you realize, and once you head in the right direction, you'll gain momentum. Acceptance and release will give you the courage to do what's best for you.
AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Check documents, sign agreements, set priorities and take care of business. Use your insight and imagination to initiate the changes that bring you happiness.
PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) Give yourself a nudge. Invest time and money in achieving a lifestyle that satisfies your soul. Be brave, say no when necessary and take responsibility for your life.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Engage in pastimes that bring you joy. Volunteer to
help organizations that address matters of concern. Give back to your community, and you'll connect with people who share your values.
tAuRuS (April 20-May 20) You may want to reflect before making a move or settling for something that doesn't thrill you. Look around and consider how you can use your skills more diversely.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) A change of plans will bring value and hope into your life. Explore the possibilities, and research how you can use your skills and experience to earn extra cash.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Effective money management will be beneficial. Consider selling items you no longer need. A lifestyle change help you get back on track and encourage you to reset your priorities.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Stop fretting and start doing what makes you happy. Life is simple when you don't complicate matters. Rethink your past and consider what you'd do differently. VIRGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Make what you do count. Don't live someone else's dream when you have your own to pursue. Participate in events that offer insight into something that excites you.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
toDAy'S cLuE: P EQuALS V
FAMILY CIrCUS
CeLebrItY CIpher
For better or For WorSe
SALLY Forth
beetLe bAILeY
Mother GooSe And GrIMM
LAGoon
bIG nAte
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer
nea CroSSwordS La TimeS CroSSword
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS CurTiS
By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge
Wilson Mizner, a playwright, raconteur and entrepreneur who died in 1933, said, “Not only is a good listener popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.” A good listener at the bridge table is popular with his partner, but less so with his opponents. And he immediately gets to know something. Yesterday, I recommended not being deaf to the auction. This deal is another example. South gets into four spades after East opens three clubs in the third position. West starts off with three top hearts, East playing high-low to show his doubleton, then discarding the club king (top of touching honors as he cannot win the trick). West shifts to a low club. How should South continue?
When entering the auction after an opponent opens with a pre-empt, assume partnerhassixorsevenhigh-cardpoints ThatmakesSouth’sfour-spadeovercalla slight overbid. If he had settled for three spades,whichwouldhavebeenanunderbid, North would probably have raised because he had so many trumps.
West thought about sacrificing in five clubs, but was dissuaded by the unfavorable vulnerability. Note that five clubs doubled should go down three, minus 800. South won the fourth trick with his club ace and cashed the spade ace.
Now he had to find the diamond queen to make his contract. The bidding gave the answer. West had already shown up with five hearts to the ace-king-queen-jack. If he had had the diamond queen as well, he
By Andrews McMeel Syndication
Previous answers:
InStRuctIonS: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,”
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles
of LTAisproviding notice of aRequest forCompet‐itiveProposals (RFCP) 90daysolicitationperiod forinterestedproposers To be considered,Pro‐posals mustbereceived by LA DOTD by theend of thecompetitive solicita‐tion period,Dec.29, 2025. Formoreinformation aboutthe project, or how to submit aLetterofIn‐terest requesting acopy of theRFCPoutlining submittalrequirements forproposing anda list of ReferenceDocuments includinga Public Copy of theLFS unsolicited proposal andinformation aboutthe proposal fee, contact CameronFer‐ryLTA@la.gov.A full no‐tice canbefound on the LTAwebsite (https:// www.dotd.la.gov/about/ office-of-the-secretary/ louisiana-transportationauthority/) under “LTA j ll
For the Meeting of Mayorand Council City of Zachary,LA Council Chambers, 4700 Main Street Tuesday,September 09, 2025, 6:30 P.M.
A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor McDavid called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m., on Tuesday September 9, 2025, at the Zachary City Hall located at 4700 Main Street, Zachary,LA
B. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Invocation by Councilwoman Landry Invocation by Mr.TyStephens
C. OPENING PROCEEDURES
1. ROLL CALL MAYOR David McDavid COUNCIL MEMBERS Brandy Westmoreland –District 1 AmbreDeVirgilio –District 3 Jennifer Landry –District 5 ABSENT John LeBlanc– District 2 James Graves –District 4
2. READING OF CITY POLICY RELATIVE TO OPEN MEETINGS Beforeproceeding with the meeting, Mayor McDavid read astatement into the recordregarding theOpen Meetings Law,and citizens’ right to participate in public meetings. The statement sets forth general rules of conduct of the public meeting and outlined the process through which a citizen can have items placed on the Council agenda. Acopy of the rules is available at City Hall, Mayor’sOffice or by calling the Clerk of the City Council. The rules will also be available at every Council meeting.
3. CHANGES/ADDITIONSTOTHE AGENDA
D. READING OF THE MINUTES
1. Approval of Minutes of August 26, 2025, regular meeting, and approvethemaswritten.
The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland To approve the Minutes of August 26, 2025, regular meeting, and approve them with correction as noted on item N6 –Councilwoman DeVirgilio voting NAY.
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
E. HONORS, RECOGNITIONS, AND INTRODUCTIONS
1. Recognition of Life Saving Emergencies –Zachary FireDepartment BShift –Captain Chase Lord, Firefighter Brandon Roy,Firefighter MontanaFairburn, and Firefighter Noah Rittell.
F. CONTRACT ITEMS/CONTRACTS OR ITEMS RELATING TO PROJECTS
1. Street/Road Projects
a. Approval of the Change Order #1 –Final Project #11773 Church Street Improvements
The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Landry
To approve the Change Order #1 –Final Project #11773 Church Street Improvements in the amount of $34,926.97
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
b. Approval of Pay Request #4 –Project #11773 Church Street
Improvements The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland
To approve the Pay Request #4 –Project #11773 Church Street
Improvements in the amount of $64,167.75
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
c. Approval of the Substantial CompletionCertificate –Project #11773 Church StreetImprovements
The motion was made by Councilwoman Westmoreland
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
To approve the Substantial CompletionCertificate –Project #11773 Church StreetImprovements
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
d. Approval of the Change Order #1 –Final 11774 Main Street
Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road) Approval of the Change Order #1 –Final 11774 Main Street
Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road)
To approve the ChangeOrder #1 –Final 11774 Main Street
Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road) in the amount of $8,525.00
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
e. Approval of Pay Request #1 -11774 Main Street Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road) The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland
To approve the Pay Request #1 -11774 Main Street Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road) in the amount of $95,872.50
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
f. Approval of the Substantial CompletionCertificate -11774 Main Street Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road) The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland To approve the Substantial CompletionCertificate -11774 Main Street Improvements (Turning Lane at Hwy 964 and Plank Road)
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
g. Approval of Pay Request #1 -11807 Road Rehabilitation Project (2025) The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland To approve the Pay Request #1 -11807 Road Rehabilitation Project (2025) in the amount of $84,821.58
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
2. Sewer
3. Subdivision Inspections
y Projects”. All correspon‐dencewiththe LTAand LA DOTD on matters con‐cerningthisNoticeand theRFCPfor apotential ServiceContractshould be sent in writingtothe emailaddress above. 159760 Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 2t $38.08
g It iscontemplated that themainofficesand branch officesofeachof Investar Bank andFNB will continue to operate followingthe merger This notice is published pursuant to 12 USC 1828(c) and12CFR 5. Anyone maysubmitwrit‐tencommentsonthis applicationnolater than October4,2025 to:Direc‐torfor Licensing, Comp‐trollerofthe Currency SouthRegionOffice,at 1700 PacificAve,Suite 3600, Dallas,Texas 75201 or by emailingLicensing‐PublicComments@occ. treas.gov. Thepublicmay find in‐formationregarding this application, includingthe date of theend of the public comment period in theOCC Weekly Bul‐letinatwww.occ.gov. Re‐quests fora copy of the public file on theapplica‐tion should be made to theDirectorofLicensing Comptrollerofthe Cur‐h i f
4. Waterand GasProjects
5. Other Projects
G. PRESENTATION OF DELEGATIONS
1. Request to Speak
p rency, South Region Of‐fice,at1700 PacificAve Suite3600, Dallas,Texas 75201 or by emailingLi‐censing@occ.treas.gov. FirstNationalBank WichitaFalls,Texas (nameoftarget institution) (location) Investar Bank,National AssociationBaton Rouge, Louisiana (nameofacquiring bank) (location)
g Advantageplans in2026. This meansall Ochsner Medicare Advantage planswillend on Decem‐ber31, 2025. Membersaffectedby this change will receive a letter with information abouttheir coverage op‐tionsfor 2026. If youare enrolled in oneofthese plans, youmay choose anotherMedicareAdvan‐
a. Ben Necaise –Presentation -15-minute presentation regarding “Zachary Forward” Reallocation of Existing Millage proposition, which will appear on the November 15, 2025 election ballot. He explained that if approved, homeowner millage rates willremain the same as 2026 for the next 20 years.
b. Mike Denicola(retired EBR EMS Director) –against EMS merger –requesting resolution to oppose dismantlingofEMS merger
c. Lon Vicknair (EBR Chief of Staff) –infavor of EMSmerger –states merger would be beneficial to current EMSemployees.
2. Hardship Waivers 3. Other Variances
4. Exceptions of Regulations
H. ACTION MANDATED BY HOME RULE CHARTER
1. Approval of appointment of the new City Attorney
The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland
To table the appointment of the new City Attorney to the September 23, 2025 meeting.
Following the failure of the motiontotable, the Mayor(as the original item sponsor) removed the item in its entirety and instructed that it be placed on September 23, 2025 meeting.
2. Approval of temporary Clerk of Council The motion was made by Councilwoman Landry The motion was seconded by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
To approve the appointment of temporary Clerk of Council, Karen Burdette and to hold aworkshop for proceedings to fill role permanently.
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT: LeBlanc, Graves ABSTAINED: None
I. PLANNING &ZONING MATTERS
1. Receive Minutes of the Regular meeting of _____, of the Planning Commission and the Minutesofthe Regular meeting of of the Zoning Commission.
2. Planning matters REQUIRING aPublic Hearing
3. Planning Matters NOT requiring aPublic Meeting
4. Zoning Matters REQUIRING aPublic Hearing
5. Zoning Matters NOT Requiring Public Hearing
6. Other Matters
J. RECEIVE RECORD OF PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
1. Receive accounts payablefor August 2025 and the natural gas bill when it is received. The motion was made by Councilwoman Westmoreland
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
To Receive accounts payable for August 2025 and the natural gas bill when it is received
1 Public Hearing and Adoption of Ordinance 2025-10 AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH CONTRACTAUTHORITY AND REQUIRELEGISLATIVE APPROVAL FOR CERTAINCITY AGREEMENTS, ANDOTHERWISETOPROVIDE WITH RESPECT THERETO. Ordinance was removed by Councilwoman DeVirgilio with expectations she will bring back and reintroduce after modifications.
M. OLD BUSINESS PENDING
N. NEW BUSINESS
1 PUBLIC HEARING AND ADOPTION Of Ordinance 202517 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THECITYOFZACHARY TO AMENDCHAPTER 66 OF THECITY’SCODE OF ORDINANCES TO ALLOW THECITYTOADOPT REGULATIONSDESIGNED TO FACILITATEAND IMPROVE THECOLLECTION OF SERVICE CHARGES FOR THEPROVISION OF WASTE COLLECTION SERVICESTORESIDENTS OF THECITYAND FOR ANYAND ALLRELATED MATTERS IN FURTHERANCE.
Mayor McDavid opened the PUBLICHEARING at 7:37 p.m. There being no one to speak in favor or against the adoption,Mayor McDavid closed the PUBLICHEARING AT 7:37 P.M. The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland
1. To approve the ADOPTION Of Ordinance 2025-17 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THECITYOFZACHARY TO AMENDCHAPTER 66 OF THECITY’SCODE OF ORDINANCESTOALLOW THE CITYTOADOPT REGULATIONSDESIGNEDTOFACILITATEAND IMPROVE THECOLLECTION OF SERVICE CHARGES FOR THE PROVISION OF WASTE COLLECTION SERVICESTORESIDENTS OF THE CITYAND FOR ANYAND ALL RELATED MATTERS IN FURTHERANCE.
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT: LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
2. Approval of aspecial event permittosell alcohol for Downtown Live at the Gazebo for the dates of September 19, 26, 2025 and October 03, 2025. The motion was made by Councilwoman Westmoreland The motion was seconded by Councilwoman DeVirgilio
To approve the special event permit to sell alcohol for Downtown Live at the Gazebo for the dates of September 19, 26, 2025 and October 03, 2025
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT: LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
3. Approval of Resolution 2025-05 Resolution in Supportfor the Preparationand SubmittalofanApplication for Funding through the StateCapital Outlay Technical Administration for New Fire Station –Planning and Construction (EBR) FP&C Project No
5-MW3-24-01 and for all matter in furtherance thereof The motion was made by Councilwoman DeVirgilio The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Westmoreland To approve Resolution 2025-05 ResolutioninSupport for the Preparation and Submittal of an Application for Funding through the StateCapital Outlay Technical Administration for New Fire Station –Planning and Construction (EBR) FP&C Project No
5-MW3-24-01 and for all matter in furtherance thereof
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None ABSENT: LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
4. Approval of an ordinance to amend and update sections of the Zachary Municipal Code of Ordinances,
Forquestions,call OchsnerHealthPlan Member Services at 1833-674-2112 (TTY:711) 8
YEAS:
ABSENT:LeBlanc,
NAYS: None ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves ABSTAINED: None
c. To remove 5736 Avenue Zfromthe code complianceviolations list –Junk Vehicles- as the vehicle hasbeen removedfromthe stated address. The motion wasmade by CouncilwomanLandry The motion wassecondedbyCouncilwomanDeVirgilio To remove 5736 Avenue Zfromthe code complianceviolations list –Junk Vehicles- as the vehicle hasbeen removedfromthe stated address.
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves ABSTAINED: None
d. To remove 4535 OakStreet,2826 April Street,4755 Avenue G, 3109 Ramey Drive, from the code complianceviolations list –Junk Vehicles-asthe vehicle hasbeen removedfromthe stated address.
The motion wasmade by CouncilwomanWestmoreland
The motion wassecondedbyCouncilwomanDeVirgilio To remove 4535 OakStreet,2826 April Street,4755 Avenue G, 3109 Ramey Drive, from the code complianceviolations list –Junk Vehicles- as the vehicle hasbeen removedfromthe stated address.
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves ABSTAINED: None
e. To issue subpoena for code violations to 2715 March Street for junk vehicles andjunk properties as defined underthe City Code
The motion wasmade by CouncilwomanLandry
The motion wassecondedbyCouncilwoman Westmoreland To issue subpoena for code violations to 2715 March Street for junk vehicles andjunk properties as defined underthe City Code
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None ABSENT:LeBlanc, Graves
ABSTAINED: None
Therewas discussion made regarding 4620 NewWeis–“covered vehicles” –noone livesatthis residence. No motion wasmade, will workon finding Mr.Fisher
O. CONDEMNED BUILDINGS –PUBLIC HEARINGS OR OTHER ACTION REGARDING BUILDINGS BEING CONSIDERED FOR CONDEMNDATION AttorneyJohn Hopewell’sreport: The Condemnations boardmet last Thursday,September 4th took up 13 separate properties –three were removedfromthe list, six were tabled for furtheraction following condemnation andtwo were condemned. The Board is scheduled to meet againlater this month. No newreports have been received in the last 60 days.
P. REPORTSFROMDEPARTMENT HEADS
1. Receive the Monthly Inspection Report
The motion wasmadebyCouncilwomanDeVirgilio
The motion wassecondedbyCouncilwoman Westmoreland To Receive the August 2025 Inspection Report
YEAS: Westmoreland, DeVirgilio, Landry
NAYS: None
ABSENT: LeBlanc, Graves ABSTAINED: None
Q. DISCUSSION OF BUSINESSNOT ON AGENDA No Action May Be Taken UnlessDeclared an Emergency) Referred for review: Police Chiefsalaries. Changeswould take effect January 2027, with ordinancescheduled for September23, 2025, meeting. AttorneyHopewell will workonanordinancefor permit for roofs.
R. ADJOURNMENT The meeting wasadjournedat8:10PM CERTIFICATION
Karen Burdette DavidMcDavid, Mayor Acting Clerk of the City Council CITY OF ZACHARY PARISHOFEASTBATON ROUGE STATEOFLOUISIANA
I, KarenBurdette, do hereby certify thatIamthe duly appointedand acting Clerk of the City Council for the City of Zachary, Parish of
Baton Rouge,Louisiana
Ifurthercertify thatthe above andforegoing is atrueand correct copy of the minutesofthe regularmeeting of the Mayor andCouncil
no oneelse to speakinfavor or againstmillage rates MayorMcDavid
thePUBLIC HEARINGat 6:34 p.m. Closepublichearing;AD‐JOURNat6:34p.m II. Apublicmeetingwill be held as follows CALL TO ORDER MayorMcDavid called themeetingtoorder at 6:34 p.m.,onTuesday August 26, 2025, at the ZacharyCityHalllocated at 4700 Main Street Zachary, LA
2. Setforth theadjusted millagerate(s) androll forwardtomillage rate of 5.48 notexceedingthe maximumauthorized rate(s). Adoption of Ordinance 2025-14 ORDINANCETO
Adoption of Ordinance 2025-13 ORDINANCETO FIXTHE ANNUAL PROP‐ERTY MILLAGERATEFOR 2025 ANDTOESTABLISH THERATEOFTAXATION ANDLEVYA TAXINTHE AMOUNT OF 5.070 MILS TO DEFRAY EXPENSES OF OPERATIONOFTHE CITY GOVERNMENT FORALL GENERALPURPOSESFOR THEYEAR2025 ON ALL TAXABLEPROPERTY WITHIN THECORPORATE LIMITSOFTHE CITY OF ZACHARYAND TO PRO‐VIDE THECOLLECTIONOF THESAMEAND FOR OTHERMATTERS IN CON‐NECTIONTHEREWITH Themotionwas made by Councilwoman West‐moreland Themotionwas sec‐ondedbyCouncilwoman DeVirgilio To approvethe adoption of Ordinance2025-13 OR‐DINANCETOFIX THEAN‐NUAL PROPERTY MILL‐AGERATEFOR 2025 AND TO ESTABLISHTHE RATE OF TAXATION ANDLEVY ATAX IN THEAMOUNTOF 5.070 MILSTODEFRAY EXPENSES OF OPERATION OF THECITYGOVERN‐MENT FORALL GENERAL PURPOSES FORTHE YEAR 2025 ON ALLTAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATELIMITSOF THECITYOFZACHARY ANDTOPROVIDE THE COLLECTIONOFTHE SAME ANDFOR OTHER MATTERS IN CONNEC‐TION THEREWITH. YEAS:Westmoreland, LeBlanc, DeVirgilio,Boyd NAYS:Graves ABSENT:None ABSTAINED: None
ADJOURNMENT Themeetingwas ad‐journedat6:56p.m
CERTIFICATION
Dana LeJeune,LMMC Clerkofthe City Council CITY OF ZACHARY PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE STATEOFLOUISIANA I, Dana LeJeune, do hereby certifythatI am thedulyappointed and acting Clerkofthe City Councilfor theCityof Zachary, Parish of East BatonRouge,Louisiana Ifurther certifythatthe aboveand foregoing is a true andcorrect copy of theminutes of theregu‐lar meetingofthe Mayor andCouncil of theCityof Zachary, Louisiana, held on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, aproperquorum beingthere andthenpre‐sent Dana LeJeune,Clerk of theCityCouncil 160923-OCT2-1T $88.65
East BatonRouge,State of Louisiana(the“Suc‐cession”)has fileda Peti‐tion forAuthority to Sell ImmovablePropertyat PrivateSale (the “Peti‐tion”),seekingauthority to sell certainimmovable propertyofthe Succes‐sion at privatesaleinac‐cordance with theterms andconditionsasmore fullyset forthinthe Peti‐tion andthe Purchase Agreementdated Sep‐tember 3, 2025, filedin theabove-captioned pro‐ceeding. TheEastBaton RougeParish, Louisiana immovablepropertyhas amunicipaladdressof 3647 RueD’Orleans Drive, BatonRouge,Louisiana 70810, andislocated in that subdivisionknown as THELAKES AT UNIVER‐SITY CLUB PLANTATION PHASE3B anddesig‐natedonthe official map of said subdivision, on file andofrecordinthe office of theClerk and Recorder forthe Parish of East BatonRouge StateofLouisiana,as LOTNUMBER FIVE HUN‐DRED NINETY-NINE(599)
TheOrder granting such authoritytosellsaidim‐movablepropertymay be issued after theexpi‐ration of seven(7) days from thedateofpublica‐tion of thesecondnotice. Anyopposition to the proposed sale must be filedbyanheir, legatee, or creditor at anytime priortothe issuance of theOrder forthe re‐questedauthority Attorney forthe estate: Justin T. Mannino BY ATTORNEY: Justin T. Mannino (LSBABar Roll No.35221)
PUBLICATION: TheAdvocate Twice: TheSecondPublication must occurtwenty-one (21) days after theFirst Publication.
ADDRESS: 450 Laurel Street 8thFloor BatonRouge,Louisiana 70801
