The Advocate 10-22-2025 by The Advocate

“We’re veryresilient, and we trytowork with whatever’sthrown at us. But this is averytough timeinagriculture.”

STEPHEN LOGAN,Louisiana farmer

Shutdown hits farmers rightatharvest time

are concerned thatChina’sboycott will

Lowprices, high costs, tradeuncertainty also fuel concern

BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer

It’sakey momentonStephen Logan’s farm in Gilliam. Andinfarming, he said, “timing is everything.”

His team has harvested the final corn, soybeans, cottonand peanuts,inthat order.Now they’re spreadingcereal rye seed and making plans for the next growing season. Butthe government shutdownhas made paying for those cover crops and finalizing thoseplans more difficult. Each fall, farmers across Louisiana count on thenow-shuttered U.S. Department of Agricultureand other federal agencies for financial assistance and

information. For three weeks, they’ve been unable to get aloan from the agency,apply foraconservationprogram or receive amarket report.

“All of that is shut down,” Louisiana CommissionerofAgriculture Mike Strain said.

Thatmeansmany farmers are ﬂying blind as they try to decide when tosell this fall and what to plant next February,adecision they often make months in advance.

“That informationisneedednow,” Strain said.

Government programs areeven more critical as farmers are struggling with high prices for mostofwhat they buy, including fertilizer,and low prices for

most of what they’re selling, several farmers said.

“We’re very resilient, andwetry to work with whatever’sthrown at us,” said Logan,amember of the EnvironmentalProtection Agency’sFarm, Ranchand RuralCommunities Advisory Council. “But this is avery tough time in agriculture.”

About 91% of agriculture economists surveyed in September said theybelieve the U.S.crops sector is in arecession, according to the Farm Journal’s monthlysurveyofabout 70 economists.

Among the reasons: Low grainprices, high input costs andtrade uncertainty,

ä See FARMERS, page 7A

ViralYouTube

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

He’sacontentcreatorwho’s gone viral for his comedicskits.

He’sracked up millions of online followers by storming businesses dressed as afederal inspectorasa

part of agag to confront company leaders with farce “complaints” for likes, clicksand giggles. In August of last year,Carliemar WhiteIII, known to his legion of social media fansas“Agent Ratliff,” brought hisantics to Baton Rouge. Armedwithanauthoritative

voice, aclipboard and his “OCDA” uniform, he toldmanagersat Holmes BuildingMaterials he was there to investigate allegations of employeediscrimination. Staff membersled White to the back ofﬁces of thestorefrontalong Airline Highway that sells supplies for

La.high court debatesBR judgecase

BY ANDREAGALLO Staff writer

Louisiana Supreme Court justices debated Tuesday whether to boot Baton Rouge Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts offthe bench, repeatedly pressingher attorneys on why she doubled down on responses that the state’sJudiciary Commissionsaid were lies about her military service and insurance claims.

Foxworth-Roberts, whowas elected in 2020, is accused of lying aboutattaining therank of captain in the U.S. Army, as well as having described herself on the campaign trail as aveteran of Desert Storm She wasjust 16 during that conﬂict.

Judiciary Commission members also took issue withinsurance claims sheﬁledduring hercampaign, when shesaidsomeone stoleroughly $40,000 worth of jewelry and other goodsfromher car whileshe was campaigning. ButFoxworth-Roberts ﬁleda policereport about the burglary from her home, which was 3miles away from the alleged break-in, and she indicated to police that the break-in happened when her car was “like this,” pointing to it in her driveway,according to body camera footage.

“Itisthispervasivepattern of fundamental dishonesty that brings us unhappily here today,” said Michelle Beaty, special counselfor the Judiciary Commission, as she argued Tuesday that the high court should strip Foxworth-Roberts of her judgeship.

Should the high court accept the recommendation, Foxworth-Roberts would becomethe ﬁrst judge to be tossed from the bench over disciplinary matters since 2009.

Thejusticescan followthe recommendation from the Judiciary Commission, or they can choose to impose theirown discipline instead. Kicking her offthe

See JUDGE, page 6A

contractors. There, he questioned one of the company’ssupervisors, DerekJones, aboutthe purported complaints. Holden Schneider,another comic posing as Agent Ratliff’s OCDA sidekick,stood beside White as he rattled off the anonymous em-

ployee grievances. Acameraman who accompanied the two ﬁlmed the encounter White accused Jones of “always digging in his nose,” having afoul odor,engaging in racial

ä See COMIC, page 4A

STAFF FILEPHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE

Louisiana soybean farmers

have adetrimental effect on next year’sprices.

U.S. chess grandmaster

Naroditsky dies at 29

Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster who started as a child prodigy and quickly became one of the most inﬂuential American voices in the sport, died Monday He was 29.

The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on social media, calling him “a talented chess player, educator, and beloved member of the chess community.”

“Let us remember Daniel for his passion and love for the game of chess, and for the joy and inspiration he brought to us all every day,” his family said in a statement shared by the center The cause of death was not immediately known.

Naroditsky became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from World Chess Champion, at the age of 18. Years earlier, the California-born player won the Under 12 world championship and spent his teenage years writing chess strategy books as he climbed the world rankings. He was consistently ranked in the top 200 worldwide for traditional chess and also excelled at a fast-paced style called blitz chess, maintaining a top 25 ranking throughout his adult career. Most recently Naroditsky, known to many as Danya, won the U.S. National Blitz Championship in August.

Loggins demands removal of Trump video

Kenny Loggins is objecting to the use of his music in a social media post showing an artiﬁcial intelligence-generated video of President Donald Trump dumping excrement from a ﬁghter jet on last weekend’s “No Kings” protests.

The video, posted Saturday night on the Republican president’s Truth Social platform, was accompanied by Loggins’ song “Danger Zone,” which appears on the soundtrack of the blockbuster 1986 Tom Cruise ﬁghter pilot movie “Top Gun.” Loggins, in a statement Monday on his website, said he was not asked for permission and called for the video to be removed “I can’t imagine why anybody would want their music used or associated with something created with the sole purpose of dividing us,” Loggins wrote. “Too many people are trying to tear us apart, and we need to ﬁnd new ways to come together We’re all Americans, and we’re all patriotic.” As of Tuesday morning, the video remained on Truth Social.

Representatives for Loggins responded to The Associated Press’ request for additional comment Tuesday by reissuing his statement from the day before. The White House responded to a request for comment with a still from “Top Gun” with the caption “I FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED,” paraphrasing one of the ﬁlm’s famous lines.

Shopper shoots man who groped customers

LOS ANGELES — A woman shot and killed a man who groped and attacked customers inside a Compton store, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. On Sunday, deputies from the Compton Sheriff’s Station responded to an emergency call of a disturbance, which was later updated to include a gunshot victim, at a shopping center in the 1300 block of East Alondra Boulevard, according to a news release. The Sheriff’s Department did not name the store where the incident took place.

A preliminary investigation found that an unidentiﬁed man entered a store following a female customer Investigators say the male groped the female customer, which prompted the store’s employees to ask the man to leave. According to the news release, the man responded by becoming verbally aggressive, throwing and damaging merchandise in the store. Ofﬁcials say the employees and customers then noticed the man had an object in his hand that they believed was a knife. They said he threatened to kill and harm everyone in the store, according to authorities.

Stolen Louvre jewels worth an estimated $102 million

100 investigators involved in hunt

BY SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press

PARIS The glittering sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds that once adorned France’s royals could well be gone forever, experts said Tuesday after a brazen, four-minute heist in broad daylight left the nation stunned and the government struggling to explain a new debacle at the Louvre.

Each stolen piece — an emerald necklace and earrings, two crowns, two brooches, a sapphire necklace and a single earring — represents the pinnacle of 19thcentury “haute joaillerie,” or ﬁne jewelry. But for the royals, they were more than decoration. The pieces were political statements of France’s wealth, power and cultural import. And they are so signiﬁcant that they were among the treasures saved from the government’s 1887 auction of most royal jewels. Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor whose office is leading the investigation said Tuesday that in monetary terms, the stolen jewelry is worth an estimated $102 million but also noted that

the estimate doesn’t include historical value About 100 investigators are now involved in the police hunt for the suspects and the gems, she said.

The theft of the crown jewels left the French government scrambling — again — to explain the latest embarrassment at the Louvre, which is plagued by overcrowding and outdated facilities. Activists in 2024 threw a can of soup at the Mona Lisa. And in June, the museum was brought to a halt by its own striking staff, who complained about mass tourism. President Emmanuel Macron has announced that the Mona Lisa, stolen by a former museum worker in 1911 and recovered two years later, will get its own room under a major renovation.

Now the sparkling jewels, artifacts of a French culture of long ago, are likely being secretly dismantled and sold off in a rush as individual pieces that may or may not be identiﬁable as part of the French crown jewels, experts said.

“It’s extremely unlikely these jewels will ever be retrieved and seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, a major European diamond jeweler, said in a statement. “If these gems are broken

up and sold off, they will, in effect, vanish from history and be lost to the world forever.”

At once intimate and public, crown jewels are kept secured from the Tower of London to Tokyo’s Imperial Palace as visual symbols of national identities.

In the Louvre’s case, the gems were stolen from the former palace’s gilded Apollo Gallery, itself a work of art rendered in “sun gold and diamonds,” per the museum’s website. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said more than 60 police investigators are involved in the manhunt for the four robbery suspects. The thieves were divided into two pairs, with two people aboard a truck with a cherry picker they used to climb up to the gallery, Nunez said. Photos showed the equipment’s ladder reaching to the ﬂoor above street level.

Taken, officials said, were eight pieces, part of a collection whose origin as crown jewels date back to the 16th century when King Francis I decreed that they belonged to the state. The Paris prosecutor’s office, leading the investigation, said that two men with bright yellow jackets broke into the gallery at 9:34 a.m. half an hour past opening time — and left the room at 9:38 a.m before fleeing on two motorbikes.

Mahmoud Khalil makes appearance in appeals court

Trump administration continues efforts to deport him

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press

NEW YORK — Mahmoud Khalil appeared Tuesday in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia as he continues to challenge a deportation case brought by President Donald Trump’s administration over his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University

The hearing before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals came as the government seeks to overturn a lower court order granting Khalil’s June release from a Louisiana immigration jail.

Khalil’s attorneys have asked the three-judge panel to afﬁrm the district court’s ruling, which prevents federal authorities from detaining him again and beginning the deportation process.

Drew Ensign, an attorney for the government, countered that the lower court judge overstepped his authority and that the case should be left to the immigration judge in Louisiana.

“All of this is being conducted in an improper forum,” Ensign said “So that should be a full stop.”

An immigration judge last month ruled that Khalil could be deported, though the case is now under review by a separate appeal board.

Khalil, who is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen, has vowed to continue advocating for Palestinians as his case plays out. He was recently permitted by a magistrate judge to travel across the country for rallies and other events.

“This case is about every single person in this country, whether they’re citizens or not,” Khalil told supporters after the hearing. “It’s about their freedom of speech and their ability to dissent and their ability to speak up, especially about Palestine and the genocide that’s happening.”

Khalil was the ﬁrst protester arrested in the Trump administration’s sprawling effort to deport student activists, academics and others who joined pro-Palestinian protests, which the government has equated with antisemitism. Khalil has repeatedly rejected allegations of antisemitism.

ICE shoots man after he rammed vehicle, DHS says

U.S. marshal, suspect injured in Los Angeles

BY JAIMIE DING Associated Press

LOS ANGELES Federal officers

shot a man in the elbow and a deputy U.S. marshal was hit in the hand with a ricochet bullet during an immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The immigration agents fired “defensive shots” as the man they were trying to arrest rammed their car with his vehicle as he tried to escape a traffic stop, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement

The man had entered the U.S. illegally and previously escaped custody, she said. It’s not immediately known when he entered the U.S. or was previously detained. A ricochet bullet struck a deputy U.S. marshal in the hand. Both the marshal and the suspect are in the hospital.

“These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest,” McLaughlin said.

U.S. Marshals Service office spokesperson Tlaloc Olvera confirmed one of their officers suffered a nonlife-threatening injury while helping with immigration enforcement and was in stable condition.

Los Angeles police said they were providing trafﬁc control and were not involved directly in the federal operation.

Last month, an ICE officer fatally shot a suspect during an immigration enforcement operation after the man drove his car at officers and dragged one of them. Others have died while fleeing federal immigration agents, including a man struck and killed on a Southern California freeway in August.

ICE tracks attacks against its ofﬁcers and has blamed activists for an increase in attacks, saying their rhetoric encourages people the agency is pursuing to resist arrest.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EMMA DA SILVA

People queue outside the Louvre museum in Paris on Monday, although it remains closed for the day after Sunday’s robbery.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT ROURKE

Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil meets with supporters outside federal court on Tuesday in Philadelphia as he continues to challenge a deportation case brought by President Donald Trump’s administration over his activism at Columbia University

Vance optimistic aboutGazaceasefire

BY RENATA BRITO, MELANIE

LIDMAN and SAMYMAGDY Associated Press

KIRYATGAT,Israel U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday called progress in Gaza’s fragile ceaseﬁre better than anticipated but acknowledgedduringanIsraelvisit the challenges that remain, from disarming Hamas to rebuilding aland devastated by two years of war Vance noted flareupsof violence in recent days but said the ceaseﬁre between Israel and Hamas that began on Oct. 10 is going “better than Iexpected.”

The Trump administration’sMiddle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, added that “we are exceeding where we thought we would be at this time.”

They visited anew center in Israel for civilian andmilitarycooperationas questions remain over the long-term plan for peace, including when and how an internationalsecurity force will deploy to Gazaand who will govern the territory after the war

Vance tried to downplay any idea that his visit —his ﬁrst as vice president —was urgentlyarrangedtokeep the ceasefire in place. He saidhefeels “conﬁdent that we’re going tobeinaplace wherethis peacelasts,” but warned that if Hamas doesn’tcooperate, it will be “obliterated.”

Jared Kushner,U.S. President DonaldTrump’s son-inlawand one of the architects of the ceaseﬁre agreement,

noted its complexity: “Both sides aretransitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now apeacetime posture.”

Vanceisexpected to stay in the region until Thursday and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other ofﬁcials.

On Tuesday,Netanyahu fired his national security adviser, TzachiHanegbi, butgavenoreasonfor the decision. Israeli media said

Trumppicktoleadfederal watchdog agency withdraws

Offensivetext messages were made public

BY SEUNG MINKIM Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’spick to lead afederal watchdog agency withdrew from consideration Tuesday evening, after his offensive text messages were made public and GOP senators revolted.

Paul Ingrassia, who was nominatedtolead theOfﬁce of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to havehis conﬁrmation hearing this week.

On Monday,however, Politico reported on atext chat that showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr.holiday should be “tossedinto theseventh circleofhell.”

Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having “a Nazi streak” at times

After the texts came to light, several Republican senators said they would not support his nomination. They included some of the most conservativeand stalwartTrump allies in the Senate.

“I will be withdrawing myself from Thursday’s HSGAC hearing to lead the Office of Special Counsel because unfortunately Ido not have enough Republican votes at this time,” Ingrassia posted in an online message.“Iappreciate the overwhelming support that Ihave received throughout the processand will continue to serve President Trump and the administration to Make AmericaGreat Again!” HSGAC is the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request forcomment. But Ingrassia’spost came af-

ter Senate Majority Leader John Thunehad said he hopedthe White House would withdraw Ingrassia’s nomination.

Republicans have been abletomuscle through the vastmajorityofTrump’s nominees in roll call votes despite stiff Democratic opposition.

But there have been sporadicinstances when Republicans have pushed back,

generally behind the scenes, showing there are limits to theirsupport

Most notably,MattGaetz withdrew as Trump’sfirst choice for attorney general soon after beingtabbed for the job. In May,Trump pulled his nomination of Ed Martin Jr.tobethe top federal prosecutor for the nation’scapital, bowing to bipartisan concerns about the conservative activist’s modestlegal experience andsupport for Jan.6rioters. Last month, the White Houseannounced it would be withdrawing thenomination of E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoniwas supposed to succeed aBLS director who was ﬁred following adisappointing jobs report.

Hanegbihad opposedthe renewal of Israel’s Gazaoffensive in March, and Israel’s failed attempt to assassinate Hamas’ leadership in an airstrike in QatarinSeptember In astatement, Hanegbi noted “times of disagreement” with Netanyahu. Late Tuesday, Israel’s militarysaid the remains of two more Gaza hostages had been returned to Israel, where they would be identiﬁed.

Sincethe ceaseﬁre began on Oct. 10, the remains of 15 hostages havebeenreturned to Israel. Another 13 stillneedtoberecoveredin Gazaand handed over

On his visittoIsrael Tuesday,Vance urged a“little bit of patience” amid Israeli frustration withHamas pace of returning the hostages.

“Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble.Some of thehostages, nobody even knows where they are,” Vance said.

Israel is releasing 15 Palestinian bodies forthe remains of each dead hostage, according to Gaza’sHealth Ministry.Itsaid Tuesday that Israel had so fartransferred 165 bodiessinceearlier this month.

As he faced journalists’ questions over the ceaseﬁre’snext steps, he said “a lotofthiswork is very hard” and urged ﬂexibility

“Once we’ve got to apoint whereboth theGazansand our Israeli friends can have some measure of security then we’ll worry about what thelong-term governance of Gazais,” he said. “Let’sfocus on security,rebuilding, giving people somefood and medicine.”

Although some 200 U.S.

troopswererecentlysent to Israel, Vance emphasized that they would not be on theground in Gaza. But he said officials are beginning to “conceptualize what that internationalsecurityforce would look like” for the territory He mentioned Turkey and Indonesia as countries expected to participate.The flags of Jordan, Germany, Britainand Denmarkwere on the stage wherehespoke Britainsaidlate Tuesdayit would send asmallcontingent of military officers to Israel to assist in monitoring the ceasefire.

While the ceasefire has been testedbyﬁghting and mutual accusations of violations, both Israel andHamas have said theyare committed to the deal.

International organizations said they were scaling up humanitarian aidentering Gaza, while Hamas-led security forces cracked down againstwhatitcalled price gouging by private merchants.

The World Food Program said it had sent more than 530 trucksintoGaza in the past 10 days, enough to feed nearlyhalf amillionpeople fortwo weeks. That’s well under the 500 to 600 that entered daily before the war

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO Paul Ingrassia

Immigration sweep in N.Y. confronted by protesters

Vendors on New york City’s famed Canal Street targeted

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ

Associated Press

NEW YORK An immigration enforcement sweep targeting vendors on Manhattan’s famed Canal Street turned chaotic on Tuesday after droves of angry New Yorkers surrounded federal agents and attempted to block them from driving off, prompting arrests and ﬁerce stand-offs along a bustling

COMIC

Continued from page 1A

harassment, getting in employees’ personal space and practicing nepotism.

The complaints were all a hoax, part of a brand of comedy that White and other online comedians have popularized in recent years.

But it was no laughing matter for Jones and the owners of Holmes Building Materials. They’re now suing White, his company and Schneider in federal court Eleven days after his Aug 1, 2024, visit to Holmes Building Materials, White posted footage from the clash with Jones on his social media channels. The video was viewed at least 120,000 times across the various platforms.

In their lawsuit, Jones and company officials allege employees began getting harassing calls after the videos went viral, and the business suffered as a result.

“The allegations of workplace abuse deter others from associating or employing with plaintiffs and expose plaintiffs to contempt and ridicule,” the petition alleges.

Jones and the Baton Rouge company lodged the lawsuit Oct. 1 in the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana. They’re suing for defamation, slander and libel.

The plaintiffs want damages for harm they claim the videos did to the Baton Rouge business’ reputation. They are also asking a federal judge to force White to remove all

downtown corridor

The confrontation began shortly after 4 p.m., as federal agents fanned out across a section of Chinatown that has long served as a not-so-underground market for knockoff designer handbags, watches, perfumes, electronics and other goods.

An Associated Press reporter observed dozens of agents as they detained a street vendor selling bedazzled smartphone cases, one of a number of arrests in the area.

A contingent of protesters, many of whom appeared to be on their way home from work, then surrounded the masked ofﬁcers, at-

of his OCDA skits off the internet.

“This is part of an ongoing enterprise between the individual defendants to harass and defame private businesses and professionals throughout the southeastern United States,” the suit claims.

White is a stand-up comedian from St Petersburg, Florida, who uses the stage name Calimar White. He travels the country doing routines on stage and comedy skits “in the ﬁeld.”

It’s a formula that’s paid off.

White has more than 2 million combined followers and subscribers on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook His videos have garnered over 9 million views across the platforms, court records show

He was in Baton Rouge last year to perform at the Silly Rabbit Comedy Club along Airline Highway. While in town for the show, he adopted his online persona Agent Ratliff and visited two local businesses for his prank inspections.

When they hit businesses for their hijinks, White and his cohorts identify themselves as OCDA agents and tell owners they’ve come to investigate complaints of employee discrimination or workplace harassment. OCDA is an acronym for Occupational Cares Diversity Affairs.

White, in many of his videos, proclaims, “This is a real company and these are real complaints.”

OCDA Ofﬁcial is registered as a domestic LLC based at White’s residence on the outskirts of Atlanta, according to Georgia Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce records.

tempting to block their vehicle as they shouted “ICE out of New York” and called on other pedestrians to join them. Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other federal offices tried to clear the streets, in some cases shoving protesters to the ground and threatening them with pepper spray before detaining them.

As more New Yorkers joined the fray, some of the federal agents retreated on foot, followed by jeering protesters and honking vehicles Additional federal agents, armed with long guns and tactical gear

Two weeks before the sold-out show, he posted to his Facebook page, announcing that he’d be traveling to the Capital City and asked his followers to submit “complaints” identifying the “worst jobs in Baton Rouge.”

That’s what put Holmes Building Materials on OCDA’s checklist. Jones and the plaintiffs’ attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from The Advocate. In the petition, plaintiffs said he claimed to work for OCDA and told store clerks he had a meeting scheduled with Jones. Dressed in matching polo shirts and hats with the OCDA logo on them, he and Schneider were led to Jones’ back ofﬁce in a workshop area. The law-

also arrived in a military tactical vehicle and made additional arrests.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agents were conducting an enforcement operation against sellers of “counterfeit goods”

“During this law enforcement operation, rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement,” she said.

At least one person was arrested for assaulting an ofﬁcer McLaugh-

suit says employees were duped into believing the defendants were afﬁliated with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and they used their “false federal personas” to get access to an employees-only portion of the business that wasn’t open to the general public.

White and Schneider confronted the Denham Springs man, who’s listed as one of Holmes Building Materials’ supervisors.

Jones chuckled at one point and called the allegations ridiculous before ordering the men off the property

Jones indicated that White and company initially refused to leave and blocked the doorway to his office. The men threatened to use physical force when he continued to insist they leave, the suit alleges, and White lit a cigarette and began smoking in Jones’ ofﬁce.

“If I have to come back in here, I’m shutting all this s*** down,” White said at one point. “I’m telling you, I’m not playing with your a**. ’Cause you think this s*** is a game. This is a real company, and we deal with real complaints. We are a voice for the employees.”

Following the encounter, White and his team edited and clipped portions of the footage and posted the videos online.

The lawsuit alleges White’s aim was “to embarrass the business and its employees and to publicize this interaction on social media” for his ﬁnancial gain.

Neither White nor OCDA reps could be reached for comment.

lin said. She did not respond to a request about how many vendors were detained.

The sweep came days after a conservative influencer shared video on X showing a group of men selling bags on the street, urging the ofﬁcial ICE account to “check this corner out.”

While clashes between immigration authorities and protesters have played out in Los Angeles and other cities, such scenes have been rarer on New York City streets, which Mayor Eric Adams has attributed in part to his working relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration.

White has made television appearances and collaborated with established standups like Lil Duval. But his TikTok fame and success on YouTube came at a cost. In previous videos on his pages, Agent Ratliff identified himself as an officer with “OSHA Cares Diversity Affairs,” but he rebranded himself last October under the company moniker Occupational Cares Diversity Affairs. That came 11 weeks after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General raided White’s house for impersonating an OSHA agent. According to court documents, the Inspector General’s Office found several guns in White’s house and he was charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. White, in interviews, has said he spent nearly a month in jail following the arrest. He was also sued in Georgia last year over one of his OCDA videos at an Atlanta software company Rev.io.

According to that ﬁling, he had a physical altercation with the company’s CEO, Brent Maropis, during a skit on July 16, 2024. Six days after White and OCDA reps failed to appear for an evidentiary hearing last November a Fulton County judge ordered him to pay Rev.io and Maropis nearly $2.3 million in damages and to remove videos of that incident from the internet, court records show Email Matt Bruce at matt. bruce@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Comedian Carliemar White III is known to his legion of social media fans as ‘Agent Ratliff.’

bench would be an extraordinarily rare step —it’sbeen 16 years since the Supreme Courthas disrobed ajudge in Louisiana.

In their questioning, the justices said Foxworth-Roberts had several chances throughout the course of the Judiciary Commission investigation to admit to herpast lapses,but instead continued to defend herself whenpresented with evidence that she had not been whollytruthful. FoxworthRoberts, for example, refused to authorize the commission to have hermilitary records, and once the commission got them, it became “painfully clear” why,Beaty said.

Chief Justice John Weimer called the findings from a hearing officer that Foxworth-Roberts lacked credibility “pretty devastating.”

“The court is more willing to accept humanfrailties, that you made amistake and you learned from it, than dishonesty,” Weimer said during the hearing.

Comparisons to colleague

The justices seemed to agree that Foxworth-Roberts committed misconduct. The bigger question Tuesday appeared to be the severity of the punishment.

Justice Jay McCallum pressed Beaty on how the high court couldissue such aharsh punishment for Foxworth-Roberts after recently agreeing to afar lighter punishment for one of her colleagues.

He appeared to invoke the case of Baton Rouge District Judge Eboni Johnson Rose, who reached aconsent agreement in the spring with the Judiciary Commission over complaints related to ahandfulofverdicts that she issued from the bench Johnson Rose convicted a former Baton Rouge police ofﬁcer of acrime that does not exist, then acquitted him once attorneys pointed

out that theoffense was not included in Louisiana law.In another case, she also overturned ajuryverdict after meetingprivately with jurors after atrial. And in a third, she vacated aman’s guilty pleaafter realizing shesuspended too much of hisprison time.

The Supreme Court agreed to accept theconsent agreement that called for suspending Johnson Rose for six months without pay, and they deferred all but twomonths of it. The high courthad already placed her on apaidinterim suspension before they took up her case, which McCallum, whodisagreed with thepunishment as too lenient, described as anine-month paid vacation

McCallum asked if there was adifference between sanctioning ajudge who displayedproblems on the bench that affected everydaypeople in their courtroom, versus ajudge whose problems werelargelyoutside of the courtroom.

Beaty argued, though, that Foxworth-Roberts’issues bled over into her courtroom because her credibility was in questionand she gave false answers to thecommission while sittingon the bench.

“This is acase that merits removalbecause you cannot teach ajudge to be honest,” she saidabout FoxworthRoberts. “You shouldn’t have to teachajudge to be honest.”

Beatyalso faultedFoxworth-Roberts forfailing to cooperatewith the Judiciary Commission’sinvestigation, while court ﬁlingsinJohn-

son Rose’scase said she did cooperate.

McCallum questioned whether cooperation should matter to that extent for judges accused of misconduct

“You can be incompetent and cooperate and everything’s forgiven,”McCallum said, criticizingBeaty over lighter treatmentofJohnson Rose.

“I just wish you would have given us thehammer sixmonths ago to use here, but youmissedthatopportunity,”helater added.

‘Too fine aline’

Both Justices Cade Cole and Weimer invoked the phrase, “it’snot the crime, but the cover-up” in reference to Foxworth-Roberts’ case.

Cole said he understood her campaign ads generated confusion but questioned why Foxworth-Roberts continued to obfuscate before thecommission.

Those included her tellingthe Judiciary Commissionintestimony that she’d reached the rank of captain, and thatshe failed to mention to police that her car break-in happened miles from thescene of where she reported it

“WhatIdon’tunderstand in this case is that there’s like aquadrupling down on things that probablycould have been explained and would have made life much easier to have been explained,” Cole said.

Steve Irving, the attorney representing FoxworthRoberts, insistedtothe justices that she hadn’tlied and

wasn’ttoblame for her false campaign ads.

He also saidshe didnot pinpoint theexact location of the burglary to police, but she also did not lie about it.

“That’smaybe toofine aline for us to accept,” Weimer responded.

Irving urgedSupreme Court members to issue no more than asuspensionfor thejudge. He defended Foxworth-Roberts, saying that when she answered “yes” to the questionofwhether she rose to therank of captain in theArmy, it was in response to acompound question from Judiciary Commission lawyers

“The details show this is not aremoval case,” he said. He also sought to portray Foxworth-Roberts as avictim of an extortion scheme by aformercampaign employee. The circumstances stressed her out,hesaid, affectinghow sheresponded to the commission’sinvestigation.

“Are you suggesting that thequote unquote ‘extortion’

is why she lied?” JusticePiper Grifﬁn asked.

“Are you suggesting that we shouldforgive that because of the outside circumstances of what is going on in your life?” she asked. Didads misleadpublic?

Foxworth-Roberts previously testifiedbefore the state’sfull Judiciary Commission andthe hearing ofﬁcer who ﬁrst heard her misconduct case, retired Jefferson Parish District Judge Melvin Zeno. She said in that testimony that shebelievedher work treating veterans of the Gulf WaratWalter Reed Medical Center meant that she playeda supporting role in Operation Desert Storm.

Shealso saidthatwhile she paid more than $7,500 for advertisements duringher 2020 campaign in theCentral CityNews, she had not reviewed the ads before they ran or viewed them afterward until their contents came up in the Ju-

diciary Commission investigation. Still, Foxworth-Roberts’ own campaign ads that she posted on social media and elsewhere also led to criticism from the Judiciary Commission, including statements in ads that she was “no stranger to being on thefront lines during the call of duty,” despite her neverdeploying overseas In their recommendation that the Supreme Court remove her from the bench, the Judiciary Commission said herconduct hadgone “beyond mere misrepresentations thatmisledthe public.”

The last time the Louisiana SupremeCourt stripped ajudge of theirtitle wasin 2009, when Jefferson Parish District Judge Joan Benge lost herseatafter being caught on FBI wiretaps during acorruption investigation into the 24th Judicial District courthouse called “Wrinkled Robe.” Benge wasnot criminally charged in the case.

especially with China, which has been boycotting the purchase of U.S. soybeans in response to President Donald Trump’stariffs on imports from China.

The Trump administration has touted apossible multibillion-dollarbailout for farmers affected by the trade dispute, now on hold amidthe shutdown.

During Trump’slast administration, changes to trade policies “suckedat the time but seemed to help in the long-term,” said Michael Frugé, who farms rice, crawfish and soybeansin Eunice. This time, “will we seesomebeneﬁcial results long-term? Yettobedetermined.”

Frugé is concerned that China’sboycott will have a detrimental effect on next year’ssoybean prices. Current pricesofabout $10 a bushelaren’tbad, he noted But the input costs for all hiscrops —from fertilizer to boat repairs—have skyrocketed, said Frugé, whose high-protein ParishRice landed on Walmart shelves in 2024. “The math just doesn’twork.”

On Oct. 1, swaths of the federal government, including the USDA, shuttered after lawmakers couldn’t reach adeal on ashort-term spending bill to fund federal agencies through Nov.21. Typically,inthe fall, farmers would be studying USDA market information, includingsupply-and-demand estimates, progress reports and export sales numbers,said Michael Deliberto, aprofessor with theLSU AgCenter.They’d then use that data to make decisions about whetherto store or sell acrop they’ve just harvested. That information, some of it drawn from surveys, also affects prices, Deliberto said. Arecord crop or un-

did we crush last month?” can affect prices going forward. The marketseesthat “objectiveinformation, the marketdigestsitand then pricesrespond.”

Right now,that “keypiece of fundamental information” is missing,hesaid. USDA offices are closed to farmers whohave aquestion, need to ﬁll out paperwork or want to apply for a conservation program. The USDA is not offering its marketing assistanceprogram, akey piece of ﬁnancing that typically allows a farmer to pledge theirharvested grain ascollateral for alow-interest, shorttermloan. And they’renot accepting new applications for conservation cost-share programs,suchasthe ConservationStewardshipProgram. That program helps farmers pay forchanges to their land that improve habitat, soil health or wa-

acreage in Caddo Parish.

Underaconservation program,the government approves amultiyear plan and then pays ashare of thecost. There’snoexactreturn,Logan said, but over the years, he’s seen howplanting cover crops hashelpedthe health of his soil.

“You can see it,” he said. “You can smell it.” He expects that farmers whoaren’talreadyinvested in the program, “ina year like this, when commodity prices areatalow,” might skip it

“It’shard to go spend $20, $25 an acreadditional money to do that …whenyou maydoitfor 10 years before seeing the difference,” he added.

This fall, Logan bought the seed and started planting it

But he hasn’tyet received thegovernment’sshare.

“Wehave to continue on with our operation,” he said. “Ifyou’re aweeklate, you

STAFF FILE PHOTOByMICHAEL JOHNSON

Aharvester and wagon roll througha field harvesting sugar cane in Port Allen.

U.S. ranchers oppose Trump’sArgentinian beef plan

Expertsdoubt it will lowerprices

BY JOSH FUNK and SARAH RAZA Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS,S.D.— President Donald Trump’splan to cut record beefprices by importing more meat from Argentina is running into heated opposition from U.S. ranchers who are enjoying some rare proﬁtable years and skepticism from experts who say thepresident’smoveprobably wouldn’tlead to cheaper prices at grocery stores.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America and other farming groups who are normally some of the president’sbiggest supporters —all criticizedTrump’s idea because of what it could do to American ranchers andfeedlot operators. And agricultural economists say Argentine beef accounts for suchasmall slice of beef imports —only about 2% —that even doublingthat wouldn’t change prices much.

South Dakota rancher Brett Kenzy said he wants Ameri-

can consumers to determine whether beef is tooexpensive, not the government. And so far there is little sign that consumersare substituting chicken or other proteins for beef on their shopping lists even though the average priceofapound of ground beef hit its highestpoint ever at $6.32 in the latest report before thegovernmentshutdown began.

“I love ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric. Ilove

‘America First’rhetoric,”he said. “Buttomethis feels alot like thefailed policies of the past —the freetrade sourcingcheapglobal goods.”

Several factors have sent beef prices soaring, starting with continued strong demand combined withthe smallest U.S.herd size since 1961. In part, that small herd is due to years of drought and low cattle prices. Beef imports alsoare down

overall because of the 50% tariffs that Trump imposed on Brazil, abig beef exporter, and limits on Mexico, where thecountry is ﬁghting aﬂesheatingpest.

Kansas StateUniversity agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor saidArgentina can’t produce enough beef to offset those other losses of imports.

Through July,the United States has imported 72.5 million pounds of Argentine beef

while producing morethan 15 billion pounds of beef. Muchofwhatisimported is lean beef trimmings that meatpackers mix withfattier beef produced in the UnitedStates to produce the varieties of ground beef that domestic consumers want, so anychange in imports would affect primarily hamburger. Steak prices thatwereaveraging $12.22 perpound probably wouldn’tchange much.

Even if increased imports fromArgentina won’treduce prices, the idea creates uncertainty forranchers, making them less likely to invest in raising more cattle

“We’re always going to have uncertainty in the world. But the more uncertain something is, the less likely most are to put money on the line,” Tonsorsaid.

Argentine livestock producers like Augusto Wallace are excited about the prospect of selling morebeef to Americabecause he said “whenever an additional buyer comes, it’sbeneﬁcial for everyone, right?For all the producers.”

Buteconomistscaution thatexporting toomuchbeef could backﬁre for Argentina because that woulddrive up prices forconsumers there

American ranchers saythe ideaofboosting importsfrom Argentinarunscounter to the stated purposeofTrump’s tariffs to encourage more domestic production andhelp American ranchers compete.

“It’sa contradiction of what we believed his newcourse of action was. We thought he wasonthe right track,” said the president of R-CALF,Bill Bullard, whohoped Trump’s policieswould discourage imports and encourage rancherstoexpand their herds.

TexasA&M livestock economist David Anderson said “ranchers are ﬁnally getting prices thatare going to make up for some really bad years in the past with the drought, lowprices andhigh costs. We ﬁnally get some good prices. And we start talking about government policytobring down prices.”

Bryant Kagay, part owner of Kagay FarmsinAmity, Missouri, said he thinks the planwould hurt ranchers. Cattleprices that hadbeen averaging around $3,000 for a1,250-pound animalslipped morethan $100 immediately after Trump mentioned the ideaofintervening in beef prices last week,though they have recovered abit since then.

N. Koreafires aballistic missiletowardS.Korea,country says

Launch wasinan eastward direction

By The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea North Korea fired aballisticmissile in an eastward direction on Wednesday,South Korea’s military said, the North’s ﬁrst weapons testing activity in about ﬁve months.

Abrief statement from SouthKorea’sJoint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details suchashow far the weapon ﬂew North Korea usually testlaunches missiles in the

waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, causingnodamageinneighboringcountries. But the Joint Chiefs of Staffstatement onlysaid thelatestmissile was launched in an eastward direction.

Thelaunch comes days before SouthKorea hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders are to gather in the South Korean city of Gyeongju for talks next week.

Experts earlier said North Koreacould launch provoca-

tivemissile tests aheawd or during theAPEC summit to underscore itscommitment to acquiringthe status of a nuclear weapons state.

Earlier this month, North Korean leader KimJongUn displayeda newlong-range missile at amassive military parade in Pyongyang, with topChinese,Russian and other leaders present. Theparade, which marked the 80thanniversary of the founding of theruling Workers’ Party,highlighted Kim’s growing diplomatic footing and his relentless drive to build an arsenal that could targetthe continental United

States and his rivals in Asia. Kim’sdiplomatic credentials have been bolstered recently He took center stage with

Chinese leader Xi Jinping andRussianPresident Vladimir Putin at aBeijing military parade last month. U.S. President Donald

edly expressed hopes to meet Kim as he ﬂaunts aprovocative nuclear program.

Nominatea BatonRouge Top Workplace for2026

BobHelbig •Energage

This article is brought toyouviaapartnership between Energage andTheAdvocate

Great workplaces don’t happenbyaccident. They arenurtured and built to bring outthe best in people.Ifyou knowofone,nominate it as a BatonRouge TopWorkplace.

Workplace, employees evaluate their workplaceusing ashort 25-questionsurvey thattakes justa fewminutes to complete Companieswill be surveyed through January

Forthe ﬁrst time, The Advocate will honoroutstanding workplace cultureinthe region with the TopWorkplaces awards.Any organizationwith 35 or more employees in the region is eligible to compete. Standout companieswill be honoredin early 2026

Anyone can nominate an outstanding companyfor a TopWorkplaces award. The nominationdeadline is Oct. 24. Public, private, non-proﬁt, a school,orevenagovernment agency.Tonominate an employer or formoreinformationonthe awards,justgoto theadvocate com/nominate

There is no cost to participate. To qualify as aBaton RougeTop

Energage, the Pennsylvaniabasedresearchpartnerfor the project, conducts Top Workplaces surveys formedia in 65 marketsnationwideand surveyed morethan 2million employees at morethan 8,000 organizations in thepastyear.

“Earning aTop Workplaces awardisa celebrationof excellence,”said Eric Rubino, CEOofEnergage. “Itserves as areminder of the vital role apeople-ﬁrstworkplace experienceplays in achieving success.

BobHelbig is mediapartnerships director at Energage, aPhiladelphiabasedemployeesurvey ﬁrm Energageisthe surveypartner for TopWorkplaces

Trump and

South Korean PresidentLee Jae Myung have also repeat-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RODRIGO ABD

Suit seeks to force swearing in of elected Arizona rep

Johnson says he’s waiting for House to return

By The Associated Press

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has filed a lawsuit that seeks to get Democrat Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the state’s newest member of Congress after U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to seat her a month since winning the post. The Democratic attorney general filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Washington on behalf of Grijalva. It asks a judge to let other people, such as federal judges, who are authorized to administer the oath, swear in Grijalva if Johnson has not done so. Mayes has said previously that the delay in giving Grijalva, the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress, the oath of office leaves over 800,000 people in the southern Arizona district without representation.

Grijalva, a former school board member and member of a county governing board in the Tucson area, easily won a Sept. 23 special election to ﬁll the post previously held by her father, progressive Democrat Raúl Grijalva, who died in March after serving in Congress for more than two decades. She said the delay has left people in her district without the constituent services that are normally provided by congressional ofﬁces.

Johnson has said Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in when the House returns to session, blamed the government shutdown for the delay and accused Mayes of seeking publicity when she threatened to ﬁle the lawsuit.

Once she is sworn in, Grijalva would narrow the margins and give Democrats

U.S. Rep.-elect

more power to confront Trump and the GOP agenda.

Democrats have accused Johnson of delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in because it improves their chances of forcing a vote for the release of the Justice Department files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson has rejected the accusation. Grijalva has pledged to back the effort to release the Epstein investigation documents and would be the last signature needed for a petition to force that vote.

In an interview Tuesday hours before the suit was filed, Grijalva said the delay means she is unable to sign a lease on office space within her district to respond to constituent requests I don’t have constituents until I’m sworn in,” Grijalva said. Johnson said Grijalva was elected the week after the House had already gone out of legislative session following its vote on a short-term spending bill to fund the federal government. “So I will administer the oath to her, I hope, on the first day we come back into legislative session,” Johnson said Monday “I’m willing and anxious to do that.”

Lawmakers who win special elections generally take the oath of ofﬁce on days in which legislative business is conducted, and they are welcomed with warm applause from members on both sides of the aisle. They give a short speech as family and friends watch from the galleries. There is precedent for doing it differently On April 2, Johnson swore in Republican Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine, both of Florida, less than 24 hours after they won their special elections, during a pro forma session.

Johnson has said the circumstances were unique because the House had unexpectedly gone out of session that day Patronis and Fine had already arranged for their families, friends and supporters to be in Washington. But Johnson also said there is precedent for not yet administering her the oath of ofﬁce.

He noted that Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican from Baton Rouge, waited 25 days before her 2021 swearing-in ceremony, ﬁlling the seat her late husband was elected to but never ﬁlled after dying of COVID-19. At the time, Democrats controlled the House.

Trump demands DOJ pay him $230M, report says

It’s compensation for past investigations

BY BRIAN NIEMIETZ New york Daily News (TNS)

President Donald Trump has reportedly demanded the Justice Department pay him $230 million in compensation for past investigations against him — and he just may get his wish.

Trump’s claims against the department, which he’s staffed with allies including his former personal attorney, are without precedent, according to The New York Times.

Justice Department regulations allow for the deputy attorney general to sign off on such a settlement. That office is occupied by Todd Blanche, who worked for Trump in the private sector and famously represented him during his 2024 “hush money” trial in New York City Stanley Woodward Jr., who heads the department’s civil division and has represented a number of other

BY SARAH GANTZ and JULIA TERRUSO

The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

Former President Joe Biden completed a round of radiation therapy at a Penn Medicine cancer center in Philadelphia on Monday as part of his treatment for prostate cancer, according to a family representative. Biden, 82, announced in

MAGA figures, including FBI Director Kash Patel is also permitted to authorize a payment. Trump’s demand reportedly came in the form of two administrative claims that could be heard by a court if ignored or declined by the DOJ. However, that’s unli kely considering the president is “already negotiating, in essence, with his subordinates,” according to The Times, citing sources familiar with the matter

searched for classiﬁed documents in 2022. It also accuses the DOJ of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling the sensitive records.

Trump seemed to allude to his claims against the federal government in the Oval Ofﬁce last week.

“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said, I’m sort of suing myself,” he told reporters. “I don’t know how do you settle the lawsuit, I’ll say give me X dollars, and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit.”

Trump’s claims were ﬁled in 2023 and 2024 The ﬁrst one reportedly says that, among other things, his rights were violated when the FBI and a special counsel investigated potential links between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian interlopers. The second complaint alleges the FBI and the DOJ violated his privacy when his Mar-a-Lago estate was

When asked about the potential ethical conflicts involved in such a payment being approved by Trump’s allies, a DOJ spokesman told the New York Times that “in any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics ofﬁcials.” The Justice Department isn’t required to publicly announce settlement agreements reached on administrative claims, according to department officials Such compensation is typically paid with tax dollars.

May that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease that had spread to his bones.

A spokesperson for the Bidens, Kelly Scully, said that following his treatment over the course of several weeks, Biden “rang the bell” at Penn, alongside his wife, Jill Biden, his daughter Ashley Biden and grandchildren, Hunter and Finnegan.

Ashley Biden posted a story on her Instagram of the bell-ringing moment alongside a woman who Scully conﬁrmed was Biden’s doctor at Penn. Another photo showed the doctor with a bouquet of ﬂowers standing with Biden.

“Dad has been so damn brave throughout his treatment,” Ashley Biden wrote in her post. “Grateful.” A Penn spokesperson directed questions to the Biden family

Ringing the bell at Penn typically signiﬁes that a patient has completed cancer treatment, according to the health system. But Biden has not yet made a statement on his treatment, and it wasn’t immediately clear if the former president would need additional treatment.

Trump

Biden

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., is surrounded by supporters calling for House Speaker Mike Johnson to swear her in recently at the Capitol in Washington.

Presidentconfirmstalks on Ukrainewar areoff fornow

Trumpdoesn’t want ‘wastedmeeting’ with Putin

BY MATTHEW LEE and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON President

Donald Trump said Tuesday hisplan for aswift meeting with Russian leaderVladimirPutin wasonhold because he doesn’twant it to be a“waste of time.”

It was the latest twist in Trump’sstop-andgo effort to resolve the war in Ukraine. The decision to hold off on the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, which Trump had announcedlast week, was made following acall Monday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“I don’twant to have a wasted meeting,” Trump said. “I don’twant to have a waste of time —sowe’ll see what happens.”

Trump’shesitancy will likely come as arelief to European leaders, who have accused Putin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield. The leaders including the British prime minister,French president and German chancellor said they opposed any push to make Ukraine surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace,

as Trump most recently has suggested. They also plan to push forward with planstouse billionsofdollars in frozen Russian assetstohelp fund Ukraine’s warefforts, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such astep. The U.S. and Russianpresidents last met in Alaska in August, butthe encounter did notadvanceTrump’s stalled attemptstoend awar that began almost four years ago. Th eK remlin didn’t seem to be in arush to get Trump and Putin together again either.Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that “preparationisneeded, serious preparation” before ameeting.

Trump suggested thatdecisions about the meeting would be madeinthe coming days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyhas been trying to strengthen Ukraine’sposition by seeking long-range Tomahawk missiles from the U.S.,although Trumphas waffled on whether he would provide them.

“Weneed to endthis war, and only pressure will lead to peace,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday in aTelegram post.

He noted that Putin returned to diplomacy and called Trump last week whenitlooked like Tomahawk missileswereapossibility

But“as soon as the pressure eased alittle, theRussians began to trytodrop diplomacy,postpone the dialogue,” Zelenskyysaid

On Wednesday, Trump will hold talkswithNATO Secretary GeneralMark Rutte, according to aWhite House ofﬁcial who was not authorized to commentpublicly and spokeoncondition of anonymity.The official did not provide any detail aboutTrump’sagenda for the talks.

The military alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weaponstoUkraine, many of them purchased fromthe U.S. by Canada andEuropean countries. Ameeting of theCoalition of theWilling —a group of 35 countries whosupport Ukraine —isdue to take place in LondononFriday Trump’sstance on the war has shifted throughout the year

He initially focused on pressuring Ukrainetomake concessions,but then grew frustrated with Putin’sintransigence. Trump often complains that he thought his good relationship with his Russiancounterpart wouldhavemade it easier to end the war

Lastmonth, Trumpreversedhis long-held position that Ukraine wouldhaveto give up land andsuggested it could win back all theterritory it has losttoRussia.

But after aphone call with Putin last weekand a subsequent meeting with ZelenskyyonFriday,Trump shifted his positionagain

Lewis Shashonnie Stew ard, Nathan Rust Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin Motion Carries8-0

p Motion to approvethe distributionofthe Differ‐entiatedStipend

andcalled on Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” in the more thanthree-year war On Sunday, Trump said the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands Trumpsaid Monday that while he thinksitispossible that Ukrainecan ultimately defeat Russia,he’snow doubtfulitwill happen Ukrainian and European leaders are trying hard to

keep Trumpontheir side.

“Westrongly support President Trump’sposition that theﬁghting should stop immediately,and that thecurrent line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,”the leaders’ statement said. “Wecan all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction.” Lavrovmadeclear TuesdaythatRussiaopposes aceasefire,Russian state news agencies reported. He

toldjournalistsinMoscow that it would go against what the two presidents agreed upon in Alaska. Trump had gone into the meeting hoping to get Russiatostop the fighting, but he was rebuffed by Putin, whohas pushed foracomprehensivesettlementto end the war Russia occupies about one fifth of Ukraine, but carving up their country in return for peace is unacceptable to Kyiv officials.

Movedby:

Edgewood Group, LLC Motion to approvethe professional services contractbetween the EastBaton RougeParish School Boardand Edge‐woodGroup,LLC,inthe amountof$210,000 to collaborate with district staff on strategicgoals implementingdash‐boards, anddecisionsupport toolsthaten‐

4. Professional Services Contract:PublicConsult‐ingGroup LLC(PCG) Motion to approvethe professionalservices contracts between the EastBaton RougeParish School Boardand Public ConsultingGroup LLC (PCG) in an amount not toexceed $150,000 to conduct adistrictwide special educationreview and provideimplementa‐tionsupport alignedwith state monitoring require‐ments

Movedby: Nathan Rust Seconded by: DadriusLanus Yea Mark Bellue,Dadrius Lanus,Carla Powell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,NathanRust, Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin Motion Carries8-0

5. LouisianaDepartment of EducationStipend Motion to approvedistri‐butionofthe LDOE Cer‐tiﬁcatedand Support Staff stipends forthe 2025-2026 ﬁscal year and release thestipend at the Superintendent's dis‐cretion

Movedby: PatrickMartin Seconded by:Carla Pow‐ell Lewis YeaMarkBellue, Dadrius Lanus,Carla Powell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,NathanRust, Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin Motion Carries8-0

6. East BatonRouge Parish School System Stipend Motion to approvethe distributionofthe Dis‐trict Certiﬁcatedand Support Staff stipends for the2025-2026 school yearand releasethe stipend at theSuperin‐tendent's discretion

Movedby: DadriusLanus Seconded by: CarlaPowellLewis Yea Mark Bellue,Dadrius Lanus,Carla Powell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,NathanRust, Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin Motion Carries8-0

7. DifferentiatedStipend M ti t th

Movedby: CarlaPowellLewis Seconded by: PatrickMartin

Yea Mark Bellue,Dadrius Lanus,Carla Powell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,NathanRust, Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin

Motion Carries8-0

8. Litigation Motion to deferthe re‐quest forthe approval of the recommendation fromGwynn Shamlin, General Counsel, EBRPSB, in thematterof: RhondaSearcyvs. East Baton RougeParish School Board, BerkleyIn‐surance Company, and SondraHonore; Suit No: 669,329; Div. D; 19thJDC EBR Parish andrelated matters to thefullBoard without recommenda‐tion.

Movedby: PatrickMartin

Seconded by: DadriusLanus

Yea Mark Bellue,Dadrius Lanus,Carla Powell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,NathanRust, Michael Gaudet,Emily Soulé,and PatrickMartin

Motion Carries8-0

E. Next Meeting Dates/Announcements F. Adjournment

Therebeing no further business, theBoard ad‐journed by acclamation.

LaMont Cole Secretary/Treasurer to the East BatonRouge Parish School Board Committee of theWhole

Shashonnie Steward School BoardPresident 163689 Oct. 22, 1t $109.54

The Invocation will be led by School BoardMember Emily Soulé, andthe PledgeofAllegiancewill beled by CadetLieu‐tenantColonel Alaysia Proctor of Woodlawn HighSchool, accompa‐niedbySeniorArmyIn‐structorColonel Eric Keys. 2. Call to Orderand Roll Call MembersPresent: Mark Bellue, CarlaPowell Lewis,ShashonnieStew‐ard,CliffLewis,Nathan Rust, MichaelGaudet, Emily Soulé, andPatrick Martin

MembersAbsent: DadriusLanus Others Present: LaMont Cole, Superintendent; AdamSmith,DeputySu‐perintendent; Gwynn Shamlin Jr General Counsel;Catasha Ed‐wards,Chief Academic Officer; AmyJones,Chief TechnologyOfficer; An‐dreaO'Konski, Chiefof Accountabilityand As‐sessments;LisaSmoth‐ers,Chief Officer-Human Resources;James Cro‐chet, ChiefBusinessOp‐erationsOfficer; John McCann, InterimChief OperationsOfficer; Kelly Lopez,Chief FinancialOf‐ficer; LauraWilliams Chief of Schools; Kwesi Gilbert,Chief of PlantOp‐erations; Stacey Dupre, Chief of Supportand Special Projects;Tiffany Jenkins,Chief Student ServicesOfficer B. Minutes 1. MeetingMinutes Approval of theSchool Board minutesofthe Au‐gust7,2025, Special Board meeting, theAu‐gust7,2025, Committee ofthe Wholemeeting, and theAugust21, 2025 Regular Boardmeeting, aspublished in theOffi‐cialJournal Movedby: Nathan Rust Seconded by:Patrick Martin Yea Mark Bellue,Carla PowellLewis,Shashonnie Steward,CliffLewis NathanRust, Michael Gaudet, EmilySoulé,and Patrick Martin Motion Carries8-0

C. InformationOnly

Litigation Approval of therecom‐mendation from Gwynn Shamlin,General Coun‐sel,EBRPSB, in themat‐ter of:RhondaSearcyvs. EastBaton RougeParish School Board, BerkleyIn‐surance Company, and SondraHonore; SuiteNo:

Group, LLC Approval of aprofes‐sionalservicescontract between theEastBaton Rouge Parish School Board andEdgewood Group,LLC,inthe amount of $210,000 to collaborate with district staff on strategicgoals implementingdash‐boards, anddecisionsupport toolsthaten‐hance insightand trans‐parency.FundingSource: General Fund

3. Professional Services Contract:ACT Education Corporation Approval of aprofes‐sionalservicescontract between theEastBaton Rouge Parish School Board andACT Education Corporation in the amount of $129,913.30to provide asystemofstu‐dentassessments to measure career skills FundingSource: Re‐design

EmilySoulé,and Patrick Martin Motion Carries8-0 G. ConsentAgenda Thefollowing itemsare tobeapproved as part of the ConsentAgenda, ex‐cluding G4 (Professional ServicesContract: Public ConsultingGroup LLC (PCG) &G6(East Baton Rouge Parish School Sys‐tem Stipend) Movedby: PatrickMartin Seconded by:Carla Pow‐ell Lewis Yea Mark Bellue,Carla PowellLewis,Shashonnie Steward,CliffLewis NathanRust, Michael Gaudet, EmilySoulé,and Patrick Martin Motion Carries8-0

1. Grants Acceptance of thefol‐lowinggrants: a) DeborahRochelle FoundationGrant in the amount of $10,539 to pro‐videfundingtothree teachersfor school site projects. b) LCSS School Safety Grant andaccompanying CooperativeEndeavor Agreement(CEA)inthe amount of $350,000 to provide thevisitor man‐agement system,2-way radios, door alarms wayﬁndingsignage fencing andgates,and cameras to sevensites

2. Professional Services Agreement: Edgewood

4. LouisianaDepartment of EducationStipend Approval of thedistribu‐tionofthe LDOE Certiﬁ‐cated andSupport Staff stipendsfor the20252026 ﬁscal year,and re‐lease of thestipend at the Superintendent's dis‐cretion 5. DifferentiatedStipend Approval of thedistribu‐tionofthe Differentiated Stipend H. Pulled Consent Agenda Items

1. Professional Services Contract:PublicConsult‐ingGroup LLC(PCG) Approval of professional servicescontracts be‐tween theEastBaton Rouge Parish School Board andPublicCon‐sulting GroupLLC (PCG) inanamountnot to ex‐ceed $150,000 to conduct a districtwide specialed‐ucation review andpro‐videimplementation support alignedwith state monitoring require‐ments

Movedby: PatrickMartin Seconded by:Carla Pow‐ell Lewis Yea Mark Bellue,Carla PowellLewis,Shashonnie Steward,CliffLewis NathanRust,

BUSINESS

BRIEFS

Dow hits arecord as U.S. stocks climb

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit arecord on Tuesday as the ﬂoodgatesopened for companies reportinghow much proﬁt they made during the summer

The Dow rose 218 points, or 0.5%, and toppedits prior all-time high, whichwas set early this month.The S&P 500 index, which is much more important on Wall Streetand dictates the performance of many more 401(k) accounts, was essentially flat and finished 0.3% below its own record, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

3M helped drive the Dow to its record after reportingbigger proﬁt for the latest quarter than analystsexpected. Its stock had the biggest jump in priceamong the 30 companies that make up the average. In the more representative S&P 500 index, General Motors helped leadthe way andrallied 14.9% after reporting stronger quarterly results than analysts expected,while also raising its forecasts for some full-year financial targets. CEOMary Barra said it’s moving quickly to reduce its losses in 2026 and beyond for itselectric-vehicle business, as “it is now clear” that EV adoption will be lower than planned. Keeping the market in check were drops for some Big Tech stocks, which lost momentum following their own big rallies. A2.4% drop for Google’sparent company,Alphabet, from itsall-time high wasamong the heaviestweights onthe S&P 500. So were Broadcom’s1.9% fall andNvidia’s0.8% decline. Premium drinks, minis give Coca-Cola aboost

The Coca-Cola Co. saidsales of premium beveragesand mini cans helped boost its third-quarterresults despite tepid demand in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The Atlanta beverage giant saidTuesdayitcontinues to see adivergenceamong consumers in North Americaand Europe,withhigher-income buyers opting for its more expensive brands like Smartwater,Topo Chico and Fairlife while middle- and lowerincome consumers are under more pressure.

Henrique Braun, Coke’s chief operating officer, said thecompany hasfocused on affordability by shrinking package sizes and leaning into sales of mini cans. Earlier this month, Coke announced it will sell individual, 7.5-ounce mini cans for the ﬁrst time at North American convenience stores starting Jan. 1. The mini cans have asuggested retail price of $1.29. “We’re pivoting accordingly. We knowthat theconsumer landscape has not changed,” Braun said during aconference call with investors.

GM boosts full-year earnings outlook

General Motors anticipates asmaller impact from tariffs andisboostingits full-year adjusted earnings forecast as its third-quarterperformance topped Wall Street’sexpectations.

Shares surged more than 15% in afternoon trading on Tuesday, its biggest one-day jump since May 2018. The automaker reducedits expectations for the full-year gross impact from tariffs to arange of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. Its previous guidance was $4 billionto$5billion. GM anticipates its tariff mitigation actions will offset about35% of the impactdue to alower tariff base.

On Friday,President Donald Trumpgave domesticautomakers additional relief from tariffs on auto parts, extending what was supposed to have been ashort-term rebate until 2030. It’spart of aproclamation Trump signed Friday that also made ofﬁcial a25% import tax on medium and heavy-duty trucks,starting Nov.1

Warner Bros.Discovery mullsbuyoutoptions

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer

NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery —the home ofHBO, CNNand DC Studios —has signaled that it may be open to selling all or parts of its business, just months after announcing planstosplitintotwo companies In an announcement Tuesday,the entertainment and media giant said it hadinitiateda review of “strategic alternatives” in light of “unsolicited interest” it had received from multiple parties,for boththe entire company and Warner Bros. speciﬁcally Warner Bros. Discovery did not specify where that interest was coming from, and aspokesperson saidthe company couldn’tshare additional information when reached by The Associated Press. But its review arrives after growing reports of apotential bidding war including fromSkydance-owned Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger in early August.

Citing anonymoussources familiar with the matter,The Wall Street Journal recentlyreported that Paramount approached Warner Bros. Discovery about amajority-

cash offer in late September —but that WarnerChief Executive David Zaslav hadrebuffed those ﬁrst overtures. According to the outlet, ParamountSkydanceCEO David Ellison later considered takinga more aggressive approach,such as going directly to shareholders.

CNBChas alsoreported that Netﬂixand Comcast areamong other interestedparties, citing unnamed sources. Comcast declined to comment Tuesday.Paramount and Netﬂix did not immediately respond to the AP’srequests for statements. If asaleofall or part of Warner Bros. Discoveryarrives, it would markaconsiderable shift in theU.S. media landscapethatis“already trending towards aconcerning level of consolidation,” said Mike Proulx, vice president andresearchdirector at Forrester He pointed to thestreamingspace in particular—noting that, on one hand, apotential transaction could help scale the company’sstreamers to better compete with other platforms. But on the other hand, consumers could see fewer choices controlled by just ahandful of corporate giants.

“When just afew conglomerates

JPMorgan Chase unveilsnew headquarters

60-story building reshapes NyCskyline

BY KENSWEET AP business writer

NEW YORK JPMorgan Chase unveiled its new 60-story headquarters to the public on Monday,one of the ﬁrst major ofﬁce buildings to be constructed after the COVID-19 pandemic and one that will remake theNew York City skyline for decades.

The bronze and steel tower at 270 Park Ave., whichreportedly cost$3 billion, replaced the Union Carbide Building,which sat on afull city block between 47th and 48th streets and Park Avenue andMadison Avenue for nearly60years. JPMorgan expectstohouseroughly 10,000 of its24,000 New York-based employees in the newbuilding, with some employees startingtheir ﬁrst workdayatthe tower at thesametimeas thecompanyheldits ribbon-cutting ceremony

“For 225 years, JPMorgan Chase hasalways been deeply rooted in New York City.The openingofour newglobalheadquarters is not only asignificant investment in New York,but also testamenttoour commitment to our clients and employeesworldwide,”saidJamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, in astatement.

The completionofthe new 270 Park is amajor accomplishment forDimon, who hasbeen one of the

loudest voices calling for employees to report to an ofﬁce for work. The building was designed beforethe COVID-19 pandemic made remote workmorecommon. The bank held meetings to consider halting work on the building to either redesign it or scale it back,but Dimonwas insistent that workshould continue as designed. Both politicians and CEOs, particularly Wall Street CEOs, have been vocal about the need for companies to have offices. NewYorkpoliticians must answer to local businesses that have existed for decades and are usedbyworkers to eat, groom, shopand drink at “Tohave this investment at this extraordinary timeisa testament to that New York audacity andambition,” saidGov.Kathy Hochul, who attended as part of the ribboncutting ceremony. Theceremony ended with the playing of “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Zand Alicia Keys

At 1,388 feet, thenew building, designed by famed architect Norman Foster, is taller than theEmpireState Building’sroofline and is now the fourth-largest building in Manhattan. The building contains 2.5 million square feet anda block’sworth of public space. The bank also commissioned ﬁve new artworks for thebuilding, adding to thebank’salready substantial

like Skydance, increasingly control thelion’sshare of some of themost popular platforms, it raisesall sorts of questions around the future of content diversityand expression,” Proulx said over emailTuesday “Bigger is better might be good for shareholdersbut will consumers ultimately beneﬁtwith better quality content, lower prices, and accessibility?”

Still, he added,much of that will depend on whether asale happens andwho ends up buyingWarner Bros. Discovery Back in June,WarnerBros.Discovery outlined plans to split its cableand streaming offerings —with HBO, HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group and DC Studios, to becomepart of anew streaming andstudioscompany; whilenetworks like CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports and digital products suchasthe Discovery+ streaming service andBleacher Report would make up aseparate cable counterpart.

Warnerexpected the split to be complete by mid-2026 —and said Tuesdaythat continuing to advance this separation was still among the

options it’sconsidering.

“Wetook the bold step of preparingtoseparate theCompanyinto two distinct, leading media companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, because we strongly believedthis wasthe best path forward,” Zaslav said in astatement. Still, he added, “it’snosurprise that the signiﬁcantvalue of ourportfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market.”

The company said that there’sno deﬁnite timeline for its review process —and noted that, beyondthe separation that is already underway, “there can be no assurance” that a transactionwill emerge SharesofWarnerBros. Discovery, headquartered in NewYork, were up nearly11% by market close on Tuesday.

Warner Bros.Discovery was createdjustthree yearsago when AT&T spun off WarnerMedia, which was merged with Discovery Communications in a$43 billion deal. An even bigger transaction could attract antitrust scrutiny butlike otherrecent mega-mergers andproposed transactions, could ﬁnd success under the Trump administration.

art collection.The bank will house itstradingoperations in the building across eight ﬂoors, and has contractedout severalfoodand coffee vendorstocreatea city-within-abuilding concept.

Thebuilding was amajor engineering andarchitectural undertaking by Foster,the building’slead architect and Tishman Speyer,who handled construction and engineering. The old Union Carbide building hadtobesystematically demolishedover aperiod of twoyears, mostofthat demolition happening during thepandemic. Construction wascomplicated by thefactthat the site sits above the rails of the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Railroad that run underneath Park Avenue into Grand Central Terminal.

For years, JPMorgan has worked outofseveral buildings around Grand CentralTerminal, aresult of

OpenAI launches Atlasbrowser

BYMATTO’BRIEN and MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP technologywriters

OpenAI saidTuesdayitisintroducing its own web browser,Atlas, putting the ChatGPT maker in direct competition with Google as more internet users rely on artiﬁcial intelligence to answer their questions

Making its popular AI chatbot a gatewaytoonline searchescould allow OpenAI, the world’smost valuable startup,topull in more internet trafﬁcand therevenue made from digital advertising. It could also further cut offthe lifeblood of online publishers if ChatGPT so effectively feeds people summarized informationthatthey stopexploring the internetand clickingontraditional web links.

OpenAI has said ChatGPT already hasmorethan800 million users but many ofthemget it for free. The San Francisco-based company also sells paid subscriptions but is losingmore money than it makes and

has been looking for ways toturna proﬁt.

OpenAI said Atlas launches Tuesday on Apple laptops and will later come to Microsoft’sWindows, Apple’siOS phone operating system andGoogle’sAndroid phone system

OpenAI CEOSam Altmancalled it a“rare,once-a-decade opportunity to rethink what abrowser can be about and how to use one.”

But analyst Paddy Harrington of market research group Forrester said it will be abig challenge “competing with agiant whohas ridiculous market share.”

OpenAI’sbrowser is comingout just afew months after one of its executives testiﬁed that the company would be interested in buying Google’sindustry-leading Chrome browser if afederal judgehad requiredittobesold to prevent the abuses thatresulted in Google’s ubiquitous search engine beingdeclared an illegal monopoly

But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta lastmonth issued adecision that rejected the Chromesale sought by

the U.S. Justice Department in the monopolycase, partly because he believed advances in the AI industry already are reshaping the competitive landscape.

OpenAI’sbrowser will facea daunting challenge againstChrome, whichhas amassed about 3billion worldwideusers andhas been adding some AI features from Google’s Gemini technology Chrome’simmense success could provide ablueprint forOpenAI as it entersthe browser market. When Google released Chrome in 2008, Microsoft’s InternetExplorer was so dominant that few observers believed anew browser could mount a formidable threat.

ButChromequickly won over legionsofadmirersbyloadingwebpages more quickly than Internet Explorer while offering other advantages that enabled it to upend the market. Microsoft ended up abandoning Explorer and introducing its Edge browser,which operates similarly to Chromeand holds adistant third place in market share

Aribboncutting ceremony was heldTuesday to mark the opening of JPMorgan Chase’snew headquarters at 270 Park Ave. in New york. JPMorgan expects to house roughly 10,000 of its 24,000 New york-based employees in the new 60-story building.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KENSWEET

thebank’sgrowthand acquisitions over the years.

Corporate execs and investment bankersstill use 383 Madison Ave., theformer headquarters of Bear Stearns, and 277 Park Ave., which housed Chemical Bank,alsoa predecessor of the current JPMorgan Chase. Parts of JPMorgan started using the Union Carbide Building in the mid-1990s, but the bank always struggled to ﬁt allits operationsin the building. The building wasdesigned to house 3,000 employees when it was built in the 1960s, and JPMorgan housed more than 6,000 there within afew short years of moving in.

With 270Park ﬁnished, the bank says it will nowstartarenovation of 383 Madison. Dimon said the bank has purchased afew other adjacent properties near 270 Park to centralize its operations around its new headquarters for the long term.

behind Apple’sSafari. Perplexity,another smaller AI startup, rolled out its ownComet browser earlier this year.Italso expressedinterest in buying Chrome andeventuallysubmitted an unsolicited$34.5billion offer for the browser that hit adead end when Mehta decided against aGoogle breakup.

Altman said he expects achatbot interface to replace atraditional browser’sURL bar as the center of how he hopes people will use the internet in the future.

“Tabs weregreat, butwehaven’t seen alot of browser innovation since then,” he said on avideo presentation aired Tuesday Apremiumfeature of theChatGPT Atlas browser is an “agent mode” that accesses the laptop and effectively clicks around theinternet on the person’s behalf, armed with auser’sbrowser history and what they are seeking to learn and explaining itsprocess as it searches. “It’susing the internet foryou,” Altman said.

Senate Republicansgatherat WhiteHouse with Trump

Shutdown enters itsfourthweek

BY LISA MASCARO, MARY

CLARE JALONICK and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press

WASHINGTON Head Start programs for preschoolers are scrambling for federal funds. The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing its1,400 employees. Thousands more federal workers aregoing without paychecks.

But as President Donald Trump welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club —heportrayed a different vision of America, as auniﬁed GOP refusesto yield to Democratic demands for health care funds, and the government shutdown drags on. “Wehave the hottest country anywhere in the world, which tells you about leadership,”Trump said in opening remarks. It was afestive atmosphere under crisp, but sunny autumn skies as senatorsset-

tled in for cheeseburgers, fries and chocolates, and Trump’sfavored songs “YMCA”and “You Can’t Always Get What YouWant” played over the new sound system.

AndwhileTrump saidthe shutdown mustcome to an end —and suggested maybe Smithsonian museums couldreopen —hesignaled no quick compromise with Democratsover theexpiring health care funds.

Later at another White House event, Trump said he’s happy totalk with Democratsabout health care once the shutdown is over. “The government has to be open,” he said.

As the government shutdownenters its fourth week —ontrack to become one of thelongest inU.S. history —millions of Americans are bracingfor health care sticker shock, while others are feeling the ﬁnancial impact. Economists have warned that thefederalclosure, withmany of the nearly 2.3 million employees working without pay,will shave economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.

The Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep.Hakeem Jeffries had outreachedtothe White House on Tuesday,seeking a meetingwithTrump before the president departs for his next overseas trip, to Asia.

“Wesaid we’llset up an appointment with him anytime, anyplace beforeheleaves,” Schumer said.

With Republicans in control of Congress, theDemocrats have few options. They are planning to keep the Senateinsession late into the night Wednesday in protest. The House has been closed for weeks.The Republican senators, departing the White House lunch with giftsof Trump capsand medallions, saidthereisnothing to negotiate withDemocrats over the health care funds until the government reopens.

“Peoplekeep saying ‘negotiate’ —negotiate what?”

Senate MajorityLeader JohnThune said after the hourlong meeting. He said Republicansand the president are willing to consider discussions overhealthcare, “but open up the government ﬁrst.”

$250Mballroom being constructed

BY DAVE GOLDINER Newyork Daily News (TNS)

TheWhite House has started demolishing part of the East Wing to make room for President Donald Trump’splannedmassive new ballroom, even though officialspreviouslypromised nothing would be “torn down”for the$250 million vanity project

Federal workers were warned not to share photos of heavyconstruction equipment that toreintothe façadeofthe historicwing, leavingshattered windows, wiring and other debris piled on the ground next to the century-old building.

Trump proudly proclaimed the kickoff of the ballroom construction project on his social media site and in person at aceremony honoring theLSU and LSUShreveport baseball championship teams

BY MICHAELKUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Aman whose convictionsfor storming the U.S. Capitol were erased by President DonaldTrump’smasspardons hasbeen arrested on acharge that he threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Christopher P. Moynihan is accused of sending atext message on Friday noting that Jeffries, aNew York Democrat, would be making aspeech in New York City this week.

“I cannotallowthisterrorist to live,” Moynihan wrote, according to areport by astate policeinvestigator.Moynihan also wrote that Jeffries “must be eliminated” and texted, “I will kill him for thefuture,” the police report says.

TheWhite House moved ahead with the massive constructionproject despite not receiving approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, whichis supposedtoapprove constructionworkand major renovations to government buildings in the Washington, D.C., area.

The90,000-square-foot glass-windowed ballroom will house up to 1,000 guests and is expected to be bigger

than the entire rest of the White House. Trump says it’s needed because there is no White House space to accommodate crowds bigger than 200. State dinners and other large ofﬁcial functions now must be held in tents outside.

Thedemolition comesdespite Trump’sclaim in July that theballroom construction would not “touch” the “existing building”ofthe White House.

Moynihan, of Clinton, New York, is charged with afelony count of making a terroristic threat.

It was unclear if he had an attorney representing him in the case, and efforts to contact him and his parents by email and phone wereunsuccessful.

Moynihan who’s34, was sentenced to 21 months in prison forjoining amob’s Jan. 6, 2021,attack on the Capitol. In January,hewas amonghundreds of convicted Capitol rioters who received apardon from Trump on the Republican president’sfirst dayback in the White House.

Jeffries thankedinvestigators “for their swift anddecisive actiontoapprehenda dangerousindividualwho made acredible death threat against me withevery intention to carry it out.”

“Unfortunately,our brave men and womenin law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping ourcommunities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in astatement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson wasasked about thecaseTuesday andsaid he did not know any details.

“Wedenounce violence from anybody,anytime. Those people should be arrested and tried,” said Johnson, aLouisiana Republican.

The New York State Police said it was notiﬁed of the threat by an FBI task force on Saturday.Moynihan was arraigned Sunday in alocal court in New York’sDutchess County He is due back in the Town of Clinton Court on Thursday

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANUEL BALCECENETA

President Donald Trump hostslunch with Republican senators on the Rose Garden patio at theWhite House on TuesdayinWashington.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByEVANVUCCI

Work beginsonthe demolition of apartofthe East Wing of the White House in Washington.

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LSU won’t discipline arrested students

Group to continue protests over presidential search

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

A group of students who were arrested at a meeting for the LSU presidential search this month — after one refused to stop speaking after her public comment time expired and others blocked the police car that held her — learned Monday that the university will not take formal disciplinary action.

St. James pollution lawsuit allowed to proceed

BY DAVID J MITCHELL Staff writer

A lawsuit seeking a moratorium on new industry in St. James Parish and accusing local government of steering polluting plants into Black neighborhoods can proceed after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. The parish government had appealed to the nation’s highest court after a federal appeals court breathed new life into the case earlier this year

Filed in 2023 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the suit was brought by Mt. Triumph Baptist Church and two environmental groups, Rise St. James and Inclusive Louisiana They accuse the parish of issuing discriminatory land-use decisions for decades.

So far, the legal dispute hasn’t been over the merits of the allegations, instead focusing on the right of the plaintiffs to sue and whether the lawsuit was filed in a timely fashion.

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier threw out the suit early on, ﬁnding the claims were brought too late or by plaintiffs who didn’t have the “standing” to sue.

But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Barbier in April.

And in an unsigned order Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the parish’s appeal.

Astha Sharma Pokharel, an attorney for Mt. Triumph and Inclusive Louisiana, said that “clears the way for us to show to a federal court how the parish has been inﬂicting dangerous, cancer-causing facilities on Black communities in violation of the Constitution resulting in this public health emergency.”

Clara Potter, a supervising attorney with the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, added that the Supreme Court afﬁrmed “the correctness” of the 5th Circuit’s ruling.

“Our clients deserve to have their day in court to demonstrate that St. James Parish’s pattern and practice of land-use decisions is harming their community and the environment,” said Potter, whose clinic is representing Rise St. James. Attorneys for the parish government couldn’t be reached for comment.

Parish and industry representatives have in the past cited the economic development, jobs and tax revenue such plants bring while denying any discrimination in the process.

Noting the lawsuit is “replete with allegations” of unequal treatment against Black residents, the 5th Circuit found parish decisions from the 1960s through 2022 highlighted by the plaintiffs provide sufﬁcient information to let them try to prove a pattern of discriminatory behavior

Barbier who stayed the case pending the Supreme Court’s ruling, hinged his timeliness analysis on the parish’s adoption of a land-use plan in 2014, nearly a decade before the suit was ﬁled. Typically plaintiffs have a year to sue for such claims.

“I think we deﬁnitely hit a nerve with them, and they acted irrationally, and I think they’ve shown clear regret for their actions,” student Margo Wilson said about her meeting with the LSU Student Advocacy and Accountability Ofﬁce.

Those who were arrested have not yet found out if criminal charges will be ﬁled, they said at a news conference Monday They were arrested on counts of resist-

ing an ofﬁcer and obstruction of a highway of commerce, with two students also arrested on the count of interfering with an educational process.

The students are part of the Students for a Democratic Society club and have protested the ongoing presidential search over what they say is a lack of student involvement.

“Majority of this board has no

stake directly in LSU in terms of their attendance or employment,” student Carson Wall said. “We believe that the focus in who gets to pick the president should be the people who are directly involved every day in the university’s dayto-day activities.”

Todd Woodward, the vice president of LSU marketing and communications, said in a statement after the arrests that the university “fully supports lawful free expression.”

The student group said they will

continue protesting the timeline of the presidential search and the minimal student participation, including at the committee meeting Thursday They are pleased that LSU is pursuing an “informal resolution” process that likely will involve writing an essay or taking a course, the students said.

“I still think that we are being unfairly targeted for our political views and the way in which we

Ex-public defenders file lawsuit against state

Officials allege retaliation led to contract nonrenewals

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Four former top public defenders are suing the state after they were ousted earlier this year, a decision they say was motivated in part by “personal animosity.”

The lawsuit, ﬁled Friday in East Baton Rouge Parish, alleges State Public Defender Rémy Starns pushed out the public defenders in retaliation after they opposed his policy goals, including efforts to seize more control over Louisiana’s public defense system. Starns, the Office of the State Public Defender and the Louisiana Public Defender Board, which

sided with Starns in July in a dispute over the defenders’ jobs, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs include Trisha Ward, Brett Brunson, John Hogue and Michelle AndrePont. They have argued state law should have protected them from Starns’ decision not to renew their contracts, and say they were ﬁred without just cause.

Their lawsuit asks for a judgment to give them back their jobs and also seeks punitive damages.

Starns, who did not return requests for comment Tuesday, previously argued that he was within his rights to decide not to renew the defenders’ contracts, and that the nonrenewals did not amount to termination.

In February, he sent letters to the defenders informing them that their

ä See DEFENDERS, page 2B

ABOVE: Alex Hebert, left, and Justin Abadie lead the pack during the start of the Fifolet 5K and Pumpkin Run along the Mississippi levee on Saturday in Baton Rouge.

LEFT: Jonah Randolph and Louie Lacombe race along the river

Southern to build labs, career center

Projects funded by $5M Shell donation

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

Southern University will build three chemical engineering labs and a career development center with a $5 million donation from Shell, the college announced Tuesday Southern’s chemical engineering program will receive a “significant portion” of the donation for one junior-level lab and two senior-level labs. Lealon Martin, the dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering, said the labs will

train chemical engineering students to use tools they will utilize in their careers and ﬁll roles in engineering projects across the state. Martin said the experiential learning opportunities will help students capitalize on the job opportunities in the state like the Hyundai steel mill plant in Ascension Parish, which is expected to create 1,300 full-time

Ascension Parish will also be home to CF Industries’ blue ammonia plant, which will create 50 direct jobs, and an air separation

STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON

NBAYoungboyfanstry to stormarena entrances

Smoothie King putonlockdown during concert

BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer

After thousands of fans of Baton Rouge rapper NBA Youngboyfiled into the Smoothie King Center on Monday for his second sold-out concert in as many nights, some fans without tickets tried to force their way into the arena.

In response, security locked down the doors and, at least temporarily, stopped admitting anyone, evenlegitimate ticket holders. Videos posted to social mediashowed groups clusterednearthe closed doors or running toward them.

The scenewas “chaos,” said JustinBrown,a former police officer who founded and runs Empower YouNOLA, anonproﬁt organization and social media initiative devoted to criminal justiceissues.

“Kids were running around just crazy. People stormedinside multiple times, pushing themselves in.”

According to Brown, doorswereeventually

LSU

Continued from page 1B

express them,”Wallsaid

“I do think it was unlawful in the waythat LSUPD conducted themselves, and Ithink it’sapparent that LSU is tryingto avoid bad publicity from this event by moving to a more informal (process), but personally,I’m happy with these results.”

Email Haley Miller at haley.miller@ theadvocate.com

SOUTHERN

Continued from page1B

Pinchback Hall, where most of the science and engineering programs are housed, and will contain artiﬁcial intelligence tools for data acquisition and analysis. Martin said the donation will also fund lab activities for first-year students across the engineering school and the computer engineering program. Southern will createa “student success center” with career development and academic support serviceswiththe donation Southernidentified commitment to student success as one of its goals in its 2025 strategic plan,deﬁned by student retention, academic progress and degree completion.

This is the latest of Southern’sinvestments

fanshad already passed through our enhanced security screening procedures,sotherewas no compromise or breach of the venue’ssecured perimeter

The situation was quickly brought under control by venue personnel and the NOPD, and the non-ticketed fanswere dispersed. The concertcontinued through its full duration without any interruption or incident.”

At least one video from Monday night showed people cutting through gaps in the security line barricades to join dozens of others outside an arena entrance. It wasnot clear if theywere ever allowedinside.

It has alsogenerated public safety concernsinmultiple cities. Some shows have been canceled.

Following aSept. 21 concert in Kansas City,a teenageattendeewas charged with felonyassault after he beat a66-year-old usher inside the venue.

The UnitedCenter in Chicago canceled aSept. 24 concert, apparently over concernsabout thepotentialfor violence stemming from an ongoing dispute betweenNBA Youngboy and Chicago rapper Lil Durk.

Theconcertsgenerated millions of dollars in revenue from ticket and merchandisesales,concessions and parking. Police ofﬁcials announced lastweek that 400 ofﬁcers would be deployed in the Central BusinessDistrict and French Quarter during the two nights of concerts.

opened, onlytobelocked down againwhen more people started pushing through Astatement from Mike Hoss, media relationsmanager for Smoothie King Center and Caesars Superdome management company Legends Global, said, “Wecan conﬁrm thatnonticketed patronsattempted to enterthe Smoothie King Center after the headline artist had taken the stage “It is important to note that all the non-ticketed

DEFENDERS

Continued from page1B

contracts would not be renewed, but he did not provide areason. The defendersappealedhis decision to the Louisiana Public Defender Board, whichheld multiplehearings on the matter between April and July

During that time, five board membersleftand werereplaced. Notall of them were gubernatorial appointees. But thelawsuit alleges that Starnsand Gov

in science. Thisspring, theschool startedconstruction on a$68 million sciences complex to support undergraduate and doctoral programs. The universityalsoreceived part of a$40 million National Science Foundation grant in February to fund buildings.

Shell hasalreadyestablished arelationship with Southern through serving on its Business andIndustry Cluster, agroup of universityrepresentatives andindustryprofessionals thatadvises on how the university can help transitionstudentsfrom school to work,and theCollege of Sciences and Engineering’sExecutive Leadership Council.

“Weare proud to continue to partner with Shell, which has aconsistent presence on the Baton Rouge campus,” Dennis J. Shields, president of the Southern University

Somelegitimate ticket holders complained on social media thattheycould notget into the show

Brown said he hadbeen invited by NBA Youngboy’smanagement team

But after picking up his tickets, he couldn’tget into the arena because it was on lockdown. He spentabout an hour outsidethe venue before he finallygaveup and went home shortly after10p.m.

No stranger to drama

NBAYoungboy’songoing “MASA Tour” hassold out every arenaithas visited.

Jeff Landry’sofﬁce worked to stack the board with members whowould back Starns.

The lawsuit also alleges thatsomeofthe new board members’ appointments were contingent on their votesagainst thedefenders. In the end, theﬁve newest board members voted to uphold the contract nonrenewals, while the four original members sided with the defenders.

The disputeinvolves a bill passed during a2024 special session Landry convened to overhaul criminal

An Oct. 6show at Detroit’sLittle Caesars Arena wascalledoff forwhat arena officials described as “unforeseen circumstances.”

NBA Youngboy performed as scheduled at Atlanta’sState Farm Arena on Oct.15. Buta second, soldout show scheduled for Saturdaywas canceled.

Most shows on the 45date tour,whichkicked off at Dallas’ American Airlines Arena on Sept. 1, have gone smoothly

Millionsatstake

Allface-value tickets for both New Orleansconcerts sold out. Attendance each night was approximately 13,500.

justicepolicies. Prior to the new law,anoversight board selected thestate public defender, who neededthe board’sapproval for decisions over contractsand spending.

Thenew law,backedby Landry,gavethe governor the power to choosethe state public defender,and it placed more power into Starns’ hands,allowing him to hire and ﬁre chief public defenders and givinghim more controlover spending.

Thereconstituted board still has to approve contracts worth morethan

NBA Youngboy himself interacted with New Orleans police when he took astroll on Canal and Bourbon streetsafter his Sunday night concert. Ofﬁcers pulled him away from a scrum of screaming fans on Bourbonand hustled him to avehicle waitingon Canal.

The Smoothie King Center bannedall bags and purses —even the small, clear bags normally allowed for concerts and sporting events—for his two concerts. Venuesin other cities have instituted asimilar policy Inside the Smoothie King Center,policeresponded to what was an apparently false reportofgunﬁre.

The tour represents NBA Youngboy’shugely lucrativereturn to thestage following yearsoflegal entanglements.

After pleading guiltyto gun charges last year,he wassentenced to 23 months in prison. In May,hewas pardoned by President Donald Trump. With billions of viewson YouTube and more than 100 singles that have charted on the Billboard100, NBA Youngboy ranks among the mostpopular and successful rappersofhis generation.

Monday’sconcertfell on his 26th birthday. He started theshow,like every show on thetour,byemerging from acofﬁn suspended above the stage.

Thetour’snextstop is Wednesday in Birmingham,Alabama. To prepare, Birmingham Chief of Police Michael Picketttraveled to NewOrleans to observe theNOPD’ssecurity procedures

“At this time, there is no evidence of shots fired, the NewOrleans Police Department said in astatement released to the media while theconcert wasstill goingon. “Earlyindications are that this was a false alarm. An investigation is underway into what prompted the report.”

$250,000, and it has power over thecompensation plan for the district chiefs whichwas also apoint of contention between Starns and the public defenders. Ward oversaw public defenders in Evangeline Parish; Brunson in Natchitoches Parish; Hogue in East Carroll, Madison and Tensas parishes; and AndrePont in Caddo Parish.

Aspokesperson for Landry did not provide a comment on thelawsuit. JeffreyHufft, who chairs theLouisiana Public Defender Board, did not return requests for comment

System, said in the release. “Positive student outcomes is atop priority,and cor-

porate engagement is vital to this. Collaborating with Shellatthislevel ensures thatwecan continue to produceapreparedand

BY JULIA GUILBEAU and STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writers

Three people were killed when asmall plane crashed in apasture near aFamily Dollar off Gloria Switch Road in Carencro, according to the LafayetteParish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce.

Officials were called to the scene about 11 a.m. Tuesday,Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Chris Cormier said, after awitness reported asmall plane circling the air,then crashing down near aroundabout at Gloria Switch Road and La. 93. The aircraft landed in a pasture behind ahome near ametal fence line in arural part of Lafayette Parish Upon arrival, deputies conﬁrmed that all three occupantsaboard died at the scene.

Following notification of the family,the deceased have been identified as 58-year-old Bruce Verduyn, of TheWoodlands,Texas; 46-year-old LydiaLaws, of Spring, Texas; and 42-yearold JustinRamsey, of The Woodlands. “The aircraft was aBaron Beechcraft; it’sa smallaircraft with two props. That’s pretty muchall we have right now,”Cormier said at the scene.

Deputieswere blocking off thesceneasof11:30 a.m. andaskingdrivers to avoid the area as they awaitedinvestigators from the Federal Aviation Administration, which will lead the investigation.

The plane wasidentiﬁed by FAAregistrant dataasa 2006Beechcraft G58 Baron, owned by Align Aviation in TheWoodlands.Its latest registrationcertiﬁcatewas

from David Wayne Hook Airport near Klein, Texas, northwest of Houston. The craftdroppedfromradar at 11 a.m. just west of Carencro, moments before ascheduled landing at the Lafayette Regional Airport. Across thestreet from the crash, in alittlewhite house, KayWeatherfordwas watering herroses about 11 a.m. when she began to hear awhooshing sound from above. When shelooked up,she sawthe planespiraling down before crashing on its belly

“I’m still shaking with allofthis,” Weatherford said. “I said, ‘Thatsounds weird; that’saweird noise.’

said had aperson inside. Also nearby was ahome. One resident at the house said they were not home when the crash occurred. When Weatherford arrived near the plane, she saidshe saw twobodies inside the cockpit. “I just made the sign of thecrossand started praying on their souls to go up,” Weatherford said. No other details about the crash wereimmediately available.

issued Sept. 11, suggesting a recentchange in ownership Ramseywas listedbythe TexasSecretary of State’s

Office as theregistered agent for Align Aviation. FlightRadar24showedthe twin-engineplane took off

Then you hear ‘poof.’ Iwas alreadyinthe road on the call with 911, saying, ‘plane crash, plane down.’”

The aircraft crashed near abarnthatWeatherford

Later Tuesdayafternoon, thepilotofa smallplane, which wasflying from Texas into Ruston Regional Airport, died when his plane crashed in arural area southeast of Ruston and south of its intended airport.

Email Julia Guilbeau at jguilbeau@theadvocate. com.

TwoTexansarrestedin Metairie road rage incident

Victimsescape unharmedin

I-10 shooting

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

Aman andwoman from Houston are facing acharge of attemptedsecond-degree murder after authorities say they shot at another vehicle during aroad rage encounter on Interstate 10 in Metairie.

Tilease Jacquesand Kyandrea Berry,both 33, were arrested Oct. 11 in Baton Rouge after being tracked there by investigators, according to Sgt. Brandon Veal,spokespersonfor the Jefferson ParishSheriff’s Ofﬁce.

The shooting occurred earlier that same day on I-10 near Clearview Parkway,Veal said. A47-year-old New Orleans man and his child, 11, were westbound when they came upon the suspects’ SUV,which was headed in the same direction.

Jacques was behind the wheel. Thevictimtried to pass the SUV because the vehicle was traveling more slowly than he was, according to Veal. But she kept speeding up.

“(Jacques)conducted maneuvers to prohibit the victim’svehiclefrom getting in front of them,” Veal said.

TheSUV pulled alongside the victim’svehicle and aperson in the passenger seat, later identiﬁedas Berry,opened ﬁre, according to authorities. The bullet struckthe driver’s-side door of the victim’svehicle but no one was injured, Veal

lane changes caught the attention of aState Police trooper on theinterstate, accordingtoVeal. Theofﬁcerlearned of the shooting and notified theSheriff’s Ofﬁce

Investigators identified the suspect vehicle, tracking it to LaPlace, Veal said Authoritiesput out an alert on the SUV,and police pulledthe vehicle overin Baton Rouge.

Jacques was taken toJefferson Parish on Oct. 15.In addition to attemptedmur-

der, she wasbookedwith assault by drive-by shooting, aggravated criminal damage to property and illegal use of aweapon, Veal said.

She was beingheld Tuesday at the Jefferson ParishCorrectional Center in Gretnainlieu of a$375,000 bail.

Berry was still being held Tuesday at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison as afugitive from Jefferson Parish. He will face thesame charges, Veal said.

Dessert,Grace

OursoFuneralHome, 13533 Airline Hwy,Gonzales,LAat11:30am.

Hebert,Rickey

St.John theEvangelistCatholic Church in Plaquemineat11a.m

Jones, Elmer

UnitedChristianFaith Ministries at 10am.

Leon, Frank St.Frances CabriniCatholic Church in Livoniaat11am.

Sheets, Holly

OurLadyofthe Holy Rosary,St. Amant, La at 11am

Obituaries

Brown,

and had alarge vinyl collection of classical music. He was alifelonggardener and later in life picked up beekeeping

He is survived by his lovingwifeand soulmate of 58 years, Gail, his older sister, Virginia "Ginny" Rottman (Jim), 2sons, Blaine and ClayDoremus, 2 granddaughters, Helen and Maeven,and numerous nieces and nephews. He is also precededindeath by his sister,Elizabeth Frye

Amemorialservicewill be held on FridayOctober 24th at Broadmoor United Methodistchurch. Visitation willbegin at 9:00 a.m. with aservicetofollow at 10:00a.m.

Rev. TomCookand Rev Leslie Hyacinth will officiate.

Efferson,Bobby

Reynard; and parents Stella andRooseveltRey‐nard, Jr

Jones, Elmer

She will be missed greatly by allwho hadthe privi‐legeofknowing andloving her.Onlinecondolences can be givenatwww.thi bodauxfuneralhome.com ThibodauxFuneralHome, Inc. is in charge of arrange‐ments.

Douglas Starr Doremus, loving son, brother, husband, father, uncle,and grandfather passed from this life into the next on October 15, 2025 at the age of 83. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 9, 1942 to the late Frank and VirginiaDoremus. His love of learning led him to Purdue Universitywhere he graduated with aB.S. in Chemical Engineering and from Lamar with amasters in Engineering Science. He began his professional career in Port Arthur, Texas at Texaco Research Labs; continued with Ciba-Geigy in McIntosh, Alabama and eventually made his way to their offices in St. Gabriel, LA. He finished his career at Imes Engineering working for Shell and Exxon. Upon retirement, he pursued his life long dream of teaching high school math and physics

He was intelligent, logical, loyal, charitable, and handy in any area he set his mind to. He was naturally athletic and participated in track, tennis, and basketball.Hewas also an avid fanofPurdue, LSU, the Saints and Formula 1 racing. He loved to travel to places he could hike, fish, scuba dive, explore, and marvel at the beauty of God's creation. He especially loved to hike the waterfalls. He loved music

Bobby Wayne Efferson grew up in Baker, Louisiana.Hewas born on December 9, 1936, and passedawayonMonday, October 13, 2025, at the age of 88. In lieu of flowers, Bobby's family prefersdonations to the American CancerSociety.Friends and family areinvited to attend avisitation at Greenoaks Funeral Home, 9595 FloridaBlvd,Baton Rouge, LA, on Wednesday evening, October22, 2025, from 4pmto7:30 pm and again, the next morning at St. AlphonsusCatholic Church, 14040Greenwell Springs Rd., Greenwell Springs,70739 on Thursday, Oct23, 2025,from10am until Mass of Christian Burial at 11:30amconcelebrated by the Rev. Mike Moroney.Interment will follow in GreenoaksMemorial Park.Full Obituary at www.dignitymemorial com

Hightower, Shanese Reynard

On October13, 2025 Shanese Reynard High‐tower departed this life at her residenceinAddis,La atthe ageof51. Visiting 46pm on Thursday,October 23, 2025 at Demby& Son FuneralHome, 900Magno‐lia St Donalsonville. Visi‐tationcontinues at 9am until ReligiousServicesat 11am. IntermentinSt. MaryBaptist Church Cemetery, Modeste. Shanese leavestocherish her memories twodaugh‐ters anda son, Earneashea, Earianna and EarthyHightower;two brothersand sisters-inlaw,Lloyd andJanice Bernard andDewayne and TrinetteReynard,and a hostofnieces, nephews, and otherrelatives and friends.Precededindeath byher husband Earthy Hightower;brother,Kevin Reynard; andparents

ElmerJones enteredinto eternal rest at hisresi‐dence in BatonRouge, Louisiana on October16, 2025. He wasa 78-yearold nativeofFortNecessity Louisiana.Viewing at UnitedChristian FaithMin‐istries on Wednesday, Oc‐tober 22,2025at9:00am until CelebrationofLife Service at 10:00amcon‐ductedbyPastorMarkA Ellis;interment at Morning StarPleasantStarCeme‐tery, Fort Necessity. Sur‐vivorsinclude hisdevoted wife, Mary Jones; daugh‐ters, LaShondraJones,Cy‐press,Texas;and Crystal Grace,Denver, Colorado; daughter-in-law,Tracie Jones,Alhambra, Califor‐nia;fourgrandchildren;10 siblings; otherrelatives and friendsArrangements entrusted to Miller & DaughterMortuary.

"And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, Bear youonthe breathofdawn, Make youtoshine like the sun, And holdyou in the palm of HisHand." On Friday, October 17, 2025, a beautiful life of love ebbed to apeaceful end as ColleenJeanLaMotte's spirit tookglorious flight to Heaven, whileher children surrounded her. Colleen was theyoungest of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Leo Paul LaMotte,inBaton Rouge,

Louisiana. Affectionately called"BooBoo" as achild by herfather andmother, whodoted on her, Colleen wasreared in aloving, God fearing home -anexperience whichshaped her abidingfaithinGod and deep love for herown children.She attendedSouthernUniversity Laboratory School from kindergarten throughhighschool. From thereshe began herstudiesatSouthernUniversity, whereshe earned aBachelor'sDegreeinEducation Colleenwas abletotouch thelives of numerousstudentsasanelementary school teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish public schools, and later as a teacher and administrative assistantatSt. Joseph Cathedral Preparatory School, whereshe forged many lifelong friendships with clergy in the Diocese of Baton Rouge andbeyond. Later in hercareer, she served as alegal secretaryduring theadministration of Attorney General William Guste at the Louisiana Department of Justice.Colleen'spassion in life wasnurturing her childrenand later,her grandchildren. Throughout herlifeshe held firmly to herbelief, molded in her

childhood, of theimportance of family. Holidays were special timestoherespecially Christmas. Knownfor herincredible cooking talent inherited from hermother, she took great pride andfound immense enjoymentinhostinglarge holiday gatherings for which, much to the delightofher family, she wouldlovingly cook all of theirfavoritesand watch as they enjoyedthe deliciousfood she prepared. Sheenjoyedwatching sports, especially golf and tennis, and wouldoften call herfriends to compare notesduringtournaments, or to discuss Tiger Woods' latestvictory. Quintessential to herexistence was herdeep faithinand love forGod. Colleenbelievedin thepersistent power of prayer.She prayed the Rosary andwatched Holy Mass on television every morning.Moreimportantly she lived herfaith, and shared it withher children andothersaroundher Throughouther dear sister Rhea's illness, Colleenlovingly andfaithfully cared for Rhea, exemplifying daily theChristian values whichguided herlife. Colleenleaves to celebrate herlifeoflove, laughter d d i d h

BarbaraHymel Kliebert, 61, anativeand resident of Vacherie, Louisianapassed awayonOctober 18,2025 inher home surrounded by her loving family.A visita‐tionwillbeheldinher honor on Thursday,Octo‐ber 23,2025atOur Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Vacherie, Louisianafrom 9:00amuntil theMassof Christian Burial at 11:00 am. Theburialwillfollow inOur Lady of Peace Cemetery, Vacherie, Louisiana.She is survived byher husband of 43 years, GregoryKliebert;sons, Lyle (Meggie) Kliebert,Tommy (Jill)Kliebert,and Vince (Jada)Kliebert; grandchil‐dren, Cohen, Emily, Evalyn, Grant,Carly,Molly,Gra‐ham,and Ellarie; brother, Russel(Sue) Hymel, Jr.; sis‐ters, Martha Hotard and Grace (Ernie)Matherne; mother-in-law,Carlyn Kliebert; brothers-in-law, Mike(Gert)Kliebert, Wayne (Pennie) Kliebert, and Brent(Arlene) Kliebert; andsister-in-law, DebbieBreaux. Shewas precededindeath by her parents,Russeland Doris Hymel;her father-in-law, A.J.Kliebert,Jr.;and brother-in-law, Brian Breaux. Devotedinher faith,Barbara enjoyedthe simplethingsinlifesuch asgardening andtraveling but nothinggaveher more enjoyment than herchil‐drenand grandchildren. Shewillbemissedgreatly b ll h h d h i i

offoreven go without care.

Simply put —withoutdentalinsurance, there maybe an importantgap in your healthcare coverage

Medicare doesn’t pay fordental care.

That’s right.Asgood as Medicare is, it wasnever meanttocover everything. That means if you wantprotection, youneed to purchase individualinsurance.

Early detection canprevent smallproblems from becoming expensive ones.

The best way to preventlarge dental bills is preventivecare. The American Dental Association recommends checkups twice ayear.

hadquality dental work in the past, you shouldn’ttakeyour dental health forgranted. In fact, your odds of having adental problem only go up as youage.2

Treatmentisexpensive— especially the services peopleover 50 often need

Consider these national average costs of treatment.

LaMotte, ColleenJean

Kliebert,Barbara Hymel

Doremus, Douglas Starr

and devotion one daughter, Toni R. Awill of Baton Rouge, Louisiana;four sons, Kyle Roquemoreand wife Kimberly of Houston, Texas, Eric Roquemore and wife Celeste, Patrick Roquemore, and Mark Roquemore and wife Angela, all of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; six grandsons, Matthew, Bryant (Deleon), and Justin Awill, and Mark Roquemore, Jr., all of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Kyle and Brennan Roquemoreof Dallas, Texas; two granddaughters, Amanda Roquemore of Atlanta, Georgia, and Lauren Roquemore of Dallas, Texas; and one great-granddaughter, DenaLynn Awill, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is also survived by numerous nephews, relatives, and friends. Eagerly greeting her as she joins the angels in Heaven are her first born, ason, Leroy Roquemore, Jr. (who always remainedher angel whilein this life); her parents, Mr and Mrs. Ernest LaMotte; her sister and closest friend, Rhea LaMotte; two devoted brothers,Ernest LaMotte and Huber LaMotte, and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives who were dear to her heart. Although we whom she left behind are heartbroken, we rejoicein God's promise that she is now reunited with her loved ones who left before her and whom she missed so much, and in His promise that one day we too will see her again. Visitation willbegin at 9:30 am on Friday, October 24, 2025, at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 2025, Stuart Avenue, Baton Rouge,LA, with aRosary at 10:00 am, followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00am celebrated by Reverend Cleo J. Milano. Interment will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park, 4045 North Street, Baton Rouge,LA. Arrangements are entrusted to Rabenhorst Funeral Home.

Mayers, Gerald P. Aceremony celebrating the life of Gerald Paul Mayers will be held on Thursday at Galvez Pentecostal Church with visitation beginning at 11am until service at 1pm. Interment will follow at the church cemetery.

Gerald went home to be with the Lord on October 14, 2025, at the age of 72 years.

He was born on February 21, 1953, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the late Alfred and Ethel Mayers. Gerald was aloving husband, father, grandfather,and friend. He was deeply devoted to his family and will be remembered for his kindness, faith, and gentle spirit.

Gerald enjoyed the simple things in life-spending time at the camp, hunting, fishing, and tinkering with anything he thought needed fixing. He had anatural gift for working with his hands and found joy in making or repairing things

forothers.His calmpresence andeasygoing spirit made him asource of comfort and laughtertofamily and friends.

Geraldwas precededin death by his parents, Alfred and Ethel Mayers; sisters Lois Whitehead and Mary Blalock and brothers A.J. Mayers, "Bubba"Allen Mayers, and Robert Wayne Mayers. As well as his wonderful baby (dog) Andre whom he recently lost

He is survivedbyhis belovedwife, Wanda Mayers; his son,Jared Mayers; and his daughter,Natalie Lyons (David). He also leaves behind one cherished granddaughter, Kylie Ann Lyons. Gerald's love extended to his stepchildren, AngelHebert(Quint), Crystal Mauney(Chad), and JamesPaul Mauney (Lee). He wasalsoblessed with several step-grandchildren, Katelyn Montano (Desmon), Kailey Hebert, Kameron Hebert, Kadence Bordelon, IsaiahMauney and Cory Bordelon as well as great-grandchildren, Kasen Montano, Kash Montano, Willow Bordelon, and Aspyn Bordelon.

Gerald willberemembered forhis bigheart,unwaveringlove forhis family, and his steady faith in God. Geraldspent much of his time witnessing to people online and in person, any chance he could, bringingeveryonecloser to God. He was adevoted and faithful servant. He willbedeeply missedand forevercherished by those who wereblessed to know him.

Arrangements with Church Funeral Services

resume on October24, 2025 from9:00 AM -10:00 AM at WinnfieldFuneralHome. Her earthly remains shall be laid to rest at PortHudson National Cemetery. Mrs. Sellers leavesbehind 6childrentocherish her memories:Erma Webb, Veronica Harris, Lionell Sellers, RayonSellers StephanieParker, &Malcolm Sellers. The distinguished& solemnarrangementshavebeenentrusted to thecare of Winnfield Funeral Home of Baton Rouge &C.D.Slaughter, FDIC.

Sugar,Patricia L.

PatriciaL.Sugar passed away peacefully withfamily by her side on October 17, 2025 at theage of 82. She wasborn in New Orleans on St.Patrick's Dayof1943 to RuthCenas Longo and JosephLongo. She attendedSt. Joseph's Academy in NewOrleans, whereshe madelifelong friends that calledthemselves"The St. Joe's Girls"

Each MardiGras, her love of the traditions shone throughbyher captaining The Mystic Krewe of Shangri-La. Patwas adevotedparishioner and Eucharistic Minister at HolyGhost Church in Hammond.She carried a joyful spirit and was loved by allwho knew her. Patriciawas preceded in death by thelove of her life,John J. "Johnny" Sugar,and her parents, Ruthand JosephLongo. She is survivedbyher olderbrother, Dr. Salvador EugeneLongo, Sr. (Pamela); her loving nieces, Sherri,Debbie, and Michele; nephew, Salvador, Jr.; numerous great-niecesand nephews; and dear friends.

Relatives and friends are invited to her funeral services on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home,5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. in NewOrleans. Visitationisfrom 11:00 a.m. until theFuneralMass at 1:00 p.m. Interment to follow at AllSaints

Mausoleum.

In lieu of flowers,inhonor of Pat's lifelong devotion to her faith, thefamily requests donations to Holy Ghost CatholicChurch in Hammond and,inmemory of her compassion foranimals (especially her dogs), considera donationtoa local animal rescue or humane society. To view and sign theonline guestbook, visit www.lakelawnmetairie.co m

Thatcher,Diana Williams

DianaWilliamsThatcher passedawayonSunday, October 19,2025, at her homeinPortAllen,atthe age of 74.She wasbornthe firstoften children in Mansfield, Ohio andwas a secondmom to her9 sib‐lings.Her strong will and determination sawher through many illnesses and struggles. Diana foughtthe good fightwith unwavering faith and courage andisnow resting inthe arms of theLord. Her laughter, quickwit andsly grinwillbeforever missed Per herwishesshe was cremated. Amemorialser‐vicewillbeheldatWilbert Service in Port AllenonFri‐day,October 24th,from1 p.m.to3 p.m. Sheissur‐vived by hergrandchildren Chelsi Williams Collinsand

Chelsi Williams Collins and husbandMarcus, Alex Williams andwifeKaylie; siblings, DannyWilliams (Ida),Kathy Easter (Ricky) Sandy Williams,Carol Householder,Kelly Ray Williams (Kellie),Tony Williams andSally Stelly (Olin); grandchildren, EloiseCollins,Landon Collins andWeslynn Williams.She waspre‐ceded in deathbyher hus‐band, Carl M. Thatcher; son,PaulL.Williams; par‐ents, Donald andMyrna Williams;siblings, Micheal and Joey Williams.Inlieu of ﬂowers, memorial dona‐tions maybemadetoany children’shospice.Please share memories at www wilbertservices.com

La.depends on Johnson to uphold duty, swearin Arizonarep

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Benton has sometimes risen to the occasion of managing afractious legislativebodywith deftness and decorum. We are sorry to see him failing those standards, along withall semblance of basic fairness, in refusingtoswear in anewly elected Democrat fromArizona.

As leader of the full House,not just of his fellow Republicans, Johnson should understand how unjust it is to deny representation to 813,000 people for amonth (and counting) after unchallenged electionresultsare in Adelita Grijalva’sfather,Raul, held theseat for 22 years until he died on March 13. The younger Grijalva, who has spent 23 years in local elective ofﬁce, won alandslidevictory to ﬁll his seat on Sept. 23. In the longhistory of the House, it has been customary afterspecial elections to swear in the newly elected member as soon as the electee can arriveinWashington. This standard has applied even when the House is not otherwise in session: Asrecently as April, Johnson called theHouse into “pro forma” session just to swear in twoRepublican special-election winners from Florida. If he can do that forRepublican electees replacing two who resigned, why not for aDemocratwho is replacing her father after atragic death?

Now,though, Johnson says he won’tseat Grijalva because the House isn’tinsession, an argument that contradictshis treatment of the two Floridians. The speaker also usesthe excuse that Democratic then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi took 25 days to swear in Louisiana’sJulia Letlow after her husbanddied from COVID-19. That explanation doesn’thold water, either: Congress was out of session then speciﬁcally because that deadly pandemic made it unsafe to reconvene.

Yetinthe current case, Johnson —not for pressing health concerns but forpurely political reasons—ischoosing not to conveneduring the government shutdown. Even during ashutdown, it would be easy to convene aceremonial, pro forma meeting to put Grijalvatowork.

Imagine if this happened to aLouisianan elected during nonpandemic times. Because Louisiana holds off-year state elections, Louisiana is particularlysusceptible to special congressional elections. Beginning with thedeath of longtime Rep. Hale Boggs in aplane crashin 1972, Louisiana has held astunning 12 special contests; indeed, Johnson’s partnerinleadership,House Majority Leader SteveScalise,won onesuchspecial election afterhis predecessor Bobby Jindal was electedgovernor.Louisianans would have howled furiously if any otherspeaker treated those electees as Johnsonistreating Grijalva.

Being amemberofCongress involvesa lot more than casting votes. Members and their staff handle numerous constituent problems with federal agencies. That needy constituency growsonlylargerand more desperate when most of the government isn’t working. Johnson knows better than to denyGrijalva’s constituents full representation.Heneeds to rediscover his better angels, do theright thing and seat her without further delay

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

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

Louisiana v. Callais —acase that speaks to the very soulofdemocracy and fairness in ourstate —was argued again in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15.

This moment is deeply personal for me. Since 2019, I’ve been engaged in this processthat began withthe U.S. Census and led to thecreation of a Louisiana congressional map in 2022 that was not fair and representative of everyone in the state.

Iknocked doorsasacensus enumerator,made calls at phone banks to encourageothers to vote, knocked doors, wrote postcards, gave my time and money to political campaigns, waved signs to get out the voteand eventually gave testimonytodefend fair maps and fair representation for votersthat look like me.

Iwas proud to do my part in what Icall “sacred civic action” because I

Hundreds marched along Perkins Road on Saturday in Baton Rouge, peacefully

With other Americansinover 2,500 locations,they protested apretendking’srule by decrees,whims and tweets. This land is of “we thepeople,” of laws and the Constitution.

They arewhat we Americans swear an oath to, as do he and his courtiers, although they seem to forget that.

Achildren’sstory tells of an emperor who soldempty goods,not clothes; his courtiersadmired and abetted his fantasy till alittleboy punctured that. Americans are now doing thesame.

Spinelesssycophantssuch as Mike Johnson lie about us as “hating America” or “terrorist sympathizers” when it is they who betray American values

He is speaker of the House, not just theRepublicans in it, and Trump is president of the country,not just his MAGA followers. They areour elected “representatives,” not lords or kings.They aim to

believe Ihave acivic responsibility to be informed and engaged. Evenwith all that, I’m still left to feel at times: Do my efforts really make adifference?

Years of advocacy andfaithful persistence have brought us to this moment —where thehighest court now considers aLouisiana map thatrightfully creates asecond majority-Black congressional district. This is not simply apolitical issue; it’samoral and spiritual one.

It’sabout truth,representationand honoring thesacred worth of every person’s voice and vote.

As Ireﬂect on this moment, Iamreminded that we are called not only to advocate, but to intercede —topray, to standand to speaklife into systems that were never designed for everyone’sﬂourishing.

CYNTHIA YOUNG Baton Rouge

rule by dividing us. Ahouse divided cannot standorendure. “One nation, indivisible, withliberty andjusticeto all” seems like empty words to them. They hurtfederal workers and people’shealth care Taxpayer monies do not belong to them but are“of thepeople.” It is in greenbacks,not colored red or blue, for them to choose who they dispense to. Ours is adiverse country,the 50 states of the United States, neither red nor blue. They label whole states as “blue” to punishasifAmericans, Republican and Democrat,did not live in them.

On Saturday,not just one child’s voice but millions roared to stopthe recklessplunging of agreat country toward disaster.Theyseem oblivious but need reminding daily that they wake up in acitynamed for our ﬁrst president who led the overthrow of a king and warned against precisely the likes of them.

A.R.P.RAU Baton Rouge

IamanLSU graduate and asupporter of LSU. Over the years, there has been amarked difference in the atmosphere at LSU, beginning with the traffic flow at the LSU-South Carolina game. Throngs of pedestrians were either oblivious to or ignored traffic lights and traffic cops —pouring across streets, causing traffic jams.

Tailgaters play loud music with vile lyrics. We have children at our tailgate. Traditionally,the men at our tailgate go into the stadium and the ladies and children watch the game at the tailgate. One of the ladies politely walked to the other tailgate and asked if they would turn down the music so they could hear the gameontelevision. She was cursed. Other passersby madethem feel unsafe. Others, while they watched the game, walked by and vandalized their decorations. The ladies no longer feel safewatching the gameat the tailgate.

The environment in the stadium is little different. If people leave their seats, others maketheir wayinto our section and take their seats. Many shout obscenities and use foul language. We’ve been subjected to fans coming into our section and smoking pot.

And LSU is complicit. The LSU band plays “Neck” with people shouting obscene lyrics. There are children in our section and in the stadium

There wereshootings after the South Carolina game.

Last year,I went to an improv program at LSU. The comedian asked the audience to shout out the most vulgar words they could think of.

Looking further into academics, did LSU,our ﬂagship university,really drop the requirements forACT testing foradmission? What kind of ﬂagship are we piloting?

We get what we allow.What are we allowing? Imust ask myself that question as Isupport and attend LSU functions.

LISA GARDNER

Baton Rouge

Presidentcontinues to defy conventional wisdom ... so

“What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what allthe damned fools said would happen has come to pass.” That was themordant comment of Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s ﬁrst prime minister,on the failure of aliberal reform to achieve the results promised with great assurance by the articulate liberal eminences of the day With two centuries of foresight, he might just as well have been describing PresidentDonald Trump’striumph, celebrated “ina state of ecstasy” in Israel’sKnesset last week, as he secured therelease of hostages held by Hamas for twoyears and won support from multiple Muslim nations for his 20-point peace plan between Israel and Hamas.

Certainly,more than anyonehas accomplished since Israel’svictories in the Six-Day Warof1967 andthe Yom Kippur Warof1973, the era when it became accepted wisdom that Arab and Muslimnations would recognize Israel’slegitimacy only after it reachedsome formofagreement with Palestinianleaders on thecreation of a Palestinian state.

The conventional wisdom was that pressure must always be exerted on Israel, the leadersand voters of which hadobvious qualms about relinquishingany supervision over armed and hostile neighbors within shootingrange of theirgeographically tiny country

The 1990s saw atest of that conventional wisdom, with Israel accepting the Oslo framework,and BillClinton, in his ﬁnal days as president, using his very considerable skills to getIsrael to agree to agenerous settlement, only to have it shot down at the last minute by Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat.

The Second Intifada that followed, and the Hamas terrorists’ takeover of Gaza after Israel relinquished it in 2005, ended any significantsupport for a“two-state” agreement byIsraeli voters. But peddlers of the conventional wisdom ignored Israelis’ characteristic bluntness and persisted in taking seriouslyArabstates’ ritualistic affirmations of support for aPalestinian state. Trump chose adifferent path. Rather than pressuring Israel to makeconcessions or pleading with thePalestinians to accept them, he pursued,and secured,direct agreements between Israel and other Arab nations. During his first term, his team, led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner,forged the Abraham Accords by capitalizing on

In one of his classic New Jersey ballads, Bruce Springsteen sings of the sun “rising over them reﬁnery towers.”

If New Jersey Gov.PhilMurphy hadgotten his way,the Boss would need to update the lyrictorhapsodize about enormous wind turbines looming on the horizon instead.

the Gulf states’ ambitions for economic growthand regional stability. Trumpmoved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem,recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, andwithdrew from former President Barack Obama’sIran nuclear deal. In hissecondterm, unlike former President Joe Biden,who repeatedly sought to restrain Israel’sresponse to Hamas, Trump backed Israel’smilitary offensives and followed through on his 12-day war that crippled Iran’snuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow PressureonHamas’ hosts in Qatar, hometoamajor U.S. air base, escalated after Israel launched missiles on Sept.9toassassinate Hamas leaders there. Trumppublicly disapproved of the strikeand, during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’sWhite House visitonSept. 29, even urged him to call Qatar’sruler and apologize. Whether it wasgenuine remorse or amaneuver straightout of Michael Corleone’splaybook, the gesture appears to haveworked. The Qataris soon pressed Hamas to accept theﬁrst stage of Trump’s20-point peace plan, therelease of all surviving Israeli hostages, after Trumpreafﬁrmed, in the Knesset andafterward, that he would fully back Israeli retaliation should Hamas break the deal

Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren wrote that Trump“knows thelanguage of strength.”

Here, Ithink, is something that sepa-

Murphy’sobsession with wind power is one of the reasons that the state’sgubernatorialrace is competitive and Republican Jack Ciattarelli has achance to upset Murphy’s potential Democratic successor Mikie Sherrill in amuch-watched off-year election.

Gov.Murphy brought aEuropeanstyle energy strategy to New Jersey and got European-style results. Wind has been as much adebacle for the Garden State as it’sbeen forGermany, where Murphy was the ambassador priortobecominggovernor of New Jersey

Murphy’sidea was to decommission fossil fuel and nuclear plants and build up wind. It was arainbow-and-ponies energy strategy,and sure enough, the decommissioning happened, while the wind did not.

If you constrain the supplyofsomething, while demand for it goes up, prices will inevitably increase. New Jerseyans understandably haven’t appreciated this lesson in Econ 101, which has come out of their pocketbooks. Rates increased by about 20% be-

ginning in June of this year,ontop of what were already some of thehighest rates inthe country.There is yetmore where that came from projected for next year

When Murphy took ofﬁce, the prevailingwinds of fashionable opinion said that wind power was the future

So, New Jersey set outto become the wind capital of the United States.Itwas going to get 3,500megawatts from offshore wind. No, 7,000. Come to think of it, whynot make it 11,000? The higher thenumber,the greater the climate virtue. At ﬁrst, New Jersey set agoal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2050, then goosed itupto2035. It’sall comeacropper, as wind has been ano-show.The pandemicand Trump administration regulatory hostility to winddidn’thelp, but the basic problem is that wind is uneconomical, even with the feds andthe state showering wind companies with lavish subsidies and credits. Meanwhile,New Jerseytook out coal, natural gas and nuclear plants without replacing them, and the governor fought pipelineswith the resolve of Winston Churchill vowing to resist theNazis on the beaches andlanding grounds. Thegovernor fought the PennEast natural-gas pipeline project —which would have connected Luzerne County,Pennsylvania,toMercer County, New Jersey,along a116-mile route —all the way to the Supreme

rates Trumpfrom theconventional wisdom and, by awider margin, from those here and abroad who have been demonstrating in favor of Hamas and thePalestinians. Those who called for aceaseﬁre for two years are conspicuously not joining in thecelebrations for theceaseﬁre now in place.

The demonstrators and thepurveyors of the two-state solution tendto side withwhat they consider the oppressed over those they consider the oppressors. They consider any skepticismabout the moral worth of the weaker party as “punching down.” The demonstratorschant that Israel is committinggenocide. The conventional wisdom says Israel, with all its advantages, must makeconcessions Trump, and the large majority of Americansover 30 who have favored Israel over thePalestinians for many years, admire self-sufﬁciency,competence, inventiveness and success. The U.S. and Israel have their faults. Butoverall and from ahistorical perspective, they have been glorious successes.

Which you can argue were characteristics of thediplomacy that experienced observers dismissed as amateurish and slapdash, and whose further course remains uncertain. In any case, its success so farhas transformed Trump’slust for his own Nobel Prize from thecomic to the conceivable. Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

Court. The governor lost,yet PennEast gave up in frustration anyway.

Neighboring Pennsylvania,also with aDemocratic governor,isanotable contrast. It actually decommissioned more coal-ﬁredplants thanNew Jerseydid, but didn’tsuffer shortfalls in capacity because it readily embraced natural gasasanalternative rather than chasinganenergy will-o’-thewisp.

Murphy’smake-believe planwas that by 2050New Jersey’spower mix would be 34% wind, 23% solar, 16% nuclear and6%biogas, with another 21% fromout-of-state wind and solar Here, back in reality,after eight years of stupendous clean-energy exertions, New Jerseystill gets90% of itsenergyfromnatural gas and nuclear.Only about8%comes from renewables, largely solar.

NewJersey was asmall netexporter of energy when Murphy took ofﬁce, andnow it is alargenet importer It contributes less to the regional grid than when Murphy started. Energy is adominant issue in the gubernatorial race and deserves to be. Murphy is the author of an asinine entirely predictable policy failure that directlyaffectsthe welfare of residents of his state. If Murphy is capable of introspection, he might wanttocontemplate the questionasked in another Springsteen song long ago: “Is adream alie if it don’tcome true, or is it something worse?”

Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry

As the Trumpadministration’swar on universities settles into its entrenched phase, it’s given new urgency to along-simmering debate about whether,and how,academia should pursue viewpoint diversity.This conversation has been happening fordecades, mostly between conservatives whowant moreofitand an academicestablishment that wants to leave well enough alone. Now, that conversation has become existential.

The argument forviewpoint diversity,which this column has mademany times, was pithily summarized by physicist Richard Feynman in Caltech’s1974 commencement address: “The ﬁrst principle [of science] is that you must not fool yourself —and you are the easiest person to fool.” Humans are experts at seeing what we expect to see, especially when we really really wantsomething to be true, so it takes strenuous effort —and, often, an outsider with adifferent viewpoint —tokeep us from making fools of ourselves.

I’ve spent less timewriting about rebuttals to viewpoint diversity,such as “Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity” just published by Lisa Siraganian in Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors. To sum up those theses very,very brieﬂy, she sees claims of ideological bias in academia as unproven, and arguments forviewpoint diversity as weak, bad-faith, and inimical to the search fortruth and academic self-governance. Or as the headline of her companion essay forthe Chronicle of Higher Education put it: “Viewpoint Diversity Is aMAGAPlot.”

Iwon’ttake on the theses here because a number of good rebuttals have already been written. Rather,Iwant to quarrel with that headline, not just because it’sempirically false —many devoted Trumphaters favor viewpoint diversity —but because it correctly positions Siraganian’sargument as astrategic moveina political battle. It’s arallying cry forprogressive academics to repel the attack on their territory and aseries of talking points to be used as propaganda. As arallying cry,itmight be effective, but as propaganda, it stinks. It’s an argument made forthe faculty senate, rather than the battleﬁeld faroutside the ivory tower where this war is being fought. So even if you think Siraganian’sarguments are correct in the abstract, they’re astrategic disaster

In the wider world, asking whether academia really skewsleft makes you look like an idiot or,slightly morecharitably,like someone so encased in abubble that they don’teven know what they’re missing. As forinsisting on your right to complete self-governance, free from “secondary,external aims,” as Siraganian puts it …well, if you expect someone else to pay you to pursue truth, at somepoint, you must accept somesecondary,external aims. Academics tend to recoil from such acrass and mercenary idea, and fair enough, but the world is acrass and mercenary place. We talk about pursuing truth forits own sake, but most academics are pursuing it in exchange for money they can use to satisfytheir manyless elevated needs. The people whoprovide that money want something in return. Many will not be content to know that somewhere the global stock of Truth is increasing. Especially if one of the Truths you insist on is that they are dimwitted bigots.

This harsh reality has been hidden from academics because the 20th century gave them a sweetheart deal. (Noshade intended: It gave one to journalists, too.) As acomplexifying industrial society demanded morescientiﬁc research and knowledge workers, federal funds ﬂowed into labs and tuition subsidies, while families paid moreand morefor that increasingly valuable ticket to amiddle-class job. Few wereinclined to poke too hard into the inner workings of the goose that laid the golden eggs, lest she stop depositing the goodies.

That happy state of affairs let universities subsidize research with no obvious practical beneﬁt. It also let the academy develop aleftwing culture that appeared increasingly hostile to the society paying its bills. Universities, once the custodians of Western civilization’spriceless gifts, now look morelike the chroniclers and critics of its endless oppressions.

Obviously,that kind of social criticism is far from all that universities do, but it’scertainly moreofwhat they do than it was 30 or 50 years ago. We can debate whether having moreconservatives will elevate the quality of academia’s research output. But at the very least, they might have checked the unforced errors that ravaged higher education’sreputation. That might seem acrude consideration against the lofty ideals of scholarship. But no one gets to pursue their lofty ideals until they have ﬁrst taken care of basic necessities.

MeganMcArdle in on X, @asymmetricinfo.

Rich Lowry

ega McArdle M n

Michael Barone

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

President Donald Trumpwalks withAir Force Col. Christopher M. Robinson, Commanderofthe 89thAirlift Wing,from Marine Onetoboard Air Force Onelast week at Joint Base Andrews, Md for atrip to Florida.

Wheredo LSU, Kelly go from here?

What was oncerare —the midseason ﬁring of college football coaches —has become the norm.

Scott Rabalais

ä Texas A&M at LSU 6:30 P.M. SATURDAy,ABC

Among the more prominent schools to jettison their coaches already thisseasonare Florida, Arkansas,Penn State, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Stanford and Virginia Tech. Locally,add Southern tothatlist, as Monday it cut loose coach Terrence Graves after a dismal 1-6 start. Southern’spatience with Graves was practically nonexistent even though in 2024, his ﬁrst season, he led the Jaguars to an 8-5 record andaberth in the SWAC championship game. But this year’sstart was too much to overcome, and now Southern quickly is in the market for afootball coach once again.

All of these highly activecoach ejector seats begs the question as to how long LSU’spatience will last with Brian Kelly?

Let’sstart with the obvious: Though I’ve heard and seen from plenty of LSU fans who are done with Kelly,he’snot gettingfired by LSU. Nor should he. Asdisappointing as Saturday’s31-24 loss at Vanderbilt may have been from a perception standpoint for LSU, Kelly is still 34-13 overall and 5-2 this season. That’snot aplatinum record but it isn’tawful, either Kelly’sproblem is that theloss to Vandy puts him at 5-10 against ranked opponents at LSU over the past 31/2 seasons. By comparison, Kelly’spredecessor,EdOrgeron, was21-13 against ranked teamsduring his 51/2 seasons as the LSUcoach While Ihaven’tunearthed any realistic observer who believes theTigers can win their finalfive regular-seasongames to get to 10-2 and make the College Football Playoff, the fact remains LSU still has achance. Imagine that thenow No. 20-ranked Tigers pull what, by Las Vegas point spread standards would be amild upset, and knock offNo. 3Texas A&M on SaturdayinTiger Stadium (6:30 p.m., ABC). It would propel the Tigers into November with at least the potential to winout against the likes of Alabama and Oklahoma and reach the CFP If LSUloses onemoregame, there’sa99% chance the Tigers areout. With what LSU hasspent on this team this season —$18 million toretain and build aroster,and roughly $20 million in salaries for Kelly and his coaching staff —the season would be rated as abona fide failure. Failure that afterlosses at Ole Miss and Vandy appears inevitable, though it hasn’thappened yet The big-picturequestion is what happens to Kelly if LSU doesn’t make it to the CFP,the unabashed goalfor the Tigersonce they assembled all of this talent for 2025. He would be owedjust short of $52 million, or 90% of what is remaining on his initial 10-year contract In acollege football world where Jimbo Fisher was sent packingby Texas A&M in 2023 for $75 million and Penn State bid adieu to James Franklin earlier this month with about $50 million due him, it’s difficult to imagine LSU having the means or willingness to ponyup that kind of cash. Remember,the school also would have to buyout thesalaries of any assistant coaches notretained by the next coach.And, it’s worth noting, LSU doesn’t make the final payment until December on Orgeron’s$17 million buyout, a quaint sounding figure given today’s coaching buyout inflation My opinion as of now is that LSU will have to ride it out withKelly The more salient question is whether Kelly would want to keep going. Ifigure he would. He didn’t leave Notre Dame for LSU fouryears ago because this was hisdream job. He said he wanted aprogram that gave him abetter chance to win thenational championship. I’m sure that’s true, but what’sprobably even more true is he wanted that$100 million contract LSU put in frontofhim.

ä See RABALAIS, page 4C

Quickhook

Southern AD:Lackofcompetitiveness ledtocoachingchange

BY TOYLOY BROWNIII Staff writer

Afive-gamelosing streak wasn’tthe sole reason for Terrence Graves’ firing as the Southern football coach

Monday

Athletic director Roman Banks said Southern’surgency to make achange now, as it sits at 1-6 for the program’s worst startsince 1971, is because of howseverely the team has been outplayed.

“You don’twanttolose, but youcan accept when you lose some games,”Banks said at anews conference Tuesday

“But it’stough to look at it, and you have to ﬁnd asolution when you’re not feeling likeyou’re competing for the entiregame. That got us to this point.”

In Southern’ssix games against Southwestern Athletic and Mid-Eastern Athletic conference opponents, it’s beenoutscored 197-85. Southern is one of three SWAC teams without aconference win.

Also Tuesday,Banks introduced interim coach Fred McNair,who hasbeenthe co-offensive coordinator and play-callersince Sept.9.The former AlcornState head

coach joinedthe programin 2024 as atight ends coach and then was the quarterbacks coach to open this season. Banks expects the change to reinvigorate theprogram so it can “get ourselvesback competing very hard, showing the pride of Southern and also for our fans that have expectations.”

When thenine-year athletic director was asked when he madethe decision on Graves, Banks —who had an impromptu news conference after Southern’s24-3 lossto Prairie View on Saturday said thatithappened Monday

Center. Nowentering his seventh season with the Pelicans Williamson has playedinlessthan half of theteam’s games since he was draftedasthe No.1 overall pick in 2019.

McNair was selected as the interim coach because of his wealth of experience of puttingawinning product on the ﬁeld in theSWAC.

“Wehad aperson with adynamicresume that Ifeltcould getusthrough this point, because he has had the experience of being ahead coach, made tough decisions,” Banks said of McNair. “And Iliterally have seen his team —probably notwith the most talent or thebest of talent of all-time —but (still) ateam that ﬁghts and win.”

ä See SOUTHERN, page 4C

BY RODWALKER Staff writer

Skepticism is understandable. After all, season after season it has been statedhow this is the year Zion Williamson ﬁguresitall out. Pelicans fans have waitedinfrustra-

in acareerthathas had more lows than highs. For every jaw-dropping dunk and mind-boggling stat line, there has been acollection of DNPs to offset them. Williamson hasbeen withthe Peli-

N.O. hasn’t stopped rush game consistently

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

On aweek-to-week basis, there’s no aspect of the Saints that’smore inconsistent or confusing than the run defense.

In Sunday’s26-14 loss, the Saints looked helpless as the Chicago Bears offensive line dominated the trenches and watched the running backs rip off more than 5yards apop. What happened to the team that held the NewEngland Patriots to under 3 yards per carry just aweek earlier?

“There’sgoing to be some healthy discussions as aresult of that,” coach Kellen Moore said. That being the 222 yards the Saints allowed on the ground to the Bears.

Someweeks, the run defense is sound, able to penetrate at the point of attack and limit yards after contact. And others, like this past weekend, opposing teams get to the second level with ease and take advantage of players not in their correct gaps. During Monday’snews conference, Moore harped on “gap integrity” and tackling among the issues plaguing the unit.

The hot-and-cold streak hasn’t quite alternated by the week, but the pattern has been close. New Orleans struggled to contain the Arizona running backs in the opener before doing abetter job against San Francisco and Seattle. Then, Buffalo had so much success that James Cook won AFC Offensive Player of the Week. The Saints kept Giants rookie Cam Skattebo mostly in check, but quarterback Jaxson Dartwas aproblem.The Patriots got nothing. The Bears got everything. Which is the real run defense? “Itcomes downtoevery man just doing their job,” Saints defensive end Chase Young said. “In the NFL, when you’re playing in the league, it only takes one dude to not do his job forittobea(big) play.”

There doesn’tappear to be one type of run hurting the Saints repeatedly.Asmuch as Chicago ran outside the tackles on Sunday (on 62.5% of runs), it did so at a lower rate than San Francisco’s 65.4%, and the 49ers only had 77 yards rushing on 26 carries. The Seahawks are also primarily an outside-zone running team,and their rushing attack was perhaps the only thing that didn’twork in their blowout winover the Saints. The Bills found success inside and out.

cans for six seasons. Of the 492 games he could haveplayed,he’splayed in less thanhalf of themat214. Sixseasonsin, he has yettosuitupfor aplayoff game. They say the best ability is availability.More times thannot,hehasn’t been available.

Butthis year might be different. Williamson seems more eager than ever to reach every ounce of potential stored in hisslimmer body.Henow has abetterunderstanding of the difference between beingtalented andbeinggreat “Greatness is every day,” Williamson said.“It’swhen you don’twant to do it andwhenyou want to do it. It’s

ä See ZION, page 3C

STAFF PHOTOSByJAVIER GALLEGOS

Southernathletic directorRoman Banks speaks during anewsconference Tuesdayatthe university.Banks explained the decision to fire coach Terrence Gravesafter the team started 1-6.

Southerninterim coach Fred McNair was promoted from co-offensivecoordinator and play-caller to head coach after Graves was fired late Monday.

FL OR ID AA &M AT SO UT HE RN •4

P. M. SA TU RD Ay

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Blue Jays pitcher toutsbig earners

Gausmansaysteam cancompete with high-priced Dodgers

BY IAN HARRISON Associated Press

TORONTO— Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman isn’tworried about facing the high-priced Los AngelesDodgers in theWorld Series.

“We’ve got alot of guys making alot of money,too,” abeer-soaked Gausman said after Toronto won its first pennant in 32 years by beating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Monday night in Game7 of the American League Championship Series.

“It’stwo really goodteams. It’sgoing to be some really good baseball,” saidGausman, who pitched at LSU in 2011 and 2012. “A lot of big names, obviously.”

That’sfor sure. But then again, Gausman is rightthatit’snot only the defending champion Dodgers who boast some sizable salaries. The veteran right-hander is paid $23 million ayear, making him oneoffour Blue Jays players earning more than $20 million aseason. Also in that group are Vladimir GuerreroJr. ($28 million), George Springer ($25 million)and Chris Bassitt($22million).

Another six Toronto players earn more than $10 million ayear ledbyJoséBerríos’$19 million annual salary Toronto’sopening-day payroll of $239,242,531 ranked ﬁfthinbaseball. The Dodgers ($319,537,290) were second to the Mets. Of course, while the Blue Jays may have big earners,they haven’twon anypostseasonhardware since claiming back-to-back World Seriestitles in 1992and ‘93. They know Los Angeles is astar-

the World SeriesathomeFriday night because they ﬁnished the regularseason with 94 wins,one more than the NL West champion Dodgers.

Monday night’sALCS win that he expects to play whenthe World Series getsunderway.

Saints shuffleroster after Miller, McCoy injuries

The New Orleans Saints have made aseriesofroster moves with center Erik McCoy(biceps) and running back Kendre Miller (ACL) out forthe season.

The team announced Tuesday it signedrunning back Velus Jones to the active roster and added running back Audric Estime to the practice squad, while placing McCoy and Miller on injured reserve. The Saints added the running backs afterMiller and McCoy got hurt in Sunday’sloss to the Chicago Bears.

This marks the second timethat Jones is on the Saints’ 53-man roster.The 28-year-old appeared in theﬁrst ﬁve games as the team’s kickreturner. He was cut earlier this month but was soon re-added to the practice squad.

Vikings

stickwithWentz at QB on ashortweek

Carson Wentz will makehis ﬁfth straight start at quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, with J.J. McCarthy lacking timeduring a shortened week to keep building up his sprained right ankle.

Coach Kevin O’Connell announcedhis decision on Tuesday, ahead of theteam’sroad trip to play theLos AngelesChargerson Thursday night that’scoming on the heels of a28-22 loss at homeon Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles.

AfterMcCarthywentthrough a workoutonthe ﬁeld,the Vikings determined his ankle wasn’tquite strong enough yettogive him or them the best chance to succeed against the Chargers.

McCarthy will serve as the emergencythird quarterback Rookie MaxBrosmer will be the backup.

studded team with an October track record lately thatspeaks for itself.

“Toget to whereyou want to go,you’ve got to beat the best,” Blue Jays managerJohn Schneidersaidoffacing the Dodgers, who tooktwo of threeagainst Toronto during the regular season. “Whether it’stalent, payroll, whatever you want to call it, man, they’re adamngood team.” Schneider and the AL East champion Blue Jays will have home-field advantage andopen

“They’reapowerhouse,” Toronto outfielderNathanLukes said.“They’vebeenknown todo it over and over again, but we’re not scared of them.”

TheBlueJayshavemadeit this farinthe playoffs without shortstop Bo Bichette.The twotime AL hitsleader and two-time All-Star hasn’tplayed since he sprained his left knee in aSept. 6 collision with New York Yankees catcher AustinWells.

Bichette, who has been testinghis knee by hittingand running forseveral days, said after

“I’llbeready,” Bichette vowed. Torontoslugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.won ALCS MVPhonors after batting .385 with threedoubles and three home runs against Seattle. He has six homers and 12 RBIs this postseasonand has struck out just three times. Guerrero was tearful after the Blue Jayswrapped up theironerun winoverthe Mariners, but said he’seager for the matchup with the Dodgers.

“I know they have greatplayers,” Guerrero said througha translator. “Sodowe. Butit’son theﬁeld where everything matters.”

Ohtani’s highlightreelone forthe historybooks

BY BETH HARRIS Associated Press

Shohei Ohtani keeps finding ways to top himself. Baseball’s two-way superstar has been inspiring awe with his bat and arm from his days in Japan to joining the Los Angeles Dodgers onthe once-biggest contract inNorth American pro sports.

Ohtani and the Dodgers are headed to the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays with achance to become theﬁrst team in 25 years to win back-toback championships. That sets the stage for potentially more amazing feats by aplayer whom rival players,managers and fans can’thelp but marvel at while struggling to come up with new ways to describe his talents.

“Changingthe waythe game is being played right now,” Toronto manager John Schneidersaid. “Pretty unbelievable.” Here’salook at some of Ohtani’s career highlights.

Throughthe TokyoDomeroof

At 22, Ohtani putonapower display at the WBSC Global Series in 2016, hitting aball through the roof of the Tokyo Dome against the Netherlands. If the roof hadn’t stopped Ohtani’sblast, the ball was on coursetotravel over 525 feet, according to media reports.

Finallyallowed to do it all

On April 4, 2021, Ohtanipitched and hit in the same game for the first time. He startedonthe moundfor the Los Angeles Angels against the Chicago WhiteSox In the first inning, he thew 100 mph on the mound and blasted a 451-foot home run off a100 mph fastball in hisfirstat-bat, making him the only player in the Statcast eratothrow a100-mph pitch and hit aball thrown that fast inthe same game.

ShowdownwithTrout

Ohtani struckout Angels team-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS

ABOVE: Los Angeles Dodgers star ShoheiOhtani watches his home run against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCSonFridayinLos Angeles.

BELOW: Ohtani pitches against the ChicagoWhite Sox on April 4, 2021, in Anaheim, Calif.

mateMike Trout to end a3-2 victory for Japan over the U.S. in the WorldBaseball Classicchampionship game in Miami on March 21, 2023. With a3-2 count,Troutswung at Ohtani’s87-mphsweeper and whiffed to end it. Ohtaniraisedboth armsbefore throwing his gloveand cap and getting mobbedby his teammates. Troutwalked off the ﬁeld withhis headhunglow.The twosoonreturned to springtraining as team-

mates again Twin bill shutoutand 2homers

Ohtani gave up onehit and struck out eight in hisﬁrst completegame in MLB on July 27, 2023. He andthe Angelsbeat theDetroit Tigers 6-0 in the ﬁrst gameofadoubleheader

Ohtani’s legendgrew in the nightcapatDetroit. He slugged twohomersinan11-4win,becomingthe secondpitcher since 1900 to allow one hit or fewer in ashut-

out and homer twice the sameday Creating baseball’s 50/50club

In an otherworldly performance,Ohtani stole two bases andwent 6for 6with three home runs and 10 RBIstobecome the ﬁrst player to hit 50 or morehomersand steal 50 or morebases in asingle MLB season.

That game in MiamionSept. 19, 2024, occurred while Ohtani was rehabbing from asecondmajor elbow surgery so he couldreturn to themound this season.

FirstWorld Series title

Ohtaniwon his first World Series championship in the first season of his $700 million,10-year contract with the Dodgers. He never made the playoffs in his first six seasonswith the Angels.

The Dodgers took the series 4-1 over the New York Yankees on Oct. 31.

The Series wasn’tOhtani’sﬁnest moment. He wasjust 2for 19 and injured his leftshoulder in Game

2. Butthe Dodgers wouldn’thave won their eighth World Seriestitle withouthis contributions throughoutthe season. Ohtaniwentonto claim his third MVP award and ﬁrst in theNational League. Onegame, 3homers, 10 Ks Ohtani stunned with athreehomer,10-strikeoutperformance in helping the Dodgers compete a four-game sweep of the MilwaukeeBrewers and clinch the NL Championship Series.

Of course, he earned NLCS MVPhonors.

Ohtanihad been in apostseason slump. Butheawoke in abig way, with apower show that included a 469-foot blast —his second of the game —thatsoaredout of Dodger Stadium.Healso tossed six scoreless innings in hisfirst start in nearly two weeks.

Then asmilingOhtaniurged Dodgers fans around the world to “enjoyareally goodsake” in celebration.

Leginjuryforces Djokovic out of Paris Masters

PARIS Novak Djokovic is withdrawing from next week’sParis Masters, he announced on social media Tuesday,justdaysafter he stoppedplaying in an exhibition event because of aleg injury

The 24-timeGrand Slam champion has competed infrequently this season,appearing in eight ATP Tour events outside the majors. Djokovic, whois38, reached the semiﬁnals at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Openthis season.FromlateMay to late September,the pastthree Slamswere all he entered. He wasone of thehalf-dozen men invited to the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia last week. Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner,then faced Taylor Fritz to determine the third-place finisher butstopped after one set.

Trout testifies he didn’t know Skaggs used drugs

Angels superstar Mike Trout testiﬁedTuesday morning that he knew team employee Eric Kay had adrug problembut that pitcher TylerSkaggs showed no signs of drug use.

Trout, athree-time American League MVP awardwinner, has played with the Angels his entire 15-year career and is under contract through the2030 season.He was ateammate of Skaggs from 2014-19, when the left-handed pitcher died in aTexas hotel room July 1, 2019, after snorting acounterfeit oxycodonepill that contained fentanyl, apowerful opioid. Key, aformer Angels communications director, wassentenced to 22 years in federal prison after being convicted in 2022 of providing the pills that led to the Skaggs’ overdose.

Pacers extend contract of Nesmith by two years

TheIndiana Pacers began the work of keeping their corestarters together long-term Tuesday by signing forward Aaron Nesmith to atwo-year contract extension. Financial details were notimmediatelyavailable.His contract was set to expire after next season. Nesmith has emerged as akey two-way player for Indiana the past twoseasons. He’s arguably the Pacers best defender and has developed into aclutch scorer on teams thatreached the 2024 EasternConferenceﬁnals andthe NBA Finalsin2025. They’ll need both elements of his gametoovercome the expected season-long loss of All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton. Injuries limited Nesmith to 37 starts and 45 games last season.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByFRANK GUNN Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter GeorgeSpringer holds the American League ChampionshipSeries trophy as the teamcelebrates after defeating the Seattle Mariners in Game 7ofthe series in Toronto on Monday

SCOREBOARD

Det—Gibbs 5run (Bates kick), 4:39. Fourth Quarter Det—FGBates 58, 10:18 A—64,656. TB Det First downs 15 17 Total Net Yards251 379 Rushes-yards12-41

Sacked-YardsLost

Punts

Fumbles-Lost

Penalties-Yards

Time of Possession28:21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—TampaBay,White 10-38,Tucker 1-4, Bridgewater 1-(minus 1).Detroit, Gibbs 17-136, Montgomery13-21, Goff 2-7.

PASSING—TampaBay,Mayﬁeld28-50-1-228. Detroit, Goff 20-29-1-241.

RECEIVING—TampaBay,Otton 7-65, Shepard 7-25, Egbuka4-58,T.Johnson 4-58,White 4-6, Miller 1-14, Tucker 1-2. Detroit,St. Brown 6-86, Gibbs 3-82,Wright 3-23, Raymond 3-17, LaPorta 3-15, Montgomery 2-18 MISSED FIELD GOALS—Detroit, Bates 54. LATE MONDAY

Seattle 27, Houston 19 Houston 06 67 —19 Seattle 14 0130 —27

First Quarter

Sea—Charbonnet 1run (Myers kick), 7:28

Sea—Smith-Njigba11pass from Darnold (Myers kick), :00. Second Quarter

Hou—FGFairbairn 36,2:18

Hou—FGFairbairn 46,:00

ThirdQuarter Sea—FGMyers 26,10:34

Hou—Anderson 0fumblereturn (pass failed), 7:24. Sea—FGMyers 47, 5:15

Sea—Charbonnet 2run (Myerskick), :54. Fourth Quarter Hou—Marks 4pass from Stroud (Fairbairn kick), 2:04. A—68,632. Hou Sea First downs 18 19 Total Net Yards254

Interceptions Ret. 2-28

Comp-Att-Int

Sacked-YardsLost

Punts

Fumbles-Lost

Penalties-Yards 10-105

Time of Possession27:43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Houston, Stroud 2-25,Chubb 5-16, Marks 10-15. Seattle, Walker 17-66, Charbonnet 12-49, Barner 1-2, Darnold3-1.

PASSING—Houston, Stroud 23-49-1-229. Seattle, Darnold 17-31-1-213, Kupp 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING—Houston, Schultz 9-98,Noel 4-77, Collins 4-27, Marks 3-20,Hutchinson 1-13, Berrios 1-(minus 1),Chubb 1-(minus 5). Seattle, Smith-Njigba8-123, Arroyo4-42 Charbonnet 2-6,

out of Top25: Idaho (24)

182 23

votes(schoolslisted on twoormoreballots): Southeastern

(5-2, 3-0Southland), 176; Western

(5-3, 4-0SoCon), 61; Sacramento State (4-3,2-1 BigSky),47; North Carolina

(5-2,0-0 MEAC), 36; Lafayette (5-3 3-0 Patriot), 9; Penn (4-1,2-0 Ivy),8;Gardner-

(4-3,2-1 OVC-Big South), 7; Alabama State (4-2,2-1 SWAC), 6; Duquesne (5-3,3-0 NEC), 2; West Georgia(5-3, 2-3UAC), 2.

Pelicans forward Zion Williamson poses for aphoto

(pass failed), 8:49.

Continued from page1C

when facing crazy adversity. Greatness is you do it every day.You show up every day. Youmakeithappen every day.” Williamson didn’talways get that. Credit Joe Dumars, hired in April as the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations, for helping get that message through to him. Dumars, Williamson and new senior vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver held several “man-to-man” conversations this offseason.

“The main thing thatI’ve talked to Zion aboutis responsibility and accountability,”Dumarssaid. “WhatI’ve said to him is with greatness comesresponsibility. You don’tget to be great and not be responsible.

“It’sbeen aheavy emphasis on that.” Williamson has listened. Even media members have noticed abig difference. In years past, Williamson wasn’t available as much to the media during the preseason. It’sbeen much different since those talks with Dumars, who has connected with Williamson in away that former executiveDavid Grifﬁn wasn’table to. It helps that Williamson, a historian of the game, knows all about Dumars’ accomplishments as one of the Bad Boys on the Detroit Pistons championship teams.

“I know he’sgoing to hold me to areally highstandard,” Williamson said.“If I

slip up or anything, Iknow he’sgoingtoberightthere to makesure Iget right back on path.”

Williamson alsohas spent valuable time this offseason working out with Hall of Famer TeresaWeatherspoon. She’slike abig sister to him. They became closewhen Weatherspoon wason the Pelicans coaching staff, and they’veremained closesince her departure in 2023. The early returns are good, but none of it mattersunless Williamson can stay healthy and lead the Pelicans to wins as they look to rebound from a21-win season, tied for the second-worst recordinfranchise history His teammateshave noticed thedifference.

“Weknow Z. We knowhow good he is,” guard Jose Alvaradosaid. “Butone thing Isee is his confidence in himself. He’sconfident in his whole gameand confident in who he is. That’sone thing I hadn’tseen before. Not saying thathe wasn’t confident before. But he has alittle more swag and pep to his step now,and I’mexcited to see him play.”

Williamson playingmeans everythingto thePelicans. It’swhy every prognosticationabout the Pelicans’ seasonusuallystarts with these fourwords: “IfZionis healthy .” Willie Green, whoisentering his ﬁfth season as head coach,knows thePelicans willgoasfar as Williamson leads them. It’s no coincidence that when Williamson played acareer-high 70 games two seasons ago, the Pelicans won 49 games. That

tied for the second-mostwins in franchise history

Green’sexpectations for Williamson areevenhigher.

“Keep taking astep forward with the conditioning component,” Green said. “I have to commend him. He’s doing everything he needs to do to take care of his body That’s goingtobeimportant forhim to be available for us.

“Continue to steponthe ﬂoor and being theZionthat we know he’scapable of being. When he’sdoingthat he’sone of the top players in this league.”

Whenhe’snot,he’sone of the most scrutinized players in the league.Williamson used to keep receipts of all the scrutiny

“There was atimewhen I kept tabs and notes,” he said. “That’sinthe past for me. The past is going to stay in the past.

“I’monlylooking forward to the future.”

For now,that futureis still in New Orleans. One of Dumars’ ﬁrst big decisions when he took over was sticking with Williamson.

Many fans were ready for theteam to move on from Williamson, but Dumars thoughtotherwisebecause he believes in Williamson. Even more importantly,Williamson believes in himself more than ever before

“Whatevermyteamneeds, that’s what Iwill do,”Williamson said. Theonlythingthe Pels really need is for him to play.

ou knowhim well. Scotthas been covering LSU since 1992. He is the author of three highly acclaimed

and

Each Monday,Scottwillput his thoughts on the last week’sgame and the next week’sgame into avideo essayplacingthe game in its context anddrawing historical parallels

Southern owes Graves full amount of contract

Staff report

Former Southern football coach Terrence Graves is owed the full remaining amount of money on his three-year contract after the school’s decision to ﬁre him Monday in the middle of his second season. Graves, who led Southern to a Southwestern Athletic Conference West title in 2024, received a three-year contract in December 2023 that awarded him an annual salary of $250,000.

The terms of Graves’ deal required Southern to pay the full remaining amount of the contract if the school decided to ﬁre him without cause in the ﬁrst two years of the deal. If he doesn’t take another job before Dec. 31, 2026, Graves will receive

the full amount of money owed to him in his contract, including $500,000 for the 2026 campaign. If Graves finds another job for the 2026 season, Southern will pay the 56-year-old to make up the difference if he makes less than the salary he received at Southern.

Southern is still paying former football coach Eric

Dooley, who was also ﬁred before the end of his second season in November 2023. As part of his buyout, he was set to receive a total of $460,000 over a three-year installment agreement. His final installment of $153,333.33 is set to be paid to him in January

After an 8-5 campaign in 2024, the Jaguars stumbled to a 1-6 mark under Graves while suffering a string injuries to key members of the team. Southern athletic director Roman Banks announced Monday evening that Graves had been ﬁred, and he has been replaced on an interim basis by former Alcorn State head coach Fred McNair, who has been serving as the team’s offensive play-caller

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

Some of the issues may come down to tendencies. When the Saints call plays that feature a light box — less than seven defenders near the line of scrimmage — opponents are feasting. The Bears, for instance, recorded 131 of their 222 yards rushing against light boxes, while the Giants (99 of 136) and the Cardinals (93 of 146) also picked up most of their yards in those favorable situations. The Patriots game remains a notable outlier, as New England averaged only 3.8 yards per carry on such looks

Are the Saints deploying too many light boxes? Let’s take a further look at how often New Orleans has used one, according to Next Gen Stats:

n Week 1: Cardinals (51.9%)

n Week 2: 49ers (30.8%)

n Week 3: Seahawks (15.2%)

RABALAIS

Continued from page 4C

It’s difficult to imagine Kelly walking away from slightly more than half of what’s left on the balance sheet. But consider this: He will be 64 years old on Saturday Most of the starters on this year’s roster will be gone after this season. That means finding the money to build another talented roster for 2026. And that includes having the means to land a hot shot transfer portal quarterback to take over for fifth-year signal-caller Garrett Nussmeier Unless you can find a Trinidad Chambliss like Ole Miss did, those don’t come cheap How willing will LSU boosters be to help Kelly collect more millions to rebuild the roster if they don’t get a return on this year’s

n Week 4: Bills (40.6%)

n Week 5: Giants (62.1%)

n Week 6: Patriots (51.9%)

n Week 7: Bears (45%)

But there are trade-offs to this approach The Saints deploy light boxes in part because they want to prevent explosive passing plays, something they’ve been pretty good at this season And New Orleans is reacting to the personnel on the ﬁeld. The Giants ran a spread, shotgun-heavy offense with Dart at quarterback, while the 49ers and Seahawks played more under center Some of the runs that the Saints have allowed in light boxes also aren’t on designed rushing plays, as they’ve faced their fair share of mobile quarterbacks (Kyler Murray, Josh Allen, Dart).

New Orleans’ problems stopping the run aren’t new The Saints tried to address the area in the offseason by trading for defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, signing safety Justin Reid and using ﬁve of their nine draft selec-

tions on defense.

Their latest performance will lead them to seek additional solutions.

Numbers to know

129.4: That’s how many rushing yards per game the Saints have allowed, the ninth-worst mark in the NFL. The Saints were at 141.4 last year, ranking as the secondworst rushing defense.

45%: Opponents have combined to rush into a light box against the Saints on 45% of their rushing attempts. That’s the 12th-highest rate in the league. The Eagles (57.7%) and the Giants (53.1%) lead the league.

8.7%: The Saints have given up untimely big plays this season, but they’re doing a much better job at preventing them overall.

Opponents have an explosive rate of 8.7% against New Orleans, which is the sixth-lowest percentage in the league. Explosive plays are deﬁned as completions of at least 16 yards or runs of at least 12 yards.

Up next

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and MVP candidate Baker Mayﬁeld come to town.

Mayﬁeld’s MVP case took a slight hit in Monday’s rough outing against the Detroit Lions, but the quarterback has otherwise been fantastic. His four fourthquarter comebacks lead the league, and he has thrown for the sixth-most yards passing, despite Tampa Bay’s myriad injuries at receiver

A year ago, the Buccaneers carved up the Saints on the ground when running back Sean Tucker had 136 yards in a 51-27 win. But Tampa Bay’s running attack hasn’t been as lethal this season, with the Buccaneers averaging just 99 yards per game. That could be an area to watch this weekend.

Email Matthew Paras at matt. paras@theadvocate.com

sive coaching staff in the wake of what to this point has been a woefully underproductive unit, similar to what he did with his defensive staff after the 2023 season. Does Kelly even with what he has left on the books, want to do all that heavy lifting once again for 2026? Or does he take the path of a lot of veteran coaches in recent years who decided the NIL/transfer portal era wasn’t for them? I don’t pretend to know Kelly’s mind, and maybe he doesn’t know it, either But I do believe his future regarding this season and next will be Kelly’s decision to make Where he and the Tigers go from here is the big question now

For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

SOUTHERN

Continued from page 1C

McNair coached at Alcorn State from 2016-23, compiling a record of 47-33. He led Alcorn to four Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division titles, two SWAC championships (2018 and 2019) and was the SWAC Coach of the Year twice. This is his ﬁrst time as an interim head coach. He thanked the university’s administration for believing in him to lead the Jaguars. McNair, who will continue calling plays, explained how he addressed players Monday after sharing the news of Graves’ departure.

“After having a meeting with them last night, it was very, very good,” McNair said. “I felt very good with the response that we got from them during the course of practice last night. They was very energized and, you know, we just gonna continue to press on in terms of getting the young men upbeat and do what they have to do to win the next ball game.”

Banks said the removal of Graves was not a reactionary decision. He said the plan for Graves was to build off of a successful ﬁrst season that resulted in last year’s SWAC Championship game appearance and to be even better with numerous returners, such as defensive end Ckelby Givens. The senior is the reigning Co-SWAC Defensive Player of the Year and leads the conference in sacks and tackles for loss, presently On the coaching search, Banks said there will be an internal and external team put together to ﬁnd the next Jaguars coach. He has confidence they will look widely for candidates after speaking with his staff about fundraising, as well as seeing the commitment from the Southern University Board of Supervisors.

To ensure ample time for recruiting, a decision on a new coach ideally would happen soon after the Bayou Classic on Nov 29, Banks said.

When McNair was asked whether he views the rest of the season as his audition to become the full-time coach, he said he’s focused on “putting his best foot forward.”

“Wherever the chips lay, they lay,” he said. “It’s going to be an administration decision in terms of what they do for its next head coach, but I’m gonna put my best foot forward in terms of what I got to do to win the next few ball games that we have left on our schedule because that’s my job now.”

Southern is looking for its fourth coach since Dawson Odum left the program for Norfolk State after the 2020 season. None of the three hires since Odum have coached a full two seasons.

Banks said Monday that he feels comfortable with the coaching decisions he’s made in the recent past.

“I think we felt pretty good,” he said. “We won our division twice. So, you know, there are a lot of people that don’t come close to winning (their) divisions.

“This was different because expectations were so high and that the game plan was there. Once again, not just not winning those games, but the way we competed in those games. I think that’s the difference.”

When Banks was asked for his message to fans who feel discouraged with how the season has played out, he said the team, especially players, need their support now more than ever

“They’re trying to get their first (conference) win,” he said. “You need that extra push when you’re not as conﬁdent as you been, you haven’t gotten to win, and you’re trying to ﬁgure things out Sometimes that home crowd can help you get that win, and that’s what we ask.”

The Jaguars’ next game is 4 p.m. Saturday against Florida A&M at A.W Mumford Stadium.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NAM HUH

Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift carries on a 4-yard touchdown run against the Saints in the ﬁrst half on Sunday in Chicago. Swift rushed for 124 of the Bears’

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU coach Brian Kelly walks around Tiger Stadium during warmups for the South Carolina game on Oct. 11

STAFF FILE PHOTO

Former Southern coach

Terrence Graves

Spurs’ Wembanyama hasNBA playoffsinmind

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

MIAMI— Victor Wembanyama has anew height. He’s thinking about new heights.

Wembanyama —healthy again after deep vein thrombosis forced doctors to end his 2024-25 season two months early —starts Year 3with the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday when they visit the Dallas Mavericks. It’samatchup of toppicks; Wembanyama went No. 1in 2023, the Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg was No. 1this year

Wembanyama knowsthe Western Conference is loaded. He wants aplayoff spot anyway and said the Spurs are good enough to get there.

“Looking forward to this very much,” the 21-year-old Wembanyama said. “It’sdefinitely the next step in many of our careers. Me and my teammates, we’re all eyes on it.”

The French stareven put anumber on what he would defineasuccessful season: Wembanyama wants the No. 6seed,atminimum. The meaning there is obvious, in that he wants the Spurs to finish the regular season with aguaranteed postseason spot and not have to fight through the play-in tournament

Only the topsix ﬁnishers in each conference are assured of playoff spots, while the teams that ﬁnish No. 7 through No. 10 have to go theplay-in route.

“Success would be getting to the playoffs and notthe play-in,” Wembanyama said.

“That means sixth seed.”

Wembanyama wasthe rookie of the year in 2023-24 and adefensive player of the year front-runner last season beforethe thrombosis was found.Hewas averaging24.3 points, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and 3.7 assists pergame when he was shut down in February; the only other player in NBA history

And Wemby is only going to get even better

“That sometimes is the difficulty, when youhave to temper the excitement, expectations andimagination of where he can go,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I think all of us probably in someway were still maturing or evolving physically at 19, 20, 21, especially if you’reanathlete That along with his game,along withhis mind, is going to continue to grow.”

Speaking of growing, there’salso theconstant questionofWembanyama’s height. It’samystery,other than the obvious answer that being, he’s really,really, really,really tall.

Ofﬁcially,the tallest player in the league last season was Memphis’ Zach Edey —listed at 7-4. There’sno reason to think that height isn’taccurate. Butwhen Wembanyama and Edey are side by side,itsure seems like the Spurs’ center might be the taller one.

to ﬁnish aseason averaging all that was Kareem AbdulJabbar in 1975-76.

“I just don’tever recall a player who has so much inﬂuence on both ends of the floor,” said Indiana coach RickCarlisle,who added that he feels fortunate the Pacers and Spursaren’tin

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By GEORGE WALKER IV NewEngland PatriotssafetyBrendenSchooler celebrates after the team’swin against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.The Patriots (5-2)lead the AFCEast.

Turnaroundsabound

League couldsee anotherworst to firstthisseason

BY ROBMAADDI AP pro football writer

The NFL cansee another worst to first turnaround this season. Through seven weeks, two teams that finished last in 2024 are leading their division. Overall, seven teams that missed the playoffs last season have at least four wins. The New England Patriots areleading theAFC East at 5-2, including abig win at Buffalo, ayear after going 4-13under Jerod Mayo. MikeVrabel hasbrought awinning culture to New Englandand Drake Maye has developed into an elite quarterbackinjusthis second season. The San Francisco 49ers are leading the NFC West at 5-2, including aroad win over the Los Angeles Rams. They were 6-11 last season And, the 49ers are doing it despite aslew of injuries to key starters.Mac Jones is 4-1 filling in for Brock Purdy even thoughmostof the starting wide receivers are injured and All-Pro tight end George Kittle sat out ﬁve games.

The defense lost four-time All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner and star edge rusher Nick Bosa to season-ending injuries. Yet, Kyle Shanahan’steam ﬁnds ways to win. Since 2002, when the NFL switchedtoeight four-team divisions, 25 teams have gone from worst in their division one season to ﬁrst the next. The Texans were the last team to do it in 2024. ThePatriots and 49ers could increase that total.

The Indianapolis Colts (6-1) ﬁnished 8-9 last season and lead the AFC behind Daniel Jones’ passing and Jonathan Taylor’srunning.

The Chicago Bears (4-2) have won four in arow undernew coachBen Johnson and are one victory away from matching last season’s total.

Dakattack

TheCarolina Panthers (4-3)have won three straight and also are onevictory from matching their total in 2024.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3) already have equaled last season’swin total. Detroit’sdisruptiveD

Despitemissing their entire starting secondary the Lions shut down Baker Mayﬁeld and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a24-9 victory on Monday night. It’s one of thebestdefensiveperformances by any team this season

All-ProsafetyKerby Joseph(knee) and reserve safety Avonte Maddox (hamstring) and cornerbacks Terrion Arnold (shoulder) and D.J. Reed (hamstring)were out. Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch sat out with asuspension. CornerbackRock Ya-Sin left the game withan injury Yet, Lions defensive backs Arthur Maulet, Amik Robertson, Thomas Harper ErickHallettand Ya-Sin contained Tampa Bay’s receivers and frustrated Mayﬁeld, whowas an MVP favorite coming into the game.

Mayﬁeld ﬁnished 28 of 50 for 228 yards with one TD and one interception fora season-worst66.1 passer rating.

Dak Prescott is off to an impressive start andthe DallasCowboys have the mostexciting offense in the NFL. They lead the league withanaverage of 390.6 yards per game and are third in scoring at 31.7per game. The Cowboys need that scoring because their defense —without Micah Parsons —islastinthe league, though the unit playedbetter in a44-22 victory over theWashington Commanders on Sunday

Ahealthy Prescott is playing like theguy who was MVP runner-up in 2023 insteadofthe one whostruggled througheight games last year before ahamstring injury endedhis season.He has1,881 yards passing, 16 touchdowns and three interceptions for a107.6 passer rating.

The addition of wide receiverGeorge Pickens and running back Javonte Williams has boosted Dallas’ offense. Pickenswas outstandingduring CeeDee Lamb’s three-gameabsence.

If the defense can build off its success against Washingtonand continue to improve, theCowboys can stay in the mixbecause Prescott and the offense are going to score alot of points.

thesame conference.

Wembanyamacan finish. Can shoot from outside. Can pass. Canhandle the ball. He is generally considered the league’s best defensive player.And for this season, he’sadded bulk as well.

“You just watch in disbelief,” Carlisle said.

He was, ofﬁcially,7-foot-3 as arookie. He’snow 7-4, at least on paper.Some said he actually was 7-5 when he left France, and former NBA player Boban Marjanovic said Wembanyama might be even taller than that now “Noway I’mtallerthan him,” the 7-4 Marjanovic said on ESPN last week.

“Noneofusare close, so it’s alla guess,” Johnson said. “I gotnoclue.I have to standonthischair and get the measuring stick, so Iknow he’staller than me 7-something.” If Wembanyamaknows the precise number,he’snot saying. But the fascination with it amuses him “Overthe yearsit’sbecome anon-subject to me,” Wembanyama said. “Because in my opinion, there’s so many more interesting things aboutme. The truth is, sometimes I’m surprised there’sstill aconversation because in my mind, it doesn’treally make adifference. I’m taller than everybody else. That’s all you need to know.”

Wilson callsPayton ‘classless’for comments

BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sportswriter

NEW YORK Russell Wilson ﬁred backatSeanPayton on social media Tuesday,a little under 48 hours since theDenver Broncos coach took aswipeatthe New York Giants backupquarterback who lost his starting job to rookie Jaxson Dart after an 0-3start. “Classless… but notsurprised….”Wilson said on X. “Didn’trealize you’re still bountyhunting 15+ years laterthrough the media.” Wilson took his own jab at Payton,for whomhe playedfor oneill-fatedseason in 2023, by referencing the“BountyGate” scandal from2009-11 with theNew Orleans Saints. The NFL in 2012 found the team was rewarding players for hits on opponents withintent to injure,and Payton wassuspendedfor ayear Payton saidafter Denver’s historic33-32 comeback winonSundaythat the Giants “found alittle spark with”Dart, whobecamethe starter,and hinted that part of aconversation he had with New York ownerJohn Mara includedwanting to face Wilsoninstead

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO By BART yOUNG DenverBroncos coachSean Payton and quarterback RussellWilson look on during agame against the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 19, 2023, in Denver.

“I wastalking to John Mara not too long ago and I said, ‘Wewere hoping that change would’ve happened long after our game,’ ”Payton said.

Wilson joined the Broncos via trade from Seattle in 2022 and signed aﬁve-year $245 million extension. They went 5-12 in his ﬁrst season before Denver hired Payton, whowas returning to coaching aftera one-year stint in broadcasting.

Payton benched Wilson 15 games in, amove that ensured the quarterback

would not get injured. If Wilson were on the rosterbyMarch 17, 2024, his $37 millionsalary for 2025 wouldhavebeenguaranteed. Wilson was released to putanend to theugly breakup between aveteran coach and player whohad each won the Super Bowl separately Now alittle over amonth away fromturning 37, Wilson spent last season with Pittsburgh before signing in freeagency with the Giants

Jets ownersupportscoach, blasts quarterbackFields

BY STEPHEN WHYNO AP sportswriter

NEW YORK New York

You’ve gottoconvincethem that you can do something. Otherwise it’shard to havea game thatyou can win.”

open 4-2and sitatop the AFC Central.

Jetsowner Woody Johnson blamed quarterback play for his team’s0-7 start and repeatedly affirmed hisfaith in coach Aaron Glenn on Tuesday in hisfirst public comments since the offseason.

Arriving for the NFL’s annual fall owners meeting, Johnson defended Glenn, praised theﬁrst-year coach’shandling of the defense and deferred to thestaff on who should start at football’s mostimportant position moving forward. Justin Fields startedsix games, missing one with an injury, andwas benchedinfavor of backup Tyrod Taylorinthe second half Sunday against Carolina.

“The defense is pretty good.Ifwecan just complete apass, it would look good,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to complete some passes.

The Jets are last in the league in passing offense and are the only team without awin.

“Well, the record speaks for itself, but Idon’tgoto anygamethinking I’m going to lose,” Johnson said.

“I see what you see. But I see morehope than you do. Youcan’twin with hope. It helps.”

Johnsonsaidhebelieves in the decisions to hire Darren Mougeyasgeneral manager and Glenn as coach.

Asked whohethinks should start at quarterback, the 78-year-old said: “That’s completely up to the coach. I’mnot going to be involved at allinany of that. This is what they’re paid to do, and this is what they’re experts at doing and so they’ll make theright decisionwithwhat we’ve got.”

The organization moved on from AaronRodgers after going 5-12 in 2024. Rodgers has thrownfor 14 touchdowns and ﬁve interceptions to help Pittsburgh

Johnson would not reveal whether he regrets allowing Rodgers to walk.

“I never look back,” he said. “You have to look forward in football. Whenyou cutplayers,theycouldbe aHall of Famer.You just never know.But Aaron’s playing great now.He’sina situation that’sworking for him.”

Not much is working for New York, largely because of offensive struggles.

“(Fields) has the ability, but something just is not jiving,” Johnson said. “The offense is just notclicking And you can’trun the ball if you can’tpass the ball. That’sFootball 101.” The Jets have the longest active playoff drought in theNFL, having not qualified since 2010. Johnson said true Jets fans still have hope, like he does. “They’ve beenatitfor along time, so they know exactly what’sgoing on,” Johnson said. “I think they’re thesmartest fans in the world. Ithink they do know what’sgoing on. They know what they see.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DARREN ABATE

SanAntonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, left, speaks withteammate Dylan Harper during apreseason game against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 10 in SanAntonio.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By ERIKVERDUZCO

Carolina Panthersrunning back Rico Dowdle scores against theDallas Cowboys on Oct. 12 in Charlotte, N.C.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Texas forward Madison Booker scores against Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on March 24 in Austin,Texas.Booker was namedtothe Associated Press preseasonAll-America team.

Hidalgo, Booker headline preseason women’steam

BY DOUG FEINBERG Associated Press

Hannah HidalgoofNotre Dame, Lauren Betts of UCLA and Madison Booker of Texas headline The Associated Press All-Americawomen’scollege basketball team released Tuesday

The trio werefirst-team AllAmericans last spring after havingstellarseasons.They were joined on the preseason team this year by UConn’sSarah Strong and South Carolina’sTa’Niya Latson. Latson transferred to the Gamecocks this year after spending the ﬁrst three years of her career at Florida State.

Hidalgo and Betts each earned 29 votes from the 31-member national media panel that chooses the AP Top25eachweek. Strong garnered 28 votes while Booker had 23 and Latson 14. LSU star Flau’jae Johnson received four votes in the poll.

Hidalgo is coming off aseason in which the talented guard became just thefourthsophomore to earn All-America honors in her ﬁrst two years. USC’sJuJuWatkins also accomplished that feat last season, but is out for this year while she’srecovering from atorn ACLshe suffered in theNCAA Tournament. Courtney Paris and Maya Moore were also All-Americans their ﬁrst two seasons.

Hidalgo averaged 23.8 points, 5.0 reboundsand 3.6 assists for the Fighting Irish last season. She will take on abigger role this season with the lossofthe other four starters to either theWNBA or the transfer portal.

“I know the weight of that is heavy,the crown is super heavy,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “But Ifeel like she has done agreat job of surrounding herself with the right network, the Notre Dame network, but also her family.She is very grounded with her family and her faith.”

Betts, asenior,helpedUCLA reachNo. 1inthe AP Top25for the first time in schoolhistory last season. The 6-foot-7center averaged 20.2 points and9.5 rebounds to get the Bruinstotheir ﬁrst Final Four before they lost to

Hereisthe teamwith each player’s school and votesfroma 31-member

receiving

AzziFudd, UConn (11); Olivia Miles, TCU(10); Flau’jae Johnson, LSU (4); Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt (3); Raegan Beers, Oklahoma (2); Jazzy Davidson, USC; DariannaLittlepage-Buggs,

Strong and UConn. Strong hadasensational freshmanseason for the Huskies, helpingthem winthe school’s12th national championship. She averaged 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, and coachGenoAuriemma has said she is even better this year UConn is No. 1in the preseason Top25.

“Every day,there isn’ta day that goes by that oneofthe coaches and Idon’tlook at each other and go, ‘Man, there’sjust somethingabout her right now,’” Auriemma said.“Ican’twait. Ilook forward to going to practice just to see what might happen next, some things shemight pull off.”

Latson led thecountry in scoringatFlorida State last season, averaging25.2 pointsa game. With oneyearleftofeligibilty, it’s notjustabout trying to wina national championship but getting prepared forthe WNBA. Coach Dawn Staley has had alot of successproducing pros, including four-time WNBAMVP A’ja Wilson.

Latson will have to face Booker at least once this season in the SEC. The Longhorns’ junior wing averaged 16.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season Booker helped Texas reach the Final Fourlast seasonbefore the Longhorns lost to South Carolina.

Betts,Hidalgo and Booker were allﬁrst-team All-Americanslast spring whileLatson andStrong were on thesecond team. The AP began releasing apreseason AllAmerica team before the1994-95 season.

St.Joseph’sgetswin over

Zacharyinthree-set sweep

BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

St.Joseph’sAcademy entered set three looking toclose out Zachary.

The Broncos opened the set with an 11-3lead when Redstickers coach Donna Pixley called atimeout. “Reminded them whotheyare, andthe work that they’vebeen putting in,”Pixley said, “and that they’re more than capable of doing that.”

St. Joseph’sAcademy drew within seven, down 13-6, before rattlingoff 16 straight points to take a22-13 lead in thethird set. Zacharybattled backtomakeit close, but the Redstickers held to take the set 25-21 to win the match 3-0.

The Redstickers (13-10) win was helpedbyGracie Mann, Emmy Neumann andEmmy Graves. Mann tallied 16 kills and three digs, while Neumann had ﬁve kills and one block. Graves finished with nine assists, three aces, three kills and two digs.

St. Joseph’swin is part of astring of positive results since its sevengame losing streak in the middle of theseason.Pixley saidits performance in theAcademy of Our Lady Tournament helped build momentumfor her team.

“Hopefully we can just keep building until the playoffs andwe canstayseeded where we need to stay seeded to get thebest possible matchups we can,” she said. With postseason play quickly approaching, Pixleyhopes to see contributions from avariety of her hittersoffensively to help takethe load off of their outside hitters.

“Emmy Neumann in the middle hasstepped up big for us,” she said. “That’s going tobegood. Just alittle bit more of abalanced attack so they can’tjust load us up on theblock on onehitter, andthe defense is playing much, much better.”

St.Joseph’sopened thesecond set with a10-0 lead thanks to several kills by Mann andtwo aces by Jane Templet. The Redstickers would go on to win the set 25-13.

The Redstickers took a5-0 lead to beginthe ﬁrst set.St. Joseph’s continued to dominate and stretch the lead out to 14-5 after several kills from Mann and Graves.

The Broncos fought back to cut the deﬁcit to four, down 21-17 late in the set. The Redstickers won the

ABOVE: St. Joseph’sEmmy Gravessets the ball up forateammate against Zacharyduring amatchatZacharyHigh on Tuesday.

BELOW: St. Joseph’sEmmy Neumann hits the ball over the net as Zachary’sKyleigh Norman defends.

last four points to take the opening set25-17. Despitethe loss, Zachary coach Cherilani Perry said her side showed gritand fought hard.

“Wejust have to learn to make sure thatwestart offinthe ﬁrst setasopposedtowaiting until thethird set to be able to do that,” Perry said. “But one thing that I always tell them is, ‘Wedon’tlose, we learn.’”

The Broncos (17-9) have not ﬁn-

PREP REPORT

ished above .500 since the 2015-16 season. With her side close to making the playoffs, Perry said it’s about teaching to just stay focused on each point.

“The team is young, so what I want them to be able to do is just get ataste of it,” Perry said. “See what can be done andunderstand that our goal in the beginning was to make it to theplayoffs, buttrying to get them to understand that there’sabigger goal now.”

Volleyball

Tuesday’s scores North Iberville 3, St. Helena 0 (25-16, 25-6, 25-21) Tara 3, Broadmoor 0(25-0,25-0, 25-0) University 3, Mentorship Academy0(25-0, 25-3, 25-8) Brusly 3, Scotlandville 0(25-14, 25-19, 25-12) Catholic-P.C.3,St. John 1(25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 25-14) Walker 3, Denham Springs 1(2518, 25-20, 12-25,25-21) West Feliciana 3, Port Allen0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-8) St. Amant 3, Prairieville 2(25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 19-25, 15-8) St. Joseph’s 3, Zachary 0 St. Joseph’s 25 25 25 Zachary171321 Team leaders: SJA: EmmyNeumann (5 kills, 1block), Gracie Mann (16kills, 3digs, 1block) EmmyGraves (3 kills,9assists,3 aces, 2digs, 1block),Mackenzie Chuilli (1 assist, 3aces, 9digs); ZHS: Asia Sterling (2 aces, 10 digs,8 kills,2blocks), Karsyn Marshall(2aces,11digs), Alyssa Albert (6 digs,12assists, 1kill).

Wednesday ThriveAcademyatLouisiana School for the Deaf, 5p.m Capitol at Slaughter Community Charter, 5p.m. Ascension ChristianatAscension Catholic,6 p.m. Baton Rouge High at Central 6p.m. Donaldsonville at Collegiate Baton Rouge, 6p.m. Thibodaux at EastAscension, 6p.m. St. John at East Iberville,6p.m. Catholic High Pointe Coupeeat FalseRiver, 6p.m. Livonia at MadisonPrep, 6p.m. Central Private at Northeast, 6p.m. BelaireatIstrouma, 6p.m McKinley at Plaquemine, 6p.m. Assumption at Prairieville,6 p.m. North Iberville at Southern Lab, 6p.m. Episcopal at Walker, 6p.m. St. Helena at West Feliciana, 6p.m. Liberty at Woodlawn, 6p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 BelaireatBroadmoor, 5p.m. GEONext Generation at Glen Oaks,5 p.m. Baker at East Iberville,5p.m.

PHOTOSByAPRIL BUFFINGTON

LIVING

at Cedar Lodge, 6300 Jefferson Highway,Baton Rouge The Louisiana Restaurant Association ishosting its fourth annual Oktoberfest, which will feature beer and food tastings, acommemorative pint glass, live entertainment, games, astein-holding contest and costume contest. Some of the participating restaurants include Solera, Parc73and Cecelia Creole Bistro. Tickets are $50, available for purchase at eventbrite.com.

Bratwurst sliders fromL’Auberge Casino and Resort were on the menu at the LRA Greater Baton RougeChapter’s 2024 Oktoberfest at Live Oak at Cedar LodgeinBatonRouge Lauren Cheramie BONVIVANT

Terror on the Courts:5 p.m. Oct 29, at Court to Table, 7477Burbank Drive, Baton Rouge Head to Court to Table fora haunted pickleball tournament, costume contest, hauntedcornhole, pumpkin paddle painting and more. The entry fee is $30 per team.Register at app.courtreserve.com. The deadlineto enter is Oct. 27. Halloween bar crawl:4 p.m. to midnight Saturday,Nov.1, downtown Baton Rouge

Celebrate Halloween witha bar crawl featuring cocktails, costumes, drink deals,entertainment and more. Some of the venuesare George’sPlace, Somewhere Neighborhood Bar, Dark 30 and The Vintage.Tickets startat$20, which include two to three drinks, no cover, party cups, food specials at select venues, admission to an after-party and more. Tickets are available for purchase at www.crawlwith.us/batonrouge/ halloween.

In theknow Farmers market anniversary:8 a.m. to noon Saturday,Nov.1,at Red Stick FarmersMarket, 501 Main St., Baton Rouge

Celebrate 29 years of the Red Stick Farmers Market and its dedicationtolocal farmers,food producersand the community.The morning will be ﬁlled with live music from John Gray Jazz, live cooking demonstrations and acash bar from Cocha.

Learnsomething new

Demonstration and sampling: 11 a.m. to 1p.m.Thursday at Rouses Market, 5909 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge

An LSU AgCenter agent will be at Rouses to teach customers how to prepare Pumpkin Fluff Dip, which comes together in minutes.The demonstration will end in asampling of the dip.

Cooking demo:11:30a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday,Oct. 31, at Cancer Services, 550 Lobdell

Brewing kinship

FBY

MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

olks canthrow back pretzelbites andbeers while looking at a10-barrel brew system in aformer Ford dealership in St. Francisville.

After two years of planning and 14 months of construction, BayouSaraBreweryCo., 11943

Ferdinand St.,will have its grand openingfrom5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Oct. 24.

The idea to open abrewery goes back to 1995 at Camp Zama,Japan, whereone of the four owners, Steve McKinney,was stationed in theU.S.Army with hiswife, Amanda McKinney

“I realized beer was expensive over there,” Steve said. “I was complaining tomymother one time, and she sent me ahomebrew kit. I started making beer,and Amanda and Iwere like ‘Wow.This could be really good.’”

Thirty years later,the McKinneys beganBayouSara Brewery Co.with Doug Cochran and his wife, Abby,who is alsoAmanda’s sister.The brewery has two dining areas,afull kitchen, an outdoor pa-

tio andbrew system

An inside look

The building was developed in 1937, so there was alot of renovation andconstructiontobedone.

Theteam installednew bathrooms, plumbing and concretecurbs surrounding the property to prevent flooding, done by local company

Maginnis Construction.

Other projects became acommunity effortafter theMcKinneys asked forextra hands.

“All of asudden, within an hour, 14 or 15 people showed up to help,” Steve McKinney said.

Some of thebuilding’soriginal

STAFFPHOTOSByJAVIER GALLEGOS

at BayouSara Brewery Co.inSt. Francisville

windows were removed, moved to another wall and welded to the frame by the ﬁrechief,Steve McKinney said.

Details like reusing the original windows pay homagetothe building’shistory, and even the string lights are the original bay lights from the dealership’sgarage that theteam converted to LED

“That’sone of the things we talk about alot,” Steve McKinney said. “Wewant this to be the community hub. Thecommunity has been so supportive physically and cheering us on.”

Thebrewprocess

The metal goliath toward the backofthe buildingis something many don’tsee every day.From the main dining area, customers can view the brewing system while sipping abeer

The importance of family is evident in the names of the ﬁve fermenters, each onenamed afterbothfamily’sdaughters: Catherine, Caroline, Elizabeth, Kate and Ella.

“Typically,justfor the process of everything, you identify each vessel as something. Since we had ﬁve, and me and Doug, between the two of us, have ﬁve daughters, that’swhat we named all the fermenters,” Steve McKinneysaid.

He gave a60-second rundown on how the brew process works in the 10-barrel system, which is 310 gallons. First, grains aredropped into amill where they get crunched up, then travel toa hot liquor tank ﬁlled with hot water, whichmakes“basically abig tea,” he said. The

mixture steeps for an hour, then travelstoa kettle to boilfor alittle over an hour, which is wherethings like hops orberriesare added.

From there, the liquid cools down and travels to one of the five fermenters

(Catherine, Caroline, Elizabeth,KateorElla) where it sits for at least 10 days to two weeks, sometimes longerfor alager

After sitting in aBrite tank for acouple more days (usually where the liquid

carbonates), the brew gets kegged and goes back out to thestorage cooler

Batcheswillbemadeabout once or twicea week,Steve said. The system yields beer galore but also leftover grain, which is given to local farmers for animal feed. Of course, the grain is nonalcoholic sinceitdoesn’treach the fermentation stage.

Themenus

The businesswill have 14 house-made brews on tap,

BONVIVANT

Continued from page1D

Ave., Baton Rouge

Join Cancer Services for ahands-on cooking demonstration designed to help people learn how to prepare easy,nutritious meals that support wellnessduring and after treatment. Participants will learn how to create supplement drinks that help manage nausea or loss of appetite and gain

tipsonreadingfood labels. The featured recipes are stuffed bell peppers with vegetables, turkey andrice, andanorange cream shake.

Mark your calendar

Food and wine pairing:6 p.m. to 8p.m. Jan. 22 at Red Stick SpiceCompany,660 JeffersonHighway,Baton Rouge Red Stick Spice Company andMartin’s Wine and Spirits are partnering to offer ahands-on cooking class with winepairings. Participantswill learn about wine,

food and how they pair to create aﬂavor experience. The menuincludes oyster mushroom pinxtopaired with Colome Torrontes, hot shrimpremoulade paired with Arca Nova Vinho

Verde rosé and more. Tickets are $165 per person, available for purchase at redstickspice.com

If you have an upcoming food event or akitchen question, emaillauren. cheramie@theadvocate. com. Cheers!

but to start,it’ll have at least four brews until operations getinfull swing: Blonde Ale, West CoastPale Ale, New ZealandPilsner and Single Hop Citra Pale Ale.

ManagerCece Pike said themenu has pub-like foods like pretzel biteswith beer cheese. There’salso aselection of appetizers, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, a kid’smenu and abrownie á la modefor dessert.

Steve’s favorite dish on the menu is the slider ﬂight with three choices of pulled chicken, pulled pork or brisket on abrioche bun. Pikeis most looking forwardtothe street tacos with pickled red onion and cilantro.

“We’ll have nachos, pulled pork, brisket,sandwiches, tacos,” Pike said. “Every food thatpairsreally well

withbeer anddrinking alcohol.”

Bayou SaraBrewery Co., 11943 Ferdinand St., St.

GALLEGOS

Co-owners Steve McKinney, left, and Doug Cochran, right, pose with Cece Pikeinfront of thebrewing equipment at BayouSara Brewery Co.inSt. Francisville

Co-owner Steve McKinneytests someofthe brews. Batches will be madeabout onceortwiceaweek, he said.

Trythiseasyway to open cans

Dear Heloise: Recently,I watched aflight attendant open up cans using acredit card under the tab. After Ireturned home, Ihad ablack bean can to open and tried using the credit card to pull the tab up. No brokenfingernail or sore fingers! I would guess that people who have arthritis would find this to be an easy way to opencans.

D.B.,via email

Missingkey fob

By The Associated Press

please remember:

n To show up on time. Most hairdressers will makeyou reschedule if you are 15 minutes late.

Dehumidifying

Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: Iwas having trouble remembering to take my key fob when I left home until my husband put asafety pin on my fob. Ijust pin the fob to my blouse or other garment (or inside apocket). Inever forget my key fob now.I hope this will help some other forgetful person.

Shirlene B.,inArkansas

Weight loss woes

Dear Heloise: If you live in ahumid climate and arebuildingorremodeling ahouse that has pocket doors, you maywant to make sure that thepocket is sealed against outside air.Ilive in ahouse without such sealing, and moist air blows past the pocket door and raises thehumidityin a300-square-foot room to 75%.

Adehumidiﬁer,which lowers the humidityto40%, removes 2gallonsofwater aday from theair andhas beendoing so daily forover aweek —Ron S.,inCharlottesville,Virginia Ahairdresser’s plea

Dear Heloise: I’ve been a hairdresser forover18 years, andthere are afew things that I’d liketoremindwomen of when they make an appointmentata beautysalon.First,this is notahobby;it’sa job.It’s how Ipay my bills andfeed my kids. Iwork hard and stand on my feet all day. So,

Dear Heloise: Since Iam on alow-carb, low-sugar diet, jellies and jams are offlimits to me. But once in awhile, aguy has to have apeanut butter and jelly (or jam) sandwich. Peanut butter on ano-net-carb tortilla is OK. For my fruit spread, Itake several frozen blackberries and thaw them out in the microwave. If they aren’tsweet enough, Iadd ateaspoon of monk fruit and artiﬁcial sweetener. It is very satisfying and has few carbs —Uncle Johnny, via email

BEST

Continued from page1D

Dumpling &Bao’ssoup

dumplings (pork, chicken and shrimp xiao long boa) are exquisite, as well.The pan-fried dumplings come with sizzling, crispy skirts that made my heartsing.

But it was those incredible red oil wontons that Icouldn’tstop thinking about. Iwent home talking about them and had to take my husband back two days later,only to ﬁnd aline out the door to get in. Iamnot good at waiting, but Ihappily took my place in line. Once again, they did not disappoint.

Dumpling &Bao opened mere weeks ago,and it seems too good to be true. Truth be told, Ican’twaitto go back. Is three times in four days too much?

—Jan Risher,Louisiana culture editor Cacio ePepe n Cugino, 117S.College Road, Lafayette

Lafayette’snewest spot for high-end Italian dining, Cugino, opened last week from restaurateursHunter Moody and Gene Todaro, who opened Marcello’sin Lafayette in 1981.

n Do not cancel at the last minute, and no, Iwill not call aclient and ask them to reschedule because you want their time slot.

n Don’task for adiscount/ samples or any of my equipment, especially my scissors.

n If your friends also come to me, please don’t ask me questions about their personal lives. Even if Iknow thelatest gossip, I won’tshare it

n Referrals are welcome and appreciated, but Iwon’t pay clientstorefer people. However,Iwill do agreat job on their hair!

n Next (and this is awkward), bathe or shower before you come.

n Lastly,ifyou came in for ahaircut, highlights, or any other service, Iallow a certain amount of time for your appointment.Ifyou need or want additional services,you’ll have to make aseparate appointment. My next client is sitting in thewaiting area, and it’snot fair to keep them waiting. Thank you.

Diana T.,inArizona Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

ChicagoDawgfrom Frankie’sDawgHouse in Baton Rouge

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN AplateofCacio ePepe from Cugino in Lafayette

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 22, the 295th day of 2025. There are 70 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On Oct. 22, 2012, cyclist Lance Armstrongwas formally stripped of his seven Tour de France victories and received alifetime ban from Olympic sports after the International Cycling Union chose not to appeal doping charges against Armstrong by the United States Anti-Doping Agency

Also on this date:

In 1836, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the ﬁrst elected president of theRepublic of Texas, which earned its independence from Mexico that year in amilitary rebellion.

In 1934, bank robber Charles “Pretty Boy” Floydwas shot to deathby

federal agents and local police at afarm near East Liverpool, Ohio.

In 1962, in anationally televised address, President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced anaval blockade of all offensive military equipment shipped to Cuba.

In 1968, Apollo 7, the ﬁrst crewed mission of NASA’s Apollo space program,returned safely from Earth orbit, splashing downin the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2014, agunman shot and killed asoldier standing guard at awar memorial in Ottawa, then stormed the Canadian Parliament building before he himself wasshot and killed.

In 2016, the Chicago Cubs wontheir ﬁrst pennant since 1945, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6ofthe National League Championship Series. (The

—JoannaBrown, staff writer

Chicago dog n Frankie’s Dawg House,2318 CedardaleAve Baton Rouge

Usually after work,I’m pretty tired and go straight home to winddown forthe evening, butonThursday,

This new venture is an Italian-Sicilian spot focusing on pasta and steaks, with an eye toward fresh ingredients and authentic recipes.The Cacio ePepe, simply presented with parmesan and pecorino romano cheese andfreshlyground black and pink peppercorns, is amaster class in presentingexquisite ﬂavorwithoutalot of fuss.

Ifelt ravenous for ahot dog. After aquick Google search, Frankie’sDawg House looked like theplace to be. This experience taught me that sometimes ahot dog is best enjoyed still in your work clothes after a long day.Iordered theChicago dawg (never had one before),and it hit thespot The hearty bites of thehot dog paired well withthe kick of onions and fresh tomato. Ilove pickles, so that added bonus points. The side of tater tots were just theright amount of saltyand soft on the inside. Sipping acrisp Dr Pepper throughout themeal was thecherry on top. Somemustard stained my shirt,but Iwasn’teven that mad because how could Ibe mad in astate likethis? I’ll have to trythe chili dog on my next visit

—Maddie Scott, features reporter

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIESCOTT

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Take the initiative and sprint forward with enthusiasm. Treat what you do, how you do it and what you accomplish with pride, and don't underestimate yourself or your ability to make things happen.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Participation will pay off. Attend networking events, trade shows or a reunion that brings you in touch with old associates willing to share valuable information. Don't sell yourself short.

sAGITTARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Take care of yourself, your needs and your reputation. Focus on your health and financial well-being, and you'll reduce stress. Put your energy into building wealth, not spending it unnecessarily.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Check out what's happening in your professional industry. There is much to gain if you participate in functions that offer a platform to exploit your skills, assets and experience.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Go over your personal papers, health records and long-term plans. It's essential to observe the changes around you and adjust your plans accordingly Choose peace over pressure.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) It's time to wheel and deal. Get your priorities straight and set out to satisfy your needs. A heart-to-heart talk with someone special will help you put things in perspective.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Place greater emphasis on partnerships, joint ven-

tures and long-term commitments. Reach out to institutions that can help you put together the framework for what you want to achieve.

TAuRus (April 20-May 20) Be open to suggestions. Contact the people and go to the places that can help you learn what you need to know to make the most of opportunities that can add stability to your life

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Consider what you must learn to reach your objective. Sign up for a course, reach out to someone already doing what you want to pursue or start making the changes necessary to position yourself for success.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Share what you can do. Your suggestions and offers of assistance will lead to opportunities. Set a price and build a name for yourself. LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Learn as you go; listen and ask questions, but hold back from divulging too much about yourself or what you can do A joint venture appears difficult Consider moving forward alone

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Change may tempt you, but you should consider every aspect before you take a leap of faith. Evaluate the cost and the work you'll face if you move in one direction or another.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

ToDAy's cLuE: J EQuALs V

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

peAnUtS

beetLe bAILeY

GooSe And GrIMM

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

By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge

Thereisa Chinese proverb that says: “Toknow the road ahead, ask those comingback.”

Wouldn’t it be niceatthe bridgetable to ask someone who has already played the deal where themissing cards are located? Sadly, the game doesn’twork that way. You must make your own decisions on which roads to take.

In this deal,South is in six hearts AfterWest leads the diamond king, what shoulddeclarer do?

North employed the Jacoby Forcing Raise. South’s three-diamond rebid showed asingleton (orvoid) in that suit. The next three calls were control-bids (cue-bids), after which South bid what he thought he couldmake. Declarer has apotential loser in each black suit. He starts with11top tricks: two spades, six hearts, one diamond, one club and adiamond ruff in the South hand.Sodeclarerneeds either athird spade winner or asecond club trick. However, which of those roads should he take?

To get athird spade trick requires a3-3 break,whichthemathematicianswilltell you happens about one-third of the time.

To obtain asecond club winner requires finding East with at least oneclub honor. Now the probability risestoapproximately three-quarters. The right road is clear. South shouldwin withdummy’s diamond ace, draw trumps staying on the boardand runthe club 10. It losesto West’s queen, but when declarer returns to thedummy withaspade and takes a second club finesse, that works and he can claim.

Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

Previous answers:

word game

InsTRucTIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed

ToDAy’s WoRD RIVETED: RIH-vih-tid: Attracted or held completely, suchasa person’s attention.

Average mark 24 words

Timelimit 40 minutes

Can you find 33 or morewords in RIVETED?

wuzzles

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

mallard fillmore

Expert Cancer Care Closeto Home

SpanningeightOchsnerlocations acrossNewOrleans,St.Tammany ParishandBatonRouge,Ochsner MDAndersonCancerCenterserves patientswiththesameprotocols, practicestandardsandcustomized treatmentplansavailableat MDAndersonCancerCenter,along withexpandedaccesstoresearch andclinicaltrials.

Tolearnmore,visit ochsner.org/EndCancer

OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratTheGayleandTomBensonCancerCenter OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratOchsnerHealthCenter–BaptistNapoleon MedicalPlazaOchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratOchsnerMedicalCenter–WestBankOchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratOchsnerHealthCenter–Kenner OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratOchsnerCancerCenter–BatonRouge OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratOchsnerMedicalComplex–TheGrove OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratSt.TammanyCancerCenter–ACampus ofOchsnerMedicalCenterOchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenteratSlidellRegional CancerCenter–ACampusofOchsnerMedicalCenter

JenniferPerone,MD SurgicalOncology BatonRouge

Yourhealthispersonal.Yourcancerscreening planshouldbe,too.

TheGeneticWellnessAssessmentisaquick questionnairethatreviewsyourpersonaland familycancerhistory.Itmayhelpdetermine whetheryoucouldbeneﬁtfromagenetic consultationortesting.

Beforeyoubegintheassessment,tryto gatherinformationaboutyourbiological relatives(peoplerelatedtoyoubyblood), speciﬁcallythosewhohavehadorhave cancerandwhattypes.Relativesbymarriage oradoptiondonotaffectyourinherited cancerrisk

Whenyouhaveyourbiologicalinformation, thisquestionnaireshouldtakeyoulessthan 10minutestocomplete.

ochsner.org/GeneticWellnessSurvey

Ochsner Health,MDAnderson partnership expands expert cancer carefromBaton Rouge to Slidell

By Amanda McElfresh amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

Thisstory is brought to youbyOchsnerHealth.

The partnership between Ochsner Health and MD AndersonCancer Center continues to gain momentum. Now, morecancer patientsthroughout South Louisianahaveaccesstosome of the most innovative treatments,select clinical trials, advanced treatment protocols and specialized, collaborativecare. Through this partnership,Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center locations arethe ﬁrst and only providersinLouisiana with fully integratedcancer programs based on the same protocols and practice standards as MD AndersoninHouston.Now Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center is expandingfrom BatonRougetoSlidell MemorialHospital (SMH).

Regardlessofthe individual diagnosis

Ochsner’s partnership with MD Andersonensures adult patients receiveinnovative care and access to advanced treatments and select clinical trials Patients canalsobeassured thattheir physiciansat Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center meet the same rigorous criteria as required at MD Andersonand thatphysicians areboard-certiﬁed in their subspecialties

Ochsner’s collaboration with MD Andersonbegan in 2023with sevenfacilities across southeasternLouisiana,including twoBatonRougelocations in this initial phase: Ochsner Cancer Center –BatonRouge and Ochsner Medical Complex–The Grove.The new SMH partnership began this month,establishing the Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center at Slidell RegionalCancer Center,ACampusofOchsner MedicalCenter. Through this newaffiliation, SMH became one of eight Ochsner MD Andersonlocations in Louisiana.For SMH, the partnershipprovides earlier accesstoclinical therapies,advanced technologies and adds newtherapies to its existing chemotherapy, radiation and support services

“Our patients arepeople we go to church with and who we seeatthe grocery store,”said LisaReso, director of cancer services at Slidell Regional Cancer Center “Theyare truly our friends and neighbors.This partnership ensures that they will receivethe best of both worlds —advanced innovation andexpertisecombined with the personal touch thatwe giveasacommunityhospital.”Resoalsosaid the center’s existing multidisciplinary approach, which bringstogether oncologists,surgeons,specialists and support staff around each patient, will deepen.

“Wehavehad acomprehensivecaremodel forafew years. Now, we will be abletoadd to thatwithmorespecialists and services.That’sexciting forus,”she said. “We’re going to be able to move to the next levelofcarefaster than we could have ever done before.

Jennifer Perone, MD,surgical oncologist at Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center in BatonRouge agrees.“The program bringstogether experts acrossoncology, radiology, surgery,nutrition, painmanagement and other specialties,” Dr.Perone said. “Weprovide anurse navigatorto help keep patients on schedule with differenttreatments and ensurepatients and their caregiversunderstand what’sgoing on so theycan makeinformed decisions.”

ditional services to meet MD Anderson’srigorous standards

“We’re really excited to getour clinicians and team aligned with everything thatisneeded to makethis partnership successful, she said.

MatthewMcElveen, MD,medical directorofSlidell Regional Cancer Center,said he and other physicians most often treatpatients with breast,lung, and upper and lowergastrointestinal cancers. Multidisciplinary teams have been built around thoseconditions,and Dr.McElveen said the complexityofmodern cancer therapies makes thosecollaborations moreessential than ever

McElveen,BadingerandOchsnerHealthCEOPeteNovember

“Often, the differences in treatment canbevery subtle butvery important. We gettogether with Ochsner specialists to talk about casesalready.Our partnership with MD Andersonisgoing to bring thattoanew level,”Dr. McElveen said.

“We’ll be working with physicians who areextremely specialized and spend all daylooking at thosesubtle differences.Theycan help us understand whyone therapymightwork betterthan another.Having thatassistance in the decision-making processisextremely important.”

Theseexpectations mirror thereal-world experience of patients in the BatonRouge region, who have trusted Ochsner MD Andersonwith their cancer care formorethan twoyears.

JenniferPerone,MD SurgicalOncologist OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenter BatonRouge

Ochsner dietitians areavailable to help ensurepatients getthe rightnutrition for maintaining strength.The physical rehab team and pain managementteam offer evolving therapies before, during and after treatment. The cancer center alsoprovides acupuncture, atreatmentoptionthathas been shown clinically to help with painand nausea side effects of chemotherapyand other medications At every location, patients receivethe top-level clinical care theyexpect from Ochsner and MD Andersonwithincreased accessfor newpatients,convenientonline scheduling forestablished patients and extended infusion hours.

Jaclyn Isabella,MD, acolon and rectal surgeon with the centerinBaton Rouge, says the multidisciplinary model is crucial, especially with rare or complicatedcancer cases.

Wealsoofferspecializedservices likechemotherapyinfusion centers,geneticallybased treatmentthat’sbasedoneach patient’suniquegenomeand advancedtherapieslikeCART-cell therapyforcertainbloodcancers. That’sespeciallyimportantfor givingpatientsaccesstoadvanced careintheirowncommunity.

SandyBadinger CEO SlidellMemorialHospital

“Wealsooffer specializedservices likechemotherapy infusion centers,genetically based treatmentthat’sbased on each patient’s unique genome and advanced therapies likeCAR T-cell therapyfor certain blood cancers. That’sespecially importantfor giving patients accesstoadvanced care in their owncommunity,”Perone said. In Slidell, ChiefExecutive Officer Sandy Badingersaid the Slidell Regional Cancer Center is adding four newcomprehensive care rooms to preparefor the ad-

JaclynIsabella,MD ColonandRectalSurgeon OchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenter BatonRouge

“Physicians on the care team typically takepartintumor boards in which theyreviewcomplex casesand collaborate on the best treatment approach. The treatmentteam canplay acrucialrole in identifying patients who arepotential matches forcancer clinical trials,which often provide accesstothe very latest innovations in treatment,”Dr. Isabella said.

By expanding the partnership,Ochsner MD Anderson

provides high-qualityclinical care and the largest clinical trials network in Louisiana and Mississippi to morepatients when and wheretheyneed it most.With the creation of Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center at Slidell Regional Cancer Center,Ochsner MD AndersonCancer Center locations arenow open in Slidell, BatonRouge, NewOrleans Covington, Kenner andGretna.

Cancerends, a newversebegins

WhenJonwasdiagnosedwithleukemia,hefoundstrengthintwoplaces—his loveofmusicandtheexpertcareteamatOchsnerMDAndersonCancerCenter. “Istartedgettingcarethereandwassoinlovewiththepeopleandtheprevailing attitudeofOchsner,whichishowIendedupwritingasong.”

OchsnerMDAndersondeliversadvancedcancercarerighthereinBatonRouge, offeringaccesstolife-savingclinicaltrials,innovativetherapies,morespecialists andmoreresourcesforpatients

Learnmoreatochsner.org/EndCancer

JonG. | CancerSurvivor