The Acadiana Advocate 06-01-2026

Lafayettestruggles to curb underagedrinking

Late-night revelers gather downtown on JeffersonStreet in Lafayette. Louisiana’salcohol laws allow18- to 20-year-olds to enter bars but not buy alcohol, aloophole that has complicated efforts to prevent underagedrinking. Enforcement has improved, but longtime cultural acceptance andbusinessinterestskeepthe issuepersistent in Lafayette’snightlifescene.

‘Ittakes time,’ officialssay,asnightlife

BY FAITHSCHOLL and KAYLA WOODS-CRANE

Contributing writers

Only months on the job as CEO of the Downtown Development Authority,Kevin Blanchard had already begun driving through downtown every morning, as he describes it, like aparent checking in on asleeping newborn.

On aSunday two years ago, it was not good.

Asteel fence surrounding thenewly opened playgroundatParc SansSouci was damagedalong Taylor Street. About 2:30 a.m., acar had crashed into it, got stuck and left tire marks on the street tryingtoback out

“Had there been children there,

theywould have run over somebody,” Blanchardsaid. “Weput so much time andenergy and effort trying to make things nice and thensomebody just doesthis. Thank God it was at 2:30 in the morning.”

Thanks to cameras nearby and a witness, police were able to make a quickarrest.The driver’sinsurance covered the costofthe damageand the fence was repaired.

The driver,however,was intoxicated and underage, police said.

Underage drinking remains deeply embedded in Louisianaculture and Lafayette nightlife, even as drinkinghabitsshiftand enforcement increases.

In Lafayette, where 18-year-olds can legally enter many bars but

New UL student leaderputting spotlightonnightlife safety PAGE 5A

not buy alcohol, officials, business owners andstudents say underage drinking remains common despite increased enforcementand shifting habitsamongyounger drinkers.

Between2021 andlate 2025, there have been 13 citationsissued to Lafayette bars for selling alcoholtoa person under the ageof21. That’s coupled with 67 given to convenience storesand other establishments that were cited in that span.

Multiple downtown Lafayette bar owners didnot respondtointerview

See DRINKING, page 5A

Sheriff’sOfficeretractsICE checkpoint details

Report:U.S.citizen detained afterID questioned

BY STEPHENMARCANTEL

Staff writer

The LafayetteParish Sher-

iff’s Office on Friday con-

firmedthatImmigration and Customs Enforcement de-

tained eight people during a May20checkpoint operation nearScottwhile disputing key details of areportthat aU.S citizen was detained In astatement issuedinresponse to an article published by TheLens, the Sheriff’s Officesaidinformation it initially providedtothe publication about the woman’s identification documents was inaccurateand that deputies didnot

accuse her of presentingfalse identification. Accordingtothe Sheriff’s Office, the checkpoint was established near the200 block of Herbert Road at the request of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and involved both ICEagents andLafayette Parish sheriff’s deputies.

Eight people were detained by ICE during theoperation including an alleged member

of the transnational gang MS13, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Another of thedetainees was awoman whom The Lens identified as aU.S. citizen born in Colorado. The publication reportedthat deputiesand ICE agents accused her of presenting forged identification documents before she was

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON Given the recent chaos at the Federal Emergency Management Agencyand last year’s reorganization at the Governor’sOffice of Homeland Security &Emergency Preparedness, some are fretting about what happens if oneof the two predicted hurricanes or tropical storms comes ashore in Louisiana this summer “Wedon’tknow if FEMA is prepared,” U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, said Friday.“There are vacancies and staff turnover in the same leadership positions, including multiple changes at the director level. Additionally,there was distrust of itsmissionbythe President and the first Secretary of Homeland Security We have to hope after the poor response to the flooding in Texas that they understand America needs aprepared and missionfocused FEMA.”

Landry maintains stance on issues

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

Threeyearsago,the administration of then-Gov.John Bel Edwards finished abroad plan to cut the state’sgreenhouse gas emissionsthrough 2050 and help industries transition to low-carbon production. Thatplanisstill technically on the books despite the state’sright-wing shift under Gov. JeffLandry, and lawmakers hoping to ditch it altogether arelearningthatdoing so is nota simple matter

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Cassidy Landry

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

U.S. strike on alleged drug boat kills 3

WASHINGTON The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Saturday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the fourth attack this week and putting the total death toll at 205.

U.S. Southern Command announced the strike with its usual language that the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence for the allegation.

It’s the latest in a monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

Video released by the military on social media shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it’s hit and engulfed in a fireball.

The attack brings the death toll to 205 in a series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with other attacks announced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S commander in Latin America.

Rains threaten to delay search for 2 in Laos

BANGKOK Heavy rains threatened to delay the search for two people missing in a flooded cave in Laos on Sunday, after the rescue of five other people who were trapped underground for over a week.

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi one of the first international rescuers to arrive at the site, told The Associated Press that rains had filled the cave up to the second chamber, preventing divers from entering the cave until pumps can lower the water level.

Making the situation even more difficult, a drainage pump broke down, said fellow diver Yoshitaka Isaji of Japan.

The seven villagers reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals such as gold before being trapped by a flash flood that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped and alerted the authorities.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together in the past week at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 75 miles north of the capital, Vientiane They were joined by divers from countries including Finland, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, France and Australia.

Several of the rescuers previously took part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand that saved 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave.

Man charged in killings of 3 people in Hawaii

HONOLULU Authorities in Hawaii have charged a 36-year-old man with murder in the killings of three people in a remote community known for its eclectic, communal lifestyle.

Jacob Daniel Baker was charged with counts of first- and second-degree murder Saturday, the Hawaii Police Department said in a news release.

Baker remained jailed without bond Sunday and police said his first court appearance was scheduled for Monday It was not immediately known if Baker had an attorney who could speak for him.

Charges in the killings came two days after police apprehended Baker following a manhunt on Hawaii’s Big Island, where the three victims were found in the rural Puna community known for its tropical landscape and free-spirited residents.

Robert Shine, 69, was found dead Monday partially submerged in a cement pond, according to police. The second victim, a 79-year-old man, was discovered Tuesday a few hundred feet away Friends identified him as Chitta Morse.

Ukraine hits Russian energy targets

Kyiv denies striking Kremlin-occupied nuclear plant

By The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine Kyiv on Sunday launched new strikes overnight on Russian energy sites. It has also denied Moscow’s claims that a Ukrainian drone struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian drones struck the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, causing a large-scale fire. It claimed the refinery has been supplying Moscow’s war effort.

The refinery belongs to Russia’s state oil enterprise, Rosneft Local Russian Gov Roman Busargin said Ukrainian drones had damaged civilian infrastructure, but did not give details Astra, an independent Russian news channel, said an oil refinery was on fire in the city of Saratov Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russia’s oil and gas facilities in recent months, arguing the energy sector funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year invasion.

“Tonight, our soldiers applied Ukraine’s long-range sanctions against an oil refinery in Saratov, Russia — approximately 435 miles from the front line A significant achievement,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Sunday.

Drone debris also set fire to a fuel depot in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, which borders Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, Gov Yuriy Slyusar reported on Telegram on Sunday He said residents of nearby homes were evacuated.

Ukraine’s General Staff on Sunday confirmed its forces were behind the strike on the facility in the town of Matveev Kurgan.

Local authorities said a drone strike on the depot had caused a large-scale fire across a wide area.

According to its General Staff, Ukraine also struck the Lazarevo pumping station in Russia’s Kirov region northeast of Moscow, more than 745 miles from Ukrainian-controlled land.

The station helps ship Russian oil from Siberia to Belarus.

Regional Gov Alexander Sokolov said drones had hit a facility in the Kirov region, without giving further details.

Kyiv denied that a Ukrainian drone struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday that the drone exploded after tearing a hole in the wall of a turbine hall. Rosatom’s CEO Alexei Likhachev accused Ukraine of a deliberate attack

“This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6, resulting in a detonation,” Likhachev said. He

added there was no damage to main equipment.

Ukraine’s military said it did not target or strike the plant, describing the Russian claim as “yet another propaganda ploy.” A military statement said that it adheres to international humanitarian law and is aware of the “consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities.”

Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — expressed “serious concern” in a post on X following the incident.

Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia plant in the early weeks of the war, and it remains close to the front lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, one of four Russia has formally annexed despite lacking full military control or international recognition for its actions. The nuclear plant has repeatedly come under fire since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, sparking fears of a nuclear accident. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for targeting the plant. In an interview broadcast Sunday Zelenskyy told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that Russia treats abducted Ukrainian children “essentially as combatants,” claiming Kyiv has evidence they are being trained to fight against fellow Ukrainians.

“They taught these children to hate their native country, to hate (their) native people. And Ukrainians, can you imagine, such young Ukrainians — young boys — come to the battlefield and kill (other) Ukrainians,” he said.

He also alleged that Russians have separated abducted Ukrainian siblings, adopting them out to different families, and offered to trade some children for captured Ukrainian soldiers in prisoner swaps.

The IAEA said in a statement Sunday that its inspectors at the plant “observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building” that was “consistent with the impact” of a drone. It gave no details of where the drone may have come from, but said radiation levels at the site remained normal. It added that its inspectors had requested access to the inside of the turbine hall for further examination.

Paris holds soccer victory parade after overnight clashes

BY SYLVIE CORBET and SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press

PARIS A huge crowd of supporters gathered peacefully near the Eiffel Tower on Sunday to celebrate Paris Saint-Germain’s second Champions League title victory, which was marred by violent clashes overnight across France and led police to detain hundreds of people.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 780 people were detained in Paris and other cities and 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalized shops overnight.

Nuñez said at a news conference on Sunday that “the situation has been largely brought under control.”

“Most of the celebrations took place peacefully” across the French capital, he said, noting most incidents happened in the Champs Elysees neighborhood and close to the Parc des Princes stadium, in western Paris, where fans

A car burns Saturday in Paris as supporters celebrate Paris Saint-Germain winning the Champions

soccer title against Arsenal.

had gathered to watch the match.

Fans began celebrating in Paris after the final whistle on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary, where Paris SaintGermain was crowned Champions League winners after beating Arsenal in a dramatic penalty shootout. Fans marched along the avenues near Paris’ Arc de Triomphe monument, with some setting off flares and blaring

car horns. Around 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Élysées, where police worked to contain the crowd.

Planned celebrations for the team’s win on Sunday afternoon at the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, went ahead as scheduled. Nunez warned that police would respond with “firmness and determination” to any potential violence.

With the Eiffel Tower

Blast at building storing explosives in Myanmar kills more than 45

BY GRANT PECK Associated Press

BANGKOK A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports.

About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township.

The area, located about 2 miles south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army an ethnic armed group which has en-

gaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s central government.

A rescue worker who rushed to the site of the blast told The Associated Press that 46 bodies, including six children, had been recovered by Sunday evening and taken for cremation.

The rescuer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said 74 injured people had been transported to the township hospital and rescue operations were continuing.

Another rescuer in Namhkam, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said about 40 people were killed and more than 100 houses near the blast site

were damaged.

Myanmar media outlets, including Shan State’s online Shwe Phee Myay news agency reported death tolls ranging from 50 to 55. They published photos and videos showing smoke from the explosion and damaged buildings and debris in its aftermath.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported the explosion caused multiple deaths and injuries, with manyresidentialhousesbeing severely damaged, but did not give figures.

It said that according to preliminary investigations, the blast occurred at a site where large quantities of explosives used for mining operations were stored.

as a backdrop, up to 100,000 supporters showed up at the event that was placed under high security measures. Returning from Budapest late, PSG players — led by captain Marquinhos, coach Luis Enrique and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi — were greeted by cheering crowds as the club anthem blared from loudspeakers. The players took turns lifting the trophy aloft, relishing their heroes’ welcome back home. The team was then host-

ed by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee presidential palace. Macron condemned the violence.

“I don’t want that we get used to it,” Macron said at the ceremony “This is not soccer, this is not sport, this is not what we love. We will be uncompromising with those who have been caught. We do not want to see this happen again. It’s over We’ve had enough. This must end.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy Service members with Ukraine’s defense intelligence set up drones to be used against Russian forces Thursday in an undisclosed location.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By THOMAS PADILLA

League

U.S., Iran trade drafts of peace proposal

Israel expands Lebanon assault

BY WENDY BENJAMINSON, DANA KHRAICHE and GALIT ALTSTEIN

Bloomberg News (TNS)

The U.S. and Iran traded messages over the weekend seeking changes to a draft agreement that would extend a ceasefire and open the Strait of Hormuz, but it was unclear if the sides were making much progress.

As the diplomatic exchanges continued, Israel expanded its ground assault in Lebanon, shattering a brittle truce with its northern neighbor

President Donald Trump hasn’t spoken on the subject of Iran since a White House Situation Room meeting Friday in which he said he expected to announce an agreement. In a social media post earlier that day he reiterated his demands, including that Iran suspend its nuclear program and fully restore the strait to its earlier status as a free, international waterway

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which has close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Sunday that amendments continue to be proposed by both sides, but noted that both the U.S. and Iran might ultimately reject the changes and the deal would collapse.

“Talks and message exchanges are ongoing, and until a definite result is reached, it is not possible to judge,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ab-

bas Araghchi said, according to Tasnim. “Everything being said now is speculation and should not be given importance.”

Meanwhile, Israel made its broadest incursion into Lebanon in a quarter-century as Hezbollah — Iran’s most powerful regional ally — stepped up attacks on Israel’s north.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired more than 300 “projectiles” at its soldiers in Lebanon and at northern Israel over the weekend The latest escalation has shattered a brittle ceasefire declared after the Tehran-backed group attacked Israel in response to its war on Iran, which it launched with the U.S. on Feb. 28.

Israel is not party to the talks between the U.S and the Islamic Republic and it’s not clear whether it will agree to stop its side war in Lebanon if the war in Iran is resolved.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said the military had planted its flag on the historic Beaufort castle near Nabatieh and that the expansion amounted to “a permanent presence” in the region.

On Saturday, Iranian state TV reported the existence of a new draft agreement, which it said gives the Islamic Republic “exclusive authority to determine the nature of transiting vessels” in the strait, a negotiating point the U.S. is unlikely to accept.

Colombia’s presidential election goes to runoff

BY MEGAN JANETSKY and ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press

Trump once said Iran and the U.S. could manage its traffic in a joint venture. This week, the U.S leader said that no one country would control the strait but that the U.S. would “watch over” it.

The draft also said the U.S. has committed to giving Iran access to $12 billion in frozen funds within 60 days, to be sent directly to Iranian banks without restrictions, according to Iranian TV, which added that the document was “unofficial” and not “finalized.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that an Iranian commitment to refrain from seeking a nuclear weapon — a longtime key point of conflict has been on the table in talks with the

U.S.

“This is the first time the Iranians have ever been willing in 47 years to discuss not having a nuclear weapon,” Bessent said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “Now it’s on the table for the first time thanks to President Trump.” Iran has repeatedly claimed since the 2015 nuclear deal made with the Obama administration that it was not pursuing a nuclear weapon. And in that deal, Iran agreed to cap uranium enrichment it said was for nuclear power and to ship its stockpile out of the country When Trump rescinded that deal in his first term, Iran returned to enriching uranium beyond what the Obama deal allowed.

Markets have been whipsawed by the abrupt turns in rhetoric, but hopes of a

ceasefire extension helped drive stocks toward a historic streak of weekly gains by week’s end, even as sporadic attacks occurred.

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, said Trump was willing to take an imperfect deal to ease Republicans’ growing worries about the congressional elections in the fall as voters are frustrated with rising energy prices.

“This is a deal about gasoline prices at the pump in the United States,” Bolton said on Bloomberg This Weekend. “Trump worries, obviously, about the price levels people are paying. He’s worried about the effect on inflation. He’s worried about the effect on the elections in November But this is not a deal that really ends the war in a satisfactory way for the United States.”

Bolton warned that allowing Iran’s government to remain in power would enable it to rebuild its military and nuclear capabilities. “If the Iranian regime is allowed to survive, which it looks like Trump is prepared to acknowledge, they will simply benefit from the reopening of the strait to sell more oil, gain more revenue, and entrench themselves in power,” he said.

An Iranian ballistic missile strike on a Kuwaiti air base in recent days caused minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaged two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones, according to a person with direct knowledge of the attack, who requested anonymity to describe details that aren’t public.

The missile was intercepted but falling debris hurt about five people, including contractors and active-duty personnel, the person said. One Reaper was destroyed and at least one other was seriously damaged. The drones cost about $30 million each.

U.S. Central Command didn’t respond to requests for comment on the attack.

The U.S Navy blockade policing the strait disabled a Gambia-flagged vessel heading to an Iranian port on Friday, the U.S. military announced on Saturday A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the engine room after the crew ignored more than 20 warnings, Central

WHO chief reports 5 Ebola recoveries

New treatment center opens in eastern Congo

BY JUSTIN KABUMBA and MARK BANCHEREAU Associated Press

While Cepeda coasted comfortably ahead in polls throughout the campaign, the senator and de la Espriella were neck-and-neck on Sunday night, which is likely to spell trouble in the June runoff, where de La Espriella is likely to scoop up many ofthevotersthatthrewtheir support behind Valencia. The election underscored two sharply diverging visions for the future of peace in a country marked by years of conflict. Voters across South America are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies — such as providing opportunities to young people and rooting out corruption, and solving security issues and have instead to heavy-handed security crackdowns like in El Salvador

BOGOTÁ, Colombia Toughon-crime lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and peacebuilder Iván Cepeda were leading the vote counts in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday, and are to face off in a runoff in the South American nation later in June. De la Espriella a newcomer known as “El Tigre, or “The Tiger,” — has sought to portray himself as a supporter of President Donald Trump, vowing to crack down on criminal groups. He leads the race with more than 43% of the votes after nearly 98% of the ballots were counted, Colombia’s electoral authorities said late Sunday He fell short of the 50% of votes needed to win in the first round of voting, something that may spell trouble for his path to the presidency Second is Cepeda, a progressive senator and an ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro who has promised to carry on a fraught push for “total peace.” Cepeda scooped up less than 41% of the vote. Paloma Valencia, a candidate for Colombia’s establishment party who pitched herself as a centrist, fell short of moving into the next round with less than 7% of the vote.

Newark sets curfew after clashes over DHS detention center

By The Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J

BUNIA, Congo Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday during a visit to Bunia in eastern Congo, a city at the heart of an outbreak.

“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.

“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” he added.

The WHO said Friday a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.

The health organization said authorities have reported 134 confirmed cases in Congo and neighboring Uganda, including 18 confirmed deaths as of May 29.

toms: medications to control vomiting, fluids to prevent dehydration and pain relievers. “That was all they could provide,” he said. He urged the public and healthcare workers not to dismiss early symptoms

such as vomiting and headaches, warning that misinformation leads many people to believe they have been poisoned rather than seeking hospital care.

Doctors Without Borders said Saturday the virus con-

tinues to spread faster than the response despite betterorganized health facilities and new aid arrivals. It called for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

The mayor of Newark imposed a curfew early Sunday around an immigration detention center in New Jersey after a series of intense clashes between protestors and police. The curfew around Delaney Hall will be in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further notice, Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement. The move came after another night of standoffs between law enforcement and demonstrators at the facility, as protestors could be seen in photographs and videos fighting over barricades as police used riot shields to push them back. A video posted on social media showed police on horseback marching into crowds attempting to break up groups of protestors. The high-profile demonstrations at Delaney Hall began earlier this month after advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, the latest hotbed of opposition over the federal government’s immigration crackdown

Baraka Bulambulu, one of those who recovered, told The Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from them, keeping their distance while delivering food and medicine.

He said the uncertainty was overwhelming, as he and other patients believed they might die without knowing what disease they had, though testing eventually confirmed Ebola.

New Jersey state police on Friday relieved federal immigration enforcement agents who had been facing off against protestors at the facility for days. In a statement Sunday morning, New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill said masked individuals attacked a barrier in a designated protest area set up by state police and were “throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.”

“Being able to come out of this alive is an immense source of happiness,” Bulambulu said. ”Many people who were in the same situation died.”

Ezo Étienne, a nurse, said his symptoms began during ward rounds when he suddenly felt dizzy, then rapidly deteriorated into vomiting, intense itching, severe diarrhea and extreme weakness. He was tested seven times before Ebola was confirmed. His treatment remained purely to treat the symp-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Smoke rises Sunday following an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon.

“Hurricane season starts Monday,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter Sr., D-New Orleans, also noting massive layoffs at FEMA and the lack of a full-time leader “Right now, we are at-risk of weakening FEMA and leaving Louisiana communities even more exposed when the next storm hits That is unacceptable.”

The National Hurricane Center expects fewer storms — eight to 14 — for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season than the 14 named storms that are usual One to three could become a hurricane. But the waters of the Atlantic Ocean are unusually warm, which could mean a large hurricane with catastrophic winds and high storm surges is possible.

ashore. FEMA comes in a few days later with search and rescue help, then with financial aid to help house the homeless, pay contractors to remove debris and reopen roads, as well as providing immediate needs such as diapers, food and clothing.

Louisiana already has prepositioned 390,528 meals ready to eat, enough for three days, and 693,252 16-ounce containers of water, Mahfouz said. In addition, 702,400 sandbags and 97,389 tarps are on hand.

The forward staging area is Esler Field, Alexandria’s regional airport run by the Louisiana National Guard

GOHSEP staged statewide exercises from April 14 to April 16, which included 414 participants from 38 agencies in 29 parishes, Mahfouz said.

Turmoil at FEMA

At least two of these weather events could come ashore in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s preparations

Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Friloux, who is in charge of the Louisiana Military Department which oversees the Louisiana National Guard and, as of last year, GOHSEP — and Louisiana National Guard Brig. Gen. Jason P. Mahfouz, who heads GOSEHP addressed a Louisiana Legislature Select Committee on Homeland Security on Tuesday, whose members were raising pretty much the same concerns as Cassidy, Carter and others.

“We’re prepared and we’ll always be prepared,” Friloux said.

FEMA is facing questions about how quickly the agency can respond following a year of job cuts, funding uncertainty, and President Donald Trump repeatedly saying the agency should be eliminated.

Since Trump took office in January 2025 for a second term, FEMA eliminated more than 5,000 employees, leaving just 12% of personnel to deploy for disasters to assist survivors and handle operations and recovery work.

Generally, local and parish emergency managers, coordinated by GOHSEP handle evacuations and power outages and the initial response when a storm comes

CLIMATE PLAN

Continued from page 1A

Landry, who has questioned human-caused climate change, has staked out a quiet middle ground — not supporting the plan’s emissions reductions but remaining open to related projects that his administration says have “broad support.”

This position has run headlong into rural and conservative opposition over carbon capture and sequestration, a method of mitigating climate change by injecting carbon dioxide emissions permanently underground.

LSU scientists say it is safe technology, and big Louisiana industries see it as a way to lower the carbon intensity of their fossil fuel-based operations without giving up on oil and gas. There are also major federal tax credits in place to support it. But critics worry about threats to groundwater, pipeline leaks and land rights infringements from the deep injection wells and their infrastructure. They are asking how Louisiana has gotten to the point where nearly three dozen carbon capture projects are up for review

“FEMA Region 6 has no permanent regional administrator, and the people of Louisiana are among those most at risk because of it,” U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said Friday referring to the FEMA administrative office that oversees Louisiana disasters.

“As one former FEMA official said, the agency is losing decades of institutional knowledge at the most critical time. For families in this district,

mise, he agreed to a resolution calling for an oversight hearing.

Owen said he wants to expose the “shenanigans” that led to the adoption of climate goals that, he says, give businesses a false impression of what Louisianans want.

“I’m trying to recalibrate where we are in this state,” he said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA

Cameron Hamilton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency testifies before the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security oversight hearing of FEMA on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 7, 2025.

that loss creates a real possibility of slower response times, delayed delivery of critical resources and a federal government that is simply not ready when people need it most.”

That direction recently changed with the March 24 appointment of Markwayne Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said Mark Cooper, the Baton Rouge consultant who was a member of the task force appointed by Trump to take a deep dive into FEMA operations.

“They’re certainly better prepared than they were last year,” Cooper said. For one thing, FEMA has started bringing back staffers who left the agency last year About 200 have been rehired, so far, accord-

ing to the agency’s website As a Republican senator from Oklahoma, Mullin backed a fundamental reorganization of the agency — rather than elimination — that would address the cost concerns by shifting much of the federal government’s responsibilities to the states. The FEMA Reform Council in May recommended changes in FEMA protocols that would deliver money to the states faster

Those suggestions are still a couple of years from being fully implemented, if accepted by Trump.

In the past couple of weeks, Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA. He still must be confirmed by the Senate And Mullin named Bob Fenton, another member of the president’s council, as the agency’s chief ad-

ministrator

Fenton had been a FEMA regional director with whom Cooper had worked when he headed GOSHEP under Republican Gov Bobby Jindal and was chief of staff to Democratic Gov John Bel Edwards.

“These actions that FEMA has taken since Markwayne Mullin came aboard tells you that they’re taking this hurricane season seriously,” Cooper added.

“Oh, we’re ready for hurricane season,” Fenton told CBS News on Wednesday “This is something we do every year It’s in our DNA.”

CBS was covering a drill inside FEMA Headquarters’ National Response Coordination Center FEMA staff, as well as officials from other federal agencies, such as the Department of Interior, and private organizations such as the American Red Cross, rehearsed what they would be called upon to do during a hurricane.

The practice scenario involved a hypothetical Category 2 hurricane coming ashore near the Cameron Parish community of Creole, according to CBS.

FEMA did not attend a conference earlier this year because its funding was shut off over a dispute about funding aggressive enforcement of immigration laws. Homeland Security also oversees the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But FEMA is organizing a faceto-face meeting beginning June 8 with emergency management directors from hurricane-prone states, according to Victoria L. Barton, a FEMA associate administrator

Usually the conferences are done electronically This time, FEMA officials and the directors are meeting in person to discuss preparedness and responses.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

Enter state Rep Charles “Chuck” Owen, R-Rosepine, a retired military intelligence officer, climate change skeptic and CCS critic. Owen has called for the repudiation of the 2022 Climate Action Plan.

Owen says the plan never received the Legislature’s scrutiny, commits to a Paris climate agreement that the second Trump administration dumped in January 2025 and remains a justification cited in permits for CCS projects he opposes.

Earlier this month in a compro-

DETAILS

Continued from page 1A

transported to an immigration detention center in Basile.

“An ongoing internal review of the encounter found no evidence that deputies on scene ever questioned the authenticity of the presented documents and no claims were made as to the validity of her ID,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Valerie Ponseti wrote in an email. “Unfortunately, unverified information contradicting this detail was initially provided to the online publication by our office.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the woman approached a vehicle safety checkpoint near the 200 block of Herbert Road on May 20 carrying identification documents and a

Owen said he wants to shift to a more full-throated endorsement of oil and gas development, though he isn’t opposed to renewable projects that can stand on their own economically The House Natural Resources and Environment Committee would hold the hearing, possibly this fall, the committee chairman has said The panel includes members skeptical of climate change and oppose CCS, but also has a separate majority which has blocked most bills to bar or limit CCS. The technology is drawing billions of dollars in new industrial investment to Louisiana, and these members see it as critical for oil, gas and petrochemical industries, including the fast-growing LNG industry to make low-carbon products sought in Europe and Asia.

The hearing could put these legislators in the position of defending some of the plan’s proposed solutions while not endorsing the science behind climate change itself.

State Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, who sits on the committee, said there’s no question in her mind that the climate has been changing, but she isn’t sure it is tied to manmade emissions versus natural cycles.

Domangue, 43, said she grew up in a family that lived off the shrimping industry and struggled through the oil bust of the 1980s. Her votes to protect carbon capture are aimed at supporting her oil and gas-reliant district in Ter-

cellphone. When she indicated she did not speak English, a nearby ICE agent took over the encounter, and deputies had no further contact with her

The Sheriff’s Office said no deputies questioned the authenticity of the woman’s identification, demanded documentation or participated in her detention.

The Lens reported the woman was detained by ICE for about five hours after deputies and ICE agents accused her of presenting forged identification documents.

The publication reported she had a sick child at home and was released after an attorney provided documentation confirming her citizenship.

Friday’s statement contradicted information previously provided by the Sheriff’s Office to The Lens. In an interview with The

rebonne Parish, she said.

She said countries want low-carbon products from wherever they can find them, and worries what kind of message killing the climate plan would send.

“I know that companies are watching every piece of legislation that’s coming out of this body, and they’re watching, and they want to make sure that we’re continuing to move towards the goal of these low-carbon emissions, whether we like it or not,” Domangue said.

‘Not going away’

Since 2018, about $100 billion in CCS-related projects have been proposed for Louisiana, state economic officials say “Whether Trump likes it or not, whether I like it or not, this is where we are. This is the world that we’re living in. It’s not going away,” Domangue added.

A consensus developed by years of scientific study has concluded the climate is warming from manmade emissions from burning fossil fuels. Seas have been rising for years, a change expected to sharpen in the coming decades in Louisiana, driven by warming temperatures and land subsidence.

Domangue’s coastal district near Houma could see between 3.3 feet and 8.5 feet sea level rise by 2100, according to projections from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Developed from a consensus of industry, environmental groups, scientists and others meeting publicly over 15 months, the 2022 Climate Action Plan laid out the scale of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Called for in the United Nations Paris climate agreement, “net zero” is meant to keep global temperatures from rising further than they have already during the world’s industrial era.

The state plan doesn’t have the

Lens, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Chris Cormier said the woman presented a “phony ID” and was turned over to ICE because she could not prove her citizenship.

On Friday, however, the Sheriff’s Office said that account was incorrect.

“To imply that deputies acted in violation of an individual’s constitutional rights and accused a citizen of falsifying identification or that children were abandoned during a law enforcement interaction is misleading, and simply untrue,” Ponseti wrote in the email.

The Sheriff’s Office did not clarify whether deputies were ever informed that the woman was a U.S. citizen after her release. The Sheriff’s Office also did not explain what prompted ICE to detain the woman. Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark

force of law, but anticipates emissions reductions through CCS, coastal protection, increased industrial electrification, more efficient gas-fired power plants and several other methods.

‘Sky would not fall’

Charles Sutcliffe, Louisiana’s first chief resilience officer under Edwards, said his task force to develop the plan included legislative appointees and demonstrated that a consensus could be reached from diverse interests and “that Louisiana could speak the words ‘climate change’ out loud and the sky would not fall.” Development of the plan’s science-based recommendations “involved over 140 experts and nearly 50 public meetings,” he added.

“It also showed that by doing that hard work, we could attract billions of dollars in federal grants to both reduce our disaster risk and improve our infrastructure, and we could send a signal to the private sector that Louisiana was ready to lead the next generation of energy production just like it had the last,” said Sutcliffe, now a senior resilience adviser with the National Wildlife Federation.

“And we could do it all with an eye on improving people’s health and lives I am not sure which parts of that need repudiating.”

As CCS storage and CO2 pipeline projects have begun to roll out, however, the usual political dynamic around environmental issues has been scrambled, with left-leaning environmental groups finding uneasy common cause with rural conservatives generally in favor of oil and gas to oppose CCS.

Louisiana’s oil and gas industry and chemical sectors are also defending CCS, not so long after oil majors spent decades casting doubt on climate change.

On Edwards’ way out in 2023, he expressed hope that Landry would stick with the plan Landry hasn’t formally acted to undo it, and his administration has regularly lauded new economic development with CCS or other low-carbon components.

But, in testimony earlier this month before the House environment committee, Dustin Davidson, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Energy, disavowed the plan’s emissions reduction goals. He said the state doesn’t use the plan to guide “environmental policy decisions.” He also didn’t oppose repudiating the state plan. But he warned about climate mitigation projects in the plan, pointedly noting a biomass power plant that Owen supports for his House district.

“There are certain things in there that the state has had broad support over, so it’s very critical that we understand everything that’s in it before we go out and say, ‘Throw all this out. Let’s not do anything that’s in here,’” Davidson said May 6.

Those comments elicited a response from Owen that he supports some of the projects in the plan, including the one in his district, but believes the overall blueprint should have had legislative review

State Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, who backs a CCS-tied project in his district, suggested an oversight hearing to lay out “the pros and cons.”

The next week, the House environment committee backed a resolution from Owen calling for that hearing. House Resolution 274 cleared the House on Wednesday without opposition.

The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association and Louisiana Chemistry Association, which favor carbon capture, did not respond to requests for comment. The Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club, which opposes carbon capture, opposed Owen’s resolution.

Garber said in February that neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security would dictate how immigration enforcement is conducted in the parish. He also said his agency did not intend to conduct immigration sweeps, introduce checkpoints or randomly question people.

Three months later, deputies participated in a vehicle safety checkpoint established at the request of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Garber signed two 287(g) agreements with ICE in December. The 287(g) program authorizes ICE to give state and local law enforcement agencies the authority to perform immigration officer functions under ICE direction and oversight. At the time, Cormier said day-to-

day operations would not change under the agreement.

“This would allow field officers to be able to execute certain things, but we’re not going on raids and special operations or anything,” Cormier said in January Participation in ICE’s 287(g) program has grown rapidly, with more than 1,000 agreements signed by September, according to ICE.

The Sheriff’s Office’s agreement with ICE isn’t the first in the state, and it isn’t the first in Acadiana. Nearly 30 agencies at the state and city levels have signed agreements with ICE during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office. In Acadiana, the Gueydan and Arnaudville police departments have both signed agreements.

Carter

Fields

Owen

NewULstudent leader puttingspotlight on nightlifesafety

BY DEAN BOUDREAUX

Contributing writer

Emily Lamkinhas seen both sides of the bar top.

Ajunior at the Universityof Louisiana at Lafayette, Lamkin spends her weekends working behind the counter at Marley’s, one of downtown Lafayette’smore popular hangouts. She knowsthe wristband system, the scanner at the door and the unspoken rules that keep abusy Friday night moving. She also knows what happens

when those systems fall short. “Fake IDs don’treally work in Lafayettebecause not alot of people have them, so it’s kindofobvious,” shesaid. “At leastthat’swhat the door guys have told me.”

Lamkinsaid guests get IDs scanned at the door and servers rely heavily on acolor-coded wristband system to determine who can be served. Lafayette still has issues with underage drinking.Manybars operate under an 18-and-up ad-

mission policy, whichLamkin said creates its own complications

Sherecalled atime when Marley’srequired 18-year-olds to show a high school graduation photoalongside theirID because management simply didnot want high schoolers on the floor “Evenifyou’re 18 and still in high school, we just don’twanthigh schoolers in thebar,” she said. Lamkinwas elected president of UL’s student government as-

sociation in the spring on aplatform centered on sexual assault prevention and nightlife safety Hercampaign included apush for campus-distributedUber vouchersand cup covers —small adhesive lids designed to prevent drink tampering. The initiative, she said, was about meeting students halfway “It’snaive to assume it’snot going to happen anyway,” Lamkin said. “I believe it’smyjob as a student representative to protect students from things that are already going to happen.”

The issue, shesaid, is personal Before working at Marley’s, she once pulledherself outofline to enter the popular downtown night spot after she saw an intoxicated woman slumpedagainsta building across the street.

She found the woman’sboyfriend’snumber in her phone, called him and waited until he arrived.

“I’m not always going to be theretodoit,” Lamkinsaid. “But when we have open conversations on this campus, it becomes easier to start protecting each other.”

requests for this story

According to Sally Leger manager of Lafayette Consolidated Government’s alcohol and noise controldivision, the lower numberof citations prior to 2023 was due to staffing issues. Underage drinking in Lafayette, she said,isstillan issue.

“Our goal is to bring it undercontrol,” said Leger, who has been in her job for 12 years. “We’ve been working on it. It just takes time. It’snot something we can handle overnight.”

Howwegot here

Debate regarding the state law on minimum drinking age dates back 40 years, when,amid anational push to raise it to 21, state lawmakers did just that.

Sort of.

In an effort to curbdrunken driving, the National TransportationSafety Board in the early 1980sordered all states to raise the drinking age to 21 or lose federal highway dollars. Louisiana was reportedly the 49th to actwhen it raised to minimum age to 21 in 1987, but it carved out exceptions to allow bars and retailers to continuetosell alcohol to those ages 18-20.

It wasn’tuntil 1995 that lawmakers closed the loophole but still allowed for that age group to enter bars

Slidell Police Chief Ben Morris said after the loophole was closed: “The old law let us arrest the children but not those whosold them thealcohol. That made no sense.”

Today,Louisiana’salcohol laws are some of the least restrictive in the country It’sone of four states with family and location exceptions for underage drinking Louisiana haslong had a relationship with underage drinking, and many pointto thechangemadeinthe law in the 1990s that raised the minimum drinking age to 21 but still allowed 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds to enter bars.

“The underage are allowed to go into bars and nightclubs,” Leger said.“It makes it easier for them to obtain the alcohol from theirfriendspurchasingit for them.

“In my opinion, (the law) makes it easier for them to get access to it. Iwish it would be 21 (to enter). It would just make everything alot easier.But it’sastate law,and it is what it is.”

Debate aboutthe law

resurfaced in 2023 after Madison Brooks, a19-yearold LSU student, died after anight of drinking at abar just off campus. Police said she left with four people and was later rapedand left in a neighborhood nearwhere she wasfatallystruck by a vehicle.

Thecase renewedscrutiny of Louisiana’salcohol laws after surveillance footage showed Brooks visibly intoxicated before leaving thebar

The case was enough to spur state Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, to file legislation months later.She tried to raise the legalage to enter abar to 21 and increase fines forthose whoserve underage patrons. Mizell worked on the legislation for two years. It never got out of committee.

“I got none of it done,” she said. “There was not really even aconversation. The lobbyists for alcohol didn’t even talk to me because they didn’thave to. It was adone

deal.”

After pushback from lawmakers, she reviseditthree times, first requiring only bartenders to be over21, then mandating ID scanners in bars and ultimately increasingpenalties for bars that failed Alcoholand Tobacco Control inspections Opponents of thebill cited age discrimination and unfair burdens on bars. Mizell said thereal issue wasbars profiting from underage patrons.

“Even if you can’tprove we have an underage drinking problem, the perception is there,” shesaid In Lafayette, some bars have mandatedpatrons be at least 21. In two recent requests for alcoholpermits downtown, Lafayette Consolidated Government put in stipulations that no one under21would be allowed entry Among downtown bars, Legends does notallow anyone under 21, but others allow 18- to 20-year-olds and use bracelets or other methods so staff can easily identify them.

In midcity Lafayette, patrons must be 21 years old to enter The Yard Goat, apopular beer garden with outdoor seating that opened in 2024. On busiernights, they use an ID scanneralong with support from the Lafayette Police Departmenttohelp workers check IDsatthe door.

“Let them go experiment on somebodyelse’splace while they figure out how to drink correctly and mature alittle bit,” co-owner Rusty White said. “That’sa certain demographic, agewise, that I’m not interested in. There’sotherplaces that thrive on that. That’sjust not what we do.”

What’s goingon

Bailey Nguyen is asenior at theUniversity ofLouisiana at Lafayette andis amember of UL’s School LeadersInvolvedinDrinkingand Drug Education.

She also grew up in Lafayette and said going to the bar

was arite of passage when she turned 18.

“Weeasily showed the ID, and then it was 18,” she said.

“Wegot awristband, and we still got alcohol.”

Howprevalent that remains an issue in Lafayette is unclear.Federal data shows millions of Ameri-

cansages18-34 are choosing not to binge drink, and data compiled by Bank of America shows Gen Zcustomers are spending less on alcohol and more on fitness and activehobbies instead.

inflation —toits lowest total since 2020, whenmany of them were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Lafayette Economic Development Authority

Yetthe issue remains a challenge for those working with students. Sherri Hebert, alicensed addiction counselor at Victory Addiction Recovery Center in Lafayette, said underage people might drink because of peer pressure, mental health or the Louisiana culture

“It’sareallybig cultural issue,” she said. “A cultural issue makes it an issue for underage drinking. That’s my opinion andthat’swhat we see.”

In Lafayette, visits last year to fourdowntown bars— Nitetown, Marley’s, Rooftop116 andLegends dropped 14.8% compared with 2023, according to data obtainedbythe Downtown Development Authority

Datafrom The Officewas unavailable Sales at all bars and nightclubs in Lafayette last year fell —despite stubborn

Aboutthis project: This story was part of a semester-long project by University of Louisiana at Lafayette journalism majors Kayla Woods-Crane and Faith Scholl. Woods-Crane, aRuston native, graduated May 15. She plans to return to UL to pursue an MBA. Scholl, aNew Orleans native, also graduated May 15. She plans to move to Houston after graduation. Dean Boudreaux, aUL journalism student and Slidell native, contributed. Acadiana business editor Adam Daigle oversaw the project.

Lamkin

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK ALafayette policeunit blocks alaneonJefferson Street recently as late-night revelers walk between bars in downtown Lafayette

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Bill raises penalties for attacking teachers

Students would be expelled, get anger management classes

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Louisiana schools must take stricter disciplinary action against students who attack public school employees under a bill the Legislature passed last week that requires districts to expel students found guilty of assault.

The House voted 98-0 Wednesday to approve a final version of House Bill 283 by Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, which mandates that students who assault a school employee be automatically expelled for at least two semesters and undergo anger management classes The measure, which now heads to Gov Jeff Landry to be signed into law, also allows teachers who are assaulted to use up to a year of their sick leave for medical and psychological treatment or

Auction to have items from La. dynasty

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN

Staff writer

Items from the collections of two matriarchs in Lake Charles’ Stream dynasty, including Fabergé flowers, Cartier clocks, Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Diego Rivera paintings, will soon be up for auction.

For decades, Louisiana’s Gray Stream family has been known for entrepreneurial achievements in landholdings, conservation efforts energy and timber businesses, philanthropy and world-renowned art and antique collections

Two particular women in the family, Matilda Geddings Gray (March 18, 1885-Feb. 26, 1971) and her niece Matilda Gray Stream (March 23, 1924-Oct. 14, 2023), amassed large collections throughout their times

Their pieces are now being sold by international auction house Christie’s, with proceeds, which could be hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, going to their descendants.

“The two Matildas, not only did they appreciate beauty, but they were also risk-takers,” Christie’s Americas Deputy Chairman Capera Ryan said. “Matilda Geddings Gray was buying Fabergé before anybody in America really knew what Fabergé was, so she was collecting these objects at a time when a lot of people were not even familiar with Fabergé. So to have these pieces come to market is a very exciting moment in the global art market.”

A Treasured History: The Stream Family Collection will be available through a live auction on June 10 in New York City and an accompanying online sale open for bids through June 17 at Christie’s.

“I just think it’s a really special moment because it’s one of the great American stories of collecting, and you have these two women from Louisiana who were collecting on an incredible scale with incredible thought and an incredible eye, and buying the best of the best,” Ryan said “Now is the opportunity for Christie’s to share that story with the world of these two incredible women who were such visionary women in their collecting, and they took risks, and they knew what they liked, and they had an eye for beauty.”

Ryan said that at Christie’s and overall in the auction world, there is a trend of people wanting to collect items that are “new and fresh,” rare finds with great quality and provenance.

Geddings Gray built her collection and then mentored her young niece, bringing her along to become a visionary and collector in her own right, Ryan said.

In fact, Geddings Gray was friends with Diego Rivera and introduced Gray Stream to him and Frieda Kahlo, where she sprouted friendships with them both.

“We’re selling a precious little Diego Rivera that was in the collection, which I think is really special, because she actually knew Diego Rivera,” Ryan said. The auction also includes a 49.91-carat diamond ring, which Ryan said is affectionately known as a tugboat diamond. Some other sale highlights are a Cartier ruby,

physical rehabilitation.

On Friday, the House passed a related bill by Newell House Bill 133, which deals with criminal penalties for assaulting teachers. Under the bill, students convicted of battery against teachers face a minimum of six months in prison or juvenile detention without eligibility for parole or probation.

Known as the “Teacher’s Shield Act,” HB283 underwent changes

after advocates expressed concerns. Initially the bill created a neartotal ban on allowing students to return to the same school after an assault. But after pushback from rural districts that said they have few alternative placement options for expelled students, lawmakers revised the legislation to allow students to return to the same school when a district has no other school

“of suitable grade level” to send them to.

Lawmakers also updated the proposal to only apply to off-campus assaults of employees by students that are “a continuation of” incidents that began on school property Some advocates pushed for the change, saying the original wording gave school systems too much authority over students’ actions outside of school.

“I’m fine with the bill’s final form

10-bed Cameron home lists for $31.8M

18,300-acre reserve is most expensive La. residence on Zillow

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

A “pristine coastal landmark” with 10 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms is the most expensive “single-family residence” listed on Zillow in Louisiana.

The Cameron Meadows Conservation Reserve, 1222 Cameron Meadows, in Cameron is listed on Zillow with a price tag of $31.8 million.

“Nestled south of Lake Charles in the heart of Cameron Parish is one of Louisiana’s most important privately-held coastal ecosystems,” the reserve’s website states. “Encompassing 18,302 acres of wild and restored marsh in the Mississippi Flyway, it represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for conservation stewardship. This legacy property comprises a world-class habitat offering the chance to protect and enhance one of

the last great expanses of intact Louisiana marshland.”

In the middle of the reserve, there is a 17,000-square-foot, storm-engineered lodge that is designed for durability and comfort. The property also has an inland warehouse, according to Zillow “These facilities provide the ideal base for habitat management, ecotourism, waterfowl hunting operations, or research initiatives,” the Zillow post reads. “This exceptional tract has benefited from significant Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority investment, resulting in blue-carbon-rich grasses, diverse wetland hydrology and vital nursery habitat for fish and wildlife. These ecological features make it a powerhouse for biodiversity and climate resilience while offering sustainable use potential.”

The lodge, which was built in 2008, also has a commercial kitchen, a living area with a grand fireplace, two bars, a mudroom, an elevator, a crab

ABOVE: Connie Boustany and her grandson John Luke Mims, 4, shop for daylily bulbs at the Daylily Festival on Saturday at Magdalen Square in Abbeville.

LEFT: Shoppers carry hanging plants around the festival.

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

The combination of a CPR class that had been rescheduled multiple times and an instructor who happened to arrive early may have saved the life of a Lake Charles charter school official in late April. Lake Charles City Council member Donald Fondel had organized some lessons for students at Lake Charles College Prep on April 29. Acadian Ambulance paramedic Cody White showed up at the school early to teach the classes. However, as he walked into the

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE

Don’tignore otherthreats to ourvoting rights

Lost amid the recent Callais decision and suspension of the U.S. House election, as April drew toa close, was another disturbing attack on voting rights in Louisiana. At ahearing on stateSen.Jeremy Stine’sSenate Concurrent Resolution 31 ”memorializing” Congress to amend key provisions of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (known as the“Motor Voter Act”), Secretary of StateNancy Landry testified on the resolution’ssupposed merits. Those provisions wouldremove voter registration from theOffice of Motor Vehiclesand other public assistance agencies that are required to offer voter registration information underNVRA Section7.Inpart, the proposal seems of apiece with recentlaws tasking OMVs and assistance agencies with citizenshippolicing mandates to rid the electoral system of the approximately two people ayear who have registered and managedto cast avote in Louisiana since 1980. This is theongoing solution in search of a problem that has preoccupied the secretary At acrucial point in the testimony,Landry said that these registration sites are not necessary in atechnological era, that much has changed since 1993 andthat people can go online to register themselves.

This misses the important signaling function that providing voter registration in public agencies conveys about the civic importanceofvoting. It alsomisses that Louisiana ranks 46th in household access to high-speed, reliable, affordable internet (475,000 without). Landry said they could go to apubliclibrary But her testimony alsofailed to note that Louisiana ranks47thin literacy (20% illiterate). Even if people have internet access, illiteracy might prevent them from registering.

This is why voter registration should continue to be offered in places where trained public workers can assist them. Missingthat suggests thatthe secretary is either ignorant of or unconcerned about the needs of Louisianavoters.

M. CHRISTIAN GREEN president, League of Women Voters of Louisiana

YOUR VIEWS

THEADVOCATE.COM/opinions

Youthsportscomplexes abound, butwhatabout swimming in La.?

I’m writinginresponse to therecent article in thenewspaper highlighting thegrowth and support of youthsportscomplexes in the Lafayettearea, particularly theYoungsville andBroussard sportscomplexes. It’s commendablethat thesecommunity and local government-supported sportscomplexes with many,many fields and courts have been aboon for youth participation in multiple sports such as baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball. However,one traditional sport that has been consistently left out of these Louisiana sportscomplexes and has received very little local government support froma facility standpoint is competitive swimming, especially when compared to other southeastern states and their communities

Ihavebeen involved with Louisiana competitive swimmingfor over 40 years as a participant, parent, coach and official, and the difference is glaring as Louisiana’scompetitive swimming facilities have aged over thelast several decades. Louisianaingeneral, and Lafayette specifically,severely lag

behind other southeastern states and their communities in providing amodern indoor natatorium witha50-meter (Olympic-sized) pool, adequatespectator seatingand locker roomsfor athletes. Current natatorium facilities in Sulphur,Shreveport andeven theLSU Natatorium in Baton Rouge are inadequate venues to hold large-scale swimmingmeets held by Louisiana’shigh schools and USA Swimming club teams that involve hundreds of athletes and their spectator families

The positive economic impact of large swimming meetswith swimming teams from around thestate is similar to that of other youth sports.

Youthcompetitive swimming in Louisiana, and specifically Lafayette, centrally located as Louisiana’s“Hub City,”deserves at least onemodern competition pool and natatorium facility supported by thecommunity and local government. As theadagegoes, if you build it,they will come.

DR. DONALD BALHOFF Lafayette

Companiesrepaytaxpayer generosity with high utilitybills

My Entergy bill in May was $961. Nearly a thousand dollars just to keep thelights on in southLouisiana —inastate that powers the nation. This morning, Iclimbed ontomysolar-powered schoolbus, opened my laptop andtook my meetings powered directly by the sun. My Zoomcalls ran off thesame Louisiana heat that Entergycharges us to survive under.

Somewhere between conversations about “energyaffordability” and “grid resilience,” Ikept thinking: Why are everyday residents carryingthis burdenwhile massive oil and gasfacilitiescontinue receiving enormous taxexemptions through Louisiana’sIndustrial TaxExemption Program?

Politicians playing costly gameswith ourelections

Youwould think that the governor and attorney general of our state would be working to protect the rights of our citizens. Instead, they are playing games with our fundamental right to vote. First, they delay voting on House Congressional races so they can redraw the lines to eliminate amajority Black voting district, even though Black folks makeupathird of the population of our state and should have at least the possibility of equivalent representation in Congress. But wait, they still ran the Senate primary so they could knock off their least favorite Republican, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.Now we have to pay formultiple elections just to try and get the “right” kind of folks in Congress. At the sametimethey are wasting money on this, they claim to be saving New Orleans money by eliminating the clerk of Criminal District Court position. What alie! Their bill increases the costs of what New Orleans currently shells out. It’s clear these twoalways hated Calvin Duncan because he is the personification of someone overcoming justice denied in asouthern state. Ireally hope Duncan’slawsuit prevails, but in reality,weall deserve better in Louisiana than to have to sue to keep our voting rights.

When they are committing such blatant violations of our basic rights and lying about their intent, how can the governor and attorney general look at themselves in the mirror and not feel shame?

THOMAS SHEPLEY NewOrleans

Trumpisthe greatest,compared to what came before

I’mwriting in regard to John Michael Lockhart letter published May 2. In it, he says presidential historians rank President Donald Trumpasthe worst president in American history.Hegoes on to cite the usual Democrat talking points said about Trump. As Iwrite this letter,Trumphas served almost 16 months of his second term.How can these so-called historians rank him worst with twoand ahalf years lefttoserve?

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR

AREWELCOME.HEREARE

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

We are told the grid is strained, aging and vulnerable. But how can we modernize it when someofthe largest industrial users and wealthiest corporations on earth —are notcontributing their fair share towardthe infrastructure communities rely on?

In southwest Louisiana, we live surrounded by pipelines, export terminals, flare stacks and power plants. We sacrifice our wetlands, fisheries, healthand sense of safety in the name of economic development.Yet residents are still left choosing between groceries and electric bills during increasingly brutal heatwaves. The irony is impossible to ignore: Communitiesproducing immense energy

wealthare struggling to afford energy themselves.

My little solar bus is not going to solve Louisiana’senergy crisis. But it reminds me another future is possible —one where resilienceislocal, communitiesare invested in and ordinary people are not subsidizing billion-dollar industries while being told to simply use less electricity.

Louisiana deserves agrid built for people, not just profit

ALYSSA PORTARO director, Habitat RecoveryProject

Now Ihave no idea what planet Lockhart wasliving on during former President Joe Biden’sterm of office. I’mnot ahistorian, but Biden will go downinAmerican history right behind Jimmy Carter as the second worst president in American history

Aletter to the editor on May 9, “Trump correctly assessed danger of anuclear Iran,” was of the opinion that President Donald Trump, in hisinfinitewisdom, knew that negotiating withradicals was not going to work. He might have known that total submission

is anonstarter.Hehad abig toy to play with and an eager friend to enjoy it with him

The radicals didn’tsubmit.They had a strengththat was beyond Trump’s intelligence to use: strategy

KATHLEEN FISCHER NewOrleans Iran’s radicals didn’t submit,theyusedstrategyinstead

Under Biden, inflation reached 9%. Under Biden, millions of illegal immigrants crossed our border Under Biden, new mothers could not find diapers fortheir newborn babies. Under Biden, gas wentover $4 agallon. Under Biden, 13 American Marines lost their lives. Under Biden, millions in military equipmentwere lefttoour enemies. He couldn’teven ride abike. In other words, this man was too incompetent to be president. I’m acollege-educated U.S. Armyveteran of sound mind whovoted for Trumpinthe last three elections. I also think President Trumpwill go downinhistory as one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had.

PAUL DEMOUY Gonzales

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Players on the Broussard youngsville youth Association team chat as theylook out onto the field while waiting for the startofatournament.

If La.climatecrisiswereamovie

“The Good, The Scared and The Dangerous.” If amovie were made about Louisiana today,that would havetobeits title.

The reasons are obvious in the statements below and their authors.

TheGood

of research important to humankind. It’sthe same way physicians must be honestwithpatients.

“Imagine you’re adoctor and you find out this patient has terminal cancer.Does that mean you’re just going to decide this person doesn’t want to hear and talk about (it),soI should be quiet?”

That was Törbjorn Törnqvist, the Tulane professor and noted researcher who coauthoredarecent paper that made global headlines like this one in The Guardian: “‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sealevel, study finds.’”

It wasn’taTulane paper,but one produced by Törnqvist and fellow climate experts while he was on sabbatical and published in “Nature Sustainability.”

The authors concluded that leaders should develop planstorelocate thecity over the coming decades becauseresearch shows that by 2100, sea level rise and subsidence could make New Orleans aleveed island surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico. This shouldn’tsurprise anyone keeping up with rapidly evolving climate science. Indeed,some of the worst-case scenarios give us even less time.

Törnqvist and his team were only being true to akey responsibilityof scientists, especially those receiving public funding: Sharing the findings

The study doesn’tsay we have to start packing now

It says we muststart planning now if we are to have ameasured and affordable withdrawal from alocation that eventually will be indefensible.

In military terms, it’sthe difference between waiting behind crumbling defenses to be routed or saving lives and resources with a managed retreat to asafer location.

TheScared

“Rather thanscience, the study is an ideologically driven policy argument dressed in the guiseofgeological inevitability.”

That was from aletter to The Guardian about the study from Michael Hecht,the CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., anonprofit business economic development organization.

It’snosurprise someone paid to bring businesses to this area would want to downplay its problems. But Hecht should have left thecriticism of ascientific paper to qualified scientists.

Anddoes he really supposesharp businesses will not already know how vulnerable we are? They can read insurance rates just like local homeowners.

Abetter reply would be to highlight suggestions in thepaper that Louisiana has the time and experience to design projects to slow thechange, as well as the scientific chops to develop amanaged relocation —perhaps developing aplan other coastal areas could copy

Oh,and maybe he could address theproblem causing this crisis:fossil fuel emissions.

ButHecht reacted theway most Louisianians have since theimpacts of climate change became obvious: Downplay the threat, deny it or ridicule the science because they are scared of the facts, when we really need courage to face achallenging future.

TheDangerous

“It’sabout building projects. We don’tneed to study anything. If we have to study something, Iought to be runoff.”

That was from Gordon Dove, now in charge of Louisiana’sComprehensive Master Plan for aSustainable Coast. He’snot ascientist, but aformer politician from Terrebonne Parish. He was appointed to his post by theU.S. Special Envoy to Greenland, aka Gov.Jeff Landry Theseare thetwo politicians who hijacked the world-renowned scientific plan and killed sediment diversions because they’re smarter than theexperts. They now plan for a94mile “land bridge” Dove doesn’tneed to study for Theseare theparadoxes of today’s Louisiana. We develop brilliant coastal science that scares those who should put it to usewhile it’s ignored by thehubris and narcissism of know-nothing politicians

What could go wrong?

BobMarshall, aPulitzer Prizewinning Louisiana environmental journalist, can be reached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com, and followed on X, @BMarshallEnviro.

Democrats’

The Democrats couldn’tcomplete their term paper,but handed it in anyway because too many people were wondering what had become of it.

Under pressure, the DNC finally released its autopsy of the 2024election, after rampant speculation about what it contained and why it hadn’t yet been made public. Did it include references to Gaza or didn’tit? Why or why not? What explosive revelationswere being kept from us?

doubt on its claims. Andthe report doesn’thave aconclusion.

It turns out that the autopsy is a thoroughly unimpressive, unfinished document that, in the sheer incompetence in its drafting andhandling, says more about the low state of the current Democratic Partythan any of its analysis.

The DNC Chairman Ken Martin maintains that he delayed so long because he didn’twant tocreate a distraction by releasing apoorly done report, which sounds like atypical Washington excuse for hiding something.

Except it wasn’t.

Once everyone sawthe report,they realizedMartin was right about the embarrassingly poor handiwork of his own outfit.

At the start, the autopsy contains adisclaimer that “the DNC was not provided with the underlying sourcing, interviews or supporting data for many of the assertions contained herein and therefore cannot independently verify the claims presented.” Then,throughout the document, there are hostile annotations casting

TheDemocratswould have been better off going with ChatGPT

That said, the report acknowledges that Democrats are out of touch and too dependent on the Republicans making poor candidate choices (something the GOP just did again in its Texas Senate primary with the Trump-endorsed, scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton).

It notes how Trump’sthey/them ad hitting Kamala Harrisontransissues wasdevastating and unanswerable.

It recognizes that Harrisdidn’t do enough to separate herselffrom Bidenand makeanaffirmative case for herself rather than relying on voters supposedly considering Trump unacceptable. On the otherhand, it fails to grapple with the issues of inflation and immigration(except to complain about Harris being given arole with some responsibility over theborder). Thesewerethe two biggestsubstantive issues in the election, while the autopsy also whiffs on Biden’sage andhis catastrophically poor judgment in trying to run for reelection.

(Italsodoesn’tmention Gaza, bitterly disappointingthe anti-Israel left.)

Yet, our expectationsfor such documents shouldn’tbevery high. What was the report going to say?That Democrats disgraced themselves by pretending that Biden was fit for a

secondterm, and only shifted course when he got exposed in the first debate, and then had no alternative but to turn to acharmlessnonentityasa last-minutesubstitute?

The history of party retrospectives like this isn’tgood. Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 by taking therecommendations of the GOP autopsy after its 2012 election defeat and often doing theoppositeinsubstance and tone.

Democrats may be rudderless and increasingly extreme, but that doesn’tmean they won’thave agood election night this coming November Usually,aparty that has just lostthe WhiteHouse rises or falls in the midterms based on theincumbent president’s job approval rating, rather than itsown political creativity or inherent appeal.

As for retaking theWhiteHouse, that typically depends on nominating someonewho is charismatic and fresh, who has an unexpected approach to politics,and who develops a new coalition —think Barack Obama in 2008, or Donald Trump in 2016. None of this comes about by having apolitical strategist talktoabunch of people about the immediate pastelection andwrite along report about it. Needless to say,Democrats should be grateful that the stakes of their autopsy are so low —otherwise, they would have had to endeavor to actually finish it, andgrapple withtruths about the 2024 election conveniently passed over in thejust-released document.

Rich Lowry is on X, @RichLowry

The following is an imagined announcement. The fellow supposedly speaking has not been consulted about this.

IamDoug Ducey,aformer two-term governor of Arizona, now acandidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Isay whatBill Lee,Tennessee’sRepublican governor,says: “I’m aconservative. I’m just not angry about it.”

Americans who enjoy the tone and substance of today’spolitics can choose from candidates promising more of the same. But voters who are exhausted and embarrassed by endless turmoil and vitriol from both sides of the politicalspectrum deserve achoice, not an echo.

Ipromise calm after the current storm of animosities. One step toward this is astep back from what has become, under both parties, a hyperactive and inevitably disappointing presidency

ADucey presidency will not be constantly in your face or on your mind. Youmight go weeks without being reminded that Iamthere, out of sight, conducting the president’sprincipalbusiness as the Constitution defines it: taking care that the laws are faithfully executed.

Iwill try to shrink the president’sprominence by encouraging Congress’srevival. Executive orders will be fewbecause legitimate presidential power derives only from unambiguous acts of Congress, or the Constitution.

Congress has enabled presidents to grabvast power to act unilaterally by declaring “emergencies.” Real emergencies are extraordinary and transitory.Today,declared emergencies aremany, enduring, and usually spurious. Iwill ask Congress to end the approximately 55 emergencies we now live under,and to stipulate that any presidentially declared emergency terminates in 30 days unless Congress enacts aresolution of extension.

Iwill urge Congress to circumscribe executive discretion, and to participate in governing, by voting on all regulations with amajor (at least $100 million) economic impact. If Congress wants protectionism, which inevitably breeds crony capitalism, it must legislate it, not just allow presidential whims to impose it. Washington has blurredthe distinction between public and private sectors. As president, Iwill disentangle the government from big-government semi-socialism —presidentimposed federal ownership in Intel, U.S. Steel and other entities.

autopsyasmalpractice Doug Ducey forpresident

The Constitution says the president “shall from time to time” give Congress informationand recommendations about the state of the union. Ishall do this as presidents prior to Woodrow Wilson did: in writing. Thomas Jefferson correctly considered it monarchical for presidents to stand above Congress and lecture it. America would be improved by having one fewer nationally televised, politically saturated, president-centric spectacle. The antidote for presidential grandiosity,and consequent governmental strutting, is rediscovering republican —small “r” —simplicity.Jefferson practiced this with his penchant for informality whenentertaining and his aversion to pomp: He preferred riding alone on horseback ratherthan in gilded carriages. The White House itself, which until recently was devoid of ostentation, exemplified republican modesty,the aesthetic analogue of limited government.

My face, which is nothing to write home about, will appear on no banners draped overWashington buildings. No president should be the face of the national government, or the nation. ADuceypresidency will remember that there are legislative and judicial branches with their own dignity and indispensability

America’sgreatness does not wax andwane with particular presidencies. It is as enduring as Plymouth Rock, and cannot be enlargedbygaudy testimonials it erects to itself. Nations that incessantly boast about their greatness seem unsure of it. Our nation needs no huge triumphal arch. If you seek the most eloquent testimonytoAmerica’s triumphs, look around and see whatyou do not see: the worst of the last century —Asian andEuropean fascism and communism. And see immigrants. Ibelieve the axiomthatimmigration is the sincerest form of flattery Iamthe son of aToledo, Ohio, policeman. As governor of the youngest of the contiguous 48 states, Iwas afull-spectrum conservative. Ichampioned charter schools —nonunionizedpublic schools free from the calcification and conformity that stifles pedagogical experimentation. Charters enlarge options for minorities who cannotafford private schools. Sixty years ago, politicians stood in the schoolhouse door and wouldn’tlet minorities in. Today,union-backed politicians stand in the schoolhouse door and won’tlet minorities out. If Arizona’scharters were the state’sentire K-12 system, Arizona would be among the nation’sleaders in math, reading and science. Before Ientered politics, Ijoined an Arizona start-up, eventually becoming CEO of Cold Stone Creamery.Toall who will vote in 2028 Republican primaries, my goals for America are:less overheated presidentialism, more ice cream.

Email George Will at georgewill@washpost. com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

The NewOrleans skylineshimmersinthe distance as seen acrossLakePontchartrain from Lacombeonaclear autumn evening

Bob Marshall

Rich Lowry

George Will

Officer accused of retaliating against informant after uncle arrested

BY MARGARET BAKER Sun Herald

A member of Hammond law enforcement was charged in a federal criminal complaint in Mississippi, accusing him of retaliating against a confidential informant in a Bay St. Louis cockfighting sting resulting in the arrests of multiple people, including the police officer’s uncle Denver Keith Golmon, 37, made an initial appearance Wednesday in federal court in Gulfport, Mississippi, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Myers ordered him held without bail pending a detention hearing. He was arrested Wednesday by the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations agents in Gulfport.

The investigation began shortly after HSI agents received a tip in February 2025 about a cockfighting derby in Bay St. Louis, records show During the investigation, a confidential informant equipped with a camera attended the derby and collected video evidence,

BILL

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because it still protects teachers,” Newell said in an interview Friday “That was what was really important to me.”

Teachers’ unions frequently say districts should take a tougher stance on students who are violent toward school employees, arguing that expelling students who attack staff will make schools safer Opponents, however, say expelling students can hurt their futures and doesn’t address the root cause of bad behavior

While data on physical attacks against teachers is limited, research from other states suggests such incidents are relatively rare

Caroline Roemer, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, said she was initially concerned that some of HB283’s provisions, particularly regarding offcampus incidents, could impede on students’ rights.

“Our concerns were, how do you protect teachers while also recognizing that there are rights for students?” Roemer said.

But the revised measure is more balanced while still

DYNASTY

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along with other Homeland Security agents Golmon was supposed to attend the derby but backed out at the last minute, authorities said. Federal agents later arrested people accused of being connected to the derby, including Bert Lester, Golmon’s uncle. Soon after the arrests, federal investigators learned that video evidence collected during the cockfighting investigation was being shared in a recording Homeland Security agents

sending a clear message, Roemer said: “If you do harm an educator, there will be consequences.”

What’s in the bill?

While current state law leaves it up to districts to decide how to discipline students who assault teachers, apart from any legal consequences they might face, HB283 creates new mandatory penalties for students and puts more protections in place for school employees.

In addition to requiring expulsion and anger management classes, the bill mandates that districts document each alleged assault against a school employee in a student’s file, including disciplinary findings and school placement decisions. The act also says school administrators cannot discourage educators from disciplining students who disrupt educational time, and it prohibits administrators from retaliating against employees who choose to do so. Schools must notify their staff annually of those rights.

The revised bill also adds new protections for students with disabilities, clarifying that the measure cannot override existing state or federal special-education

later obtained the video, which they said showed a man matching Golmon’s description using a cellphone to record video evidence on a laptop computer The laptop had a sticker reading “Property of the city of Hammond LA 7873.”

Authorities later determined that Lester was among those arrested when HSI agents executed a May 3, 2025, search warrant tied to the operation, dubbed Bayou Blue Birds.

During a search of Golm-

protections.

The measure will work in conjunction with HB133, which also adds disabilityrelated protections and evaluation requirements for students who attack teachers. It also says students convicted of battery that causes teachers “serious bodily injury” can be imprisoned for up to a year

D’Shay Oaks, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, one of Louisiana’s teachers unions, said HB283 shows teachers that their mental health and safety is important.

“We need more mandates and immediate removals of children who assault a teacher,” Oaks said. “If a teacher is assaulted, there are a lot of mental and emotional issues they will have if the student is allowed back on campus.”

Cynthia Posey, director of governmental relations for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, the state’s largest teachers union, said the bill could help schools recruit and keep teachers.

“Louisiana cannot ask educators and school employees to stay in the profession, or convince new people to enter it, if they do not believe they will be safe and supported at work,” she said in a statement.

emerald and diamond bird brooch; a Fabergé silvergilt mounted nephrite mantel clock; an Edgar Degas sculpture; and a necklace of 19 jeweled and enameled silver and gold egg pendants. All of the pieces will be split between two types of auctions, according to Ryan “There’ll be so many pieces that are going to be sold in a live auction on (June 10), where there’s actually an auctioneer conducting an auction, and it’s a live auction that anybody can attend,” Ryan said. “Then the online auction is just like any other auction online, where you can go on, and you can place bids online, and that goes on from June 2 through 17.” The collection will also be

Continued from page 1B

said, speaking about the incident at a City Council meeting. Johnson also shared his perspective after the fact “I’m blessed, and I’m just happy,” said Johnson, who also coaches basketball. “God’s still got plans for me

PHOTO PROVIDED By CHRISTIE’S

Items from the collections of two women from the Gray Stream family will be up for auction through Christie’s in June.

available for the public to view from June 5 through June 9 at Christie’s in New York.

on’s phone records, agents said they found text messages, photographs and videos of conversations between Golmon and his uncle about cockfighting derbies and law enforcement records.

Federal investigators determined that Golmon distributed recorded footage of the video evidence HSI agents collected during the cockfighting investigation.

In text messages, Golmon referred to the confidential informant as “always a snake” and a “rat,” authori-

ties said. Investigators also cited one recording in which they said Golmon described sending video evidence showing the informant’s camera recording evidence for authorities. Golmon encouraged those he shared the footage with to distribute it to people questioning whether the informant was cooperating with authorities, investigators said.

“These are the people I want to see it,” Golmon allegedly said in a text message to one person. “I want everybody to see that it was this motherf***** and I just recorded bits and pieces.”

Golmon instructed people not to identify him as the person who recorded the evidence, authorities said.

“Please whatever you do, don’t tell anybody where you got it from,” one exchange reads. “I don’t want anyone to know it came from me.”

In other messages, Golmon wrote in Spanish about how “the situation with the federal police is bad at this time,” authorities said.

At other times, authorities said Golmon wrote that the informant “got caught up with drugs, and he’s not legal, so he’s been singing.”

One person told Golmon to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the informant, authorities said.

“He’s their rat,” Golmon said in response. “They are

not going to deport him.” Golmon also contacted a fellow Hammond police officer on April 29 and provided a photograph and information about the confidential informant, so authorities could detain him for immigration violations, authorities said. In conversations with the other officer, Golmon said things such as, “You wanna pick up a few illegals,” and described the informant as someone who used to work for his uncle and stole money from him, authorities said. Golmon also told the officer not to mention his name because the target knew he was Lester’s nephew On April 29, two Hammond police officers arrested the informant at his job. One of the officers later called Golmon to tell him the informant had been released, authorities said. Since then, the informant has been advised to avoid certain places in Tangipahoa Parish along with restaurants near the Hammond Police Department. In addition, the complaint said, several people in the cockfighting community have called the informant to get him to meet with them. The HSI agents told the informant to avoid any such meetings because they were likely a “ruse to cause bodily harm” to him.

HOME

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boil area and five boat slips. The Cameron Meadows Conservation Reserve is situated south of Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. The property has been on the market since Aug. 11, 2025, and has an estimated monthly payment price of

$185,744, according to the Zillow listing. The assessed tax value is $689,395, with an annual tax of $9,138. The location is listed by Mossy Oak Properties of Louisiana.

While the Cameron Meadows Conservation Reserve is the most expensive residence in Louisiana listed for sale on Zillow, it is actually the second most

on this earth, that’s why he had (White) there on that day.” Acadian’s Vincent said it shows the importance of CPR classes and Automated External Defibrillators.

“The more that we can integrate the CPR education and early access to AEDs, the more people that (can) get (their next) birthday like Mr. Tony,” Vincent said.

LOTTERY SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2026

PICK 3: 8-1-0

PICK 4: 9-8-1-8

PICK 5: 9-9-5-6-2

1-27-3544-52 (12)

PHOTO PROVIDED By ZILLOW

The Cameron Meadows Conservation Reserve in Cameron is listed on Zillow with a price tag of $31.8 million.

SPORTS

Johnsonsearching for‘elementofcompleteness’

As transfer portal opens, LSU coachtargeting ‘contributors on both sidesofthe baseball’

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

There is no benefit to missing the NCAA Tournament.

It’strue. Because LSU missed the tourney for the first time since 2011, Jay Johnson has alot more time to prepare forthe transfer portal and MLB Draft this summer than last, when the Tigers played into late June and won the College World Series. But this summer,hedoesn’tsee the extra timeasabenefit.He’dratherbecallingagents and players from his hotel room in Omaha, Nebraska, all while preparing his team toplay in the biggest games of their lives

“I’ll never look at that as ahindrance or a negative, playing in the College World Seriesfor anyreason,” Johnson told The Advocate. “… Whatever you lose, it’sworthit to be there.” What LSU lost was alot of baseball games thenext year.The Tigers, despiteentering theseason as theNo. 2teaminthe nation, went 30-28 and won fewer than 12 games in Southeastern Conference play forthe first time since 1983.

Injuries played abig part in their nightmare campaign, but so did their troubles in thetransfer portal. Seth Dardar,Brayden Simpson, Trent Caraway and Zach Yorkedid not live up to lofty expectations, and righthandedstarter Cooper Moore was lost for theseason with an elbow injury by the third week of conference play Even with Moore on track to return in

ä See LSU, page 3C

LSU coach JayJohnson

delivering hispregame speech before agameagainst TexasA&M on April17atAlex

OUTOFGAS

UL runs outofpitchinginblowout loss to MississippiState

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Five weeks of successfully playing with their backs to the wall ended for theULRagin’Cajuns on Sunday evening with a19-5losstoMississippiState in theStarkville Regional final. Mississippi State improvedto 43-17with the win and will now meet Georgia in theNCAA SuperRegional. The Cajuns’ season ends at 41-25, reaching theregional final for the 11th time in program history.The 66 games played arethe secondmost in schoolhistory,behindthe 68 in 2014. The seven home runswere thesecond mostallowed in agamefor the Cajunsthis season. UL’s staff finished the season allowing 95 homers —the mostinschool history The 19 runs allowed tied the most allowedinpostseason

history —Stanford in 2000. Typically,“freebies” come from walks and hitting batters, but theCajuns helped theBulldogsblow the game open with four runs in thefourth to build a7-1 lead. Reed Stallman led off the inning withaflyball to deep center,but it was lost in the lights for aground-rule double. One batter later,Kevin Milewski took advantage of the generositywith arun-scoring single. Then, withtwo outs, Gehrig Frei and Ace Reesemade it hurt even worse. Frei gota jam-shot RBIsingle throughthe first side before Reesebarely got aflyball over the wall in rightcenter for atwo-run homer Before that, Mississippi State collected atrio of solo homers.

Saints WR Olavepleased with ongoing contract talks

BY MATTHEWPARAS Staff writer

Ask Chris Olave why he has attended the New Orleans Saints’ offseason program when he’supfor anew contract,and the wide receiver will say that he’scommitted to winning. The Saintshaven’t done much of that sincedrafting him in 2022, but the 25-year-old would like that to change. But there is anotherreason Olave has shown up —one he acknowledgesisdirectly related to the negotiation that’songoing between his camp and the Saints. Olave’s participationisa sign, he says, that talks are going well.

“We’re on the same page,” Olave said. “It’s going in the right direction. We’ve been talking forafew months, so we’ve just gottoget to that point where we agree to adeal.”

He’seven optimistic about when such an agreement could take place.

“I feel like we’re gonna come downtothat before training camp,” Olave said. “I hope we do so we don’taffect the chemistry and stuff, but Ithink it’sgoing to get done soon.” If adeal is struckassoon as training camp,thatwould be aslight anomalyfor the Saints. Since 2016, New Orleans has handed out seven extensions to players drafted by theteam. Only oneofthem—RyanRamcyzk in June 2021 —got done before trainingcamp. Twoothers —MichaelThomas on July 31, 2019 and Pete Werner on Aug. 8, 2024 —got done during camp. The rest (AlvinKamara, Marshon Lattimore, Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz) were completed right before the start of their respective seasons. But Olave can nonetheless be encouraged by the Saints’ history of retaining their best players —and doing so on contractsthat pay them at or near the top of the market. And Olave fits into that mold. Last season was pivotal, in particular,for the wide receiverasheposted career numbers and was named second-team All-Pro all while staying (mostly) healthy.While

FILE PHOTOByMICHAEL BACIGALUPI

walks away fromhis team after

Box Stadium.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL third basemanLee Amedee throws to firstbase to getanout against MississippiState duringtheir NCAA regional final game on SundayatDudyNoble Field in Starkville, Miss.

UL’s Potgieter soaring at NCAAs

BY DAN MCDONALD Special to The Advocate

CARLSBAD, Calif. — UL’s Malan

Potgieter continued the nation’s most impressive collegiate golf streak and moved into position for a potential run at a national championship on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division I men’s golf championships.

Potgieter posted his second straight 4-under 68 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa and was tied for second in the 156-player field, two strokes out of the lead with two stroke-play rounds remaining.

The senior from Kirkwood, South Africa, also went bogeyfree for the second straight day over the 7,538-yard par-72 track, making it five straight rounds in NCAA competition without a bogey Potgieter had played three bogey-free rounds last week in sharing medalist honors in the Athens (Ga.) Regional and advancing to the national championships.

“He’s very much in control of his game, and it’s very impressive to watch,” said Ragin’ Cajun coach Theo Sliman after a round in which the senior missed only one green and never had a par putt longer than 6 feet. “Especially on the stage he’s been on the last two events. NCAA regionals and nationals aren’t your local ranch putt-putt. It’s big boy golf, and he’s playing with tremendous patience and tremendous maturity.”

A third round of stroke play was scheduled for Sunday After

PROVIDED PHOTO

UL golfer Malan Potgieter has played five consecutive bogey-free rounds so far in NCAA play.

completion of the Sunday round, the top 15 teams from the 30team field and the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will play a final stroke-play round Monday to determine the individual champion and the eight teams that will advance to match play competition.

“He’s really showing his golf IQ and his maturity and patience,” Sliman said. “There’s a lot of younger players here that you see struggling with their emotions, and you don’t see that in him. “It’s the kind of maturity that you see on the PGA Tour, and that’s the kind of patience you have to have to play these 72-hole events.”

Potgieter has now gone 90 holes in NCAA competition without a bogey and has a stretch of 91 bogey-free holes dating back to the final hole of the Sun Belt Conference championships. He was

the only player in the country out of 450 collegians to go without a bogey in the six NCAA regionals combined, and he is the only player bogey-free through two rounds in the 156-player national championships.

“I’m hitting a lot of greens and most of the fairways,” Potgieter said. “Today I felt I could have made a few more putts. I was 4 (under) and I could have easily been six, seven, eight under I was really consistent and never really in any trouble.”

Starting on No 10, the senior birdied his second hole of the day at the par-four 11th and added another back-side birdie at the 491yard par-four 17th for the second straight day to make the turn at 2-under He had his second parthree birdie at the 190-yard third hole and got to 4-under with a long birdie on his final hole, the

par-four ninth.

“None of the putts were very long, except on the ninth hole,” Potgieter said. “That was a really good putt, a 20-footer that was really breaking. The one on 17 was probably 12, 13 feet, the other two were short putts. I missed only the one green on my first hole (10th), hit it in the fescue on the right but was able to hack it out and save par My longest par putt was maybe 6 feet.”

Entering Sunday’s play, Potgieter was tied with Alabama’s William Jennings one of his playing partners in the first two rounds and in one of the individual threesomes again Sunday — with both players two strokes back of Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik, who had Saturday’s low round at 6-under 66 and is at 10-under for the tournament. Connor Williams of Arizona State, Josiah Gilbert of Auburn and Jon Ed Steed of Vanderbilt are tied for third at 7 under Top-ranked Auburn led the team chase after a 16-under 272 for its second round and a 20-under 556 two-round total, eight shots ahead of third-ranked Texas and Vanderbilt both at 12-under Potgieter said he did think about the bogey-free streak during Saturday’s second round. “When I’m over a putt, I think about it,” he said, “but I think it helps me focus more on making the par putt. I’m not really playing any differently than normal. It would be nice if I got the putter rolling better and make a few more putts. The rest of the game’s good.”

Kreamer to run new program in Maurice

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

Garrett Kreamer took a leap of faith, leaving an established program to become the first high school football coach at Vermilion Charter Academy After one year at St Martinville, Kreamer decided to accept a position at VCA, which is building a high school wing a few miles west of Maurice on Louisiana 92. The school, which is owned by the same company that operates Lafayette Renaissance and Acadiana Renaissance, opened in 2024 with its first ninth-grade class last year and a total enrollment of approximately 1,000 students.

“I’m excited about building a program from the ground up,” Kreamer said. “The kids are positive and enthusiastic.”

The Bulldogs, who will eventually have their own turf stadium, will play a junior varsity schedule for a couple of years as a new LHSAA program. The mascot is appropriately named “Maurice.”

“We had three days of football

PHOTO By LEE BALL

Former St Martinville coach Garrett Kreamer is running a new program at Vermilion Charter

tryouts with good numbers,” Kreamer said It was an opportunity a little closer to home I wasn’t looking or searching. I heard about it; there was mutual interest, and things moved pretty fast.”

Kreamer, who is in the process of hiring his coaching staff,

Henley birdies

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas Russell Hen-

ley birdied the final three holes to force a playoff with Eric Cole, then made it four it a row with a 5-footer on the first extra hole Sunday at Colonial to win the Charles Schwab Classic.

Henley’s late surge denied fellow 37-year-old Cole his first PGA Tour win on a day when Ben Griffin came up just short of becoming the only player other than Ben Hogan to win consecutive tournaments at Colonial Henley earned $1.78 million for his sixth PGA Tour title and also got the plaid jacket and a customized 1982 Jeep Scrambler vehicle. Playing in the group ahead of Cole, Henley closed with a 3-under 67. After making 15-foot putts at the 171-yard 16th hole and the par-4 17th, Henley got to 12 under with a 17-footer on the par-4 18th Cole shot an even-par 70. He parred the final seven holes eight counting the playoff.

hopes his father Mike, will join him A longtime principal at St. Martinville, Mike was a valuable assistant last season.

“We’ll see if he has a little gas left in the tank,” Kreamer said. “He helped a lot on both sides of the ball.”

The junior high already had a

few football coaches in place who will also be on the staff. The preliminary expectations are similar to the early stages at LRCA and ARCA, with enrollment likely to blossom into a Class 4A school in the coming years.

“The long-range goal is to build a great school and environment,” Kreamer said. “Around the Maurice community I think there is a little buzz about it as being a very attractive option.”

VCA is under the umbrella of Charter Schools USA, which is based in Florida and oversees a total of 82,000 students in 162 schools across five states, according to its Facebook page

Kreamer, who had previous head coaching stints at Evangel Christian, Patterson and Lafayette High, in addition to roles as a college assistant at Tyler Junior College and Pearl River Community College, didn’t take the decision to leave St. Martinville lightly

“I loved it there,” he said. “St. Martinville has a great faculty and great administrative support.”

playoff hole to win Colonial

LSU golfer shoots even par in round 2 of NCAAs

CARLSBAD, California Senior Matty

Dodd-Berry led LSU on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA men’s golf Division I championship with an even-par round of 72 at the OMNI La Costa Spa and Resort North Course. The Tigers improved by 10 shots on their opening round, playing in sunny and less windy conditions for the first 10 holes, posting a 5-over par round of 293 to stand at 20-over par 596 through 36 holes. The Tigers finished Saturday tied for 27th place.

Dodd-Berry is wrapping up his college career, which started under second-year coach Jake Amos at East Tennessee State. He had three front-nine birdies in his even-par round on Saturday and posted 2-under 34 on the first nine holes.

Kostyuk stuns four-time champion at French Open

PARIS There will be a first-time women’s champion at the French Open this year, and two Ukrainian players are among the strongest contenders.

Undefeated this season on clay, 15th-seeded Marta Kostyuk showed her strong credentials as she reached the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time on Sunday by taking out four-time champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 and ruining her birthday She will be up against her compatriot Elina Svitolina next, ensuring there will be an Ukrainian woman semifinalist at Roland Garros for the first time in the professional era (1968). The seventh-seeded Svitolina rallied past Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. In men’s play, Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar beat Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Finland beats Switzerland, wins men’s hockey worlds ZURICH Finland won the ice hockey world championship for the fifth time on Sunday, beating Switzerland 1-0 in overtime. The Buffalo Sabres’ Konsta Helenius scored the gold-winning goal 10:42 into overtime. The 20-year-old Helenius netted from the right circle, beating Switzerland goaltender Leonardo Genoni with his team’s 28th shot on goal. Finland netminder Justus Annunen shut out Switzerland with 22 saves. Finland also won in 1995, 2011, 2019 and 2022. Finland was led by captain Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entirety of the Florida Panthers’ season because of a major knee injury at the first practice of training camp.

Boutier rallies from 4 back to win ShopRite LPGA

GALLOWAY, N.J Celine Boutier rallied from a four-shot deficit Sunday, making three birdies around the turn on her way to a 5-under 66 for a one-shot victory over Arpichaya Yubol in the ShopRite LPGA. Soo Bin Joo, the 22-year-old South Korean going for her first LPGA Tour title, lost her four-shot lead at the turn and then fell behind for good on the 13th hole, the same hole where earlier Boutier had taken the lead with a 30-foot birdie putt.

on the edge of the short grass. Henley hit his approach shot first, and Cole hit his to 13 feet and missed the birdie attempt. Cole, in his 120th PGA Tour

start, never fell out of the lead in regulation during the final round, even when finishing the front nine with his first double bogey (or worse) in a span of 316 holes. He drove well right into the right rough at the 398-yard ninth hole, hit his approach into the water fronting the green and had a long bogey chance stop an inch from the cup. His only birdie on the back was at the 628-yard 11th hole, but he had some significant par savers down the stretch. He made an upand-down out of a fairway bunker at the 443-yard 12th hole, lagged a putt inside 5 feet at the par-3 16th after his tee shot on the green was still 47 feet from the cup, then had a short chip for his closing par after his approach at the 18th took an awkward bounce right to the rough and was 15 feet away Reigning champion Griffin had five birdies on the front nine But he didn’t have another until a 25foot putt at the 17th hole to get to 11 under, within a stroke of Cole six holes behind him.

Yubol, who was penalized one shot in the second round Saturday for going over her maximum time, birdied the last two holes for a 66. It was her second runner-up finish of the year, having finished four shots behind Nelly Korda in Mexico.

Jersey worn in Bueckers’ debut selling for $64,720 DALLAS Paige Bueckers is setting records off the court with a jersey from her debut game last season selling for $64,720, according to MeiGray MeiGray, an authentication company and photo-matching store that partners with the Dallas Wings, reported Friday the jersey that Bueckers wore in her WNBA debut on May 16, 2025, sold for twice the previous mark for a game-worn WNBA jersey A’ja Wilson held the previous record with a uniform she wore in the WNBA Finals last season selling for $32,150, according to MeiGray Bueckers was the WNBA Rookie of the Year last season and had 10 points in her

Henley and Cole finished a stroke ahead of Griffin (65), Alex Smalley (68) and Mac Meissner (69). The drives for Henley and Cole on the extra hole, playing No. 18 again, stopped in the fairway Cole getting a huge break after his

somehow bounced through the left rough before settling

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LM OTERO

Russell Henley reacts after sinking a putt on the 18th hole on Sunday during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU coach JayJohnson walksontothe field forapitchingchangeinthe eighth inning of a game against Oklahoma on March 19 at Alex BoxStadium

LSU

Continued from page1C

2027, Johnson will have to do better this year in the portal —which opens on June 1— to get his program backto where it was beforethis past spring.

“We’re looking for Omaha-caliberplayers,not just from atool standpoint, but from amindset standpoint,” Johnson said, “that are capable of handling allthe things that come along with playing at LSU.

“We’regoing to be all in on helping them achieve their dream of beinga major leaguer,but Iwant them equally to be as invested in helpingushave the best team andprogramwepossibly can.” With his lineup, Johnson wants to target players who can make an impact on both sides of the ball.Dardar,Simpson, Caraway and Yorke all came to LSU with strong reputations as power hitters who were more limited defensively.But when theystarted stumbling at the plate, their issues in the field became more glaring.

“This isn’tspecific to transfers. Ithink what made the 2025 team special

SAINTS

Continued from page1C

ablood clot in Week 18 unexpectedly prevented himfromplayinginall 17 games for the first time that issuewas farlessof aconcern than the concussions that forced Olave to contemplate retirement a year earlier Olave hasn’tbeenlimited by the blood clotthis spring andsaidhewas cleared about aweek after it was diagnosed.

“He’slooking better than I’ve ever seen him,” quarterback Tyler Shough said. “His speed, his change of direction, his conditioning, it’sbeen amazingsofar.I’m excited to see what he can do flatout. …He’sgoingto be someone we can rely on the whole year.”

Last year,Olave struck a different tone regarding his contract. Though he waseligible for an extension, and he and the Saints held talks, the wide receiver almost didn’tseem in arush to get adeal done. Sure, he might have signed if the offerhad been big enough, but there was apart of him, he said, that felt as if he hadn’tdeserved such adeal yet.

Olave’sconcussion history —four in three years, including two in 2024 that limited his season to eight games —had raised serious questions over his value. And Olave, realizing this, was content to bet on himself and prove that he was the type of receiver who could command atop contract.

This offseason, after an All-Pro campaign, Olaveis much more open to putting his pen to paper

“Especially going into the last year of my deal,” said Olave, who’sset to make nearly $15.5 million this coming season.“I’ve played four years already, produced at ahigh level and Ifeel like it’stime to be able to come to the table.…It’s

is, maybe except one spot, every player that played the majority of theinnings— so we’ll say the top 11 or 12 position players on those teams —theywerecontributorson both sides of the baseball,” Johnson said. “They had an element of completeness to their games, and that’swhat I’m lookingfor.” On themound, Johnson said he wants pitcherswho throwmultiple pitchesfor strikes.Heisalso interested in acquiring arms with astrong track record of performance, as opposed to high-upside hurlersthat haven’tbeen as consistent. Johnson still believes that ateamcan’t wina national championship without future majorleaguers. But he believesLSU’s best path to landing thosetalentsis through highschool recruitingand notthe portal “(It’s) just the natureof howitseems to go,” Johnson said.

Adding more strike-throwersand pitchers with proven track recordsshouldhelp solvewhat plagued LSU’s staff this season.

The Tigers’ staff had talent, finishing first in the SECin strikeouts.But they also owned theworst ERA in the conference this year, in largepart because they led theSEC in walks, and

they threw28morewild pitches thanKentucky,the club that had thesecondmost wild pitches in the conference.

“You think about Zac (Cowan),Gage(Jump), Luke (Holman), Anthony (Eyanson),” Johnson said. “Those arethe piesinthe sky of guys that have proven they throw aton of strikes.”

The transferportal alone won’t getLSU back to whereitwantstobe. Returning players such as MasonBraun, Omar Serna and Cade Arrambide will need to takeanother step forward. Their incoming freshman class needs to make an immediate impact.

Butnoprogram has benefited more from theportal than LSUover the pastfive seasons. Recapturing that trend this summer will be essential to its successnext spring.

“I thoughtfor fouryears we probablydid as good as we could in landingthose guys,” Johnson said. “And they obviously makea difference in your team and program.”

Email Koki Rileyatkoki riley@theadvocate.com For more LSU sports updates, sign up forour newsletter at theadvocate. com/lsunewsletter

on ThursdayinMetairie.

“I’ve played four yearsalready, produced at ahigh level and Ifeel likeit’s time to beabletocome to the table. …It’s really in their hands.”

CHRIS OLAVE, Saints wide receiver

really in their hands.” Negotiations, of course, aren’talways simple.The wide receiver market has exploded in recent years, with 10 players now carrying an average annual value of at least $30 million. Three of those —Seattle’sJaxon Smith-Njigba, Cincinnati’sJa’Marr Chase and Minnesota’sJustin Jefferson —have reached at least $35 million per year. Andinaddition to the average salary,the Saints will also have to weigh Olave’s guarantees. How much is NewOrleanswillingto takeon, giventhe 2022 firstrounder’sconcussions?

But Olave hasbeen pleased with thedialogue so far.While the talks unfold, Olavehas been focused on his body.Olave said he’s

gained about 10 pounds, although he says he’slikely to lose about fiveorsoduringcamp.His goal is to “get bigger,”whichplayersand coaches have noticed.

“Wecan tell(what) he’s done from abody standpoint,”coach Kellen Moore said. “It’sbeen awesome.” It isn’tlost on Moore that Olave has participated throughout theSaints’ offseason program,either. Just last year,players like Washington’sTerryMcLaurin andCincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson held out well into training camp, while ahandful of others voluntarily skippedthe earlier offseason workouts over their contracts.

The longerthe Saints wait,meanwhile,the more costly the deal could become.

The Rams’ Puka Nacua, Atlanta’sDrake London andBaltimore’sZay Flowers are among the other notable receivers around the league in line for abig-time extension —which could affect Olave’sprice tag even further

“It’sintheir hands, man,” Olave said with agrin.

Email Matthew Paras at matt.paras@theadvocate. com

UL

Continuedfrom page1C

Frei led off thegame with asolo homer just over the glove of rightfielder MaddoxMandino and two outs later,Jacob Parkergot one of his own.

In the second, Ryder Woodson addeda one-out solohomer for a3-0 lead at thetime.

Aftereight straight outs to open the game, Noah Lewis got into the act with ano-doubter solo homer to left to cut it to 3-1.

UL starter Sawyer Pruitt was only able to get four hits, surrendering three runs on three hits, one walk and threestrikeoutsin11/3 innings.

Ty Roman,who only threwthree innings in the win over Lipscomb on Saturday,coaxed two double plays, but fell victim to a fly ball not caught. As aresult,the junior left-hander officially gave up four runs on four hits,one walk and one strikeout in 21/3 innings, before giving theball to JR Tollet.

Meanwhile, MSU starter Ryan McPherson gave the Bulldogs five innings and 83 pitches, yielding two runs on fivehits, no walks and seven strikeouts.

Woodson added to his earlier homerwitha two-out RBI single to leftfor an 8-1 lead off Tollett in the fifth.

Once Mississippi State’s hitters got deeper into UL’s tired bullpen, it got uglier

The Bulldogs got fiveruns in the seventh —featuring Woodson’ssecond homer of the game—for acommanding 13-3 lead. Woodson finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

Parker finished the game 4-for-4witha double, two homers, two walks and four RBIs. Vytas Valincus added agrand slam in the ninth.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETTDUKE

Saints wide receiver Chris Olave runs adrill during organized teamactivities

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP UL center fielder Noah Lewishad three hits, including thissolohome run, forthe Cajuns during Sunday’s loss to

Mississippi State late Sunday night in the Starkville Regional.

Argentina’s arrival doubles as tribute to World Cup success

BY DAVE SKRETTA AP sportswriter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reigning World Cup champion Argentina arrived in Kansas City on Sunday to begin p reparing for its title defense, which starts with a match against Algeria on June 16 at Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Chiefs.

The 11-hour flight covering more than 5,500 miles from Ezeiza International Airport touched down in Missouri just after 11 a.m. local time. The flight number for the Aerolineas Argentinas charter was 1978, an homage to the 1978 World Cup that Argentina won as the host nation over the Netherlands before more than 71,000 fans at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires.

The plane itself, an Airbus A330, also celebrated the Argentine squad with special livery The No. 10 of Lionel Messi was featured on the tail amid the national team’s iconic blue and white stripes, while three gold stars represented its three World Cup titles.

Argentina is the first of four national teams making their World Cup home base in the Kansas City metro to arrive.

The Netherlands, England and Algeria — which will be at the University of Kansas in nearby Lawrence are due to arrive this week.

Most of the Argentina squad arrived on its charter, though some players will arrive from clubs elsewhere in the world After stepping off the plane, players and staff walked across the tarmac to waiting charter buses for the trip to the team hotel.

Messi and Co. will be staying at the Origin Hotel near downtown Kansas City, Missouri Fences have been built around the property and extra security provided for the team, while inside the relatively new hotel, signage, posters and other nods

Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi celebrates with Giovani Lo Celso after scoring his side’s opening goal against Venezuela during a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying soccer match in Maturin, Venezuela on Oct. 10, 2024

to the team known as La Albiceleste are ever-present, including huge images of some of the team’s biggest stars on the outside of the building.

The team planned to spend Sunday doing light training in the hotel gym while awaiting the arrival of the rest of its players. Its first full workout is set for Monday at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City Argentina plays Honduras in a friendly on Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, the home of Texas A&M. Its final tuneup is three days later against Iceland at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Alabama, the home of another SEC football team, Auburn. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni revealed his 26-man World Cup

roster on Thursday It is headlined by Messi, who turns 39 in less than a month, and features 17 players that were part of the team that triumphed four years ago against France in the final in Qatar

Several players were in doubt because of injuries of varying severity ahead of the June 1 deadline set by FIFA for finalizing all World Cup squads. Among them was Messi, who is suffering from muscle fatigue and a mild strain in his left hamstring.

The club has said that his recovery time will depend on “his clinical and functional progress.” Messi will be playing in his sixth World Cup, having previously participated in Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar

Pulisic ends scoring drought; U.S. defeats Senegal in warmup

BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Christian Pulisic ended a five-month scoring drought for club and country with his first international goal since November 2024, Folarin Balogun broke a second-half tie and the United States beat Senegal 3-2 Sunday in the Americans’ next-tolast World Cup warmup match. Pulisic set up Sergiño Dest’s opener in the seventh minute, then made it 2-0 off a Ricardo Pepi pass in the 20th. Pulisic took a touch, rounded goalkeeper Mory Diaw and slotted into an open net from a tight angle for his 33rd goal in 85 international appearances. The top American player, Pulisic had finished his AC Milan season scoreless in a careerhigh 19 club games since Dec. 28 and was without a goal eight straight U.S. matches. Pulisic ran to a corner flag, dropped to his knees and repeatedly pumped his fists

Sadio Mané scored twice following American mistakes, extending his Senegal record with 54 international goals. He beat goalkeeper Matt Turner at the far post in the 44th off a Habib Diarra pass that followed Antonee Robinson’s giveaway, then tapped the ball into the net in the 52nd after Nicolas Jackson had lifted it over onrushing goalkeeper Chris Brady Brady entered among 10 U.S. changes at the start of the second half in his international debut. Balogun, another second-half sub, had a goal disallowed for offside in the 49th, then got his ninth international goal in the 63rd after Tim Weah’s cross deflected off a foot of Moustapha Mbow

The No 16 U.S. plays 10thranked Germany on June 6, six

SCOREBOARD

Adrien Saddier 69-67-72-71—279 1

Pulisic, center left, celebrates with midfielder Sebastian Berhalter after scoring in the first half against Senegal in an international friendly soccer match on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C.

days before the Americans open the tournament against Paraguay No. 14 Senegal faces Saudi Arabia in a June 9 friendly and start against France on June 16.

The American starting lineup averaged 44 international appearances, the team’s highest since the October 2017 loss at Trinidad and Tobago that ended the U.S. streak of seven straight World Cup appearances, according to Opta.

Turner the American starting goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup, made just his second U.S. appearance since a 4-0 loss to Switzerland last June.

In the absence of Chris Richards, sidelined by an ankle injury, the U.S. started Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie and captain Tim Ream in a three center back formation. Gio Reyna made his first start for club or country since Dec. 19.

June 3 Game 1 — Teams TBD, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4 Game 2 — Teams TBD 8 p.m. Friday, June 5 x-Game 3 Teams, TBD, 7 p.m.

Hockey

NHL Playoff Glance FINALS (Best-of-7; x-if necessary)

Carolina vs. Vegas Tuesday, June 2: Vegas at Carolina, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4: Vegas at Carolina, 7 p.m. Saturday, June 6: Carolina at Vegas, 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 9: Carolina at Vegas, 7 p.m.

x-Thursday, June 11: Vegas at Carolina, TBA

x-Sunday, June 14: Carolina at Vegas, TBA

x-Wednesday, June 17: Vegas at Carolina, TBA

Tennis

French Open Results

Sunday At Stade Roland Garros

Paris Purse: €28,900,000

Surface: Red clay Results Sunday from French Open at Stade Roland Garros (seedings in parentheses):

Men’s Singles

Fourth Round Rafael Jodar (27), Spain, def. Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Alexander Zverev (2), Germany, def. Jesper De Jong, Netherlands, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.

Women’s Singles

Fourth Round Marta Kostyuk (15), Ukraine, def. Iga Swiatek (3), Poland, 7-5, 6-1. Sorana Cirstea (18), Romania, def. Wang Xiyu, China, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Elina Svitolina (7), Ukraine, def. Belinda Bencic (11), Switzerland, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Mirra Andreeva (8), Russia, def. Jil Teichmann, Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2

Men’s Doubles Second Round Marcus Willis, Britain, and Jakub Paul, Switzerland, def. Matej Vocel and Tomas Machac, Czechia, walkover. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz (6), Germany, def. Thiago Agustin Tirante and Roman Andres Burruchaga, Argentina, 6-3, 6-4. Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela, Mexico, and Alejandro Tabilo, Chile, def. Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez, France, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5. Men’s Doubles Third Round

Petr Nouza, Czechia, and Neil Oberleitner, Austria, def. Adam Pavlasek and Patrik Rikl Czechia, 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-3. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori (5), Italy, def. Marcus Willis, Britain, and Jakub Paul, Switzerland, 6-4, 6-3. Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (1), Argentina, def. Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler (14), Austria, 6-4, 1-1, ret. Women’s Doubles Third Round Taylor Townsend, United States, and Katerina Siniakova (1), Czechia, def. Nadiia Kichenok, Ukraine, and Makoto Ninomiya, Japan, 6-4, 6-2. Vera Zvonareva, Russia, and Laura Siegemund (11), Germany, def. Nicole MelicharMartinez, United States, and Cristina Bucsa (6), Spain, walkover. Andreja Klepac, Slovenia, and Magali Kempen, Belgium, def. Olivia Nicholls, Britain, and Tereza Mihalikova (10), Slovakia, 6-2, 7-5. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Anna Danilina (2), Kazakhstan, def. Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska, Ukraine, 6-4, 6-4. Mixed Doubles Third Round Evan King, United States, and Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, def. Irina Khromacheva, Russia, and Jakob Schnaitter, Germany, 6-4, 6-4. Neal Skupski, Britain, and Desirae Krawczyk (4), United States, def. Yuki Bhambri, India, and Alexandra Panova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, and Laura Siegemund, Germany, def. Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard, France, 6-2, 6-4. Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori (1), Italy, def. Christian Harrison, United States, and Fanny Stollar, Hungary, 6-4, 1-6, 10-6 Golf

Charles Schwab Challenge Sunday At Colonial Country Club Fort Worth, Texas Purse: $9.9 million Yardage: 7,289; Par: 70 Final Round (x-won on first playoff hole) x-Eric Cole 67-68-63-70—268 12 x-Russell Henley 66-66-69-67—268 -12 Ben Griffin 68-68-68-65—269 11 Mac Meissner 66-67-67-69—269 -11 Alex Smalley 65-67-69-68—269 -11 Michael Brennan 67-66-69-68—270 10 Nicolas Echavarria 66-71-65-68—270 -10 J.J. Spaun

Woodland

Fisk

68-69-74-68—279 -1 Luke Clanton 65-70-77-68—280 E Patrick Fishburn 70-68-71-71—280 E Takumi Kanaya 69-69-73-69—280 E Tom Kim 64-72-70-74—280 E Andrew Novak 69-65-73-73—280 E Seamus Power 69-69-74-68—280 E Nick Dunlap 70-67-73-71—281 +1

Mark Hubbard 68-69-74-70—281 +1 Matthew McCarty 64-71-75-71—281 +1 Taylor Moore 69-68-71-73—281 +1 Patrick

Theegala

+1

+1

+2

+3

+3

+3

+4

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ARIANA CUBILLOS

AP PHOTO By SCOTT KINSER

United States forward Christian

Apostcard depicts aduel in 1841 at the old dueling groundsinCity Park. Anotation at the top of the postcardreads: From an old painting

CURT TEICH AND COMPANy,INC., PROVIDED By HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION

Thedaring DUELIST

BY RACHEL MIPRO

Contributing writer

Jose “Pepe” Llulla is aname synon mous with New Orleans’ age of darin and dueling. Onereader’squestion: What’sthe story of Jose Llulla?

Many legends have sprungup around the famed Spanish duelist, who is said to haveparticipated in over 20 duels, and seconded over 100 duels, winning the titleofone of New Orleans’ most legendary fighters.

Llulla lived at the height o dueling culture theCre

cent City.Duels werefoughtover ho or,settling major and minordispute One popular spot for fighting can sti be seen today,the “Dueling Oaks” landmark in CityPark. While one oak perished in ahurricanedecades ago, the survivingoak stillmarks th sceneofmany asword fight.

The “golden age” of dueling lasted from the 1830s untilthe Civil War, as Herbert Asbury chronicled in “The French Quarter: An InformalHistor of the New OrleansUnderworld.”To fighters achieved celebrity status, an fencing schools, headed byformidably skilled instructors, were all the rage.

“In the New Orleansoftheir day, they occupied much thesame position that champion prize-fighters do in modern times,” Ashbury wrote. “Crowds followed theminthe street in the cafes and coffeehouses they were the darlings of thewaiters, and the young Creoles aped their manne isms.”

In this atmosphere, Llulla thrived, becoming one of the city’smost legendary duelists. He died at theage of 72, having lived in the cityfor 58 years, according to aloving tribute that describedhis “singular,well-de veloped” facial muscles andhis “vig orous keen-eyed”looksina lengthy

ä See DUELIST, page 6C

PROVIDEDByHISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION

DonJosé ‘Pepe’ Llulla, left, the great dueling master of NewOrleans, is photographed withMartin Poujuan.

Homegrownheat

SAN JOSE, Calif.— Becoming awasabi farmer wasn’tinitially part of the career plan for former electrical contractor Jeff Roller But for those whoknow him, his pivot wasn’tall that surprising, he says. He and co-founder TimHallgot the idea to start awasabifarm about 15 years ago when Hall learnedthat most of thewasabi Americans eat is fake: Expert estimates cited in the Washington Post

over adecade ago put the proportion of fake stuff at between 95% and 99% of the wasabiconsumed in the U.S. The green paste that usually comes withyour takeout sushi is made up of horseradish, mustard, cornstarch, food coloring and some other ingredients. Hall andRollerhad construction backgrounds and wanted to seeif they couldfigure out how to grow thenotoriously finicky plants. Wasabi plants generally grow best in cool climates with water flowing over the soil, and they takearound two years to reach

maturity. After months of research andtrial anderror,theydecided to start their farm, repurposing an old Coastside nursery with greenhouses dating back to the1960s for the job. For year they struggled to achieve cons tency with theplants they grew Everytime they tried to scale their production, anew challenge popped up, Roller says. “We’ve changed the waywe’v grown it abunch of times,”h says. Twoyearsin, Roller gave up, leaving the farm to Hall, but then

Common thread

Blue jeanshavelong been associated with theAmericanexperience

BY MICHAELLIEDTKE Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO When Americans want to show their patriotism,they often don red, whiteand blueclothing,orsometimes even drape themselves in the U.S. flag. But if you truly wanttoembody the country’szeitgeist, just slip on your favorite blue jeans. Youprobably already own at least one pair,just like almost everyone else you know Even in divisive times, denim remains an American skinthat’swornbyliberals andconservatives, young and old, rich and poor,the cool crowdand the nerdy outcasts, citizens born in the USA like thedenim-cladBruce Springsteen on his chart-topping 1984 album and immigrants who came here hoping for abetter lifelike Levi Strauss. If there is acommonthread in America’scrazy quilt of racial diversity,it’s blue jeans. The pantsdidn’tstartout blue.They were made frombrown tent canvas when they werefirst conceivedin1853 by Strauss, aBavarian immigrant who came to San Francisco in the aftermath of California’s Gold Rush.The pants proved so popularamong thegoldminers still looking to strike that Strauss ran outoftentcanvas. So he switched to adifferent fabric —indigo-dyed denim.After Nevada tailor Jacob Davis suggested reinforcing the pockets of Strauss’ pant design with copper rivets,the twomen patented the concept in 1873 to create the style of blue jeans worntoday

Levi Strauss &Co. and its imitators such as H.D.Lee and Wrangler have made billions selling denim through the decades, but blue jeans have always been more aboutthe culture than the capitalism that shaped America. Besidesharking back to the Gold Rush’ssediments, blue jeans evoke:

n The rugged determination of the railroad workers who worethemwhile laying the tracks for travel and commerce across the country;

n The derring-do of the cowboys and wandering spirits whowore them while settling the frontier;

n The work ethic of the farmers and factory workers who worethemonthe job;

n The rebellious ethos of thebikers and other mavericks who embraced them after Marlon Brando’sperformance in the 1953 film “The Wild Ones;”

n The colorful flair of the hippies who stitched flower patches and psychedelic designsonbell-bottomed versionsofthe pants that were conceived in San Francisco during 1967’s“Summer of Love.” In all shapes and styles, blue jeans are the perfect fit forAmerica.

ä See HEAT, page 6C

TNS PHOTO By DAISUGANO

HalfMoon BayWasabi has been perfecting theirmethod for growingwasabi in California for15years.

Huggingisgoodfor your health

Dear Doctors: Is it true that hugging is good for your health? Why would that be? Also, Iremember hearing about someone with autism who used akind of squeezing machine to help with anxiety. Is that the same thing that’sgoing on when we hug each other?

Dear Reader: Your questions lead to afascinating field of study: the neuroscience of touch. Also known as sensoryneuroscience, it examines how the brainprocesses touch. This includes the regions of the brain that get activated. It also looks at the neurochemicals that are released. Researchersinthis field are also interested in how the neurochemical changesthat occur during touchaffect the mind, emotions and the body Touch is the first of our senses to

Dr.Elizabeth Ko Dr.Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

develop. Atjust eight weeks in utero, afetus is alreadygaining touch receptors. By the eighth month, the baby’sentire body is alive to the sense of touch. Within the uterus, thefetus can feel themovementof amniotic fluid; the presence of the placenta, umbilical cord and uterine walls;and contact with its own body.Touch from outside of the

wombregisters as well. Research has shown thatwhen an expectant mothertouches her abdomen, fetal movements increase.

After birthand throughout our lives, the sense of touch plays akey role in keeping us alive. Specialized neurons process touch and send it to thebrain for interpretation. Touch allows us to detect and interpret acontinuous flow of information. This includes temperature, pressure, pleasure, pain, itch, vibration and environmental shifts. Equally important, and the subject of your question, is the role of touch in social bonding. It’ssointrinsic to whowe are, even just seeing other people touch triggers thetouch-related centers in our own brains.

Andthat brings us to hugging.

PROVIDED By HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION

An illustration from 1885 depictsaduel beneath theoaks of NewOrleans’ CityPark.

DUELIST

Continued from page5C

newspaper column.

“It would be adifficult task here to give anything more than abrief outline of the career of this really extraordinary character,who won his way to fortune and to fame by rare energy and intrepidity,” read the 1888 Times-Picayune account of his death. Llulla was born in 1815, near Port Mahon, Spain, in the Mediterranean, and was aseafarer who sailed the route between New Orleans and Havana, according to The Times-Picayune account. He settled in New Orleans and learned fencing from one of the numerous fencing schools in the area, becoming the protégé and assistant of

prominent duelistMonsieur L’Allouette.

When L’Allouette died, Llulla took over the fencing school, but soon turned to other business ventures. He bought the Louisa Street Cemetery andimprovedand expanded the area, which is now St.VincentdePaulCemetery.He also acquired GrandTerre Island,where he raised livestock. Among other ventures, Llulla had abrief stint of running abullfightingarena in Algiers. Most accounts speak of hismarked loyalty to Spain. In 1851, when anti-Spanish sentimentwas seethingin theminds of Cuban revolutionaries who wanted to be independent fromSpain, Pepe acted as securityfor the Spanish consul.When an angry mob invaded the Spanish consulate,Llulla marched by theconsul’s

side, helping him leave the city safely,according to Ashbury’saccount. He then challenged any Cubans sympathizers to face him in aduel.

For his continued, heavily publicized loyalty, theking of Spain gifted him knighthood. Another reward for his loyalty: a portrait of himself, covered in awreathoflaurel embroidered withthe hair of Spanish ladies who had cut off locks in tribute to his efforts, according to reporting done at the time.

While Llulla lived aquieter life after ending his dueling career,hestill influenced thelocal business and social culture.

“In his last days, ‘Pepe’ Llulla led amodest and retired life, though he had not lost any of his courage and valor,” read an 1888 newspaper account of his life.

Hugging is good foryour health. It has beenshowntomove the needle on arange of clinical and laboratory tests. Before-and-after hug measurements have found it lowers levels of cortisol. It also leads to the release of the “love hormone” oxytocin and the “feelgood” hormone dopamine. The benefitsofa hug can also linger Several studies have found that hugging leads to lower levels of waking cortisol the next morning. Self-soothing with ahand pressed over the heart for10ormore seconds has also proven effective. While the squeezing machine you mentioned does deliver asensation akin to ahug, neither the intent nor the result are the same. It was pioneered by Temple Grandin, anoted author and educator

living with autism. She developed the deep-pressure device to manage the anxiety and sensory overload common in the condition. It does rely on the physical and neural networks of touch. However, the social and emotional pathways that are intrinsic to human touch are not engaged. The bottom line: Hugging is a simple act that can calm stress, improve mood and build connection. Have aspare 10 or 20 seconds? Hug someone you love. Send yourquestions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu,orwrite: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite1450, Los Angeles CA, 90024.

Disposingofdamaged Bibles

ByThe Associated Press

Today is Monday,June 1, the 152nd day of 2026. There are 213 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On June 1, 2008, afire at Universal Studios Hollywood destroyed 3acres of the studio’sproperty, including avault holding as many as 175,000 irreplaceable master audio recordings from hundreds of musicians including Billie Holiday,Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Nirvana.

Also on this date: In 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order,“Don’tgive up the ship,” during alosing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon during the Warof1812.

In 1916, the Senate voted 47-22 to confirm Louis Brandeis as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first Jewish American to serve on the nation’shighest bench. In 1943, acivilianflight from Portugal to England was shot down by German bombers during World WarII, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.

In 1980, Cable News Network,the first 24-hourtelevision news channel,made its debut In 1990, U.S. President George H.W.Bush and SovietPresident Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement to stop producing and reduce existing stockpiles of chemical weaponsheld by the two Cold Warsuperpowers. In 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shot and killed nine members of theNepalese royal family,includinghis parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, before mortally wounding himself

In 2009, General Motors filedfor Chapter 11 reorganization, becoming the largest U.S. industrialcompany to enter bankruptcy protection.

In 1957, Don Bowden, a student at the University of California at Berkeley, became thefirst American to run amile in under four minutes during ameet in Stockton,California, witha time of 3:58.7. In 1962, former Nazi official AdolfEichmann was executed after beingfound guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions duringWorld WarII.

In 2011, Endeavourconcluded its final flightof the 30-year space shuttle era, landingbefore dawn at NASA’sKennedySpace

Center in Florida. (Atlantis would carry out the last shuttle flight in history a month later.)

In 2015, acruise ship carrying morethan 450 people capsized and sank in asevere storm on China’sYangtzeRiver,leaving hundreds missing. Only ahandful of people survived thesinking of the Eastern Star In 2020, police forcefully disbanded aprotest by thousands of people in Lafayette Park across from theWhiteHouse, using chemical agents, clubs and punches, who rallied against the police killing of aBlack man, George Floyd, by aWhiteofficer in Minneapolis aweek earlier Today’sbirthdays: Singer Pat Booneis92. Actor Morgan Freeman is 89. Actor Brian Cox is 80. Actor Jonathan Pryce is 79. Rock musician Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones) is 79. Country singer-songwriter Ronnie Dunn is 73. Actor LisaHartman Black is 70. Actor Teri Polo is 57. Model-TV personalityHeidi Klum is 53. Singer Alanis Morissette is 52. Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile is 45. Actorcomedian Amy Schumer is 45. Tennis Hall of Famer Justine Henin is 44. Comedian Nikki Glaser is 42. Actor Zazie Beetz is 35. Actor TomHolland is 30. Actor Willow Shields is 26.

Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: Ihope you or your readers can help me (andmost likely many others) with learning how to respectfully dispose of used or damaged Bibles. Thank you, and Ilove your good work! —Eddie S., via email Eddie, this is avery thoughtful question. I’ve heard of people takinga very old Bible and burying it in agarden or placing

HEAT

Continuedfrom page5C

came back six months later.

For many years, theirwasabi farm was apassionproject,funded by theirelectrical work.Now,Hallhas stepped back from farming focus on parenting, but is still involved.

“There’s no playbook of how to do it,” Roller says. But as they struggled, one thingkept them going: They alwayscould sell whatever they grew,mostly to local high-end sushi restaurants and steakhouses.

Between reading ahandfulofacademicpapersand conducting lots of experiments with irrigation, lightingand more, they finally landed on aconsistent system. They’ve been growing their wasabi the same way for seven or eight years now,Roller says.

The farm draws on sustainable farming practices like using predatory bugs to keep pestsatbay and recirculating water for the fairly water-hungry plants, according to Roller.Today they’reamongjust asmall handful of U.S.-based wasabi farmers.

The whole plants are edible,and the farm also sells the leaves and stems, which can be made into salads or chopped and marinated with

it under the hands of a deceased loved one while they lay in their coffin.

Somepeople have the Bible buried with the person, while others remove it before burial. There are others whosay that it’sserved its purpose and place it in the trash. Youmight wanttodiscuss this with your minister to see what they recommend.

—Heloise

Atreat forsmellyfeet

Dear Heloise: Once fabric softener sheets have been used, they no longer have what it takes to soften

soy sauce to become kizami, acondiment. The flowers, meanwhile, can be usedas an edible garnish.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic threw awrench into their business. “COVID was really difficult forus,” Roller says. “Welost 90% of our business overnight.”

They had to adapt quickly, pivoting to onlinesales and learning howtoship across theU.S. —particularly to areas where restaurants reopened ahead of the Bay Area, like Texasand Florida They also began selling to local Japanese supermarkets. So how do you eat it? What you’ll want to eat —and what traditional wasabi is —isthe wasabi plant’srhizome, or stalk at the base of the plant, grated very finely into apaste.Shredded over aspecial grater,the resulting flavor and color of the wasabi pastes can differ just basedonwhichend of the rhizomeyou’re grating, as co-owner Jim Murphy demonstrated on arecent visit to the farm. Murphy joined last year after acareer in human rights work and web development.

Real wasabi oxidizes quickly.It’sideally consumed about five minutes after shredding, to letitoxidize alittle bit. But it starts to lose heat within 25 minutes of grating it, he says. Those timing parameters make it difficult formany

laundry items. However, Ifigured out asecond use forthem.I keep asealed plastic storage bag forthe used sheets. Although their mainpurpose no longer applies, the amount of remaining scent is amplified when they are combined. Ireuse them, especially during spring and summer,byputting them in tennis shoes and someclosed-toed shoes while they’re waiting to be wornagain. —Deborah R., in Austin,Texas Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

restaurants to work with, especially thoseserving takeout.

Butafter trying even just atiny taste of the real stuff, it’sobvious why it is so sought-after.The fresh, sharp, complex heat that spreads through thepalate andnasal passagesprovidesa unique sensation that’sasfleeting as it is subtle.

Today, youcan find locally grown wasabi from Half Moon BayWasabiat restaurants like Rintaro in SanFrancisco; Robinin SanFranciscoand Menlo Park; the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay; Alexander’sSteakhouselocations in San Francisco, PaloAlto and Cupertino; and Katsu in Mountain View It’salsosoldatMitsuwa MarketinSan Jose; Tokyo Fish MarketinBerkeley; Nijiya Market locations in SanFrancisco, SanMateo, MountainViewand SanJose; andatthe Ferry Building Farmers Market in SanFranciscoonthe secondSaturdayofeach month.

Half Moon Bay Wasabi also participates in occasionalpop-ups at the Half Moon Bay farmers market and Pillar Point Harbor People can also order wasabidirectlyonline.Goto@ halfmoonbaywasabi on Instagram or hmbwasabi.com formore information.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Keep life simple, don't take on responsibilities that belong to someone else and question information before you pass it along or trust its validity. Protect yourself from those trying to lead you astray.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Offering help to those less fortunate or using your connections or attributes to benefit the needy will satisfy your soul more than pontificating about something that's not entirely true. Choose peace.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Pay more attention to personal growth. Decide what makes you happy, and choose to dedicate more time and effort to reaching your goal. Anger will stand between you and what you want.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Reading the fine print, negotiating on your behalf and getting what you want in writing are important. You have plenty to gain if you are thorough and refuse to take anything less than what's fair.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Networking and discovering how you can turn something you enjoy doing into something profitable will have a positive impact on your life, but first, you must get rid of the excess and declutter your space.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Refrain from letting your personal and professional dreams collide. Separate your emotions from your responsibilities, and use your voice, experience and skills to help you fulfill your ambitions.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Keep the talks going until you reach an agree-

ment. Maintaining balance and equality in your life is necessary if you want to improve your lifestyle and your meaningful relationships.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Someone will interfere in your life if you let them Keep a low profile and go about your business. What you achieve without an audience will far exceed your expectations.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Stick close to home to work toward the lifestyle you envision. The changes you make to your surroundings will help you tweak your plans and boost your ego. Put your imagination to work.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Plant your feet firmly on the ground and say no to anyone trying to talk you into something you don't need or want. Run the show instead of being a spectator. Stop letting others dictate your next move.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Don't believe everything you hear. Don't be afraid to ask direct questions and to opt out of any situation or deal that appears to be missing important details or hidden costs.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Distance yourself from those who stir the anger or stubbornness in you. Pay more attention to how you look and what you do, and display the best version of yourself.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

toDAy's cLuE: G EQuALs L

FAMILY CIrCUS

CeLebrItY CIpher

better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers1 to 9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Saturday’s PuzzleAnswer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

Anoldproverbgoes:Goodhabitsresult from resistingtemptation. That can apply at the bridge table. South is in four hearts. West leads the diamond queen. What temptations must declarer avoid? In thefourthchair, it was reasonable forSouthtoopen four hearts. Aslam was unlikelyopposite apassed partnerand probably this openingwouldsilence the opponents, who might have been ableto do well in another suit.

From West’slead, South knows that East has the diamond ace. So it is tempting to play low from the board. However, herethatwouldgiveWestachancetobea geniusbyshiftingtothespadeeight.And when declarer plays the queen from the dummy, East ducks it.(He knows West would have led asingleton if he had one, andwouldnothaveshiftedfromfourlow spades.)Then the contract wouldfail; as it would if West had initially ledaspade and East had ducked So, South covers withdummy’s diamondking,ruffstheseconddiamondand drawstrumps. It is then tempting to lead aspade to force away intothe dummy to takethetemptingclubfinesse.However, if East, reading West’s spade eight as the start of ahigh-low withadoubleton, ducks, the contract must fail. Declarer will lose twospades, one diamond and one club.

South has 10 tricks viaone spade, seven hearts and two clubs.After drawing trumps,declarershouldcashhisclubace and continue withthe club queen. Then, when he gets to thedummy in spades, he discards aspade loseronthe club jack. ©2026 by NEA,Inc., dist.

By 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

of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional

by

a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns,

or

or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed toDAy’s WoRD oBsEssIon: ub-SESH-un: Apersistent preoccupation with something.

Average mark14words

Can you find 18 or morewords in OBSESSION?

wuzzles

Trustthe Lord.Hetakes

of His own. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles