The Acadiana Advocate 06-03-2026 by The Advocate

Landry proposes school budget cut

$168 million would fund stipend for teachers

BY PATRICK WALL and MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writers

Gov. Jeff Landry called for a nearly $170 million reduction in public school funding Tuesday to pay for $2,000 stipends for Louisiana teachers, who otherwise stood to lose the pay bump they have received the past few years instead of raises.

The proposed funding cut, which lawmakers must approve, comes after the Legislature passed a state budget

last week that did not include money for the temporary stipends. As a result, Landry said the money will have to come from the roughly $4 billion allocated for public schools, arguing that school and district leaders can weather the cut by reducing “the waste and the bureaucracy.”

“It is time for these school boards to tighten their belt,” Landry said at a news conference at the State Capitol, adding that the savings should go into “teachers’ checks.” In an executive order Tuesday,

Landry said he was reducing state funding for K-12 education by $168 million in the coming school year, with the money instead going toward $2,000 stipends for teachers and $1,000 for other school support staff. State education ofﬁcials estimated that the cut would lower school districts’ state aid by an average of 4% to 5%.

Landry said the money will come from funding for schools’ “noninstructional” expenses, adding that

New laws target foreign seafood

Legislation designed to support state shrimpers

BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer

Louisiana will soon see tougher regulations on imported seafood with the passage of a slew of laws designed to support the state’s shrimpers, whose industry has struggled for decades to compete with cheap foreign imports.

The new legislation will impact state agencies, seafood retailers and processors. One law, recently signed by Gov Jeff Landry, expands the authority of the Agriculture Department to destroy seafood that fails to meet the state’s testing requirements

“I really

REP JESSICA DOMANGUE,

authority Four of them have been signed by the governor

“I really hope that it brings to light the importance of serving and consuming Louisiana seafood,” said Domangue, who comes from a long line of shrimpers in Terrebonne Parish. “We know we don’t have control of what happens with the federal government. We just want Louisiana grocers and restaurants to (buy local seafood).”

La. boys basketball tournament returning to Cajundome

Lafayette to host LHSAA championships

BY ERIC NARCISSE Staff writer

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s boys state basketball tournament will return to Lafayette and the Cajundome in March 2027 for the first time since 2022. However, unlike four years ago, the Cajundome — for the first time since 2011 will host semifinals and finals games for select and nonselect brackets.

“Moving Marsh Madness back to the Cajundome marks an exciting new chapter for our boys basketball state championships and reinforces our commitment to delivering a premier experience for student-athletes, schools and fans across Louisiana,” LHSAA Assistant Executive Director and Director of Basketball Karen Hoyt said in a release. St. Thomas More boys basketball coach Danny Broussard was thrilled when he heard the news.

Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, authored six seafood-related bills this session, including those requiring invoices and expanding Agriculture Department

Another law requires retailers — such as restaurants and groceries — to keep invoices of their seafood purchases for six months. A third creates penalties for processors and distributors who mix local and imported seafood without labeling the product as such.

To urge more federal action on the issue, Domangue co-authored a resolution urging Congress to pass the American Seafood Competitiveness Act. That legislation would expand U.S. Department of Agriculture loans to commercial ﬁshermen and seafood processors, essentially giving the industry access to

See SEAFOOD, page 6A

“I’ve been to the Top 28 when it was in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Lake Charles,” he said. “Nothing against Burton Coliseum, it’s just that Lafayette is Lafayette. It’s the best location, and it has the best facility It’s on I-49 and I-10 connector, so it is best for fans around the state.”

Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission President and CEO Ben Berthelot projects the economic

Congress applauds end of ‘weaponization fund’

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON U.S. House

Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday afternoon that President Donald Trump agreed to drop his demands for $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to allow Republican leadership to shoulder through legislation to pay for deportations until 2030 without any restrictions on the federal ofﬁcers carrying out immigration laws.

“I believe that it is off the table for consideration,” Johnson, R-Benton, told reporters about the fund after GOP leaders spent much of the day grappling with how to secure money for immigration enforcement in a way that Democrats cannot block Democrats oppose funding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection without also adding some controls over the federal ofﬁcers, such as wearing bodycams and badges and removing their masks.

A key hurdle was the proposed fund to set aside $1.776 billion to compensate people who felt they were targeted by the Biden Department of Justice. A panel with ﬁve members, four of them appointed by the president, would decide who got paid and how much they would receive. Johnson visited Trump on Monday in the White House to discuss the problems the fund, which critics saw as a way to

ä See CONGRESS, page 6A

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Merlin Schaefer holds up Gulf shrimp at Schaefer’s Seafood in Bucktown on Tuesday.

hope that it brings to light the importance of serving and consuming Louisiana seafood.”

R-Houma

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Gov. Jeff Landry holds up the Louisiana Constitution while speaking during a news conference on Tuesday.

BASKETBALL, page 4A

ä See SCHOOL, page 4A

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALLISON ROBBERT Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before a House committee on Tuesday.

Police investigate man suspected of killing 6, self

MUSCATINE, Iowa Authorities in Iowa are investigating the fatal shootings of six people who they believe were killed by a relative who took his own life when confronted by police Monday.

Four people were found fatally shot when police were called Monday to a home in Muscatine about 50 miles southeast of Cedar Rapids, Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies said during a news conference

Ofﬁcers later found the suspect, 52-year-old Ryan Willis McFarland, of Muscatine, on a trail in the city Kies said.

“While talking to Ryan Willis McFarland, he took his own life,” the police chief said

Two other men who also are believed to be relatives of McFarland were later found fatally shot elsewhere in the city, according to Kies. One man was found in his home and the other was discovered dead inside a business, he said.

Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims and any details about them.

Cambodia files notice for conciliation with Thailand

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia Cambodia’s government has filed notice under a U.N. agreement on maritime law for compulsory conciliation of a sea border dispute with neighboring Thailand, Prime Minister Hun Manet said Tuesday At issue is territory claimed by both that is believed to contain large, exploitable amounts of natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

The decision to take the matter to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, comes after Thailand last month terminated a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding with Cambodia meant to resolve overlapping maritime claims. Thailand unilaterally revoked the agreement in May after relations between the countries worsened last year after major armed clashes over their land border

Last year’s ﬁghting with Cambodia spurred nationalistic fervor, putting political pressure on Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to abrogate the pact. In a live broadcast on TVK state television, Hun Manet said that his government had delivered formal notice to Thailand and to the U.N. secretarygeneral to begin compulsory conciliation proceedings under UNCLOS rules.

“Cambodia has never violated the sovereignty of other states,” he said. It wasn’t immediately clear when the claim might be adjudicated.

Bangladesh’s Rahman elected U.N. leader

UNITED NATIONS Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman won a hotly contested race Tuesday to be the next president of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly.

In a secret-ballot vote, Rahman defeated Cyprus’ Ambassador Andreas Kakouris 99-91, with three countries not voting He will succeed Germany’s former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, whose one-year term ends in September.

The presidency of the world body rotates by region and this year it was the Asia-Paciﬁc region’s turn. While the presidency of the General Assembly is largely ceremonial, it is also prestigious It is the U.N. organ where countries large and small can speak, and is the scene of the only annual gathering of world leaders, in September

The General Assembly controls the U.N. budget, adopts treaties, addresses global issues from poverty to corruption, and passes numerous resolutions that while not legally binding almost always reﬂect global opinion.

Rahman previously served as national security adviser in the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, and as an ambassador.

Rahman told diplomats assembled in the General Assembly hall that its 81st session will open “at a historic crossroads” when “trust in our organization is being tested on multiple fronts.

Pulte picked to replace Gabbard

Democrats, Republicans say Trump’s choice seems unqualified

BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has tapped Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as acting director of national intelligence elevating a real estate scion with no clear national security credentials to a key post as the U.S. remains at war with Iran.

Trump made the surprise announcement Tuesday on social media that Pulte would be replacing Tulsi Gabbard the former Hawaii congresswoman who had served as the director of national intelligence. Trump said Pulte will keep his other positions even as he ﬁlls in for Gabbard, who resigned last month after revealing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

The Republican president cited Pulte’s work at the FHFA and his

role as chair of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as indicating that his real estate work would overlap with the skills needed to coordinate 18 federal agencies tasked with aspects of foreign and domestic security

“William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump’s choice to elevate Pulte, who would also continue in his post at FHFA, shows how the president is putting a greater priority on loyalty to him, even as the Iran war has damaged Trump politically going into November’s midterm elections and raised concerns about the quality of advice that aides are giving to a president who has rewarded ﬂattery

It’s unclear what national security expertise Pulte brings to bear

as the U.S faces conflict in the Middle East, helps Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s assault and manages the emergence of artiﬁcial intelligence as a military tool. But Pulte, who’s 38 years old, has been a frequent guest on Air Force

One as Trump has traveled to Mara-Lago, his home and club in Palm Beach, Florida.

On one such ﬂight, the housing ﬁnance director stood in a doorway as Trump discussed with reporters the ballroom he’s building at the White House and handed Trump a series of renderings of the project that the president held up.

Several Senate Republicans reacted skeptically to Pulte’s appointment, questioning whether the housing ﬁnance director has the experience necessary to oversee the intelligence agency

“We don’t need a weaponized DNI. We need professionals there,”

Volunteers serve food in worrying Ebola outbreak

Region already faces severe food crisis

BY JUSTIN KABUMBA and OPE ADETAYO Associated Press

BUNIA, Congo For patients in an Ebola outbreak with no approved medicine or vaccine, there is little comfort. But Arlette Basekawike, a volunteer for the U.N. food agency, is doing her best.

Her hair covered by a pink bonnet, Basekawike prepares porridge, omelets and bread for breakfast in a shed outside the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo. Lunch and dinner might include fresh ﬁsh with fufu, made of mashed plantains, ﬁnished off by fruit She feeds both patients and health workers.

Even though the patients have this disease, they still feel better when they eat, and the doctors have the energy to treat the sick and give them medication,”

Basekawike told The Associated Press as she prepared vegetables and potatoes with goat meat in a large pot “I’m here for them like a parent, preparing food so they feel comfortable.”

Her contribution may appear like a simple task, but it has become a critical support for the remote region as it grapples with the rapidly spreading Bundibugyo virus, the rare species of Ebola conﬁrmed in May

As of Tuesday, 321 cases including 48 deaths had been conﬁrmed in the Central African nation’s three eastern provinces

of Ituri, North and South Kivu, according to the World Health Organization. WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said the number of suspected cases has dropped to 116 from 906 last weekend as many were ruled out after investigation.

Neighboring Uganda’s has had 15 cases and one death conﬁrmed, its health ministry said Tuesday Uganda closed its border with Congo last week despite WHO guidance not to do so.

Before the outbreak, the region already faced one of the world’s most severe food crises, because of an ongoing conﬂict that has displaced millions of people as government forces ﬁght rebels. The United Nations has warned that might complicate efforts to manage the spread of the virus among an already wary population

“Ebola is an additional crisis on top of a crisis,” said Olivier Nkakudulu, who heads the World Food Program in Ituri province.

WFP is facing a critical choice as aid cuts by the U.S and other major partners have disrupted operations in the vulnerable region. Efforts to contain the disease, which WHO has deemed a public health emergency of international concern, have been hampered.

Responders say they have ensured patients’ nutritional demands are met as “comfort food” takes on a more signiﬁcant meaning.

“Today we need to increase the amount because the number of patients has gone up,” said Esther Bao, a nurse and one of the volunteers. She worried about patients who, because of their health situation, “don’t eat just any meal.”

Canada calls for 16-year renewal of U.S., Mexico free trade agreement

BY ROB GILLIES Associated Press

TORONTO Canada is call-

ing on the United States and Mexico to renew the free trade agreement among their three countries for another 16 years

just as U.S. President Donald Trump revives talk of making Canada the 51st state.

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, sent a letter Tuesday to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer

and Mexico’s Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard conveying Canada’s recommendation. “The Agreement is highly beneﬁcial to each of our countries and to the integrated North American economy,” LeBlanc wrote. The letter comes ahead of the scheduled July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the latest iteration of a North American free-trade pact that has intertwined the economies of the United States, Mexico

and Canada since the early 1990s. It can either be subject to annual reviews going forward, or renewed for 16 years. LeBlanc and Canada’s Chief Trade Negotiator Janice Charette were in Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with Greer LeBlanc has said he believes the U.S. might want to have the trade agreement subject to annual reviews, and that the Trump administration might seek to cause uncertainly about the trade pact’s permanence.

said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota. “I’m trying to get more information about the current state of their thinking about that position. And, again, if he’s somebody they want in that position permanently, he’s got, as you all know, a lengthy road ahead of him.“

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in response to questions about Pulte’s national security credentials: “I have no observations on the matter.”

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, all of whom are leaving the chamber after this year’s elections, joined the chorus of wariness against Pulte.

“Doesn’t seem qualified,” Cassidy said.

“I don’t see any evidence of qualifications for that job,” said Cornyn, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

U.S. sanctions Iran’s largest digital asset exchange, 3 others

BY FATIMA HUSSEIN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to pressure Iran into a deal that would end an ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel, the U.S. placed sanctions on Iran’s largest digital asset exchange and three other exchanges, Tuesday

Included in the sanctions are Iran’s largest digital assets firm Nobitex and its chair and co-founder, Amir Hossein Rad. Treasury says Nobitex has processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset income last year and supports Iran’s vast sanctions evasion network.

Treasury accuses Nobitex of moving assets and funds out of the country to shield regime wealth after the start of U.S. combat operations in Iran. A representative from Nobitex could not be reached through email.

U.S. officials maintain that Iran relies heavily on

cryptocurrency and other digital assets to evade sanctions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the Reagan National Economic Forum this month, “We have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto.”

The Trump administration’s latest announcement is one of a variety of measures put in place to inﬂict economic pain on Iran. It has also imposed secondary economic sanctions on countries doing business with people, firms, and ships under Iranian control — including allies like the United Arab Emirates and competitors like China Banks have received warnings about handling Iranian money And last week, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which is an agency intended to control shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Treasury calls the agency a “scheme to extort international shipping.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MOSES SAWASAWA

Arlette Basekawike prepares meals for Ebola patients at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, Congo, on Monday

Trumpdisputes claims Iran

hasstopped communicating

Severalreports saymediating talks haveceased

BY JON GAMBRELL, SAMY MAGDY and NASSER KARIMI Associated Press

DUBAI,United Arab Emirates Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending aceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel two semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday,but President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing. The reportsby the Fars andTasnim news agencies,both believed to be closetoIran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, came as tensions flared in Israel’s separate but related fight against the Iranian-backedmilitia Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Aregional ofﬁcial involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press thatIranhad not communicatedatall on Tuesday aftersaying that aceaseﬁre needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.

In other developments, the U.S. military said it ﬁred amissile to halt another oil tanker trying to reach an Iranian port in violation of the American blockade. It was the seventh ship stopped by the military while trying to run the blockade, U.S. Central Command said in asocialmedia post

The Botswana-flagged merchant vessel M/T Lexie was stopped by an aircraft firing aHellfire missile into its engine room after thecrew ignored repeated warningsover 24 hours,the post said.

Talks‘goingoncontinuously’

Trump called reports of acessation in talks “false and erroneous.”

“The conversations between us have been goingoncontinuously including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today,” Trump said in aso-

cial media post. “Where they lead, one never knows, but as Itold Iran, ‘It’stime, oneway or another,for you to make aDeal.”

U.S.Secretary of StateMarco Rubio did not addressthe reported cutoff in communications as he testiﬁed at acongressional hearing in Washington. Instead, he sounded an optimistic note about the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while cautioning that there’s no guarantee of reaching “a deal that’sacceptable.”

Iran hasbeentrying to increase pressure on Trumpovernegotiations on the Iranwar ceasefire and loosening the Islamic Republic’s chokehold on theStrait of Hormuz andthe oil, gas and other commodities that normally passthrough it Trumpthencould potentially push Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to haltorslow theadvance of his forces,which have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any timeinover aquarter of a century Theconflictshave increasingly become conjoined, as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell thefighting in Lebanon.

Israel andthe U.S. maintain the fighting in Lebanonisseparate from theIran war talks.

Inflationtakes an economic toll

Meanwhile,year-on-year inflation in Iran reached alevel in May

unseen since World WarII, underlining theeconomic pain average Iranians are facing. While theU.S. is eager to ease the Islamic Republic’s grip on thestrait —through whichaﬁfthofall traded oiland naturalgas passed in peacetime —Iran faces economic challenges as its oil-backed economy remains under aU.S. naval blockade.

Economic pressure touched off nationwide protestsinIranin2017 into 2018, when rising food prices sparked demonstrationsthat killed over 20 people and sawhundreds arrested.The next year,anincrease in government-subsidized gasoline prices caused protests that saw over 300 people reportedly killed.

Thencame theprotests over the collapsing value of Iran’scurrency, therial, at thestart of this year.They were themostintense demonstrations to shake the Islamic Republic since its1979 revolution and the chaotic years that followed. Iran’stheocracy met January’s protests with acrackdown on demonstrators in Januarythat killed over 7,000 people, according to activists’ estimates.

Now,evenashard-linershold gun-handling workshops and organize marriages under the shadow of aballistic missile to bolster spirits, experts note there could be newdemonstrations if people ﬁnd themselves priced outoffeeding their families.

Some factions to surrenderarms, others offercoordination with forces

BY STELLAMARTANY Associated Press

IRBIL, Iraq

TwoofIraq’smost powerfulIran-backed militias said on Tuesday they would begin handing in their weapons to the authorities, amajor step in the newgovernment’s effort to rein in militias that have long operated on their own even though they were nominally under state command.

One of thegroups,AsaibAhl al-Haq, said it had formed acommittee to overseethe move, inventory its ﬁghters, weapons and equipment, and coordinate with thecommander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces. It cast the decision as aresponse to calls by Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority and the Iran-alignedCoordination Framework, the largest bloc in Parliament that dominatesIraqi politics.

The second group, the Imam Ali Brigades, made asimilarannouncementsaying the time has come “tobuild astrong state with full sovereignty.” It addedthat its aim wasnow to have weapons only with the state and help boost stateinstitutions.

The war in theMiddle East, which theUnited Statesand Israel launchedonFeb. 28 with strikes on Iran, has exposed the fragility of Iraq’sstate institutionsand their limited ability to restrain Iran-backed groups.

Aparallel confrontation between Washington and themilitias has deepened the crisis, with factions acting as an extension of Iran’sregional campaign and escalating attacks on U.S. assets in Iraq before atenuous ceaseﬁre deal was reached in April.

Aweek ago, inﬂuentialShiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his Sarayaal-Salammilitia, also known as thePeace Brigades,

wouldsplit from hispolitical movement and integrate into state institutions.

Under pressure from Washington, PrimeMinister Alial-Zaidi has been working to assert state authority over weapons. Al-Zaidi, a40-year-old bankersworninlast month, has made astate monopoly on arms acenterpiece of his program

The Trump administration has warned against having any Iraqi government inﬂuenced by Iranlinked factions andhas tied defense cooperation and funding to efforts to curb them.

Many Iran-backed militias are funded through the Iraqi state budget and embedded within the security apparatus, although not under the government’scontrol.

This has drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries that have bornethe bruntofattacksbythe militias andwhich say Baghdad has failed to take a tougher stance on armed groups. Several armed factions aligned with Iraq’s Coordination Frameworkhave taken adifferent stanceonefforts to bring weapons under state control. Twoimportant groups, Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, have rejected disarmament, tying the issue to Iraq’ssovereignty and the presence of foreign troops.

KataibHezbollah welcomed moves by other factions to place weapons under state authority butsaidits ownarmed activity will continue as part of what it describes as “resistance work.”

In arecent statement attributed to its Abu Mujahid al-Assaf social media channel, the group said it would offer to coordinate with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces —astate-backed umbrella of mostlyShiitearmedgroups rather than surrender its arms. The Popular Mobilization Forces wasformed in 2014 to ﬁght the Sunni militant Islamic State group, which at the time had seized awide swath of Iraqi territory.Many of its groups still keep theirown commandand ties to Iran.

“essential student services” such as school security,food services and transportation would not be affected.

“This order does not cut money from the classroom,” he said Two-thirds of theLegislature must approve the changefor it to take effect.Lawmakers will have to mail in ballots since thelegislative session ended Monday

The proposed $168 million is about $30 million less than what thestate spent on stipendslast year,meaning thatsomeeducators who previously received the extra pay —including certiﬁed teachers who work as administrators —would lose it this year.Landry said Tuesday that the state has spent millions giving stipends to principals and assistant principals who “don’tdeserve it.”

The looming cut alarmed school systemleaders, who havepleaded for more state funding to account for the rising cost of fuel, insurance and other expenses. Now, instead of getting extramoneyto cover those costs, school districts will receive nearly$170 million less in state funding.

Sabrina Pence, CEO of FirstLine Schools, anetwork of fourNew Orleans charter schools, said the organization spent an additional $900,000 on employee health insurance this year due to rising prices. The proposed funding cut would likely force the network to letgoofsomepersonnel,including teachers and paraprofessionals, who she said have helped drive students’ recentacademic gains.

“The solutions they keep going forrob Petertopay Paul,” Pence said about state leaders Vermillion Parish schools Superintendent Thomas Byler said the plan creates uncertainty for schoolsystem leaders working to finalize staffing and budgets for the fall. Now they will have to look over their spending plans “with a ﬁne-tooth comb,”headded

“Some districts are going tobe

BASKETBALL

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impact for the area will be $4.1 million over aspan of six days. In addition, Berthelot projects $134,309 will be generated in local taxes with adirect economic impact of about $2.5 million.

“People are excited,” Berthelot said. “My phone has beenblowing up.There’sobviously alot of history there, alot of pride in the event over the years that we hosted it here, and Ithink it really helped to

able to handlethis without any problem,” he said, but others “are going to takeasevere hit on this.”

‘Difficult choices’

Landry has vowed to give permanent raises to Louisiana’s teachers, whoearn about $16,000 less than the national average —but without raising taxes.

He ﬁrst tried to pay for the raises by tapping into stateeducation trust funds, but aconstitutional amendment to do so failed last monthatthe ballot box.Itwas the secondtimevotersrejected a proposal to foot the bill for thepay bumps by using the trust funds to payoff teacher retirement debt, with the annualsavings going toward raises.

In the wake of May’selection, stateleaders pivoted to finding moneyfor teacher stipends within theschool-fundingformula. Pointingtopublic schools’ declining enrollment, Landry and legislative leadershave insisted that schools

setthe standard of what it should be like to host an LHSAA event.”

In 2021, Berthelot saidhewanted to use the state volleyball championships“to show the type of event they can put oninhopes of hosting (the state basketball tournament) in the future.”

Berthelotbelieves the success of thevolleyball tournament as well as thearea’s historywith hosting theboys statebasketball tournament were instrumental in helping secure theevent this year

“I thinkthere wasmutual interest between us and the LHSAA (tobring theevent back to Lafay-

shouldhavestate money left over to pay teachers more.

“There is no way we can’tﬁnd a permanent pay raise in thosedollars,” Senate President Cameron Henry said last week.

School system leaders argue that they could pay teachers more if state funding hadkeptupwith inﬂation andthe rising cost of everything from property insurance to buildingmaterials. Somealso pushedback on the suggestionthat school administrators and other nonclassroom employees are expendable.

“I 100% agree thatteachers are the frontline,” Bylersaid, “but I think way more goes intothe success our schools areseeing than people whoaren’tinthe system understand.”

Sharon Latten Clark, astate Board of Elementary andSecondary Education member wholeads Sophie B. Wright High School in New Orleans, said school leaders want to pay teachers more —but

ette),” Berthelot said. “I thinkcertainly having the volleyball state championships have helped to see what amajor athletic event looks like in the Cajundome. It’d be hard to argue that the Cajundome is not theﬁnest facilityinthe statewhen it comes to the ability to host this event.

“I believe the LHSAA has the opportunity to maximizethe most ticket sales and themost revenue for their organization by having it in Lafayette. If you look at theattendance ﬁgures and the recordattendance over the years, the majority of those wereheld in Lafayette.”

they also arecontendingwithrising costs.

“I thinkit’sgoing to be challenging for schools,” she said about the proposed cut, “but we all do want to do theright thing forteachers.”

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley toldlocal school superintendents Tuesday thatthe education department will provide data showing how the governor’sorderwill affect their budgets.

“School system leaders and local school boards will haveto makedifﬁcult choices in the days, weeks, and months ahead,” he said in theletter,adding that he would encourage local communities to show their school systems “grace and patience.”

Long-termsolution

Underthe LouisianaConstitution,BESE develops the schoolfunding formula, known as the Minimum Foundation Program, whichthe Legislature must ap-

Northwestboysbasketball coach Mark Cassimere, whoplayed in the Top28inthe Cajundomewhen the Raiders reached thestatesemiﬁnals in 2004, was happy to hear the tourney was coming back to the Acadianaarea.

“Welcome home!” Cassimere shouted. “I’mveryexcited that the tournament is coming back a little closer to home. Ithink having it in Lafayette is just morecentralized for everybody.Ilike that it is closer to home, and hopefully we can have the whole city of Opelousas in there.” Having more fans —most no-

prove.Landry’sorderdirects the board and the state Department of Education to ﬁnd parts of the formula to cut.

ABESE spokesperson said the board is reviewing Landry’sorder “and has notmade anydecisions at this time.”

Ultimately,Landry also wants BESE to revise the formula to incorporate thestipends as permanentpay raises. On Monday,the LouisianaLegislature passed a resolution appointing atask force to come up with recommendations forhow to do so.

In astatement, state Rep. Laurie Schlegel,R-Metairie, whochairs the HouseEducationCommittee, said she supports “the Governor’s plantoprovide teacherswith a stipendbecause Ibelieve they deserve it.”

State Rep. Jack McFarland, RJonesboro, whoaschair of the House Appropriations Committee plays akey role in deciding how to spend taxpayer dollars, said the formula dedicates alittle over $1 billion to nonclassroom expenses. It is unclear howmuchwould be left if security, food andtransportation costs wereexcluded from that number

McFarland said he does notknow whether Landry hasthe votesto cut $168 million from the education funding formula. There’s“a process that we will go through to determine if we believethose dollars are there,” he said.

ButLandrycould find support from lawmakers who have expressed frustration with the complexityofthe school-funding formula and their lack of control over school spending.

McFarlandsaidhereviewed school expenditure data on the state treasurer’swebsite and believes there is “a lot of questionable spending there,” while also noting that he does notknow“howmany millions of dollars that adds up to.”

“I don’tthink it appliestoall schools,”McFarland added. “Some of those schools Ilooked at are being moreresponsible with their spending.”

Staff writers Elyse Carmosino and Marie Fazio contributed reporting.

tably the student body —inattendance is something Broussard expects to increase with the event being in Lafayette.

“If we can get there, you’re going to be lookingatsomegreat crowds from the Cougar fans,” Broussard said. “But I’m excited for the city of Lafayette as well, because when it washere, we had alot of fans that were just basketball fans in Lafayette whoare going to go to the event whether we are there or not. It’s special.”

Email Eric Narcisse at enarcisse@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

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government programs historically given to farmers. Sens.Angus King, I-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, RAlaska,introduced the act in late March.

In Louisiana, the issueof imported seafoodhas been arecurring subject among lawmakers in recent years. According to the Food and Drug Administration, 95% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported from other countries, which can drive down prices for the domestic industry

Adding to that, shrimpers and advocates have complained of restaurants mislabeling imported shrimp as local. As of last year,restaurants are required to clearly state the country of origin of the shrimp and crawﬁsh that they’re selling, or else face thousands of dollarsinﬁnes.

‘Encourage proper testing’

TwoofDomangue’sbills will give more authorityto the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, which is responsible for testing imported seafood forantibiotics and harmful contaminants. Under the current system,the department inspects the seafood

but is required to bring in theHealth Department to seize thepotentially harmful food. Under the new law,Act 122, theAgriculture Department itself can “seize, hold, or destroy”any seafood that fails to meet stateregulations.

“It’s amoreefficient method,” said Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain. “Atthe endof theday,all the things we’redoing is to encourageproper testing.”

This will notstrip the

Health Departmentofany authority, Strain said, but give the state morestafﬁng to inspect and removepotentially harmful seafood.

The other lawrequiring seafood retailers to keep invoices of their purchases for six monthswill also help theagency keep track of the flow of products as it conductsinvestigations,Strain said.

Domangue had also sponsored House Bill 109, which would have dedicated rev-

follow that ruling.

compensate MAGAallies, creates when tryingtoﬁnd enough voteswith such narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

“I told him that it was a difﬁcult prospect right now, given our vote tallies,” Johnson toldreporters Tuesday

Anumber of Republican senators opposed the idea U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy,RBaton Rouge, is one.

“Weshouldn’tcare forthat because it’sgot pooroversight,” Cassidy said. Cassidy said he did not like the possibility that participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol could get paid.

“So somebody beats up a police ofﬁcer and would get money,” Cassidy said Tuesday He noted that one of the Jan. 6defendants was pardoned by Trump for firing agun and was arrested in October on charges of drugging, kidnappingand sexuallyassaulting awoman.

“I ain’tvoting for that, and Ithink there’sa lotofother peoplewho arereally concerned about that,” Cassidy said.

Tyingupbudgetstrategy

Using aonce-rare procedure called reconciliation, additional money canbe added to an annual spending plan with asimple majority of the House and Senate.

The Senate, which had planned to vote on the reconciliation bill Wednesday, does not have the support among Republicans to reachthe 51 votesneeded largely because of Trump’s anti-weaponization fund,

saidSenate MajorityLeader JohnThune, R-South Dakota Thune saidkeepingthe bill’s language specifically limited to immigration enforcementfunding notonly would bring along wary Republicans, butlimit the numberofchanges that opponents would trytoadd during thehandful of votes by the full Senate —called “vote-a-rama” on Capitol Hill —that are required for reconciliation.

“Confiningthe bill to its original intent, which was avery narrowly focused reconciliation bill thatjust addresses thefunding for (immigration enforcement), is theclearest path to ultimately getting abill on the president’sdesk,” Thune said.

The100-seat Senate has 53 Republicans. If everyone shows up to vote and Democrats don’twaiver,Thune can lose onlythree Republicans,providedVice President JD Vance is available to vote Trump backed theopponent of incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, who, like Cassidy, lost in the party primary.And incumbentSen. Thom Tillis, a NorthCarolina Republican, decided not to seek reelection

Buteven Republican senators who have faithfully followed Trump’sdictates are raisingquestionsabout the fund that was partofa settlement in alawsuitbythe Trump family against the Internal Revenue Service.

After Johnson’sMonday meeting with Trump, the Department of Justice announceditispausing creation of the fund until a court ruled on June 12 and the administrationwould

“Just saying we’re going to follow the order doesn’t tell me abouttheir position on the weaponization fund,” Sen. John Kennedy,R-Madisonville, toldreporters Monday. He likened the effort to include thefund with the reconciliation process “looks like abroken arm with the bone sticking out.”

After senators met to discuss reconciliation over lunchTuesday, Kennedy said he and otherswould watch the testimony of acting AttorneyGeneral Todd Blanche before theHouse AppropriationsCommittee that was scheduled to begin afew hours later

“Weare not moving forward with thefund, period,” Blanchetoldthe HouseAppropriations Committee

“Ever?” asked Rep.Grace Meng, D-New York.

“Ever,”Blanche said. “We’re notmoving forward with the fund.”

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

enue thatthe state takes in from sportsgambling to an “imported seafood safety fund.” That billdid notpass thissession, “leavingsports gambling where it is now,”

Domangue said.

Another bill that would allow the fund to be used forthe Agriculture Departmenttomarket and promoteLouisiana seafood was signed into law,but there is no money allocated to it.

“We’re going to go back to the drawing board on that onenextyear,” Domangue said. “Itwill be abetter time given it’saﬁscal session.”

Mixedupshrimp

In oneofthe fewseafood bills not led by Domangue, Rep. Timothy Kerner,RLaﬁtte, authored theseafood mixing, or “commingling,” bill signed by Landry in May.Inaddition to labeling the country of origin of purchased seafood, processors anddistributors can face finesfor selling “commingled” seafood while labeling it as domestic.

The comminglinglaw will takeeffect at thebeginning of August.

This lawalsoaligns with the recentwork of SeaD Consulting, afood

technology company collecting shrimp samples at eateriesacrossthe South, documenting apattern of shrimp fraud. Dave Williams, the commercial ﬁsheries scientist who founded the company,said his team developednew technology that reveals whether shrimp of different geographic species are mixed in asingle sample. The comminglingtechnology is an additiontothe company’srapid genetic test, which canhelpdetermine whether arestaurant is serving local catch or foreign imports. “Itgives us agrasp of how muchimported DNA is present,” Williamssaid. “Itgives afairly accurate ratio.”

The Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, which reports to the state wildlife agency, previously hired Williams’ company to conduct the seafood genetic testing.

Email Josie Abugov at josie.abugov@theadvocate. com.

STAFF PHOTO By BRETTDUKE FreshGulf shrimprest on ice at Schaefer’sSeafood in Bucktown in NewOrleans on Tuesday

Trumpsigns orderthatinvites vettingofAImodels

Mandategives government 30 days to review systems

BY MATT O’BRIEN AP technologywriter

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artiﬁcial intelligence Tuesday,less thantwo weeks after postponinga WhiteHouse ceremonyover his concerns that asimilar policy could dull America’s technological edge.

The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to amonth before their public release.Participation by AI developers would be voluntary,the order says.

“Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger,but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordi-

nated actionacross executivedepartments and agencies,” theorder says. It was not immediately cleartowhatextentthe order differed from theone Trump declined to sign on May21.

Theorder says the governmentwould haveonly 30 days to review anAI system, ashorter time frame than someinthe industry were expecting.A longer time period might have been seen as too burdensome for afastmoving and highlycompetitive industry

Trump canceled an Oval Ofﬁce event with tech industry executives last month because he didnot likewhat he saw in the earlier version of theorder’s text. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, andIdon’twant to do anything that’sgoing to

get in the way of thatlead,” Trump told reportersatthe time. That directive was characterized as avoluntary collaboration with participating U.S.-based tech companies, including Anthropic, OpenAIand Google, which are sometimes described as “frontier labs”because they are buildingthe most advanced AI systems.Several companies had been planning to have executives present at the May 21 signing event. Trump ended up signing it withoutany ceremony

The White House said in asocial media post Tuesday thatthe executive order “creates aprocess for frontier labstovoluntarily share cutting-edge cybermodels in order to securecritical infrastructure and strengthen

thegovernment’sown cyber defenses.Weare NOTconducting oversight of all new models, as thatlevel of government overreach would have chilling effectsonfree speech and innovation.

Juan Londoño,a policy analyst at thelibertarianleaning Cato Institute,said the order is imperfect but “a step in the right direction to prepare thenation for the release of advanced AI systems.”

He applaudedthe White House’scharacterization of theprocess as voluntary but saidhewas concerned aboutthe vagueness of how the government, ledbythe director of the National Security Agency,willdecide which AI modelsqualify for scrutiny,and how it will decide which “trusted partners” getearly access to them.

Londoñosaid in an interview thatgiving so much

BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Jeff

Bezos’ Blue Origin said Tuesday that last week’s rocketexplosion spared fuel tanks and some other critical parts of the launch pad. Critical to NASA’s Artemis moon program, the company’smassive New Glenn rocket blew up during an engine-firing test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Alightning tower and the transporter-erector used to move and hoist the rocket were destroyed in the blast that sent shock waves across the state.

CEO Dave Limp said the methane,hydrogen and oxygen tanks looktobein good shape. The water tank is also ﬁne and the support

tower that’s still standing can be repaired in place. A booster and otherrocket partshousednearbywere not damaged. Overall,this was “a bitof goodnews,” Limpsaid in an Xupdate,adding: “Wewill ﬂy again before theend of this year.”

The cause is still underinvestigation

Justtwo days beforethe accident, NASA awardeda contract worthhundreds of millions of dollars to Blue Origin, choosingNew Glenn rocketstolaunch apair of rovers to the moon ahead of the arrival of theﬁrst Artemismoonwalkers who will drive them.New Glenn also is needed to launch the company’sBlue Moonlander thatwill be used toget astronautstothe lunar surface in

thecoming years. NASA is aiming for as early as 2028 for theﬁrst moon landingbyastronauts since Apollo 17 in 1972. The space agency will “do allwecan”toget thepad back in action as soon as possible “while staying extremely focused on progressing thelander,”Administrator

Jared Isaacman said via X. Blue Origin’sNew Glenn lineofreusable rockets named after John Glenn, the ﬁrst American in orbit —has launched only three times. It’snot nearly as big as SpaceX’sStarship that is making test ﬂightstothe fringes of space from Texas. NASAhas ordered up Starships,inaddition to Blue Moon landers, to getArtemisastronauts to the lunar surface in the years ahead.

discretion to the NSAdirector wasa“dangerous precedent” that could enable the government to “weaponize” the policy against companies it is clashing with,like Anthropic.

Plans fora newAIcybersecurity directive followed Anthropic’sApril announcement of its most advanced AI model, called Claude Mythos, in the middle of the company’slegal fight with theTrump administration over acontract dispute with the Pentagon.

Treasury SecretaryScott Bessent and outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellsoon after convened an urgent meeting with Wall Street CEOs, warning them about the risks posed by Mythos’ apparent abilityto find cybersecurity vulnerabilitiesinthe world’ssoftware. Anthropic has limited access to Mythos to only a smallgroup of trusted part-

ners, such as big tech companies andbanks,thoughit saidTuesday it has expanded that group by another 150 organizations. Anthropic calledTrump’s new order “an important step in strengthening America’sleadership in AI” and said it looks forward to collaborating with the White House to support its implementation. Itschief rival, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, also described the policy as an important step, as did Google.

“As AI capabilities continue to advance, we believe effective safety frameworks should continue to be developed through democratic institutions, informed by technical expertise and broad stakeholder input, to promote accountability and public trust,” said astatement from Chris Lehane, OpenAI’schief global affairs ofﬁcer

Council OKs variance guidelines

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

Youngsville has introduced new guidelines for businesses seeking variances to the city’s ordinances that could increase the likelihood of requests being denied

The city has seen controversy in recent months over the number of variances passed, with the new regulations being aimed at balancing the influence of prospective businesses and nearby residents with adjacent properties.

Comeaux High facing closure again

School Board resurrects plan

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

The Lafayette Parish School Board hasn’t given up on its plan to close Comeaux High School and repurpose the campus as a career center

On Tuesday, the board held a public hearing to get feedback from teachers, parents and students about the planned closure.

The board did not vote Tuesday to close the school. As per board policy, it was required to hold a public hearing before voting.

In March, with little notice to the public, the School Board voted to close Comeaux High at the end of the 2025-26 school year A separate public hearing was not held prior to the vote, although people were allowed to speak at the meeting where the decision was made.

A parent, Suzanne LaJaunie, ﬁled a lawsuit seeking to stop the school closure based in part on the fact that the board did not follow its own policies for closing schools, namely holding a public hearing ﬁrst.

The School Board in April voted to rescind the March vote, intending to start the process again and within its policies. The board was stopped from further action by 15th Judicial District Court Judge Valerie Gotch-Garrett who said the board, in voting to rescind the closure vote, had violated her court orders to take no action until the lawsuit was settled. An appeals court then ruled that the board was attempting to comply with the requests in LaJaunie’s lawsuit and ruled that the lawsuit was moot.

Assistant Superintendent Mark Rabalais said the administration plans to present to the board the same proposal the board approved in March: to take Comeaux High ofﬂine after the 2025-26 year and repurpose it to replace the W.D. Smith Career Center and Ed Sam alternative school. Some parts of the campus, like the football stadium, will continue to be used, he said.

Current Comeaux High students will be rezoned and assigned to Acadiana High, Southside High or Lafayette High. Closing Comeaux as a traditional high school will save about $2.1 million in staff reductions, Rabalais said. Residents and some board members on Tuesday argued over the plan to close the current career center location on the north side of Lafayette and relocate it to Comeaux High on the south side. The plan, Comeaux High graduate Cassandra Lagrange said, would overpopulate Southside and Acadiana high schools. Acadiana High, she said, is at 112% capacity and Southside is at 110% capacity before the Comeaux students are transferred.

Board member Kate Labue said the school system can’t continue to support Comeaux High with less than 600 students as it is running at a deﬁcit. It is taking Minimum Foundation

Any commercial business seeking a variance for a development with adjacent residential property is now required to collect signatures from each of the property owners, following an ordinance passed unanimously by the Youngsville City Council. The signatures, according to the ordinance, are to verify notiﬁcations and not an endorsement.

YOUNGSVILLE

New regulations will also require the entity issuing the request to have a representative appear in person before the City Council. It also grants homeowner associations a right to veto variance requests from nearby businesses.

“The question has come up before, ‘Have the neighboring properties been notiﬁed?’” Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter said “Up until now there has not been a requirement that they do so. This creates that framework, so that there’s an expectation that the requestor initiates dialogue. They can then report to us on those conversations.”

The ordinance, Ritter noted, was drafted with direct feedback from council member Simone Champagne’s concerns about property variances she had expressed during a February meeting. Champagne had taken issue with the number of variances approved by the city

“Every month it seems like we’re approving multiple variances,” she said. “I don’t like variances. We have ordinances, and if they aren’t working, we need to change them. That makes more sense than

having to hear several variance requests every month.”

Further discussion of variances for business development came in April when the council shut down a request that would pave the way for an electrical substation near the Cypress Gardens subdivision. A large number of residents spoke out against the project during that meeting.

“I’ve got real concerns with safety,” one resident said during a

Man jumps into bayou during police pursuit

Suspect arrested on narcotics counts

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

A man and woman were arrested in St. Martin Parish after deputies attempted to stop a wanted suspect, leading to a pursuit, a parishwide search and two dives into Bayou Teche. The driver, identified by authorities as Brock Robin, 38, of Breaux Bridge, was wanted on an active warrant tied to multiple narcotics counts. Sheriff Becket Breaux said deputies attempted to stop a vehicle shortly after 9:30 a.m. Monday in the 2000 block of Cecilia Senior High School Highway. The driver ﬂed, prompting a pursuit. During the initial pursuit, Robin crashed near a roundabout in Henderson but continued onto

Interstate 10 before stopping and ﬂeeing into a nearby pond on foot, the sheriff said. Deputies later received reports that Robin was seen running along Anse Broussard Highway When officers located him at Anse Broussard Highway and Kathleen Drive, he jumped into Bayou Teche and swam across before escaping again, prompting a perimeter search.

About 5:30 p.m., deputies conducting surveillance at a residence in the 1000 block of Sosthene Guilbeau Road observed a vehicle leave the property A traffic stop attempt at Grand Anse and Grand Point highways led to another pursuit, this time involving a driver identiﬁed as Corie Begnaud, 35, of St. Martinville, with Robin as a passenger During that pursuit, Robin exited the vehicle in the 4000 block of

Cajun jammin’

ABOVE: The room is ﬁlled with musicians and tourists at the Cajun music jam led by Reggie Matte, third from right, and Cheryl Cormier, second from right, at Vermilionville on Saturday

LEFT: Musicians of all ages join the group session.

Lawmakers pass bill giving teachers paid parental leave

Measure needs funding to take effect

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill to give public school employees a month and a half of fully paid parental leave, but educators won’t be able to take advantage of the new benefit this school year The Senate voted 31-8 Sunday to approve Senate Bill 157, which requires school districts to give full and

school year after lawmakers ended the legislative session without funding the bill, which requires the state to reimburse districts for the cost of hiring substitute teachers. Instead, its supporters will have to press for funding to cover the bill’s estimated $6 million annual cost when lawmakers reconvene next year

“We knew it was going to be tough this session, just given current economics and the funds that were available,” said Sen. Samuel Jenkins, D-Shreveport the bill’s author Hopefully “there will be opportunities to shift some funding.”

economists

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

OUR VIEWS

Reductionin Medicaid rolls deserves further investigation

Whether one believes that Louisianahaving almost 200,000fewer people on itsMedicaid rolls compared to ayearago is agood thing depends largely on one’sperspective.

It could mean that more people are ﬁnding their way into jobs with better beneﬁts, which would be good for them because statistically people with good health insurance aremore likely to take amore active role in theircare, which leads to better outcomes.

It would also be good for thestate, becauseit saves money Gov.Jeff Landry,Louisiana Departmentof Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein andtheir allies are in this camp.

“Anecdotally,we’ve heard from employers that they’re continuing to hire new employees who are now receiving healthinsurance, and we are not hearing of increased ratesofuncompensated care occurring in Louisiana hospitals,” Greenstein said.

The “uncompensated care” Greenstein refers to would be necessary if more people were, instead ofgetting privateinsurance,just dropping healthinsurance altogether.Thatleadsto more people seeking care only when conditions become acute and they are more likely to have worsehealth outcomes.

It also becomes more expensive forpatients, their families and the state.

That’swhat some fear is happening in Louisiana. Thereduction,they note, includes50,000 children who are no longer eligible forMedicaid within the state thanks to new rules.

“Even ashort-term loss of health careexposes that family to potentially expensive costs let’ssay from achild breaking an arm on the playground —that could bankrupt them,” said Joan Alker,aGeorgetown University health researcher

These two narratives underlie the complexities of healthcare in America. Add inthe fact that theMedicaidrolls grew dramatically after then-Gov.John Bel Edwardsoptedtoexpand the state’soffering under the Affordable Care Act, often known as Obamacare, and the questions only deepen.

The full effects of changes made to Medicaid will probablynot be known foryears. Butthat doesn’tmean that the state should not be making everyefforttolearn what they are.

Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, has calledfor legislative hearings on thetopic. Sen. PatrickMcMath,R-Covington,has said that any hearings should be to “celebrate” the accomplishments.

We call for more robust data-gatheringtoﬁnd outhow ourMedicaidpopulationhas faredover the previous year.The relatively paltry number of new nonfarm jobs in the state overthe same span seems to indicate acomplex picture. Unemployment has edged up marginally aswell. Given the jumbled nature of thesenumbers, we urge state health and legislative leaders to work to develop clear yardsticks of progress. A healthy and thriving Louisiana population should be the ultimate measure of success or failure. If the assertions by state leaders are borne out,wewillcelebrate with them. Ifthey’re not however, we hope they will be willing notjust to admit that change is needed, but alsotoput ideology aside and make it happen

LETTERSTOTHE

HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

OPINION

Democracydepends on thepublic’strust

The growing public anger and confusion surrounding Louisiana’sredistrictingﬁght should concern every citizen of this state, regardless of political party or ideology

Recently, Louisianans have watched courts, legislators and the governor struggle over congressional maps,emergency authority and even the timing of elections after some citizens had already begun participating in thevoting process. While lawyersand political strategists debateprocedure, many ordinarycitizens areleft asking amore basic question:Can the public still maintain conﬁdence in the fairness and stabilityofour democratic system?

That question deserves deeper moral reﬂection from all of Louisiana’scivic institutions, including its editorial voices.

Editorial boards do morethan report events. At their best, they help communities think through not only what is legal or politically possible, but also what is fair,responsible and healthy for democracy itself.

Over the years, this newspaper’s

editorial board has thoughtfully addressed taxes, constitutional amendments,public safety,highereducationand government reform. Those editorials often ask readers to consider thelong-term consequences of decisions affecting Louisiana’s future. Should not that samecivic seriousnessapply when public trust in voting, representation andcitizenship itself appears increasingly strained? For manyAfrican-Americans, the present controversy is not simply about district lines or partisan advantage. It reﬂectsalongstanding concern about whether their electoral voice will remain stable, protected andfully respected withinLouisiana’s democratic process

At moments likethis, citizens beneﬁt not only from legalanalysis, but also from moral clarity.Anewspaper’sinstitutional voice carries its greatest authority when conscience is applied consistently during times that testpublic conﬁdence in democracy itself.

DORIS GRAY BROWN Baton Rouge

StateInsurance Commissioner

TimTemple has embarked on aroad to capture the nonpublic personal ﬁnancial information of every policyholder in Louisianawho buys insurance in the surplus lines market. This includes individuals and small and medium-sized businesses that buy propertyand liabilitycoverage from non-admitted companies through their insurance agent and broker

The various purchasers whose insurance policy information (name, address, type of insurance, premium and policy expiration date) will be gathered include building contractors, commercial truckers, apartment owners, marina operators, jewelers, bar owners, architects,lawyers, real estate agents, employers who protect their employees’ international travel with kidnap/ransom insurance and so many more.

Ignoring thefact that Temple’splan collides with the federal Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, it puts a whole lot of valuable information at

risk of breach. Wholesalegathering of this information not only puts policyholders at risk, it jeopardizes the value of every brokers’ andagents’ business.

When Iwas in the Legislature, there was amajor battle between insurance agents and banks over owning insurance policy expiration dates. Why are theagents so willing to hand their expiration lists over to a clearinghouse and theDepartment of Insurance now?

Temple’spremisethat he needs this datatomake certain thebrokers are properly remittingpremium taxes is ﬂawed. If he even looked at numbers generated by LDIand NAIC,he would understand that the brokers are reporting and remitting taxes on morepremiums than the non-admitted insurers are reporting.

As apolicyholder,Idon’ttrust this scheme. Agents and brokers shouldn’ttrust it either SHIRLEYBOWLER Baton Rouge

Iwrite aboutthe $60 Imust pay to the state of Louisiana fordrivingahybrid vehicle PursuanttoLouisiana law, drivers of EVsmustpay $110 to thestate, and drivers of hybrids must pay $60. The rationalefor this“fee” (it’satax)isthis: Drivers of these vehiclesare using the roads, buttheyaren’tpaying gasoline taxes dedicated to road maintenance. Relax.I’m nothere to highlight theidiocy of public policythatdiscourages the efficientuse of carbon fuels;infact, I’m letting EV drivers make theirown arguments. I’mrestricting this complaintto thetreatmentofthose who drive hybrids that usegas. Idrive amidsized Honda Accord Hybrid. It doesn’t plugintochargea battery that powers the car.Itisa“selfcharging” car.Gasolineisused as a generator to keep thebattery charged. This is supplemented by other energy captured during brakingand coasting. I buy gasoline andpay thegas tax Idon’t have to buy gasasoften as a midsized gas-powered vehicle, but neither does the driverofa compact, fuel efficient, gasoline-onlycar.I pay gastax plus a$60 fee. The driverofa gas-only Toyota Corolla that gets similar (or better) mileage pays onlythe gastax.Stated another way,gas-electrichybrids and fuel-efficient gasvehicles are not meaningfully differentintheir road usageor impact, yetare taxed differently. This could be easily rectified while still pursuing thepublic policygoal of polluting theair andheating up theplanet. The lawshould be amendedtotreat gas-battery hybrids thesame as gasvehicles. Eitherremovethe $60 feeorstart charging it on fuelefficient gas-only cars as well. Obviously,I advocate the formerremedy ANDYJOHNSON Baton Rouge

PresidentDonaldTrumpasked Congress to appropriate nearly$1.8 billion forhis supporters, including theparticipantsinthe Jan.6,2021, attempted insurrection at theCapitol Contrast this withthe words of JohnF Kennedyathis ﬁrst andonly presidential Inauguration: “Ask notwhatyour country can do foryou.Ask whatyou can do foryourcountry.“

ALEX CHAPMAN Ville Platte

Allthis‘talent’breaksmybrain

You’re not crazy.Between artiﬁcial intelligence, bots, “astroturfed”comment sections and paid promotions masquerading as authentic social media content, almost nothing in our digitized world seems real or reliable. New research and reporting conﬁrm it’s worse than many anticipated. The music streaming company Deezer says that more than 40% of itsuploaded tracks are AI generated, according to arecent Washington Post article.Thisisfour times more thanin January 2025 and translates to 75,000 such songs uploaded daily Nary along-suffering, guitar-pickin’ crooner in the bunch Irecently spotted aneon sign in a Manhattan bistro that read: We’re all famous. Now what?

From the bunkers of our terminals and laptops, we’re all keyboardkings andqueens, digital potentateswith wide-ranging expertise. We’re authors, actors, poets, lawyers, scientists and columnists. The latter will enjoy job security as long as personality and voice are deemed essentialtothe craft, though my guess is this won’tbefor much longer Now what, indeed?

If awannabe writer can engage a chatbot to write anovel, what’sthe point of sweating out aplot or dragging characters kicking and screaming from one’s very human imagination? Why even bother when potentialreaders are too busy inventing their own fake fame?

The Post storyoffers adepressing look at the surge of AI-generated products, including more self-ﬁled lawsuits, more scientiﬁc papers,more online content and more books. This democratization of fake “talent” is aby-product of thesame internet that gave everyone aplatform. We’ve seen how well that’sworking out.

This brings us to fake news —though not in the way President Donald Trump would have us think. Areport from Vulture cites aformer executive who estimatesthatmore than 90% of what’s online is advertising “indisguise.” At its peak, the content distributor Floodify ran 65,000 dummy social mediaaccounts to gin up interest in its clients, said Joe Lim, who founded the company The scale of deception is overwhelming. How are regular people supposed

With so much of what we see on the internet masqueradingasauthentic social mediacontent, almost nothing in our digitized worldseems real or reliable.

to navigategalaxies of information in the face of suchglobal cheating? Answer:Mostcan’t. Onceafake postgoes viral, it becomes acredible “truth” and infects millions of people who believe, repeatand live by alie. It’s not their fault.

Here’saquestion for my fellow scrollers: Howlong beforeyou realized that the dearold carpenter Ernesto, singing aheart-wrenching song about waiting by the door for his family’sreturn, wasAIgenerated? My heartbroke when Iﬁgureditout. But thenI thought, oh,hell, it’sa lovely song and sentiment. What’s the harm?

In short, it’sthat we’ll fall for anything that bathes our brains with dopamine. But what if the content is moreserious than asad song? Howmany clips and podcastsdoes it take to create acohort of warriors in, say,the manosphere?

“Clipping” refers to pulling segments from performances,podcasts or other venuesand collating them for mass consumption—abooming new industry forcompaniesspecializing in branding. Free-ranging fame-seekers have so ﬂoodedthe digital zone that even people as wildly successful as Justin Bieber have surrenderedtothe fray.Someone hiredaclipping service to distribute social-media-friendly clips of his Coachella performance, for example. The

result was an astronomical number of views, feeds, clicks and yet more fame.

The machines would seem to be winning, but there’sa bright side. Most of the books being writtenbyAIare e-books thatdon’tsell as well as real books.

The increasing number of people using AI to ﬁle lawsuitsposes amore daunting problem because it could clog the courts. And themedia, by reporting on inﬂuencersand trends, helps make the unimportant seem important, thus exacerbating theproblemoflucrative lying. Worse,itelevates bad actors who seem newsworthy but can usefame in harmful ways.

This seemingly unstoppable system of rewards and no punishment for unethical behavior in thegiddy service of self-aggrandizementmay predict the end of civilization as we know it. Or not.Certainly,nodemocratic republic can survive without awell-informed citizenry.Weare anything but that already.Inthe course of amusing ourselves to death, as Neil Postman putit in his 1985 book of the same name, we are trading knowledge for entertainmentatour terrible peril —and he’d seen nothing yet

Email Kathleen Parker at kathleenparker@washpost.com.

PaulRivera, alittle-known former Clinton WhiteHouse aide andsenior adviser to thelosing 2004 JohnKerry presidential campaign, became famous recentlyasthe author of the Democratic National Committee’sdisastrous analysis —the “autopsy” —ofthe party’s even moredisastrous 2024 Kamala Harriscampaign.

Yes, as many of us have wondered, there actually may be something in the water on the American campaign trail or in the White House. It turns out it is aform of sodium thiopental, known to moviegoers and readers of crime novels as truth serum. The 20th century comedian Art Linkletter (1912-2010) was famous for his remarkthat “Kids say the darnedest things,” aphrase whose title became affixed to apopular CBS television show for eight years. Political scientistsand commentators may doubt itsveracity but there is sufficientevidence to support the merit of its corollary: “Presidential candidates andU.S.chief executives saythe truth,sometimesin the darnedest ways.” The current occupant of theWhite House is ateetotaler whose preferred beverage is Diet Coke —a libation that contains neither the popular preservative sodium benzoatethatisan ingredient in some other diet drinks nor,more significantly,the supposedly veracity-inducing sodium thiopental that has spurred scores of truth-serum fables.Inthe case of Donald Trump, truth serum seems to be administered by aplastic medicine dropper,and then only occasionally. Trump’sgold-framed Presidential Walk of Fame doesn’tinclude medical screenings for sodium thiopental but if it did, there might be special gold frames for these figures: n Dwight D. Eisenhower.The 34th president was known for deliberately obfuscating his remarks, once telling press secretary Jim Haggerty that if

LETTERS TO THEEDITORARE

asensitivequestion came up in anews conference, hewould simply issue a sleep-inducing cloud of rhetoric that would confuse White House correspondents. Butwhen reporters asked him to namea timeRichard Nixon, then the Republican presidential nominee to succeed the former general, inﬂuenced thepresident’sjudgment,answer was: “If you give me aweek, Imight think of one.” n Nixon himself. When Britishjournalist David Frost asked theformer president in 1977 about someofthe Watergate episodes that led to his resignation as president,his answer was, “Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.” The statement seemed startling 48 years before theSupreme Court, in its ruling supporting presidential immunity from prosecution, largely afﬁrmed this particular Nixon Doctrine.

n Ronald Reagan. The onetime actor was especially comfortable in front of aradio microphone; he once was, after all, apersonality on aDes Moines radio station where, working off telegraph accounts, herecreated Chicago Cubs baseballgames for ahuge Midwestern audience. As president he began a custom of Saturday radio broadcasts and,seven months after he told the nation that “we must and will engage theSoviets in adialogue intended to reduce therisk of conﬂict and to make theworld asafer place,”his unscripted off-air asiderevealed another aspect of his view of U.S.-Soviet relations by quipping, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever.Webegin bombing in ﬁve minutes.” n Barack Obama. Not yet president,

but heavily favored to succeed George W. Bush, theIllinois senator provided a2008 campaign assessment of some of the Pennsylvania voters who were resisting his appeal —ananalysis that trailed him for his years in theWhite House: “It’s not surprising then they get bitter,they cling toguns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as away to explain their frustrations.” n Hillary Clinton. Oneofthe reasons she didn’twin the White House was her remarks in aspeech at a2016 LGBTQ fundraiser in New York: “You know,to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’ssupporters into what Icall the basket of deplorables.” So clearly was that Clinton’sview,and so searing was the way she expressed it, that supporters of Trumpcame to create campaign placards that described themselves as “deplorables.”

Now we come to Trump’sreaction last month when asked whether he might hurry to makepeace with Iran as away to ease the economic distress that has pushed average gasoline prices past thepsychological red line of $4 agallon. “I don’tthink about Americans’ ﬁnancial situation,”hesaid. The remark’spresence in this assortmentofpresidential truthbombs was afﬁrmed by Trumphimself, in a conversation with Bret Baier of Fox News, when he said, “That’sa perfect statement.I’d make it again.”

As Reagan once said in adifferent context, aimed at President Jimmy Carter,there he goes again. Presidents say thedarnedest things. Email DavidShribman at dshribman@post-gazette.com.

Widespread,instantcriticism of theautopsy hasfocused on three areas: what is in it,what is notinit andhow it wasprepared.Other than that, as they say —noproblem. Start withhow it wasprepared Perhapsthe mosttelling excerpt from theautopsy is thenote printed in redthat appears at thetop of thefirst andevery oneofthe report’s192 pages: “Disclaimer:This document reflectsthe views of theauthor, notthe DNC. The DNC wasnot providedwiththe underlying sourcing, interviews,orsupporting data formanyofthe assertionscontained hereinand thereforecannot independently verify theclaims presented.” Andthat’snot all. Other parts of theautopsy containother disclaimers. Under the heading “CONCLUSION” is thenote, “This section was notprovidedbythe author.” Underthe headline “NOTES FOR THEREADER”isthe note, “This section was notcompleted.” Andunder the heading “SOURCES” is thenote, “Sources, interviewmaterials, and other evidence notprovided.” At several pointsin thetextwhere there are charts involving spending andother numerical data is thenote, “Sourcing not provided, assume to be Federal Election Commission data.” In another part there is thenote, “No evidenceprovidedfor many claims in this section.” And in yetanother there wasthe note, “Several factualerrors foundwithin analysis.” Whatamess. These disclaimersrun through the entire document. Areader’sfirst impressionmight be to wonder how the DNC couldproduceanything so unprofessional.Asecond thought might be: Maybe theparty neverwanted to knowwhatwent wrong in 2024. The mishandled, misbegotten and, until Thursday,unreleased autopsy was theirway of claiming to have investigatedthe issue while also trying to make thestory disappear KenMartin, theDNC chairman who was elected in February 2025, when theparty was still reeling from its defeat, hasstruggled to do thejob.Atthe time Martinbecame chairman,many Democrats were in ahow-could-we-have-lost-to-this-guyagain? frame of mind.But did they really want to knowhow badlyPresident Joe Biden messed up the reelectionquestion —especially whenmost of them hadbeen fully on board?Did they really want to know just howbad acandidate Harris was? Martin’sactions suggest the answer was no Martingave theautopsy assignment “toafriend, Democraticconsultant Paul Rivera,” according to aCNN report. ButRivera didnot appear to treat theassignment as ahighpriority.He“volunteered to workonitpart-time,” CNN continued,and then “waitedseveral months to contact keyofficials withJoe Biden andKamalaHarris’ campaigns.” As faraswhat is in theautopsy,some partsare jaw-dropping in whatappears to be intentional cluelessness. Take thediscussion of theJune 27, 2024, debate between Bidenand former President Donald Trump. It wasthe turning point of thecampaign and, of course, acatastrophe forthe then-81year-old Biden, whosecognitive decline became impossible to conceal. Here is whatthe autopsy says about it:

“The debate obviously changed many things. The dial-testing during the debate demonstrated the weakness of the president’sperformance, and apost-debate survey wasscrapped. The analytics team measured voter reaction and reported seeing little change. The fundamental need to earn votes from the target audiences remained, and there wasnopositive movement toward the campaign. Post-debate, and about aweek before the candidate switch, there were internal discussions about how to prepare acampaign for the vice president.” In other passages, the autopsy blamesBiden for not sufficiently praising, supporting andaffirming Harris. If Harris had any faults, the autopsy suggested, they were her loyalty and consistency. Because she wassoloyal, the report said, Harris failed to distance herself from Biden, or,asthe report says, “to find separation from the status quo.”

The autopsy should have been an opportunity to examine how the Democratic Party gotitself into such asituation in 2024. Instead, the document is unﬁnished, sloppy and lacking in curiosity about almost everything.

There is areason DNC Chair Martin resisted releasing the autopsy for so long. Many assumed Martin was hiding an explosive document that would reveal his party’spolitical malpractice. But that’snot the reason. The reason is there is alot about 2024 that the Democratic Party’sleadership didn’twant to know.Releasing the incomplete and ill-considered autopsy would showthe world that the party nevermadeaseriouseffort to understandits failure.

Email Byron York at byork@ washingtonexaminer.com.

Kathleen Parker

David Shribman

Byron York

TNSPHOTO By SHALINA CHATLANI

GUIDELINES

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public hearingonthe proposed variance. “Fire hazards, noisepollution, lighting issues, EMFs —there’s areason why we haveland

LAWMAKERS

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Louisiana has no statewide parental leave policy for teachers. Instead, it’sleft up to individual districts,most of which don’toffer any paid time off for employees looking to start afamily

The new measure aims to give public school workers the same benefits as state employees, who have received fully paid parental leavesince 2024.Itwould bringLouisiana in line with a growing number of states to offer the beneﬁt to teachers, particularlyinthe South. But to take effect,the Legislatureneeds to come up with money to reimburse school systems for the added costs.

D’Shay Oaks, presidentof theLouisiana Association of Educators, one of the state’s teachers unions, called the bill’spassage a“win.” But shewarnedthatLouisiana, which has struggled with teacher shortages,may continue to see its number of educators drop if thelaw doesn’ttake effect soon.

“If they don’tﬁnd funding, there may be more educators who delay starting a family,” she said, “or they may have to leave the profession altogether.”

Most school districts let employees take up to three months of unpaid leave, which is provided by federal law,but only after they’ve used all their sick days. In some instances, employees can request up to 30 days of extended medical leave at 65% pay,but many educators cannot get by on partial income.

Supporters of Jenkins’ bill, including the state’s teachersunionsand public health advocates, say it will improve retention rates and

use regulations: to protect the residents.”

The new changescould make it more difficult for potential developerstohave future variance requests approvedininstanceswhere nearby residents or HOAs arestaunchly opposed Youngsville city officials

have arguedthatthe change is necessary,however,to ensure qualityoflife in the community “This is agood amendment,” Champagne said. “Making sure neighbors get notiﬁed is an important step in this process.Theyneedto know what’s going on.”

prevent teachers from forgoing paychecks when they have children.

But others were concerned about theexpense to districts, with school board and superintendent groups saying itwasn’tfeasible for school systems to shoulder thecost of paying teachers whoare on leave, as wellas theirsubstitutes

David Claxton, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents,said school districts only offer employees partiallypaidmedical leave because they also cover the cost of teachers’ replacements.

“Wecouldn’tafford to pay 100% of their salary and cover substitutes,”hesaid To ease that burden, the bill created the PaidParental Leave for Educators Fund, which aims to reimburse districts for the amount they pay for substitutes. Claxton saidthe state stepping in ﬁnanciallymade it easierfor district leaders to get on board with thebill. It remains to be seen whether theLegislature will

put money into the fund.

Afterthisyear’ssession wrappedupMonday, it’s unclear how long it could be until teachers see the beneﬁt take effect.

Jenkinssaidhe’sconfident his colleagues will work with himnext session, pointing out that paid parental leave aligns with many lawmakers’ family-centered values.

Thenew policy is “more than abeneﬁt —you’re givingpeopleanopportunity to bond with their family,” he said.“And likesome of our neighboring states in the South, we’re trying to put resourcesbehind our desire to seefamilies grow.”

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COMEAUX

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Formulastate funding away from other schools,she said. Thecareer center,she said, has awaiting listofstudents

BAYOU

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Poydras Highway and again ﬂed into abayou on foot. With assistance from the Breaux Bridge Police Department, deputies later lo-

and doesn’thave the capacity to accommodate them.

“Weare abusiness like any other business,” Labue said. Board member Amy Trahan, who represents the north area where the career center is currently,said theboard andadministra-

cated him in the 100 blockof Sidonia Drive, where he was found in atree and takeninto custodywithout further incident, authorities said.

Robin was arrested on multiple narcotics-related counts, including possession with intent to distribute Schedule I, II,and IV controlleddanger-

tion did notlook at other options, like moving some programs from the career center to Northside High School. The community,Trahan said, is so passionate “because they feel like an injustice is being done.”

oussubstances, possession of legenddrugs without aprescription andpossession of drug paraphernalia.

Begnaud was arrested on counts including aggravated ﬂight from an ofﬁcer,registration violations involving switched plates, andtail lamp violations.

to 505 NortheastCourt Circle,Crowley,LA70526 orsubmitted by elec‐tronic bidat www madereng.com notlater than 10:00 a.m.,on June 16,2026. Anybid received after thespeciﬁed time and date will notbecon‐sidered Thesealedbidswillbe publiclyopenedand read aloud at 10:00 a.m.,on June 16, 2026 at the Aca‐diaParishPoliceJurylo‐cated at 505 Northeast CourtCircle, Crowley, LA 70526. ANon-Mandatory /PREBIDCONFERENCEWILLBE HELD: TIME &DATE: 10:00 a.m. onJune 2, 2026 LOCATION: LeGros Memorial Airport Terminal Building AirportRoad Estherwood,LA Attendance at thePreBid Conference is not mandatory in orderto bid on theproject;how‐ever, biddersare encour‐agedtoattend. It is the responsibilityofall po‐

h d b g g Room as hosted byCen‐tralBidding (subject to fees andconditions).The deposit will be refunded uponrequest in accor‐dance with R.S. 38:2212 but CentralBidding fees are notrefundable Contractorssubmitting bidsshall be licensed under LA R.S. 37:21502164, Building Construc‐tion or Electrical.The biddershall show hisli‐cense numberonthe bid and on thesealedenve‐lopesubmittingthe bid. Thesignature on thebid mustbethatofanautho‐rized representative of the corporation, partner‐shiporother legalentity, asdefinedbyLouisiana PublicBid LawRevised Statute 38:2212.A.(1)(c) which dictates parties authorizedtosubmit bidsfor public contracts. All required Certificates ofLiability Insurance shall list the“Owner” as additionally insured” TheOwnerreservesthe right to reject anyand all bidsfor just cause; such actions will be in accor‐dance with Title38ofthe Louisiana Revised Statutes. In accordance withR.S.38:2212 (A)(1) (b),the provisions and requirementsstatedin the BiddingDocuments shall notbewaivedby any entity In accordance with R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(b), thepro‐visions andrequirements statedinthe Bidding Documents shallnot be waivedbyany entity Therequirementsof49 CFR part 26 applytothis contract. It is thepolicy ofthe Acadia Parish Po‐liceJurytopractice nondiscrimination based onrace, color, sex, or na‐tionalorigininthe award orperformance of this contract. TheOwneren‐couragesparticipation byall firmsqualifying under this solicitation re‐gardlessofbusinesssize orownership Theproposedcontractis subject to theBuy Ameri‐can provisionunder 49 USC §50101.

theproject shallapplyto the contract throughout Notice is hereby given thatthe projectisfunded through Federaland State Grants which funds willnot be

Beadle Arceneaux, 88, of Lafayette, passed away on May 18, 2026, whileinhospice care. Services willbeheldon June 5, 2026, at St.Mary Mother of theChurch, located at 419 Doucet Road in Lafayette, beginning at 1:00 PM.A rosarywill prayedat2:00PM, followedbya Mass of Christian Burial at 3:00 PM, officiatedbyReverend CedricSonnier. ACelebrationofLife will follow, immediatelyafter theMass. Barbarawas preceded in death by her parents, WesleyE.Beadle Jr.and Bess B. Beadle;her infant son, Richard; her husband, Charles L. Arceneaux Sr.; and her nephew ChristopherS.Beadle She is survivedbyher brother, WesleyE.Beadle III, and hiswife,Linda,and theirson, Wesley E. Beadle IV, and hiswife,Karen Beadle. She is also survivedbyher children: William"Biff" Arceneaux and hiswife,Constance "Connie"; Charles "Chuck" Arceneaux Jr. and his wife, Tracy; and her daughter, Bess A. Trahan and her husband,Gerald"Jay" Trahan. Her grandchildreninclude LeahArceneaux Paul Arceneaux, Charles "Chaz"Arceneaux III, Courtney A. Quintero and her husband, Michael Quintero,Chanel Arceneaux, Bess Trahan Stephenson and her husband, KyleStephenson, and AlexanderTrahan. Her great-grandchildren include Alice Stephenson, AndrewStephenson, and AvaQuintero. In lieu of flowers,the family requestsdonations be madetoHospice of Acadiana, or theAmerican Heart Association. Barbara bravelyand selflessly donated her body to LSU Health Sciences Center for medical science and education to further future researchand advancement

Eloy J.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at a10:00 am Mass of Christian Burial in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette for Eloy J. Placer,age 73, who passed away on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at his residence in Lafayette. The family requests that visitation be observed in Martin &Castille's DOWNTOWNlocationon Wednesday, June 3, 2026, from4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. A Rosarywillbeprayed on Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm in thefuneralhome. The Very Reverend Chester Arceneaux,VF, will officiate theMass and conduct thefuneral services. Concelebrant of theMass will be Reverend Louis Richard. Interment willbe

held in Lafayette Memorial ParkCemetery Survivors includehis belovedwife of 49 and a half years, Judy Chastant Placer; hischildren, Patrick Eloy Placerand his wife, Amanda, and Margaret "Maggie" Amparo Placer; twograndchildrenPeyton Placerand Abigail Placer; twosisters, MariaPlacer andPilar Cruz Placerand herhusbandMiguel; sisters-in-law, Suzanne Placer, Marlaine Lafleur, CatherineBordelon,Carol Magnon (Jason), Jeanie Chastant(Nicolle);brothers-in-law, John Chastant (Jody), Chris Chastant (Gabriel); andmany nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends. He wasprecededin death by his parents, Dr Eloy L. Placerand Mrs. Amparo "Pelen"Perogordo Placer; hisbrother,J Michael Placer; hisin-laws, Mr.CurtisChastant and Mrs. Margaret Haggerty Chastant; andbrothers-inlaw,Therian Lafleurand CurtisChastant, Jr Eloy wasborninSan Antonio, Texas, andmade hishomeinLafayette, Louisiana, wherehewas a beloved resident for more than sixtyyears. Adevoted husband, father,and grandfather, he dedicated hislifetohis family, his profession, and bringing joytoeveryonefortunate enough to know him.

Agraduate of Cathedral -Carmel High School's Class of 1970, Eloy continuedhis education at the University of Nevada, Reno, graduating in Political Science. He studiedBasque historyunder hisfather and wasvery proudofhis heritage. He enjoyed adistinguished career in theinsurance industry, beginninginlifeinsurance andclaims before findinghis passion in commercial insurance.For many years, he wasa valuedmember of theteam at StielInsurance Agency, wherehebuilt lastingrelationships with clientsand colleaguesalike.A

Certified Insurance Counselor for more than thirtyyears, he also earnedthe Certified Risk Management designation andwas respected throughout the industry for hisknowledge,professionalism, and dedication to serving others.Hewas an active member of numerousinsuranceorganizations throughouthis career

Whilehis professional accomplishments were many, Eloy was perhaps best knownfor hisremarkablesense of humor.

Affectionately knownas the"Jokin' Kajun," he won the2000 Cajun Joke Telling Contestand wasa frequentparticipantinCajun Comic Relief events benefiting Goodwill Industries. He firmly believed that laughterhad thepowerto heal andunitepeople,often saying, "You can'tbe mad or sad when you're laughing." Whethersharinga joke, tellinga story, or simply bringing asmile to someone'sface, Eloy found great joyinmaking others feelgoodabout themselves Familywas thecenterof Eloy's life. He treasuredeveryopportunity to be involved in thelives of his children, coaching their soccer and basketball teams, supportingtheir athletic pursuits, andcreating memories that will be cherished for generations. Adevoted supporter of youth sports, he wasespecially active in theSTM athletic community, dedicatingsignificant time and leadership in multiple roles. Hisgreatest pride wasbeing aloving husband, father,and grandfather,and he delightedin spending time with those he lovedmost. An avidoutdoorsman, Eloy enjoyed fishing, hunting, andspendingtimeat thecampwithfamilyand friends. He especially lookedforward to the cherished "Third Wednesday" gatherings, wheregoodfood, card

games, and laughter were always on the menu. He also enjoyed sharing stories andembracingthe simple pleasures of life Afaithful parishioner of theCathedral of St.John theEvangelist in Lafayette, Eloy lived hislifewith a spirit of kindness, generosity, andgratitude. He will be remembered for his warm smile, quickwit, unwaveringdevotion to his family, andhis unique gift for makingthe worlda brighter place,one laugh at atime. Hislegacyof love,laughter, and friendship will continue to live on in theheartsofall who knew and lovedhim. Pallbearers will be Chris Barras, Dale Trahan,Doug Blair, Expadie"Ex" Laperouse, III,Robert Michalk, Tom "Sweets" Aucoin,and Rich Lane. Honorary Pallbearers will be John Chastant, MackyAucoin, Richard Washington, JoePlacer, DianneWright,and Stiel Insurance Agency Colleagues. The late WalterBoudreauxand Mose 'Moe' Rauschwill be remembered as Posthumous Honorary Pallbearers. ThePlacerfamilywould like to thank Hospiceof Acadianafor theloving care andattention over the years. To thenurses, bathers, social workers andangelswith Food with Love,wecan neverthank you enough. To ourwonderful and loving caregivers, especially Mary AnnAlfred, you have all become partof thePlacerfamily. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in memory of Mr.EloyJ.Placerto Hospice of Acadiana -337232-1234 -2600 Johnston St Suite 200 Lafayette, LA 70503 -https://hospiceaca diana.com/donate -ORCathedral of St.Johnthe Evangelist -337-232-1322914 St.JohnSt.,Lafayette, LA 70501https://saintjohncathed ra l. org/memorial-d onations View theobituaryand guestbook online at www.mourning.com Martin& Castille Funeral HomeDOWNTOWN, 330 St LandryStreet, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, 337-2342311

Lisa GuidryPuckett, 60, anative of Larose, LA and aresident of Youngsville, LA, passed away on Saturday, May30, 2026. Visitation will be from 9:30 am until11:00 am on Monday, June 8, 2026 at OurLady of the Rosary Catholic Church, Larose, LA. AMass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 am with burialtofollowinthe church cemetery. Sheissurvivedbyher husband, Robert "Bob" Puckett; mother,Shearon Guidry; sister,Karen Guidroz (Dwain) andbrother,Michael Guidry (Laura), many nieces, nephews, otherrelativesand friends. Shewas preceded in death by herfather George Guidry, Jr Lisa enjoyed crafting, cooking, and reading.She lovedspendingtimewith herfamilyand friends and will be greatly missed. Falgout FuneralHome is in charge of arrangements.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

East Baton RougeParish teacher Erika Musgrove holdsher son, Matthew,in2025. Likeother Louisiana teachers

Arceneaux, Barbara Beadle

Barbara

Puckett, Lisa Guidry

Placer,

Cajuns restoreswagger afterdown’25

State late Sunday evening, twowords came to mind mission accomplished.

When the UL baseball program held its preseasonnews conference, seniors Andrew Herrmann andLee Amedee said they were back to help restore theRagin’ Cajuns to the level of success they had experienced in previous seasons after adisappointing 2025. Several months laterwhen observing thetwo emotionally and physically spent teamleaders ﬁeld questions after UL’s 19-5 loss totop-seeded Mississippi

Coach Matt Deggs, Herrmann andAmedee all hadtoﬁght back tears after their restoration project ended in the Starkville Regionalﬁnals.

“You know, when everybody was walking in my ofﬁcelast year andquitting, they(Herrmann and Amedee) walkedin anddidn’t,”Deggs said. “There’s something to that. So, yeah, I’d

take abullet forthem. That’sjust howI roll.”

Undertheir leadership, this team restored the program’s luster. UL produced an NCAA regional berth and 41 wins. More importantly,the Cajuns scratched and clawed until the end.

“It’sall about the climb forme anditalways has been,” Deggs said. “It’salways about the scrap. It’snever the outcome or the ﬁnaldestination. We had abunch of scrappersonthis team, and they’re hardtolet go of hard to let go of “Wegot dumped on our butts

PRIDEOFCHALMETTE

Everyone in town buzzingabout Robinson,KnicksinNBA Finals

Mitchell Robinson was aman of few words that night eight yearsago at the Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette. Robinson, 20 years old at the time, had just heard his name called by the NewYork Knicks in the second round of the NBA draft. The 7-foot Robinson may be tall, but his answers were short, just like theyalways had been whenever he got interviewed after one of his stellar performances playing for Chalmette High School.

When asked on draft night what he would bring to the Knicks,his answer was simple.

“Hopefully aring,” he replied.

Iremember my immediatethoughts

“Of all the teamsinthe NBA, he’sgoing to New York City.Idon’t knowifa kid coming from acity of 22,000people is going to be abletomake it there,especially having to deal with the frenzy of the NewYorkmedia.” Boy,was Iwrong.

Robinson, now the longest-tenuredplayer on the Knicksroster, adjustedjust ﬁne.

Fast forward to 2026 and Robinson is just four winsawayfromgetting thatring he talked about back in 2018. Robinson and the Knicks playthe San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals in aseries that begins Wednesday night.

Robinson is abig reason they are in the Finals for the ﬁrst timesince1999. He’s also

BY TIMREYNOLDS

AP basketball writer

SAN ANTONIO For afew hours

Tuesday,the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks held practices on aﬂoor that had the NBA Finals logo painted at midcourt They did interviews with the logo as abackdrop It mighthaveseemed normal. It wasn’t This stage —the NBA Finals —isnew to justabout everyone on the Spurs and Knicks rosters, meaning very few players on either sidehaveany real idea of how themomentwill seem Wednesday nightwhenthe 80th titleseriesin league history gets underway in SanAntonio. They havetwo bigthings in com-

abig reason Butch Stockton’sphone won’t stop ringing.

Stockton wasRobinson’s high school basketball coach Some of the phone calls are interview requests from media members. Others are just folks from Chalmette wanting to talk about Robinson.

“It’sthe biggest thing goingoninChalmette right now,” Stocktonsaid. “Just excitement forChalmette andSt. Bernard Parish. Everybody is excited for Mitchell and everyone is pulling for the Knicksright now because theyare seeing one of their own.”

ä See ROBINSON, page 3C

ayear ago coming offthree straight regionals and it hurt, it was personal. We had justthe right collection of guys,the right dudes at the right spotsatthe right time. Theyshowed up and they captured alot of hearts and minds.”

The truth is the need forrestoration campaigns after three or four yearsofsuccesshas been a routine in the UL program forthe lastfour decades.It’skind of the way formid-majors thesedays But somehow, this bounce back seemed more important.

Portal ﬁts to keep an eyeon

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

The transfer portal has been atransformative tool forLSU coach Jay Johnson duringhis ﬁve seasons in charge of the Tigers. But can LSU strike gold in the market againthis summer, after aseason in which the Tigers missedthe NCAA Tournament forthe ﬁrst timesince 2011? Here are five names in the portal that LSU fans need to be aware of.

LHPBrody Trosclair

Trosclairhad adominant freshman campaign at Northwestern State this spring, posting a1.89 ERA in 38 innings while striking out 55 batters. He was also named theSouthland Conference Freshman of the Year and becameafirst-team All-Southland Conference selection. Sinceheenteredthe portal, therehas been mutualinterestbetween LSU and Trosclair, aThibodaux native. Trosclair told The Advocate that he would visit LSU unofﬁcially on Tuesday,with an ofﬁcial visit coming later

The only question surrounding Trosclairishis health.The lefthander pitched only once after April 1due to Tommy John surgery.But Trosclair told The Advocate he plans to begin throwing in October and be ready to pitchbeforethe start of next season.

LSU already has lost one lefthanded pitcher to the portal (DJPrimeaux) and could lose another to the draftinSantiago Garcia. Adding Trosclair would go along way in bolstering that part of the roster

RHPLukeNeiswonger

LSU has shown interest in Neiswonger,who told The Advocate that he expects to visit LSU in the near future.

Neiswonger’snumbers aren’t flattering. As afreshman, he posted a5.34 ERAand allowed 34 hitsin32innings. He also madeonly three appearances in conference play

mon: It’sgoing to be new, andit took them all forever to get here.

“Falling in lovewithbasketball happened really early on in my life,” San Antoniostar Victor Wembanyamasaid. “I mean,Ihave pictures of myself with abasketball at an age where Iwas not even old enough to have memories.”

More memories will be made over the next four to seven games. The Spurs are seeking their sixth title and firstsince2014; the Knicks areseeking their thirdtitle and ﬁrst since 1973.

Knicks guard Jalen Brunson the MVPofthe Eastern Conference ﬁnals— had nothing butthe highestofpraise to offer to Wembanyama, the MVP of the Western

But LSU’sinterestshouldn’t come as asurprise. Neiswonger generated alot of swingand miss and kept his walk rate down, striking out more than 32% of the batters he faced and walking fewer than 7% of them.

His high ERA may have been aproduct of bad luck, as opponents had a.392 batting average on balls in play against him LSUlikelywillloseatleast seven right-handed pitchers to the draftortransfer portal this summer.Neiswonger would help ﬁll that gap. OF Jake Souders

Souders has visits lined up with Tennessee and Mississippi State, but don’tbesurprised if

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL third baseman LeeAmedee throws to first base to getan out against Mississippi Stateon

Miss.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG Newyork Knicks guard Jalen Brunson reacts after abasket against the Cleveland Cavalierson May19inNew york.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIO CORTEZ San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama movesupthe court against the Oklahoma CityThunder on May26inOklahoma City.

Kevin Foote

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SUE OGROCKI

Newyork Knicks center Mitchell Robinson dunks during Game 4ofthe EasternConference finals against theCleveland Cavaliers on May25 in Cleveland. Robinson has playedakey role offthe bench this season as the Knicks reached theNBA Finals for the first time since1999.

Russia-Ukraine clash set in Paris

Kostyuk, Andreeva to meet in women’s semifinals

BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN AP sportswriter

PARIS Marta Kostyuk, the best player on clay this season and a vocal supporter of Ukraine amid the war with Russia, will play her ﬁrst major semiﬁnal at the French Open against a Russian.

Kostyuk won an intense allUkraine quarterﬁnal against Elina Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 on Tuesday

That set up Kostyuk against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, who thumped Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3.

In men’s play, 20-year-old Jakub Mensik ended the run of Brazil’s Joao Fonseca with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory

“It was one of my best performances so far,” Mensik said.

The 19-year-old Fonseca beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in ﬁve sets in the third round and then eliminated two-time runner-up Casper Ruud in the fourth round.

Mensik collapsed to the clay with cramps upon edging Mariano Navone in a ﬁfth-set tiebreaker in the second round and also needed ﬁve sets to advance in the fourth round against Andrey Rublev

For a place in Sunday’s final, Mensik will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev, the 2024 runner-up, who beat rising Spanish player Rafael Jodar 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-3.

Kostyuk leads Andreeva 2-0 on the tour; the second win in the Madrid ﬁnal a month ago Kostyuk didn’t shake hands at the net, following protocol for Ukrainians with opponents from Russia and its ally Belarus since the war started four years ago.

“We had a very difﬁcult night again in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv, so many people dead,” Kostyuk said. “I want to give this match to Ukrainian people and to their resilience. Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AURELIEN MORISSARD

Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine reacts after winning a quarterfinal match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at the French Open in Paris on Tuesday

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 18 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday

“I texted my family if they were OK. This is pretty much all I can do,” Kostyuk said. “The biggest thing I can do is sit here and talk about it so more people can ﬁnd out about it so they don’t get used to this terrible life.”

Svitolina said friends in Ukraine told her about the attacks just

hours before the match.

“Just very sad that we all have to really put up with this heaviness and pain every single day, and scared moments not knowing what’s going to bring the next day,” Svitolina said. She will leave Roland Garros to look after the daughter she has with French tennis player Gael Monﬁls, but will be cheering on Kostyuk.

“Hopefully she can get the title,” Svitolina said. “It’s going to be massive for Ukraine.” No. 7-seeded Svitolina got off to

a slow start but worked her way back, matching No. 15 Kostyuk’s power from the baseline. Kostyuk was better on the important points in the decider and improved her impressive 2026 record on clay to 17-0.

She’s the ﬁrst Ukrainian woman to reach the semiﬁnals at Roland Garros in the Open era since 1968.

Svitolina has reached the semis at the other three Grand Slams but failed for the sixth time to win a French Open quarterﬁnal.

Andreeva will appear in her second French Open semifinal, two years after the ﬁrst. She was asked about the challenges of playing a Ukrainian in wartime.

“Well, for me it doesn’t matter who I play,” Andreeva said. “I really try to play against the ball that is coming at me. Usually it doesn’t matter to me who I’m playing against, so I’m trying to really focus on the game and on the game plan.”

Asked whether she found it frustrating to hear Russian opponents avoiding the issue, Kostyuk said she wished “there was some more clear stance on what’s going on.”

“Especially when your country is killing other people,” she added.

“I don’t know how you can sleep at night peacefully when you know that this is going on, and you have nothing to say about it.”

After a week of hot weather, rain arrived in Paris and play started and finished under the closed roof of Court Philippe-Chatrier Competing in the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years, Cirstea struggled to find her rhythm against her 19-year-old rival.

The 36-year-old veteran, playing the ﬁnal season of her career, immediately dropped her serve. She didn’t hold serve or win a game until the ﬁrst game of the second set. Andreeva’s deep, accurate groundstrokes and charges to the net took a toll on 18th-seeded Cirstea, whose attempt to come back was shortlived.

“I felt like it was one of my best matches so far this tournament,” Andreeva said. “Super happy to be back in semis.”

DiBetta connection lives on for Acadiana football

BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

The DiBetta-to-DiBetta connection at Acadiana High will resume this fall, which is bad news for opposing defenses.

Two years ago, quarterback Caden DiBetta and receiver Collin, his younger brother set school passing/receiving records.

Now, junior Cohen DiBetta will be airing it out to Collin, who will be a senior In the spring game against Madison Prep, the duo linked up with such precision that Collin landed a scholarship offer from Southern shortly afterward.

“Collin caught a long TD pass,” Acadiana coach Doug Dotson said. “He ate up the angles, and the Madison Prep kids are not slow at all.” Dotson said Collin put on 10 pounds during a fantastic track and ﬁeld season.

“I think it paid off,” he said, “watching those long runs.”

The Wreckin’ Rams still will rely heavily on the running attack in their veer offense, which will feature backs Syrian Joseph and Dashun Lightfoot, a heralded transfer from Franklin High in St Mary Parish. Holden Sam and Ashton Barras are additional running backs to watch, along with Brooklyn Lewis, a sophomore who draws comparisons to former Acadiana great Micah Eugene and can play both sides of the ball.

“We’ll need Collin on defense, too,” Dotson said “He’s our leader and a ballhawk. Cohen did a good job. We feel like he can run the offense. He made some good pitches and a couple of good throws.” Brandon Nezey who has excellent size, moved from the defensive to offensive line. Isaias Avalos missed the spring game but “crushed the offseason,” said Dotson, who also mentioned offensive linemen Keddric Bour-

geois and Ethan Pittman.

“He’s a road grader,” Dotson said of Avalos. “When he blocks somebody, they can’t do anything about it.”

The defense, which was seniorheavy last year and led by Ohio State signee Darryus McKinley, returns end Joel Dorion and Ty Thomas a speedster (10.6 seconds in 100 meters) in the secondary

“We’ll have to lean on our offense to help our defense,” Dotson said. “With what we do, the offense is the defense’s best friend.

In this scheme, there are no quick three-and-outs. We want to take our time.” Dotson liked what he saw from the defense against Madison Prep’s do-it-all quarterback Landon Johnson, who he said was the hottest player in Baton Rouge coming out of middle school.

“That’s a good football team,” he said of the Chargers. “It let us see what we need to work on.”

Tavion Gallien, a junior defensive back, is the younger brother of Travis Gallien, who had an exceptional senior year at receiver

while helping the Rams to the 3-5A district title.

“He’ll play cornerback and could line up some at receiver if he’s anything like his brother which we think he is,” Dotson said of Gallien.

Receivers Gabe Decuir, Malik Gloston and Kacynn Ollison, who can also play running back, garnered praise from Dotson, as well as defensive back Makel Narcisse and linebacker Tylan Nolan.

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

Astros closer Hader returns from 60-day IL

HOUSTON All-Star closer Josh

Hader was reinstated from the 60day injured list Tuesday by Houston after sitting out all season, giving the Astros bullpen a major boost.

The left-hander had been out with left biceps tendinitis He made nine minor league rehabilitation appearances to prepare for his return.

Hader, who is in his third season with the Astros, had a 2.05 ERA with 28 saves in 48 games last season. He was named to his sixth AllStar game last season.

In other moves on Tuesday, the Astros recalled outfielder Zach Cole from Triple-A Sugar Land and placed inﬁelder Braden Shewmake on the 10-day injured list with a right adductor strain retroactive to Sunday

Momcilovic commits to Kentucky after leaving draft LEXINGTON, Ky. — Former Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic has committed to Kentucky, giving coach Mark Pope one of the best players in the transfer portal Momcilovic announced his decision on Instagram on Monday, less than a week after pulling out of the NBA draft.

A 6-foot-8 forward, Momcilovic led the nation in 3-point shooting at 48.7% on 7.5 attempts per game last season and was ﬁfth nationally in 3-pointers made. He made at least ﬁve 3-pointers in a game 10 times in 2025-26, including eight in a loss to Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament. Momcilovic announced in April he planned to enter the transfer portal and test the NBA waters before pulling out just before the deadline.

Seahawks agree to 3-year extension with rusher Hall

SEATTLE Outside linebacker Derick Hall has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Seahawks, a league source conﬁrmed to The Seattle Times on Tuesday morning, keeping a young player for the long haul at a position facing future uncertainty

The deal is reported to be worth up to a base of $42 million and could earn Hall as much as $46.9 million and keeps him with the Seahawks through the 2029 season. The contract includes a reported $21 million guaranteed Contract details were first reported by ESPN and The NFL Network. Hall is entering the ﬁnal season of his rookie contract and due to make $1.993 million in 2026 on a four-year deal paying him up to $9.115 million overall.

Dolphins get receiver help with addition of Reagor

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins signed Jalen Reagor on Tuesday to add another receiving option for new quarterback Malik Willis.

Reagor selected 21st overall by Philadelphia in 2020, should bolster Miami’s thin receiving room, which lost stars Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle amid a roster overhaul under new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan.

Reagor caught 64 passes for 695 yards and three touchdowns in his ﬁrst two pro seasons with the Eagles before being traded to the Vikings in 2022, where he carved more of a role as a punt returner with a loaded Minnesota receiving room that included star Justin Jefferson — who was selected one pick after Reagor in 2020.

NIshikori to conclude career at home at ’26 Japan Open

PARIS Former U.S. Open ﬁnalist Kei Nishikori will conclude his career at home when he plays in the Japan Open later this year

The 36-year-old Nishikori has been given a wild card invitation by tournament organizers, the ATP Tour conﬁrmed Tuesday The tournament in Tokyo will be held from Sept. 30 to Oct 6. By reaching No. 4, Nishikori was the highest-ranked Japanese man

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

Acadiana receiver Collin DiBetta is expected to be a

Conference ﬁnals.

“Watching him as aplayer, it’spretty unbelievable,” BrunsonsaidTuesday.“The things he’sable to do on both sidesofthe ball, people have neverreally seen before from aperson of his size. So, it’sincredible to watch. He’s pretty incredible.”

The Spurs got to the NBA Finals by winning 62 games in the regular season, getting past Portland in Round 1, Minnesota in Round 2, then going the distance in aseven-game classic that ended the reign of Oklahoma City as NBA champions.

TheKnicksgot here on the strength of an 11-game playoff winning streak —the last three of Round 1againstAtlanta, then sweeping Philadelphia and Cleveland. And the winning margin over those 11 games is like none other in any 11-game stretch in the NBA’s 80-year history

“It’sagreatteam,” Wembanyamasaid.“It’s agreat team of experienced guys who are not here by chance, but by relentless effort over the years. Very different career paths for all of them. They’re right where they’re supposed to be, in my opinion.”

The only players in this series who have started ﬁnals games in the past are Harrison Barnes (for Golden State) of the Spurs and

LSU

Continued from page1C

Knicks wing Mikal Bridges (forPhoenix).Barnestypically doesn’t startfor San Antoniobut Bridges typically does forthe Knicks, andthatmeans nine of the 10 starters in Game 1will be in unfamiliar territory

“When you can prepare the rightway,when you do your routines, you treat it like anormal game, it allows youtobeasnormal as possible,” Brunson said There are ties thatplayershave to NBA Finals past, even without playing in them.Spurs guardDylan

LSU jumps into that mixsoon. Souders and LSU have spoken, his adviser told The Advocate, and avisit toBaton Rouge is still in the cards.

The interest in Souders fromacross the Southeastern Conference is warranted.

He posted a1.006 on-base plus slugging percentage this seasonand was aﬁrst-team All-SouthernConference selection.

With LSU likely losing its entire starting outﬁeld,Souders is astrong plug-and-play option for theTigers.

ROBINSON

Continued from page1C

It’sbeen more than 20 years since aplayer from ahigh school in the New Orleans area appeared in an NBA Finals. Youhave to go all the way back to 2003 when St. Augustine grad Kerry Kittles played for the then-New Jersey Nets against the Spurs to ﬁnd a local star in the NBA Finals

So it’sunderstandable why this is such abig deal.

“It don’tget no better than to be on the highest stage in basketball,” Stockton said.

“This is like playing in the Super Bowl in football. I can’twait to see what happens.” Stockton isn’tsurprised by what already has happened. Robinson, who moved from Florida to Chalmette for his junior year,was considered one of the best players in the country by the time he graduated in 2017. One recruiting website had him ranked sixth nationally in the class, above future NBA stars such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Trae Young. Robinson was an easy choice for Metro Playerofthe Year by what was then The New Orleans Advocate after leading Chalmette to the Class 5A semiﬁnals.

After his senior year at Chalmette, he took ayear off to just train for the NBA.

“I always felt he had the build and the talent,” Stockton said.

“He put alot of work in. He was always the ﬁrst one in the gym and the last one to leave.”

Vicki Nuccio was one of the teachers at Chalmette and stays in touch with Robinson. She remembers those days when Robinson had to duck his head whenever he entered his classrooms.

“People thought he was going to do well, butIdon’t think many people thought he would be where he is now,” Nuccio said. “It’ssurreal seeing it. Ican’tpull up my Facebook page without someone sharing something

Harper’sdad is Ron Harper, aﬁve-time NBA champion as aplayer.Brunson’sfather —Knicks assistant Rick Brunson —played for New York in the 1999 ﬁnals, and Knicksguard Jordan Clarksongot abird’s-eye view of past Spurs championship parades. He grew up in San Antonio and his stepmother worked at ahotel that had aprime view of theparade route.

“Being able to takepictures andrun up on players for autographs, Iwas deﬁnitely that kid,” said Clark-

ChrisRamirez,SS, CalBaptist

Ramirez is aperfect replacement for Steven Milam at shortstop if he leaves for MLB. Ramirez, the WACPlayer of theYear, wasastar at CalBaptist for two seasons, hitting .383with a1.016 OPS and 21 steals ayear after winning the WAC Freshman of the Year award.

Like Milam, Ramirez is on thesmaller side (5-foot-9,170 pounds), buthe was adefensivewizard at Cal Baptist, becoming atwo-timeAll-WAC Defensive Team selection andwinning the DefensivePlayer of theYearaward this season.

JamieLaskofski,SS, William& Mary Laskofskiwas theCoastalAthletic

about him.”

There’splenty to share about Robinson. It could be one of his blocked shotsor rim-rattlingdunks that gets Knicksdiehard fan Spike Lee standing on his feet.Or it could be just fans capturing Robinson leaving Madison Square Gardendriving oneofhis tricked-out,custom monster trucks

“I need adamn ladder to get in there,” Stockton said with alaugh. Robinson owns six of the trucks that he helps design. Other than thefancy trucks and his 7-foot frame, you wouldn’tknow Robinson was akey player for one of the NBA’s most storied franchises. He stays pretty low key

“Whenyou’reinthe NBA, youobviouslyhave the celebrity status,” Nuccio said “But he doesn’tcare about any of that. Mitchell loves his daughter,his trucks and playing basketball. That’s it. So he does well withthe fame.”

GuyMcInnis is aformer St. Bernard Parishpresident and also was an assistant coach for Chalmette during Robinson’sjunior year.McInnis also is getting several phone calls and hearing all of the buzz around town as theNBA Finals approach

“I’m excited, but I’m also nervous because Iwant him to play well andrepresent well,” McInnis said. “When you’re watching somebody from your school, it makes you proud.” Robinson, despitebreaking his right pinky ﬁnger and having surgery since theEastern Conference ﬁnals ended, is expected to play.It’snot clear when or how the injury occurred.

“I don’tthink anything could keep Mitch from playing in aﬁnals,” Stockton said. “It’sonce in alifetime.” The Knicks, seeking their ﬁrst title since 1973, desperately need Robinson to play He gives them aphysical presence to deal with7-foot4phenom Victor Wembanyama.

The Knicks and Spurs have played three times this season. The Knickswon the

son, whose father usedto detail cars owned by some Spurs players. “Seeing this energy and seeing how alive thecitycomes when the Spurs are in the ﬁnals and winning championships, it’s agreat experience.”

When it’sall over, anew champ will be crowned That team will bethe NBA’s eighthdifferent winning franchise in the last eight years —continuing arun like none other in league history. The Spurs are favored, andthe Knicks don’tmind theunderdog role.

Association Player of the Year as a sophomore, blasting 13 home runs with a1.219 OPS and 36 stolen bases. He hit for more power as asophomore than as afreshman— recording24moreextra-base hits —and had 17 more walks than last year despite making the CAA All-Rookie Team the season prior Laskofski was the William& Mary shortstop thisseason,but he played third baseasafreshman, meaning he could ﬁll either role for the Tigersnext year.LSU struggled to ﬁndasolution at third this season and won’t have Seth Dardar,Tanner Reaves, Trent Caraway or Brayden Simpson on next season’sroster Email Koki Rileyatkoki.riley@ theadvocate.com.

twogames thatRobinson played in andlostthe one Robinson didn’tplay. In the NBA Cupchampionship game, the ﬁnale of the InSeason Tournament, Robinson recorded15rebounds on anight Wembanyama ﬁnished with 18 points and six rebounds.

TheKnicks won the Cup championship 124-113. Now they have their eyesonan even bigger prize in aseries that has several other ties to NewOrleans.

Three of Robinson’steammates (Jose Alvarado, Josh Hart and Trey Jemison) once playedfor the NewOrleans Pelicans. Alvarado, a fan favorite in NewOrleans, wastradedtothe Knicksin

February

TheSpurs also have New Orleans connections. Reserve centerKelly Olynyk played forthe Pelicans at the end of last season. San Antonio starting guard De’Aaron Foxwas born in NewOrleans but moved to Houston when he was4 years old.

Butthe folks in Chalmette are rooting forthe Knicks for one reason andone reason only.Chalmette is Mr Robinson’sneighborhood He holds an annualcamp there to give back to the kids.

“These kids, youcan give them adream, give them hope,” Robinsonsaidathis campin2024.

Nowhe’sliving his own dream, playing in the NBA Finals. Right afterthe ﬁnals, he’ll hold his camp again on June 25.

“He’sbeen doing great things here for awhile,” Nuccio said. “Nowthe whole world gets to see him.The whole parish will be watching.”

That includes acoach whose phone just won’t stop ringing.

“I hope he gets thatring,” Stockton said. “Theyare going crazy up there in New York about the Knicks.”

They are doing the same thing 1,300 milesawayin Chalmette.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@theadvocate.com.

Last season felt like more thanjust abad transition season to some fans There was areal fear the transferring frenzypowered by NILhad changed the path to successforever Was2025 just adown year,orwas it asign the Cajuns could no longer compete in this new model of college baseball?

The Cajuns’ late-season surgein2026 clearly showed the program is still viable. And watching Little Rock, Troy,Cal Poly and St. John’sreach the super regionals didn’t hurt, either Deggs was so encouraged by this season that he wasted no time setting lofty goals fornext season.

“Wehave some really talented kids coming in, so if we can matchwhat we’ve got position player wiseonthe bump Itruly feel like this team will be knocking on the door of Omaha,” Deggs said. “We’ll pushtoget there. I know I’moverconﬁdent at times, Ijustam.

“It’sjustme, but Idon’t think starting next fall and making agoal to host is out of the realm of possibilities.I just don’twith this group.”

Adecade ago, UL fans would be even more fired up after starting five freshmenand asophomore in aregional finals game. The problem in 2026 is not knowing how many of those key young playerswill return.

“Thebottom line is this, this is abrotherhood,” Deggs said. “If they decide that they want to be apartofthat brotherhood and they want to bet on themselves if they want to be abig ﬁsh in asmaller pond that’swhat it boils down to.

“That pond is very,very popular,and every scout in America knows about that little bitty small pond.

If they want to bet on themselves —like Kyle DeBarge, CarsonRoccaforte,LPLangevin, Julian Brock, C-Mo (ChaseMorgan) and the rest of them. DeBarge bet on himself. He turned down 500 (thousand) and made 2.6 (million).” It doesn’ttake aseasoned scout to seehow muchtalent Colt Brown has at catcher.The same can be said forBlaze Rodriguez at shortstop, Noah Lewis in center ﬁeld and Sawyer Pruitt on the mound.

JoshLim shined at times as well, as did pitchers Hayden Pearson late and Bryce Wilson early Thatdoesn’teven include sophomores Mark Collins and Parker Smith.

“Well, it’sbeen incredible,” Deggs said of the underclassmen’sprogress. “You sawwhat these kids arecapable of.”

Whatcan’thappen is another recruiting classthat doesn’tﬁtthis mold.

“Wetrain alpha leaders and it is not easytoplay Cajun baseball,” Deggs said. “It’sdemanding. Those dudes have been up at 4a.m. over 50 times this year.And they’ve been in the classroom ahundred times. They’resick of hearing me talk. We grind and we tax them and we push, but we love them at the same time.”

The purposeofall of that is to preparethe team forthe grueling road of postseason baseball.

“Themoreyou sweat, the more you sweat in preparation,” Deggs said. “Unlessyou bleed in battle —and thesedudes aresold out on that —they will do absolutely whatever it takes.Sothey truly believe they’regoing to win.

“That, to me, is more important than talent. It’sgoing to take you along way, but when you can mix talent with agreat culture, I think that can take you all the way.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

UL assistantnamed Teurlings baseball coach

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Once the conversations began about UL assistant coach Zach LaFleur potentially filling the opening as the TeurlingsCatholic baseball coach, the decision didn’t require along,agonizingprocess.

Certainly,LaFleur has thoroughly enjoyed his six seasons on the Cajuns’ coaching staff under Matt Deggs. But he also helpedTeurlings Catholic to astate championship in 2012 as astudent and knows all too well how good of aprogram he’staking over “Yes,ithappenedpretty quickly,” LaFleur said. “Being arecruiting coordinator at aprogram like UL is about as highasyou can get in college other than being ahead coach, so it’sreally an exciting move for me and my family to be a head coach, especially ataprominent program like Teurlings.”

Indeed, the Rebels reached the state semiﬁnals this past season after winning back-to-back state titlesin2024-25 under coach Brooks Badeaux. Overall, the Rebelshave won 10 state championships as aschool.

Naturally,LaFleur has many fond memories of his days at Teurlings, whichalso aided him in making the decision to move there.

“Unbe lie va ble memories —great coaches, just great people in general at Teurlings,” LaFleur said. “That’sthe most exciting thing. It feels like home with alot of great people and tough blue-collar kids. Ihave nothing but great memories of that place and aton of pride in the program’stradition.

“Teurlings was instrumental in my career of getting me to the

junior college leveland thentoa great positionatULfor so long.”

After Teurlings, LaFleur spent two seasonsatLSU Eunice, where he helped the Bengals winthe national championship as afreshman. In his sophomore season, he batted .414with19doubles, seven homeruns, 57 RBIs and led the nation with 63 stolen bases.

While at Teurlings, LaFleurwas coached by Mike Thibodeaux, the brotherofULassociatehead coach Seth Thibodeaux.

In additiontothe huge inﬂuence the Thibodeaux family has had on LaFleur’s baseball career,he also appreciates everythinghe’s learned serving under Matt Deggs at UL forthe past six years.

“Coach Deggs is as good as it gets,”LaFleur said. “Asfar as just organization, running aprogram, doingthings the right way.Then there’s stuff that Idon’tknow if he even getsenough credit for off the ﬁeld in the community and in

theclassroom.

“The team has had aGPA over a3.0 for almost 10 years. As long as coachDeggs hasbeenhere, it’s been a3.0.We’ve also ledthe country in community service, and thenweperform on the ﬁeld at anational levelinmost seasons.”

LaFleur hasalsolearned from Deggs as aunique hitting coach

“He shows youhow to do it on andoff the field —the hitting coach that he is andthe head coach in general, just abaseball mind,” LaFleur said. “If you’re around him, you understand that pretty quickly,especially withhitters. I think he’sone of the best around, if notthe best. He’sjustcreative andhe’snot afraidtotry things.”

LaFleurand theCajuns enjoyed agreat stretch drive to the 2026 season, which featured LaFleur replacing Deggs as the team’s third-basecoach

“A lot of fun,” LaFleur said. “Coach Deggs hasalways instilled

confidenceinmeand he really didn’teven make it abig deal. He just said, ‘OK,I’m going to stay in thedugout andyou go to third.’

“I loved being in action and luckily,we’vebeen playing well offensively,soit’sbeen alot of fun.”

While the two levels aren’tthe same, LaFleuranticipates aquick adjustmentperiod to high school baseball.

“Baseball is baseball, but college to high school.I’m sure there’sgoing to be an adjustment there,” LaFleur said. “I think the biggest adjustment is Idon’t recruit on players. Who we have is who we have,but it’s aprogramthat’sgot great traditionwith aton of good players going through there.

“Allmybaseballphilosophies and how Igoabout things from thepitching, defensive and hitting side aren’t going to change at all.

Email KevinFoote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

Heavener,Edwards among5LSU playerstoenter portal

BY JIM KLEINPETER

Contributing writer

Five LSU softball players, includingtwo of theTigers’ biggest names, have announced their intention to enter thetransfer portal, which opens next Monday Left-handed pitcher Jayden Heavener and ﬁrst baseman Tori Edwards plan to leave after their sophomore seasons in which they helped lead the Tigers to the super regionals.

Also planning to depart are utility player Maddox McKee, outfielder Destiny Harris and catcher Jada Phillips. LSU coach BethTorina declined to comment on thedepartures. Heavener came to LSUasthe nation’sNo. 1recruit in 2025 and started her career in spectacular fashion,throwinga five-inning perfect game against Charlotte with 13strikeouts. She ﬁnished

her freshmanseason 13-5 with a2.75 ERA and152 strikeouts in 1192/3 innings.

This season, Heavener posted a13-9 record with a2.81 ERA and128 strikeouts in 1391/3 innings. But Heavener struggled with hercontrol. In two seasons, she walked155 batters, hit 51 and threw37wild pitches.

“This hasn’tbeen an easydecision. Iamextremely grateful for all the opportunities and friendships Imadealong the way,” Heavener postedonher Xaccount. “Thank you for everyone who supported me through my journey here at LSU. Can’twait to see what thefuture holds for me.”

Edwards, one of threeteam captains in 2026, was apreseason All-Americanwho won SEC Freshman of the Year honorsin 2025 after clubbing 18 homers anddriving in 73 runs witha.383

average. Hernumbers tailedoff to 12 homers, 45 RBIs and a.284 average in 2026.

“I am extremely grateful forall of the friendships and opportunities that LSUhas given me,” Edwards wrote on Instagram. “This experience hashelpedshape me in many ways. I’mreally excited forwhat’sahead and Ihave so much faith in God’splanfor this next chapter.”

McKee,Harris and Phillips played sparingly. McKeestarted 62 of 108 games in three seasons, including 37 starts last season while batting .284.Harris had 17 startslast season with two homersand 12 RBIs. Phillips played behind preseason All-American Maci Bergeronatcatcher.She startedseven gamesintwo seasons.

LSUsigned aseven-player recruiting classthathas been ranked in the top three nationally

SCOREBOARD

June 9: Carolina at Vegas,7 p.m. x-June 11: Vegas at Carolina, TBA x-June 14: Carolina at Vegas,TBA x-June 17: Vegas at Carolina, TBA Pro baseball MLB glance American League Monday’s games Detroit 10, TampaBay 9 Kansas City 9, Cincinnati 2 Minnesota 9, Chicago White Sox6

Texas2,St. Louis 1 Seattle 3, N.Y. Mets 2, 10 innings Colorado 9, L.A. Angels 8 Tuesday’s games Detroit at TampaBay,n BaltimoreatBoston,n Cleveland at N.Y. Yankees, n Kansas City at Cincinnati, n Toronto at Atlanta, n Chicago White SoxatMinnesota, n TexasatSt. Louis,n Athletics at Chicago Cubs, n PittsburghatHouston, n Colorado at L.A. Angels,n N.Y. Mets at Seattle, n Wednesday’s games Detroit (Melton 1-0) at TampaBay (Martinez 5-1), 12:10 p.m. Chicago White Sox(Fedde 0-5)atMinnesota (Bradley 5-1), 12:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Peralta 3-4) at Seattle (Kirby 5-4), 2:40 p.m. Baltimore(Bassitt 4-3) at Boston (Tolle 2-2), 5:45 p.m. Cleveland (Williams 8-3) at N.Y. Yankees (Cole 1-0),6:05 p.m. Kansas City (Kolek 3-1) at Cincinnati (Burns 7-1), 6:10 p.m. Toronto (Corbin 2-1) at Atlanta (Holmes 3-2), 6:15 p.m. Texas(Gore4-4) at St. Louis(Pallante 5-4), 6:45 p.m. Athletics (Springs 3-6) at Chicago Cubs (Rea 5-3), 7:05 p.m. Pittsburgh(Skenes 6-5) at Houston (Arrighetti 7-1), 7:10 p.m. Colorado (Lorenzen 2-7) at L.A. Angels (Ureña 2-4), 8:38 p.m. National League Monday’s games Miami 7, Washington 3 Kansas City 9, Cincinnati 2 Texas2,St. Louis 1 Milwaukee 16, San Francisco 2 Arizona 4, L.A. Dodgers 1 Seattle 3, N.Y. Mets 2, 10 innings Colorado 9, L.A. Angels 8 Tuesday’s games San Diego at Philadelphia, n Miami at Washington, n Kansas City at Cincinnati, n Toronto at Atlanta, n San FranciscoatMilwaukee, n TexasatSt. Louis,n Athletics at Chicago Cubs, n PittsburghatHouston, n Colorado at L.A. Angels,n L.A.Dodgers at Arizona, n N.Y. Mets at Seattle, n Wednesday’s games Miami (Meyer 5-0) at Washington (Alvarez 1-0), 12:05 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Peralta 3-4) at Seattle (Kirby 5-4), 2:40 p.m. San Diego (Buehler 3-3) at Philadelphia (Sánchez 6-2), 5:40 p.m. Kansas City (Kolek 3-1) at Cincinnati (Burns 7-1), 6:10 p.m. Toronto (Corbin 2-1)

Game 4: Georgia 6, Liberty 2 Sunday, May31

Game 5: Liberty 8, Boston College 3 Game 6: Georgia 6, Liberty 1 Auburn Regional Friday, May29 Game 1: Milwaukee 13, Auburn 8 Saturday, May30 Game 2: UCF 9, NC State 3 Game 3: Auburn 17, NC State 13

Game 4: Milwaukee 13, UCF 6 Sunday, May31

(Arrighetti 7-1), 7:10 p.m. Colorado (Lorenzen 2-7)atL.A. Angels (Ureña 2-4), 8:38 p.m. L.A. Dodgers(Ohtani 5-2)atArizona (Gallen 3-4), 8:40 p.m. College baseball NCAA Division IRegionals glance Double elimination; x-if necessary AtlantaRegional Friday, May29 Game 1: Georgia Tech 22, UIC 5 Saturday, May30 Game 2: Okahoma 8, The Citadel 3 Game 3: The Citadel 9, UIC 8 Game 4: Georgia Tech 9, Oklahoma 3 Sunda, May31 Game 5: Oklahoma 8, The Citadel 3 Game 6: Oklahoma 15,Georgia Tech 8 Monday, June 1 Game 7: Oklahoma 8, Georgia Tech 7 Athens Regional Friday, May29 Game 1: Liberty 4, Boston College 3 Saturday, May30 Game 2: Georgia 18, LIU 2 Game 3: Boston College8,LIU 4

Game 5: Auburn 9, UCF 3 Game 6: Auburn 8, Milwaukee 1 Monday, June 1 Game 7: Auburn 8, Milwaukee 3 Austin Regional Friday, May29 Game 1: Texas19, HolyCross 1 Game 2: Tarleton St. 11, UC Santa Barbara5 Saturday, May30 Game 3: UC Santa Barbara 15,Holy Cross1 Game 4: Texas16, Tarleton St. 2 Sunday, May31 Game 5: UC Santa Barbara 9, Tarleton St. 5 Game

LaFleur

STAFF FILE PHOTOByMICHAEL JOHNSON LSU first baseman Tori Edwards records an out against Texas A&M on March14atTiger Park.

FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL BACIGALUPI

LSU pitcher Jayden Heavener delivers apitch during warmups vs. Ole Miss on April 18 at TigerPark. Heavener says she is entering the transfer portal.

Is themagic numberfor easy yogurt chicken with Indian raita, coriander chutneyand rotis

BY GRETCHEN McKAY Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

“The Great British Bake Off”

contestant and author Chetna Makan’slatestcookbook aims to make Indian food more accessible by making awide array of recipes really easy

In “Chetna’s5-Ingredient Indian: Delicious Recipes Made Easy” (Hamlyn, $33), the Jabalpur native delivers more than 90 recipes for ﬁsh, chicken, rice and vegetarian dishes along with simple breads, sweet andtangy chutneys, crunchy snacks and sweets. Here’sthe hook: Not counting the occasional pinch of chili powder or spoonful of sugar, all requireﬁve or fewer ingredients. It’sproof positive that cooking adelicious Indian meal from scratch doesn’thave to be complicated or take hours in the kitchen!

To demonstrate just how easy it is to pull together a lovely meal in shortorder,I made achicken dishthat never fails to please; asingle-ingredient bread; aspicy-tangy green chutney; and raita, apopular condiment made of thickyogurt mixed with grated raw cucumber.Ifyou’re organized, the meal takes about ahalf hour,start to ﬁnish.

Indian spice blends traditionally are made with many different spices to create avariety of ﬂavors and aromas,sothey can be costly to make at home Thankfully,they’re also easy to ﬁnd prepackaged in any Indian market or on Amazon.

YogurtChicken

Serves4.Recipe is from “Chetna’s5-Ingredient Indian” by Chetna

Makan.

9ounces plain yogurt

1teaspoon salt

1teaspoon chili powder

2tablespoons tandoori masala spice mix

Lafayettespotknown forauthentic Italianpizza introduces pastries— with burgerstocome

PHOTOSByROBIN MAy

Pastry chef Gina Sarrica lays out herhomemade pastries for dinersatSarrica’sLittleItaly Restaurant on May23 in Lafayette

ROLLINGIN THEDOUGH

BY JOANNABROWN

Staff writer

Sarrica’sLittle Italy started with apassion for authenticity

WhenGina andSanti Sarrica moved to Lafayette fromNew York City three years ago, they hit theground running. First,itwas Neapolitan-style pizzas, sold out of their home using ingredients imported from Italy.

Sarrica’sItalian Pizza was quick to developa following, even as they movedaroundtowninsearch of more and more ovenspace —ﬁrst afood truck down Johnston Street, followed by abrief stint in adowntownbeer garden.

8skinless, boneless chicken thighs, each cut into 4pieces Oil, for frying

4onions, roughly chopped 2tablespoons ginger and garlic paste

1. Putyogurt in abowl with salt, chili powder and tandoori masala and mix well.

2. Add chicken pieces and turn to coatthem well.Cover andleave to marinate for1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator

3. Heat 2-3 tablespoons oil in a large, deep frying pan, then add chopped onions. Cookover medium heat for 8-10 minutesuntil deeply golden.

4. Add ginger and garlic paste andcook for 1more minute, then add marinated chicken along with its marinade and mixwell.

5. Cover andcook over low heat for15minutes. Uncover pan and continue to cook over a high heat for 10 minutes.

6. Turn off heat and let it sit forafinal 10 minutes before serving.

Sarrica’sItalian Pizzarebranded into Sarrica’sLittle Italy in early 2025 with amoveintotheir ﬁrst true brick-and-mortar restaurant, at 3546 Ambassador Caffery Parkway— formerly occupied by TaboulehLebanese Cuisine. Over the past year,the Sarricas have fully moved into thespace, transformingitinto the kind of old-school, vibrantItalian restaurant that feelslike afamily dining room, with murals on thewall, candles everywhere,and acrowningportrait of Santi, Gina and their daughter,Esmeralda, in the center

Sarrica’sLittle Italy Restaurant heldatasting event May23astheywill soon launch Panificio Sarrica, abakerywithin the restaurant that will offer house-made Italian and Latin Americanpastries fromearly morning

The move came with amenu expansioninto the broader world of Italian cuisine, featuring classicdishes like ossobuco over red wine risotto, andfettuccine with wild mushrooms andtrufﬂe oil (the menu also changes every couple of weeks). Gina Sarrica is thedriving force behind therestaurant’screative vision,accordingtoSanti,

who said that sheisconstantlyresearching new menus.

“Sincethe very beginning, she actually taught me alot about my own cuisine, about my own culture,” saidSanti Sarrica, whois fromPalermo, Sicily,while Gina is from Colombia. “A lot of times

Recipes, 2D ä See SARRICAS, page 6C

Astrawberry and mangosoft serve margarita from Casa Maria in Baton Rouge

Warm watereases pain

Dear Heloise: Ilearned of away to help with ankle pain. Actually,I have alot of pain all over,but to help my ankles abit whentaking ashower,Iplug the drain and let the warm/hot water go up and around my ankles. It does helpquite abit, and it doesn’tuse up any additional water Any relief is good relief. Thanks for publishing your wonderful column.

—D.K., in Tiffin, Ohio

Pushyneighborgetscoldshoulder

Dear Miss Manners: How should one respond when an acquaintance asks, “Have Idone somethingtooffend you?”

D.K., I’m sorry to hear about your ankles giving you so much discomfort, but Ihope thewarm water keeps helping with your pain. If my readers know of any other remedies for ankle pain (or pain in general), please submit them to Heloise@Heloise. com! —Heloise Deviledeggsand more

Dear Heloise: Iusually prepare deviled eggs for familygatherings. Sometimes it’stoo much to boil, peel and preparethe yolks at one time. This past Easter,I boiled and peeled the eggsthe Saturday before. Then Iput them in the refrigerator whole. On Sundayafter church anda couple of hours before dinner, Iﬁnished preparing them.We couldn’ttell the difference.

Another hint that I’ve been wanting to share is that Iput aroll of toilet paper in the refrigerator to eliminate odors. I’ve been doing this for about ayear,and it works. If you start to smell an odor in the refrigerator,replace the roll and use one from the bathroom. (No waste!) If you’re older like me, make sure you tell your family why you are storing toilet paper in your refrigerator so that they don’tthink you’re losing your

mind. —Linda H.,in Lincoln,Nebraska Linda,ifIwere you, Ithink I’d prefer aroll of toilet paper that was fresh from thepackage instead of the bathroom for reduced bacteria in my refrigerator —Heloise Flea season advice Dear Heloise: Flea season is uponus, and Ihave some advice to give to your readers since Iwork with dogs all day everyday. Here are somefacts everyoneshouldknow:

n Afemale ﬂea can and does lay well over 100,000 eggs in only amonth

n Fleas carry both typhus and tapeworms. Tapewormscan cause anemia in your dogs (and cats, too).

n Fleas cause tremendous discomfort to an animal, causing them to constantly scratch and whine.

If your dog or cathas fleas,be sure to bathe them frequently and brush themdaily.Brushing will help remove the flea eggs,so do this outside if youcan. Also use aflea and tick collar.Your vet will have flea prevention medication. Idon’trecommend over-thecounter anti-fleaapplications because mostofthemdon’tworkor onlywork for avery short time.

In addition,ifyou or anyone in your home has itchy,red specks on their legs, you may have ﬂeas in your rugs andcarpets. This will require professional steam cleaning.A regular vacuum usually doesn’t haveenough suction to pullout many ﬂeas —Kelly C., in Macon, Georgia

Send ahint to heloise@heloise. com.

‘CHETNA’S5-INGREDIENTINDIAN’ RECIPES

Coriander Chutney

Makes about 1cup. Recipe is from “Chetna’s5-Ingredient Indian” by Chetna Makan.

1ounce fresh coriander (cilantro), leaves and stalks

¼ounce fresh mint leaves Juice of 1lemon

2tablespoons plain yogurt

½teaspoon salt

½teaspoon sugar

2green chiles, stems removed (and deseeded, if desired)

1. In afood processor,blitz coriander,mint, lemon juice, yogurt and chiles along with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon sugar

2. Don’tbetempted to add watertothis —let it blitz with just the ingredients above to achieve theright consistency

Roti Flatbread

Makes 12. Recipe is from “Chetna’s5-Ingredient Indian” by Chetna Makan.

10½ ounces chapatti flour,plus extra for dusting

1. Put ﬂour in abowl andslowly add7-8 ounces of water (not all at once). Youwanttoadd alittle and mixbefore adding more

2. Once you have anice soft dough, knead for 1minute,then cover and let it restfor at least 1520 minutes. This is key to getting

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday,June 3 the 154th day of 2026.There are 211 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On June 3, 1943, an altercation between U.S. Navy sailors and young Mexican Americanson the streets of Los Angeles led to several days of clashesknown as the Zoot Suit Riots as White mobs attacked Mexican Americansacross the city,injuring more than 150 people. Also on this date: In 1844, the last conﬁrmed specimens of the great auk, a ﬂightless bird, were killed on Eldeyisland, near Iceland

In 1888, the poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was ﬁrst published in the San Francisco DailyExaminer

In 1935, the FrenchlinerSS Normandie set arecord on its maiden voyage, arriving in New York after crossing the Atlantic in just four days.

In 1937, Edward, The Duke of Windsor,who had abdicated the British throne, marriedAmerican socialite Wallis Simpson in aprivateceremony in Monts, France. In 1965, during the Gemini4,

Ihave aneighbor with whom I’ve tried to be friendly.Over thecourse of afew months, she’s madeunpleasant remarks, overstepped invitations to my homeand insistently passed on information that Iknew to be false. For example, Ihad her and afew other women over for tea, and as Iwas welcoming them into the house, she asked if she could showthem the upstairs. I said thatI’d prefer she not,but she barreledpastmeupthe stairs, saying she was sure it was ﬁne.

nice, soft rotis.

3. Dividerested dough into 12 portions. (I made 8portions.) Use arolling pin to roll outeachone on aﬂoured work surface into a thin disc 6or7 inches in diameter.

4. Heat afrying panuntil hot. Cook each roti on one side fora fewseconds. Once you spot afew bubblesforming,turnitover.

Aftera fewseconds, turnitback over andpress gently withaspatula— this will help it to puff up.

5. Once it’sready,brush with some ghee or melted butter,and serve.

Raita (Cucumber Yogurt)

Makes about 2cups. Recipe is from “Chetna’s5-Ingredient Indian” byChetna Makan.

1whole cucumber,grated

10½ ounces plain yogurt

½teaspoon chili powder

½teaspoon sugar

½teaspoon ground cumin 1green chile, thinlysliced

1. Put the cucumber on aplate andsprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt.

Letitsit for 15 minutes.

2. In abowl, mix yogurt with chili powder, sugar and ground cumin

3. Squeeze the excess water from the cucumber (I used a clean dish towel), add the ﬂesh to the yogurt and mix well.

4. Sprinklechile slices on top and serve.

spaceﬂight, astronaut Edward H. White becamethe ﬁrst American to “walk” in space. In 1989, Chinese army troops entered Beijing’sTiananmen Square to beginacrackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations, crushing their movement

In 2016, former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali whose athletic feats and activism placed him among the mostrevered athletes of all time, died in Scottsdale, Arizona, at age 74. In 2017, elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the ﬁrst to climb solo to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear

Today’sbirthdays: Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is 95. Basketball Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham is 83. Golf Hall of FamerHale Irwin is 81. Singer Suzi Quatro is76. Singer Deniece Williams is 76. Former ﬁrst lady Jill Biden is 75. Olympicgymnastics gold medalist

Peter Vidmar is 65. Musician Kerry King (Slayer) is 62. Tennis player Rafael Nadal is 40. Singer Beabadoobee is 26. Actor Louis Partridge is 23.

Ihave rebuffedher latest attempts to get together with vague excuses such as, “Maybe some other time” and “I’m actually quite busy right now.” So now she wants to know if she’soffended me in someway Ihave no desire to pursue this friendship or “talk things out.” Icertainly don’t wish to return her rudeness with morerudeness on my part.

What’s areasonable, yet ﬁrm, response? “Yes, actually,you have offended me”?

Gentlereader: That is aﬁrm response, and possibly areasonable one, given the circumstances. But Miss Manners will tell you what

you already know:Itisnot the response you want, because then you are going to have to explain how this womanoffended you. This will end with you giving tours of your bedroom suite to her visiting college roommates and their spouses and children. Whatyou want is away to make herleaveyou alone, which can be accomplishedwith your best look of deep concernand the return questionof, “Whateverwould make yousay that?” Thenappear nottobepaying toomuchattention when she answers, in the hope that she will reviewher own actions. Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com.

SARRICAS

Continuedfrom page5C

when you live in aplace, you don’t really appreciatewhat you have.

Gina Sarrica is abit morereserved than her husband, but is no less awhirlwind of activity, bringing outplatter after platter of freshpastries for atasting event held recently at the restaurant. After three years of constant change and growth, she has spent thepast year diving intothe world of pastry in preparation for anew venture —Paniﬁcio Sarrica.

Very soon, Sarrica’sLittle Italy will also be hometoabakery,Paniﬁcio Sarrica, that will offer housemade Italian andLatin American pastriesfrom earlymorning until sellout. Santi Sarrica said that they plan to open the bakery in early June, and the May 23 tasting event featured thekind of transportive delicaciesthatlooked,almost, too pretty to eat.

“This croissant has200 to 500 layers, that we achieve with around 7 to 10 folds —you can taste it by thecrunchiness,and thesoftness as well,”saidGina Sarrica, who

BEST

Continuedfrom page5C

Louisianaday

The sweet, fruity drink is afun balance to chips and salsa —and anew favorite for girls night.

—Ella Ray,digital audience editor

Spicy tuna tacos

n Soji Modern Asian,5050 GovernmentSt.,Baton Rouge

To me, thebest part about Night Market BTR is thefood, and these tacos conﬁrm that. The dish from Soji was served with two tacos ﬁlled with wasabi guacamole, spicy tuna mix and mango ponzu pico. Each bitewas refreshing, which felt priceless in the early evening’sblazing hot sun. Ipaired it with some boba and sat in thegrass with my friends, all of us enjoying our food and watching thescenery Ichecked online, and it looks like these tacos are currently on themenu at Soji. Good, because they worth ordering again.

—Maddie Scott, features reporter

Chicken sandwich

n Spoonbill Watering Hole, 900 Jefferson St Lafayette

Last Saturday,Ispent abusy and fun day doing all of the things in downtown Lafayette, including eating, shopping and dancing. As thesun started to

uses ingredients like cocoa and activated charcoal to create croissantsthatare expertly-laminated pieces of art. Her focaccia bread has arich, textured crust over apillowy dough, and there was abow-shaped pastry filled with dulce de leche that provided a sweet nod to Gina Sarrica’sSouth American roots. She trained under pastry chef Alejandro Guerra to prepare for therestaurant’sexpansion into pastry,which involved weeks of intense focus, according to Santi Sarrica.

“Whenshe does something, she’s gottobethe best —and even when she gets to be thebest, she’slike, ‘no, Ican do more, Ican do better, Ican improve myself.’ This is our wayofshowing our love, ourappreciation to thecommunity,”he said. “It’s about making something that is worth, notjusteating,but looking at and enjoying.”

Once Panificio Sarricaisopen forbusiness, the Sarricas plan to turn their attention to yetanother project —transforming therestaurant’soutdoor patio into aColombian burger joint.

Yes, this meansthat Sarrica’s Little Italy will soon feature Italian

pizzas and entrees, with pastries in the morning, andburgers on the patio (which will be transformed with avibrant street-dining energy).

Santi Sarrica said, “It’sgonna be completely different than the restaurant. Colorful, energetic, and whatever’shappening inside won’tbehappening outside.She wants to incorporate the Italian culturewith, of course, aColombian culture, which also has avery bigculinary scene. Andthey love hamburgers.”

“We’reexcited,but we’re also scared, because we already have no life,” he said. “Wehaven’tstopped fora second. She especially is always researching, putting things together,elevating. We never know what’scoming outofit, but every time it’sbeen asuccess.”

Sarrica’sLittle Italy is located at 3546 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy Suite A, andtheyare currently open during lunch and dinner hours from Wednesday to Friday Saturday service is 11 a.m.to 9p.m., Sundayis11a.m.to2 p.m., and they are closed on Monday and Tuesday

Email Joanna Brownatjoanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

dip, Iwanted to ﬁnd aspot at a bar for ameal andsomepeople watching, andthat’sexactly what Spoonbill provided. They make an amazing Sidecar that was perfect to sip on in thehumid evening, and my chicken sandwich(with aside of deliciously crispy french fries) hit thespotinevery aspect. The chicken was hot andjuicy,the coleslaw provided afresh, tangy crunch, and there’s nothing better than tucking into afried chicken thigh on apotatorollafter along day

If you’re in the neighborhood and looking for aplace to relax —orkeep the party going Spoonbill, in the oldConoco station downtown, is agreat option. —Joanna Brown, reporter

STAFFPHOTO By JOANNA BROWN Achicken sandwich dressedwith coleslawand Cholula hot sauce, with french fries and aSidecarfrom Spoonbill Watering Hole in Lafayette

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT Spicytuna tacos fromSoji ModernAsian

Hints from Heloise

PHOTO By ROBIN MAy

Santi Sarrica and his daughter,Esmerelda, greet diners at Sarrica’s Little Italy Restaurant.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Assess and follow through. Don't leave what's important to you in someone else's hands. Put pressure where pressure is due, and don't be afraid to move forward alone if necessary.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Your vision may be expansive, but when it comes to enforcingmodifications,practicalitywill benecessary Basethechangesyouwant to implement on the result, and filter out steps that are financially taxing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Dedicate your time to learning, new experiences and committing to a path that motivates you. Don't let frustration set in when directing your energy is what's necessary.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Plan to socialize, network, or market and promote something you want to pursue. The feedback you get will be more reactive than suggestive. Putting your energy into what you feel most passionate about will pay off.

LIBRA (Sept 23-Oct. 23) Discipline and hard work will change how you think, live and use your attributes. Choosing to do something you enjoy and turning it into additional income is within reach.

ScORPIO (Oct 24-nov 22) Thoughts followed by actions will give you something to celebrate. Your insight and directness willbeappreciated,alongwithyourcompassion for those you love.

SAGITTARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) A diversion or change of scenery will help you gain a unique perspective regarding your options. Make sure your budget can

live up to your demands before you get started.

cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Don't share unverified information. Ask questions, be observant and base your decisions on facts, figures and having enough time to warrant moving forward with your plans.

AQuARIuS(Jan.20-Feb.19)Ifyoustaytuned in to what you are trying to achieve, you will accomplish more Home improvements will give you a new lease on life and help you put a legitimate plan in place that encourages both emotional and financial strength.

PIScES (Feb. 20-March 20) Spend less time talking and more time designing and defining how you want your space to accommodate your plans and needs. Focus on things that encourage you to thrive. Romance is on the rise.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Take a back seat, observe, reflect and delineate your thoughts once you have a grasp on what's unfolding around you Trust your instincts, and be wary of what others say and do.

TAuRuS (April 20-May 20) A change will energize you. Updating your space or moving to a location that inspires you to bring about positive personal changes will get you moving in the right direction.

TODAy'S cLuE: X EQuALS R

CeLebrItY CIpher

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

LAGoon

bIG nAte

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. 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.

Yesterday’s PuzzleAnswer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

Paul Valery, aFrench poet, essayist andphilosopher whodiedin1945, said, “Every thought is an exception to the general rule thatpeopledon’tthink.”

Perhaps theprimary reason that bridgehas remained so popular is that therealwaysseemtobeexceptionstothe “rules” of the game.

When taking afinesse you wish to repeat, oftenyou lead the lowestcard that can hold the trick if thefinesse is winning. Thenyou can immediately repeat it. But that is not always the case. In this deal, South is in four spades. West leads alow diamond. East takes thetrick with his10and returnsalow diamond. After ruffing, how shoulddeclarer continue?

Southmight have immediately overcalled four spades, butwondered about aslam. West made anegative double, promising four hearts. East’s double was for takeout; it was atad aggressive,but the singleton spade improved hishand’s value.

South must holdhis losers to one in each side suit. Since West has aclub honor, this requires taking two club finessesand leading towardthe heart king. So, declarer seemstoneed three dummy entries, but he has onlytwo:the spade jack and ace. However, he can do it if he is thoughtful.

Southdrawstrumpsendinginthedummy. Then comes the key play: He must lead the club twoand play hisjack. West winsand leads another diamond. Declarer ruffs,crosses to dummy with a spade, and runs the club nine. Still in the dummy,hecanthenleadaheartuptohis king —missionaccomplished.

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

Previous answers:

word game

InSTRucTIOnS: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed

TODAy’S WORD MyTHIcAL: MITH-ih-kul: Existing only in the imagination.

Average mark24words

Time limit 40 minutes

Can you find 35 or morewords in MYTHICAL?

yESTERDAy’S WORD —ScAFFOLD

wuzzles

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles hidato

mallard fillmore

Trump changes steel, aluminum, copper tariffs

NEW YORK President Donald Trump on Monday adjusted tariffs on some steel, aluminum and copper imports, lowering some tariffs on farming equipment and extending the lower rate to other equipment.

In an executive order, Trump lowered tariffs on agricultural equipment, including combines and harvesters, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, to 15% from 25%.

He expanded the existing category of industrial equipment that is subject to a 15% tariff to include mobile industrial equipment like bulldozers and forklifts — when they’re imported from countries that have a trade deal with the U.S

The order says countries that use at least 85% melted and poured or smelted and cast steel or aluminum by weight could qualifyforalower10%dutyrate, in an effort to encourage companies in other countries to use U.S. metals.

The changes go into effect

Monday.Theyaretemporaryand set to expire at the end of 2027.

“In my judgment, this temporary modiﬁcation appropriately accounts for these products’ roles in productive economic activity in the United States,” Trump said in his order

General Mills agrees to sell Häagen-Dazs shops

HONG KONG General Mills is selling its Häagen-Dazs icecream shops in mainland China to an investor group that includes Chinese tea brand Ningji. Minneapolis-based General Mills said in a statement late Monday that the deal will allow the buyers to exclusively sell the Häagen-Dazs brand in ice cream shops and gifting businesses across mainland China. General Mills will continue to sell Häagen-Dazs ice cream to Chinese retail and food service operations.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year

General Mills didn’t immediately respond Tuesday when asked how many Häagen-Dazs stores it has in China. In its latest annual report, General Mills said it operated 332 ice cream parlors worldwide.

Ningji operates around 3,000 retail tea outlets in China. It opened its chain of stores in 2021 and has received funding from ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered creator of TikTok, and Shunwei Capital.

Southwest Airlines shakes up leadership

Southwest Airlines is shaking up its leadership as the Dallas-based carrier continues evaluating further changes to its business operation, such as the addition of lounges and long-haul international ﬂights.

Andrew Watterson, Southwest’s chief operating officer who had led the airline’s commercial unit is now focused entirely on operations, the airline announced last week. Southwest elevated operations executive Justin Jones to chief commercial ofﬁcer reporting directly to CEO Bob Jordan. Southwest also said that it’s refining its customers and people division, with chief customer and brand ofﬁcer Tony Roach now reporting to Jordan and chief people officer Elizabeth Bryant reporting to Roach. Southwest, which is based at Dallas Love Field, touted the changes as a way to increase focus on operational and commercial performance, strengthen its commercial strategy and roll out a more connected experience for its employees and customers.

“These changes position us to move forward with greater clarity, stronger execution, and deeper connection across our company,” Jordan said in a statement. The leadership shake-up comes just over a month since the airline reported record ﬁrstquarter operating revenue of $7.2 billion and net income of $227 million.

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market inched to more records Tuesday as winners of the artiﬁcial-intelligence boom kept driving higher The S&P 500 rose 0.1% after drifting between small gains and losses through the day The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 228 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. All three set all-time highs.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise helped lead the market, and its stock soared 19.5% after it reported a proﬁt for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. It credited demand from customers

building their artiﬁcial-intelligence capabilities.

Marvell Technology leaped 32.5% for its best day since its stock began trading in 2000 after Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be “the next trillion-dollar company.” The last company to enter the expanding club of behemoths was Micron Technology, which is likewise riding the AI wave. Nvidia, which slipped 0.7%, has seen its total value top $5 trillion.

Generac climbed 5.7% after saying it signed a deal to provide backup power generators to an unnamed “leading hyperscale data center operator.”

Such “hyperscalers” are spending tremendous amounts of money to build huge AI data centers, which are powering what proponents believe is the next great revolution for the global economy Alphabet is one of those hyperscalers, and the parent company of Google said it’s raising $80 billion in cash to help pay for its investments by selling shares of its stock It’s planning to spend as much as $190 billion on equipment and other investments this year

That’s more than all the stock of The Walt Disney Co is worth, and Alphabet is forecasting its spending on investments next year will “signiﬁcantly increase.” Such huge sums raise the ques-

tion about whether AI can produce the proﬁts and productivity necessary to make all the investment worth it. Critics have already been talking about the possibility of a bubble in AI investment, and Alphabet’s stock fell 3.9%. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. All told, the S&P

BY PAUL WISEMAN and MAURICIO SAVARESE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable” and that “burden or restrict U.S commerce.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he received the decision “with indignation.” He also blamed the decision by the U.S. administration on his rival in October’s elections, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, once nicknamed “the Trump of the Tropics” by his allies

The announcement late Monday came after an investigation by the Ofﬁce of the U.S. Trade Representative, charging Brazil with lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other things.

The U.S. has had a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years.

U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer

BY JENNIFER MCDERMOTT Associated Press

New York’s attorney general sued the Trump administration Tuesday over one of its deals to end an offshore wind project.

Under a deal made public in March, French company TotalEnergies is getting $1 billion essentially a refund of its leases for offshore wind projects off New York and North Carolina — if it invests the money in fossil fuel projects instead.

State attorneys general from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York in challenging the cancellation of the lease off New York, the larger of

said that he and President Donald Trump had “constructive” meetings with Lula and other Brazilian ofﬁcials. But he said that “we continue to have substantial differences in resolving the issues identiﬁed in this investigation.”

Lula on Tuesday cited other reasons for the punishing tariff proposal. For the ﬁrst time he named an American ofﬁcial as a hurdle to his relations with Trump and once again he threatened to retaliate.

“I spoke to President Trump for three hours, and that Marco Rubio guy, the head of the State Department, he is anti-Latin American,” Lula said. “He is a deadly enemy of Cuba, a deadly enemy of many Latin American countries. I already told Trump that he does not like Brazil.”

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday Brazil’s government said in a statement that its dialogue with American counterparts, which includes “personal involvement of Presidents Lula and Trump,” is being ”sabotaged by merely electoral and family

the two projects and the bulk of the payout. They say it will harm their states’ economies, energy grids and climate goals.

“This administration cooked up a sham deal to pay a foreign energy company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind and invest in oil and gas instead,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “We are ﬁghting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy.” New York Gov Kathy Hochul said she and James will continue to aggressively ﬁght back against President Donald Trump’s “overt and never-ending hostility toward

matters” of the Bolsonaros.

It added that it hopes “the recommendations do not become effective tariffs.”

“But we stress we will adopt every measure that is capable of reducing the damage that might be caused to the national economy, to the jobs and the income of Brazilians,” the country’s government said.

Last year, Trump had slapped Brazil with a 50% tariff mainly to protest its prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro for trying to overturn his electoral defeat in 2022. His relationship with Lula seemed to have improved early May, when the Brazilian visited the White House.

But last week, the Trump administration designated two Brazilian gangs as terrorist organizations, after Sen. Bolsonaro’s visit. Lula opposes the designation, which analysts say could bolster his political rival.

Greer’s ofﬁce has scheduled a public hearing July 6 on the proposed tariffs.

Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding, noted said that the administration’s plan excludes more than half of U.S. imports from Brazil, including aircraft and key minerals.

offshore wind.” Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. The complaint filed in District Court for the District of Columbia names administration officials, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as defendants, and argues that they canceled the lease without following proper procedures. The states are asking a federal judge to vacate the lease cancellation and settlement agreement with TotalEnergies’ subsidiary Attentive Energy Separately, a coalition of renewable energy groups filed a complaint in District Court in Oregon on Sunday over Pentagon officials not completing national security reviews

for new onshore wind farms on private lands. They say this inaction has brought a total halt to all wind project development. The Pentagon has said its siting clearinghouse is actively evaluating land-based wind energy projects and it’s a complex, time-consuming process. In response to the lawsuit, the Interior Department said Tuesday the only thing blatantly unlawful was the process by which these leases were negotiated and imposed under the Biden administration, funneling taxpayer dollars into unreliable, unaffordable energy projects. A spokesperson said the lease buybacks were voluntary agreements that no one was forced to sign, which were reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ANDRE PENNER

Esperanca farm in Braganca Paulista, Brazil, in August.