Board plans special retreat to find solutions to $18 million budget shortfall
BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer
The St. Landry Parish School Board is convening for a special retreat this weekend as officials consider school closures and other cuts to address an $18 million budget shortfall.
Following the failure of two ballot measures aimed at funding schools in the parish, the board will have to make budget cuts to stay in compliance with state law that requires its general fund to stay in the black. It could mean that schools across the parish might find themselves on the chopping block next school year
The board’s budgetary difficulties have long been mounting, and over the past two fiscal years have become unmanageable.
Like many school districts across
Louisiana, St. Landry Parish has lost students as families have fewer children, move away or choose charter schools and homeschooling. But while enrollment has fallen significantly, the district’s staffing levels have not declined at the same pace.
The board was able to offset its financial woes for several years thanks to a pandemic-era federal program known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. Those funds were discontinued in September 2024, however, removing a substantial amount of funding from St. Landry’s schools budget.
Shaun Grantham, who serves as the board’s financial director, has been sounding the alarm on the impending financial catastrophe.
“I said two years ago, ‘The end of ESSER is going to be like falling off a financial cliff,’ ” Grantham told
the board during a June 2 committee meeting. “We finished fiscal year 2024-25 with a $6.7 million loss, and I told you then that we could not survive like this. I don’t see how we survive the end of this year.”
The district currently operates more than 30 schools and has previously discussed consolidation as a way to reduce costs and address declining enrollment.
The district entered the current fiscal year with a balance of $14 million in unassigned funds, according to its most recent audit. Grantham projects a loss of approximately $27.8 million for the district in the 2025-26 fiscal year Even after factoring in $9.7 million in qualified school construction bonds, the district will not have enough money to
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Congress eyes changes to college athletics
Two bills would rein in sports spending, restrict transfers
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — The push in Congress to revamp college athletics including a “Lane Kiffin rule” to keep coaches from switching schools midseason — now involves two bills, with one championed by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise competing against another out of the Senate.
Both would rein in college sports spending and restrict unlimited use of the transfer portal trends that have upended century-old traditions of amateur student-athletes playing for their schools on scholarships.
BY BERNARD CONDON AP business writer
NEW YORK Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after shares of his rocket company SpaceX soared in Wall Street’s biggest initial public offering of stock. Shares in SpaceX jumped more than 19% after opening for trading at noon Friday, a sign that investors are looking past the bil-
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“President Trump wants the House and Senate to work through this to fix the problem.”
HOUSE MAJORITy LEADER STEVE SCALISE, R-Jefferson
President Donald Trump has weighed in, urging lawmakers to reach a compromise which would fall heavily on the Louisiana-dominated Republican House leadership.
“President Trump wants the House and Senate to work through this to fix the problem,” said Scalise, R-Jefferson. In charge of the effort in the House is Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton.
“We got to work it out. It’s so important for college athletics,” Johnson said Wednesday while visiting announcers at a congressional charity baseball game. At issue are college payments to studentathletes which often range in hundreds of
Law will require Safe Haven info in La. school bathrooms
Flyers would be for grades 7-12
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
A Louisiana law requiring Safe Haven information to be posted in middle and high school bathroom stalls was inspired by a teenager who gave birth in secret, panicked and abandoned her newborn, according to the bill’s author The state’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to anonymously relinquish physical custody of a child up to 60 days old at designated emergency care facilities and Safe Haven locations.
House Bill 476, authored by Rep. Kellee Hennessy Dickerson, RDenham Springs, received unani-
mous approval during the Legislative session before being signed into law by Gov Jeff Landry last week. The measure requires public schools serving grades 7-12 to post Safe Haven information in restroom stalls, including where and how a newborn can be safely surrendered and contact information for assistance.
Dickerson said the legislation was prompted by a case involving a teenager in her district who gave birth without her family’s knowledge.
According to Dickerson, the teen later placed the newborn in a tote bag after becoming scared and unsure of what to do. The infant was later found, and the teenager was arrested on multiple charges.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA Former LSU and Alabama football coach Nick Saban testifies before a Senate committee on June 3.
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
The St. Landry Parish School Board is facing an $18 million budget shortfall.
ST. LANDRY PARISH
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANK FRANKLIN II
Gwynne Shotwell, center, president and COO of SpaceX, celebrates with colleagues during a bell-ringing ceremony for the IPO of SpaceX at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New york on Friday.
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Ford recalls more than 250,000 Focus models
Ford is recalling more than 250,000 vehicles that were incorrectly repaired under a previous recall meant to fix a problem that caused the engine to stall while driving.
The recall includes 255,404 Ford Focus automobiles, model years 2012-2018. Ford said the canister purge valve may malfunction, causing the engine to stall unexpectedly while driving, increasing the risk of crash and injury
To fix the problem, dealers will provide a powertrain software update free of charge.
Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed July 6. Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866)-436-7332.
Ford’s number for this recall is 26S40. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s number for this recall is 26V369. The original NHTSA recall number for this issue is 18V735.
Vehicle identification numbers involved in this recall will become searchable on NHTSA. gov on July 6. Indonesian students protest policies
JAKARTA, Indonesia Hundreds of Indonesian students rallied Friday in Indonesia’s capital, demanding lower fuel and food prices and urging President Prabowo Subianto to roll back costly state spending programs as economic pressures mount.
The protest was held after the prices of some fuel jumped 32% this week for the first time since the United States launched its war against Iran more than three months ago.
About 1,500 protesters attempted to march toward the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle a key Jakarta landmark, after Friday prayers. Anti-riot police blocked many of them from reaching the site, which has long been off-limits for rallies because of its location at the heart of the city’s main business and commercial district. Amid the signs of economic pressure, Indonesia’s rupiah currency has also come under pressure recently, hitting a historic low of 18,000 rupiah to the U.S. dollar earlier this month
Demonstrators demanded cuts to what they called wasteful state spending, lower prices for fuel and staple goods, and a halt to major government programs such as a free meals program and a plan to revitalize rural areas. The food program, costing about $15 billion for this year alone, is aimed at alleviating poverty and malnutrition Prabowo recently fired the head of the program amid a massive graft probe.
They also called for an end to what they described as the growing role of the military in civilian affairs, something they view as a threat to the young democracy U.S. scholar arrested on suspicion of espionage
BANGKOK An American scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy was arrested by authorities in China on suspicion of spying, China’s foreign ministry said Friday
The scholar Min Zin, was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian
It is uncommon for Beijing to arrest a U.S citizen on national security allegations. The case comes just a month after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as the two countries aim to reset a tumultuous relationship.
A Burmese activist who knows Min Zin said he disappeared June 3 after going to Kunming, in China’s Yunnan province, for a conference. The activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of government retribution and arrest, said Min Zin had visited China multiple times before. Min Zin was a student activist in Myanmar’s 1988 uprising, a student-led movement that the government at the time reacted to with military force. He eventually sought asylum in the U.S. He was not engaged in any direct activism work currently, said the activist.
U.S., Iran agree to wording of deal
Pakistan’s prime minister says peace accord is close
BY MUNIR AHMED, MICHELLE L. PRICE and RUSS BYNUM Associated Press
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s prime minister said Friday the United States and Iran have agreed to wording of an agreement aimed at ending their war in the Middle East and that mediators were working with both sides to finalize
a deal.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the U.S and Iran have reached a “final, agreed upon text.” He said Pakistan, which has taken the lead in mediation efforts, was working with the warring countries on next steps.
“Peace has never been this close as it is now,” Sharif said in a post on X
The apparent breakthrough in negotiations comes after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel over three days this week,
threatening to return the Middle East to full-scale war
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday an agreement “has never been closer” in a post on X. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said multiple times in recent weeks the countries are on the cusp of a deal, shared Araghchi’s post on his own social media.
The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 has rattled the Middle East and virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 7.
Nuclear details will follow
Araghchi told Iranian state TV on Friday that both sides were working toward signing an initial agreement declaring an end to the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon.”
Israel has been fighting the Iranian-allied militia Hezbollah in
Lebanon since early March. Israel is not a party to the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, and its leaders have said they don’t plan to withdraw from Lebanon.
Araghchi said terms dealing with Iran’s nuclear program would be finalized in the 60 days after the initial agreement is signed. He said the parties could agree to extend that period.
Iran’s nuclear program has been a key point of division. The U.S. and Israel fear it could lead to an atomic weapon — a main reason their leaders cited for going to war Tehran has insisted its nuclear efforts are for peaceful purposes.
A senior U.S. administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said Friday that the emerging agreement would begin the process of destroying or removing Tehran’s highly enriched uranium.
Officials: Sprinklers at warehouse didn’t work
First responders slowed by failing water system
By Associated Press
TRACY, Calif. — Firefighters responding to a blaze that destroyed a massive medical equipment warehouse in Northern California and sent embers flying for miles were hindered by sprinklers and hydrants that weren’t working, authorities said Friday
The 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Tracy, a city about 55 miles east of San Francisco, supplied medical equipment to area hospitals. It’s owned by Medline, a major medical-surgical products provider of equipment such as latex gloves, masks, surgical instruments and other medical supplies.
Thick black smoke billowed Friday from the site, as firefighters continued to put out hot spots.
Authorities said they don’t yet know why the water system failed during the blaze but it appeared to be a problem with the facility’s system, not city supply
Local fire codes generally require large warehouses to have hydrants and sprinklers and ensure both are functioning, said Brian O’Connor, a licensed fire protection engineer with the National Fire Protection Association.
“If you have a large facility, it can be difficult for firefighters to stretch a hose from the closest public hydrant to the building,” he said.
Crews responding to the blaze that broke out around 1 p.m. Thursday encountered flames on the roof and noticed no water coming out of sprinklers in the building, Tracy Deputy Fire Chief Brian Bagley said A fire official found a pump was pushing little to no water through both the sprinklers and on-site hydrants, he said.
Firefighters were forced to try to connect to city hydrants instead. The building was engulfed by fire within 40 minutes, Bagley said.
“It’s very very challenging,” Bagley told reporters. “You can imagine it’s a skyscraper laying on its side.”
The facility had been evacuated, and no one was injured. The massive warehouse was one of more than 50 distribution centers across the country for Med-
line, which according to its online catalog sells bandages, wheelchairs, catheters, hospital beds and many other medical supplies.
It is not clear what exactly was stored at the Tracy facility but the company said in a statement that the warehouse was mainly serving Northern California hospitals and that following the fire, it activated a contingency plan.
“Product distribution previously supported by the Tracy facility has been reassigned and it is in the process of being deployed to other facilities within our regional network to help maintain service and support customer needs,” Medline said.
Bagley said crews on Friday were trying to give drivers access to the property to remove trailers loaded with medical equipment that were not affected by the fire.
Embers from the blaze sparked two grass fires, and set pallets and multiple big rig trailers at a nearby FedEx facility ablaze. Firefighters were able to knock those fires down.
Crews overnight had to contend with new fires in trailers that were loaded with supplies
Bagley said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would help investigate the cause of the blaze, but authorities would probably not be able to get into the warehouse for at least a couple of more days. The sprinkler system had been tested in January by an outside company and no issues were found, Bagley said.
Fire officials were still working on Friday to gather additional information about inspections of the warehouse’s water systems, said Nicole Boswell, a spokesperson for the fire department. She said local fire officials also conduct annual inspections of businesses, including their water systems, but she did not know what the fire department found during their recent inspection of the warehouse.
The warehouse is in a massive industrial park that also houses fulfillment and distribution centers for Amazon, Home Depot and FedEx.
No homes were evacuated. Bagley recommended people near the fire stay indoors but said air quality tests had not raised any “grave concerns.”
The official said the 60-day period after both sides sign the deal would be used to work out technical details for removing Iran’s enriched uranium. The official did not detail who the U.S. envisions taking charge of removing the uranium, which is believed to entombed under three nuclear sites that were battered by U.S. strikes last year
Also critical is Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil and natural gas. Disruption of transit through the strait has crimped global energy supplies, driven up fuel prices and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
The U.S. official said the emerging agreement includes provisions for reopening the strait.
Araghchi said Iran wants a deal that allows Tehran to charge ships “for services rendered” when they transit the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has imposed a toll system during the war, which the U.S. and other nations say violates international law
Lawmakers pledge to help speed up disaster recovery in Puerto Rico
BY DÁNICA COTO Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers promised Puerto Ricans on Friday that they would try to speed up the island’s sluggish recovery from destructive hurricanes and earthquakes, a process that relies heavily on federal funds.
Mississippi Rep Bennie G. Thompson, ranking member of the House Committee of Homeland Security, said he and other legislators met with Puerto Rico mayors as part of a two-day trip to the U.S. territory and heard their concerns including delays in reimbursements and project approvals.
“We’ll move some of those concerns into corrective actions,” he said at a news conference. “The system should work better.”
Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, said the island’s mayors flagged
their concerns after former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem implemented a policy that DHS expenditures over $100,000 be personally approved by that office. The policy further delayed recovery efforts in Puerto Rico from hurricanes Maria and Fiona, and a series of strong quakes that struck in late 2019 and early 2020. In April, new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin rescinded the rule, but challenges remain.
Thompson noted that about a third of the workforce of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency “has been done away with.” He added: “Not a lot of people to answer the phones or look at the paperwork because they’re not there.”
Thompson said Mullin has promised that he’ll bring back employees, but it’s unclear when that might happen.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE PHOTO By STEPHEN LAM Smoke is seen from the massive fire at the Medline medical supply warehouse in Tracy, Calif., on Friday. The blaze broke out Thursday and embers sparked grass fires.
HONKAMAA
NATO weighs options for defense of Europe
U.S. announcement of withdrawal of troops spurs plans
BY LORNE COOK Associated Press
BRUSSELS NATO’s top military officer is weighing alternative plans to defend Europe should it come under attack from Russia, after the United States announced that it is cutting the number of aircraft and warships that it would provide in a security crisis.
The so-called NATO Force Model is Plan A for making forces from the 32 member nations available in times of peace, crisis or war It sets out the military assets that commanders can call on in phases over the first six months of any conflict.
But last month, the Pentagon warned its NATO allies that it would be scaling down its commitment to focus on potential threats elsewhere, notably from China in the Indo-Pacific region.
The reduction in available American military assets include an aircraft carrier strike group as well as a number of submarines, fighter jets, maritime patrol aircraft, air refueling planes and drones according to a NATO official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity However U.S. space capabilities that help
Officials:
with targeting would still be available.
European countries and Canada had waited impatiently for over a year for the Trump administration to detail its plans after it warned that Europe is no longer a top U.S. security priority They knew cuts were coming, but not how big, fast or what kind
U.S. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said that “the United States is still committed to providing limited but critical capabilities to the alliance.”
“We need to focus on things that we can acquire quickly, that we can field quickly and that we can scale rapidly and sustain over time, and that goes for long-range fires” as well as drones, Grynkewich said at the ILA Berlin Air Show on Thursday.
“Those sorts of things can help us mitigate the nearterm risk should we find ourselves needing to deter and defend,” he added U.S. calls on others
After allies met on June 2-3 to assess gaps left by the U.S. move, Grynkewich said that European allies and Canada should fill them by supplying manned and unmanned aircraft, and with naval vessels. It should happen “now and in the near term,” he said.
The NATO official said details are still being worked out on exactly when the U.S. assets are being reduced and when other NATO coun-
tries will step in to fill gaps.
German news outlet Die Welt earlier reported some details of the cuts.
Many of the military resources are in short supply in Europe, and it’s unclear where they might be found in a hurry Still Washington wants to know how its allies intend to backfill these assets by the time President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts meet for a summit in Turkey on July 7-8.
Cutbacks in Kosovo
On Friday, NATO military headquarters announced that it will cut back its security force in Kosovo by withdrawing some troops and equipment. KFOR began deploying in 1999 to keep the peace between Kosovo and Serbia.
Once composed of 50,000 personnel, KFOR has been routinely scaled back over the years as tensions eased, although 1,000 additional troops were deployed there in 2023, after fresh violence erupted.
“The current conditions provide an opportunity to optimize KFOR’s size and posture further,” Grynkewich said. His team declined to say what forces might leave and whether any Americans would go.
“It’s not about numbers, it’s about optimization, and about ensuring the safety and security of all people living in Kosovo, and more broadly the region,” his spokesman said.
Suspect in shooting had
fired at an officer earlier
Man was already sought by police
BY JEFFREY COLLINS and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press
A man who opened fire in the West Texas city of Midland in an attack Friday morning that left one person dead and 10 injured had shot at a police officer just days earlier during a chase, authorities said.
The suspect, 45-year-old Victor Mata Villarreal, already was being sought by authorities when he began firing at police and bystanders in Midland on Friday before barricading himself in an abandoned veterinary clinic, where he was eventually found dead, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Police have provided limited details about how the shooting unfolded. Police arrived in the area after receiving reports of an active shooter, and Mata Villarreal started firing at officers, said Midland Police Chief Greg Snow Several officers were pinned down behind their patrol cars and had to be rescued by an armored vehicle, Snow said, but no officers were shot.
Police then got everyone out of the area. “We moved to deny more targets for this active shooter,” Snow said
A few hours after the shooting began, authorities used robot and drone footage from inside the building to confirm the shooter was dead, Midland Mayor Lori
Blong. Police did not say how he died.
Mata Villarreal, of nearby Odessa, was wanted for attempted capital murder of a peace officer after firing multiple times at a Midland police officer on Wednesday, the state’s public safety agency said. The officer, who wasn’t injured, fired back after initially trying to pull over Mata Villarreal, who drove away investigators said. His vehicle was found empty a short distance away, they said. Police have not said why the officer tried to stop Mata Villarreal.
Friday’s standoff happened about a half-mile from where the shots were fired at the police officer
Wednesday
Police have not said why Mata Villarreal began shooting on Friday or provided any details about the victims, including who they were, how they were shot or the conditions of those still hospitalized.
Midland Memorial Hospital said four people who were brought there underwent surgery and that five had been treated and released. Calls to numbers listed for some relatives of Mata Villarreal in Texas went unanswered Friday or appeared to be lines that had been disconnected.
Mata Villarreal had several previous encounters with law enforcement, including some arrests, records show He was convicted on a 2009 charge of unlawfully carrying a firearm in San Angelo, according to Texas
Judge extends block on ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’
Hold on creation of $1.8B
settlement purse is indefinite
BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge agreed on Friday to extend indefinitely a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s creation and operation of a $1.8 billion settlement fund for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.
Earlier this month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund in the face of a fierce bipartisan backlash, and government attorneys have argued that lawsuits challenging the fund are now moot. But plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t satisfied by Blanche’s assurances that the fund won’t move forward.
Neither was U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled that the “AntiWeaponization Fund” will remain blocked until further notice from the court.
“The (government’s) mootness argument, in my view, doesn’t go anywhere,” the judge said.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly and unequivocally endorsed the fund’s cancellation. He has continued to express support for it in remarks to reporters.
Brinkema gave the parties a week to negotiate an agreement for Trump administration officials, including Blanche, to submit a sworn declaration that the administration won’t revive the fund.
Brinkema previously
agreed to temporarily block the administration from proceeding with the fund for at least two weeks. Her May 29 order was due to expire on Friday Trump’s Republican administration created the fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
Plaintiffs who sued to block fund payouts argue that the government can’t legally divert taxpayer money into what they argue is a slush fund for compensating Trump’s allies.
In a separate case on Wednesday, a different judge in Washington, D.C., rejected a government watchdog’s parallel request for a court order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from forging ahead with the fund. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he accepts Blanche’s representation that the fund is now moot.
Leon had asked Justice Department attorney Andrew Block why Blanche doesn’t formally rescind his May 18 order establishing the fund. Block said he didn’t know He still didn’t have an answer to that question when Brinkema posed it two days later.
“It’s a huge gap in the record that we don’t have an answer to that question,” said Brinkema, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Block said he couldn’t provide her with a “concrete answer” because he doesn’t have direct access to Blanche
“All I would be doing is speculating,” he told the judge.
In the Virginia case, attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward asked for an or-
der to temporarily suspend the fund’s implementation and stop the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest. Also named as plaintiffs are the government watchdog Common Cause; the city of New Haven, Connecticut; and the National Abortion Federation, an association of abortion providers. Even before the Trump administration said it was dropping the fund, the Justice Department did not form the five-member commission that would decide on payout criteria, so no money was paid out nor claims accepted.
Many of the Republican president’s allies are opposed to compensating rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. In May, however, Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Capitol rioters who engaged in violence could be eligible to apply for payments from the fund.
Trump issued mass pardons to Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House last year More than 1,500 people were charged in the Jan. 6 attack before Trump erased every case with his sweeping act of clemency. Democracy Forward attorney Pooja Boisture said reviving the fund would irreparably harm the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. A court order to block it wouldn’t harm the government if the administration is truly abandoning it, as Blanche testified, Boisture told the judge, who agreed with that argument.
criminal history records.
He was charged in 2003 and 2004 for unlawfully carrying a weapon and unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon, but both cases appear to have been dismissed as part of a plea. He also pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge in 2008 that was later dismissed.
As police responded to Friday’s shooting, dozens of squad cars and law enforcement vehicles descended along what’s normally a busy roadway lined with hotels and auto businesses a few miles west of Midland’s downtown.
Andrea Mendias said she heard what sounded like a small explosion at the closed veterinary clinic next to the auto body shop where she works and saw a number of heavily armed police officers rush into the parking lot. Some appeared to go inside the building.
Mendias said she earlier heard what sounded like at least 40 gunshots.
Video from Mendias showed officers pouring out of the back of an armored police vehicle and police deploying robots into the area.
The city with about 140,000 residents sits in the heart of the state’s oil and gas region and was near the site of a deadly shooting rampage in 2019.
In that shooting, a gunman who had been fired from his oil services job killed seven people and wounded two dozen others while firing at random as he drove around the Odessa and Midland areas. The two cities are more than 300 miles west of Dallas.
LEHTIKUVA PHOTO By MATIAS
F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters of the Finnish Air Force take off from a road strip during NATO’s Ramstein Flag 26 exercise in Tervo, Finland, on Wednesday.
SpaceX opened at $150 a share, then rose to around $168, before finishing the day just below $161. That price gave the company a market value of $2.1 trillion making it the sixth largest public U.S. company — larger even than its founder and CEO’s other big business, the electric vehicle maker Tesla.
Between his holdings in SpaceX and Tesla, where he is also CEO, Musk is now worth an estimated $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes. Why SpaceX is going public now Musk says SpaceX, founded in 2002, is going public now because it needs money to fund its ambitions of putting satellites and data centers in space and eventually establishing a colony of people on Mars.
He marked the opening of trading on Nasdaq by joining a ceremonial bell ringing from Starbase, the South Texas home of SpaceX.
He reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multiplanetary.”
“Not just a few astronauts, I mean literally you,” Musk said. “Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.”
Known for his technological breakthroughs, as well as wild claims and missed deadlines, Musk was able to whip up enthusiasm for the IPO. The typical company going public has seen a 7% jump in its first day of trading, from 1980 through 2025, according to Jay Ritter a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.
Institutional and retail investors alike jumped at the opportunity to buy a piece of the company at $135 per share before trading began.
The $75 billion in proceeds SpaceX raised easily topped the previous record IPO from oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2019.
In addition to establishing a one-
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Dickerson said she believes awareness of Safe Haven options could have changed the outcome.
“Both I and Louisiana Right to Life feel like if the teen had known about the Safe Haven Law, she would have realized that all she had to do was make a call,” Dickerson said. “Or leave the baby at one of the safe locations.”
The goal of placing flyers in bathrooms is to reach students in a moment of privacy, when they may be more likely to process sensitive information, she said.
The new requirement is drawing support from some Acadiana parents and child advocates, alongside questions about how effectively the flyers will reach students in crisis. The conversation has expanded beyond the intent of the law to how it may function in practice.
Sara Bennett, a Lafayette Parish parent of 12-year-old twin boys, said she supports making the information available even if it leads to difficult conversations at
million person Martian colony, the company has promised to save humanity by establishing other outposts in space launch data centers the size of football fields into orbit and outdo rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the race to make money from artificial intelligence.
To reach its goals, SpaceX needs billions more than it currently takes in from its rocket and satellite business. Between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, the company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., lost $8.7 billion
Pros and cons for investors
Betting on SpaceX is in many ways a bet on Musk himself. In an unusual arrangement that has drawn criticism from shareholder watchdogs, he holds 82% interest
in a special B class of shares, giving him sweeping power to control the company even though his ownership stake is about half that.
“There’s a lot of hype, but I see the faith that investors have in Musk,” said Yordys Coro, an IT support contractor in Miami as he watched his $14,000 investment in SpaceX shoot up to $17,000 in just a few hours. “I’m going to hold on.” Wall Street bankers that helped take SpaceX public are also enthusiastic about the company — and the big fees they will earn — but not everyone thinks the stock price is justified.
Analysts at research firm Morningstar, which doesn’t earn any investment banking fees, wrote that the IPO is “significantly overvalued.” Citing SpaceX’s unproven technology and massive capital
needs, they estimated the company is only worth $780 billion — less than half its IPO value.
SpaceX itself has hinted at the challenges, conceding in regulatory documents that some of its business plans rest on “unproven technologies.” It also indicated that another part of the company, its artificial intelligence business called xAI, has no clear path to profitability and is burning cash to catch up with rivals.
On a livestreamed conference Thursday with the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, one of the investment banks making big money off the IPO, Musk offered few details. He entertained the crowd with talk of “moon hotels,” a future Martian colony and a network of Earth-orbiting data centers powered by the sun. But when asked
about plans for his flagship chatbot offering Grok, he pivoted to talking about his satellites.
How Elon made his fortune
Still, Musk has pulled off the seemingly impossible before.
The now-trillionaire — on paper at least — made his initial fortune by creating two companies, Zip2 and PayPal, that netted him about $200 million at sale He used that money to start SpaceX and invest in Tesla, and defied the odds by creating a space company that figured out how to reuse rockets and a car company that made electric vehicles cool.
Musk has realized vast sums of wealth for himself, much of it in stock he has yet to cash in or grants for shares he’ll only receive if Tesla or SpaceX hit ambitious performance targets.
His recent pay package from Tesla was so large it even drew criticism from the Vatican. At Tesla, he’s worried shareholders by fighting with regulators or dividing his attention between multiple companies and last year by taking a role in the Trump administration.
But a rising stock price has cured all ills: Since it went public in 2010, Tesla has returned 20,000% for shareholders, or more than $1.2 trillion in investor wealth.
SpaceX is the first of three “megacap” companies expected to go public this year with Anthropic and OpenAI to follow Nasdaq even revised its rules to allow SpaceX to gain entry into funds tied to its indexes in 15 days, which means investors will end up buying the rocket maker’s shares much earlier Not all investors are thrilled about SpaceX potentially showing up in their holdings of index funds. Officials from pension funds for firefighters, teachers
home.
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need the Safe Haven Laws. We wouldn’t need them posted in the bathrooms,” Bennett said. “But the reality is, this isn’t a perfect world.”
Concerns have been raised about whether middle school is too young for such information, but Bennett said she thinks the flyers will likely prompt questions from students rather than directly influence behavior
“They’re going to go home, they’re going to ask questions,” she said. “So either way as parents, we stay ahead of it, and that’s the real way to combat the issue.”
The law comes even as teen pregnancy has declined significantly over the past two decades However, Louisiana continues to have among the highest teen birth rates in the country.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana’s teen birth rate was 21.3 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 in 2024, compared with a national rate of 12.7. Researchers have linked long-term declines to a combination of increased contraceptive use and changes in adolescent
sexual behavior
Dickerson said the law is intended as a crisis intervention tool, not a replacement for broader education or prevention efforts.
“This law doesn’t prevent premarital sex,” she said. “That starts at home with parental communication, faith, morality and convictions I am simply trying to help save a life.”
The Safe Haven Law flyers could appear in Louisiana middle and high school bathroom stalls by August, the effective date for HB476. Schools with bathrooms for students in sixth grade and below would not be required to display the flyer
Natalie Bunner, a Lafayette-based licensed clinical social worker and certified clinical trauma professional who works with children across school systems, said she questions whether bathroom flyers alone address the range of issues young people may face.
“I do support it, but I think if we’re going to talk about crisis, we also have to talk about what happens before crisis,” Bunner said.
She said adolescent pregnancy-related crises often involve factors beyond awareness, including
trauma, isolation and lack of trusted support systems.
From her clinical perspective, Bunner said schools should prioritize earlier intervention through trusted
adults, prevention education and emotional support systems that help students before they reach a point of crisis. “If one child sees it and
realizes there is another option, then that matters,” Bunner said. “But my question is, what else are we doing for the kids before they ever reach that point?”
remain operational through 2027 under current expenditures.
Grantham estimated thatwith the district’scurrent spending, the available general fundbalance will dip into negative territory by October
The $3.9 million deficit in the fund balance would be aviolation of state law if left unaddressed
“You can’tend the fiscal year with ageneralfund balance in the negative,” Grantham said. “What that means is there are no investments to cash in. There is no inventory to sell. There is nothing left.” Since the expiration of the emergency relief funds, the board has tried on three occasions to convince voters in the parish topass a property tax millage to help fund public schools. Each time it failed to win over amajority of voters, including last month when two ballot measures received only 33%and 35% approval rates.
St. Landryschools Superintendent Milton Batiste III hasnot attemptedtosugarcoat hisfrustration with the failure of parish voters to approvethe millages He said the repeated failures have left the district with fewoptions beyond deep cuts
“We’re committing educational genocide,” Batiste said. “This millage, it was absolutelyneeded. We tried three times and we made thesituation as clearaspossible Other parishes take the initiatives to give alittle more for education, but we failed to do so.” Grantham painted adire picture of where the district stands following the failure of the millages, expressing skepticismthat thefinancial situation could be resolved
“We’re 28 days before the fiscal year closes. We’re prettymuch lockedinnow,” Grantham told board members.
ATHLETICS
Continued from page1A
thousandsofdollars —and the advent of lucrative “name, image and likeness” deals between players and sponsors. Critics of the new system say those developments, coupled with the ability for athletesand coaches to switch schools as oftenas they want,have undermined collegesports.
Former football coach
Nick Saban —who wona college championship for LSU before going on to be itslongtime nemesis at Alabama —was astar witness at aSenate hearing on the issue earlier this month.
He warned that the changes have created aspending frenzy that favors wealthier schools fielding football and basketball teams at the expense of smaller colleges with tighter budgets and sports programs that generate little revenue butfill the ranks of America’sOlympians.
“Congress does need to fix the mess,” Saban said. The effort is down two competing bills.
The House has the SCORE Act —officially the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act, proposed by Scalise. SCORE is supported by the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Athletic Conference, though it hasn’tfound backing from enough House representatives to pass. Opposed by the SEC and Big Tenbut supported by other athletic conferences, the Senate is rallying around theProtectCollege Sports Act, or PCSA, sponsored by U.S. Sen. TedCruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, DWash. Thatbill includesa rule that would forbid football and basketball coaches from switching programs during the season, as Kiffin did to become LSU’snew football coach.
Trump last week praised Scalise’smeasure but endorsed the Cruz-Cantwell instrument.
He demanded the Senate and House reach an agreement and pass abill he can sign into law before the year ends. Anew Congress will be elected in November and take office in January.At that point work on all legislation will have to begin again.
The president has said he wants consistent guidelines on who is eligible to be a student-athlete and limits on
TheSt. LandryParish school system operates more than 30 schools and
address decliningenrollment.
“We’re committing educational genocide. This millage, it wasabsolutelyneeded. We tried three times andwemade the situation as clear as possible. Other parishes takethe initiatives to give alittle more for education, but we failed to do so.”
MILTON BATISTE III, St.LandryParish schools superintendent
Batiste and members of the board disagreed,however,thatno actions could be taken to resolve the district’sdire financial straits.
“I refuse to believethat there’s nothing we can do. Thevoters
how long they can compete at thecollege level. Healso wants to restrict athletes to one transfer to anotheruniversity Cruz contends courtrulings forced changes that are unsustainable.
“I get why coaches are frustrated. Theyhave to reset their rostereverysingle year,”Cruz said. “Everything that has happened hereinthe last five years in terms of not just players being allowedto be paid, but players being allowed to transfer freely, has been the result of an unfavorable court decision against the NCAA.”
Though approaching the issues differently, both bills wouldrelax antitrust laws to allow asingle governing body likethe NCAA, acting as amonopoly,toset rules for recruiting and handling college athletes that could be enforcednationally.That wouldshield universities frombeingsued in state courts on challenges to NCAA rules —lawsuitsthat have created astate-by-state mishmash of standards.
Both measures would allow players totakeNIL moneybut change how it is distributed aswellaslimit thenumberoftimes an athlete couldtransfer.Both bills provide healthcare coverage and scholarship protections for thestudentathletes.
Akey difference between thetwo revolvesaround classifying student-athletes as universityemployees, which would give them the right to unionize and bargain collectively as well as provide legal protectionsunder federal labor laws.
Scalise said keeping student-athletes off university payrolls was importantfor theuniversitiesand college athletic conferences.
“One thing that alot of schools and student-athletes told us is they don’twant to be forced into being employees of the school and then ultimately being unionized. And that’s one of the bigdifferences betweenthe
madeitclear,now it’suptothe 13 of us to find away to keep this system going,” saidcouncil member Joyce Haynes.
Batiste suggested that the board make immediate decisions on merging schools during afuture boardretreat scheduledfor Saturday
“If we can’tsurvive past October,we’ll have no choice but to close some schools fornext year.”
Boardmember Raymond Cassimere, however,expressed that asolution would likely not be reached during aone-day retreat.
“You can’tamend what you’ve already spent. We already spent allofthis. The most we can do is make aprojection for how we fix
thisnextyear,” Cassimeresaid.
“Ittakes alot of work. It’s not just haphazardly saying close X, Yand Z. Everything’sgoing to have to take acut, otherwise it causesa ripple effect.”
So far, no specificdiscussions have taken place regarding which schoolsmight face closure and how many students and employees might be affected.
The retreat, open to the public, is scheduledfor 1p.m.Saturday at the Supplementary Resource Center at 1013 Creswell Lanein Opelousas.
House andSenate bill that’s got to get fixed,” Scalise said on “The Clay Travis &Buck Sexton Show,” asyndicated conservative talk radio program But Cruz notesthe provision is oneofthe keyobjections to the SCORE bill out of the House. The Senate bill remainsneutralonthe question
Scalisesays the SEC and Big Ten, as the largest and richest college athletic conferences, need to be on board with the legislation. He was ready lastmonth to put theSCORE bill to avote by full theHouse.
Thenthe U.S.Supreme Courtruled in theCallais v. Louisiana voting rights case. That decisionallowed anumber of Republican-run states—mostly in theSEC —torush to redraw district mapsinaway that creates moreRepublican seats in the House by reconfiguring the districtswhose voters had favored Black Democrats
As part of their response to those moves the Congressional Black Caucus withdrew itssupportofSCORE, requiring Scalisetopostpone afloor vote.
The Black Caucus joined theNAACP’scall for Black athletes to avoid schools in states whose top officials have notspokenpublicly against gerrymandering congressional districts.
“Wecannot celebrate Black athletes on Saturday andstay silentonMonday when theirvotingrights arebeing stripped away,” saidU.S.Rep. Cleo Fields the Baton RougeDemocrat whose seat was at the center of the Callais decision.
“For generations Black athleteshave helped build college athletics into one of the mostpowerful and profitable industries in America,” he said. “Yet at the very samemoment the same communities many of these athletes callhome face coordinated attacks on their democraticrepresentation, too manyleadershave chosen silence. Institutions that
significantly profitfrom Black talenthave aresponsibility to stand with Black communitieswhentheir fundamental rightsare under attack.”
Notre DameAthletic Director Pete Bevacqua has arguedanother reason to quickly act on legislation,
saying having thousands of maleand female players “bounce around to three, fourschools” will hurtmany of them in the long run.
“You’re going to have a generation of student-athletes, thousands of cases that are finishing their college journeywithout acollege degree withmoney that is fleeting,” he said. “Sothat by the time they’re 25, they’ve torn through that money and its kind of a‘good luck with the rest of your life.’”
Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate. com.
STAFFPHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
After some early morning fog,expect amostly sunnytopartly cloudy, hot and humid dayall across SouthwestLouisiana. Temperatures thisafternoon will be right about where theyshould be,inthe upper 80s to low90s.Withthe high humidity we’re expecting,temperatures willfeel somewhere between 98 and 103. Likeyesterday, rainchanceswill be right around 20%,soisolated showers or astormare possible. TheUVIndex will remainatthe extremelevel,soprotect yourself from the sun.
AheadofG7, Canada’s Carney softenstonetowardTrump
Free-trade talkswith U.S.,Mexicoatstake
BY ROBGILLIES
Associated Press
PARIS Canadian PrimeMinister
Mark Carney has arrived in Europe for the upcoming G7 summit where he is expected to make a more muted criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump at acrucial time for talks to potentially renew afree-trade agreement between the two countries and Mexico.
Carney’sspeechatthe World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, became asymbol of middle-power resistanceinJanuary,when he declared the global rules-based order over and condemned coercionbygreat powers on smaller countries. But this summit comes as tensions have been ramping up betweenTrump and Canada.
Carney met Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, afew days before the summit in Evian-les-Bains,France.
He didn’t mention the U.S. directly but referenced artificial intelligence and said both Canada and France “are determined to act in this way to strengthen ourstrategic autonomy in aworld dominated by hegemonic powers and hyperscalers.” Macron said the two countries “share the same view of the world.”
The Group of Seven summit of industrialized democraciesthat begins Monday in France comes aheadofthe scheduled July 1review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. It is acrucial moment in trade talks for the latest iteration of the North American free-trade pact that has intertwined the economies of thethree countries since the early 1990s. Trump said this week that he may not renew the deal.
Preserving the accordiscritical for Canada, where 70% of exports go to the U.S. Canadian historian Robert Bothwell said Trump is more of aprob-
lemfor Carney “than anybody else because we are more exposed to the United States.”
Trump leaves for the G7 summit right after he hostsUFC fights at theWhite House on Sunday for his 80th birthday
Carney downplayed the notion that it could be six countries against one at the summit,saying there will be some issueswhere each country has more extreme views compared to others.
Thesummitcomes amid strain in theCanada-U.S. relationship— one of themostdurableand amicable alliances.
Trump’sactions, including launching atrade war andsuggesting Canada becomethe 51st U.S. state, have infuriated Canadians and created the political environment for Carneytowin the job of prime minister in 2025 after promising to confront Trump.
OntarioPremier DougFord, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, had areception with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington canceled Monday at thelast minute, although one of his ministers called it “a badge of honor.”
Trump said again thisweek that the U.S. doesn’tneed anything that Canada has. Carney hasset agoal for Canada to double itsnon-U.S exports in the next decade, saying Trump’stradewar is causing achill in investment.
On Thursday,the opening of a major Canadian bridge acrossthe
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Canada’sPrime Minister Mark Carney shake handsatthe Palais de l’Elysee in Paris, on Friday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By
DetroitRiverthatTrump previously threatened to block was delayed due to unresolved issues.
Trump administration officials keep noting that only two countries,China and Canada, retaliated againstAmerica in thetrade war U.S.
TradeRepresentativeJamieson Greer saysCanada’sretaliatorymeasures are amajor issue in talks.
Daniel Béland, apolitical science professor at McGill Universityin Montreal, said Carney seems to have moderated his tonetoward theTrumpadministration to avoid worsening relations.
“Thereisaclear tensionbetween what Prime Minister Carney said in his Davos speech about middle powers standing up to hegemons andhis attempttonudge theU.S. administration‘in the right direction’ with regard to the USMCA review and trade policy moregenerally,” Bélandsaid.
Carney has downplayed Trump’s mostrecent comments about Canada becoming the51st state. Canadaand Mexicowantthe USMCA to be renewed for another 16 years. Morelikely it will be subject to annual reviews for the next 10 years. Carney will also travel to Ireland this weekend to meet with theIrish prime ministerinabid to diversify trade away from the U.S.
This is Carney’sninth trip to Europe in the15months sincehe became prime minister in March 2025.
NEW YORK The Treasury Department moved Fridaytoenlist thenation’sbanks moredeeply in President Donald Trump’simmigration crackdown,including issuing fresh guidance that lets banks rapidly shareinformation about suspected customers and an advisory steering them to flag signs that one of their customers maylacklegal immigration status.
Thesechanges are part of the administration’s push to remove undocumented workers from the nation’sbanking systemwithout explicitly mandating that banks do so. In order to get banks to participate, the administration hasframed these actions as a crackdown on fraud and crime, not explicitly about immigration.
“The information in your purview can help stop acartel financier,disrupt amoney laundering network,uncover labor exploitation,orprotect taxpayers from fraud,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentsaid in prepared remarksatabanking conference in Houston.
Bessent’s remarksand the Treasury Department’snew guidelines come froman executive order signed in May by Trump thatrequires banks to take acloser look at the citizenship of their customers as well as directs bank regulators and government departments to look forsigns that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtainingloans or credit cards. Butthatexecutive order did notinclude an explicit mandate that banks collect citizenship information,which the industry formonthslobbied against.
Banks have long been able to shareinformationabout their customers with otherbanks under thePatriot Act program when they suspect money laundering or fraud, part of the post9/11 effort to combat terrorism
Friday’sactions widenedthat system on two fronts. Banks can now share such information with one another in real timeand more freely, the Treasury Department said.
Secondly,the Trump Administration is giving banks awider variety of reasons to share information, which now include flags historically tied to immigration status. One example is acustomer having an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), which are disproportionally used by undocumentedimmigrants when applying forwork.
Bessent told bankers that the newguidanceissimply part of what the banking system needs to do as part of their routine operations.
“The advisory does not ask banks to become immigration officers,” Bessent said. “Itasks banks to do what they do best: knowtheir customers,identify risk,recognize suspicious patterns, and report illicit activity when they see it.”
Bankers have been wary aboutsharing customer information withthe federal government as part of immigration enforcement. Bankers never collected citizenship information on theircustomers, so any effort to do so would require a massive effort by banks andsignificantamounts of paperwork There’salso the fact that banks send millions of what are known as Suspicious Activity Reports to thefederal bank regulators under the Bank Secrecy Act. Last week, the Treasury Department expanded the reasons why abankmightfile aSAR to include potential undocumented workers.
“The administration is saying they don’twantbankstobeimmigration officials, but theyare trying to getasclose to theline as possible,” said Nicholas Anthony, who focusesonbank regulation issuesatthe libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.
PHOTO
EMMA DA SILVA
Earlyvotingbeginsfor June 27 election
Ballot hascandidatesfor U.S. Senate race ELECTION 2026
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
Early voting began Friday in the June 27 election to decide the U.S. Senate candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties whowill face off this fall
On the ballot are two candidates for the Republican Partyand two candidates forthe Democratic Party. Because Louisiana is now aclosed
Ashanti brings herR&B classics to Marksville
HerloveofCajun flavorscomes from family,she says
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
As Grammy-winningR&B singer Ashanti prepares for aperformance in Marksville, she said she is already getting ataste of Louisiana after recently making oneofthe state’ssignature dishes at home Ashanti will headline the All White Summer Jam at Paragon Casino Resort on Saturday alongside supporting act Shai, bringing asetlist that leans into her early 2000s catalog.
Ahead of the show,the singer said she prepared both avegan gumbo and aseafood version, noting the recipecamethroughfamilyties to New Orleans.
“Weput almost everything. Just no fish, no crawfish, no shrimp,” she said of the vegan version. “I actually did areally goodjob with both.” Ashantialsosaid she has developed an appreciation for Louisiana cuisine over the years, particularly Cajun flavors, and said Cajun shrimp and grits has been one of her favorites. The conversationaround Louisiana food came as Ashantireflected on whatshe enjoys mostabout returning to regional markets andconnecting with audiences outside major cities.
“I think the love and support here is amazing,” Ashanti said in an interview.“Not everyone comes to these markets, so Iappreciate the support so, so much.”
Beyond music and food, the singer,whose catalog consists of hits like “Foolish” and “Rock wit U”, said one of the most rewarding parts of performing todayisseeingmultiplegenerations continue to connect with her music.
“I’vehad audiences whereit’sa mom and her 15-year-old, and she wasn’teven born when thesong came out, but she knows every word because her mom played it growing up. Music is universal.” Tickets can be purchased online for Saturday’sAll White Summer Jam at Paragon Casino Resort, which range from $85to$125 depending on seating.Doors open at 7p.m.
performs during Essence Fest in 2018 at the Superdome in NewOrleans. The Grammy-winning R&B singer headlines the All White Summer Jam at Paragon Casino ResortinMarksvilleonSaturday.
primarystate,votersregisteredas Republican are limited to voting only for one of theRepublican candidates. Voters registered as Democrat can only vote for aDemocrat candidate.
Nearly one-thirdofLafayette Parish’sregistered voters are listed at no party. If ano-partyvoter selectedone of the two parties to vote in for the May election, theyare committed in the June 27 election to voting in thatsame
party’srace, Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret said Thursday That does not change your party,he said. “Ifyou didn’tshow up for the first election and youchoose to not select either Republican or Democratic ballot” in theJune 27 election, Perret said, “then you can’tvote in this election.”
Early voting is from8:30 a.m. to 6p.m. from June 12-20, except for Sunday, June 14, and Friday,June 19, which is Juneteenth, alegal state holiday in Louisiana.
Locations where Lafayette Parish can cast early votes include the Lafayette Parish Registrar of Voters Office,1010Lafayette St., Suite 313; the Martin Luther King Center, 309 Cora St., Lafayette; East Regional Library, 215 La Neuville Road, Youngsville. The top vote-getters in each party from the June 27 election will face off in the Nov. 3general election.
Candidates on the Lafayette Parish ballot for U.S. Senate:
Democratic Party n GaryCrockett n “Jamie” Davis
Republican Party n John Fleming n Julia Letlow
ABOVE: ACane Cutters player is safeat home plate during the Acadiana Cane Cutters vs. Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators baseball game at Fabacher Field on Thursday
RIGHT: The Cane Cutters’ third baseman, Ethan Espiricueta, objects to acall from the umpire during the game onThursday
PHOTOSByROBINMAy
ä See complete coverageofthe Cane Cutters game PAGE 4C
CHANGE OF BASE
Police:Man secretly gave daughter abortion medication
ACarencro man has been arrested on felony charges after investigators alleged he gave abortion-inducing medicationtohis pregnant teenagedaughterwithouther knowledge,according to theCarencro Police Department. Jamelle Kelly,39, of Carencro, was charged withattempted first-degree feticideand domestic abuse battery of apregnant victim. The investigation began in late May after authorities received informationabout an alleged attemptedfirst-degree feticide and domestic abuse battery involving apregnant victim.
Detectives said Kelly allegedly gave his daughter medication intended to terminateher pregnancy without her knowledge. The victim was 17 years old at the time she became pregnant and when she allegedly received the medication. According to police, the teen later became ill and was hospitalized, where sheunderwent an emergency cesarean section. The infant was born at 23 weeks of gestation and weighed about 1pound.
As of June 12, the child remained hospitalized and is expected to remain under medical care for an extended period, police said.
Nevada man accused of child exploitation
ANevada manwas accused by police of victimizing an Acadiana child online, including trying to get the victim to die by suicide. Christian Jonathan Carnes, 22, of LasVegas, was tracked down and arrested by agents with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’sBureau of Investigation with assistance from the Las Vegas Metropolitan PoliceDepartment andthe Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The investigationbegan with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Carnes was arrested in Nevada and booked into the Clark County
Detention Center.Hewas transported to the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on Thursday Carnes was charged with: n Indecentbehaviorwith juveniles, 3counts n Criminal assistance to suicide, 1count n Computer-aided solicitation of aminor,2counts n Extortion (felony), one count. Thechild didnot attemptsuicide but was being enticed to do so, theAttorneyGeneral’s Office said in anews release. Carnes is believedtohavevictims throughout the United States. He is being held on a$135,000 bail.
See BLOTTER, page 2B
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SCOTT THRELKELD
Momof2-year-oldfound in suitcase gets 14 years
Shepunched girl in stomach, officialssay
BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer
The mother of amurdered 2-year-old girl, whose body was found inside asuitcase buried in a shallow grave in Mississippi, was sentencedto14yearsinprison Thursday for her roleinthe child’s death. Lanaya Brittany Cardwell, 28, was convicted in February of second-degree crueltytojuveniles. Phillip Kegan Gardner,her then live-in fiancé,was convicted in October of second-degreemurder and obstruction of justice in the deathofNevaeh LiylaAllen. While not convictedofmurder,Cardwell was found guilty of physically abusing the 2-year-old in September 2021, causing internal bleeding. Gardner was alone in the apartment with Nevaeh and two ofher siblings for hours after the alleged beating,thenfound thetoddler unconscious, pale in the face and
without apulse. Instead of calling 911orseekingmedical attention when she remained unresponsive, Gardner put Nevaeh’sbodyinto a suitcase,stuffed it in hiscar and racedto a remote patchofwoods across theMississippi state line in Hancock County,northeast of New Orleans.
The FBI oversaw the search, and hundreds of officers from several law enforcement agencies scoured southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi for two days before findingthe toddler’sbody Gardner eventually confessed to hisrole in thechild’sdisappearance and burial. District Judge Fred Crifasi sentenced him to a mandatory life sentenceinOctober. Kim Holmes, the grandmother of Nevaeh, said Cardwellshouldhave received the same life sentence that Gardnergot forfailingtokeep the 2-year-old safe. Holmes’ son, Marcus Allen, is Nevaeh’sfather “Theybothwere responsible for the care of Nevaeh Allen,achild that deserved to be here right now.Thatcan’tbehere because of two parents thatwereselfish, that
took away her right, took away my rights, took away my grandchildren’sright to live as children and have anormallife,”she said outside court Thursday.“There’sno normal life for us now,because we have to live thinking about Nevaeh and what could have been.”
Holmes saidshe wanted the record to show that herson wasa good father For her charge, Cardwell faced amaximum of 20 yearsinprison. East Baton Rouge DistrictAttorney Hillar Moore said Cardwell hadbeenoffered apleadealearlier,but rejected it,forcing the toddler’sfamily to suffer asecond trial over Nevaeh’smurder
Boredinjail
The severity of Cardwell’ssentencerested on multiple factors, including whether or not Crifasi believedshe expressedadequate remorse forher role in her toddler’sdeath.
In the sentencing hearing, prosecutors presentedaminute-long recording of Cardwellona jail videocall withafriend or family member,flippantly discussing her
future hearings andpossiblerelease.
In it, Cardwell can be heard sayingshe is boredofjailand discussed acelebration forher eventual return, asking to have abottle of wine waiting forher
As the call concludes, she can be seen singing and dancing along with theother woman on the call.
The state rested itscase after playing the short video.
Cardwellwillreceive credit for timeserved, meaning she willbe releasedinapproximately 10 years
“I think thejudge was extremely thorough and fair;14years was appropriate,” Mooresaid, adding that Cardwell never showed any remorse. “This is thesentence that she’searned, and she deserved, and this is one that affected that family,asyou can tell, but also affected the entire community for years. And Iremember some vividly on theweekend when the baby was missing, and we weredesperately trying to find the child, hopefullyalive.Unfortunately, found her dead in Mississippi in asuitcase, and then it led to this spot.” Cardwell wasconvicted of
punching the 2-year-old in the stomach the morning of the girl’s disappearance, out of anger that the girl had supposedly rippeda contact lens of hers. Cardwell then leftfor work.
“She is guilty of second-degree crueltyevenifyou believe she went to work having no idea how severely she had harmed Nevaeh that morning,” Assistant District Attorney Laura Tracy told jurors during her closing arguments in the February trial.
Gardner was the first to implicate Cardwell by mentioning the punchtoauthorities, and his attorneys sought to place the girl’s death on Cardwell’sshoulders during his trial.
The forensic pathologist who conducted Nevaeh’sautopsy testified that the injuries caused internalbleeding, ripping the girl’s small intestine.
However,the causeofdeath wasattributed to 12 distincthead wounds Nevaeh sufferedshortly before herdeath, notthe body blow. Email Quinn Coffmanatquinn. coffman@theadvocate.com.
Hyundaisteel mill in Ascensionagreestoreduceemissions
Changes to airpermit applicationsubmitted aftercriticism
BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer
Following months of criticism fromenvironmental groups, Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana Steel has submitted significant changes to its air permit application for a planned $5.8 billion facility in As-
censionParish,reducingpredicted greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions
In the permit revision submitted May 27, Hyundai proposed replacing nine natural gas industrial heaters with electric heaters and adding two additional selective catalytic reduction systems designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions
Accordingtoenvironmental advocates reviewing the application, the shiftfromgas-toelectric-powered heaters will reducegreen-
house gas emissions by roughly 22,000 tons per year and cut smogformingnitrogenoxide by 500 tons per year
The revisionsfollow months of pressure from environmental organizations and community groups, urging Hyundai to consider thefacility’spotential impact on environmental quality and public health.
In March, acoalition including United Steelworkers District 13, NAACP Louisiana StateConference and environmental group the
Bail setfor 5suspectsin2014
NewOrleans mass shooting
Events in nightclub incident reconstructed, police say
BY MISSY WILKINSON Staff writer
Years after adozen people were shot —one fatally outside the RepublicNOLA nightclub,New Orleans police have arrested five suspects and reconstructed events surroundingthe mass shooting.
Investigators saythe crime unfolded in three acts across New Orleans on the night of April 14, 2014: An organized meetup in Central City whereastolen rental car changed hands; a mass shooting at the French Quarter Fest after-party in the 800 block of South Peters Street; and the torching of the stolen vehicle at aVillagedeL’Estintersection.
Michael Anthony Clavo III, Dandrick Montero
BLOTTER
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Man arrested on drug charge
Lafayettepolice are investigating ashooting Thursday night that left one personhospitalized and led to the arrest of the driver who transported thevictim to thehospital on unrelated charges.
Officers responded about 8:27 p.m. to the 2400 block of West Congress Street after receivingreports of ashooting in progress, according to the Lafayette Police Department.
While en route, officers learnedthe victim was being transported to alocal hospital in aprivate vehicleafter suffering anonlife-threatening gunshot wound.
When officers arrived at the hospital, they located the victim inside the vehicle.Medical personnel transported the victim in-
Green and Brian Rashad Webb were each booked on acountofsecond-degree murderand 11countsof second-degree aggravated battery.Corey Hassan Dentrell Patton and Jeremy JamalWilliamswereeach booked with one count of criminal conspiracy to commitsecond-degree murder and 11 counts of conspiracy to commitaggravatedsecond-degree battery
All are held in Orleans Justice Centeron bails rangingfrom $650,000 to $1.1million, depending on the severity of their alleged offenses.
Police believe Patton boughtastolen Toyota Camry for $300 on theday of the homicide.Thatnight in the 2300 block of Josephine Street, Patton allegedly participated in the transfer of that vehicle from athird party to Webb and the other perpetrators. There, the parties appeared toinspect the vehicle,attemptedto remove its license plates and wiped down the interiors,
side for treatment.
Police said officersobserveda large quantityof suspectednarcotics inside the vehicle anddetained thedriver, identifiedas 18-year-old BrandaleComeaux.
Comeauxwas later booked on outstanding warrants andone countof possession of aSchedule I controlled dangeroussubstance with intent to distribute Investigatorsestablished crimescenes at both thehospital andthe original shootinglocation The investigation remains ongoing.
Sheriff: Man accused of abusing teens
AVille Platte man has been arrested following an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving teenagers in the Redell community, accordingtothe Evangeline Parish Sheriff’sOffice. Anthony Rougeau, 40, of Ville Platte, was charged
according to an affidavit supporting Patton’s arrest.
“We’re looking at someone who… suppliesthe primary shooter with a getaway vehicle,” assistant districtattorney Gabriel Balasquide said at Patton’s bail-setting on Wednesday “But for Mr.Patton’sactions, the shooting may not have happened.”
Cladinblack,the alleged perpetrators enteredthe stolen Camry.Webballegedly followed in aBMW Both vehicles circled Republic moments before gunfire rang outfrom the Camry’sfront seat, killing 24-year-old Jezreel Aquilla Poleate and wounding six women and five men
Police found the Camry’s burned husk, itsashes still hot,at5 a.m. on aMichoud Boulevard corridor.The Enterprise rental vehicle was equippedwith atracking device that, along with cellphone records andProject NOLA surveillance footage, helped investigators unravel the conspiracy
with indecent behavior withjuveniles and contributing to the delinquency of juveniles. His bail wasset at $150,000.
Theinvestigation began May28after detectives with theSheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Divisionreceiveda report of alleged sexual abuse, authorities said.
Through interviews and other investigative efforts, detectives determined that Rougeau allegedly provided alcoholic beverages to multiple teenagers and engaged in inappropriate conductwith at least one victim, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
LOTTERY THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2026
PICK 3: 5-3-5
Sierra Clubsent aletter to Hyundai President José Muñoz seeking the creationofacommunity benefit agreement. At theend of May, representatives with the coalition went to Hyundaioffices in Gonzales with alistofdemands and additional comments on what they wanted thecompany to do.
“These changes signalthat Hyundai is hearing our calls for them to do better,and that opportunities remain to push the company to stepup,” Sierra Club senior at-
torneyAndrea Issodsaidinastatement. “While switching to electric heaters is astep in the right direction, and we applaud the significant reduction in smog-forming and particulateemissions,the company’sair permitapplication still raisesred flags that must be fixed before this project can proceed. “Hyundai must adopt cleaner technologies to protect local communitiesand plant workers from harmfulpollution.” The company could not be reached forcomment.
PeggyMartintodiscuss namesake rose Eventtobeheld in BatonRouge at theMainLibrary
Staff report
The Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation will host afreegardendiscoveries event entitled “Survival of thePeggy Martin Rose” at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Main Library at Goodwood. Peggy Martin, thenamesake of therose, will share her journey tracing the rose’sorigins andher passion for preserving heritage roses. Weather permitting, the programwill conclude with aguidedtour of the nearby Baton Rouge Botanic Gardens RoseGarden.
Martin spent decades nurturinga garden full of antique rosesinPlaquemines Parish. Butwhen the levees broke from HurricaneKatrinain2005, her land sat under20feet of salt water Everything was lost. When the water receded, it looked like nothing was left. That’swhen Martinsaw a single climbing rose with freshgreen shoots. That
BUSINESS
BRIEFS
FROM STAFFAND WIRE REPORTS
U.S. stocks rise after oil prices ease again
NEW YORK U.S. stocksrose Friday after oil prices fell again, and SpaceXsoared in its highly anticipated debut on Wall Street.
Stocks got alift from a3.4% drop for the price of Brent crudeoil to $87.33 perbarrel, deepening its loss for the week. Oil prices have come down sincePresident Donald Trump on Thursday called off his threat to launch strikes on Iran and said apotential deal with Iran may be imminent.
Adeal to end the war could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allowoil tankerstoonceagain deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. Itsnearclosure since thewar began has sent the price of Brent up fromroughly $70 per barrel and caused awave of painful inflation for the world.
Adobe dropped 6.8% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Itsstockhas lost nearly 42%sofar this year,and it announced its chief financial officer is leaving the company on Monday. Adobe is already lookingfor aCEO to replace Shantanu Narayen, who announced in March that he is stepping aside after 18 yearsasAdobe’s leader Iran war straining African airlines
NAIROBI,Kenya— The war in Iran is driving up jet fuel prices and worsening supply strains for African airlines,forcing carriers to review routes and raising fresh concerns about thestability of the continent’saviation network.
The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) says the crisis hasexposed its heavy dependenceonimportedrefined jet fuel, leaving airlines vulnerable to global shocks.
African carriers were already paying about 17% more for jet fuel than the global average before the Iran war,accordingtoAFRAA. Thenew price pressures areadding to alreadythin margins across the sector
“The impact is dire and amajor shock for our members,” AFRAA Secretary-General Abderahmane Berthe told The Associated Press. “Fuel represents between 30% and 40% of airlines’ operating costs.Any increase directly affects their balance sheets.”
Japan’sH3rocket debuts low-cost variant
TOKYO— Japan’sH3rocket returned to flight Friday with the debut of anew low-cost variant, abadly needed successfor the country’snew flagshiprocket thathas struggled with mission failures whilefacing an increasingly competitive space industry
The H3 rocket took off from the Tanegashima Space Center on asouthwestern Japanese island Friday morning and its second stage successfully reached atargeted orbit, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency saidduring itslivestreaming.
Six small satellites developed by universities and other organizations carried by the vehicle also were believed to be successfully separated, JAXAsaid. Friday’s mission marked the debut for the H3’snew “30 configuration” equippedwith triple liquid-fuel LE-9 engines and no rocket boosters, which is intended to be alow-cost version making the series more competitive. Thevariantisone of three designed to accommodate awide rangeofcustomer needs.
The sixth successful launch comes aftertwo failures for the new modelthat replaced the mainstayH-2A, which had anear-perfect success record.
The H3 rocket is designedto be more cost effective in the global space market dominated by Elon Musk’sSpaceX. Japan sees astable, commercially competitive transport capability as key to its space program and national security
LayoffsexpectedduringXboxreset
voted to amajor overhaul —ora reset,toborrow gaming parlance.
BY ALEXHALVERSON
The Seattle Times (TNS)
Microsoft’sXboxdivision is reportedly planning layoffs as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma plans a “reset”for the beleaguered gamingbusiness.
Bloomberg,citing anonymous sources, first reported Wednesday that Xbox was planning “major job cuts” within the division in early Julyafter Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30.The sameday, Sharma and Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Bootysaidinamemo to employeesthatafter theirfirst 100 daysonthe job reviving Xbox, the next 100dayswould be de-
After touting therecent successes of Xbox —Microsoft has been hard at worktoreverse the decline in subscribers to its Game Passservice —Sharmaand Booty laid outthe realitiesthe gaming business needs to navigate.
Microsoft has poured billions of dollars intoits gaming division over the past five years, even excluding the $69 billion purchase of ActivisionBlizzard. The memo said investments in Xbox have surpassed$20 billion since 2021. At thesame time, thedivision’s annual revenue hasdeclined by nearly $500 million.
“Going forward, this cannot continue,” thememo said.
crosoft’scloud computing sales, Xbox is facing ahardware component crisis. The cost of storage components forgaming hardware hasquadrupledsincelastfalland Microsoft expects another significant increase heading into 2026 holiday shopping season. As AI demandincreases, companies have been spending moreon specialized hardware. That coupledwith AI’sextraordinary need for memory is leading to higher costs.
For consumers that means demandisoutpacing supplyfor Xbox consoles. Because of this, Xbox needs anew business model forits next-generationconsole code-named Helix, according to the memo
“Our current platform infrastructure is not built forthe battle
ahead
We’vebecome too reliant on vendors to operate our systems and must becomemore self-reliant as an engineering culture to build forthe future,” the memo said. The memo fromSharma and Bootydid notoutline jobcuts or other cost-cutting measures. But it didpaint aneed foraradical change in Microsoft’sgaming division, as the new leadership believes they have been “impacted more greatlythanmanyofour peers due to thechoices we made over the last half decade,” when it comes to the hardware-component crisis. While Microsofthas not had companywide layoffs this year thecompanylet go of 15,000 employees last year —somedivisions within thetech giant have recently madesizable cuts.
BY ANDREARODRÍGUEZ Associated Press
HAVANA Cuban PresidentMiguelDíaz-Canel
on Fridayannounced apackage of economic reforms aimed at attracting investment, expanding participation by Cubans living abroad in the economy anddecentralizingpartsofthe country’sadministration.
The president didnot providedetails about themeasuresoratimetable fortheir implementation but said during remarks to state mediathatitisnow “time to change” andthat thecountry“simply cannotcontinue on its current course.”
“Every opportunity in the midst of acrisis must be seized as amomentfor takeoff, as a moment for growth,” Díaz-Canel said, according toa statement from the presidency that wasrepublished by state-run media. “Wehave established agroup of priorities to confront thissituation,” he addedwithout offeringspecifics.
The announcement comes as Cubans have struggled withfuel shortagesasa result of the U.S. oil blockade and food insecurity.InJanuary, theUnited States tightened restrictions on Cuba’soil supplies in an efforttopressure the island’sgovernment to change itspolitical andeconomic model, exacerbating challenges that have persistedfor about five years.
TheU.S. State Department did notimmediately respond to arequest for comment.
Díaz-Canel said officials are evaluating measuresrelated to foreigntrade,exports, supply chains and logistics. Without elaborating, he suggested the government could eliminate mandatory state intermediaries in import and export operationsand granttariff benefits to those who bring raw materials into the country for production
“The numbers don’tadd up, and the government wantstomakethis look like amatter of will rather than amath problem,” Cubaneconomist Pedro Monreal wrote on X, in response to Díaz-Canel’s proposals
BY NILESH CHRISTOPHER Los Angeles Times (TNS)
As the use of artificial intelligence spreads across companies worldwide, it is relieving workers of tedious oldchores but creating newones.
Anew survey of individuals using AI found it made them more productive, saving each roughly 11 hoursper week.But at the same time,the workersonaverage have to spend morethansix hours“botsitting,” checking the AI output, fixing mistakes and rerunning the prompt.
“Most people don’trealizethe amount of time that they’re spending working on the tools to get the time savings that they’reprofessing,” said Paul Leonardi, Duca Family professor of technology management at UC SantaBarbara Leonardi is one of theco-authors of thenew studypublished by the Work AI Institute,whose contributors include academics from Stanford University and UC Berkeley Theinstitute is sponsored by AI company Glean. Leonardisaid its research output maps broad trends
The Spain-based former UNESCO official went on to criticize the collapseofacentralizedplanning model, for which he said“there are two respectable alternatives: assume the political priceoffailure, or self-critically rectify and drastically transform the model.”
For decades, Cuba maintained acentralized, vertical systemunder strict state control. This structurebegan to shift gradually over thelast decadewhenthe government introduced permits forindependent workers. More recently, the state authorized the operation of the country’sfirst small- and medium-sized private enterprises.
EarlierFriday,a ship carrying nearly 100 tons of food and essential goods arrivedfrom Colombia as part of the humanitarian aid that several countries have sent to Cuba in recent months as aU.S.energy embargopersists.
Theship, which departedCartagena in early June,crossed the Havana Bay channel early in the morning flying the Colombian flagand escorted by asmall Cubanauxiliaryvessel,
in understanding AI’simpact on work.
The research surveyed 6,000 digital workers across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia between December and January.
Thereportfound that we arein aphase of significant personal productivity gains, but few companies are translatingthese gainsinto revenue and business growth.
While 75% of individuals reported aboost in productivity,only13% of theorganizations say they have seen significant business gains as aresult of AI adoption,the survey found.
Thesurveyanalyzedanonymized,aggregated workplace data from companies using the Glean Work AI platform, aprivate search tool used to manage their internal information. Overthe past six months,Silicon Valley companies have been urging their employees to max out their AI use.But thebenefits of merely maximizing AI usage have been unclear, withinstances such as Uber burning through theirentire2026 AI budget in four months,without
TheAssociated Press confirmed.
TheColombian Presidential Agency forInternational Cooperation said that, on orders of President Gustavo Petro, the shipment included nonperishable food,medicine,hospital supplies,electrical materials, solarpanels and other items.
The ship also carried seven tons of goods collected by solidarity groups.
Last weekend, another ship carrying 1,700 tons of essential goods from Mexico and Belize arrived in Havana.
In late January,U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The movehas deepenedapreexisting crisis causedbyU.S sanctions. Washington is pressing the Cuban government to release political prisoners and move toward political andeconomic liberalization in return fora lifting of sanctions.
Cuba produces only 40% of its oil, leaving the island semiparalyzed and subjected to severe power outages.
shipping ausable feature.
Thereasonthe boostinproductivity sometimes leadstowaste, Leonardi said, is the time people spendcorrecting the bot’swork and gathering the right files, documentation, and tacitknowledge required for it to produce highqualityoutput.
“It’spretty striking the amount of timeand effort people are spending,” Leonardi said.
Most employees nowspend over sixhours aweek of theirworkday babysitting their work chatbots, the survey said.
There is a“thick, mostly invisible layer of human laborholding the whole thing together,” the report said.
The survey found that for every hour aworker spends getting useful outputfromAI, they spend roughly anotherhour making it usable.
Of thetotal time workers spend interacting with AI each week, 37% goes to botsitting, 36% to actually using the tool to produce work.
Partofthe reason so muchtime disappears into botsitting is how often the tools fall short: Workers
report that morethan athird of AI sessionsfailoutright,requiring afullrestart or substantial rework.
Paradoxically,asmore workers hand over biggerparts of theirjobs to AI,theyare offloading personal judgment and responsibilities to the bots. The survey found 41% of workers say they sometimes deliver AI-generated worktheycouldn’t explain if asked.
The report highlightedanexample of ajuniorsoftware engineer, Robin, who pasted thousands of linesofAI-generated code before going to bed. But something in there wasbroken,whicha senior engineer already behind on adeadlinehad to untangle,while Robin struggled to explain.
“I think what’shappening witha lot of these GenAItools right now is we’re essentially expecting individual contributors to act as managers,” Leonardi said. “They’re just managing theseAItools,AIagents, andwe’reexpecting thatthey’ll be able to produce way more, but we’re nottaking into account all of theworkthatactually goes into managing.”
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByRAMON ESPINOSA
A fisherman prepares his fishing rod in frontofthe ColombianNavyship ARC Caribe, docked at apier in Havana, Cuba,after arriving with humanitarian aidonFriday
OPINION
ANOTHERVIEW
CanDemocrats recapture U.S. Housein November?
Most election watchers expect Democrats to wrest controlofthe U.S. House from RepublicansinNovember. Some already take this outcome forgranted. They point to economic discontent, theIran war and Donald Trump’sweak poll numbers as evidence thata Democratic takeover islikely They may be right.But whileDemocrats haveearly momentum,the battle for the House is still to be won.
Ron Faucheux
Adistrict-by-district examination of all 435 House races shows that theDemocraticgainsmany expecthave yetto jell. Redistricting in some places further complicates the picture. This means the outcomewill likely depend on howindividualcampaigns in swing districts unfold and which party’sturnout efforts prove most effective. Ausefulway to assess theelection is through House ratings compiled by election handicappers. Averaging theratings produced byThe Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Larry Sabato’sCrystalBall shows Republicans with aclear lead in 204districts and Democrats withaclear lead in 193. That leaves 38 competitive seats in play Democrats have more groundtocover,but they have plenty of ways to do it. Still, they’ve yet to do it. America’sFounders envisioned the House of Representatives as “the people’s house,” with shorttwo-year terms designed to keep lawmakers closely tied to public sentiment. As such, midterm elections often become a referendum on the sitting president. Since John F. Kennedy entered the White House, the president’sparty has lost an averageof28Houseseats in midtermelections.The worst drubbing came during Barack Obama’s first midterm, when Democrats lost63 seats.The next-largest defeat was the54seats Democrats lost during Bill Clinton’sfirst term. Republicans have also suffered majorsetbacks, losing 48 seatsinthe aftermath of Richard Nixon’s resignationand 41 seats during Trump’sfirstterm.
As House campaigns intensify,nationalpolitical currentswillincreasinglyshape thebattlefield. There is widespread discontent with Trump’sperformance as president. To wit: The average of recent national polls puts his job approval rating at 40%, with 58% disapproving. According to the latest Economist/YouGovpoll, just 23% of independents —voters whooftendecideclose elections —approve of Trump’sperformance Trump’shandling of the situation in Iranhas alsobecome apolitical liability.Only33% of voters approve of hisapproach, while 61% disapprove But the rising costofliving is the Republicans’ worst domestic headache.Trump rode voterfrustrationover inflation to victoryin2024, but theissuehas sinceturned against him. According to the Economist/YouGovsurvey, only 28% approve of Trump’shandlingofinflation, while astriking 67% disapprove.
These numbershelp explain whysomany analysts anticipatesignificantRepublican lossesthisyear. But there’sanother side to thestorythatmay be overlooked: Voters are almost equally dissatisfied with both parties. The poll found that 57% of votersviewthe Democratic Partyunfavorably,while 56% viewthe Republican Party unfavorably.It’sobvioustoeverybody, except maybe the Democratic leadership in Washington, thattheir partyis stillcarrying heavy baggageassociatedwith unpopular progressive policies.This gives Republicans something to run against —or, more accurately,something to keep runningagainst.
WhetherRepublicans can capitalize on this opportunity depends largely on Trumphimself. Whathesays anddoeswill shape his party’sfortunesfar morethan anything Republican congressional candidatessay or do. This uncertainty keeps GOP strategists awake at night. For Republicans, Trump remains adouble-edged sword. He commands aloyal following that can boost GOP voter turnout, especially in Republican-leaning districts. Yetthe intensity of anti-Trump feelings in swing districts has become so ferocious that it could morethan offsetthe advantage.
Trump’sinsistence on personal loyalty presentsanother challenge. It limits theabilityofRepublican candidatestopivot away from theWhite House on controversial issues. Of course, Democratshave asimilarproblem keeping their left-leaning base happywhentheytry to move to the centeronkey issues.
The race for control of theHouse is on,and thestakes couldn’tbehigher.The outcome will form the final two yearsofDonald Trump’spresidency —and whathappens thereafter.
Ron Faucheux is anonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana.
Ourtaxpayermoney is being squandered on grandioseplans
Iamwriting about the use of taxpayer funds to further our president’s so-called agenda. Important thingslike building aballroom with all the bells and whistles, renovatingthe Trump/Kennedy Center by closing it for two years, building a250-foot-high arch, sending 17 mega-wealthybusinessmen and Elon Musk’s6-year-old son (very appropriate) as part of his delegation to China and paying dearly for the ongoing undeclared war with Iran. Meanwhile, theagenda ignores our economy,our aging infrastructure or citizens who are homeless, without food or medical care. Ourtaxpayer dollars go to enrich Trump’sfamily,his staff or wealthy business pals one way or another The average American goes unnoticed. The problemsweendure daily mean nothing to our president —just his rantsonTruthSocial and his naps during important meetings. What started this rant of mine?
Recently,Sen. John Kennedy (our senator)proposed abill to fund
with taxpayer dollars Trump’s mega-ballroom project. After he demolished the East Wing of the WhiteHouse, Trumpstated that the ballroom would be paid by private contributions and himself During the press gala attended by Trump, his cabinet and staff membersand alltheir wives plus manySecret Service personnel, an attempted attack took place. Trump used this to say we need abigger and safer ballroom to be paid forby us taxpayers. We Americans need ahuge ballroom like we need less money to spend on necessities, higher inflation,AItakingover jobs or anythingitdesires, moreguns forthe entire population, higher wages for coaches and players but less for professors or teachers —I could rant forever in this vein, but I’ll stop now What is our governing body becoming? Grandiose or grand (stately,dignified)?
LYNEDWARDS Jackson
CelebrateChildren’sDay;honor ourfuture
It has been truly uplifting to see so manypositive events highlighted in the news media, showcasing thewonderful and meaningful things that children aredoing in our communities.
Watching theirsmiling faces, theirexcitement,and the joy they experience while participating in these activities brings happiness to allwho witness these moments. Thesestories remind us of the importance of celebrating our children and recognizing thepositive impact they have on the world around them. Throughout theyear,the media highlightsvariousspecial occasions such as Groundhog Day, AprilFool’sDay,Friday the13th and many other events that capture public attention. With so many
observances being recognized, it is equally important that we take time to celebrate and honor our children on Children’sDay on June 14. They are our future leaders, innovators, educators andcommunitybuilders, and theydeserve to be acknowledgedfor their achievements, talents andcontributions. Happy Children’sDay to allchildren everywhere,and my beloved dignified students. Mayyou continue to grow in wisdom, kindness and excellence. May your dreams flourish, your talents shine brightly and your futures be filled with endless opportunities. Most importantly, may God continue to bless, protect,guide andfavor each of you today andalways.
EARNESTINE D. GORDON Clinton
Checks and balances falling by thewayside as leadersgiveway
Afew years ago Iwas called and duly selected forjury duty
Before the start of the trial, the judge gave us agood refresher civics lesson on how our governmentwas formed as three distinct branches, with the idea of checks and balances to ensure it worked.
Along comes the coup attempt of Jan. 6, 2021. Kudos to the Capitol police forshowing restraint. Then on July 1, 2024, the SupremeCourt gave the president a “get out of jail free” card. On Jan. 20, 2025, Congress quit doing its job.
The president has since gone after the Constitution, higher education, the press, law firms, you nameit.
My offspring will have to pay forthe debt fostered by this administration. Ilove my country but I’mnot liking where it’sgoing. KIMALLAIN River Ridge
If race shouldn’t impact voting maps, whydonew districts skew White?
Iama White Christian suburban woman and aformer Republican for35years whoisextremely displeased and disgusted with the majority of our elected Republican legislators regarding redrawing Louisiana’svoting map.Ifrace should not be considered in voting maps, whyare the new districts skewed to the White race?
It appears Jim Crow is once again the law of the land in Louisiana. White supremacy must not be allowed to silence the voices of the one-third of Louisiana residents whoare Black. Their voices are as important as mine. Voting districts must not be unfairly changed.
KATHY HIGGINS Metairie
LSU shortstop Steven Milam
MICHAEL JOHNSON
THEADVOCATE.C
Cajuns baseball keeps adding from SBCfoes
BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer
The UL Ragin’ Cajunscontinue to build their 2027 baseball roster,and the newplayers are primarily coming fromSun Belt competitors.
The most recent additions are TexasState designated hitter/first baseman MannySalas, former Marshall right-hander Griffin Miller,Kansas State infielder Micah Kendrick and pitcher KendallDove from TexasSan Antonio.
That group joins the former Marshall pitching duo of Blaine Albright andCharlie Krebs in joining the Cajuns.
As of Friday,only thetwo most recent commitments— Kendrick andDove— had notyet officiallysigned Salas has power and the abilitytosteal bases. He has beenanextremely consistent hitter during his college career.Inhis freshman season at OdessaJunior College, the6-foot-1, 235-pound infielder batted.377
ä See CAJUNS, page 3C
AP PHOTO By ROSS D. FRANKLIN Newyork Knicks forward Og Anunoby shoots between San Antonio Spursforward Victor Wembanyama and guard De’Aaron Fox during Game 4ofthe NBAFinals on WednesdayinNew york.
Milam’
s return huge winfor LSU
All-SECshortstop back for
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
shot’withTigers
Jay Johnson couldn’tsee it happening. Steven Milam’sreturn to LSUfor hissenior yearfelt implausible. Surely,noMLB club would pass up thechance to take a shortstop whoposted a.939 on-base plus slugging percentage and committed only four errors all season.
“Somebody’sgoing to give him $2 mil-
lion,” Johnson said.
But the only money Milamwill be taking next year is name, image andlikeness dollars. Milam announced Friday he is returning to LSUfor the 2027 season.
“WhenI thought about the next chapter, onething became clear: Iwantanother shot,” Milamsaidina video message released by LSUonFriday.“Another shot at leaving my mark, to go out my wayand hold that trophy in Omaha.”
With thedecision,LSU gets back asecondteam All-SEC selection who posted his best season againstSoutheastern Conference competition in 2026. Milamhit .308 with a
.949 OPS in conference play,blasting seven homeruns and drawing morewalks than strikeouts. Including his superb defense, Milam heads into next season as one of the top shortstops in the country
“He’sagreat player,I love him,” Johnson said. “One of those guys youcan’t picture nothaving him. And we’ve beenfortunate to have afew of those guys here.”
Milam’sreturn comes at an interesting point in the offseason, as the Tigers already have added two middle infielders out of the
IMPRESSIONS EARLY
There were somenew faces at theNew Orleans Saints’organizedteam activities and some old faces that were not present.
As theSaints wrappedupOTAsonThursday,the three weeks of practice made one thing clear: Things are changing on Airline Drive. No Demario Davis, nowwiththe NewYork Jets. No Taysom Hill, who very well may hang up his cleats. No Cam Jordan,whose future withthe teamisunclear
BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer
ä Knicks at Spurs 7:30 P.M.
SATURDAy,ABC
SAN ANTONIO The final moments in each of the first four games between the NewYork Knicks and San Antonio Spurs in these NBA Finals had much in common,including that the outcomewas still undecided with aminute left every time. Game 1, the Knicksled by four with 58 seconds to go. Game 2, the Knickswon by one when Victor Wembanyama’sgame-winning shot attemptmissed. In Game 3, the Spurswon by four.InGame 4, the Knicks won by one again after OG Anunoby got amiracle tip-in There hasn’tbeen afinalslike this, with amargin of four points or less in thefinal minute of each of the first fourgames, since 1973.New York won that series. TheKnicks haven’tbeen champions since.
ä See KNICKS, page 3C
Andabrief glimpse of Alvin Kamara, whosefuture withthe team seemsjust as uncertain as Jordan’s. There are also new additions such as running back Travis Etienne, guard David Edwards and rookie receiver Jordyn Tyson. The media had access to three of the practices during thethree-week session of OTAs.Itgave us our first glance at the 2026 Saints. Kellen Moore, entering his second season as head coach, likes what he’sseen so far.When asked what he’s learned about the team, he had this to say: “We’re competitive and connected,”Moore said Wednesday.“I thinkthose are thetwo thingswe’ve spent alot of time on. These guys have put aton of work in, and we’ve seen the attendance we’ve had each and every day.The investment
these guys have put into it has been awesome.”
That’swhat he has learned.Here are five thingswehave learned. Shough’s team
Yes, we knew thestarting quarterback position already belonged to Tyler Shough and there was no battle to win thejob. But what we didn’tknow was just how much Shough has grabbed theleadership role.
His teammates have embraced him.Linebacker Kaden Elliss, who
returned to the Saints this offseason after spending the past three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, noticed it right away “It’sjust small little things you see throughout the day,” Elliss said. “The wayateam naturally follows behind the quarterback and aren’t doing it reluctantly.It’snatural. I wasn’tsure if it would be like that, because he wasjust arookie last year.But it’snoticeable.”
Also noticeable is his command of the offense. Shough, whofinished second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting last season, looks like he’sready to makealeap in Year 2. Proceedingwithcaution
We didn’tsee much from Tyson, whom the Saints selected with the
ä See SAINTS, page 3C
STAFFPHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough looks to makeapass during organized team activities on Wednesday in Metairie.
6p.m. B.C. at Saskatchewan CBS COLLEGE BASEBALL WORLDSERIES
2p.m. Oklahoma vs.Alabama ESPN
7p.m. Texas vs. Georgia ESPN
WOMEN’S COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD
7p.m. NCAA Championships —Day 2ESPN FISHING
7a.m. Bassmaster Elite FS1 FLAG FOOTBALL
1p.m. OT7Championship NBC GOLF
Noon PGA: RBCCanadian OpenGolf
2p.m. PGA: RBCCanadian Open CBS
2p.m. LPGA: DowChampionship Golf
4p.m. Champions:Principal Classic Golf
6p.m. Curtis Cup: Second Round Golf HORSE RACING
11:30 a.m.America’s Dayatthe Races FS1
7p.m. America’sDay at the Races FS2
9p.m. America’sDay at the Races FS1 MLB
1:10 p.m. St. LouisatMinnesota MLBN
4p.m. Dodgers at White Sox (JIP) MLBN
6:15 p.m. PhiladelphiaatMilwaukee FS1
9:07 p.m.Tampa BayatL.A.Angels MLBN NBA FINALS
7:30 p.m.New york at SanAntonio, Gm. 5ABC WORLD CUPSOCCER
2p.m.Qatar vs.Switzerland Fox
5p.m.Brazil vs.Morocco Fox
8p.m.Haiti vs. Scotland Fox
11 p.m.Australia vs.Turkey FS1 SOFTBALL
11 a.m. Volts at Blaze ESPN
1p.m.Spark at BanditsESPN2
3p.m.Cascade at Talons CBSSN TENNIS
5a.m.(Sun.) WTA,ATPTennis UFL
2p.m.United Bowl: Louisville at DC ABC WNBA
5p.m.Indiana at Connecticut NBCSN
7p.m.Minnesota at Las VegasCBS
UFC’sjourney beganwithTrump
MMAorganization’s leader is longtime ally of president
BY DANGELSTON Associated Press
White
WASHINGTON The beginning of Dana White and the UFC’sroad to the White House can be traced back 25 years to when afringe mixed martial arts promotion— at the time still unable to shake the “human cockfighting” label applied to the sport years earlier by a U.S. senator —ran amodestevent called “Battle on the Boardwalk.” Making his first appearance as UFC president, White was asked about his goalsfor the fledging promotion. Sportingclosecropped hair, thinner,dressed in asuit andusing restraint in his words, White still offered asneak peek of his bombastic plans.
“Wewant to make this the Super Bowl of mixed martial arts,” White said. The site of this seemingly absurd proclamation: Trump Taj Mahal.
Aquarter-century later,UFC is back at President Donald Trump’s home this weekend, though both the promotion and the businessman have long since leveled upin status. Unimaginable that night in February 2001 in AtlanticCity, UFC is staging seven fights under the Freedom 250 banner Sunday night on the South Lawnofthe White House to celebrate Trump’s80th birthdayand the 250thanniversary of the Declaration of Independence’ssigning.
“It’sreally quite shocking and really puts the UFC in the spotlight,” said Lavie Margolin, author of the book “Ultimate Fighters” thatchronicled the White-Trump relationship. “The potential negatives of it are, it could be too much. Some people do interpret that it’s too much of the MAGA movement. Can Idigest this? Thus far it doesn’tseem to have turned off thosewho are UFC fans.”
It’s the pinnacle of therelationship between White and Trump
that has yielded personal, political andfinancial dividends for both parties. White earned the mainstream visibility for himselfand the sport he cravedashestumped for Trump at GOP conventions, whilethe emboldened right-wing “manosphere”that soaks up UFC fightsthrew its support behind Trumpinthe elections.
Against thebackdropofa 3-month-old war with Iranthat’s been broadly unpopular with Americans and has rattled global oil markets, the White House longknown as the people’shouse anda symbolofAmerican democracy —opened its backyard to host amade-for-television smackdown thathas UFCasatentpole event on theglobal sports calendar.
“It’shuge for the brand,” the 56-year-old White said. “People are talking aboutthis thing all over theworld.”
Embracingcrossover
Trump and White are aligned culturally, as muchasthey may be politically,and theirrise can be linked in parttoreality TV Trump’sbrashnesswas on display as arealityTVboss on “The Ap-
prentice,”a showthat propelled himtonational prominencefollowing astringofbankruptcies and bad business deals in the 1990s. White gota lifeline from Spike TV in theearly 2000s with “The Ultimate Fighter,” which has become aUFC staple and is widely regarded as one essential in the survival andeventualexpansion of the company
The early iteration of unregulated mixed martial arts was decried by thelateSen.John McCainas “human cockfighting,” and it took until 2016 for New York to become the final statetolegalize it. UFC —thenfeaturing bankablestars such as Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor —became less of an eyeroll and moresocially tolerable.
Trumphas attended four UFC cards as asitting president,walking to the cage amid rock music andpatriotic chants from fans much like thefighters themselves
Whitealsointroduced Trump at twoRepublican National Conventionsand attended theWhite House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April.
Apolitical statement?
White hasargued Freedom 250
is not about politics, though the optics surrounding the event, such as his sportsdiplomacy meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, suggest otherwise.
“I thinkfor the most part he’s actually sharing his love of Trump,” Margolin said. “I think Trumpwants it because he wants the people to likehim and he loves theUFC. It is political that it’s highlighting Trumponthe world stage and his administration. Without going too farover acliff, when you have cage fighting, it’s demonstrating strength, exerting your will overanother,the power over someone else.”
The fight corners are always red and blue —for any newcomers watching Sunday on Paramount+, which is controlledbythe Ellison family,also allies of Trump. White andhis fleet of like-minded fighters howl that fight night hasnothing to do with apolitical agenda.
“Let’s take my American patriotism out of it, let’stake my love for the country out of it,” said Michael Chandler,a40-year-old Missouri native fighting on the card. “This is the biggest fight in mixed martialarts. The biggest fight event in UFC history.”
NewOrleans-bornfighterLewis hasafan in president
BY DANGELSTON Associated Press
WASHINGTON Derrick Lewis rang up his latest knockout inside the UFC cage and asked if hisbiggest fanwas in the Tennessee crowd. Please hold.
President Donald Trump was not in attendance, but he was on the line with friend and UFC CEO Dana White. White passed his phone, and Lewis and Trump shared aquick conversation.
The topic?
“It’sclassified,” Lewis said with alaugh. It sure helped afighter such as Lewis, aNew Orleans native, to have aboss with adirect line to the president and even more so to have the president in his corner Lewis, who holds theUFC record for most knockouts with 16, was aglaring omission when UFC announcedits Freedom 250 card set for Sunday at the White House. Trump, anoted fight fan,attended the UFC show in Miami in April and asked White why Lewis wasn’t fighting at the White House. After heavyweight Josh Hokit won his fight that night, White knew he had his opponent for Lewis. “About an hour before that, the
president said to me, ‘Why is Derrick Lewis not on the White House card?’ Isaid, ‘I’llbeback in five minutes,’ ”White said. “I called Derrick Lewis and said thepresident wantstoknow whyyou’re not on theWhite House card.” White askedLewis if he wanted to fight.It was an immediate yes. Score another WhiteHouse win for Trump. “He likes DerrickLewis, he likes hispersonality,helikes the
way he fights,”Whitesaid.
The41-year-old Lewis, billed as “TheBlack Beast,” said he doesn’t want to let down Trumpbylosing to Hokit
“It was pretty cool,” Lewis said. “The significanceofitislike,life is like amovie. If you hear my story,know everything that I’ve been through.” Lewisliveda troubled childhood growing up theson of asingle mother in Louisiana beforehis
Georgiacatchernamed national player of year
OMAHA, Neb.— Georgia catcher
Daniel Jackson has been selected as the winner of the DickHowser Trophy as the player of the year in college baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced Friday Jackson is the second Georgia playerinthreeyears to win the honor,joining Charlie Condon in 2024, and the fifth in six years from the Southeastern Conference. The consensus SEC player of the year led or wasinthe top five in almost everystatistical categoryfor offense. He’s tiedfor third in the nation in home runs (31), fourth in slugging percentage (.837)and 15th in batting average (.396). He is the fifth player in Division Ihistory withatleast 25 homersand 25 steals in aseason.
Sore knee takes Dodgers star Ohtani out of lineup
CHICAGO— Los Angeles Dodgers starShoheiOhtani is daytoday with leftknee inflammation. Ohtaniwas outofthe starting lineup for Friday’sseries opener at the Chicago White Sox. But manager DaveRoberts saidOhtani could playthis weekend andremains in line to makehis next scheduledstart on themound on Wednesday Ohtani was lifted forapinch hitter in the seventh inning of Thursday night’s8-6 winatPittsburgh. Ohtani, 31, is batting .305 with 13 homers and40RBIsin67games for the NL West leaders. On the mound, thereigning NL MVPis 6-2 with a1.06 ERA in 11 starts. Ohtanihad surgery on his left kneeinSeptember2019. Roberts saidthe swelling is in the back of the knee.
Mets SS Lindor could be backbyend of month
NEWYORK FranciscoLindorhas started playing simulated games, andNew York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is hopeful theshortstop can return to the team by the end of June.
“Our expectation’she’sgoing to play games for us this month,” Stearns said Friday Manager Carlos Mendoza said Lindor,who suffered astrained leftcalf against the Minnesota Twins on April 22, played atwoinning simulated gameFriday Lindor took at-bats against a pitcherfromSingle-A Brooklyn, though he didn’trun after making contact. He also fielded ground balls. Lindor has missedthe past 44 games, during which the Mets have gone 22-22.
Phillies OF García on IL with right shoulder tear
MILWAUKEE Adolis García clutched his rightshoulder,and the Phillies’ plan in right field took an unexpected turn.
García went on the 60-day injured list Friday with atorn latissimus dorsi musclenear hisright shoulder, accordingtothe Phillies. Righty-hitting outfielder Derek Hill, acquired Thursday in atrade with the White Sox, will take García’sspot on the roster
family later moved to Texas. Lewis was charged shortly after high school graduation withaggravated assault and was placed on probation. He later violated the probation andserved 31/2 years in prison. He picked up boxing and mixed martial arts after his releaseand wonhis firstpro fight in 2010. Lewis fought twice forthe UFC heavyweight championship and lost bothtimes. He is one of UFC’smore engaging personalities andhas made ahabit of turning his post-fight celebrations into highlight-reel performancesmorememorable than another KO. He has mooned the crowd, launched his cup into thestandsand famously stripsoff his shorts —once even fanning a fallen opponent with them in an attempt at revival.
He might even do it again on the SouthLawn.
“Pleaselet me take my pants off,” Lewis said. Lewis had yet to meet Trumpas of fight week but still can’t believe he shared aphone call with him
“The crowd wassoloud after my fight in Tennessee, Icouldn’t really hear what he was saying,” Lewis said. “He did sound like the ‘South Park’ character.”
The Phillies also called up outfield prospect Gabriel Rincones from Triple-A Lehigh Valley García, asuperb defender in right field, was injured in Wednesday’s game when he uncorked atypically strong throw to home plate. He grabbed his arm, motioned for the trainers and left the game.
Okla. AG calls on Big 12 to sanction TexasTech OKLAHOMA CITY OklahomaAttorney General Gentner Drummond publicly calledonthe Big 12 to sanction Texas Tech after quarterback Brendan Sorsbywon acourt orderrestoringhis eligibility,setting aside his ban by the NCAA for gambling on pro andcollege sports.
“IfTexas Tech will not do the right thing, the Big 12 should,” Drummond wrote Friday in aletter to the conference.
Texas AG Ken Paxton warned the Big 12 on Thursday of potential legal action from Texas Tech Big12commissioner Brett Yormarksaid the notice came shortly before the start of the league’sexecutive board meeting to discuss Sorsby’ssituation.
Drummond said claims that sanctionsagainst TexasTech would violateantitrust laws are meritless.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON
The arenafor the UFC Freedom 250 fights has been constructed on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. The card is set for Sunday evening
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By STEVE MARCUS
Derrick Lewis,right,kicks Waldo Cortes Acosta in aheavyweight bout during the UFC 324 mixed martial arts event on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas.
Canada picksupfirstWorld Cuppoint in tie
BY JOHN WAWROW AP sportswriter
TORONTO— Canada earned itsfirst World Cup point in seven matches on soccer’sbiggest stage,and coach Jesse Marsch noted the sea of red-clad, maple leaf-waving fans who continuously belted out chants of “Go Ca-na-da!” helped get it.
Aslow start and an early deficit turned into arousingcelebration once late substitute Cyle Larin scored in the 78th minute for a1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday in Canada’stournament debut on home soil
Playing in the shadow of Toronto’siconic CN Tower,and with hockey star Connor McDavid and actors Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers in the stands, Larinconverted Promise David’spass a mere two minutes after entering the game.
“The crowd, Ithink, willed us into the game as (the players) could feel that energy in the second half tilting more and more,” said Marsch, who took particular delightupon learning Myers, who portrayed international man of mystery Austin Powers in the movies, was among those on hand
“Oh, sweet,” Marsch said It was an even better feelingfor Larin, who normally starts but had
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with 12 homers, 63 RBIsand 15 stolen bases.
The next season at Weatherford College, Salas hit .372with six homers, 60 RBIs and 11 steals with an on-base percentage of .468.
The big jump to Division Iat Texas State didn’tderail him at all when Salas hit .309 with 14 doubles, 16 home runs, 42 RBIs and11stolenbases with a.411onbase percentage. He walked 33 times and was hit by eightpitches with 68 strikeouts.
Miller,a6-2, 200-poundrighthander,didn’tpitch at all last season, redshirtingwith an injury In 2025 under current UL pitching coach TaylorSandefur when they were are Marshall, Miller was 7-4 with a3.46 ERAand one complete game out of 15 starts. In 831/3 innings, he allowed 68
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transfer portal in Florida second baseman Cade Kurland andTexas State shortstop Dawson Park. Kurland helped guide Florida to the College World Series final in 2023,hitting17homersasa freshman before injurieslimited him the last two years. Despite being draft-eligible, he is taking his name out of the draft andwill play at LSU next season asafifthyear senior,asource confirmed to The Advocate Park, meanwhile, excelled in hisfirstyearasa starting shortstop this past spring. He had a .962 OPS and showcased astrong arm and excellent range
“He’sanexplosive athlete,” Johnson said in an interview with WBRZ-TV.“Like we were just talking about, he can contribute on both sides of the ball. He hit 13 home runs (and)has power to all fields.”
How Milam, Park and Kurland fit together next seasonhas yet to be determined. None of them has ever played thirdbase in acollegiate game, and sticking any of theminthe outfield would be wasting their skills on theinfield Milam, given his stature in the program and decision to pass up pro baseball, willalmost certainly be the shortstop. Kurland, leaving alongtime SEC rivaland passing up MLB for LSU, likely means that second basewill be his to lose.
That leaves Park as the likely third baseman. Although he hasn’tplayed the position before, his success at shortstop and strong arm give him the tools to thrive at the hot corner
LSU has done this before, moving Michael Braswell off of shortstop and moving him to third base in 2025. That tactic helped deliver anational championship
For the lineup, Milam’sreturn provides another top-of-the-order option for Johnson alongside Omar Serna, Cade Arrambide and Mason Braun. They were four of LSU’stop fivehitters by the end of last season.
Johnson hassince addedKurland, Park and Notre Dame outfielder Bino Watters to that mix out of the transfer portal. Watters, who mostly played left field,
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOBySAM BALKANSKy
Canada’sCyle Larin scores agoal in the second half of the WorldCup Group Bmatch against Bosnia on Friday in Toronto. Canada and Bosnia tied 1-1.
to bide his time watching on the bench until late in the second half.
“It was an amazing feeling, just to score agoal on home soil, whereI’m from, and just to celebrate with thefans, amazingatmosphere,” said Larin, who plays for second-division English club Southampton and is from Toronto’s suburb of Brampton
hits,46walks,hit 25battersand struck out 71. Opponents batted only .219. Kendrick is a5-11, 195-pound redshirt junior withtwo years of eligibility left. Anative of Jasper, Texas, he began his college careeratTCU before going to Folsom LakeCollegefor the 2025 season Last season at Kansas State, Kendrick hit .290 in 46 games,including36starts. He collected 11 doubles, fivehomers, 22 RBIs and sixstolen bases.
DovecomestoLafayette from UTSA, hopingtofinish his college career with abang. Dove originally began hiscollege career at Texas A&M Corpus Christibefore transferring to UTSA. Twoseasonsago,hewas 3-0 with a5.47 ERA in 17 appearances. Last season, Dovewas 4–1with a6.70 ERAin14games, including eight starts. In 43 innings, he allowed 52 hits, walked 16 andstruck out 27.
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAELJOHNSON LSU shortstop StevenMilam racesout of the batter’sbox in agame against SouthCarolina on May2atAlex Box Stadium Milam announced Fridayhewill return to LSU for his senior year
hit.362 with a1.057 OPS as a sophomore and was the top hitter available in thetransfer portal, accordingtoBaseball America.
LSUstill has needs to fill in center fieldand rightfield,but Milam’sreturnhelps settlean LSU lineup that needed to replace Derek Curiel, Jake Brown and Chris Stanfield.
Johnson still has alot of work to do before his 2027 roster fully takes shape. The Tigers have two outfieldpositionstofill and need to reload their pitching staff after atumultuous endtolast season. Some of thosequestionswill be answered in the portal,but the roster won’tbesettled until after the MLB draftonJuly 11-12.
TheTigers have numerous drafteligible players and adeep high school recruiting class that has 13 players in MLB.com’stop-200 prospectrankings
But givenhow many holes LSU needed to fill heading into the summer— afterthe program’sworst season sinceatleast 2007 —Johnson already has delivered on multiple fronts, even with amonthto go before the start of the draft.
But nooffseason move has been more significant than Milam’sdecision to return to Baton Rouge.
Email KokiRiley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com.For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate. com/lsunewsletter
Thegoalwas onlythe second in WorldCup playscored by Canada after the team lost all three of its games at the 1986 World Cup in Mexicoand againfouryears ago at Qatar
Injuryfill-inJovoLukicheaded in acorner kick in the21st minute for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is making itssecondWorld Cupap-
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No. 8overall pick, or defensive tackle Christen Miller,drafted in the second round. Tyson and Miller are bothdealing with hamstring issues, so theSaints are being cautious Tyson’sinjury may worry you because of his injury history throughout college. Butit’sstill June, so there is really no reason for concern. If these issues are still lingering when training camp begins in lateJuly,then look for thepanic button.
The Saints being careful with players and making sure they are ready when the season starts should be priorityNo. 1, and they are doing just that Most starters set
When OTAs began, there was really only one burning question as far as positions: Who was going to replace Alontae Taylor? Taylor signed with the Tennessee Titans in free agency
The Saints didn’treplace Taylor in the draft. It took just one day of OTAs to see that Jonas Sanker would be filling that role. Sanker, who played safety as arookie last year,has the speed and IQ to succeed in what defensive coordinator Brandon Staley calls the “star” position.
Meanwhile, Justin Reid andJulian Blackmon will man the safety positions, just like they did last year before Blackmon suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in theopener
Receiver depthpromising
There is good news and bad news here.
First,the bad news. We didn’t get to see much of Tyson or Chris Olave, the top two receivers. Olavewas limited the last two weeks because of the blood clots he dealt withatthe end of last season.
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That could changeSaturday New York —leading the series 3-1 —can close out the Spurs in San Antonio when the finals resume with Game 5.
“You have to be present,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said Friday “You can’tthink about the outcome. It’sabout theprocess,the next play,the next play,the next play.” The series could be tied right now,after SanAntonio wasted a 29-point lead in Game 4inwhat became thebiggest collapse in NBA Finals history TheSpursled 81-52 in thethird quarter on Wednesday night and got outscored 55-25 the rest of the way,missing 29 of their final 35 shots andlosingonAnunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. Taylor Swift was among the many who celebrated long after thefinalhorn, andnow theSpurs have to finda way to somehow regroup from absolute agony
“There’sconvictioninstrength and confidence,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnsonsaid. “That’swhat it is. There’snotrick. There’sno avoiding what’shappened. There’s
corner kick. The goal was Lukic’s first in international play and coming in the 27-year-old attacker’s fourth international appearance.
Despite giving up the lead, the small Balkan nation of about 3millionpeoplekeepscoming up bigon the international stage —including eliminatingfour-timechampion Italy in the European playoffs Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez couldn’thelp but feel relief in how his team persevered amid such a tough environment.
“This is huge pressure andit’sa huge compliment formyteam to have not succumbed to that pressure, and I’m very satisfied with that aspect of the game, too,” Barbarez said through atranslator
Though alarge majority of the 43,000 fans filling the temporarily expandedToronto Stadium along the shores of Lake Ontario were Canadians, asmall butvibrant group of Bosnian fans in blue also stood out in the upper deck of the stands.
pearance. The team previously playedatthe 2014 tournament in Brazil but failed to advance out of group play Starting in place of Edin Dzeko (shoulder) andHaris Tabakovic (undisclosed), Lukic was in an ideal position to cap aset piece with captain Sead Kolasinac flicking along aheader off Ivan Basic’s
The good newsistheir absences gave some other receivers a chance to shine. Ja’Lynn Polk and Trey Palmer are among the receivers whohave looked sharp. There have been times in recent years where there has been abig dropoff at receiver behind the top one or two guys. The early returns say that may not be the case this time around.
Jordan,Kamara’sstatus
After three weeks, we are just as unsure if twoofthe team’s mostbeloved players will be in a Saintsuniform this season.
Kamara madeanimpromptu, one-day appearance during the second week of OTAs. It washis first time showing up forthe voluntary practices since early in his career,soitcaught everyone off guard. It wasacalculated move by Kamara, his way of getting his message outthat he wants to be with the team. Will he be? Or will theSaints cut their all-time leading rusher?
Jordan isn’t on the roster as of now.But the Saints have put their offer on the table, and now it’sjust matter of whether he’s willing to accept it. With the three-day mandatory mini-camp
no avoiding all four games have been winnablegames. There’sno avoiding we’re down 3-1. There’s not avoiding ways thatwecould be better.There’snobody that’s going to be harder on ourselves andaccountable to ourselves than the people in the locker room and each other.” Entering Game 4, teamswith leads of 29 or more points in a gamewere: n 249-0 this season. n 288-2 overthe last 30 postseasons. n 4,088-13 over the last 30 seasons, counting regular season and playoff games. That means the Spurs, whohave had double-digit leads in all four games,had about a99.7% chance of winning Game 4, tying the series and coming home with all the momentum. They’re on the brink of elimination instead. “Westill have thatbeliefthat we have achance to win,” said Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox, who has heard tonsofcriticism since Wednesday for his decision to try a layup instead of running downthe clock when he had the ball and San Antonio leading by one in the final 15 seconds. “But we’retakingthis one game at atime. We’re not looking at it as we needtowin three games.Weneedtowin tomor-
TheBosniansnow head west, with games against Switzerland on ThursdayinLos Angelesand Qatar on June 24 in Seattle. Canada also headswest, to Vancouver,for its final two group games, against Qatar on Thursday and Switzerland on June 24. Marsch’schallenge is to gethis team off to abetter start.
starting Tuesday,the status of Jordan and Kamara will continue to be the biggest twoheadlines surrounding the team Everything else seemstobein place, according to both the players whowerehere last season and the new ones.
“This team has an extremely high level of belief,” Elliss said. “Obviously when you go to ateam that hasn’tbeen to the playoffs in afew years that has had some struggles, you don’tknow.You sign the deal in the offseason and you take alot of people’sword forit. But to get here and just get blownawaybywhat the culture is has been is really special to me.”
Right tackle Taliese Fuaga, entering his third season, brags about the samecompetitiveness and closeness that Moore talked about.
“You just feel something in the air with the chemistry,” Fuaga said. “Ain’tnoegos right now.We are all close. Everybody is close and just wants to win. Everybody wants to compete. You’re at practice and it’sintense. In practice, you may wanttorun through someone’sface, but when we get off the field we are all cool.” Moore has used team-bonding activities to bring the players closer.They’ve done everything over the past three weeks from helping refurbish the Trinity Community Center in the Hollygrove neighborhood to abowfishing outing.
“The biggest thing is that we are building off last year,” tight end Juwan Johnson said. “This team is moretogether and united. It’s not just the events we are doing, but just the way we are spending timetogether.I think it’ll show up on Sundays.”
Will Kamara and Jordan be there on Sundays, too?
That’sthe biggest questions remaining after the completion of OTAs.
Email RodWalkerat rwalker@theadvocate.com.
row and then we give ourselves a chance to play another game.” It will not be easy.When the Knicks have had acloseout opportunity this season,they’ve left no doubt.
New York is 3-0 in closeout games in these playoffs, winning them by the almost comical average of 39.3 points per game. The Knicks ledby61points before winning 140-89 to close out Atlanta in Round 1, led by 44 points before winning 144-114 to close out Philadelphia in Round 2, thenled by 45 points before winning 130-93 to close out Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals. All that happenedonthe road, too. And thousands of Knicks fans are expected in SanAntonio on Saturday night, all ready to see New York end that long title drought. “Onepossession at atime, oneplayatatime,one quarter at atime,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said. “You’re thinking aboutthe now,how you can be better the next possession, how can you turn the page, positive or negative. Regardless of what’sgoingon, our mindset andapproach has to stay the same. Ithink we’ve done avery good job of that. It’s something that has grown over the season. It’s really important, especially obviously now.”
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE Saints coach Kellen Moore walks throughwarm-ups during organized team activities on May28in Metairie.
Alittle more than aweek intothe season, the Acadiana CaneCutters are ascending the standingsinthe Texas Collegiate League.
Acadiana (5-3) won its fourth straight game on Thursday night at Fabacher Field— a4-3 decision over Lake Charles —and sitsthird in the standingsbehind Abilene and Victoria.
“Throwing strikes is the key to everything,” said coach Darien Dukes, whoisinhis sixthyear. “Last year, we were losing leads late in the game.”
Acadiana boasts the league’s best ERA at 3.97. Abilene, oneof two new Texas programs along with Sherman, is adistant second at 4.85.
Brycen Smith (UNO) threw anohitter over five innings on Thursday with five strikeouts and no walks to lower his ERA to 0.90 in 10 innings, which is tied for first in the TCL.
“We’ve been able to have good starting pitching,” Dukes said.“A bullpen throwing strikes is always aplus.”
St. Thomas More productWill Taylor also pitched five innings with seven strikeouts in a16-2 rout of SanAntonioearlier this week.In the TCL, the bullpenusually gets an early call due to limits on the number of innings apitcher can throw during the summer
“In his first game, Will didn’treally havehis slider,” Dukes said. “He was really good in the second game, with three pitches working inside the zone. He got up to 95 mph.”
JB Landrum threw21/3 perfect innings in relief of Taylor with five strikeouts. Landrum (UNO) closed Thursday’sgamewithanother shutout inning to get asave andhasn’tallowed arun. He hasn’t
PHOTO By ROBINMAy
Cane Cutters pitcher Brycen Smith delivers astrikeduring Acadiana’swin overLakeCharles on ThursdayatFabacher Field
pitched enough innings to qualify for theTCL leaderboard.
In the first game during thewinning streak, Jack Carlisle (Bossier Parish CC)tossed 41/3 innings of one-run reliefina9-5 winatVictoria.
“Carlisle just pounds the zone,” Dukes said. “He’sgoing to give up someruns, butnot in crooked numbers.Hefinished thatgamewith78 strikes.”
Infielder Aidan Eshelman(Texas-San Antonio) is second in the leaguewith a.516 batting average. Connor Stelly (St. Thomas More, Nunez CC), who is hitting .304,had two hits and two RBIs on Thursday.
Tanner Hornback (.455) and Jake Farris combined for eight hits and 10 runs in two wins over San Antonio. Hornback (UT Tyler) prepped at St. Thomas More. Farris (Teurlings Catholic, Northeast Texas) galvanized the team by stealing home
Dukes described Hornback as a “dirtbag,” aterm that referstoa player witha deep desire to help
his team win
“He’sonbase, playing defense andstealingbases,” Dukessaid. “Christian Hallmark, Farrisand Hornback feed off each other.” Acadiana leadsthe leaguein batting average (.282).Hallmark (UTSA) andParker Gwyn (Acadiana, CentralArkansas) are tiedfor second and fourth, respectively,in theTCL in stolen bases.
“Wehad to have arun,” Dukes said, referring to Farris’sdaring steal of homeplate. “You don’tsee that very often. When you have that typeofplayer, good things happen.”
Left-hander closer Jack Howell (Itawamba CC) hastwo saves and a1.80 ERA. Catcher Cody Breaux (North Vermilion, Nunez) threw outarunner to end an inning and hadtwo hits in agamethis week.
Dukes, whosaid the Cane Cutters drew 1,000 fans for their home opener,hopes thecommunity will support the team throughout the summer
“People have no idea what they’re missing,” he said.
West Virginia beatsTroy in battle of CWSnewbies
BY ERIC OLSON AP sportswriter
OMAHA, Neb.— Tyrus Hall hit the tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, IanKorn held Troy to one run in his longest relief appearance of the season, and West Virginia beat the Trojans 7-5 on Fridayinameeting of teamsmaking their first appearances in the College World Series. Hall hit atwo-run double in the secondinning and cameupin theeighth with two runners on against Zach Crotchfelt. With the infield pulledin, Hall chopped the ball over first base fora two-run lead.
Korn, the Division II pitcher of the year at Seton Hill last year, steadied the Mountaineers after Troy knocked outChansen Cole in the third inning. Korn (6-1) went six innings and allowed two hits, including Sun Belt Conference player of the year Jimmy Janicki’stying homerun in the seventh.
Little-usedreliever BenMcDougal cameonwith arunner on base andtwo outs in the ninth and got Janicki to foul out for his firstsave. Shortly after that, the Mountaineers stood side-byside along the third-base line to face their celebrating fans and sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
“Our state is astate that’sreally rooted in unity and rooting for each other and believing thatanything is possible,” West Virginia coach Steve Sabins said. “It’sasmallrural state that thinksthat things haven’talways gone their way.You’ve got to fight extra hardand workextra hard, and you’ve got to show up longer andharderinorder to accomplish great things. That’skind of the mentality that our team has taken.” Korn, who pitched alow-stress
SCOREBOARD
Colorado at Athletics, n Chicago Cubs at San Francisco,n Saturday’s Games St. Louis (Liberatore3-3) at Minnesota (Prielipp 2-4), 1:10 p.m. Miami (TBD)atPittsburgh (Chandler 2-7), 3:05 p.m. San Diego (Vásquez 5-4)atBaltimore(Gibson 1-1),3:05 p.m. Seattle(Castillo 2-5) at Washington (Cavalli 3-4), 3:05 p.m. Arizona (Soroka8-3) at Cincinnati (Lowder 3-3), 3:10 p.m. Atlanta (Pérez 4-3) at N.Y. Mets(Manaea 1-1), 3:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers(Yamamoto 6-4)atChicago White Sox(Burke 3-3), 3:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Nola3-4) at Milwaukee (Drohan 3-1), 6:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Brown2-2) at San Francisco (McDonald2-3),9:05 p.m. Colorado (Freeland 1-6)atAthletics (Springs 3-6), 9:05 p.m. Soccer
Atlanta at Chicago White Sox, ppd. Friday’s Games Seattle at Washington, n San Diego at Baltimore, n Detroit at Cleveland, n TexasatBoston,n N.Y. Yankees at Toronto, n L.A. Dodgers at Chicago White Sox, n HoustonatKansas City,n St. Louis at Minnesota, n TampaBay at L.A. Angels, n Colorado at Athletics, n Saturday’s Games St. Louis (Liberatore3-3) at Minnesota (Prielipp 2-4), 1:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 7-3)atToronto (Gausman 4-4), 2:07 p.m. San Diego (Vásquez 5-4) at Baltimore(Gibson 1-1), 3:05 p.m. Seattle (Castillo 2-5) at Washington (Cavalli 3-4), 3:05 p.m. Detroit (Skubal3-2) at Cleveland (Cantillo 4-3), 3:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 6-4)atChicago White Sox(Burke3-3), 3:10 p.m. Texas(deGrom 5-4) at Boston (Suarez 2-3) 3:10 p.m. Houston (Burrows3-8) at Kansas City(Cameron 3-4), 6:10 p.m. Colorado (Freeland 1-6) at Athletics(Springs 3-6), 9:05 p.m. TampaBay (Jax 1-4) at L.A. Angels (Soriano 7-4), 9:07 p.m.
Men’s World Cup Glance GROUP A GP WD LGFGAPts Mexico 11 00 20 3 KoreaRepublic 11 00 21 3 Czechia1 00 11 20 South Africa1 00 10 20 GROUP A Thursday’s game Mexico 2, South Africa 0 KoreaRepublic (Republic of Korea) 2, Czechia 1 GROUP B GP WD LGFGAPts Canada0 00 00 00 Bosnia 00 00 00
Qatar 00 00 00
GROUP B Friday’s games Canada 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1FT
-6
-6
-6 Shane Lowry 65-69—134 -6 Robert MacIntyre 68-66—134 -6
inning against Cal Poly in the super regionals after getting rocked by Kentucky in regionals, was called on after Sean Darnell’stwo-out,two-run doubled tied it 4-4 in the third. Of Korn’s 79 pitches, 51 were strikes.
“Unfortunately,Korn, who had atough regional there, was able to bounceback,” Troy coach SkylarMeadesaid. “There’s areason he’s hada lotofsuccessthrough theyear,because he’sbeen punched, right? But he steppedupand was hisvery best today.”
Before Hall’s winninghit, Crotchfelt (7-3) hadn’tgiven up a run in 111/3 innings over five appearances.
West Virginia (46-15), which has won18ofits last 21 games, will playSundayagainst the winner of Friday night’sOle Miss-North Carolina game. Troy (38-31) will face the loser in an elimination gameSunday
The CWS opener started with someexcitement when West Virginia leadoffman Armani Guzman stole hometoopen the scoring. He took abig lead off third base against left-hander BenjaminStubbs and came hard down the line.
The pitch was high, and the headfirst-sliding Guzman was able to gethis left handonto the plate just ahead of Janicki’s tag. Umpire Jason Bradley was knocked offbalance, gathered himself and called Guzman safe It wasthe first straight steal of homeinthe CWS since 2000, and Guzman’sschool-record 39th steal of the season.
“I don’tthink I’ve ever done it in agame likethat,”Guzmansaid, “but Idoitalot in practice. But whenI hitthe umpire, Ikindof got the wind knocked out of me. It kind of hurt. The adrenaline was there, so Ididn’treally feel it until Igot back into the dugout.”
TerryRobinson
FAITH MATTERS
No matter our denomination or political affiliation, the Rev Cedric Murphy said all believers can agree that spiritual renewal is desperately needed.
“There are so many reasons that need arevival,” Murphy preached in arecent message titled “Revive Us Again” ahead of athree-night revival at Providence No. 1Baptist Church in Ethel. “Look at the condition of the world. Look at the condition of our nation Look at the condition of the church —not just our church but the universal —and how there’saneed.”
Murphy,the church’spastor andamember of the Baker City Council, pointed to avariety of societal challenges, including racial division, church decline and crime, particularly among the young people. But instead of focusing on those topics, he challenged listeners to seek personal renewal.
“Weneed a revival, and it starts with us,” Murphy said in his message from Psalm 85:4-10. “We needGod to show up and show out. We need God to reviveus again.”
The message focused on the Israelites’ return from captivity to arebuiltJerusalem.Thoughthey werehome, something was stillmissing, Murphysaid.
“Their conditions were not the same before they were exiled,” he said. “God’sfavor was on in the same fashion. They were back, but they were not revived.”
Murphy identified three factors that were necessary for the Israelites’ revival First, the people recognized their need for revival. Psalms 85:4 states, “Restore us again, God our Savior,and put away your displeasure toward us.” Revival means “being back in the center of God’swordand functioning in his purpose,” Murphy said.
“If we go into revival, but we’re not back mentally,spiritually and emotionally,revival won’tdoany good,” he said. Second, the people wanted to hear from God and receive his peace. Psalms 85:8says, “I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants —but let them not turn to folly.”
“Wewant to hear from social media prophets,” Murphysaid. “They wanted to hear from God. And not just any word they wanted peace.”
God’speace does not mean the absence of trouble, he cautioned.
“The peace of God is aharmonious relationship with God from within. If Ihave God’s peace,itdoesn’tmatter what’s going on,” Murphy said.
Third, Murphy said the people wanted to experienceGod’s glory,referencing Verse 10: “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.”
“Where God’sglory dwells, darkness cannot stand,” he said. “We’ve got to be willing to want to hear from God, and we have to seek his glory again.If we do those things, Ipromise you God will send arevival that we need.”
Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com
ADREAM COME TRUE
From El Salvador to Manhattan, BatonRouge native becomesapastrychefatthe
BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer
New York Cityisthe city that never sleeps. This year,itbecame the city whereBaton Rouge native Amelia Alemán craftsone-ofa-kind pastries at Le Café Louis Vuitton on the fourth floor of the flagship Louis Vuitton store. The cafe offersa menuwith French flair that includesdishes like monogram ravioli, whole lobster and truffle eggs, but Alemán, 29, focuses on thedessertportion of the menu —perfecting the signature Louis Vuitton monogram pattern on cakes, cookies and sundaes
Despite her current position in the big city, Alemán saysLouisiana’scapitalcity was herlaunch pad. At LSU, sheearned adegree from theLSU School of Interior Design, whichfostered her passion for art. “Art has always been partofmy lifebut honing it down in design school —learning the elements
of design, color theory,drafting, sketching,all those skills —Ihave them now,and they go hand in hand with pastries,” she said.
From BatonRouge to France Alemán was born in El Salvador, whereher love for creating was ignited by baking sweet breads in a brick oven withher grandmother She movedtoBatonRouge at 14, later graduating from Broadmoor Senior High School.
In 2021, shegraduated from LSU and was awardedthe universitymedal, an achievement given to graduatingstudents with a4.0 GPAorhigher.The interior design degree became thebuilding blocks of her culinary career.Thoughunconventional, shesaysshe’d take that routeall over again if given thechoice.
During the pandemic, Alemán experimented herway through Julia Child cookbooks. She’d clock out at her nine to five at an
PROVIDED PHOTOS
ABOVE: After starting her culinary career in Baton Rouge, pastrychef Amelia Alemánbaked ataste of home (kingcake) in her tiny New york City apartment on Jan. 27.
TOP: Alemán, aBaton Rouge native,saidshe wanted ‘a taste of the Michelin life’after finishing pastryschool in France. Pictured here on May14are someofher creations while working at Jônt in Washington, D.C.
Murphy
Slinky tootough a matchfor squirrels
Dear Heloise: My husband enjoys feeding birds. We also have alot of squirrels. The squirrels used to climb up the pole and eat the birdseed. So, he put aSlinky on the pole, and the squirrels won’tclimb up the pole anymore. Problem solved! —Margaret, in Griffith, Indiana Bathroom hints
Unity Church marks Pride Month
RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFFREPORTS
reduce waste and keepsit outofour oceans, rivers andlandfills. —Heloise Rub-a-dub-dub
Dear Heloise: WhenIknow that I’m going to have company,Iput anew roll of toilet paperonthe holder.Iput papertowels in the guest bathrooms, and Icrumple up atowel and put it in the trash basket to encourage their use. An old rule:When not in use, put down the lid on the commode. This is what the lid is for —M.T.B., in Alabama Time to bagit
Dear Heloise: Regarding the ideas for reusing grocery bags that end up in alandfill, please don’tdo any of these. I’d line small waste cans with them, dump out the trash, and keep the bag in the can for repeated use. Don’t use plastic bags to discard garbage. All grocerybags should ultimately be returned to alocation that recycles them (usually a grocery store). Our children’schildren will thank us for it! —Paul D.,via email Paul, this is agreat reminder.Recycling items such as grocery bags helps
PASTRY
Continued from page5C
architecture firm, grab ingredients from the grocery store and stay up all night baking. Co-workers loved it when she brought sweets to the office, but she found herself at acrossroads.
“I loved design and worked so hard to get to that point in my career,” Alemán said.
“But Ialso had this hobby that Iwas falling so deeply in love with.”
In what she feared would be astep backward, she submittedher resignation later to pursue baking fulltime and became the kitchen manager at Rêve Coffee Lab. For the next three years, she saved up for pastry school.
“Rêveis the beginning of my story,really,” she said. “In away,it’ssymbolic because rêve means dream.”
Between managingthe kitchen at the coffee shop, Alemán sold pastry boxes at Everbowl,baked botanical cakes and babysat. Baking full-time meant she was in her own little world.In 2024, she was accepted into the pastry program at École Ducasse in France, and her
Dear Heloise: Imake alot of my own spice rubs —arib rub, brisket rub, rotisserie chicken rub, andothers. I save old spice jars andlabel them with the specificrub,as well as theingredients with measurements on the front! When Irun out, the recipe’satmyfingertips!
Tammy B.,inHamilton, Illinois
Grammar soundoff
Dear Heloise: The letter from Mel aboutgrammar struckachord. One of my pet peevesiswhen people say things like “my wife and I’scar.” There’sno such word in the English languageas“I’s.” The first person singular possessive is “my” every time. Would you say“I’scar”? When in doubt,just separate the two subjects andtry it again.“My wife’scar” and “my car,” so it’s“my wife’s andmycar.” Sosimple. I’ve heard people say, “But this sounds wrong.” Does “I’s” soundsright? This is one of these languageerrors that even if it was used amillion times, it would never evolve into an accepted replacement. Thanksfor lettingme sound off! —Larry C., via email
Send ahint to heloise@ heloise.com.
world got alot bigger
‘The perfectplace’
Part of École Ducasse, École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie is the largest school in the world dedicated to pastry artstraining with 12 pastrylaboratories, specialized classroomsand student housing.
Moving to France wasa leap of faith, Alemán said.
Yssingeaux, where the schoolislocated, is atownin the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region where barely anyone speaks English except peopleatthe school
“It’sthe kind of town that you cry when you get there, and you cry when you leave,” she said. “It grows on you. Butatthe sametime, it was the perfect place to focus on my craft.”
She attendedclasses almosteveryday from 6a.m. to 5p.m., and the first week consisted of learning the ins and outs of pies,which, luckily,she already learned at Rêve Coffee Lab.She learned how to create show pieces, traditional French wedding cakes and the basics of chocolate work
She finished pastry school in February 2025, interned at abakery in Bordeaux, and before sheknew it, she was backinthe States in Washington, D.C.
“I moved to D.C. because Iwanted ataste of the Michelin life,” Alemán said.
With no job lined up, she took to D.C.and handed out her résumé “like hotcakes,” going to hotelsand restaurants. She caught the eye of Jônt,atwo-Michelin-starred tastingcounter with anod to Japanese cuisine, and she worked there for nine months.
“I learnedsomuch,” she said.“Workinginarestau-
POSTCARD
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kiddos can skibidi allthey want, but the state in second place is Ohio, with five postcards. Mississippi sits in third with three. Also on theleaderboard so far: California, Delaware, Kentucky,Maryland,Minnesota, New Jersey,New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island,South Dakota,Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. Beyond the United States, postcards have arrived from Peru, Tahiti and Turkey.Peru alone accounts for three.
Some postcardsare storebought. Plenty arenot including one in homageto Scrim, the famous New Orleans runaway dog Fiveyears in, I’velearned that the harder postcards become to find, themore inventive readers get. As demonstrated in previous years, postcards do nothave to be worksofart. Cut-up cereal boxes work. Andthen again, so does watercolor paper.Sodoes the back of just about anything sturdy enough to survive the U.S.Postal Service. The mathsays 31 states remain —thoughwecontinue to welcomepostcards from states alreadyinthe
TheUnitarianChurchof Baton Rouge is celebrating Pride Month throughout June with events for LGBTQ+ individuals,families, friends and allies.
Queer Café, happening at 10:15a.m. each Sunday in June,willoffer time for open conversationsabout LGBTQ+ identities,experiences and issues. The discussions are open to all.
The church also will host informational tables at Ascension Pride in Gonzales on Saturday,June 20, and Baton Rouge PrideonSaturday,June 27. Visitorstothe church’sboothscan learn moreabout its programs and community Sunday worship services at 9a.m. and11:30 a.m. throughout the month will include Pride-themed topics,
By The Associated Press
Today is Saturday, June 13, the 164th day of 2026. There are 201 days left in the year
Todayinhistory:
On June 13, 1971, The New York Times began publishing excerpts of the Pentagon Papers, atop secret study of America’sinvolvement in Vietnam since 1945 that had been leaked to thepaper by militaryanalyst Daniel Ellsberg.
Also on this date: In 1966, theSupreme
culminating in the church’s annualPride Service on Sunday,June 28. The 9a.m. service is also livestreamed on YouTube at youtube.com/@ UnitarianBR. Also on June 28, the church’sTransUUgroup will meet at 1p.m. The groupprovidesdiscussion and supportfor thosewith loved ones who aretransgender,nonbinary or gender nonconforming. For moreinformation, visit www.unitarianbr.org. Father’s Day program at St. James Baptist St.James Baptist Church, 1105 N. 44th St.,Baton Rouge, invites the community to aspecial Father’s Dayprogram sponsoredby theYouth Ministry at 8a.m Sunday,June 21. The themefor the event is “Celebrating aLegacy
of Faith Among Fathers.” Afree breakfast will be served followingthe worship experience. For moreinformation, call (225) 924-1550.
Berean cancelsthis weekend’sservice
Berean Seventh-dayAdventist Church, 5100 Osborne Ave., Baton Rouge, won’thold its in-person worshipservice on Saturday as members attend the Southwest Region Conference’s annual campmeeting in Athens, Texas.
Thefive-state gathering, running through Saturday, will feature worship services, music and fellowship for all ages. International recording artist JohnP Kee and the New Life Community Choir will be among the musical guests.
All camp meeting servic-
TODAYINHISTORY
Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that criminal suspectshad to be informed of their constitutional rights to remain silent and toconsult an attorney
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall to becomethe first non-Whitejustice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1983, theU.S. space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, became the first spacecraft toleave the solar system as it crossed the orbit of Neptune.
In 2013, the White House said it had conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad’sgovernment had used chemical weapons against opposition forces seeking to overthrow him In 2017, Otto Warmbier,a 22-year-old American college student, was released by North Korea in acoma and medically evacuated to the U.S. after 17 months in captivity,dying days later on June 19. The University of Virginia student had been accused of trying to steal apropaganda banner
rant is completely different thanworking in abakery Training in that bakery in Bordeaux prepared me so wellfor that Michelin restaurant. Iwas able to jumpin.”
At theLouis VuittonCafé Alemánleft D.C. in April of this year to pursue her dream of working at Louis Vuitton. One successful interviewtriallater,she was offered aspot,scrambled to find an apartment and began work on April 10.
“I had always wanted to work at Louis Vuitton,” she said. “Ever since Iwas in school.”
The menuatLeCafé Louis Vuitton is centered on “luxury snacking,”according to thewebsite. Seasonal,locally sourced ingredients are highlights on themenu.
mix. However,ifsummer travels take readersthrough Montana,Maine,Hawaii or anywhereinbetween, apostcard would be most welcome.
Thesamegoes forpoints abroad —Peru has set an early pace. The rest of the world has some catching up to do. Theproject runs through Labor Day.Postcards can be mailed to: JanRisher,The Advocate, 10705 RiegerRoad, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. Louisiana kindergartners setthe bar.The rest of the country is gaining on them.
Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.
Currently on the menu is the rhubarb vacherin, which includes yogurt meringue, poached rhubarb compote, Fontainebleau cream, sorbet and rosé.
The “ChocolateMonogram,” abiscuit with chocolate ganache, is apopular pastry on thecafe menu, Alemán said.
On her days off,Alemán says she tries to get lost.She has tried several New York-
style pizzas, now loaded with enough intel to gauge which spots aretourist traps and which aren’t.Her favorite bagels are from the appropriately named Bagel Shop, located in the Upper East side of Manhattan.
She lives in the traditional tiny NewYorkCity apartment. Though her kitchen is small, the flavors are big. She’scooked and baked several dishes from home, like
es are free and open to the public and may be viewed throughthe SouthwestRegion Conference’slivestream archives, Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Trinitytohost Alzheimer’sprogram
Trinity AME Church, 1420 S. DarlaAve., Gonzales,will host “The Impact of Alzheimer’sand Dementia in Our Community” from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.Saturday Presented by theAlzheimer’sAssociation, the program will provide information on the impact of Alzheimer’sdisease, local resources, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s,and ways to join the fight against Alzheimer’sand other forms of dementia. For moreinformation, contact Mary AliceCashat macash@alz.org.
gumbo,dinnerrolls andking cake.
“I’m afirm believerthat Cajunfood is thebest food in the world,” Alemán said. “I don’tcare what anyone in the Michelin world says.”
What Louisianameans
The last time she flew from home, Alemán packed her carry on with Tony Chachere’sspice blend and crab boil.
“I wasthatwoman at the airport holding up the line with all of my Tony’s,” she said. “The TSA agentwas like, ‘Ma’am,next time,just put it in your checked bag.’ Andthenhegot to thecrab boil, andhewas like,‘Oh, Isee you’ve gotthe good stuff.’” The Tony’smade it through, andshe gave some to her co-workers in New York.
Alemán says growing up in Louisiana shaped her worldview, andbeing away grew her appreciation. No matter howfar away herkitchen is, the magnolia state is still home, and she hopes to give back to it one day Through her career journey thus far, her mother has been her biggest cheerleader,and her father seems to always call right when she needs it most.
“Those three things have been aconstant in my life: art, my family and my faith,” she said. “Just one leap of faith after the other.”
while visiting North Korea with atour group and was convicted of subversion. Today’sbirthdays: Actor Malcolm McDowell is 83. Actor Stellan Skarsgård is 75. Actor Richard Thomas is 75. Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Weaver is 75. Actor-comedian TimAllen is 72. Actor Ally Sheedy is 64. Musician Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) is 56. Actor-comedian Steve-O is 52. Actor Ethan Embry is 48. Actor Chris Evans is 45. Actor Kat Dennings is
PROVIDED PHOTOS
Amelia Alemán, on the far right, poses with her classmates at ÉcoleDucasse, aculinary school in yssingeaux, France, on Jan. 30, 2025.
Botanicalcakes, pictured here on May20, 2023,are one of the ways Alemán pursued her love of bakingin Baton Rouge.
Hints from Heloise
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Your surroundings will have an impact on who you encounter and how you react to new possibilities. Observation will help you decide how to handle others.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) You maywant matters to move swiftly, but time is on your side, andthe unexpected is likely to arise, changing your perspective and the decision youmake. Money and emotions can lead to overspending.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Letyour creative ideas blossom.Anopportunity to share your thoughts withsomeone who sparks your imaginationwill push you to pursue whatexcitesyoumost.Partnershipslook promising.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept.22) Allot moretime andeffort forsolitary pursuits that encourage personal growth through meditation,healthyeatinghabitsorexercises that are sure to enhance fitness and help you look your best.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) An inquisitive attitude will attract interest. Be deliberate, boldandflirtatious,andthefeedbackwill exceed your expectations. Be sincere, and offer what's fair anddoable.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Size up situationsand what's expectedofyou to avoid makingamistake.Shareonlywhat'snecessary, and keep your personalinformation to yourself. Asuggestion someone makes maysound inviting.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec.21) Theuniverse hearsyoucalling.Takethesignalsyou're receiving and follow through withyour plans. Home, relationships and budget-
ing for something you want to pursue will help you achieveyour personal and financial goals.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take the time to ponderover what you want to do. The feedback youreceivewill be misleading. Be resourceful. Verify information before passing it along or agreeing to something thatlacksvalidity.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Make home improvements, host an eventorsocialize. Achange of heart will put greater emphasis on life, love anddoing what makesyou feel aliveand ready forsomething newand exciting.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Don't change a thing until you've taken asecondlook at your options. You aren't likely to have all the information you require to make asound decision. Put more thought into how you want to present and market your skills.
ARIES(March 21-April 19) Put moreeffort into bringing aboutchange, especially where work, helping others and your earning potential come intoplay. Sendingout your resume or answering ads will offer insight intowhat's possible.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Pay attentionto howyou look andfeel. Makeyoursurroundings moreinviting or convenient. The more time youspend at home,the less money you'll spend. Keep moving.
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place thenumbers1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box containsthe same number only once. The difficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Yesterday’sPuzzle Answer
THe wiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
BY PHILLIP ALDER
Ellen Key, aSwedish author who died in 1926, said, “The educatormust above all understand how to wait; to reckon all effects in thelight of the future,not of the present.” Iteach alot of classes, especially during the early part of the year. Isee some mistakes made time andtime again. This deal highlights oneofthe mostcommon. After East opensone heart as dealer, South makes atakeout double, andWest passes, what should North do?
Assuming the advancer(the doubler’s partner) does not have ahandsuitable for no-trump, an inexperienced player answers atakeoutdouble by bidding the suit that he prefers at aminimum level regardless of high-card count. He expects partner to be psychic in divining how many points he holds. By an unpassed hand, anew suit shows about 0-8 points. Asingle jump in asuit promises 9-11 points. Andwith ahandas strong as North’s, one should start with a cue-bid of the opener’s suit. This is artificial, just indicating12points or more.(A passed hand should lower those ranges by two points.)
Afterthiscue-bid,the hunt is on fora fit. Here, South rebids two spades, North raises to three spades, and South goes on to four spades. West leads the heart three. East takes two tricks with his king and ace, then
wuzzles
shiftstothe club jack. How shouldSouth play the trumps? There are only13high-card points missing. Ergo,Eastmusthavethe spade king. Declarer should play aspadeto dummy’sace and continue withalow spade. When the king luckily appears, the contract is home
