The Times-Picayune 06-22-2026 by The Advocate

Joe Horn took unconventional routetoSaints, La.Sports Hall of Fame 1C

Senate race couldbecloserthanexpected

Pollsshowgap narrowingbetween Letlow,Fleming

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow appeared to hold an insurmountable advantage coming out of the Republican Senate primary on May 16 when she led state Treasurer John Fleming by 17 points and nearly won the election outright But signs haveemerged before the Saturday Republican Sen-

ELECTION 2026

aterunoffthat the outcomewill be muchcloser,and avictory by Fleming is possible, even though Letlow’ssideisbadly outspending him, and she hasPresident Donald Trump’s endorsement. In what will be alow-turnout election, Flemingappears to have

supporters whoare more committed to him,especially among Republicanswho back him because of his vigorous oppositiontocarbon capture andsequestration. That’sa new technology where companies wanttobuild pipelinestotransport carbon dioxide from industrial plantstolocations where it would be injected deep underground. Asign of Fleming’ssupport among theRepublican base oc-

curredlastSaturdaywhenGov.Jeff Landry had to personally intervene to keep 150 members of the state central committee from endorsing Fleming over Letlow.One Fleming supporter said shewas threatened by asurrogate of Landry’swithpunishment by the governorifshe voted to back Fleming. Thecommittee votedtoissue

no endorsement.

But it was striking to observers that, even though Letlow has the endorsement of Landry and Trump, the only questionthatday was whetherFleming would getthe endorsement.Letlow hadnoshotatit.

To be sure,mostpolitical analysts expect Letlow to defeat Fleming,

See SENATE, page 4A

TOO STEEP ASPAN TOOSTEEP

The Interstate 10 Calcasieu River Bridgeisseen May21inLakeCharles.

structurally

timely repairs

BY MEGAN WYATT

Staff writer

This story is theﬁrst in aseries.

Lolly Comeaux Sr.rarely wore a seat belt 20 years ago when he worked as atruck driverin Westlake. But he buckled up on the morning of May 23, 2006, while hauling sand in an 18-wheeler from Kinder.Hewas driving up the steep incline ofInterstate 10’s Calcasieu River Bridge when he and another 18-wheeler collided to avoid astalled taxi. Both tumbled 40 feet off the bridge’s pistol-lined guardrail. Now 73, Comeaux lived to tell the tale.

“There’sa few other people that’ve went over theside of that bridge since then,” said Comeaux, who was born the same year the bridge ﬁnishedconstruction. “I know what they wentthrough.”

It wasthe kind of nightmarish wreck that those who frequently drive the bridge say theyfear most on theimposing structure with asteep incline, narrow lanes andnoshoulders. More than 100 peoplehavebeen injured in crashesonthe bridge since 2018, The Advocatefound in an analysisofstate datathat tracks bridge crashes, injuries and fatalities.

Several factors make the bridge aconcern —both for drivers andfor those in chargeofmaintaining it

It’srated a3out of 9bythe Federal Highway Administration and considered to be in “poor condition,” based on annual inspections dating back to 2011. The rating, which the feds used to describe as “structurally deﬁcient”before a2017 classiﬁcation change, means that structuralcomponentshave started to deteriorate.Engineers base the ratings on inspections of abridge’sdeck where vehicles drive, along with its other structures and supports.

Still, bridgeengineerssay the low rating does notmean it’sunsafe for drivers.

“WeatDOTD wanttostress that the bridge is regularly inspected and it remains safe for travel,” said JohnGuidroz,a spokespersonfor the

ä See BRIDGE, page 3A

Trumplobsthreats as Vancemeets Iranianofficials

BY AAMER MADHANI, SEUNG MIN KIM and JAMEY KEATEN Associated Press

OBBUERGEN, Switzerland High-

level U.S.-Iran talks on their interim dealtoend the war had atense start Sunday in Switzerland as Tehran took offense at

comments by PresidentDonald Trump, who threatened to attack and told Iran’spresident to watchwhat he says.

The comments from afar —on social media and to news outlets —complicated efforts by Vice President JD Vanceand mediators Pakistan and Qatar to keep Iranengaged in discussions

meant to address thorny issues like Tehran’snuclear program, theStrait of Hormuz and the unfreezing of billionsofdollars in Iranian assets. Before anything, however, Iran wants to discussLebanon, where Israel’smilitary has been ﬁghting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militantgroup, since the

deal haltsconﬂict on all fronts.

“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” Trump said on social media. “If theydon’t, we’ll hitIran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

ä See VANCE, page 4A

BY HALEYMILLER Staff writer

The $5.8 billionHyundaisteel mill in Ascension Parish will be, by all accounts, colossal. It willimport3.6 million tons of iron ore and produce 2.7 milliontons of steel, according to anews release from Louisiana EconomicDevelopment. It will create 1,300 jobs on the site. It will rely on astate-of-the-art electric arc furnace to melt steel with electrical currentsatthousands of degrees Fahrenheit —afar cry from traditional steelmaking. And now,under anew research agreement announced last week, LSU is throwing its weight behind the mega project.

The university will share scientiﬁc expertise and resources with the plant that promises to be one of the ﬁrstin the U.S. to integrate ahigh-techfurnace with alower carbon footprint into allstagesofsteel production. And it will help train workers for the jobs the plant needs to run.

“This does represent, Ithink, anew beginning for us in the research ofﬁce to sign amasterresearchagreement of this magnitude, of this importance, of this signiﬁcance,” said Robert Twilley,LSU vice president for research and economic development. “It matches our research enterprise, the entire research enterprise of LSU, withone of the largest industrial investments that’sbeen made in Louisiana.” LSU andHyundai Steel signed an

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Fleming Letlow

STAFFPHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Jim Dalton, left,is

astuffed animal Hyundai Steel mascotdonning an LSU scarf by Soon-Jae Tae, of Hyundai Steel, after

Comeaux

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Man falls to his death during rock concert

NEW YORK A 51-year-old Connecticut man fell to his death from an upper deck of Madison Square Garden during a concert on Saturday night, police said

Ofﬁcers responding to a 911 call around 9:51 p.m. found the man unconscious and unresponsive with injuries indicating a fall from an “elevated position,” New York City police said. Police did not say how far the man fell, but said he was in Section 300. They identiﬁed him as Paul Kueker of Niantic, Connecticut

The man was with his wife, according to police. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police do not suspect foul play

The rock band Goose was performing. In a statement on Facebook, the band said it was “deeply saddened and heartbroken to learn of the tragic event that occurred.”

Jets were 300 feet apart in Boston close call

BOSTON A Delta Air Lines jet was roughly 300 feet from an American Airlines plane during a close call at Boston’s airport that forced the Delta aircraft to abort a weekend landing attempt, an aviation expert said Sunday

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident between two commercial flights that happened Saturday at Boston Logan International Airport.

Todd Curtis, a former safety engineer at Boeing, estimated the distance between the two jetliners using Flightradar24 a website that tracks ﬂights. Curtis now coproduces a podcast about ﬂight safety issues

“This is a signiﬁcant incident,” Curtis said, adding that it was particularly concerning because it involved two professional airline crews. He said federal aviation ofﬁcials have been concerned about such runway incursions for a while now and will scrutinize Saturday’s close call.

Near-misses and runway incursions at U.S. airports will be the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday The Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation will seek ways to strengthen safety across the national airspace system.

The Delta flight from Dallas had to execute a go-around, or aborted landing, to avoid the American plane departing from an intersecting runway, according to the FAA and flight logs The crew of Delta flight 2351 coordinated with air traffic control to perform the go-around, an airline spokesperson said. The plane, which had 129 passengers and six crew members on board, landed safely and deplaned normally according to the spokesperson.

Czechs rally over public broadcasters’ funding

PRAGUE Thousands of Czechs rallied in the capital on Sunday to condemn a plan by the government led by populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to overhaul funding for public broadcasters that is considered dangerous for their independence.

The protesters gathered in front of the Czech public television ofﬁces in Prague to voice their support for the media a day before their staffers plan to go on a warning strike, and after recent protest marches in the regional capitals and Prague. According to the plan approved last week, public radio and television would be ﬁnanced from the state budget starting next year, and not from fees paid by individuals, households and businesses.

Critics say that change would give the three-party coalition government a means to take control of the media following the examples of populist governments in Slovakia under Prime Minister Robert Fico and in Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“The media don’t belong to politicians,” Mikuláš Miná , a main organizer from the Million Moments for Democracy group said. “They belong to us all and we won’t allow them to be stolen from us.”

Heat, wind, drought spark fires in West

BY VALERIE GONZALEZ Associated Press

Extreme heat and dry, windy conditions fueled several wildfires in the West on Sunday including an uncontained blaze in Utah that forced the evacuation of a small town southwest of Salt Lake City

The Iron Fire in Utah’s Juab County was first detected Saturday and had blackened 34 square miles, authorities said.

The fire about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City forced the evacuation of Eureka, population 1,000, and people at a nearby ranch

No homes had been lost, and UTAH Fire Info, a multiagency operation, said in a post on X that firefighters conducted a successful backburn operation to protect the town.

Kelly Wickens, a fire prevention specialist with the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands, warned that the

fire was continuing to grow amid drought conditions. Wickens said the ﬁre was human-caused and remains under investigation.

Utah Gov Spencer J. Cox visited the town Sunday

“We knew that there was going to be extreme fire danger, and sure enough we had multiple fires,” Cox said.

The Iron Fire was one of six ﬁres burning in Utah at varying levels of containment.

In neighboring Colorado, the southwest corner of the state was under a red ﬂag warning issued by the National Weather Service until Monday, due to gusty winds and low relative humidity A wildfire prompted evacuations over the weekend near Sedona, Arizona, burning about 300 acres of steep and rugged terrain near Oak Creek Canyon. As of Sunday afternoon, the ﬁre remained uncontained. Residents evacuated earlier were

still not being allowed to return home.

Much of the Western U.S. from the Rockies to the Pacific coast saw above-average temperatures this weekend with even hotter weather anticipated for early next week. Ofﬁcials also warned that the prolonged dry, hot weather and relatively low humidity increased the risk of ﬁre danger

Much of Utah is experiencing severe to extreme drought, while parts of Arizona and Colorado are experiencing severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor

Extreme heat claimed the lives of three hikers in two separate incidents last week in the Grand Canyon Temperatures were expected to climb in the Southwest on Sunday, with a forecast of up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Meanwhile, a brush ﬁre in Miami-Dade County in Florida spread across 2,000 acres on Saturday

CHICAGO

7 killed, dozens hurt in series of shootings

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO A spate of shootings in Chicago has led to at least seven deaths and 38 injuries since Friday evening, police say, prompting President Donald Trump to renew his call for a military intervention in the nation’s third-largest city

“Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!” Trump said in a Sunday morning Truth Social post. The office of Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender who has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s calls for a military intervention, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under Trump, National Guard troops have been deployed on crime-fighting missions in Democrat-led cities including New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and Memphis, Tennessee. While Chicago Police Department data shows a slight uptick in shooting incidents compared to the first half of last year violent crime rates have generally dropped in the city over the past few years, in parallel with national trends.

Preliminary information shared by Chicago police indicate there have been at least two dozen shooting incidents since 5 p.m. on Friday Those killed by gunﬁre include a 21-year-old shot in the chest Sunday, an 18-yearold shot in the armpit Saturday evening and a 50-yearold shot in the chest Friday

At least 12 people in a crowd on a Chicago street suffered gunshot wounds Friday evening after an SUV pulled up and two people inside started shooting, police said.

The eight men and four women in the group ranged in age from 17 to 47. They were being treated at four hospitals. Police said another man suffered unknown injuries and refused medical treatment. That shooting happened on Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. Earlier Friday, former President Barack Obama and former ﬁrst lady Michelle Obama welcomed the ﬁrst visitors to his presidential center on the South Side.

“What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an X post Saturday “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.”

“Violence has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable,” he said.

Other major U.S. cities experienced gun-related violence over the weekend. In Philadelphia, two people were killed and two others wounded following a shooting early Sunday morning, according to Fox 29. In Cincinnati, a shooting killed three people Saturday, WLWT reported. And police in Kansas City, Missouri, say they are investigating a shooting Friday that left one dead and ﬁve hurt.

Pressure builds for U.K. prime minister to resign

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a career-defining decision: step down or ﬁght a possible challenge from Labour Party rival Andy Burnham.

Starmer has publicly vowed to stay in office, but pressure is building as more and more Labour Party colleagues conclude that his time is up. Expectation is growing that he will announce a timetable for his resignation as soon as Monday That’s the day Burnham will be sworn in as a lawmaker in the House of Commons after winning a special election last week

Business Secretary Peter Kyle said Sunday that Starmer is “making time to reﬂect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he ﬁnds himself in.”

“I know he is a prime minister who always puts his country first,” Kyle told the BBC, though he said that reports that Starmer will resign are “speculation.” Starmer is spending the weekend at Chequers, the country mansion used by prime ministers, with his family He gave no public hint about his decision, but sent a Father’s Day message on social media.

“Being a dad is my greatest joy Today, I’m thinking about my dad, and the father I am to my children because of him,” he wrote on X

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in even before an announcement, linking Starmer’s potential exit to two of his recurring bugbears: immigration

to lead both the party and the country “Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” he said.

“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”

and renewable energy

“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!).

I wish him well! President DJT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.

It was unclear whether Trump was responding to media reports about Starmer’s plans. The two leaders haven’t spoken over the weekend.

Starmer’s initially warm relationship with the president has soured in recent months over issues including the Iran war, which the U.K. didn’t join.

If Starmer quits, he will be the sixth prime minister to leave office in the past 10 years, an extraordinary rate of churn for the United Kingdom.

Discontent with the prime minister has been building for months, with Labour lawmakers desperate to reverse the government’s decline in popularity since Starmer led the center-left party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandaltarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.

Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party and facing a rising Reform UK, the Nigel Farage-led anti-immigration party that consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.

Burnham, until this week the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwestern England in a special election held Thursday He took almost 55% of the 45,510 votes cast, over 9,000 more than the Reform UK runner-up.

Now that Burnham is becoming a lawmaker, he’s in a position to challenge Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party Burnham’s acceptance speech left no doubt that he wants

THE DESERET NEWS PHOTO

Residents rush to evacuate Saturday as winds drive the Iron Fire toward Eureka, Utah.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks Friday with local residents as he visits a housing development in north London.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. “If there were any issues that deemed the bridge to be unsafe then the bridge would be closed immediately to trafﬁc.”

Guidroz described the current bridge as having “deficiencies across the spectrum” given its age. Those have led to the replacement, which broke ground in April after decades of work.

The new bridge has been a long topic of debate made more difﬁcult by the ground around the bridge being contaminated in an ethylene dichloride spill in the 1990s, spawning lawsuits and cleanup orders. The price tag of the new bridge has come in at $2.3 billion, but it will take at least ﬁve years before it’s ready for drivers. DOTD says that between 60,000 and 65,000 vehicles drive across the current one daily, a common route on I-10 between Louisiana and Houston.

The aging structure, though, has not necessarily been the culprit in most crashes The bridge had 432 crashes on it between 2018 and 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, according to DOTD. In roughly 27% of them, people were injured. That’s about the same percentage of people who were injured in wrecks on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge on I-10 over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge during the same time frame, though the Baton Rouge bridge experiences nearly twice as much daily volume.

On the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, which sees about 45,000 vehicles per day, there was a similar percentage of injuries in the 1,885 crashes 12 of which had fatalities during the same time frame.

Well-known New Orleans personal injury lawyer Morris Bart, whose firm handles cases across the state, said the Lake Charles bridge’s steep slope and narrow lanes can lead to rear-end collisions and side-swipes, which are the most common type of wrecks his firm litigates related to the bridge. His own reaction to driving over the bridge for the first time was that he couldn’t believe it was real and thought he must have made a wrong turn.

“In Louisiana, we’re not so used to driving up and down,” Bart said. “We like to drive ﬂat.”

The slope of the Lake Charles bridge can also make it tricky for ﬁrst responders

There are only two ways to get up the bridge in a firetruck, said Westlake Fire Chief Jonathan Duff, who has spent 25 years responding to emergencies on the bridge.

One option is for a firetruck to go up the bridge in the wrong direction, which Duff described as daunting even with an all-clear The other is to split traffic making a third lane and forcing vehicles to move out of the way to let a firetruck squeeze through the middle.

Sometimes, after an incident, crews must back a ﬁretruck down the bridge in reverse for nearly a mile.

“It’s something you never forget,” Duff said. “And it’s not something very many people get to do.”

Still, the pistol design on the bridge’s guardrails is so steeped in southwest Louisiana lore that Duff incorporated it into the Westlake Fire Department’s patch after becoming chief.

While responding to overnight incidents, Duff sometimes enjoys being on the top of the dark bridge and feeling its gentle sway as he looks out onto his hometown illuminated by the lights of chemical plants.

An old bridge

The Calcasieu River Bridge predates the nation’s interstate system.

Construction of the $10 million project began in 1948 and ﬁnished in 1952 to better carry trafﬁc on U.S. 90 over the river The 1.25-mile bridge reaches a 5% vertical grade, or slope, and peaks at 143 feet above the river

The steep grade has prompted concerns for ﬁrst responders as well as viral videos from out-of-towners.

Duff said firefighters occasionally have to walk the steep incline to the top of the bridge to respond to emergencies while wearing heavy equipment.

“That’s a crazy arch, a crazy angle,” Duff said. “If you’re not in good shape, you’ll wear yourself out.”

The bridge led to viral TikTok videos last year from British influencers Josh Cauldwell-Clarke and Jase Riley when they visited Lake Charles, describing it as an insane stairway to heaven.

“This thing looks like it’s going into space,” Riley said in the video.

Guidroz acknowledged the vertical grade as a concern, saying the grade, two-lane capacity, lack of shoulders and lack of lights are all issues on the bridge. They also can’t be solved through projects to improve the current bridge. The new bridge that’s under construction, however, is expected to have three wider travel lanes in each direction, shoulders on both sides of the roadway, better lighting and reach only 75 to 95 feet in height.

One final, major maintenance project for the current bridge is on deck to extend its life. The $1.71 million project should repair several components that allow the bridge to expand, contract, and support and distribute the weight of the roadway and the vehicles that drive on it It’s expected to begin in June and take more than a year to complete.

Despite those issues, Michael Shields, a professor in the Department of Civil & Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, said even aging and poorly rated bridges are relatively safe.

“Even a bridge that is classified as structurally deficient, the risk to the average driver is still very, very low,” Shields said.

Still, Shields said that the number of deﬁcient bridges across the country is a concern, and chances are higher that “something’s going to happen on one of those bridges somewhere.”

The Lake Charles bridge is inspected annually, though Guidroz said that if significant problems crop up between inspections, DOTD addresses them right away The average annual cost of maintaining the bridge from 2021 through 2025 was $21,500, he said.

Maintenance issues have caused some of its wrecks and closures over the years.

In 1981, a repair plate on an expansion joint punctured a truck’s fuel tank, causing a diesel spill that led to a 26-vehicle pileup. It killed three people and injured 18.

Decades later, in June 2024, a driver reported a piece of metal another joint

sticking up on the bridge and reported it to Westlake police. DOTD shut down the road for several hours to make emergency repairs.

‘A roller coaster’

Connie Matte, who lives in Moss Bluff, avoids the bridge after being stranded on it for hours during an ice storm.

In January 2024, she left earlyfromtheimagingcenter where she works as a nurse, hoping to avoid impending bad weather As she drove westbound on the bridge and tried to pass a stalled vehicle, another driver crashed into her SUV, propelling Matte into the stopped vehicle. Her Toyota 4Runner blocked both lanes and brought trafﬁc to a halt.

It would be about six hours before Matte, with the assistance of ﬁrst responders, could carefully drive her totaled vehicle down the icy bridge. In the meantime, she could feel the bridge busy with trafﬁc in the eastbound lanes — swaying over the Calcasieu River

“It took me several months before I could go over it again,” Matte said. “My husband was driving the first time I went over it again and I just cried and prayed.”

Westlake Police Chief Chris Wilrye said responding to tragedies on the bridge never becomes routine. He remembered a particularly difﬁcult one about a decade ago, when a box truck plunged off the eastbound side of the bridge, leading to a ﬁery crash.

The driver survived.

“You see a big old ball of ﬁre and see things going off the side,” Wilrye said. “You don’t know if there’s vehicles or people, so you got to hurry up and get there as quick as you can to make sure everyone’s safe.”

More recently, a bucket truck also flew from the bridge earlier this year in an incident that closed the right, westbound lane of the bridge for about five days while crews made emergency repairs to the guardrail. That driver also survived with minor injuries.

DOTD says the bridge did not have any fatal crashes from 2016 through 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. A motorcyclist died in a March 2025 crash on the bridge.

“It kind of reminds me of a roller coaster,” said attorney Spencer Gulden, whose ﬁrm

represents crash victims injured on the bridge. “It just goes up and comes back down It’s almost triangularshaped, which is very unusual.”

Nick Canaday, a retired attorney who grew up in Baton Rouge and now lives in Austin, said he noticed temporary railings and aging sections of the bridge during a recent trip through Lake Charles.

“When I see bridges like this bridge, I think, ‘I wish this is where we spent our money,’” Canaday said. “Because they’re scary and you know someday they’re going to collapse.”

New bridge, new tolls

After decades of studies, debates and delays, construction ﬁnally began this spring on the replacement bridge. The new bridge will be built through a public-private partnership that includes tolling — one of the most divisive aspects of the project.

Comeaux, the truck driver who survived the 2006 crash, opposes tolling the replacement bridge.

“That’s foolishness, if you ask me,” he said. “The state ought to furnish the roads to travel on.”

Others simply want the replacement built by any means necessary

Gerard Hill, who works at the Port of Lake Charles and crosses the bridge about once a week, said he supports tolling if it speeds up construction. In the meantime, Hill said he trusts the inspectors responsible for ensuring the safety of the existing bridge.

“If that’s what it takes to build a new bridge, I guess we have to deal with it,” Hill said. Through the guardrails

The Calcasieu River Bridge will remain the primary route for many drivers along I-10 for the foreseeable future. They include Comeaux, who does not avoid driving the bridge despite his dramatic wreck in 2006.

After he veered off the bridge then, Comeaux landed in a boat dock parking lot near the river’s shore. His truck burst into ﬂames and he unbuckled his seat belt, broke the window and crawled out of the cab. Two nearby crabbers helped pull him to safety His Supplier Services coworker Jack Powell, drove the other truck that collided with Comeaux’s on the bridge as they both tried to avoid the stalled taxi.

“I was watching the paramedics trying to bring him back,” Comeaux said. “They never could.” Comeaux went through treatment for burns and a broken hip, initially at a Lake Charles hospital, then at a Shreveport hospital. Although he spent six months in a wheelchair and a few more months in physical therapy, there’s now little to remind him of the crash in his day-to-day life. He struggles to curl his right toes or raise his heel after breaking his hip, but otherwise gets around just ﬁne. He hasn’t driven an 18-wheeler since the day he crawled out from the ﬂaming cab of one. And he wonders how many more people will soar through the guardrails of the existing bridge in the meantime.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

given a steep fundraising advantage and a long list of endorsements.

Polls suggest tight race

Still, a month after the primary two independent surveys by New Orleans pollster Greg Rigamer have shown that Fleming has closed the gap, and the race is now neckand-neck.

A poll of 600 likely Republican runoff voters taken June 15-16 by Rigamer showed Letlow with 40.2%, and Fleming with 38.2%.

That poll showed a slight gain by Letlow compared to a similar survey a week earlier by Rigamer that had Fleming leading, 40.3% to 37.7%.

Super lobbyist Alton Ashy, a Letlow supporter, paid for both polls.

Jay Dardenne, who won elections to the state Senate and to be secretary of state and lieutenant governor, cited his own election history to caution anyone from counting out Fleming.

In 1991, Dardenne trailed in the primary, 41%-48%, for a Baton Rouge seat in the state Senate. But he won the runoff, 52%-48%.

“The lesson is to never give up on a race where you appear to be trailing signiﬁcantly,” Dardenne said “On its face, you would say Julia is a heavy favorite given the margin. But it’s certainly possible to make up that differential based on my experience.”

Mea nw hi le, two Democrats are competing on Saturday for the Democratic nomination to face the Republican runoff winner in the Nov 3 general election They are Jamie Davis, a farmer from northeast Louisiana who led the May 16 primary with 45%, and Gary Crockett, a New Orleans business owner who captured 26% that day Davis has the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party and New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno.

Tiny turnout expected

The biggest question during the primary was whether Sen. Bill Cassidy could survive Trump’s effort to unseat him. With that settled, interest in the race has dropped sharply Early voting ﬁgures indicate that the overall turnout for the Saturday primary will be about 15%, down from the primary turnout of 28%.

The drop-off during early voting has been higher among Democrats than Republicans. Rigamer believes that’s because Democrats turned out to register their anger with Landry’s move on redistricting — which turned a Democrat congressional seat into a Republican one and delayed the congressional elections by voting against the governor’s constitutional amendments.

Despite their ideological differences, Letlow and Davis have one thing in common: Both have re-

LSU

Continued from page 1A

agreement Tuesday finalizing terms for sponsored research and jointly developed technology for the steel mill, set to begin operation in 2029.

The dollar amount of Hyundai’s investment in the state’s ﬂagship university remains to be determined, LSU ofﬁcials said.

“If you look over the 10year time, you could be talking about $50 to $100 million in research that might come up,” LSU Chancellor Jim Dalton said. “That would be an aspirational goal for us.” Dalton called the deal “the most comprehensive industry agreement partnership in LSU’s history.”

Gov Jeff Landry has championed the project as an economic development win.

Records show Louisiana, through the state, Entergy and local governments, offered approximately $2.6 billion in incentives to build the massive steel mill.

The size of those incentives and the secrecy with which they were negotiated, has drawn some criticism. And some local advocates have raised concerns about the plant’s environmental effects and its impact on the Black community of Modeste.

“LSU students should take note of this as a cautionary tale on how not to do business,” Anne Rolfes, direc-

fused to debate their opponent.

Letlow’s decision she also wouldn’t accept calls by Cassidy for televised debates during the primary has raised questions among some Republicans about her ability to think on her feet.

“She can’t talk about what she believes,” said Christy Haik, president of Louisiana Republican Assembly, a conservative grassroots group. “That’s what has given him (Fleming) the momentum he has maintained when people wrote him off.”

Davis rejected most recently an offer from host Will Sutton to debate Crockett on his WBOK-AM talk radio morning show in New Orleans.

Davis said he said no on the advice of his campaign attorney because Crockett has threatened to sue Davis over Crockett’s allegation that Davis workers tore up some of Crockett’s campaign signs.

Most of the attention lately has been focused on the Republican ledger because whoever captures the GOP runoff on Saturday will be expected to win a state where no Democrat has been elected to the Senate since 2008.

Letlow has big advantages

There’s plenty of information to indicate that Letlow will emerge victorious.

The candidates who Trump has endorsed in this election cycle nationally have mostly won their races. In addition, she and her outside supporters are spending much more money to get out her message.

The latest quarterly campaign ﬁnance reports ﬁled with the Federal Elections Commission, which cover April 27 thru June 7, show that Letlow raised $732,000 and had $1.7 million on hand.

Fleming raised only $86,000. How much money he still had is unclear because of his personal loans to the campaign.

Davis raised $665,000 and had $383,000 on hand

Crockett missed the June 15 reporting deadline He blamed “a technical issue” with his computer but said he ﬁled the report Wednesday, and it would show that he raised less than $50,000.

Two outside groups are spending heavily to elect Letlow

One is The Accountability Project, and it is led by Jay Connaughton and Jason Hebert, who have worked for Landry The group is organized so it doesn’t have to disclose its donors.

In one ad, The Accountability Project showed a video clip of Fleming from 2008 to make it seem as if he supports undocumented immigrants coming across the border

The ad cut off the video so viewers didn’t see what followed: Fleming immediately corrected himself

An artiﬁcial intelligence-created ad showed Fleming driving a bus full of illegal aliens.

“I don’t care about which ad you’re looking at, there isn’t any truth in any of it,” Fleming told a group of 50 people in Covington last week

He noted that he scored a 96% rating from Numbers USA, which favors strict controls on legal and illegal immigration, from when he served in the House from 2009-16.

The group gives Letlow an 80%

tor of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, said in a statement Tuesday “The state of Louisiana is giving Hyundai $191 million for land and infrastructure, with over a billion dollars more in ﬁnancial support and tax relief. Now, Hyundai gets to paste its name all over LSU.”

Tuesday’s deal irons out intellectual property, publications and other details of the partnership so that LSU can contribute research with commercial application.

“We see this not as a simple agreement but as the beginning of a long-term collaboration built on trust, mutual respect and shared goals,” Hyundai Steel Senior Vice President and R&D Division Head Yoo-dong Chung said.

“Through this partnership, we hope to work closely together in the years ahead, particularly in the field of joint research and development.

‘Next-generation facility

The facility will be the ﬁrst steel plant of its kind in the U.S. using a fully integrated electric arc furnace, or EAF, Hyundai Steel said. EAFs use electric arcs to generate the extreme temperatures needed to melt steel, which occurs at over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

“This next-generation facility will reduce carbon emissions by up to 70% compared to traditional blast furnaces,” local Hyundai Steel spokesperson Blanche Gallagher

score.

Another group, American Mission, is spending up to $2.7 million to promote Letlow, according to AdImpact, which is tracking election spending.

The group supports light regulation of AI and data centers, according to press accounts.

“She’ll secure American energy dominance, unleash American innovation and always stand will law enforcement,” an announcer says in the ad in which Trump appears twice endorsing Letlow

“The United States cannot allow China to outpace us in AI, and Washington should not smother American innovation with heavy-handed rules that drive jobs, investment and technological leadership overseas,” Letlow said in a statement, adding that “AI must not be used to exploit kids.”

In an interview, Fleming said he supports data centers coming to Louisiana but insisted that they not use so much water or electricity to drive up costs for residential customers. He also expressed concern that AI could be used to create “a police state” in the United States.

Another metric suggesting Letlow will win: She has the endorsement of a majority of state House and Senate Republicans, along with U.S Rep. Steve Scalise and U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins.

With that and Trump’s support, Letlow is the quasi-incumbent, said Aaron Broussard, who won 12 elections without a loss in Jefferson Parish.

“A low turnout has an incumbent advantage,” he said. “The incumbent has a machine, a network. Incumbents get the endorsements of other incumbents, so they get that support, too.”

But, added Broussard, “that matters only if they activate their base.”

Fleming’s highest proﬁle endorsement comes from Moon Griffon, the Lafayette-based conservative talk radio show host. Griffon organized and moderated the only debate during the campaign on May 5 Letlow said she agreed to the event because Griffon’s listeners would likely be Republican primary voters.

Cassidy voters

For Dardenne, the key question is: Who will the Cassidy voters favor?

Continued from page 1A

“They would do better to be careful about their statements,” Iran’s lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said on X after Trump’s comments. “Our armed forces are prepared to respond to them in a different manner. They may keep talking, it is we who act.”

Iranian state media said talks had entered a “difficult phase” and recessed after the “publication of an insulting message by the U.S. President.” The Iranian delegation then met with Qatari mediators and left the negotiating site, state media said.

Vance and U.S. negotiators including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had met with Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for what Iranian state media said was about 80 minutes. It was not clear when they might meet again.

An ofﬁcial with knowledge of the talks later told the AP the Iranian delegation remained engaged in the talks and has not indicated to mediators any intention to leave. The ofﬁcial requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon

Negotiators are in a 60-day sprint to reach an agreement on the technical details that hold massive implications for the world economy and global security

“The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf?” Vance said as the talks began, and asked whether they could “change relations in the Middle East permanently.”

The U.S. wants Iran locked into negotiations over its nuclear program amid concerns it may be used for military purposes, which Iran denies. Vance also wants Tehran to commit to keeping open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran on Saturday claimed to close. The U.S. has disputed that, saying shipping trafﬁc continued Sunday

and paves the way for Iran to tap into billions of dollars in assets that are currently frozen A member of Iran’s negotiating team told state television that draft wording was reached about “temporary sanctions waivers for oil and petroleum derivatives.”

The agreement also calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were targeted in U.S. strikes a year ago.

Pezeshkian, however, declared Sunday that “we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” according to Iran’s state media.

Trump, in a telephone interview with Fox News, later warned that the Iranian president should watch what he says and threatened to take over Iran, in comments relayed by a Fox correspondent.

Iran had cautiously approached the talks given its previous experience with U.S. negotiations on the nuclear issue, which twice in the past year were interrupted by military strikes.

Deal controversy

Vance has said he planned to be in Switzerland for “a day or two,” leaving much of the detailed negotiations to be led by Witkoff and Kushner His role in the talks has heightened scrutiny at a time when he’s considering a 2028 presidential campaign.

“The strong pro-Cassidy voters who are chronic voters — some will go with Fleming, and some will go with Letlow,” Dardenne said “Cassidy supporters who are moderates may vote for Fleming because he’s not Trump-endorsed. Somebody who thinks that Julia has the potential to be more independent post-Trump will go with her given that Fleming is more conservative.”

Fleming had a fired-up crowd when he spoke to a group last week night that opposes carbon capture and sequestration.

“He has been with us from the very beginning,” said Brad LeBlanc, a veteran geologist who said the proposed pipelines and storage facilities present a grave danger because of the likelihood they would leak carbon dioxide.

said in an email.

While the specific design of this plant is new electric arc furnaces are playing an increasingly important role in steelmaking — they are present in over 70% of steel production in the U.S. today, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Twilley said much of LSU’s research and development for the steel mill will concern how to produce steel with less carbon output.

“That’s one of the first things that we will be working on,” Twilley said.

Inside the partnership

LSU officials noted the agreement allows the corporation and the university to work together efﬁciently with concerns such as intellectual property and talent exchange already addressed

“It frees us and them, frankly of the fact that they’re large multinational, and we’re a large public entity,” said Greg Trahan, LSU assistant vice president of strategic research partnerships. “Sometimes it’s hard to get those things to unify.”

Twilley said the partnership will allow LSU to bring on additional faculty, launch new academic programs and create student internships afﬁliated with the steel plant.

LSU has identiﬁed metallurgy in particular as an area of opportunity, he said.

“This is mission-oriented research, if you will,” Twilley said. “It’s research to meet

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told the state news agency that Tehran first wants talks to focus on the conflict in Lebanon. A renewed ceasefire in Lebanon, brokered on Saturday, appeared to be holding, and Israel’s military said it would lift movement restrictions for residents near the border with Lebanon on Monday morning — another sign of calm.

But neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the U.S.-Iran deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing.

Sharp words exchanged

The agreement signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil freely

the issues associated with the industry, so they will have a large say on these types of projects.”

It also brings the university closer to its goal of becoming a top 50 research spender under the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey he said.

Trump and Vance have come under searing criticism from parts of their own party for the deal, with Republican hardliners unfavorably likening it to the nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration that Trump and Republicans have insisted did nothing to terminate Iran’s nuclear program.

The new agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without charge, but does not preclude future fees imposed by Iran. Trump made his own threat Saturday to levy U.S. tolls if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, insisting that the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Achieving the informal top 50 distinction has been a major theme of Dalton and LSU system President Wade Rousse’s time in ofﬁce since they took the helm last November

The deal with Hyundai Steel reﬂects how universities should approach raising money for research in the current higher education landscape, Twilley said.

“You’ve been hearing about the turbulence that’s happening around getting those grants,” Twilley said. “One of the most important pivots that university research programs need to make is to build that connectivity with industry.”

Cassidy

Davis

Crockett

REUTERS PHOTO By NATHAN HOWARD Vice President JD Vance, right, meets with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during high-level talks at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne in Switzerland, on Sunday

Heat wave bakesparts of Europe

France restricts public alcohol consumptionand outdoorsports

BY OLEG CETINIC and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press

PARIS France endured sizzling temperatures on Sunday, withtrains, concerts and sports events canceled and authorities cracking down on drinking alcohol in public, as an exceptional heat wave unfurled across parts of Europe. Multipledrowningswere reported as people sought relief in whatever water they could ﬁnd.

About athirdofFrance is under a“red alert” for heat, and high temperatures reached 104insome areas, in acountry where air conditioning isn’twidespread

The forecast for Monday is even hotter

The Eiffel Tower and other Paris venues set up misting stations to cooldown crowds. Tourists in Rome dunked in fountains

Over the last four years, more than 200,000people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of the fatalitieswere preventable, the World Health Organization’sEurope ofﬁce said this month.

Moreabove-averagetemperatures are expected this summer,which can cause heat exhaustionand lifethreatening heat stroke.

Human-causedclimate changeistied to increasing extreme weather,and U.N. climate agency projections say the next ﬁve years should shatter more heatrecords. Arapid study found that human-caused climate change was responsible for killing about1,500 peoplein an unusually early European heat wave in May

In this latest European hot spell, Frenchmedia reported that four children drowned Saturday.Summer drownings are an annual problem that health authorities say worsens during hot

spells. One mandrownedin southwestern Germany and three others were missing afterswimminginthe Rhine River, the Germannews agency dpa reported.

CanalSaint Martin in Paris drewthrongs Sunday splashingand diving off abridge, despite authorities’ attempts to control the crowds.

“With this heat, it’sthe only way to have fun while going out,”swimmer Nicolas Cruz told The Associated Press.

Zouzou Hobbs was skeptical at ﬁrst of swimming in the murky urbancanal

“But it’shot. I’m going to risk it,” she decided. “We need to cool off before tonight when we’re gonna be dancing.”

France’sannual Music Day on Sundaywas of particular concern. Thenationwide summersolstice celebration involves thousands of concerts in village squares, ravevenues and Paris clubs, bringing communities together andincreasingly drawing British and other international visitors. Some concerts were canceled.

The French government banned drinking booze in “red alert” zones, and orderedorganizers of music day events to limit alcohol consumption to “preserve emergencyservices andal-

lowmedics to concentrate on taking care of the most vulnerable.”

Authorities are notably worried about people living in the baking streets, and elderly people in nursing homes or isolated in their homes.About 15,000 older people died in France in a 2003 heat wave that became anational reckoning.

Thegovernmentmobilized emergency services and military forces for reinforced wildﬁre readiness, imposed tightenedsurveillance of water supplies to France’smany nuclear reactors, andordered 845 schools toclose Monday Spain kicked off the summer with large parts of the country on alert because of temperaturesexpected to hover around 104 —even in theinterior of the Basque region, an area in the north of thecountry,which typicallyexperiences cooler temperatures. Authorities have suspended outdoor sportsand cultural activities in the region. The heat wave is expected to scorch Spain at least through Wednesday In Italy,authorities expanded heat warnings referred to locally as “red ﬂags” —toeight cities Sunday in northern and central parts of the country.Temperatures there are mostly

in the high 90s to low 100s.

At one farm outside Milan, ownersset up fans and sprinklers to keep cows cool, while visitors to Milan Fashion Week huddled under parasols and clutched fans. In Rome, touristsdunked their arms and occasionally their faces into the city’s famed fountain pools. German meteorologists areforecasting temperatures of up to 98 for Monday and Tuesday,and up to 102 on Wednesday

The U.K. weather office hasissued an “extreme heat”warningfor much of southern England andparts of Wales from Monday until Thursday,saying temperaturescould reach 100. The current record for aJune day is 96, reached in 1976. Thunderstorms also threatened regions in Germanyand Poland.

French Prime Minister SébastienLecornu is convening anew government heat crisis meeting Sunday andorderedgovernment ministers to planfor better adaptingFrancetoheat waves in the future —including “via air conditioning, if necessary.”

Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw,Poland, Jill Lawless in London, and Teresa Medrano in Madrid, contributed to this report.

Civilian fuel sales halted in Crimea afterUkraine attacks

By The Associated Press

Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea suspended civilian gasolinesales Sunday as Ukraine ramped up attacksonfuelsupplies on the Black Sea peninsula.

Gov.Sergey Aksyonov,the Kremlin-appointedheadof Crimea, said that overnight Ukrainian strikes killed four people andwounded28others. He did notspecify the target of theattack

He laterwrote on social media that local gas stations would halt all sales to nonstate companiesand individualsfor an undeﬁned period.

“Fuel will be sold only to government agencies that ensure the functioning and security of the Republic of Crimea,” Aksyonov said. “I askeveryonetoremain calm and to only trust official sourcesofinformation.”

Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted fuel supplies to Crimea in recent weeks, triggering the worst energy crisis in the region since it wasillegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in astatement Sunday that aCrimean oil depot, as well as an oiltransport facilityin Russia’ssouthern Krasnodar region were among the targets. He described the attacks as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russia’senergy infrastructure.

“Russia understands only strength, and our longrange strength is certainly workingfor peace,”he wrote.

Russian ofﬁcialsinKrasnodar reported earlier Sunday that adrone strike sparkeda ﬁre at aBlack Sea oil terminal in the village of Chushka. They said that Ukrainian attacks struck a ferry,killing one person.

The Crimean peninsula has had periodic fuel shortages from Ukrainian strikes

Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine.

before, but the current crisis is the worst since its 2014 annexation. At the end of May,authoritiesrestricted the sale of gas to 5gallons per vehicle owner per week, using prepaid coupons. Those were snapped up immediately following their release on an official messaging app channel, and motorists lined up for hours, waiting to refuel.

Social networks have been abuzz with requests and adviceonwhere to find fuel,and authorities launcheda hotline fortourists in theareawho have found themselves trapped. Some motoristsbring their own gas from Krasnodar and elsewhere via the Kerchbridge, but they are restricted to carryingabout 26½gallons per vehicle. Some speculators are selling gas at double the market price. In arare public acknowledgment, the Kremlin has recognized the scope of the problem and promised to address the issue quickly

However, Ukraine’ssuccesses havehighlighted its ability to inﬂict painful damageonRussia andchange the course of the conflict while Moscow’sadvances recently have ground to a near halt. On June 11, Russia’s full-scaleinvasionof Ukraine reached its 1,569th day, surpassing theduration of World WarI

KennedyCentersaysitisn’t required to reschedule shows

Filing comesafter judgeblocks 2-year closure

BY STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Kennedy Center’s management isn’tmakingacommitment to scheduling new shows or building up its staff even as the performing arts venue considers options short of a full two-year closurethata federal judge blocked last month. In acourtfiling Friday, Kennedy Center lawyers said the institution plans to “maintain an operational model” after the July 5date when it was initially scheduled to shutter forrenovations. Under that status, the Kennedy Center’spublic

Atarpcovers the sign on the side of the John F. Kennedy Center for the PerformingArtsonFridayinWashington, after President DonaldTrump’snamewas removed from the building

spaces will still be accessible but the stages may largely be silent.

Colombians vote in presidential runoff

BY REGINA GARCIA CANO and ASTRID SUÁREZ Associated Press

BOGOTA,Colombia Deeply divided Colombians voted fortheir next president in arunoff Sunday that pitted aprogressive against aconservative outsider, both of whom tapped into fears of arenewed internal conﬂict

The options before voters were business owner and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriellaand Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President GustavoPetro, the nation’s ﬁrst leftist leader

The two defeated nine other contenders in aMay 31 vote. Both pitched strategies that they said will prevent the South American country from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements, that Colombians lived with in

previous decades. De la Espriella proposed a heavy-handed approach that earned him the endorsement of President Donald Trump Cepeda promised to continue Petro’sefforts, including attempts at establishingdialoguewithmultipleillegal armed groups even though thoseefforts have largely failed

“Wehave had an armed conﬂictand adrug trafﬁcking problem for too long, and this has greatly polarized the country,” retired economist Víctor Duque, 72, said while wearinga nationalsoccer team jersey at avoting centerinthe capital, Bogota.“I believe it is one ofthe most important elections that has taken placeinColombia this century.”

Colombian flags, waved from cars, and soccer jerseys dotted pollingstations and surrounding affluent neighborhoods of Bogotá. The jersey,popular due to

theWorld Cup, has been used as acampaign symbol by de la Espriella anddefendedincourt after Cepeda criticized its use. In the ﬁrstround, Cepeda earned 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella garnered44%, according to ofﬁcial results. Petro,without evidence, sowed doubts in theresults after Cepeda, whohad consistently lead polls ahead of the May vote, did not win outright and even finished behind de la Espriella.

Petro reiterated his allegationsonSunday “Wemust protect the vote, undoubtedly,”hesaid shortly before polls opened.

His movementwill provide details about“all theaccounts andfunds that were transacted from abroad,” Petro added. Actors, whom he did notidentify,“tried to enslave the people of Colombia by taking away their freedom to decide.

“The Court’sorder did not affirmatively requirethe Board to reschedule programming that hadpreviously been cancelled or to seeknew programming,”the lawyers wroteinthe ﬁling. TheKennedy Center has been forced to reassess its plans after aMay ruling from U.S.DistrictJudge ChristopherCooperupended manynotable moves imposedbya board dominated by President DonaldTrump’s allies.Cooper said Trump’s namewas illegally added to thebuilding and ordered it taken down. He blocked the closure and gave the institution’sleadership —along with Rep. Joyce Beatty,DOhio, an ex-officioboard memberwho filedthe lawsuit —until Friday to provide

astatus update. Thevenue said its management would presentthe boardwith severalrenovation options to consider for avote. The options would include acomplete closure or apartialclosure thatwould allow “somecontinued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. Athird option would “considera highly limited series of phased closures to address only theCenter’s mostserious infrastructure needswhile scheduling and maintaining afull slate of programming.”

Kennedy Center lawyers said therecommendations have not been ﬁnalized and avote would happeninmidJuly Beatty’slawyers, mean-

while, arguedthe Kennedy Center hasn’tfully complied with Cooper’s order.While Trump’snamehas been removed from the building, they took issuewitha tarp that wasput in place to cover the areas where the letters had been installed. There appears to be no immediate effort to remove the tarp. Theyalsoarguedthat without making an effort to return to some formof programming, the Kennedy Center would effectivelybe closing the institutiondespite Cooper’sruling.

“Having gutted staff and programming, Defendants believe they can sitback andallow theirpre-planned shutdowntocommence,” Beatty’slawyers wrote in the ﬁling.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHEL EULER

People cool off in awater sprayonSaturday at the Eiffel TowerinParis.

PROVIDED PHOTO AUkrainiansoldier practices on Saturday at atraining ground near the frontlineinthe

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

Louisiana allows telehealth obesitycare

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

As GLP-1 medications have revolutionized the treatmentofobesity over thelast severalyears and become increasingly available, Louisiana has lifted a ban on treating the condition via telehealth.

Twopill versions of the medications Foundayo and Wegovy are now approved by the Food and Drug Administration for obesity and weightloss, along with injectables like Zepbound

“The demand is real,” said Dr.Clayton Runfalo, afamily medicine doctor in the Baton Rouge metro area who cares for patients with obesity.“Up until now, the supply has been achallenge.”

For years in Louisiana, doctors had been banned from treating obesity via telehealth under old state regulations that targeted the prescription of certain stimulants, like theappetite suppressant phentermine, acontrolled substance that has the potential for abuse or addiction.

But with the advent of GLP-1 weight loss medications, which are not classiﬁed as controlled substances, doctors say the prohibition is no longer needed.

“We’ve come along way in the treatment of obesity,” Runfalo said.

Sen. Patrick McMath, RCovington, who sponsored

Senate Bill 30, now Act 345, which lifted thetelehealth ban, noted that Louisiana has the third-highest obesity rate in thecountry In Louisiana, 40% of adults are obese, meaning they have abody mass index, or BMI, of at least 30,accordingtodatafrom theCenters forDisease Control and Prevention.

“Tonot have allthe possible tools in place from a healthcare standpoint to address thehighobesityrates in Louisiana is just silly,” McMath said

The new law lifting the telehealthban forobesity treatmenttook effect in May

“It’sawin for patients, because it’sjust one more avenue of access between themand their physicians,” Runfalo said.

Telehealth is “a valuable tool” thatdoctors have increasingly leaned into since the COVIDpandemic,Runfalosaid. The new lawrecognizes that technology is now being used in ways that 10 years ago were beyond imagination, he said.

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The LouisianaState Board of Medical Examiners, which licenses and regulates doctors in thestate, has a blanketrule prohibiting doctors fromusing telemedicine to treat obesity,but it can no longer be enforced under Act 345. Boardrules also prohibit thetreatmentofchronic pain and the prescription of controlled substancesvia telehealth.

During apublic hearing on thelegislation this spring, Patricia Wilton, executive council for the

BoardofMedical Examiners, acknowledged the rule related to obesity is outdated and needs to be changed. She said the organization is in the processofdrafting a new set of regulations related to obesity after soliciting feedback from experts in the ﬁeld.

McMathsaidthat theprocess has been going on for over ayear,and regulators haven’tbeen acting with the sense of urgency needed to address Louisiana’s “skyhigh obesity rates.” The board did not respond to requests forcomment.

Dr.Philip Schauer,a surgeon andobesityexpert, said it’s important that doctors are able to treat obesity like other conditions.

“Obesity is adisease,” he said. “It’sachronicillness, just like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and it should be managed similar to these other chronic illnesses.”

The law speaks to the fact that obesity is no longer being treated like acharacter ﬂaw or alack of willpower, said Schauer,who is the director of theMetamor Metabolic InstituteinBaton Rouge, apartnership between LSU’sPennington Biomedical Research Center and Our Lady of the Lake.

“It’sa legitimate illness, anditdeservestobe treated in the same manner other chronic illnesses do,” he said.Allowing for telehealth treatmentis“ahuge step in the right direction,” he said.

Both Schauerand Runfalo said they prefer to meet with patients for obesity treatment for the ﬁrst time face-to-face.

“Our initial visit is usually in person, and it very well should be,” Runfalo said, adding that is best for aphysical examination and taking accurate measurements. But the two doctors also said telehealth works well forfollow-up visits andcan help morepeople access the care they need.

“Hopefully,moreand morepeople are going to get evidence-based treatment,” Schauer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Poll asks Americans’ opinion of Trump’s handling of Iran

BY LINLEY SANDERS and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Most Americans continue to disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling Iran, while his overall presidential approval holds steady, according to a new APNORC poll that was conducted as he suggested a deal with Iran had been reached. The poll points to just how unpopular the war, which began Feb. 28, has been with Americans even as the Republican president turned abruptly from threatening Iran to reopening negotiations. Support for his handling of the war remains lopsidedly partisan. About two-thirds, 65%, of U.S. adults disapprove of how Trump is handling issues with Iran. But while the vast majority of Democrats and independents view Trump’s actions negatively, only 28% of Republicans are unhappy Americans’ views on how the president is handling Iran are roughly in line with his overall job approval, which stands at 37%, unchanged from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in May

The new survey was conducted June 11-17, just after Trump called off threats to escalate the war with Iran. The poll was fielded as Trump announced a deal with Iran and authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, concluding just before the deal was signed Wednesday

Approval of Trump’s ac-

tions on Iran has been low over the past few months.

But in interviews, some Republicans also weren’t pleased with the outcome of this week’s agreement, which gives Iran an immediate beneﬁt, allowing it to sell its oil freely again. The deal also reopens the strait without tolls for two months, restarts talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program and calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium

David Farrington, a 79-year-old Republicanleaning independent in Fort Worth, Texas, “doesn’t have any love lost” for Iran, but he’s frustrated the agreement focused on the strait and didn’t deliver more on the country’s nuclear weapons program.

“Any agreement regarding the strait is hardly what I would consider a recognizable concession on the part of Iran,” Farrington said. “So, I consider that some ﬂuff that attempts to make this agreement look better when it’s not.”

Approval on Iran flat

Only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Iran in the new poll, in line with May

Donald McBride, a 28-year-old independent in Plano, Texas, is frustrated that Trump has not maintained his campaign promise to keep America out of foreign wars. McBride voted for Trump but he opposed going to war with Iran

“I would like the war to

end,” he said. “The original objective of the war was to end the Iranian regime, and that’s just not possible. I don’t really know why we’d continue ﬁghting.”

The poll suggests most Americans want action in Iran to wrap up. Even with an agreement on the horizon, 53% of U.S. adults said American military action against Iran had “gone too far,” only a slight decline from 59% in March.

About 4 in 10 Republicans, though, said in the latest poll that action has been “about right,” and 37% said it had not gone far enough.

Joan Jones, a 64-year-old independent in northwest Florida, believes the United States’ actions in Iran have

been necessary to address the threat Iran posed.

“Those attacks are ultimately to protect us from nuclear attacks,” Jones said. “I think we have to go through that and eliminate that worry so we don’t have that hovering over us.”

Approach to Israel

About one-third, 34%, of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Israel. Tensions have been rising between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump as the president criticizes recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which jeopardized negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

James Huffman, a 69-year-

Conservationist mourned in Lebanon

Woman killed after Israeli strike

BY SALLY ABOU ALJOUD and ALI SHARAFEDDINE Associated Press

BEIRUT Mourners gathered Sunday in Beirut to pay their respects to a much-loved Lebanese conservationist who died after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on her home on the country’s southern coast.

Mona Khalil, who spent more than two decades protecting sea turtles along Lebanon’s coastline, was critically injured in the strike on her home in the village of Mansouri earlier this month and died of her wounds Friday She was 76. The Orange House, which Khalil helped build into a small conservation hub and ecotourism site in Mansouri, became a refuge for endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles and a training ground for volunteers documenting nesting activity along the coast. News of her death triggered an outpouring of grief among environmentalists and those who volunteered and worked with her over the years.

Journalist and environmental activist Fadia Jomaa ﬁrst met Khalil in 2016 while researching sea turtles in Lebanon and then decided to volunteer with her project For the volunteers, “this relationship didn’t stop at being a volunteering rela-

HUSSEIN MALLA

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By

Mona Khalil, a Lebanese conservationist who died on Friday after being wounded in an Israeli strike on her home on Lebanon’s southern coast, releases baby sea turtles in Mansouri village near Tyre city, south Lebanon, in July 2018.

tionship Mona became our mother,” Jomaa said Jomaa became one of Khalil’s closest collaborators, eventually helping manage the sea turtle conservation project with her She also brought her own children to volunteer, introducing them to the work of protecting nesting turtles and hatchlings along Lebanon’s southern coast

During the previous war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2024, Khalil initially refused to leave Al-Mansouri beach, Jomaa said. The Lebanese army ultimately persuaded her to evacuate for her safety “She was the last one to leave the area,” Jomaa said. “She had an awful time in Beirut,” Jomaa said, adding that Khalil longed to return to the south, to the Orange

House and the beach she had spent years protecting.

Another Israel-Hezbollah war erupted in March. Hezbollah ﬁred across the border into Israel on March 2, two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked its ally, Iran.

Khalil could have left Lebanon altogether She held Dutch as well as Lebanese citizenship, having lived in the Netherlands before returning to Lebanon and settling in what had once been her grandmother’s home — the building that would later become known as the Orange House.

But she refused to leave her home again.

“She said I am a civilian, I have no weapons, I will shut my door,” Jomaa said.

On June 4, an Israeli strike hit her home. Khalil and her domestic worker were rushed to the hospital. It was

not clear what the intended target of the strike was.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Khalil “was not a target of the IDF” and that “there is no known IDF strike in which she was injured,” but added that “strikes were conducted in the area after the IDF issued evacuation warnings.” It said it “deeply regrets any harm caused to civilians and remains committed to operating in accordance with international law.”

Khalil’s condition initially appeared hopeful after surgery, Jomaa said, but she succumbed to her wounds two weeks later

“It is a great loss for conservation, for the country, and for all of us who cared about the sea and the natural heritage of Lebanon,” said Johnny Baaklini, a former volunteer at the Orange House who worked closely with Khalil.

Like Jomaa he recalled that Khalil “treated us, the conservation advocates, like her kids.”

“It feels impossible to describe the impact Mona personally had on me and on so many other young naturalists,” he said.

old Republican in Medway, Ohio, thinks Trump is taking the wrong strategy when it comes to Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu is not going to do everything Trump wants. He’s going to do what he wants,” Huffman said. “I just don’t think it’s effective.”

Economy

About one-third of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s approach to the economy

That’s in line with last month, and continues a challenging stretch for Trump on the issue.

Jones, the Florida independent, is more optimistic than most. She said she can hardly leave the house some hours without getting

stuck in the trafﬁc of tourists headed to the beach on vacation. She also spots lines around the block for Starbucks, McDonalds and Chick-fil-A in her community — all signs to her that the economy is doing well overall.

“I think President Trump’s policies are contributing to a better economy,” Jones said. Other Republicans are more skeptical, a troubling sign for a president who prides himself on his business acumen. Only 69% of Republicans approve of how he’s handling the economy slightly lower than the 78% who approve of how he’s handling the presidency overall.

Patricia Bailey, a 42-yearold Republican in Parkersburg, West Virginia, sees an economy where prices have gotten out of control. “I just said the other night, ordering pizza is for rich people,” she said. Bailey voted for Trump but added, “He’s kind of let me down a little bit.” Even if high prices preceded Trump, Bailey doesn’t think he’s lived up to his pledge to improve the economy

“I think he got so distracted with the war that he forgot some old promises,” she said.

The AP-NORC poll of 3,040 adults was conducted June 11-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, key ﬁgure of the Cuban Revolution, dies

BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ Associated Press

HAVANA, Cuba Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, a former vice president and a key ﬁgure of the Cuban Revolution who fought alongside Fidel Castro, died Sunday, the Communist Party and Cuba’s government said. He was 94.

Valdés was one of the closest allies of Fidel and his brother Raúl Castro since the 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks that marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. He remained an influential ﬁgure in the following decades.

The joint statement did not provide details on the cause of death.

“Ramiro Valdés Menéndez deserves the respect and admiration of the Cuban people for his dedication and proven loyalty to the revolutionary cause,” said the statement published by the official news portal Cubadebate.

On X, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Valdés’ death hurt like the loss of a father

“Every act in Commander Ramiro’s life was marked by his absolute loyalty to the leadership of Fidel and

By The Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia Ethiopia’s ruling party has maintained an overwhelming majority in parliament following the June 1 election, according to ﬁnal results on Sunday Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party won 438 seats out of 501 in the House of Representatives, the National Election Board of Ethiopia said. The new parliament is expected to convene in October to reelect Abiy for another ﬁveyear term.

The election was marred by a crackdown on dissent Insecurity in the Oromia and Amhara regions resulted in 143 polling stations failing to open, the election board said. Fighting between the Fano armed group and the federal government in Amhara, and the Oromo Liberation Army rebels in Oromia, has been the main cause of instability as the government seeks to disarm the groups Turnout was 94% More than 50 million people, out of Ethiopia’s estimated population of

at 94

Raúl,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said. Valdés was born April 28, 1932, in the western city of Artemisa. He was 21 when he joined Fidel Castro’s 1953 attack on the Moncada military barracks, the opening act of the revolution that would eventually overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista. Valdés later fought under the command of legendary guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara and became one of the few rebels to hold the honorary title of Commander of the Revolution. He was also awarded the title “Hero of the Republic of Cuba.” Valdés fell out with Fidel Castro while serving as interior minister in 1986 and was considered out of the main circle of power until 2003, when he rejoined the Council of State. In 2006, Raul Castro chose Valdés to lead the telecommunications ministry in his first major decision after taking over presidential powers from his convalescing brother, Fidel. Three years later, Valdés was elevated to vice president.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By VADIM GHIRDA

President Donald Trump takes questions Wednesday during a news conference at the end of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.

Audibelis NOW Offering...

S&WB, Entergy point fingers on failure

Power complex for drainage system didn’t work

BY BEN MYERS Staff writer

The Sewerage & Water Board

and Entergy pointed ﬁngers at one another over the weekend in trying to explain why a new $300 million power complex for the drainage system failed its ﬁrst major test during Tropical Storm Arthur just days earlier

The S&WB said a voltage drop from a new Entergy substation

Records detail NOPD officer’s firing

57-year veteran accused of aggression toward superior

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

More than a dozen law enforcement leaders were gathered around a conference table a few days before Thanksgiving last year at the New Orleans Police Department headquarters, going through a “tabletop exercise” ahead of the Bayou Classic.

Deputy Chief Nicholas Gernon asked one of the NOPD’s longestserving ofﬁcers about barricades.

The question did not agree with Maj. Raymond Burkart Jr., a 57year NOPD veteran. His aggressive response and subsequent lack of remorse were enough to get him ﬁred, Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick wrote this month in a blistering termination letter that The Times-Picayune obtained through a public records request.

Burkart, 78, told Gernon repeatedly to call another ofﬁcer for the answer and swore loudly under his breath “This is f****** stupid,” the chief wrote.

As the Nov 24 meeting wrapped, Burkart charged at Gernon, according to the chief, shouting and pointing his ﬁnger in what Kirkpatrick called a “tirade” before being ushered out a door

The eruption required “physical intervention to prevent you from physically assaulting Chief Gernon and to escort you from the room,” Kirkpatrick wrote in the nine-page letter dated June 5.

“Your behavior toward Chief Gernon at this multiagency tabletop exercise, was not just unprofessional, but insubordinate, insolent, and with a high probability of assaultive behavior, but for the prompt intervention” of two other ofﬁcers she wrote.

Kirkpatrick accused Burkart of being untruthful to an investigator and unremorseful before a panel of chiefs that upheld the violations against him. Burkart’s termination was effective June 6, and he can appeal it to the Civil Service Commission. He could not be reached for comment

Thursday

According to Kirkpatrick, Burkart had suggested that “Gernon’s question was a trap, because he was just trying to find something you could not answer.” He’d also claimed he “was not invited to participate” in the exercise. “Nor was I told I was going to participate. I was attending.”

Burkart said he “didn’t approach Chief Gernon at all I was leaving” when he allegedly tried to attack

dedicated to drainage pumps caused its equipment to trip ofﬂine for more than half an hour, cutting power to seven major drainage pump stations. S&WB said the settings require a minimum voltage level to operate, and that it is reconsidering whether the substation can be relied on during serious storms.

“We refer to Entergy on the speciﬁcs of this incident and how the severe storm and tornado condi-

tions impacted their equipment and the delivery of power to our substation. We also refer to them regarding the power quality standards that they typically maintain,” S&WB spokesperson Ceara Labat said in an email.

Entergy said in a statement that the settings on S&WB equipment were not selected appropriately, and that it has “advised the S&WB to adjust their equipment settings appropriately.”

“We remain committed to delivering reliable power to support their plant,” the statement said.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur presented the ﬁrst major test of the new power complex, a long heralded upgrade meant to eliminate power losses to the city’s century-old drainage pumps that have contributed to repeated ﬂooding over the years.

The failure only resulted in minor flooding in Lakeview, but it triggered fresh worry over a problem thought to be solved while the S&WB addresses other systemic

vulnerabilities. New Orleans received a relatively modest 2.6 inches of rain on Thursday, while surrounding areas got as much as three times that amount.

“It is incredibly concerning,” District A council member Aimee McCarron said in an interview on Thursday afternoon. “What is going to happen if we have a bigger storm?”

The complex is centered on a new Entergy substation, which sends modern power from the

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

ABOVE: Anthony Brown stands with his bike, complete with hand grenade drinking containers. LEFT: Charniya Ross rides

mini dirt bike with

niece Celeste Charles

STAFF PHOTOS By ENAN CHEDIAK

Bike Show in New Orleans on Saturday.

Residents rally for clerk injured in machete attack

More than $12K

raised for Nick’s Supermarket worker

BY MISSY WILKINSON Staff writer

Irish Channel community members rallied this week in support of “the nicest person in the world” — a beloved Nick’s Supermarket clerk who was critically injured in a machete attack after confronting an alleged shoplifter Monday morning.

“The neighborhood reveres the guy He’s a great human being running the store,” longtime customer Sam Scofield said “For someone to do that to this guy is heartbreaking.”

A GoFundMe launched by the clerk’s family members to cover medical expenses swiftly surpassed its initial $5,500 goal and had raised more than $12,000 by Thurs-

FAILURE

Continued from page 1B

S&WB’s campus on South Claiborne Avenue to drainage pumps around the city Most of the pumps in the seven affected pump stations run on obsolete 25-hz power, which the S&WB previously had to produce in-house with faulty turbines. Now, the new substation

ARTIST

Continued from page 1B

that ended when developers broke ground on a $300 million plan to renovate the facility She found her way to the pale yellow shotgun on Independence Street through a partnership between city and housing nonproﬁts that connected her with subsidized housing.

After years living in neglected houses, then inside the abandoned base and ﬁnally in a tent on the beach where the Industrial Canal meets the river, Gilbert said the spacious shotgun has afforded her the opportunity to regain her footing.

She is organizing her art to begin selling it again, and gathering personal documents so that she can get treatment for mood disorders that have made it difﬁcult to hold down a job.

“Now I can get back to where I was, or where I’ve been at times,” said Gilbert, 59. To clear the encampment, ofﬁcials relied on a limited number of slots in an existing federal housing program for chronically homeless people with disabilities, known as Permanent Supportive Housing, that have come open.

The relocation marked a success for Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration to shift people living in a pop-

FIRING

Continued from page 1B

the assistant chief, according to the letter Kirkpatrick was unpersuaded.

“I have personally witnessed your hostility, disdain and insolence toward Chief Gernon growing over time, with constant threats to sue him, insisting that I acquiesce to your demand to be transferred” out of the investigative services bureau he leads, she wrote.

The violations upheld against Burkart related to professional conduct and performance of duty They wouldn’t normally result in a termination, under NOPD’s disciplinary “matrix.”

Kirkpatrick wrote that Burkart went beyond the matrix

day afternoon. According to New Orleans Police Department, the attack occurred around 10:55 a.m. June 15 when the clerk confronted Roy Holmes Jr about shoplifting Police arrested Holmes, 37, who allegedly wielded a machete, stabbing the clerk three times in the head in an onslaught that sent him to the hospital with critical injuries and ultimately cost him his right eye, according to the GoFundMe.

power is channeled through special “frequency changers” that convert it for use by the pumps. All three frequency changers tripped offline for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes on Thursday, depriving the 25-hz pumps at stations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 12 of electricity

Those pumps drain every part of the city except New Orleans East, the Lower 9th Ward, Algiers and some neighborhoods downriver of the French Quarter

“As a result of the attack, my father is in critical condition, has been placed in a medically induced coma, and is undergoing multiple surgeries,” an organizer wrote on the fundraiser page. “Now, only days before Father’s Day, he is ﬁghting for his life in a hospital bed.”

The Times-Picayune does not typically identify victims of violent crimes. The fundraiser organizer did not respond to requests for

S&WB and Entergy agree the substation did not lose power altogether, and Entergy did not deny there was a drop in voltage. But there appears to be a misunderstanding over settings on the frequency changers, which Entergy faulted for the failure.

Labat said the settings protect the frequency changers from damage, and that the manufacturer would need to be consulted to see if they can be adjust-

comment.

Family members described the clerk as a native of Ethiopia, a father and soon-to-be grandfather who “has spent his life working tirelessly to provide for himself and those around him,” the fundraiser states.

Scofield said the clerk’s kindness manifested itself in the care he took to make sure regulars’ favorite items stayed stocked at the corner store in the 700 block of Washington Avenue, where an old-school boom box sparked conversations about music and ﬁlled the aisles with songs by swamprock guitarist J.J. Cale.

“There’s a dying breed of small neighborhood corner markets You don’t have as many in New Orleans,” Scoﬁeld said. “He’s putting a lot into it and trying to make it work.”

But Scoﬁeld said the store has also grappled with thefts, stalking incidents and other nuisances.

Holmes had been arrested

ed for variations in voltage.

Labat also said the S&WB may elect to rely on its own 60-hz turbine for heavier storms in the future, instead of the substation. The S&WB has plans to add a second 60-hz turbine in later phases of the power complex, but it’s not clear if funding will be available.

Until now, the 60-hz turbines — which are newer and less failure-prone than the old 25-hz turbines — have been considered key

Orleans on Friday

ular green space into more stable homes, and came after a broader, pandemicera push by New Orleans homeless service providers to clear encampments using a $15 million grant that has since run out. But now, as Gilbert settles into her home, the Permanent Supportive Housing program that would keep her there long-term is under threat, after the Trump administration issued a revised plan earlier this month to shift some grant funding toward mental health and addiction treatment and away from housing.

At the same time, funding for the New Orleans Ofﬁce of Homeless Services has been slashed because of the city’s ongoing budget woes. And a state law signed by Gov Jeff Landry last week made sleeping on the street a crime. Supporters say the law is aimed at compelling people into drug or mental health treatment programs, while critics said it will create new barriers to housing without expanding access to treatment programs.

Jennifer Avegno, Moreno’s deputy mayor for human services, said last week that after passage of the new law, her office

ter stated.

would continue to provide services to people in the city that are homeless.

“The Moreno administration’s commitment to working with unhoused individuals through outreach, shelter residence, rapid rehousing and permanent housing will not change,” she said.

Gilbert who has long struggled to find housing she can afford on her income as an artist and doing odd jobs, said she believes that those resources are crucial in New Orleans as prices have risen.

“You could ﬁnd a decent place before Katrina,” said Gilbert. “Now everything

in connection with lewd conduct and criminal trespassing in the Irish Channel on Feb. 18, but he was released the same day and was not charged, according to jail records.

Two days later, he committed a simple assault in Central City, a crime for which he served 45 days in Orleans Justice Center, according to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court records.

Holmes served a ﬁve-year sentence of imprisonment at hard labor after a 2019 conviction of possession of heroin with intent to distribute. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to simple criminal damage to property and disturbing the peace.

In the alleged machete attack, Holmes is held on a $600,000 bond on counts of attempted second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery

NOPD did not have updates on the clerk’s condition as of Thursday evening.

backup assets in the event of an Entergy transmission failure like the one during Hurricane Ida that caused a days-long blackout throughout the city

“We will work with Entergy to review the conditions that can impact the transmission system and change our operating approach as needed,” Labat said.

Email Ben Myers at bmyers@theadvocate. com.

has gone up but the wages have not.”

Other former residents of what Gilbert calls their “artist community” at the End of the World said housing has brought needed stability But some are still waiting for help from case managers to get proper identification and to seek treatment for mental illness and drug addiction.

Members of the group, many of whom were housed within a few blocks of Gilbert’s house, have taken to swinging by regularly since they dispersed from the encampment to use Gilbert’s phone or borrow the tools her partner keeps in the backyard.

The house isn’t perfect, Gilbert said. The refrigerator is broken and there’s no hot water But she sees the house as a “springboard so that I can have a normal — I’ll never have a normal life,” she quickly corrected. “But so that I can reach out more to people.”

She still worries about some of her friends who scattered from the naval station when it was cleared. They are sleeping under bridges and in abandoned buildings, she said.

“I just don’t want to see the people that did not get housed fall through the cracks,” said Gilbert.

“They’re still struggling.”

Contact Sophie Kasakove at sophie.kasakove@ theadvocate.com.

Continued from page 1B

on Wednesday telling the commissioners her water bill went from $25 a month to $137 a month. Some customers have also raised issues with company transparency regarding repairs and upgrades as well as water quality In response, the commission asked its staff to pursue an investigative audit of Magnolia Water that would look at the company’s ﬁnancial practices and also potentially include an engineering report on its infrastructure and investments.

The commission’s directive asks for an audit of Magnolia’s “billing, customer service and acquisition practices” and allows for outside consultants to assist the work, a commission staffer said. The results must be presented to the commission no later than February 2027.

“We have heard significantly from constituents about water quality and your acquisition strategy,” District 3 Commissioner Davante Lewis told Josiah Cox, CEO of Magnolia’s parent company, Central States Water Resources. Lewis then asked Cox if he was willing to cooperate in the audit. “We welcome this audit,” Cox responded. Cox has said the company’s rate increases cover the costs of badly needed improvements for noncompliant water systems. He told the commission Wednesday that during its approximately seven years of operation in Louisiana, the company has invested $410 million and brought more than 250 water systems back into compliance. Magnolia Water is owned by the Missouri-based company that buys up failing wastewater and water systems around the country and rehabilitates them. Central States is one of the largest investor-owned water and wastewater utility companies in the U.S. Administrative law Judge Joy Guillot had recommended on June 10 that Magnolia’s rate plan be approved, and commission staff also previously recommended it. The company first filed a request for the extension in May 2025, and a group of St. Tammany residents intervened, taking issue with the water quality and financial transparency and arguing the formula rate plan was based on insufficient information, among other issues.

Connie Norris, of the Belair subdivision in Slidell, who is also one of the intervenors in the case and running as a Democrat for Public Service Commission District 1, told the commissioners she has a compromised immune system and said she has experienced rashes and blisters because of the water

The company has disputed that there are water quality issues, pointing to high grades from the Louisiana Department of Health, which oversees water systems’ quality across the state.

In another letter dated the same day, she demoted Burkart to lieutenant, a two-level drop in rank. Kirkpatrick cited a failure by Burkart to complete an assignment from Gernon to report on “public safety and security surrounding second lines” over four months.

“The report was to include extensive historical research, requiring your attendance at second lines, and that you conduct interviews with community members and community agencies to establish public trust in NOPD’s efforts to ensure second lines safety given the recent history of violence,” the demotion let-

She rattled off seven aggravating factors that she found warranted his getting the can. They included his rank and longevity, the notoriety of his actions and lack of remorse. The incident in November wasn’t the only rap on Burkart, and Kirkpatrick wasn’t done punishing him.

Gernon found the report that Burkart turned in on July 31 to be “grossly deﬁcient,” Kirkpatrick wrote, and based solely on interviews with ofﬁcers, which she found weren’t worth much.

“Most concerning was your failure to conduct a single interview of community members or agencies, thereby failing to get the public’s input on addressing security for second lines,” the letter stated.

Gernon ordered a corrected version of the report by Sept. 1 but Burkart never did it, in what Kirkpatrick deemed an “act of deﬁance.”

Gernon then ﬁled a complaint with the NOPD’s internal affairs arm, the Public Integrity Bureau.

Kirkpatrick wrote that Burkart falsely claimed to her that he’d been granted autonomy over the report.

“You simply cannot be part of the senior leadership

of this department with the level of disregard for superior ofﬁcers that you have demonstrated here,” the letter stated.

In a third letter, also dated June 5, Kirkpatrick signed a letter suspending Burkart for 20 days without pay over a separate incident in which he was accused of sending protected ﬁles that included personal health information to his personal email address.

“This is not the ﬁrst time you have been ‘triggered’ by your dislike for someone,” Kirkpatrick wrote in the termination letter, citing a previous arrest of Burkart on a warrant for “a charge that you threatened to assault” a federal prosecutor A lawyer and former assistant police superintendent, Burkart was arrested in 2001 after allegedly threatening then-federal prosecutor Sal Perricone, also at police headquarters.

“Why don’t you retire so I

can bust your ass?” Burkart allegedly told Perricone. Years earlier, Perricone had ﬁled bankruptcy fraud charges against Burkart and another officer The criminal charges against Burkart were later dismissed.

Then-NOPD Superintendent Eddie Compass suspended Burkart for 10 days over the alleged threat to Perricone, a former NOPD ofﬁcer and FBI agent who later would scandalize the U.S. Attorney’s Office as the author of anonymous online posts on federal cases.

Burkart, of Covington, later drew the ire of NOPD brass again. Under former NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas in 2013, he and several police captains were relegated to a moldy trailer at the horse barns in City Park, where they were left to review lowlevel grievances against ofﬁcers.

The commissioners ultimately sided with Guillot, who had found that many of the issues raised by residents were not relevant to the question of whether to extend the rate plan. After the extension expires, Guillot recommended the company undergo what is called a full rate case, which will involve a more thorough investigation of the company’s ﬁnances than the audit. Lewis also asked that commission staff consider including an engineering report on Magnolia Water’s infrastructure and investments as part of the audit.

LOTTERY SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2026 PICK 3: 1-8-2

4: 1-4-7-5

5: 1-6-18-25-33

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Tracey Gilbert sits with her art at her home in the St. Claude neighborhood of New

STAFF PHOTO By MISSy WILKINSON

Nick’s Supermarket is a corner store at 746 Washington Avenue in the Irish Channel.

NewOrleans Area Deaths

Johnson, Roy Whittington, Georgia EJefferson

Richardson FH

Whittington, Georgia

Obituaries

Johnson, Roy W. 'Hank'

Roy W. "Hank" Johnson,

Jr. of Covington passed away on May 29, 2026 at the age of 74. He was born November 1, 1951. He was agifted,lifelong musician beginning with the clarinet in 4th grade, marching in numerous Mardi Gras parades with the Covington High School Marching Lions and play-

ing across the globe in his careerwith the United States Navy ShowBand. Hank was an Eagle Scout, a nature lover,master gardener and motorcycleenthusiast. He livedbythe motto "Keep living on the edge .and fall off. He is precededindeath by his parents Roy and Irene Johnson. He is survivedbyhis wifeHolly, siblings Gordon, Mark and Tami and his fournephews

Hankwas acharacter withcharacter.Services areprivate.Per hiswish his asheswillbespread at sea.

Whittington, Georgia Funches

GeorgiaFunches Whittington receivedher calltoglory on Tuesday,

June 16, 2026 at theage of 85 in NewOrleans, LA.She was born on February 16, 1941 in Jasper County, Mississippi to theunionof thelateAndrew and Annie Beason. She was aloving mother, grandmother,sister, aunt,cousin, and friend, butmost importantly she was afaithful servant and child of God. Georgia Mae was educated and agraduateofthe Mississippi Public Schools Systembeforeleaving to take residence in Louisiana. Georgia retired fromEast Jeff General Hospitalafter 25 years of service.Werest in the hopethat we willsee her againinheaven. Georgia Mae was adevotedand loving mother to James Sr. (Ericka) Polk She is also survivedby7 grandchildren, 8greatgrandchildren, 1greatgreatgrandchild, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins,and friendsthat willcherish her memories She waspreceded in death by her sonDonnie Ray Polk,grandson Marcus Bennett,her husband Willie FunchesPolk, Marious Whittington, and her companion foralmost 30 years, Daniel Lee

Graham of Laurel, Mississippi Relatives, family,and friends of LittleZionM.B Church, Mount Calvary International Worship Center, Department of Veteran AffairsHospital, and theAvondale and Kennercommunities are allinvited for viewing only on Wednesday,June 24, 2026 at RichardsonFuneral Home,11112 Jefferson Highway, RiverRidge,LA 70123 from 4pm- 8pm. Funeral Service: Thursday, June 25, 2026 at Bartholomew M. B. Church, 585 Hwy 504, Newton, Mississippi 39345 at 1pm, Pastor Larry D. Reed, Sr. Officiating.Viewing 12 noon. Service time 1pm. Richardson Funeral Home of Jefferson, River Ridge, LA is in chargeofarrangements. www.richards onfuneralhomeofjefferson. com.

Closed primaries, gerrymandering violateour constitutional rights

Stephanie Grace’scolumn, “When politicians choose their voters,not vice versa,” should be awake-up call for all of us. It’stime we think about voting as aform of speech protected by the First Amendment. The 26th Amendment(lowering the age at which one could vote) passed faster than any otherconstitutional amendment. Its rationale was that if young men could be required to ﬁght and possibly die for their nation in wartime at18, they could not be denied theright to express their opinion withregard to their government’sdecisionto engageinwar until the age of21. Inherent wasthe idea that voting is a form of expression that could notbe restricted when important issuesare at stake for those voters In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “There is no more basic right in our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders.” One of the ways he mentions is the right to participate by voting. That should lead us to conclude that closed primaries,gerrymandering in any form and bans on ranked choice voting areabridgments of the right of asubstantial number of voters to express their political views to the fullestextent possible.

Perhaps that idea is what the framershad in mind when theywarned us about “factions,” and what George Washington had in mindwhen he warned in his 1796 farewell address that political parties posed athreat to liberty and the promise of republicangovernment

BRUCE WILDER NewOrleans

Confederates fought foradifferent country

As aveteran, please do nottreat Confederate dead just like veterans They fought for adifferent country and for very different values

Youmight as well say that Nazi deadshould be treatedasveterans. They too fought regardlessofhow they “felt” about theirwar.Over 5,000 young Jehovah’sWitness men diedinthe concentration camps of Germany because they acted on how they “felt.” In modern liberaltimes, everybody cares about how people feel. Isubmit that for veterans, action matters more than feelings The Confederatedead died for their country,not ours.

MICHAEL BURNSIDE NewOrleans

Fans of ‘realfootball’ readyto crownatrueglobalchampion

Thank you, gracias, obrigado! I, along with all of the tens of thousands of other soccerfanswithin your readership area, am very appreciative of the recent expanded coverage within your sports section of the World Cup. This sport has always been thefavorite of Earth,and most U.S. football fans don’t realize thevast distinction between the popularity of the ﬁnals of the World Cup and theSuper Bowl.

TheWorld Cup is held only every four years to satisfy therequirement to qualify for this tournament by every nation, no matterhow large or small, that wishes to ﬁeld ateam. The vast difference between the last World Cup’s ﬁnal viewership, of 1.5 billion,

and the last Super Bowl’s, of only 125.6 million, provides astarkcontrast in the numberofaﬁcionados.

When thesport of “international football” crowns its champion, they really are the undisputed world champions —incontrast to our American sports (football, basketball and baseball) that erroneously place that title upon teams that only compete within theUnited States and sometimes in Canada —not even on another continent.

So hopefully,with this spectaclebeing played to theUnited States, Mexico and Canada, our American “football” fans will embrace the real football and enjoy seeing thecrowning of areal World Champion. JAMES VILAS Metairie

Cost of powerinLouisiana must be reined in

This is in regard to theletter,“Why ruin Louisiana’s affordable electricity?”

Nothinggets the blood pumping like a Houston economist telling Louisiana families to quitcomplaining while our power bills keep climbing.

When Iread that sentiment in arecent letter to theeditor,Isuspect manylocals had thesame eyeroll reaction Idid. The writer admits electricity prices are rising, yet insists regulators should do nothing about it

Here’sthe plain truth: Utilitybills are rising, and many families and businesses are alreadyfeeling the squeeze. While Louisiana has long enjoyed someofthe lowest electricity rates in the country,that advantageisslipping away fast.

Theletter itself proves thepoint, citing Louisiana’srate at 8.8 cents per kWh in 2024 and 12.44 cents per kWh this April —a41% jumpinroughly 18 months. If that’s evidencethatthe system is working, we’d hate to see what failure looks like.

proposes reformsregulators should consider to keep rising costsincheck. We do not call for Texas-style deregulation.Instead, we recommendcompetitive procurement,direct market access for large industrial users, permitting reform andstronger regional transmission planning. These targeted reforms are designed to workwithin Louisiana’sexisting regulatoryframework, not dismantleit.

The letter’smisleading Texas comparison distractsfrom amore important question: When amonopoly utility can recover virtually any cost from captive ratepayers with little competitive pressure, what real incentiveexists to keep bills affordable?

Louisianafamilies do not need lectures from economists about why higher bills should be acceptable. They need leaders willing to ask tougher questions, pursue smarter solutions and put consumers ahead of the status quo.

We should interrogate ourbroken immigration system

What if establishing effective control over whoenters the country and the way they do, is fundamental to asustainable immigration policy?

What if addressing illegal immigration in athoughtful and consistent manner is equally essential to ensuring that such apolicy remains effective over time?

What if we adopted an approach that emphasized constructive outcomes in how we respond to those whoentered the country illegally or overstayed their authorized period of stay? Under such an approach, individuals whomake positive contributions could be afforded an opportunity to remain, while those whoengage in criminal conduct could be subject to deportation. It is important to note that unlawfully entering the country forthe ﬁrst timeisgenerally classiﬁed as a misdemeanor rather than afelony By contrast, remaining in the United States without authorization is not typically treated as acriminal misdemeanor,but instead as an administrative violation.

What if our leaders established apathway to citizenship forimmigrants seeking abetter lifewhile also making meaningful contributions to our economy and society?

What if the billions of dollars currently spent pursuing individuals whose offenses are misdemeanors wereinstead redirected toward prosecuting felons involved in drug trafﬁcking and gun violence, or towardstrengthening our healthcare system,reducing healthcare costs and lowering the national debt?

What if our elected ofﬁcials approached these issues with reasoned judgment rather than allowing political objectives to drive their decisions?

CAMORS “CHRIS” ROTH BaySt. Louis, Mississippi

Recruiters from other states will make sure Blackathletesknow La.’spolicies

Regarding Will Sutton’scolumn, “The NAACP wants Black athletes to boycott schools like LSU.Should they?”

TO SEND US ALETTER SCAN HERE

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

Theletter also mischaracterizes thePelican Institute’s“Shock to theSystem”report, which documents this alarming trend and

MELISSA LANDRY director, Center forEnergy/ Pelican Institute forPublic Policy NewOrleans

Broadway dreams in N.O. need areality check

WhenI ﬁrst read Sidney Pulitzer’sletter about “welcoming Broadway to New Orleans,” Isaid, “Yes!” Iloved this idea. But after discussing it with my husband, we bothdecided thatBroadway needs more than tourists to sustain it.

And, unfortunately,New Orleans does not have the 8.5 million population that New York City has in its ﬁve boroughs. New Orleans’ eight-parish area (Jefferson, Orleans St. Tammany,Plaquemines, St.Bernard, St

Charles, St. John the Baptistand St. James parishes) is only 1.24 million people and may be shrinking. The city itself has only apopulation of 362,701. So, although Iagree withPulitzer and would love to have Broadway move to New Orleans,itjust doesn’tseem possible.However,let’s not give up thinking big!

MARY ANN AUCOIN Gretna

To be clear,the NAACP wants the athletes to boycott schools in states that have eliminated Black voting districts. So, to suggest that Black athletes don’thave plenty of other options is unrealistic.

In the SEC alone, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky would still be options.

That said, Idon’tthink it really matters what the NAACP or anyone else wants. If Iwere aBlack athlete being recruited by top college programs, whywould Ichoose a place so unwelcoming that they are against diversity,equity and inclusion? And Ican assure you there will be plenty of recruiters whowill take full advantage of that inequity PATRICK TOOLE NewOrleans

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Pauline Bonnet reacts as the U.S. scores against Paraguayinthe WorldCup at Finn McCool’s Irish Pub in NewOrleans on June 12.

F-35 fighterisavital asset

George Will

The U.S. military’sseniorechelons think constantly about ano-longerunthinkable subject: being prepared to deter,orwin, aprotracted, high-intensity war againstanear-peer adversary,China.Generals are often disparaged for preparing to ﬁght the last war.Today’sdanger, however,isthat wewill overlearn dubious lessons from Ukraine concerning the role of small, inexpensive, unmanned weapon systems.

Ukraine’sdrones havebeen extraordinarily effective, especially on defense, in aslow-moving, small-unit infantry conﬂict contesting acres at atime And because of inexpensive countermeasures, Russia’sair force, Europe’s largest, has been unable to operate effectively over Ukraine.

But a ﬁght with China would be utterly unlike this in tempo and variety,and in all domains —land, sea, below the sea,in theair and in space. Hence, the salience of the argument about the F-35.

John G. Ferrari and Dillon Prochnicki, writing for the Waronthe Rocks website, recently termed that ﬁghtera “masterpiece,” but “a forcedesigned around amasterpiece is notdesigned for long, protracted wars.”

In Iran, the authors say,the F-35 “performed brilliantly” the tasks it was designed for: penetrating contestedair spaces, and using sensors to ﬁnd, track and deliver strikes againsttargetsinside an integrated air defense system. But, they say,war games concerning the Western Paciﬁchave repeatedly concluded that most aircraft losses would happen on the ground. Most U.S. aircraft sit within range of Chinese missiles where U.S. air andmissile defenses “cannot reliably defeat salvos at the scales China can generate.” F-35s, Ferrari and Prochnicki stress, have a“heavy ground footprint.” They depend on maintenance facilities, diagnostic systems, spare parts and fuel and munitions inventories, and skilled maintainers. “Destroy any piece ofthat supportinfrastructure, andyou degrade sortie generation aseffectively as destroying the aircraft themselves.”

Theycontinue: In Iran, F-35s chose the time and tempo of attacks against ﬁxedtargets “with the luxuryofanoperationalpause between sorties.”War with China“would demand continuous,reactiveoperationsatadversaryimposedtempo acrossthousands of miles, against avast and mobile target set.”Ferrari and Prochnicki favor many fewer F-35s than currently planned, reserving these for missions requiring penetrating stealth, and spending the saved resourceson“cheaper,replaceable systems.”

RetiredAir Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula’srejoinder to theauthors, in amemotothiscolumnist, acknowledges the wisdom of their advocacy of moreuncrewed systems, and more hardenedand dispersed basing. But he says Ukraineand Iran teach opposite lessons.

Ukraineshows that absent air superiority,war becomes attritional —slower andbloodier.Iran shows the utility of advanced stealth, electronic capabilities, precision strikes and integrated air operations to “break open adefended battlespace”: The attacker imposes tempo, suppresses air defenses and shortens the conﬂict

Drones generally cannot ﬂylong distances, anddonot communicate penetrate defended airspace,carry substantialpayloads or serve as a command-and-control platform.F-35s canand shouldbethe center of a“full airpower ecosystem,” Deptula says, penetrating defended battlespaces, strikingadversary centersofgravity andenabling other U.S. forces.

By denying Russia air superiority, Ukraine’sground-basedair defenses

An F-35C Lightning prepares to launch from the USS Abraham Lincoln in supportofOperation Epic FuryonFeb.28.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Thehardest andthe best

have produced an outcome that F-35s existtoprevent:abloody slog. The authors, Deptula says, reverse causeand effect in Iran: The campaign was short because integrated airpower made it so.They treat drones “as asubstitute for air superiority, but theyare mostly a symptom of its absence.”

In the first days or weeks of awar withChina, asmaller-than-planned F-35 fleet would be unable to generate sufficient sorties, absorblossesand support allies in severaltheaters. If the necessity of asubstantial support infrastructure is an argument against the F-35, what of an aircraft carrier’slarge enveloping group of support vessels?

The estimated $2 trillionpriceof the F-35 program is in “then-year dollars” over adecades-long program, allowing for inﬂation, sustainment,and modernizations, involving multiple services.The question, Deptula says, is not whether the F-35 is expensive, but “whatisthe cost of not having enough penetrating airpower in awar with China, Russia, Iran, or another advanced air-defensestate?”

This is the mostturbulent,menacing erasince 1945. It is less stable thanthe Cold War’sfrozenconfrontation. The Air Force’smission of securing air superiority encompasses most othermilitary missions. Wherevera ﬁght occurs, airpower will be presupposed for projecting unmatched combat power,from the long-range strike capabilityofstrategic bombing, to support for ground combat.Wehave moved far from when airpower’s primarymission was supporting an 18-year-old with ariﬂe.

Email georgewill@washpost.com

Historians told real storyofthe founders

The sudden death of the historian Gordon Wood, just weeksbefore the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is one more mark of the closure of a golden age of the historiographyofthe Revolutionary era. It’sanoccasion to reflect onthe uniqueness, indeed the idiosyncrasy,ofthe emergence of the primacy of this UnitedStates among the nations of the world. As the historian WalterMcDougall has pointed out, acatalog of world civilizations in the year 1600 looks, with one exception, much like the world today. There is aprosperous and populous Chinaatone end of Eurasia and aprosperous and populous Europe at the other.There is a bustling Indian subcontinent and avast and little-visited Africa, and large Euro-indigenouscultures in Mexico and South America. The great difference is the emergence, from what was a sparselypopulated and isolatedrealm,ofthe great world power of the United States of America. Howthisnation emerged,and how it was formed and unified in the pivotal final years of the 18th century,has come to be understood anew thankstoa generation of historians who began their work in the postwar decades more than 50 years ago and continued it into their 90s.Among the pioneers were Wood, who died this month at 92, and his thesis adviser Bernard Bailyn, whodiedin 2020 at 97.

Britain and then wrote aconstitution all to protect their wealth against redistribution.Then, in what Ihave called the“Midcentury Moment” during and after World WarII, some historians abjured class warfare and argued that Americans shared aconsensus all along Bailyn and Wood did something else. They read the patriots’ words more carefully and took their arguments seriously.They studied the numerouspamphlets from the revolutionary1760s and 1770s, as well as the debates over the new republic in the1780s and 1790s.

real founding of America. Instead, he argued it was the revolution that led to theunraveling of slavery

Michael Barone

They understood that Americans, imbued with Britishideas of freedom but blessedly distant from British authorities, could write with more frankness than past political theorists under the close supervision ofmonarch and church, and with no motive to conceal motivation from thethen-nonexistent Marxian or Freudian theorists.

Wood’scentral thesis in his 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Radicalism of the American Revolution” was that the revolution declared in 1776 had transformed thecharacter of the American people.

WritinginNational Review lastJanuary,Wood celebrated “five significant wordsthat came to define American culture —‘all men are created equal.’”

“Although manymodern historians have called the Revolution’sinability to free all theslaves its greatest failure, they have committed the great sin of anachronism by assuming that everyone in the past must have known that slavery was an evil,” he wroteinJanuary.“These historians have not fully appreciated that the Revolution defied aworld that for the millennia had taken slavery for granted. It was the Revolution that for the first time in history madeslavery aproblem,and it led to the first instance of states’ abolishing thepractice.”

Wood has been critical as well of the notion, recently mentioned withoutdisapproval by Vice President JD Vance, that those with American ancestorsin theCivil Warera are somehow more American than those whose ancestorsarrived later.Contrary to Europe, “There is no American ethnicity to back up thestate,” he said in his November 2025 Irving Kristol lecture at theAmerican Enterprise Institute. “To be an American is not to be someone, but to believe in something.” Such as “the powerful sense of equality” that “is what makes us one people.”

Before their generation,American historiography often wasmore about the presumptions of the writers than the makers of history.Early 19thcentury historians gloriﬁed, even mythologized, the Founding Fathers.The tragic losses of the Civil Warprompted Northerners to lament antebellum statesmen’s failure to compromise and Southerners to canonize thechampions of the Lost Cause.

Early 20th-century progressives, inﬂuencedbyMarxist assumptions about economicclass warfare, tried to prove that colonists led arevolution against

This prompted them to create “numerouslearned academies and historical societies,”including “mechanic societies, humane societies, societies for the prevention of pauperism, orphans’ asylums, missionary societies, marine societies, tractsocieties, Bible societies, temperance associations, Sabbatarian groups, peace societies, societies for the suppression of vice and immorality,societies for the relief of poor widows, societies for the promotion of industry.”

Wood was among the multiple leadinghistorianswho criticized The New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones’ argumentthat 1619, the importation of the ﬁrst slave in the colonies, was the

We are unlikely to hear much more from thelast survivors of the two generations of academic and popular historians who made the ﬁnal thirdof the20th century agolden age for the history of the founding. In theuniversities, mosthave been replaced by academics with different interests and amore adversarial approach to the nation whose bounty and freedomsmake their work possible.

Butonthe 251st FourthofJuly upcoming, and in months and years to come, it should be refreshing to dip into their rich works and gain more knowledge of, and appreciation for,the wondrous deeds of those who came before us and of whom we are thefortunate, if too often the ungrateful, heirs. Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

Ihave taught at George Washington University for35years, and Ialways read the anonymous reviewsweget from students. This spring, one student wrote that the course Iofferinfeature writing —really storytelling —was the “hardest and the best” class they’d taken in college. Ithought about that student when Harvard, my alma mater, recently adopted amajor overhaul of its grading system,limiting A’sto20% of each class. The superior students, emphasizes the new policy,the ones whoembrace the challenge of high expectations and standards, should be recognized.

“This is aconsequential vote,” said Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard’sdean of undergraduate education. “Itwill, Ibelieve, strengthen the academic culture of Harvard; it will also, I hope, encourage other institutions to confront similar questions with the samelevel of rigor and courage.”

The debate over grade inﬂation comes at a timewhen faith in higher education has plummeted. In 2013, an NBCpoll found that 53% of respondents considered college “worth the cost.” Today,that ﬁgure has sunk to 33%, and while universities resent and reject President Trump’sunhinged and unfair campaign against them,they would be foolish to ignore his impact.

At Yale, which is also considering aserious revision of grading standards, the school’s president, Maurie McGinnis, wrote: “Raising the bar forourselves will also raise trust in our university.”

The numbers are stunning. At Harvard, during the last academic year,about two-thirds of undergraduate letter grades were A’s. Only a decade earlier,that ﬁgure was35%. Historically,only one or two graduating seniors compiled aperfect record of straight A’sinevery class. Last year,55students hit that mark.

Steven Pinker,aHarvard psychology professor and fierce critic of grade inflation, cheered the university’sdecision to The NewYork Times:“Grade inflation forced arace to the bottom in which any professors whoheld the line with challenging material and standards would see their enrollments plummet.Itturned universities into national laughingstocks.”

TwoHarvard economists, Jason Furman and David Laibson, added in aTimes essay: “Easy A’sare aproblem forawhole lot of reasons. They reducethe incentive to learn, which meansthat students leave college with less knowledge and fewerskills. They makeithard fortruly exceptional students to stand outfrom theirmerely successfulpeers.”

As ateacher,I have wrestled with this problem foryears. I’mknownasatough grader,and I’mproud of it. Ichecked my class record for this spring against Harvard’snew standards, which allow any professor to add four A’sontop of the 20% cutoff. In my feature writing class of 17, Igave out 7A’s,the maximum allowed; in my other class of 17, focusing on media and politics, there wereonly 3A’s,well below the limit.

When you get an Ainone of my classes, you know you’ve earned it.

But there are downsides to my approach: Somestudents avoid my classes, and others complain that Igrade too harshly.At83, Idon’t have to worry about my career prospects, but younger teachers up forpromotion cannot afford low enrollments or ratings.

Iknow the argument that if an Aisthe norm, mental stress accelerates as students struggle to reach that level. But the reverse can be true: Iworry that curbing the number of top grades can introduce an unhealthy level of competition into adelicate ecosystem.

Classroomswork best when students see themselves as part of alearning community, acooperative effort to ask questions, debate answers and develop skills. No good teacher wants to pit students against each other Plus, there’sthe problem of subjectivity.I am not grading exams in mathorother subjects where there is aclear right or wrong answer Even the mostopen-minded professor brings personal experiences and preferences to the grading process. We’re human, after all. Andsoare ourstudents. They are notthe same. Ithink of grades as teaching tools, at least duringthe semester.Some students need apat on the back with agood grade, while others need akickinthe pants with alow one. Actually,I’d prefer not to give grades at all. Iprovide lengthy written feedback on every assignment submitted by my students, and reducing my judgment to alabel often seems unsatisfying and unfair.But if we’re going to give grades, they should mean something. They should encourage and reward excellence.

Email Steven V. Roberts at stevecokie@gmail. com.

Steve Roberts

LOUISIANASPORTSHALLOFFAME

BY SHELDON MICKLES

Contributing writer

Editor’snote: This is one of 12 proﬁlesof inductees for the LouisianaSports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Festivities will take place from Thursday-SaturdayinNatchitoches.

Compared to some of his NFL peers, JoeHorn ran adecidedly differentpass route to stardom.

After all, the many twistsand turns that led Horn, amultisporthigh school star,tobecoming one of the league’spremier wide receivers would have probably left even aHollywood scriptwriter abit dizzy

From his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to being selectedinthe ﬁfth round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, Horn’slong, winding journey was special tosay theleast.

It was unconventional,unimaginable and —most of all —highly unlikely It was also largely unfulﬁlling until a 28-year-old Horn, who toiled in relative anonymity in his four seasonswith the Chiefs,joined the New Orleans Saints as an unrestricted free agent on Feb. 13, 2000.

Before signing afour-year,$9.9 million contract with the Saints, one of Horn’s top highlights came when he andChiefs teammatesDerrick Thomasand Neil Smithperformed thenational anthem beforea Monday Night Football game in ajam-packedArrowhead Stadium.

Many more highlights were to come within the white lines after Horn’s pro career took offwith the Saints, which ledhim to induction intothe Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as amember of the Class of 2026.

Forstarters, themany obstacles Horn

had to navigate before he c tributeand put together apr seven-year stint with the Sai 2000-06 would have made even talented players give up on the But hisdeterminationpaid o Years later,Horn told repor he was down to two or three in his pocket, which he used aJerry Rice workoutvideo Blockbuster store.

Studying andemulating th the future ProFootball H Famer was doing ledHorn together his own tape, wh sent to multiple NFL andCa FootballLeague teams.

The CFL, which expanded United States ayear earlie firsttospot Horn’spotent

uld conoductive ts from the most sport f. ers how dollars to buy from a e drills all of to put ich he nadian to the r was al He

See HOF, page 3C

Horn took unconventional routetoSaintsHOF

ute to Saints, HOF

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GEORGEWALKER IV

Wyndham Clark celebratesafter abirdie on the16thhole during the final round of the U.S. Open on Sunday at ShinnecockHills Golf Club in Southampton, N.y

Second Wynd

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y On theedgeofthe greatest collapse in U.S. Open history,WyndhamClark heldhis nerve againstacharge by former LSU standout Sam Burns and aShinnecock Hills gallerythat nevergavehim much love Sunday until he captured his second Open title in four years. Six shots aheadatthe start of the final round, Clark’s finalact wastwo puttsfromjustoutside50feetfor par that gave him a3-over 73 and aone-shotvictory overBurns. Clark, who won the2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, became the first wire-to-wirewinner of the U.S. Open since Martin Kaymer at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014. This suredidn’tfeel like that. His lead was down to a single shot after just five holes, and the stress followed him the rest of the way The clincher forClark was one of hisworst drives of

the dayonthe par-516th.Hegougedthatout andnarrowly cleared abunker. His8-iron barely stayed on the back of thegreen. And he rolled in a30-foot birdie putt that gave him atwo-shot lead with twoholes to play It was asignature moment with muted applause. The galleryrooted against him all day, putting alltheir support behind Scottie Scheffler and his bid for the career Grand Slam.Scheffler had his own share of mistakes and never got closer than three shotsall day Clark had thehighest final round of aU.S. Openchampion since Graeme McDowell closed with a74towin at Pebble Beach.Nomatter.The 32-year-old American has two U.S.Open titles,and two wins in the last month. Burns closed with a67, his secondchance in as many years to winthe U.S. Open. He missed twobirdiechances on the final two holes,but what hurtjustasmuch wasa three-puttbogey on the 15th when he was trying to catch Clark.

Which Death Valley is the real Death Valley?

Please don’ttell me.Let me decide on my own.

Even though Ijust started as The Advocate/Times-Picayune’sLSU football reporter,I’m further along in this research project than you’d expect. For the past ﬁve years, Icovered Clemson —the other Tigers in the other Death Valley —for The Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina).

Jon Blau

My initial take: The better historical claim belongs to Clemson, which started calling Memorial Stadium “Death Valley” in the 1940s after Presbyterian coach Lonnie McMillan compared playing in the stadium to the oppressive California desert.

LSU’s mythology is abit murkier because it’scentered around aBaton Rouge gas station, Deaf Valley Shell, which is perhaps evidence that locals were calling Tiger Stadium “Deaf Valley” before it evolved into “Death.” Intriguing lore, but the timeline is less clear

The word “real,” however,doesn’thave to be historical. If we mean real as in the tougher place to play? Real as in the sheer electricity of the environment?

Allow me to objectively start measuring this Sept. 5with Clemson at LSU, which is arare seamless transition from one sports journalism job to the next. Ishould be the mostknowledgeable reporter on aWeek 1 matchup ever

Beyond that, there’splenty moreI’m looking forward to in this job. Here’smy short list:

Kiffinexperience

Ijust leftanewsmaker of ahead coach, Dabo Swinney,for another headline-grabber in Lane Kifﬁn. They are lightning rods in different ways. Kifﬁnisknownfor stirring thepot on

Saints wide receiver Joe Horn STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

UNC forces winner-take-all final

BY ERIC OLSON Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb North Carolina

coach Scott Forbes had to make a quick pitching change when starter Ryan Lynch tweaked his left oblique midway through Game 2 of the College World Series ﬁnals.

No worries.

Forbes called on freshman Caden Glauber for the 29th time this season, and for the 29th time he’s pitched, the Tar Heels won.

Their 6-2 victory over Oklahoma kept alive their pursuit of the school’s ﬁrst national championship in baseball. The winner-takeall Game 3 is Monday night.

“This is what it’s all about,” Forbes said “This is why you work so hard — to play in a night game, national championship game So we’re excited about that opportunity.”

Lynch and Glauber cooled off Oklahoma’s bats, Owen Hull and Cooper Nicholson homered, and North Carolina (54-13-1) bounced back from a 9-3 loss in Game 1.

The Sooners (42-23) scored twice in the first inning and then had two hits and a total of five baserunners the rest of the way Lynch injured his lower left side throwing his second pitch of the fifth. Glauber (12-0) came on and struck out the side and fanned a total of eight over five innings.

“When you play for the best team in college baseball, it’s pretty easy to go out there with the defense you have and the offense you have,” said Glauber who has allowed one run in 101⁄3 CWS innings.

Glauber graduated from high school a year early and was 17 when he enrolled at Carolina last fall. He’s the only pitcher in Division I with 12 wins and ﬁve saves and is pitching to a 2.05 ERA over 92 innings, with all but three of his appearances in relief.

He’s been comfortable on stages big and small all season. Sunday he faced an OU team that had been averaging 9.4 runs per game in the postseason and 8.25 in the CWS.

“The preparation takes over the fear,” he said. “We work so hard on it. You know, you’ve got to have the right mindset, and you know that you’re made for the moment, whatever moment you’re in.”

The Sooners were held to their fewest runs since a May 19 loss to LSU. They hadn’t been held scoreless over eight straight innings since a 3-0 loss to Southeastern Louisiana on March 17. Their four hits were their fewest since a March 19 loss to LSU.

“Obviously tough loss today,”

run triple and scored on a wild pitch to put the Tar Heels up 3-2. Mercurius began laboring in the third and left after Hull’s second homer of the CWS and ninth of the season leading off the ﬁfth.

“The trick in baseball is to not get away from your game plan and start trying to punch guys out,” OU coach Skip Johnson said, “and he kind of lost it a little bit. Instead of just trying to throw the ball to the target, he’s trying to punch people out.”

Nicholson’s team-leading 16th homer, off Nate Smithburg in the seventh, made it 6-2. Glauber walked consecutive batters with one out in the ninth.

WR commit Burney flips from Houston to LSU Three-star wide receiver and Class of 2027 recruit Gary Burney has ﬂipped his commitment from Houston to LSU, he announced on social media Sunday

Burney is the No. 22 player in Louisiana and the No. 104 wideout in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite He attends Parkway High in Bossier City and is the sixth recruit from the state to commit to LSU’s 2027 class. He had been committed to Houston since May 30. He also holds scholarship offers from Baylor, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Burney is a track athlete who competed in the 200-meter dash and the 4×100 relay as a sophomore and junior Burney is the 14th player to commit to LSU from the 2027 class. He’s the fourth wide receiver

Yamashita wins Meijer LPGA Classic in playoff BELMONT, Mich. — Miyu Yamashita got into a playoff Sunday in the Meijer LPGA Classic when Lottie Woad’s 3-foot par try lipped out to close regulation, then won with a 3-footer of her own on the ﬁrst extra hole.

Five strokes behind third-round leader Jing Yan and four back of Woad going into the day, Yamashita shot an 8-under 64 to get to 17-under 271 at Blytheﬁeld Country Club. The 24-year-old Japanese player birdied the par-5 18th in regulation and the playoff.

“I had a really good feeling,” Yamashita said. “I’m really happy to win.”

Woad had a 68, holing out from a bunker for birdie on the 17th before running into trouble on the 467-yard 18th.

Williams to play singles at Wimbledon as wild card

LONDON Serena Williams will play singles at Wimbledon after accepting a wild card invitation, the All England Club announced Sunday The move comes after the 44-year-old Williams recently returned to competition in doubles after nearly four years away from professional tennis.

And it means Williams will play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon after already accepting a wild card for the doubles competition with older sister Venus.

“This is not a drill,” Wimbledon said on its social media accounts.

OU’s Trey Gambill said. “But I don’t think we overly care. We know that we still have the opportunity to win the national championship. It’s going to be a fun atmosphere. We’re excited. Have a good meal tonight, good shower and be ready for tomorrow.”

OU freshman starter Xander Mercurius (1-3) struck out six of the ﬁrst seven batters he faced but encountered trouble when Carolina’s ﬁrst two batters reached base in the third inning.

Jake Schaffner pulled a ball into the right-ﬁeld corner for a two-

The game ended when Dasan Harris grounded to second and Gavin Gallaher turned an unassisted double play that was conﬁrmed after Oklahoma challenged the call. Johnson said Nick Wesloski (21) would start for the Sooners on Monday Wesloski pitched 52⁄3 innings in an 11-4 win over Georgia last Wednesday Forbes said he was undecided on a starter

“It will be all hands on deck,” he said. “I feel like we’ve got about seven options to start tomorrow, and I like every one of them.”

Heim outduels Reddick for ﬁrst Cup win

By The Associated Press

CORONADO, Calif. — Corey Heim, a part-time driver making only his 13th start in the Cup Series, outdueled teammate Tyler Reddick to win the inaugural NASCAR race at Naval Base Coronado. Heim, who will move into a full-time ride next season at 23XI Racing, snatched the lead from Reddick with two laps remaining after stalking the points leader around the 16-turn, 3.4mile street course on Coronado Island, just south of downtown San Diego.

It’s the second time in three years that an inaugural street race has produced a first-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series. Shane van Gisbergen won his Cup debut in the 2023 Chicago Street Race.

Bubba Wallace finished 10.365 seconds behind Heim in a 1-2 finish for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. Reddick suffered a flat tire in the closing laps and fell to 25th.

Kyle Larson ﬁnished third, followed by Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger Hamlin, the driver-owner who had won the past three races for Joe Gibbs Racing, ﬁnished 14th.

really enjoyed just getting to race out front and lead laps.”

Driver swap

During the ﬁrst caution, Christopher Bell was replaced in the No. 20 Toyota by Brent Crews, but the driver relief stint was short. Crews exited in last place after a gearbox problem on the 28th lap. Bell is still recovering from a broken wrist in a June 7 crash at Michigan International Speedway and said getting out of the car was precautionary and not because of pain.

One more for Johnson

Serena’s last singles match was a loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round of the 2022 U.S. Open. Serena has won 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, including seven at Wimbledon.

Noskova beats Pegula on grass to win Berlin Open

BERLIN Eighth-seeded Linda Noskova beat third-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win the rain-delayed Berlin Open ﬁnal on Sunday

Scheduled to start around noon, the grass-court match began nearly six hours later after heavy rains caused ﬂooding.

Pegula saved ﬁve match points when she won the Berlin tournament in 2024, but the 32-year-old American could not repeat the feat against her Czech opponent Sunday and missed out on a 12th career singles title.

The WTA 500 grass-court event served as a tune-up for Wimbledon, which starts on June 29.

Rangers place Leiter on IL with lingering ankle injury

SVG stunner

Van Gisbergen ﬁnished 38th in his bid for an eighth road or street course victory (which will make him the active leader among Cup drivers).

After starting from the pole position, van Gisbergen was caught in a crash that started when Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch and Austin Hill collided while battling for the lead on a Lap 32 restart. The nine-car incident caused a nine-minute red ﬂag for wall repairs.

In his second and last Cup start of the 2026 season, Jimmie Johnson slammed a tire barrier after missing a chicane on the fifth lap and finished 28th. The seven-time series champion said Saturday that he still plans on the 2027 Daytona 500 as his final start as a Cup driver, but he is open to racing in other series.

“I felt like I was giving Austin space, and the next thing, I was in the wall,” said Zilisch, who led the ﬁrst eight laps of his Cup career in the highlight of a miserable rookie season. “Really unfortunate. I hate to end both days for both Shane and I. We had a really fast car today I had a lot of fun. I

Up next

NASCAR will stay in California, heading north to Sonoma Raceway on June 28 Van Gisbergen dominated in winning on the road course last season, leading 97 of 110 laps from the pole position.

ARLINGTON,Texas The Texas Rangers placed Jack Leiter on the 15day injured list Sunday with an ankle issue the right-hander has been battling most of the season. The Rangers recalled righthander Jose Corniell from TripleA Round Rock but didn’t say how they would ﬁll Leiter’s spot in the rotation Tuesday at Miami Six of Corniell’s seven minor league appearances were starts. President of baseball operations

Chris Young said Leiter was trying to pitch through what is being called right ankle posterior impingement, but his mechanics were affected by compensating for the injury Young also said the 26-year-old Leiter was already dealing with the balky ankle when he aggravated the injury by slipping on an on-deck circle April 22 at home against the New York Yankees.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By REBECCA S GRATZ

Cooper Nicholson celebrates after hitting a two-run home run for North Carolina during Game 2 of the College World Series finals against Oklahoma on Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

Oklahoma pitcher Xander Mercurius walks back to the dugout after striking out two North Carolina batters with the bases

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DENIS POROy

Shane Van Gisbergen, left, and Bubba Wallace come out of Turn 2 during a NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday in Coronado, Calif.

PROVIDED PHOTO

‘Justanatural’: Marshall to enterLouisiana sports HOF

BY RONHIGGINS

Contributing writer

Editor’s note:Thisisone among 12 proﬁles of inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Festivities willtake place from Thursday-Saturdayin Natchitoches.

The most forthright advice acollege-aged John James “J.J.” Marshall received aboutpursuing asportswriting career came from a crusty veteran scribe.

“The hours are terrible, you’ll never make any money,” Bill McIntyre, atransplanted Massachusettsan who was astaple on the Shreveport Times staff for44 years, told Marshall. That’sundeniably true. Forget the timecard. Sportswriters work until the job gets done. Most of them wouldn’tknow how to act if they came close to earning six ﬁgures annually Shreveport native Marshall eventually ignoredMcIntyre’swarning.Not just once, but to the third power

for more than fourdecades. “That’swhatwecallgreat radio.”

There’sthe teacher J.J., who has been themediadirector since 1992 at his high school almamater,Loyola CollegePrep.

“His mindset for projects and the way he envisioned things reallyresonated with me,” says Will Rabun, a Loyola Class of 2022graduatewho recently accepted ajob in Tyler,Texas, after graduating in May with a University of Arkansas journalism degree. “J.J. is not only the best teacher I’ve ever had, but also thebest role model.”

For mostofhis 46-year career,all spentwhere he was bornand raised, the 66-year-old Marshall balanced handling atleast twoofhis journalisticventures.

But now,at social security age, he spinsthree awardwinningplatesasa mustread writer,an entertaining sports radio talk show host andanurturingeducator.

to capturing theLouisiana Sports Writers Association 2023 Story of theYear

“J.J. is morecompetitive than most of us,” said Allen, a2022 DSAHallofFame winner who worked for several Louisiananewspapers, starting with the Journal.

“He’sfun and entertaining on the radio. But when he writes,he’sserious business.

“He’slike ‘Nobodyisgoing to tell this story better than Ican.’ Sometimes Ithink he writesinfulluniform, a cup, eye black and the whole deal.”

It beganwithelementary school-aged J.J., perusing the newspaper sportsagate page.

“I really was more of an information junkie,” Marshall recalled. “I didn’thave any great prose, but writing sportsseemed like anatural thingfor me.”

Marshall was alreadyinto his high school playing career in football and baseball when VanThyn assigned thehigh school sophomore to cover an area high school basketballtournamentfor three nights.

Holloway beat odds to win Dave Dixonleadershipaward

BY BOBTOMPKINS

Contributing writer

Editor’snote: This is one among 12 proﬁles of inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Festivities will take place fromThursday-Saturday in Natchitoches. Kathy StewartHolloway’slife has been marked by unprecedented achievement as awoman in high school sports once ruled by men Yet, she points with love to two men who, behind the scenes, helped heralong theway Her father,Jack Stewart, acar salesman, put up her ﬁrst basketball goal on the side of a building on the family property in Lecompte when shewas atyke. It was atarget, set then at alower achievable height,but she always aimed high at whatever goal she pursued. That attitude was motivated by her father’s constant encouragement to “do your best.”

Marie Gagnard (2019), api-

oneer as awomen’s pro tennisofﬁcial;and Opelousas native Joan Cronan (2020), the women’sathletic director during the Pat Summitt era at Tennessee, in the subset of womenwho have been honored.

The classic story of Holloway’sdisciplined but quiet push into amale-dominated hierarchy at theLouisiana High School Coaches Associationcame during an All-StarweekendinBaton Rouge in 1982, when, as she said, “football coaches controlled everything.”

Yet, some of the iconic coaches of theday,likeCharlie Brown of Neville and Red Franklin of Haynesville (both since electedtothe Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame),liked her and asked her when she was going to run forpresident (ofthe LHSCA).

honored by the NHSACA, becoming the ﬁrst winner of an award named in her honor,the “Kathy Holloway Women of Inspiration Award,” given annually to women promoting high school athletics.

Herroad to prestigious positions andhonors started at her home in her youth. The oldest of threechildren of Jack and Edith HarrisonStewart, Kathy started shooting and dribbling abasketball as soon as shecould walk,and from the start, her father set the barhigh.

“Forhim,” said Holloway, “everything we did, it was ‘do your best.’”

There’sthe writer J.J., whose style ﬂows so smoothly that he makes a3,000word story seem like ashort read.

“He’sjust anatural,” vowed Nico VanThyn, a former ShreveportJournal sports editor

There’sthe radio host J.J., who teams with older brother Ben for “SportsTalk with J.J. and Bonzai Ben,” the longest-running radio sports talk in Louisiana

“Their listeners always know whattoexpect, but somehow always receive theunexpectedwithJ.J and Ben,” says Shreveport native TimBrando, anationally known college football and basketball play-by-play voiceonvariousnetworks

Continued from page1C

was with the Baltimore Stallions and Shreveport Pirates practice squads before getting abig breakwiththe Memphis Mad Dogs in 1995. Flashing speed and shiftiness, Horn piled up 71 catches for 1,415 yards with along of 90, averaging 19.9 yards per reception on the way to earning CFL Southern AllStar honors.

But the CFL’s South of the Border experimentfailed because of financial woes and poor attendance, which meant players had to head north to continue theircareers. The numbers Horn put up in Memphisled theChiefs to take a ﬁfth-round ﬂieron Horn with the 135th overall pick. It was vindication for Horn, who took acall from Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer welcoming him to the NFL.

Nicknamed “Hollywood” for his ﬂashy clothesinthe locker room and swagger on the field, Horn was willing to do anything to stayinthe league.So, in his third season in 1998, he switched to defensive back. When aChiefs wideout went down with an injuryin apreseasongame, however,

Such atriple-threat talentisrecognizedbyhis colleagues, whovoted Marshall as one of two winners of the Louisiana SportsHall of Fame Distinguished Service AwardinSports Journalism.

There’snosecret why Marshallgetsbetterwith age

“If Ididn’thave thevehicletotellstories, that’swhen you might aswelljust put me in the old folks’ home, because I’llhavenothing else to do,” hesaid Sportswriting chose Marshall long before he ﬁnally reciprocated the love and started collectingawards for thepast 41/2 decades.

It stretchesfromhim and longtime friend TeddyAllen co-writingthe 1987 Associated Press sports editors’ national best feature winner

Hornwentinatwidereceiver Acatch on ago-route prompted Schottenheimer to give hisreceivers coacha directive: “‘Put Joe Horn at widereceiver, and don’tyou change him,’ ”Horn recalled himsaying. “That’swhen I knew Iwasn’tgoing to be cut.”

Ayear later,Horn had 35 receptions, 586 yardsand six TDs. But as an impending free agent, his bid for a big payday from theChiefs never materialized. Horn wound up in New Orleansas the second UFA signed by thenew Saints regime led by general manager RandyMueller and coach Jim Haslett after they picked up veteran quarterback Jeff Blake. It didn’t hurt that new offensivecoordinator Mike McCarthy was the Chiefs quarterbacks coach during Horn’sfirst three years in Kansas City

So didMueller,who was the Seattle Seahawks vice president of football operations when histeam faced Horn and theChiefstwice ayear Horndidn’tdomuchinhis first three seasons against the Seahawks. But late in the 1999 season, he had a76-yard TD —the longest gain ofhis 12-year NFL career —and had92yards on threereceptions with Mueller watching

It resulted in his ﬁrst byline.

“I have no memory whatsoever of who scored points, andthe lede was probably crappy,” Marshall said, “but thenext day when Isaw my name,byJohnMarshall, at the top of the story,itwas one of the greatest thrills in my life.I thought, ‘This is something Ineed to do the rest of mylife.’ ”

Yetafter he quarterbacked then-Jesuit to a14-0 record and astate championship in 1976 in which he threwagame-winning screen pass for thegame’s only touchdown, he enrolled at Louisiana Tech as an accounting major Why? Because of McIntyre’saforementioned warning shot.

from the press box.

Mueller saidthe Saints needed theskills Horn possessed to rebuild afranchise that had suffered six consecutive losing seasons —capped by a3-13 mark in 1999.

WhenHorn’s career blossomed with 94 receptionsfor 1,340 yards and eight TDs, the Saintswon 10 games and theNFC West titleand shocked thereigning Super Bowl championSt. Louis Rams for thefranchise’s first playoff victory Horn continuedtorack up big numbers, catching 80 or morepassesand piling up at least 1,250 yards in four of his first five seasons in New Orleans— earning Pro Bowl berthsin2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. In those five years, he set numerousclub recordswhile averaging 87 catches,1,257 yards and nine TDs in playing79ofapossible 80 games.

Known for his crowd-pleasing touchdown celebrations, Horn hada memorableone when he pulled in the second of acareer-high four scores in a45-7 routofthe New York Giants on Dec. 14, 2003.

Upon reaching the end zone, Horn reached under the goalpost’spadding andretrieved acell phone to keep a promise to his children.

“Since it was aSunday night game,mykidscouldn’t

Herhusband,Charles, whowas thedirectorof business affairs andcomptroller at LSU-Alexandria for 35 years beforehis death19years ago, was the other mostinﬂuential man in herlife. Sheturnedto him for advice before any bigdecision in an extraordinary career as acoach and administrator

Astring of honors stands as testimony to her many local, statewide and national accomplishments, the latestofwhichisbeing among 12 elected to the2026class to be inducted into the Louisiana SportsHall of Fame in Natchitoches

She is the25th recipient of theDaveDixon Louisiana Sports Leadership Award and will be enshrined in the Hall as the fourthfemale Dixon winner

She joins Pineville native Sue Donohoe (2017),an NCAA basketballadministrator; Alexandria native

“At aFridaynight barbecue before aSaturday AllStar football game,Iwas standing by myself andthis guysaid, ‘Are yougoing to vote for me tomorrow (for president)?’ Isaid, ‘Yeah, if you vote for me when Irun.’

“He said, ‘There ain’tever going to be awoman president of this association.’”

One year later,atthe suggestionofthen-LHSAAcommissionerFrank Spruiell, Holloway ran forsecondvicepresident (which virtually assures automatic succession to first vicepresident then president). No one ran against her.So, she was the first woman to hold each office, being theLHSCA’s first female president in 1986.

In 1992, she made history by becoming the ﬁrst female president of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. In 1998,she waselectedto the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fameand in 2012 was inducted into the NHSACA Hall of Fame.

In 2021, Holloway was

Young Kathy took that message to heart and has livedbyittothe present day. She enjoyeda stellar playing career at Poland High School, leading her team to the Class Cstate championship in 1965. She coached girls basketballat Tiogafor 23 years(196992), mentoring four high school All-Americans and 13 all-state players. In the 1990s,when Ocean Spray launcheda sponsorship and scholarship initiative forthe NHSACA, Hollowaywas on the initial selection committee with the twoprevious NHSACA presidents andOcean Spray representativestopickthe nationalwinners.

One of theteam managers during Holloway’s time as Tioga’sgirls basketballcoach wasDr. Joan Brunson, afamily medicine physician who is the president of the medicalstaff at RapidesRegional.

“It doesn’tsurprise me that she went on to accomplish the things she did,” BrunsonsaidofHolloway “Kathy is aperson that would nevergive up, Brunson said. “She would think of waystodothings more efficiently. She was good at restoringconfidence in her players when theywerehaving adifﬁcult time.”

go,” saidHorn, whowas ﬁned

$30,000 by the NFL for the stunt. “When Iwas leaving the house,theywere yelling andcrying, so Isaid, ‘I’llcall

you.’ Ihad to say something because Ihad to go.” By the timenagging

Kathy Holloway speaks during an event. She is being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Classof 2026 this week.

Longtime ShreveportsportswriterJohn James ‘J.J.’ Marshall, left, interviews former boxing champion Sugar RayLeonard.

Marshall

PROVIDED PHOTO

Holloway

TODAY’S GAMES

WORLDCUP 2026

Iran playsBelgium to 0-0draw

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

INGLEWOOD,Calif. AlirezaBeiranvand made seven saves while Iran and Belgium playedtoa0-0 draw at the World Cup on Sunday, with Team Melli unable to break through after the Red Devils went downto10men in the secondhalf. Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy received astraight red card in the 66th minute when he miskicked a ballbackward andthenfouled MehdiTaremitopreventthe Iran star from getting aclean breakaway scoring chance.

Iran couldn’tcapitalize,and Belgium actually generated better scoring chances down thestretch —but both teams left with their second straight draw in group play Neither team will feel good about the result at SoFi Stadium. During atumultuous World Cup trip affected by travel restrictions and visa denials from the U.S., Iran will regretmissing agolden opportunitytobeat aEuropean powerhouse sitting 10th in FIFA’s world rankings whileplaying before aloud, supportive crowd.

Iran returnedtothe LosAngeles area for its second straight match in frontofa crowd packed with fans from the diaspora both supporting Team Melli anddecrying the Iranian government with boos of the anthem andhundreds of Lion and Sun ﬂags displayed.

Iran’sWorld Cupcycle has been chaotic ever since the U.S. beganawar on Feb. 28. TheIraniansmovedtheir training base from Arizona to Mexico, and the team is operating under travel restrictions requiring themtoleave

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByANDRE PENNER

Belgium’sKevin De Bruyne, front, tries to control the ball pastIran’sHossein Kanani during theirWorld Cup Group Gmatch on Sunday in Inglewood,Calif. Iran and Belgium playedtoa0-0 draw.

LosAngelesonly hours after both matches, infuriating coach Amir Ghalenoei.

Meanwhile,star-studdedBelgium has yet to score in two matchesatthe World Cup, getting on the scoreboard onlythrough an owngoal in its opening draw with Egypt.

Belgium is unbeaten in itslast 15 competitivematches, but it has notscored on 53 consecutiveshots at the World Cup dating back to its one goal scored in its three mostly dismal games in Qatar four years ago.

Belgium dominated possession in thefirst 60 minutes, butIran hada handful of strong chances stopped by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who matched Beiranvand’sexcellence. Team Melli had the best scoring chances early,including abeautiful setpiece for a goal by Taremi —who was ruled offside by videoreview Maxim De Cuyper was denied twice in the secondhalf by Beiranvand, including agolden opportunity in the 86th minute

With so many preparation obstacles, Ghalenoei leanedonexperi-

ence against Belgium, sending out the oldest starting 11 at aWorld Cupmatch since1966, according to Opta. Romelu Lukaku was asurprise addition to Belgium’sstarting lineup, playing the ﬁrst 73 minutes and recording one shot. The Red Devils’ career goals leader missed nearly allofhis club season at Napoli with ahamstring injury,and he played as asubstitute against Egypt last Monday StandoutBelgianwinger Jérémy Doku missed thematch with an illness.

Yamalhelps Spainto4-0 winoverSaudi Arabia

BY JAMES ROBSON AP soccer writer

ATLANTA— Welcome to the World Cup, Lamine Yamal. Welcome to the World Cup, Spain.

Teenage superstar Yamal scored 10 minutesinto his ﬁrst start on soccer’sbiggest stage and Spain kickstarted its tournament with the 4-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia in Atlanta on Sunday

The18-year-old forward slid in at the far post to touchhome alow cross for the opening goal and became the eighth-youngest scorer in World Cup history

More importantly,hesettled Spanish nerves after the European champion was held to a surprise 0-0 draw by Cape Verde in its opening game.

“The ﬁrst game wasn’treally us, it was different, but now we’vearrived and we’re going formore,” Yamal said.

In atournamentthathas already seen LionelMessi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland andHarry Kane get off to ﬂying starts, Yamal’sstrike saw himjoin the party. “I’ve always dreamed of being at aWorld Cup, and being able to score in my ﬁrst match as astarter is adream,” he said. “I watched

the last World Cup from aclassroom so being able to score here with my mum and my family in thestands is adream cometrue.”

The Barcelona winger is al-

ready considered onethe world’s top players andhelpedSpain win theEuropean Championship in 2024 despite being just 16 years old when the tournament started. He is tippedtotakeoverfrom Messi andCristiano Ronaldo as thesport’sbiggest star butcame into theWorld Cup with questions over his ﬁtnessafter he missed theend of the seasonwith ahamstring injury

After being used only as asecond-half substitute against Cape Verde, he wasthrown in from thestart on Sundayand wasted no time in making hispresence felt,repeatedlyslicing through the Saudi defense before turning home Mikel Oyarzabal’scross.

“When thereare players with individualattributesinthis game that can work (beat opponents) one-on-one, they can make adifference,” said Saudi Arabia coachGeorgiosDonis.“This is a player that makes adifference all the time in Spain andIthink the better the physical condition, the more time he has, he’llhelphis team even more.”

BY ETHAN WILCOX Associated Press

MONTERREY,Mexico Japan moved one step closer to reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the fourth consecutive time after pummeling Tunisia 4-0 in Group F, securing amilestone victory in the tournament’s1,000th men’smatch.

Japan’sfour goals were the most the Samurai Blue have ever scored in aWorld Cup game, as it comfortably dismantled aTunisia side that became the first to ever fire its coach after the openingmatch. AyaseUedascoredtwice,along with Daichi Kamada and Junya It to put Japanlevel with theNetherlandsonfour points. TheDutch are currently on top of the group due to having scored one more goal than Japan across its two matches. Even after leading 2-0 just over half an hour into the match, Japan continued to apply pressure to a disjointed Tunisian defense

“If we are able to get as many goals as possible, that would give

the team conﬁdence,”

Sweden.” The loss for Tunisia means it is eliminatedfromthe tournament.Japan is guaranteed at least third in the group, whichcould be

LATE SATURDAY

enough to advance to the knockout stages.

Tunisia appointed two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner Hervé Renard to try and rescue the EaglesofCarthage afterits humiliating 5-1 loss to Sweden, but the NorthAfrican nation could not containJapan’s speedyattacknor create any clear chances of their own.

“It is important to get ready to ﬁght for this third game against theNetherlands,” Renard said. “It’snever easy after two losses in two games,but we must take our responsibilities and be professionals to the very end.”

Kamadaopened

striker”, was perfectly positioned for

kamura’scross and barely had

move

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ERIKS.LESSER

Lamine yamal celebrates after scoring Spain’sopening goal during a WorldCup Group Hmatch against SaudiArabia on Sunday in Atlanta.

Tulane coach Hunter still adjusting to pay-for-play era

BY GUERRY SMITH

Contributing writer

Entering his 40th year as a coach, Tulane’s Ron Hunter is still coming to terms with the escalating pay-for-play NIL era of college basketball.

He knows it is here to stay The issue is accepting he has less than a year to work with his players before starting over again with a mostly different roster

“You can coach as hard as you want, but you have to reset every eight months,” he said Wednesday before conducting a summer practice with nine new players and four holdovers from 2025-26. “What used to happen is I’d start to think a kid was going to be good two or three years down the line, but the chances are the freshmen won’t be back next year, so it changes how you think. What are you going to do for the next eight months? It starts with how much money you have.”

Tulane certainly lacked the finances to keep two-time AllAmerican Conference point guard Rowan Brumbaugh, who departed for SMU and the Atlantic Coast Conference for his senior year Hunter ranked the Green Wave in the middle of the American Conference pack at best in payroll and

OPEN

Continued from page 1C

Scheffler, in his first try to get the only major he hasn’t won, was three shots back when he rammed a 30-foot birdie putt some 6 feet on the 14th and threeputted for bogey and a 71. Clark capped off quite a turnaround from a year ago. He was playing poor and looking angry, throwing a driver at the PGA Championship that made a marshal flinch, and then bashing in his locker at storied Oakmont Country Club after missing the cut in the U.S. Open last year Oakmont banned him until he made good — which Clark did — and he set out to work on his head and his game. Both looked better than ever at Shinnecock Hills. He finished at 4-under 276.

“New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys,” Clark said at the closing ceremony, hoisting the silver trophy “But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”

But it was uncomfortable at times, not only seeing a six-shot lead disappear so quickly but a crowd so badly wanting a special day for Schefﬂer that it turned on Clark. One fan was ejected when he shouted, “Don’t choke, Wyndham” when it was Clark’s turn to hit on the fourth tee. And there was a loud and instant cheer on the par-3 seventh, the kind normally reserved for a shot close to the pin. This was for Clark’s tee shot rolling into a bunker, leading to a short miss for bogey that again trimmed his lead to one shot.

“I get it — they were rooting for Scottie,” Clark said “Grand Slams only happen a few times. He’s going to get it. He’s the best player in the world. But today it’s my day.” It almost wasn’t.

But Burns never caught him — he played even par over the last 10 holes. Tom Kim, who like Schefﬂer celebrated a birthday on Sunday, was on the fringes of seriously contending until he fell back with a bogey on the 17th and shot 70 to ﬁnish third.

Clark hit a superb wedge that spun back to 4 feet for birdie on the 10th to restore the lead to two shots. But then he went long on

BLAU

Continued from page 1C

social media, particularly X Swinney doesn’t have an account.

Swinney still lives by “Til graduation do we part,” refusing to nudge athletes out the door for a lack of performance. He has only recently started using the transfer portal in a meaningful way, adding 10 this offseason Kifﬁn just brought in four times that number as part of LSU’s 2026 roster overhaul.

Swinney has been a head coach at Clemson since 2008. In that same time period, Kifﬁn has been ﬁred from two jobs — the Raiders and USC — and enraged Tennessee and Ole Miss fans after voluntarily bouncing elsewhere.

I’m fascinated to see how this

miles behind frontrunners Memphis and South Florida.

“That’s the part of college athletics I don’t like,” he said. “If you’ve got enough money, you can go buy yourself a championship.”

With that in mind, he said Tulane altered its recruiting strategy this time after its two biggest portal gains last season came from Seton Hall (Scotty Middleton) and Georgetown (Curtis Williams).

Only one of this year’s seven transfers hails from a Power Four school — redshirt freshman Dame Salane, who sat out with an injury at Arizona State. Five were high achievers at lower-level programs, modeled after what Tulsa accomplished while improving to 30-8 and 13-5 in the American in 202526 after ﬁnishing 13-20 and 6-12 a year earlier

The six transfers in the Golden Hurricane’s 10-player rotation came from Rhode Island, Cal Baptist, St. Thomas (Minnesota), Troy Fordham and a junior college.

Fieldhouse. Entering his 40th year as a coach, Hunter is still getting used to the

“This year we wanted to spread it around a little bit more and not be dominant with two players (getting the lion’s share of the money),” Hunter said. “When you do that, the back end of your roster is not good.” The switch has another practical value.

Wyndham Clark holds the trophy after winning the U.S Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Sunday in Southampton, N.y

“New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”

WyNDHAM CLARK, U.S Open winner

the 13th with a pitching wedge and couldn’t save par Burns last year had to deal with a rain-soaked Oakmont and a couple of shots he missed badly with so much water getting between the face of the iron and his golf ball. This time, it came down to the ﬁnal two holes.

He made a weak attempt at birdie from 10 feet on the 17th to tie for the lead. His 17-foot birdie chance on the 18th rolled along the right edge of the cup at perfect speed and didn’t drop. Burns let go of his putter and dropped to his knees.

“I honestly thought I made it,” Burns said ”Just the way it goes sometimes.”

That it went Clark’s way is hard to fathom considering where he was a year ago, where he was a month ago He was No. 75 in the world, winless in two years, when he shot 60 in the ﬁnal round to win The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Now he goes to No. 8 in the world ranking, and the smile he wore holding that U.S Open trophy would suggest he feels on top of the world

next twist in Kiffin’s roller coaster of a career plays out, and it’s weird to think, in an alternate universe, I may have covered him already Kiffin interviewed for the Clemson job in 2008 after he was fired by Hall of Fame Raiders owner Al Davis, but Clemson’s administration decided to hand Swinney, a 38-year-old receivers coach, the full-time job after a trial run.

Swinney went to six straight playoffs and won two national titles, but he made the CFP just once in my ﬁve years covering him Kifﬁn just had a squad make the playoffs last season, but he didn’t get to coach Ole Miss in the postseason.

I’ll be interested to compare their CFP success from this point forward.

Connecting more dots Before I landed on the Clemson

was I thought it was important that young people would want a Tulane degree,” Hunter said. “They don’t talk about that anymore. Parents don’t talk about it because the money has gotten so big.”

Junior Tyler Ringgold, a Baton Rouge product (Southern Lab) and the Green Wave’s lone returning starter, is a rare exception. After averaging 9.4 points and 3.9 rebounds, he stayed put.

“He’s an in-state kid and he wants a Tulane degree,” Hunter said. “He’s going to graduate in December.”

For the most part, though, Hunter knows modern players are oneyear rentals looking for the best monetary opportunity

Even point guard KJ Greene, back for his third year with the Wave, could be a case in point. Playing behind Brumbaugh, he averaged 4.4 points and 1.6 assists as a sophomore, but he will get a real shot to start this upcoming season.

The key is ﬁnding hungry, talented players who want to prove themselves and earn those big dollar ﬁgures down the road.

“One of the reasons I took this job (before the 2019-20 season)

“To be honest, a lot of times it’s about who you can afford,” Hunter said “Sometimes you want guys, but can’t afford them. That’s the part of the business I’m still adjusting to. I used to say I’m going to outwork that other coach (in recruiting). I don’t care how hard you work now It’s about can you afford them. If you’ve got money, you’ve got a chance to be really good.” Hunter added he thought Tulane’s administration was doing the best it could in funding basketball, but the escalating payrolls of other teams were out of reach.

“He knows the system,” Hunter said. “You can stay here and better yourself and maybe you’re the guy that gets a million dollars next year somewhere. That’s how it works now Guys play well in our league and they go somewhere they can make a million.”

Michigan center Mara headlines list of top big men in NBA draft

BY AARON BEARD AP basketball writer

Aday Mara was a massive presence in Michigan’s huge lineup that carried the Wolverines to their first NCAA championship since 1989. He’s now a lottery prospect in the NBA draft.

The 7-foot-3, 260-pound center is the headliner among the big men, a position group with a shorter line of top prospects compared to the guards and forwards The list includes Washington’s Hannes Steinbach, Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance and Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr

Here’s a look at the some of the top big men entering the ﬁrst round Tuesday night:

Aday Mara Michigan

STRENGTHS: The junior from Spain projects as a defensive force, leading all players measured at the combine in standing reach (9-9) and ranking second in wingspan (7-6).

Mara averaged 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists while ranking sixth nationally in blocks (2.6) in 23.4 minutes. He shot 66.8% overall, with Synergy charting post-ups as making up 34.8% of his possession usage. He had steady work as the roller in pickand-roll scenarios and as a cutter, and predictably earned an “Excellent” rating from Synergy for ﬁnishing at the rim (97th percentile). Mara stood out in a Final Four romp against fellow No. 1 seed Arizona with a career-best 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting with nine rebounds and two blocks.

CONCERNS: Mara must improve at the line (56.4%). It’s unclear what type of offense he’ll offer outside of ﬁnishing in the paint, though he did make 3 of 10 3-pointers last season in his first foray beyond the arc.

Hannes Steinbach Washington

STRENGTHS: The 6-10, 248-pound freshman from Germany was a steady producer as a scorer (18.5) and rebounder (national-best 11.8). The work on the glass stands out, with Steinbach having a 24-rebound game against USC and ﬁve other games with at least 15 boards. He also had 10 games with at least six offensive rebounds,

beat, I covered Indiana football for The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana. This was well before Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers turned into an Alabama-bruising Cinderella. The last bowl game I covered the Hoosiers in was the 2021 Outback Bowl, which featured national coach of the year Tom Allen versus Kiffin in his first year at Ole Miss. The Rebels won, 26-20, behind 342 yards passing from quarterback Matt Corral Strangely enough, Allen became the defensive coordinator at Clemson in 2025. He’ll be the playcaller opposite Kiffin’s offense on Sept. 5 in Tiger Stadium.

One of the receivers Allen will hope to contain is Ole Miss transfer Winston Watkins, who is cousins with legendary Clemson wideout Sammy Watkins.

with putbacks accounting for 17.2% of his possession usage, according to Synergy His game otherwise leaned on being the roll man in pick-and-rolls, on post-ups and as a cutter Steinbach shot 57.7% overall, and he showed some inside-out skills by hitting 18 3s (34%) that could also have him work as a 4-man. He averaged 1.2 blocks with a better than 7-2 wingspan.

CONCERNS: He’s not an explosive athlete, which could show in facing opponents with length or defending skilled opponents. He had more turnovers (59) than assists (47) to raise uncertainty about how he can contribute as a complementary playmaker

Jayden Quaintance • Kentucky

STRENGTHS: Physical tools stand out for the Kentucky sophomore. Quaintance has a strong frame (6-9, 253) and good measurables, including ranking fourth at the combine in wingspan (better than 7-5) and having big hands (tied for combine lead with 11-inch width, tied for second with a 9.5-inch length).

CONCERNS: Health Quaintance

The Clemson offense will face an ex-Clemson defensive tackle, Stephiylan Green, who transferred to LSU this offseason. He’s coached by LSU interior line coach Kevin Peoples, who was the Indiana D-line coach in 2020.

Those are just a few of the connections that ﬁre in my memory bank. You get far enough into a career and the world really shrinks, especially in a realm such as college football. Louisiana isn’t Indiana or South Carolina, and the SEC isn’t the Big Ten or ACC, but I can’t wait to see which people or events turn out to be oddly familiar in some way There’s a live tiger?

I’m feigning surprise, because of course I’ve heard of Mike the Tiger Circling back to the two Death Valleys, I just spent the past ﬁve

tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in February 2025 while at Arizona State. He returned only to play four games at Kentucky while dealing with lingering issues in that knee. That leaves a limited evaluation sample. He averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 24 games at Arizona State before the injury He made his Kentucky debut in December with 10 points and eight rebounds against St. John’s, but managed 10 points and 12 rebounds over the next three games and played his ﬁnal game Jan. 7.

Chris Cenac • Houston

STRENGTHS: The 6-11, 240-pound Houston freshman has rangy skills and intriguing tools. The McDonald’s all-American was MVP of the NBPA Top 100 camp in summer 2024, then started 36 games for Kelvin Sampson’s top-10 team where defense, toughness and rebounding is a prerequisite to play Cenac was ﬁfth among combine players with a 7-5 wingspan. He led the Cougars in rebounding (7.9) while hitting 30 3-pointers to show inside-out skills.

years enjoying the “most exciting 25 seconds in college football,” Clemson’s pregame run down its famed hill. But I’m a bit awed that Tiger Stadium has an actual tiger habitat close by I’m going to reserve judgment on which is better — I hold to my objectivity steadfastly — but I can’t imagine Mike’s enclosure won’t score a point in LSU’s favor That being said, I won’t know until I’ve been there. And that’s probably what I’m looking forward to the most: everything unfamiliar There are probably a million things I don’t know about Baton Rouge and Louisiana, from the culture to the food to the football traditions. I can’t wait to dive in, and thanks for following along for the ride.

Email Jon Blau at jon.blau@theadvocate.com

AP PHOTO By DAVID J PHILLIP

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Tulane coach Ron Hunter reacts after a call during a game against Samford on Nov. 3 at Devlin

NIL era of college sports.

AP FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL CONROy Michigan center Aday Mara dunks the ball during the second half of a Final Four game against Arizona on April 4 in Indianapolis.

STOKING THEFIRES

St.Georgemay have slayed thedragon, butishe thesolenamesakefor theEastBaton Rougecity?

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

St. Georgeslayed the dragon. Ask most peopleabout the venerated Christian knight,and they’ll reply with this one-sentence story.A statue commemorating this moment stands in frontofSt. George Catholic Church off of Siegen Lane in Baton Rouge.

So why was the East Baton Rouge Parish city of St.George named after the dragon slayer?

That wasn’t theexactway aBaton Rouge reader posed her question. St.George’sname obviously plays apart in the city’sname, and St. GeorgeCatholic Church stands within the municipality.

“Is the city named forthe church?” thereader asked.“Or are there other factors? Where doesthe city get itsname?”

Thevillage and fire department

Some sources attributeittothe

St.GeorgeCityHall buildingpictured in 2025

area’sVillage St. George subdivision, built in phases between 1956 and 1968. Other sources give partial credit to the Village of St. George Volunteer FireDepartment and Social Club, established in 1966. The ﬁre department eventually evolved into the St. George Fire

Protection District. Andthe Catholic parish of St. George was established in this area in 1908, making it the secondoldest Catholic church in East Baton Rouge Parish.The oldest is the Cathedral of St.Joseph on

BY DEE-ANN DURBIN Associated Press

McDonald’sisfrying up some apple piestohonor America’s 250th birthday

BY HILLEL ITALIE

Thecompany said it’sbringing back fried apple pies for thefirst time in morethan three decades. The y’ ll be available at most U.S. restaurants for a limitedtime starting June 23. McDonald’sisone of several fast-food companiesoffering semiquincentennial treats. BurgerKing recently debuted its Firecracker Cookie Pie, which has asugar cookie crust andred,white andblue starshaped sprinkles. Sonic is offering ared, white and blue slush ﬂoat for $2.50. Hardee’shas an iced Star-Spangled Biscuit with red and blue sprinkles. Here’salook at McDonald’s fried apple pies by the numbers:

1968

The year McDonald’sintroduced both its fried apple pie and the Big Mac hamburger Litton Cochran, aMcDonald’s franchisee in Tennessee, developed therectangle-shapedpie, which wasserved in acardboard sleeve. 1968 was amomentous year that included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, protests against the Vietnam Warand the signing of afederal law prohibiting housing discrimination.

1992

The year McDonald’s replaced the friedapple pie with abaked version in mostofthe U.S.,respondingtogrowingconsumer awareness of fat and cholesterol consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture ﬁrst published its food guide pyramid the same year.Fried apple pie remained on McDonald’smenus in Hawaii and is still sold in some othercountries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Greece, Australia and China.

230

Numberofcalories in McDonald’s baked apple pie. That’s10more calories than the fried version, according to thecompany’s website. Acup of boiled lentils, asingle almond Snickers bar and agrande Frappucino from Starbucks have the same calorie count, according to publicly available nutrition information.

130

Number of members of the Facebook group “Bring Back the Original McDonald’sFried Apple Pie.” By comparison, there are1,100 members lobbying McDonald’sinthe “Bring Back the McRib” Facebook group and 928 members of the “McDonald’s, Bring Back the Szechuan Sauce” Facebook group.

170M

Number of Americangrown applesthatMcDonald’s says it serves every year at its U.S. stores.

35 Height, in feet,ofa giant fried apple pie that McDonald’sisinstalling on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near McDonald’sChicagoheadquarters. That’sabout the

STAFF

PHOTO By ROBIN MILLER

Astatue ofSt. Georgeslaying the dragon stands in front of St.GeorgeCatholic Church off Siegen Lane in the city of St. George.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Peeringintothe spectrum of frailty

Dear Doctors: My mom saw anews storyabout frailty and worries it will happen to her.She’s83and is vital for her age. She does senior yoga and walks most days. She does take medication for high blood pressure and is prediabetic. Are either of those involved in being frail? Can it be prevented?

Dr.Elizabeth Ko

Dr.Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

Dear reader: Theterm “frailty”is often misunderstood. It used to refer primarily to physical weakness. While this is often akey part of frailty,anewer understanding is more nuanced. When someone is frail, it means their overall health has become less resilient. This makes them more vulnerable to poor outcomes if they get ill, injured or have ahealthchallenge or even an environmental stressor. Though frailtyisassociated with growingolder,itcan actually happen at any age. Frailty is nowunderstood to be asyndrome. This is agroup of symptomsthatoften occur together and are characteristic of arecognizable state of health. In frailty,muscle weakness is a keysymptom. It can show up as weaker grip strength, poor balance, slowed walking speed, less

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday,June 22, the 173rd day of 2026. There are 192 days left in the year.

Todayinhistory: On June 22, 1938, in are-

match that bore the weight of both geopolitical symbolism and African American representation, American Joe Louis knocked out German Max Schmeling in just two minutes and four seconds to retain his heavyweight boxing title in front of 70,000 spectatorsatNew York’sYankee Stadium.

Also on this date: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for a second time as Emperor of the French. In 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, amassive and ultimately ill-fated invasion of the Soviet Union that would prove pivotal to the Allied victory over the Axis Powers.

CURIOUS

Continued from page1D

Main Street.

“I wouldn’tsay it was any one singlething, but Iwould say all of those things contributed to the choice of the name,” said Scott Byrd, city of St. George’sprogram director.“They wanted to pick something that people could already identify with, and those three things are probably some of the more notable things in this area.” Byrd points out that the core of the citywas already called the Village of St. George on maps because of the subdivision.

“And so, Ithink allof those things combined led to the decision to name the city St. George when they were forming the petition to create acity,” Byrd said Howithappened

The movement for the city’sformation originally began in 2010after residents in the Shenandoah neighborhood sought to break away from the East Baton Rouge Parish school system to form their own independent district. The effort failed, resulting in abigger urban secession movement.

The incorporation of the city of St. George was ﬁnally approvedinaspecial election on Oct. 12, 2019, by 54% of the voters residing within the proposed city’s boundaries in the southeast corner of East Baton Rouge Parish. After several years of legal battles, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of St. George, allowing the incorporation to proceed.

That was in April 2024.

The city elected its ﬁrst mayor and citycouncil on March 29, 2025, and with a population of almost84,000, it’snow Louisiana’s ﬁfthlargest city St. George is the state’s newest city,unseating the city of Central, also in East Baton Rouge Parish, which held the “newest” status after its incorporation on April 23, 2005.

The city is nestled in the southeast portion of East Baton Rouge Parish and

In 1944,President Franklin D. Rooseveltsigned the Servicemen’sReadjustment Act of 1944,morepopularly knownasthe “GIBill of Rights,” whichprovided tuition coverage,unemployment support and low-interesthomeand businessloans to returning veterans. In 1945, theWorld WarII Battle of Okinawa ended with an Allied victory In 1970, PresidentRichard Nixon signed an extension of the VotingRights Act of 1965 that lowered the minimum votingage to 18. In 1977, JohnN.Mitchell became the ﬁrst former U.S.attorney general to go to prisonashebegan serving asentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up. In 1981, Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to killing rock star and former Beatle JohnLennon In 2011, after evading arrest for 16 years, mob boss James “Whitey”Bulger was

includes the Inniswold, Oak Hills Place, Old Jefferson, Shenandoah,Village St. Georgeand Westminster communities. City maps can beviewed at the East Baton RougeParish GeographicInformation System website, ebrgis.opendata.arcgis.com. They show rough borders that follow roads on the city’snorth sideand BayouManchac on the south.

Thecity’sboundaries

St.GeorgeCatholic Churchunintentionally playedabig part in how these boundaries were determined. According to cityofstgeorge.com, awebsite formed bythe city’s supporters during the transition from community to city,“thechurchparish’s original boundaries were similar to the city of St. George’scity limits, providing the area with an early sense of continuity.

The church’swebsite, st-george.org, traces itshistory from its humblebeginnings in a“small, wooden chapel sittingoff aremote country road on land donatedin1885 by thewidow of GeorgeKleinpeter,” who was one of Baton Rouge’s earliest andmost prominent landownersand farmers.

“The exact date thechapelwas builtisunknown, but St.Georgeislisted as achapel and school in the church directories of the Archdiocese of New Orleans by 1891,” thechurch history continues.“At the time, St.Georgewas amission of St. Joseph Church in Baton Rouge. Prior to thebuildingofthe chapel, this small community was served by priests from St. Josephwho arrived once a monthtocelebrateMass in oneofthe area homes.”

The parish was established in 1908, and accordingtothe Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, the church’s name, St.George, was anod to GeorgeKleinpeter’s “patronsaint” —the saint for whom he was named.

Thestory of St.George JacobusdeVoragine, the 13th-century Archbishop of Genoa, recountedthe legend of St. George in his

endurance, and less ﬂexibilityand agility.People who are frail often have other healthconditions. They may have bone loss, poor blood glucose control, high blood pressure, vision and hearing loss, and changes to cognition. All together,these symptomsput them at higher risk of physical injuries, such as afall. Lack of physical resilience can turn even aminor accident or illness into hospitalization. This can trigger asteep physical and mental decline. It’salso important to know frailty exists on aspectrum from mild to severe. People with one or two symptoms may be considered prefrail. Those with several symptomsare considered frail. Because it is acollection of symptoms, frailty can ﬂyunder

theradar.For manypeople, it is only when acrisis occurs that the underlying frailty is noticed. With that in mind, we would encourage your mother to see her healthcare provider foranassessment. The good newsabout frailty is that, when identiﬁed early,itcan be slowed or even reversed. A team of researchers from Japan and London analyzed medical datafrom 42,775 older adults who ranged from robust to frail. They found that 14% improved their status, slightly morethan half remained stable, and the rest becamefrailer.Asexpected, the prefrail group had the highest rates of improvement. When it comes to preventing, slowing or reversing frailty,a few lifestyle factors come into

play.Regular physical activity is the biggest one. Even the walking your mother is already doing improves mobility,balance and endurance. Resistance-based exercises to build and maintain muscle massare also very helpful. Another factor is abalanced diet with plenty of protein and fresh vegetables, leafygreens and fruit. Add regular eye, hearing and medical checks, and your mother can know she is doing her best to reduce the risk of frailty Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

Sick childshouldtrump allelse

captured in Santa Monica, California. In 2012, former Penn Stateassistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted by ajury in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years. (Sandusky would later be sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.)

Today’sbirthdays: Actor Klaus Maria Brandauer is 83. Musician-producer Peter Asher (Peter and Gordon) is 82. Musician-producer Todd Rundgren is 78. Actor Meryl Streep is 77. Actor Lindsay Wagner is 77. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is 77. Singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper is 73. Actor Bruce Campbell is 68. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is 66. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California is 66. Basketball Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is 64. Actor Amy Brenneman is 62.

book, “The Golden Legend; or,Lives of the Saints.”

“Saint George was a knight and born in Cappadocia,”hewrites. “One time he cametothe city of Silene in the province of Libya. Near this city was apond, wherein there was adragon which was poisoning all the country.”

The city’speople tried to appease thecreature by supplying it withameal of two sheep aday.When there were no moresheep, adaily lottery of human sacriﬁces was put in place.

“Whoever the lot fell upon, wealthy or poor,he or she was delivered to thedragon,”deVoragine writes.

That’swhen thename of theking’sdaughter was drawn, and tomake along story short,St. George rescued her by killing the dragon.

The real story of St. George, though tragic, is less fantastical. He was, indeed, born in Cappadocia now Turkey —inthe third century.Hewasn’taknight but ahigh-ranking ofﬁcer in the Praetorian Guard for theRoman Emperor Diocletian.

George refused Diocletian’s command to persecute Christians and thereby refused to recant his own Christian faith, which resulted in his torture and beheading. That was in 303 AD. His burial siteremains apilgrimage destination in Lod,central Israel.

The dragon myth initially was attached to St. Theodore Tiro in theninth and 10th centuries, then transferred to St.George in the 11th century.Some sources attribute its origins to Roman Thracian horseman iconography of aserpent entwining the Tree of Life. In the end, St. George stands as his own symbolin front of the St.George Catholic Church and the city that has grown around him.

Do you have aquestion about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your questionto curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and thecitywhere you live.

Dear Miss Manners: We had arrangedwith ourson and daughter-in-law to babysittheir1-and 4-year-oldssothey could go to an out-oftown concert, being gone for two nights. Threedays before we were to arrive, the 4-year-old got sick andthey took himtourgentcare. He continued to get worse, and thedoctor sent themtothe children’s hospital for tests.Hewas still quite sickthe day before we were to arrive and the doctors were still not sure what was up. They wanted to seehim in theofﬁce the next day,when the parents would be gone, so we would have to takehim. We are in our 70s and

LIBRARIES

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

have some health issues, andwewereuncomfortable being with, andcaring for, asickchild. We told ourson we did notfeel comfortable caring forthe child andmeeting with the doctor to go over test results. We backed out and they missed the concert. Our son is now not speaking to us. Who, if anyone, is overreacting here?

Gentle reader: Wait —how is the child?

Miss Manners doesn’t even know him,and she is deeply worried about him,while his nearest relatives are squabbling over a missed concert.

Are you monsters?

The answer to who

Continuedfrom page1D

naval history,the ponydrawn sleigh he rode in as a child, and on and on.”

SinceFDR helpedlaunch themodern system of presidentialsitesinthe late 1930s, anetworkofmuseumsand research facilities has grown nationwide, overseen in part by theNational Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, but otherwise as varied as the men they honor. They areset everywhere from the scenic Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in California’sSimi Valley to the small-town setting of theHerbert Hoover Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, to the vast Barack Obama Presidential Center thatopens to the public on Friday, Juneteenth, in Chicago.

Historian DouglasBrinkley,who says he has visited all of thepost-FDR libraries, calls them vital hubs for lectures, research, school tours and tourists.

“Each of thelibraries have their own aura,” Brinkley says. “Roosevelt came up withaperfect idea by gifting his home in Hyde Park to the people of America, insteadofhaving his papers stored in awarehouseinVirginia or Maryland. He startedatradition of having them go where thepresident lived.

Alittlepresidentialspin

Librariescarry with them agiven president’spersonality and legacy.Brinkley and others notethatwhile thelibraryarchives are managed by NARA, themuseum is funded by private donors who are likely to prefer agiven president’s more favorable moments be emphasized or less favorable ones softened.

On theHooverwebsite,a page dedicated tothe Great Depression emphasizes thatsomeofthe policies enacted by Roosevelt, who easily defeated Hooverfor reelection, were ﬁrst proposed by Hoover.The Richard Nixon library in Yorba Linda,California,was for years at theheartofabattle between museum administrators andthe former president and his supporters over everything from control of his archives to howmuch space should be

should have been on duty is: everybody! Aseriously sick child is afamily emergency.Someone needs to be with the child —not just to transport him, but to comfort him. Someone needs to keep up with the doctors’ reports and instructions, and pick up any medicines that maybeprescribed. Someone needs to run the household, making sure that everyone gets sufﬁcient food and rest. And, by the way,someone needs to look after the 1-year-old. Here is what no one has to do: Go to aconcert. Engage in hostilities. Shun family members or accuse them of overreacting.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners.com.

dedicated to theWatergate scandal that helped lead to his resignation.

MaxBoot,authorofa 2024 biography of Reagan, contrasted his access to the Reagan archives with the museum itself.The late president’srecords were “administered by federal employees in an entirely professionaland apolitical fashion. There is no attempt to hide anything,” he said. The museum “naturally focusesonReagan’s achievementsand shortchangeshis failures.”

“It’sdesigned to present a positive portrait. Thus, volumes critical of Reagan are not sold in the library bookstore,” Boot said.

Historian TedWidmer,a formerspeechwriter for Bill Clinton, said, “While it’sinevitable that the presidential libraries will presentthe highlightsofapresidency,there has been some progress toward transparency in recent years.”

He praised the Lyndon Johnson library,located in Austin, Texas, for its willingness to take on LBJ’s widely criticized handling of the VietnamWar.In2023, the library helpedrevive interest in one of Johnson’s most notorious campaigns —the 1948 Senate campaignnow widelybelieved to have been stolen —by posting recordings on its website of interviewsby Associated Press reporter James W. Mangan with aformer Texaselection judge who acknowledged certifying false votes that helped LBJ win.

“It is hard to know if future librarieswill continue that trend, in an era in which history is increasingly politicizedand polarized,” Widmersays. “But it’shealthy forour democracy to encourage the study of history

as it really happened —not asanitized version.”

TheObama experience Obamaofficials have faced criticism forthe center’ssize and aesthetic “The building hasanominous presence, itsmostly windowless heft recalling amenacing sci-ﬁ headquarters,” wrote The Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright —and fortheir decision notto have aNARA facility on site. Asubstantialamount of the formerpresident’s records are digital, atrend Brinkleyexpectstocontinue with future libraries. As manyas1million people are expected to visit the center’s20-acre campus each year,with highlights including apublic library branch, an NBA-grade basketball court, afruit and vegetable garden and a playground.Obamatested out one of the high metal slides in May

“Thatwas fantastic,” he said after zipping down, according to avideo posted to the ObamaFoundation’s social media. “I was alittle tall forit.”

Obamaalso decided many ofthecenter’sdetailsandfeatures, from textured stone on the museum’s 225-foot tower to apair of high-backed reading chairs inside the library Among his favorite items, though, are charcoal grills that will be available for public use. He ﬂoated the idea to the public at a2017 community meeting and was met with warm laughs from the hometowncrowd.

“Wedon’t have any folks who grill here?” Obama saidatthe time. “I thought this was the South Side of Chicago.”

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByPAULBEATy

Statues of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama at the Obama Presidential Center in ChicagoonMay 28.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Follow through; procrastinating won't getyou where you want to go. Aim high and refuseto letemotions interfere with completion. Take aunique approach to how you earn your cash.

LEO(July 23-Aug. 22) Reach out, gather information andput aplan in place. Preparation is everything. Showyour willingness to pull your weight as well as the uniqueness you bring to any venture you pursue.

VIRGO (Aug.23-Sept. 22) It's time to pick an expert's brain. Summarize what you want to achieve and start adialogue. The informationwill lead to unexpected help thatincreasesyourenthusiasmandhelps you see beyond your expectations.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) It's onestepforward and three steps back. Payattention to detail, anddon't embellish what you can do.Overthinkingorpromisingtoo muchwill make youlook bad.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) An open mind will lead to learning and preparing yourself forwhat'stocome. Armyourself with information,and connect yourself to those whocan helpyou make your dreams come true.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov.23-Dec. 21) Shuffle things around at hometoboost your productivity.Followingtheruleswillpay offand change how others perceive you. Personal improvements will enhance your appeal.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Sit tight with eyes wide open and observe what's unfolding aroundyou.Hold on to the

information you digest until you can back up your claims. Put your energy intoself-improvement.

AQUARIUS (Jan.20-Feb. 19) The pressure is on. It's time to take notice and to unleash your plans. Participation is in your best interest. Get involvedinwhatexcites you, and you'll connect with someone you can share conceptswith.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Get in thegame, speak up, share concepts andgowhere the action is, andyou'll connect with an opportunity you won'twant to miss. Refuse to let thechanges others make drag you in the oppositedirection. ARIES (March 21-April19) Verifyfactsand takenotes.Beopentosuggestions,butdo what's bestfor you. Aprofessional move or changing how you handle money will offer an incentive to save for something special.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Keep the momentum flowing when dealing with self-improvements, butapply caution regarding physical risk when youventure outside your domain.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Welcome change. Adopting and adapting to what's available can help you turn your aspirations intosomething tangible.Refuse to let your emotions lead you astray or stand between you and what's meant to be yours.

CelebrityCipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present.Each letter in the cipher stands foranother.

TODAy'SCLUE:C EQUALS S

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: sudokuis anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the sudoku increases from monday to sunday.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

Bridge

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Earl Wilson,ajournalist whowrote a nationallysyndicatednewspapercolumn called “ItHappened LastNight,”said,“A baseballgameissimplyanervousbreakdown divided into nine innings.”

Threeno-trumpissimplyanervous breakdowndividedintoninetricks.Well, what shouldSouthdointhis deal after West leadsthe heart twoinanswer to his partner’sovercall,andSouthtakesEast’s queen with hisking(or ace)?

After East’s one-heart intervention, Southhad two choices: atakeout double (ifNorth would have read it as such!) or anatural two-no-trump rebid, showing abalanced hand with 18, 19 or apoor 20 points andhearts wellheld. Since North couldhave still looked for a4-4 spade fit at thethree-level, Southmade thesame rebid that he would have produced if East had remained silent. South startswith onlyfive toptricks: twospades, two hearts andone club. Since theclubfinesseisprobablylosing, declarer should try to add four diamond trickstobring his total up to nine. It looks so easy to lead thediamond queen or jack at trick two, but with this layout,that costs the contract. East wins thetrick and establishes his hearts.

Whendiamondsbreakbadlyandtheclub finesse is losing, South cannot recover.

wuzzles

As asmall safetyplay, declarer should cross to dummy’s spadeking, then lead a low diamond toward hishand. Here, the ace appears, collecting onlylow cards, and thecontract is safe. However, if the ace does not appear, Southwinsthe trick and continues thesuit, hoping for a3-2 break. ©2026 by nEa, inc., dist. By andrews mcmeel syndication

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which createsadisguised word, phrase,name,place, saying, etc. For example: nOOn gOOD =gOOD aFTErnOOn

Previous answers:

word game

InsTRucTIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not

ToDAY’sWoRD BoonDocKs: BOON-dox: Aremote, thinly settled rural area.

Averagemark 11 words

Time limit 25 minutes

Can you find 17 or more words in BOONDOCKS?

sATuRDAY’sWoRD —REGoLITH

loCKhorNs

Amen! God takescareofHis own. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

dIrectIons: make a2-to 7-letter word from the letters in each row. add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

ken ken

InstructIons: 1 -Each row and each columnmust containthe numbers 1thorugh 4(easy) or 1through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, mustcombine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages withthe number in the top-left corner.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

WiShinG Well

HErEisaplEasanT liTTlEgamEthat

the number of letters is

left

Scrabble GramS

Getfuzzy

roSe iS roSe

atelyfollowing theBid SubmissionDeadline, bidswillbeopenedinac‐cordancewiththe bid documents NOPB CONTACT: Respon‐dents must submit Ques‐tions

Clemency

termined that theproject will have no signiﬁcant impact on thehuman en‐vironment. Therefore, an EnvironmentalImpact Statementunder theNa‐tional EnvironmentalPol‐icyAct of 1969 (NEPA) is notrequired. Additional projectinformation is containedinthe Environ‐mental Review Record (ERR) on ﬁle at Jefferson Parish Consolidated Gov‐ernment, Department of Community Develop‐ment,1221 Elmwood Park Blvd,Suite 605, Jefferson, LA andmay be examined or copied weekdays 8:30 A.M.