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BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON Though sympathetic that his religious rights had been violated whenhis dreadlocks were shaved, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday morning that aLouisiana inmate can’tsue prison ofﬁcials for monetary damages.

A6-3 majority agreedthat the federal law intended to protectthe religious rights of inmates doesnot include language that would allow Damon Landor,ofNew Orleans, to hold ﬁnancially responsiblestate prison ofﬁcials who violated his rights.

“I am disappointed butnot defeated,” Landor saidina statement. “Whathappened to me violated my faith and my dignity.I will continue pursuing accountability.What happened to me should not happen to anyone else.”

ChiefJustice John Roberts, and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, SamuelAlito, Brett Kavanaugh andAmy Coney Barrett —all of whom were nominated by Republican presidents—formedthe majority The highcourt accepted Louisiana’sposi-

tion

Justices KetanjiBrown Jackson, who wrotethe dissent, Elena Kaganand Sonia Sotomayor —all of whom were nominated by Democratic presidents—disagreed with themajority’sﬁndings

The Religious LandUse and Institutionalized Persons Act was enacted in 2000 and said prisons could not impose asubstantial burdenonthe religiousexerciseofa person residing in or conﬁnedtoaninstitution.”

RLUIPA doesn’tprovideclear noticethat stateofﬁcials could be personally liable for violating religious liberties, the court ruled. Lower courts had ruled against Landor and others who have madesimilar claims. Landor argued that, without thethreat of monetarydamages,enforcementofthe lawwas meaningless.Religious organizations— 35 in all, including those of Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths —ﬁled “friend of the court” briefs supportingLandor’sposition.

DavisorCrockettwillbe firstBlack U.S. Senate campaign finalist in La sinceReconstruction

One of two men whogrew up in rural northeast Louisiana will make history Saturday by becoming the ﬁrst BlackU.S. Senate campaign ﬁnalist in Louisiana sinceReconstruction. Jamie Davis, afarmer from tiny Tensas Parish, is vying forthe Democratic Party Senate nomination on Saturday against Gary Crockett, a business owner in New Orleanswho is originally from MadisonParish. Davis is heavily favored in the runoff. He nearly captured the May 16 primary outright, has farmoremoney than Crockett, hasa full campaign staff —unlike Crockett —and has endorsements from the Louisiana Democratic Party and New OrleansMayor Helena Moreno Meanwhile,U.S. Rep. JuliaLetlow andstate Treasurer John Fleming are competing Saturdayfor the Republican Senate nomination in aseparateparty primary Thewinners of each race willfaceoff in the generalelection on Nov.3,with the Republicancandidate expected to win.

ä See SENATE, page 6A

forAcadiana programplacedatrisk

BY STEPHENMARCANTEL Staff writer

The Trump administration is againfacing alegal challenge after issuing new rules that could signiﬁcantly reshape how federal homelesshousing programsare funded. Earlierthismonth,the Department of Housing and Urban Development released updated Continuum of Care grant regulationsthatshift funding priorities toward transitionalhousing and reducethe amount of funding guaranteed to existing programs.

ä See HOUSING, page 4A

ABOVE:

STAFF PHOTOSByLESLIEWESTBROOK

Crockett

France records its hottest day ever

PARIS France recorded its hottest day ever Tuesday as an early heat wave gripped Europe, prompting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum to restrict visiting hours and disrupting school and transportation schedules in multiple countries.

Punishing temperatures extended to the United Kingdom and Spain, where weather agencies issued red alerts — like France — about the risks of extreme heat for tens of millions of people.

The record of 85.6 F for France’s national thermal indicator — an average of temperatures measured at 30 weather stations — was only the latest in a series of never-before-registered highs heaped on Europe’s largest country The conditions were likely to persist at least until the weekend.

France’s previous hottest days were recorded during heat waves of August 2003 and July 2019, with an average temperature of 84.9 F.

In a country without widespread air conditioning, schools, public transportation and sporting events have been affected.

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower closed in the afternoon instead of late at night, as it usually does. The Louvre museum said it would close two hours earlier than normal from Wednesday through Saturday

Millions of bees escape after semitrailer crash

Millions of honeybees escaped into a rural Texas neighborhood after a semitrailer carrying about 400 hives tipped over, ofﬁcials said.

Emergency officials in Orange County, Texas, shut down roads in the area Sunday morning and warned residents to stay in their homes while crews worked to unload the trailer and salvage as many hives as possible. The county is located east of Houston and borders Louisiana. No bee stings or serious injuries were immediately reported. Officials haven’t identified the owner of the hives.

Chris Moore, owner of Moore Honey, along with his son and several employees joined the effort to help the bees, but he estimated that only about a quarter of the 408 hives will survive. It mostly depends on how many queens remain alive after the crash, he said.

It’s common for large beekeeping operations to move hives around the country to provide commercial pollination for agriculture in places like California and to follow blooming seasons throughout the South and the Midwest for honey production.

Other local keepers have put out catch boxes to collect remaining strays, but it will likely take a while for the insects to clear out of the area, Moore said. Niger becomes third country to leave ICC

THE HAGUE, Netherlands Niger has formally left the International Criminal Court, accusing the judicial body in The Hague of selective justice.

The west African country submitted a letter to the United Nations on Monday, triggering the withdrawal process from the court’s foundational treaty, the Rome Statute.

“While the court had raised great hopes among peoples who cherish peace and justice, it has been misused and exploited,” the letter said.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced last year that they would leave the court.

A coup ousted Niger’s democratically elected government in 2023, since when a military junta has abandoned longtime partners and has formed new alliances instead, including with Russia, where President Vladimir Putin faces an arrest warrant by the ICC over the war in Ukraine. Mali and Burkina Faso have undergone similar transformations. The ICC expressed disappointment at the departure. “We regret any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes,” the court said in a statement.

U.S. slaps new sanctions on Cuba

Five companies key to island’s crumbling economy targeted

BY DÁNICA COTO Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico The U.S. hit Cuban state companies on Tuesday with new sanctions that analysts say are expected to spook foreign investors and deepen a severe economic crisis.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions target ﬁve Cuban entities, including three linked to Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate run by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces. Best known as GAESA, it is believed to command nearly 40% of Cuba’s gross domestic product As of early 2024, it held $14.5 billion in liquid reserves.

“The situation in Cuba is devolving as the island’s corrupt, brutal and anti-American Communist re-

gime continues to prioritize its own total control over the freedom, opportunity and basic well-being of the Cuban people,” Rubio wrote on X. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, accused “regime elites” of using GAESA to “steal the island’s few resources, diverting them for repression, anti-American subversion and spying instead of schools, power plants, and basic necessities for the Cuban people.”

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign affairs minister, rejected the sanctions, calling Rubio “dishonest and mendacious.”

“Cuba has proven stronger, more capable, and more effective than he anticipated in the face of the ruthless aggression and collective punishment inﬂicted upon its people and their living conditions,” he wrote on X. “What this individ-

ual is promoting from the world’s greatest power is a crime.”

Anyone that provides services to the targeted Cuban entities risks being sanctioned and cut off from the U.S. ﬁnancial system.

“By designating speciﬁc entities, they’re making it clear to foreign investors: ‘If your business in Cuba touches any of these folks, you risk being banned,’” said Michael Bustamante, a professor and chair in Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.

“For most of these companies, it’s a bridge too far,” he said of the impact of the new sanctions.

Almacenes Universales S.A., or AUSA, is among the entities sanctioned. As the government’s main logistics and warehousing company it holds up Cuba’s export and import system It’s also the main storage

Reﬂecting Pool saga continues with arrests

Trump claims vandals damaged area

BY MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON The saga over the Lincoln Memorial Reﬂecting Pool took a turn as President Donald Trump said Tuesday that six people have been arrested over recent damage. The president’s troubled $14-million-plus rehabilitation project has become a visceral ﬂashpoint over law enforcement, aesthetics and environmental concerns ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

In a social media post, Trump claimed without supporting evidence that there had been a “350-foot gash” in the paint as the administration faces a self-imposed deadline to fix the botched renovation before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration next week. He has also said, including again on Tuesday, that the federal government would release images to substantiate his claim.

Trump pledged to beautify the century-old Reﬂecting Pool ahead of the anniversary celebrations, draining its water and having the bottom painted a color he dubbed “American ﬂag blue.” But since the site was restored, its water has been plagued with algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump, without evidence, has repeatedly blamed the peeling paint on vandalism

“It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition,” Trump wrote Tues-

day, adding that another seven people were cited for allegedly damaging the pool.

The U.S. Park Police and the Interior Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests or Trump’s claim of vandalism.

The Associated Press veriﬁed that one man was arrested after touching the already-peeling paint. He said he wanted to examine the new coating, touching a still-attached chunk brieﬂy then letting go shortly after a park worker told him to.

National Guard members and Park Police have been patrolling the deck around the pool after Trump insisted over the weekend that vandals were responsible for damage to the liner, without providing evidence.

Trump said Tuesday that the Interior Department will release images of alleged vandalism at the pool. Pressed by reporters after Air Force One landed in Pennsylvania for a visit to a trucking company, Trump said Interior is “going to share” photos and videos of the alleged vandalism, which remains unveriﬁed.

Trump also said Tuesday that “some of the water” will be drained from the pool “either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair.”

Adding to the controversy swirling around the pool, an environmental group called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate after a Mallard duckling carcass was photographed ﬂoating in the algae-filled pool, and two other ducks were found dead nearby The Center for Biological Diversity said Tuesday that the Wildlife Service must enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects migratory birds.

Afghan Taliban, EU hold talks

Delegations meet for discussions on deportations

BY SAM MCNEIL and ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN Associated Press

BRUSSELS A delegation from the Afghan Taliban met Tuesday with European Union staff in Brussels for closed-door talks that focused on diplomatic services and the “digniﬁed returns” of Afghans to the isolated and war-ravaged nation, a Taliban official said.

Afghans make up one of the largest groups of migrants seeking asylum in the EU, but a growing

number of governments in the 27-nation bloc want to speed up and increase deportations for those whose claims are rejected or who commit crimes in their host countries.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the visit “historic,” noting it was the first time a delegation from the Islamic Emirate held talks with the EU and EU nations in Brussels. Balkhi, who led the delegation of five, said talks focused on “trust-building measures,” the Taliban’s diplomatic presence in the EU and a “dignified return process.”

The meeting was held in an undisclosed location in

the Belgian capital, where both the EU and NATO are headquartered.

The Commission said it co-chairedthemeetingwith Sweden and that representatives from 15 of the EU’s 27 nations participated in discussions focused on easing deportations of criminals and security threats.

Afghan authorities have imposed draconian restrictions on rights, particularly for women and girls, since the Taliban seized power in the country in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

Rights groups said Tuesday’s meeting undercuts the EU’s human rights obligations and could endanger people in Europe and Afghanistan.

company used by the state, Cuba’s private sector and foreign investor partners, Bustamante said Also sanctioned was Rafin S.A., which Bustamante described as a “very opaque” company that he believes operates as the corporate financial arm within GAESA. He said it’s not a bank but holds capital from the government and GAESA and may be a player in financial deals. The third GAESA-related entity that was sanctioned is Banco Financiero Internacional S.A., a commercial bank that Bustamante said serves as a key institution for foreign investors. Also sanctioned were Geominera S.A., a state-owned mining company, and Empresa Siderúrgica Jose Martí, which the U.S. described as Cuba’s largest raw steel producer The final sanction was slapped against Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, daughter-in-law

Judge rules against SNAP restrictions for candy, sugary drinks Court finds government can’t block benefits

BY GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press

The federal government can’t block benefits from the nation’s largest food aid program from being used to buy candy soda and other sugary drinks, a judge ruled.

Monday’s ruling scuttles restrictions now in place or planned for the federally funded and state-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 23 states

President Donald Trump’s administration has not said whether it will appeal to a higher court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who sits in Washington and was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama, said in her opinion that the ruling was because the federal government did not follow its own deﬁnition of “food.” She said it wasn’t a comment on whether the restrictions are a good idea.

“The federal defendants and the states may have

a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” she wrote “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr have encouraged states to limit what the food aid can be used to buy as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. They reason that soda and candy fuel obesity, diabetes and chronic disease epidemics and taking them off the menu would encourage healthier food choices. The Agriculture Department has given 23 states so far permission to implement restrictions. The Agriculture Department has not said whether it intends to appeal the ruling. The case is among scores of challenges to Trump administration policies that hinge on whether the administration has the authority to change policies without congressional approval.

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National Guard members and Park Police have been patrolling the deck around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after President Trump insisted over the weekend that vandals were responsible for damage to the liner BRIEFS

Landry:La. hasreached asettlementincoastal lawsuits

Deal with Exxon mayadd to SpaceX speculation

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

Gov.Jeff Landry an-

nounced Tuesday that Louisiana and Exxon Mobil Corp had reached afinal settlement agreement in lawsuits broughtbyparishesalleging that the oil company had polluted the state’s coastline and contributed to its land loss crisis.

The governor said Tuesday in apost on Xthat the resolution to the litigation was a “huge step forward for Louisiana’sfuture.” Judges have sealed the details of settlements with other oil and gas majors and the details of any deal with Exxon are likely to remain secret. It is not clear to what extentthe deal may benefit Louisiana’ssorelyneededcoastal restoration efforts.

Any deal may also add to speculation that SpaceX, Elon Musk’sspace exploration and artificial intelligence company,may be looking to acquire atract of land in remote wetlands in Vermilion Parish to expand its space launch operations. Removing legal liability from Exxon-owned land there could facilitate adeal.

“Today,we’ve reached a ﬁnal agreement with@ExxonMobil, resolving years of litigation and delivering tangible results for our coast andcommunities,” Landry said. He thanked Attorney General Liz Murrilland ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods.

“ExxonMobil and Louisiana Gov.Jeff Landry have reached an agreementto meaningfully address remediation opportunities and strengthen even further the communities where our employees live and work,” aspokesperson for Exxon said. “As part of this agreement, the state willdismiss meritless lawsuits that have

been pending forover adecadeand only got in the way of important environmental remediation.”

Landry announced last month thatLouisiana had “reached adeal”withExxon, apparently before the inkwas dry.Murrill clariﬁed that the state had adeal“in principle,”and Exxonsaid it was working toward ﬁnalizingthe deal

BatonRouge attorney JohnCarmouche, whohas represented the parishes as plaintiffs in the more than 40 coastal lawsuits, applauded thecompanies for moving toward asettlement last month.

“Some of theoil companies are realizing that this is atype of casethat needs resolution, notﬁghtinginthe courtroom for 12 years,”he said in late May Carmoucheand Murrill could not immediatelybe reached for commenton Tuesday

Yearsinthe making

The ﬁrst of 42 coastal lawsuits in Louisiana was ﬁled in 2013, andthe litigation has been winding its way through the courts since then.The oil companies have repeatedly argued that thecases belong infederal court; theplaintiffs have argued they belong in state

court, where they believejuries morefamiliar with the local environmentalimpacts of the oiland gasindustry might be easier towin over

That strategy appeared to pan out last year,when a Plaqueminesjuryrendered ahistoric $745 million verdict in theﬁrstofthe cases to go to trialagainst Chevron.

But sincethen, theU.S. SupremeCourt handed the oil and gas companies awin, ruling that Chevron’s relationship with thefederal government during World WarII— thecompany was contracted to produce aviationfuel for the wareffort —meant that the case did in fact belong in federal court. It created anew legal litmus testfor removing theother cases to federal court, which it handed down to alower court to apply

That could jeopardizethe $745 million verdict. That case willheadtofederal court,where ajudge could decide to toss it and retry thecase.

Rocketsinthe swamp?

Exxon owns 136,000 acres of land in Vermilion Parish that SpaceX is reportedly interested in purchasing for its rocket operations.

Kimberly Siversen Burke, the director of governmen-

The Upper Barataria Marsh Creation project near Lafitte is shown in 2023. Governor Jeff Landryannounced on Tuesdaythe state has reached an agreement with ExxonMobil Corp. in lawsuits brought by parishes alleging the company polluted the state’s coastline.

Canaveral, Floridaand Boca Chica, Texas.

Plus,“it hasmethane infrastructure nearby in Cameron and fabrication access throughthe port of Iberia,” Burke said.

During therecentlegislative session, lawmakers passed legislation that gives unnamed aerospace companies generous tax incentives and makes it difﬁcult to sue them fordamages related to their launch activities.

In aquarterly report to its shareholders in early May, Exxon addressed the Louisiana lawsuits directly

forthinthese proceedings are meritless.

“While the outcome of any litigation can be unpredictable, we believe the likelihood is remotethatthe ultimate outcomes of these lawsuits will have amaterial adverse effect on the corporation’soperations, ﬁnancial condition, or ﬁnancial statements taken as awhole.” Staff writer Stephanie Riegel contributed to this report.

talaffairs forQuiltySpace,

aFlorida ﬁrm that advises aerospace companies,previously said that building alaunch site in Vermilion Parishwould be between its existing launch pads in Cape

“Local governments in Louisiana have ﬁled unprecedentedlegal proceedings against anumber of oil and gascompanies, including ExxonMobil, requesting compensation for therestorationofcoastalmarsh erosioninthe state,” the report stated. “Webelieve the factualand legaltheoriesset

Email AlexLubbenat alex.lubben@theadvocate. com and followhim on Twitter @alexlubben. His work is supported with agrant from theWalton Family Foundation, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation Sign up forthe weekly Louisiana Coastal Watch newsletter to get updates about our environment coverage.

On Monday, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, housing coalitions and several cities asked a federal court to block the changes. The lawsuit comes about six months after HUD abandoned a similar effort following legal challenges from cities, housing providers and advocacy organizations. Under previous Continuum of Care funding competitions, local homeless service providers were guaranteed to receive 90% of the funding awarded to existing projects.

Under HUD’s new rules, that guarantee drops to 60%, the minimum level required by Congress. The remaining funding would be distributed through a competitive process in which HUD could prioritize certain projects and reject others

The agency’s updated criteria also allow applications to be disqualified if they use language defining sex beyond the binary, give preference based on race or employ harm-reduction strategies. The changes could have significant consequences in Acadiana. For the Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness, nearly $1 million in funding tied to permanent housing programs is at risk under the new scoring system, according to an analysis by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. At the same time, HUD has set aside $1.3 billion nationally for new projects focused on transitional housing, reflecting the administration’s shift away from

DREADLOCKS

Continued from page 1A

“Today’s decision makes clear that federal law, as currently written, leaves state prison inmates whose religious freedom is violated without a meaningful way to bring claims and hold the ofﬁcers responsible,” Casey Denson, Landor’s New Orleans lawyer, said in a statement.

Handcuffed and shaved

Four months into his ﬁvemonth term for drug possession in 2020, Landor was transferred to the Raymond LaBorde Correctional Institution near Cottonport in Avoyelles Parish.

A devout Rastafarian, Landor had followed the dictates of the religion and, as part of a Nazarite vow, had grown his hair for 20 years without cutting it. He showed the guard a copy of a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion stating that RLUIPA allows Rastafarians to keep their long hair while in prison.

The two previous facilities had not cut his hair But on orders of the warden, guards handcuffed Landor and shaved his head bald

The case isn’t about whether Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections officials mistreated Landor Federal trial and appellate judges and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill agreed he was But the issue is whether

permanent supportive housing.

“We’re obviously going to see quite a bit of permanent housing loss, speciﬁcally permanent supportive housing,” said Elsa Dimitriadis, ARCH’s executive director “But we will be gaining transitional housing as federal funds shift. It’s really early in the (funding application) process to anticipate what we will be funding,” In Louisiana, the alliance estimates more than 2,600 people currently living in permanent housing programs could be affected,

state prison employees are liable for monetary damages under RLUIPA.

“Religious liberty is deeply important, and Louisiana has laws on the books protecting it,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “Ten federal courts of appeals held that the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act does not allow prisoners to sue prison ofﬁcials in their personal capacities for damages, and now the Supreme Court has agreed. We condemn the conduct as alleged in this case and have taken steps to prevent this problem from recurring, but we are grateful the Court agreed with the State in this matter.”

Some argued the ruling shows the need for different laws that allow for tougher accountability

“It means that inmates whose religious rights are violated by state prison ofﬁcials will have no damages remedy, no matter how egregious the wrong,” said Zack Tripp, the Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner who argued the case before the Supreme Court on Nov. 10, 2025.

“There is also a glimmer of hope. The Court’s opinion notes several untapped possibilities that Congress could explore to ﬁx this problem and provide a remedy against this kind of gross abuse The ball is now in Congress’ court.”

A question of consent

Congress often attaches speciﬁc requirements with

including about 100 in the Acadiana region.

Transitional housing is a temporary housing solution, Dimitriadis said. It provides 18 to 24 months of rental and utility assistance. When that ends, the hope is that permanent and stable housing has been identiﬁed for that person.

The funding shift reflects the Trump administration’s growing criticism of the “housing first” model, which prioritizes placing people into permanent housing before requiring treatment or

its ﬁnancial assistance, such as establishing a 21-year-old drinking age as a prerequisite for receiving federal money to build and maintain highways.

Writing for the majority, Gorsuch stated Congress can terminate funding to a state for not following the conditions set to receive federal financial assistance. But the provisions of the law enforcing religious rights for prison inmates don’t extend to individual guards and ofﬁcials unless those employees agree to be liable.

“Put simply, without independent regulatory authority, Congress must rely on consent,” Gorsuch wrote for the majority “It must ask and others must agree to face liability should they violate a funding condition. Time and time again, from at least 1845 to the present, our precedents have stressed the centrality of consent in this ﬁeld.”

Gorsuch went back to the replacement of semicolons with commas in drafting Article 1 of the Constitution to show the Founding Fathers intended to limit how broadly Congress could enforce its policies on individual states.

“While the Clause may allow Congress to raise and spend money in support of the ‘general welfare,’ early authorities concluded, it did not ‘endow Congress with [any] power to regulate conduct,’” Gorsuch wrote.

Jackson, writing for the dissent, found Congress

other services.

In the funding notice, HUD argues the approach has failed to reduce homelessness despite years of increased federal spending.

Critics dispute that claim. According to HUD’s most recent annual homelessness assessment, homelessness nationally declined 3.3% last year In Louisiana, homelessness increased 6% from 2024 but remains 32% lower than in 2007.

Those concerns are central to the lawsuit ﬁled Monday by the

opted to pass a law, RLUIPA — rather than rely on contracts, which requires agreement of all the parties to ensure state and local prisons respect prisoners’ right to religious exercise.

The majority “adopts the peculiar position” that Congress can create the directive but can’t allow legal damages as remedy when local officials violate the conditions.

“In the end, the Court reduces some of Con-

National Alliance to End Homelessness and other organizations seeking to block the new rules.

“Our CoC is going to do everything that it can so that those who are currently stably housed remain so,” Dimitriadis said.

Trump’s last attempt

Last year HUD unsuccessfully tried to implement new policies that would have dramatically reduced permanent housing spending and imposed stricter criteria for how CoCs were to operate.

HUD’s policy shift placed more emphasis on transitional housing with access to services such as substance abuse treatment and workforce development. Transitional housing programs would have required 40 hours of services per week, with other requirements including on-site 24/7 detox and inpatient services.

In November, 19 attorneys general and two governors sued the Trump administration over its policy to cut funding for permanent housing.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness ﬁled a lawsuit for injunctive relief on Dec. 1, alleging that the Notice of Funding Opportunity violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution due to the timing requirement and the imposition of retroactive conditions on federal funds, according to Public Rights Project.

The Trump administration withdrew its funding shortly before a court appearance with U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy, a Trump-nominated judge. She criticized the early withdrawal, questioned HUD’s rulemaking and action processes and accused the department of “intentional chaos.”

gress’s greatest legislative achievements — federal laws that secure civil rights, environmental stability, healthcare, and more — to nothing more than the wheelings-and-dealings of an especially wealthy private party,” Jackson wrote in the dissent.

Landor sought damages through his lawsuit ﬁled in December 2021. Chief U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, of Baton Rouge, found in September

2022 that RLUIPA doesn’t allow private parties to seek money damages. She also found the lawsuit moot as Landor had been released. A 5th Circuit appellate panel upheld Dick in September 2023, also condemned Landor’s treatment but found that past rulings didn’t allow damages against state ofﬁcials. Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

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Senate approves war powers resolution over Iran

Symbolic rebuke comes as Pentagon seeks war funding

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution Tuesday seeking to block U.S. military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Donald Trump’s efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund. It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50-48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not carry the full force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.

“Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Schumer said Americans have paid the price for “Trump’s historic blunder in Iran It’ll go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, was one of four Republicans to vote for the measure.

Cassidy said Tuesday that, when the U.S. began bombing Iran on Feb. 28 Trump

laid out as objectives ending Iran’s nuclear capability, keeping the nation from having ballistic missiles, and degrading the theocracy’s conventional warfare capability The president also predicted hostilities would end in four to ﬁve weeks

“In retrospect, it’s clear the decision to go into Iran in the ﬁrst place was a bad decision,” Cassidy said. “Objectively, we did not achieve the original goals of the intervention. By the way, I support those original goals.”

Cassidy has voiced criticisms of some of Trump’s policies and actions since the president backed Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, over him. Cassidy came in third in the May 16 closed party primary and will have to leave ofﬁce in January when his successor is sworn in.

Letlow faces State Treasurer John Fleming, R-Minden, in the GOP primary runoff on Saturday The winner will face a Democratic candidate in the November 3 general election Republicans joining Cassidy in voting for the measure were Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Rand Paul, of Kentucky One Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against.

On this vote, the absence of two Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital recently for an undisclosed matter left the GOP without a full majority to halt the effort Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., also missed the vote.

The vote comes as the Pentagon is seeking $80 billion from Congress mostly for the Iran war as it backﬁlls

crats have put forward war powers resolutions, but they have failed to amass the majority needed for passage in the narrowly split chamber where Trump’s Republican Party holds the majority Trump would almost certainly veto any measure that passed.

The House pushed its own version to passage earlier this month, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in approving the war powers resolution, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and the GOP leadership.

ICE steps back from plan to expand immigrant capacity

BY HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, RYAN FOLEY and REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site, jettisoning a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s $38-billion plan to rapidly expand detention capacity this year

The federal government which was sued by Michigan and a Detroit suburb, informed a judge Monday that a warehouse purchased in Romulus will be sold. Plans also are unraveling in Social Circle, Georgia, and the El Paso suburb of Socorro, local ofﬁcials said.

The three cities are among 11 where the federal government spent a combined $1.074 billion on warehouses.

The New York Times ﬁrst reported last week that federal immigration officials now plan to get rid of seven of the 11 warehouses either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright.

Immediate pushback

“Wildly foolhardy” is how Claire Trickler-McNulty a former ICE ofﬁcial under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations described the plans to convert the buildings into immigrant detention.

One issue was that Noem’s purchases were largely carried out of public view and angered communities that were caught by surprise.

Some only learned about ICE’s ambitions after the agency bought or leased space for detainees.

After Noem was ﬁred, her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, quickly paused the purchase of new warehouses.

Bipartisan objections

Some were opposed on moral grounds to ICE’s presence in their neighborhoods, while others questioned whether the facilities would be a drain on local resources, such as sewer and water systems.

Seven federal lawsuits were filed, and regulatory roadblocks created hassles elsewhere.

munitions and stockpiles.

Trump to meet senators

Trump himself is headed to the Capitol on Wednesday to meet with GOP senators after Vice President JD Vance was overseas working to negotiate with Iran to end its nuclear ambitions — which had been among the stated rationales for the war

The president is not pleased with the Republicans who have been critical of the deal he struck with Iran, according to one GOP senator granted anonymity to discuss the private dynamics.

The terms of the Iran deal are spelled out in a memorandum of understanding that Trump signed last week, starting a 60-day clock for the sides to reach a broader agreement over ending Iran’s nuclear program.

But Republicans have particularly objected to the $300 billion fund to help Iran rebuild, which is far greater than the $1.7 billion thenPresident Barack Obama

refunded the country under his administration’s 2015 Iran deal.

“I believe President Trump is getting very poor advice on Iran,” Sen. Ted Cruz, RTexas, said last week on his podcast after the deal was made public.

Democrats forced votes

Over and again Democrats have been forcing votes on the Iran war, almost since the U.S. and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Nearly each week they’re in session, the Senate Demo-

While the House- and Senate-passed resolution does not go to the president for his signature, passage stands as a powerful, if symbolic, statement from Congress and a rebuke of the administration’s military actions.

Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia who has led his party’s efforts, said the pause in warfighting, as Trump’s team works to shore up a fragile ceaseﬁre, provides the perfect time for Congress to step back and assess “what should the next chapter be.”

Hegseth seeks $80B

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is on Capitol Hill this week, seeking roughly $80 billion in supplemental fund-

ing to shore up defense supplies in the aftermath of the Iran war, which is drawing scrutiny when many Americans are reeling from high gas prices and costs of living. The Pentagon early on had estimated the war cost $11.3 billion during its ﬁrst week, and senators said experts put the overall price tag of Operation Epic Fury higher, at some $100 billion. The Defense Department’s funding request is part of a broader beef-up of military money the White House wants as part of its budget request this year House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday, “We should not spend another dime of taxpayer dollars on Operation Epic Failure.”

The Trump administration is seeking $1.5 trillion in defense funding this year — a nearly 50% increase — including $350 billion

DHS didn’t conﬁrm the reports but said in a statement that it is “moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

Meanwhile, questions about how much DHS paid for some warehouses triggered an internal audit. The agency shelled out double what the New Jersey warehouse was valued at in tax records and nearly ﬁve times more than the assessed value of the Social Circle warehouse.

Trickler-McNulty, the former ICE official said ICE does have a few facilities

that it owns that it inherited from its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, but generally ICE has contracted out its detention needs.

“Facilities over 2,000 people just break down. It’s very hard to run a very big facility, to keep it staffed, to keep all of it moving,” she said.

Plans begin to unravel

The New York Times story which cited internal documents that the newspaper obtained, said the Salt Lake City warehouse is among those that federal immigration ofﬁcials plans to hand off or sell. Also on the list is the Romulus warehouse, as well as one in New Jersey and two each in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said it would have been an “abomination” if the 249,000-square-foot Romulus warehouse was transformed into immigrant detention, as was planned when it was purchased for $34.7 million,

“The ICE warehouse proposal was every bit as illconceived as it was cruel and unnecessary, and I am relieved that this chapter is coming to a close,” Nessel, a Democrat, said.

Social Circle, Georgia, announced last week in a statement that it has received notiﬁcation from U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican, that the Department of Homeland Security is no longer pursuing an ICE detention facility there. Federal

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, heads to a closed-door Republican policy meeting at the Capitol in Washington on June 16. Cassidy joined three other Republicans in voting for the war powers resolution on Tuesday.

St. Landry officials issue flood warning

Some residents advised to leave their homes

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Some parts of St. Landry Par-

ish are already ﬂooding as water from the ﬂood in Avoyelles Parish travels south

But the worst of the water, St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard said Tuesday, is expected to start arriving in about ﬁve to six days.

Tropical Storm Arthur last week dumped as much as 30 inches of rain on some parts of Louisiana, including parts of Avoyelles Parish, ﬂooding homes. That water, which is not contained within rivers and canals, is traveling south

PROVIDED PHOTO Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents rescued people and pets in Avoyelles Parish over the weekend.

86 in Avoyelles Parish rescued

20 pets saved as flooding hit

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents rescued 86 people and 20 pets in Avoyelles Parish from floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Arthur, according to a news release from the agency.

As the lead search and rescue agency in the state under the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness emergency support framework, Wildlife and Fisheries agents along with Louisiana State Police troopers worked in coordination with local first responders on Thursday and Friday in Avoyelles Parish Twenty to 30 inches of rain fell in Avoyelles last Thursday from about 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., mainly in the town of Cottonport and the village of Plaucheville, both in the southern part of the parish, according to Jonathan Brazzell, a hydrologist with the weather service’s office in Lake Charles. On Thursday, in the hours after the storm, Gov Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency for Avoyelles, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes Wildlife and Fisheries agents deployed agents with trucks, vessels and their two amphibious track vehicles to go into the flooded areas and get people and pets to safety.

Gov Jeff Landry and his wife, Sharon, visited the area Monday to help distribute cleaning supplies and announce temporary housing and debris removal plans for affected communities as part of the state’s recovery effort.

toward St. Landry Parish.

A ﬂood warning is in effect at least until 6 p.m. Wednesday for the parishes of Avoyelles, St. Landry, Evangeline and Rapides, according to the National Weather Service.

A 1 p.m. advisory Tuesday from the weather service said the following locations likely will experience flooding: Marksville Bunkie, Simmesport, Melville, Moreauville, Cheneyville, Palmetto, Morrow, Bordelonville, Bayou Current, Port Barre, Cottonport, Mansura, Hessmer Evergreen, Plaucheville, Dupont, Goudeau, Big Cane and Lebeau. In a live social media update

Tuesday, Bellard said anyone living on Veazey Road and along La. 10 in Palmetto already should be out of their homes, as well as anyone in Palmetto north of the railroad tracks.

If you live in Catahoula from U.S. 190 to Port Barre, Bellard said, you should have evacuated already

The diversion canal gauge near La. 71 is showing 18 feet of water

Ofﬁcials are contemplating how much water it will take to overtop the 20- to 22-foot-high highway, Bellard said and may put material along the road to stop or slow the water from topping the highway

Two-turtle tower

Congress energized by Social Security shortfall

Johnson, Cassidy lead charge to find

answers

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

going insolvent in six years. That doesn’t mean an end to Social Security, as many have fretted. But it does mean a steep decrease in beneﬁts. A typical Louisiana beneﬁciary

would lose $460 from their $1,726 monthly Social Security check, according to a Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget analysis of the dreary ﬁnancial forecast released last week by the Social Security Trustees for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust. The trustees’ report appears to have energized a Congress that has been dragging its feet for years since this problem ﬁrst emerged. While a number of senators and representatives from both parties have been writing letters demanding action, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge,

Deputies: Port Barre man arrested for cockfighting

CRIME BLOTTER staff reports

The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested a Port Barre man after deputies found signs of cockfighting. Mitchel Joseph Landry, 45, was arrested Sunday and faces one count of cockfighting, cultivation of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, according to a Sheriff’s Office announcement. On Sunday, deputies received a report of cockfighting at 393 Rayne Road in Port Barre. Upon arrival, deputies allegedly found cockfighting paraphernalia and evidence of cockfighting. Additionally, mar-

ijuana plants and bagged marijuana were discovered, along with $7,400 in cash. An investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be ﬁled.

Anyone with additional information about this crime is encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at (337) 948-6516. You may also call Crime Stoppers at (337) 948-8477, download the P3 app on your mobile device or simply dial **8477 on your mobile phone to tip.

3 arrested in online child solicitation operation Three Lafayette men, includ-

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

A home is surrounded by floodwater on Thursday following heavy rain from Tropical Storm Arthur in the Avoyelles Parish town of Simmesport.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Two red-eared slider turtles bask in the sunlight — one atop the other — on Tuesday at Heymann Park in Lafayette.

OUR VIEWS

La.shouldheed mounting case againstnitrogen hypoxia executions

With aU.S. Supreme Court ruling thatput apause on Alabama executinga prisonerby nitrogen gas, Louisiana also should back offits insistence on using amethod of carryingout the death penalty that couldamount to “cruel and unusual”punishment. Louisiana, once,and Alabama, seventimes, are thetwo states that have executedprisoners by using arespirator to replaceordinaryair with pure nitrogen gas, causing death fromlack of oxygen. As we said last year,reliable evidence indicates this method isbarbaric.

Veterinary scientists refuse even to useit foranimaleuthanasia, because tests showit causes “panic and distress …and seizure-like behavior” or “convulsions.” Andobserversof Alabama executions have conﬁrmed Associated Press reports that the condemned men “writhe violently”for two or moreminutes anddon’t stopvisibly breathing for up to 10. We will spare readers more of the horrid details.

Courts didn’tblock the earlier nitrogengas executions, but when convicted Alabamadoublemurderer Jeffery Lee challenged that method for his pending execution, athree-judgepanel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruledit violated the Eighth Amendment’sban on cruel andunusual punishment. After afederal district court then issued an injunction against it, the Supreme Court, in a6-3 vote, left the injunction in place until the full meritsofthe casecan be argued.

Louisianaofficialsshould payheed. If they want to impose the death penalty— whichis highly problematic under anycircumstances —they ought to find another method that’snot literally torturous. Louisianacarried outits first execution in 15 years in March 2025, using nitrogen gastoend thelifeofJessie Hoffman, convicted of the1996 rape andmurderofMary “Molly” Elliott.

For now,the Supreme Court’s decisiondoes notapply to Louisiana. The injunctionapplies just to the federal 11th Circuit, whichcovers Florida, Georgia and Alabama only.And it isn’ta ﬁnal decision on the merits after full briefsand oral arguments, but merely an injunctionblocking those states from usingnitrogengas until the case can be considered.

Nonetheless, if Louisiana tries to proceed with this means of execution, the condemned person surely will use the same appealsprocessall the way to the SupremeCourt,whichlikely would mimic its own actions in theAlabama case. How many prosecutorial workhours, and how many taxpayer dollars, would be wasted just to arrive at the same place?

None of which is to belittle the nature of the crimes for which death-row inmateshavecommitted, nor the pain that victimsand theirfamilies have suffered, nor theneed to impose sure justice. Acivilized society, though,must mete out justice in ways both civilized andconstitutional.

YOUR VIEWS

Pricetransparencyin healthcare asmoke screen

The political focus on hospital price transparency is meaningless. Health insurance companies negotiate discounted reimbursement rates with hospitals. Hospitals know exactly what they will be paid by Medicare, Medicaid, BlueCross BlueShield and other commercial carriers if they participate in their networks. Hospitals also have apretty good idea of what they will be paid by the uninsured. It is not 100% of what they charge, and in many cases, no payment is ever received. The price charged is meaningless for an insured patient if someone goes to an in-network hospital because he or she only pays the deductible, copay and/or coinsurance theinsurer tells them to pay on their explanation of beneﬁts.

No hospital is paid 100% of its charges unless thehospital is not in apayor’s network and the charges are paid by thepatient. Politically,requiring hospitals topost their prices may sound

like agood idea. In reality,itisawaste of time and money to force hospitals to post their charge masters or charges for common services on websites.

Even if thehospital business office is connected online with the payor’s claims processing system, it would be difficult to determine in advance of an admission or service exactly every single item that will be charged forthe patient during that medical encounter Only after services are rendered, the claim is prepared and submitted to the insurer and the insurer sends an explanation of benefitstothe patient can they really determine what portion of thebill to pay The price transparency effort may sound good, but it does not workfor thepatients or hospitals. If our politicians want to do something useful for hospitals and patients, they should create anational health system that works for everyone.

RICHARD WILLIAMS retired Blue Cross Blue Shield executive

Real causes of inflationignored by politicians, media

Many contemporarynewspapers are prone to ersatz reporting of little probative value.

Arecent story bearing theheadline “Americans are increasingly worried about the economy and inﬂation” reveals nothing about the meaning of inﬂation, nor itsfundamental cause.

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

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

An oft-cited, half-baked idea is that high oil prices causeinﬂation. But such statements merelykeep us ignorant, becausethey amount to the assertion that high prices are caused by high prices —auseless non sequitur Surely,wecan do better

Obviously,when people get more money,they spendmore (though not everyone spends the full amount of theincrease).But how money is obtained matters.

If people get more money through higher productivity (i.e., earnings), inﬂation does not usually follow,because more production means more output, which requires and makes possible morespending. In many cases, increased productivity leads to lower,not higher,prices.

If, however,more money ﬂows into theeconomy through central-bank

manipulation of themoney supply inﬂation is highly likely

Yetonly afew people cansee past the“news”tograsp afundamental truth,i.e., inﬂation is notcaused by higher prices but by the amount of money in circulation.

The job of aresponsible central bank is to maintain some semblance of balance between aggregate demand (a nation’sexpenditure) and aggregate supply (a nation’soutput).

Data published by the FederalReserveindicates the U.S. money supply increased by 17.7%since the beginning of Joe Biden’spresidency in 2021. The increaseinrealnational outputduring thesame time frame was 10.5%. This discrepancy underscores and underwrites our present concern about inﬂation.

It won’tbeeased by most “ﬁxes” coming out of Washington,because thefundamental problem is too much money chasing too few goods. But what politician ever thinks there’stoo much money?

ROBERT HEBERT

Baton Rouge

Columnist propagates falsehoods about UN panel, climate

So, Cal Thomas felt the need to dash off yet another jeremiad attacking the usual suspects: “the news media, Democrats, academia, ‘science’ and Hollywood elites.” On this outing, Thoams complains that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the UnitedNations body for assessing the science related to climate change) has concluded that “the extremescenarios” they (IPCC) once were guilty of selling us are now “implausible” because the body had withdrawn ascenario known as Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP 8.5), which he calls a“prediction.”

It should comeasnosurprise that Thomas totally misrepresents the IPCC report and action with mischaracterizations, trolling and outright lies about the RCP 8.5.

In anutshell, the IPCC never predicted anything. The RCP 8.5 is one of four scenarios published in 2011 that describe arange of possible pathways for climate change this century, ending in 2100. In the highest range, average Earth temperature increase would range from 3.3 Celsius to 5.7 degrees Celsius. In the lowest range the increase would be 1.5C.

The IPCC has now determined that the highest scenario is implausible. What Thomas fails to tell us is that the IPCC has also determined that the lowest range scenario is also implausible.

The reason that the high end is now “implausible” is because we have been somewhat successful in mitigating climate change through emissions standards and reduction worldwide in the use of coal to generate electricity But, the low end of a1.5 Cincrease in temperature by 2100 is also implausible because we still have not done enough to mitigate carbon emissions. Make no mistake, the scenario in the middle,arise of between 2degrees Celsius to 3degrees Celsius, will cause catastrophic consequences. Thomas’slies are an embarrassment to this paper

JAMES TAYLOR Baton Rouge

Is removalofTrump’s name from KennedyCentera metaphor?

Thomas

In what could be ametaphor for things to come, workers removed President Donald Trump’sname from the Kennedy Center in Washington U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the rebrandingof the KennedyCenter as the “Trump Kennedy Center” violated thelaw, writing, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Is America growing tired of Trump’s nonstop appearances? His disapproval ratings suggest overexposure could be acontributing factor.Hegoes on sometimes for more than an hourin his frequent Oval Ofﬁce appearances and often repeats himself. Trumpstill claims he “won” the 2020 election Trump seems reluctanttocedethe limelight to anyone else.

In aSeptember 2023 interview with CNN, the then- former presidentacknowledged that, despite receiving counsel from multiple people thatthe 2020 election was not stolen, hepushed ahead anyway withhis false claims to try and overturn the results. Perhaps he should have considered theproverb that says: “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.” (Proverbs 12:26 NLT). Scripture, which apparently Trumpdoesnot

read, is full of examples of what happens to peoplewho ignore good advice andseek their own way If the midterm elections turn out the waycurrent polls indicate (and polls are not alwaysright), President Trump can look forward to his ﬁnal two years in ofﬁce achieving little while facing more impeachmentsand numerous investigations of himself and his family’s business dealings. Most would consider Trump’spresidency afailure, regardless of the outcome of the Iran war.He will haveonly himself to blame.

As Annie Linskey writes in The Wall StreetJournal: “(Trump) and his advisers havemadeastrategic decision to turn thepresident into an omnipresent ﬁgure in American life, drawing acontrast with hisoctogenarian predecessor, Joe Biden. Trumpregularly makes marathon appearances in the Oval Ofﬁce, he answersreporters’ cold calls andhetees off on social media at all hoursofthe day andnight. Theresult is that Americans are seeing moreof boththe goodand thebad of an aging president.”

These include, she notes,bruised hands, closed eyes at Cabinet meetings and other events, astooped postureand confusion about names and places. What the president should be doing is featuring people who have beneﬁted from his policies and others who did not beneﬁtfrom policies when Demo-

crats ran thegovernment.It’snot about him and his legacy.Alegacy will takecare of itself if the policies work. It’sabout who beneﬁtsfrom those policies. Democrats want us to believe only “the rich” beneﬁt and so they must be taxed into oblivion.

Why do we continue to debatethese policies every two tofour years? It’s because thedebate is about the policies and not which ideas have worked and which have not.

In conservative churches, people give what they call “testimonies” about how God transformed their lives. That can also be applied to politics. These testimonies would include theformerly poor who are now able tocare for their families because they embraced ideas promoted by Republicans. It would be thesame for poor children who were trapped in failing public schools, but now,because of school choice programsare making good grades, graduating high school and attending college. Many voters would respond to such policy contrasts. They have before. The president should trythis strategy, although at his age and with his record, he is unlikely to takegood advice, even from friends. If he refuses, he would have greater concerns than his name coming off the Kennedy Center

Email Cal Thomasattcaeditors@ tribpub.com

On oil, Chinaissmarter than we are

We can thank China that gasoline prices aren’thigher than they are. By last month, China had cutimports of oil by 3million barrels aday,the daily consumption of Italy and France combined. China’seconomy,meanwhile, hums along. Americans agonize over how the price of oil affects gas at the pump. Were it not for China, a tank of gas would cost considerablymore. “China is Propping Up the World Economy by Importing aLot Less Oil,” readsa Wall Street Journal headline. There are severalreasons China has been able to cutoil imports, but one is its move away from gas-powered vehicles into electric vehicles. China has also invested heavily in electric-powered high-speed rail, letting travelers replace oil-guzzling shortﬂights and trips in gas-powered cars with train travel. By 2030, China’s EVs could displace 2.7 million barrels aday,according to the International Energy Agency.

Socialismis back in vogue. Wait forreality to setin.

plain other than his personal ties with theoil industry.The U.S. is producing more fossil fuel, but much of it is being exported to other countries willing to pay alot for it. Get this: If Americans want more of their fuel to stay home, they’ll have to pay morefor it.

Froma Harrop

Trump hollers that Americansmust drill-drill-drill to cushion themselves from the cost of foreign energy. Andsowhat did he do onthe ﬁrst day back in ofﬁce?Heorderedthe Energy Department to restart exports of American-produced natural gas. He alsosupportsexporting U.S. oil, branding it as “energy dominance.”

say,Iowa drives about 11,000 miles a year —the American average —over 10 years, they will be spending nearly $10,000 more to power the gas SUV than the electric one. We get it.Ifyou must have anew Chevy Equinox right now and can’t spare an extra $5,000, then the gas version mayberegarded as anecessary purchase. What happens 10 or 15 years down theroad can be worried about later Electricity prices had also been going up, but nowhere near as much as oil prices.

If the war with Iran is truly over, and it may not be, Americans’ price of oil should be coming down. That’s already started, but economists warn thatthe decline willbeslow Thus, Donald Trump’slong crusade against electriﬁed vehicles and promotion of gas-powered ones is hard to ex-

Other than environmentalists, and bless youall, Americans tendnot to care what powers their cars. Electricity,gasoline, whale oil Buyers of cars or trucksgenerally prefer whichever option is cheaper.Happily,the energy source that does least damage to the planetisnow the lessexpensive one. True,it costs moretomake electric vehicles than gas-powered ones. However —and this is abig however —the cost to operate EVs is alot less. And themore gasoline costs, the better the electric car deal becomes.

AChevy Equinox EV costs about $35,000, butthe price for thegaspowered version of the compact SUV is $30,000. But if an Equinox owner in,

That’sbecause power plants use energy sources other than oil, including hydro, wind, solar and nuclear,inaddition to natural gas. Butthose who can plan for their economic future should be ontoit. Andso are countries that do planning, such as China. The U.S. tried under President Joe Biden to electrify the economy,but Trumphas undermined almost all that progress. What’s promoting American consumers’ new interest in electric vehicles is thehigh price of gasoline. If this country had madethe kind of advances China has, we wouldn’tbe caring so much aboutwhat happens in theStrait of Hormuz.Onsome things, China knows better Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com.

It has never been abetter time in America to be asocialist. We aging GenXers whothought that socialism had been decisively refuted by the fall of the Berlin Wall have been refuted ourselves: Democratic socialists now run Seattle and New York City,and come January,probably D.C. too, where Janeese Lewis George wonthe Democratic primary that generally decides the district’smayoral elections. It is aheady momentfor the left, because socialism’stainted brand has recovered from the vivid failures of the Soviet Union. Fully 66% of Democrats tell Gallup they view socialism favorably,while 42% say the sameofcapitalism. This makes the leftsee arevolution marching toward victory,because it can promise something that the center leftcannot: adisruptive break with an unsatisfying status quo.

The challenge is that socialism’s rise is spiky concentrated in blue cities where afﬂuent (but often downwardly mobile) college graduates cluster.That’saproblem forthe Democratic Party,where the excesses of progressive governance are helping to makethe party’sbrand toxic in the less true-blue areas. But it’salso a challenge forthe socialists, because cities are the hardest place to execute big plans fornew taxing and spending.

Without the exuberant demand from an oversize millennial generation, mayors are rediscovering the hard reality of urban governance: It is much easier to leave acity than it is to leave astate or acountry,sothe tax base is moreconstrained, and the scope forpunitive business regulations much smaller.That has always been true, but it is even moresoin the era of remote work, because proximity to adowntown office is no longer as valuable as it was before we could Zoom into meetings. Even if the traditional downtownoffice culture hadn’tchanged, socialist mayors would find it challenging to deliver truly disruptive change. The last timesocialists were aforce in American politics wasacentury ago, when government wastiny,and apractically virgin tax base was ripe forthe plucking. Ahundred years later,the government already does alot, funded with aprogressive tax structure that places much of the burden on the high-income taxpayers the socialists wanttotap to pay for their programs. Those services are often absurdly expensive forwhat they deliver.American infrastructure costs, forexample, are ascandal. But every excessive cost is someone else’sincome, and that someone will fight like acornered tiger if you try to reduce their incomebyone thin dime. The progressivity of the tax code also complicates things on the revenue side. Socialists may wax lyrical about aNordic-style welfare state, but those states are paid forbyheavily taxing the middle class, an idea that is unlikely to gain much purchase with the educated base of the Democratic Socialists of America; today’s college-educated elite is voting formore public services, not less disposable income.

Unfortunately,New York City already gets roughly athird of its incometax revenue from “millionaire filers,” whoface acombined state, local and federal marginal personal income tax rate that can exceed 50%. D.C. also has one of the highest combined marginal tax rates in the country,atroughly 48%. There is probably someadditional tax capacity there, but how much is an open question, given how easy it is to move. If socialist mayors get it wrong, the first warning sign will be falling revenue. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson and Lewis George are already struggling with these issues. Mamdani has scaled back his ambitions in the face of a $5.4 billion deficit that wasonly closed with substantial state aid, while Wilson is pondering layoffs to patch her own budget hole. The D.C. Council, where Lewis George sits, is wrestling with a$1.1 billion gap that will makeittricky to deliver on her big promises, such as an expensive child care subsidy Ironically,these dismal fiscal realities are part of what is boosting socialist fortunes. The parlous state of federal finances reduces the scope forabold new national agenda, and may also be contributing to higher interest rates and inflation. That’sanopportunity forsocialist politicians. But the reality forthose politicians is that once in office, they will find it difficult to maintain the status quo, much less improve on it in the waytheir supporters expect. MeganMcArdle is on X, @asymmetricinfo

Cal

McArdle ega McArdl M n

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Visitors walk past theJohnF.Kennedy Center forthe PerformingArtsinWashington as its signremains covered by atarp.

are at the tip of the spear in trying to findways to addressthe trust fund’sshortfall.

Howitworks

Social Security became law in 1935 and created a systeminwhich today’sretirees and disabled people receivebenefits paid for with payroll taxes collected from today’sworkers

Atrust fund was established in 1983 as asort of rainy-day fund that put aside whatever money was left over after the month’s benefits were paid for use in thefuture, should payrolltax revenuesnot be enough to coverthe month’sbeneﬁt payments.

SocialSecurity administrators are forbidden by lawfrom using general tax money to pay beneﬁts and thusmust rely on the trust fund to cover expenses wheneverthe FICA payroll taxes aren’t enoughto do so. But, for the past17 years, administrators have dipped into the trust fund almost every month. And the amount needed to cover the gap between monthly revenues and payments continues to go up.

Trustees estimated that, at the presentrate, the trust fund will go broke in 2032, requiring administrators to lowermonthly paymentsby22%

For Louisiana, the expected reduction of benefits worksout to a$4.2 billionlosstothe state’s economy,according to calculations by the Committee for aResponsible Federal Budget in its analysis released June 4. And that’s justLouisiana.

Nearly 70 million American retirees and disabled people face similar decreases in beneﬁts,which shouldalso worry local retailers and service providers when the Social Security beneﬁciaries cutback their consumer spending.

BLOTTER

Continued from page1B

ing aschool band director, havebeen arrested in an undercover online child solicitation operation.

The Louisiana Bureauof Investigation and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office announced the arrest of eight men across the state on June 17-18.

All were charged with indecent behavior with juveniles and computer-aided

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‘Waste,fraud andabuse’

Severaldifferent ideas are on thetable —and that could become problematic in adivided Congress that rarelyagreesonanything.

Johnson painted Social Securityasone ofthe “entitlement programs,” like Medicare and Medicaid, that mandates spending andaccountsfor about 74%ofthe federal government’s spending.

“Theyhave to be adjusted and ﬁxed,” Johnson said June 8on Moon Griffon’s syndicated radioprogram.

He later wrote on social media —after being pilloried by Democrats —“We havea plantodothatnext year,and it’s critical, because we’re at $40 trillion plus in debt. Atsome point youget intoa hole so deep youcan’t climb outofit, so desperatetimes call for desperatemeasures.”

Johnson hasn’treleased anydetails, leavingDemocrats to assertthatRepublicanswanttoraise the retirementage and establish a“means test” that would make Social Security accessible to fewer people.

Democrats point to Project2025, the blueprint organized by the conservative HeritageFoundation, that repeated those ideas Republicans have rallied behind in the past Johnson respondedthat he wasn’t talkingabout cutting beneﬁts forretireesand accused Democratsand themedia of “fearmongering.”Hesaid hisfocuswas goingafter waste, fraudand abuse.

Som eR epublicans praised Johnson, but othersadvisedcaution. Perhaps they recalled the electoral clobbering the GOP received in 2004 when President George W. Bush attemptedsweepingchangestothe popular program withoutsecuring Democratic buy-in. 401(k)-like model

For the past eight years, Cassidy hasbeenselling his solution at trade association conferences andin

solicitation of aminor.

TheLafayette men includeAndrewBelk, 30, of Normandy Road; Raul Xochihua, 29, of Shady Oaks Drive; andJohnShepard, 39, of Rue DuBelier. Belkisaformer band director at Belle Place Middle School and Belle Place Elementary School in New Iberia. He was recently hired as band director at Wetumpka High School in Alabama

Agenciesparticipating in theundercoveroperationinclude the Louisiana

op-eds printed for newspapers around the country.

His proposal, like others beingforwarded, is complex with multiplefacets

The crux of Cassidy’s idea, which has the support of some Democrats, would change the trust fund into something like a 401(k) retirement account.

Money wouldbeinvested, rather thanjustbanked, in thestock andbondmarkets, with the proceeds shoring Social Security’s ﬁnances.

“My planisreadytogo,”

Cassidy said last week. “By the way,myplan does not cut benefits or raise taxes on the seniorcitizen. And importantly, my plan canpass Congress.”

Cassidy,who lostreelection in May,hopes to get something done before theend of theyear when he steps down. All the variouslegislativeefforts must begin again when the newlyelected Congress convenesinJanuary

ASenate subcommittee on Social Security is scheduling ahearing this week to review potential solutions.The longerCongress waits to address the problem, he says,the more thatﬁxwill cost.

“It’sonly going to cost more andbemoredifficult to solve the longerwe wait,”hesaid.

Thetrustees estimated thatthe 12.4% payrolltax will climbto16.65% if changes were made this year,but would climbto 17.3%ifCongresswaits until 2034.

Raisingthe taxcap

Cassidy’s Democratic counterpart is Rep. John Larson, aformerConnecticutinsurance broker who is pushing adifferent proposal, again with lots of moving partsand bipartisansupport.

Larson basically would raise revenues by collecting payroll taxes from workers makingmore than $184,500 peryear,the point at which administrators stop withdrawing FICA payroll taxes from

Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations,Livingston Parish Sheriff’sOffice, Louisiana State Police, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Officeand Youngsville Police Department. Agencies that assisted in the apprehension of suspects include the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’sOffice, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Officeand Southeastern Louisiana University Police Department.

an individual’scheck.

Social Security was designed to payretirees and disabled people aset amount each month,asopposed to returning whatan individualput into the system over the years. Employers stop withdrawing Federal Insurance ContributionsAct payroll taxes, called FICA, after an individual’scontributions reach aspeciﬁedamount.

Thecap now is set at $184,500 earnings annually,which the Census Bureau saysaccounts for about 22% of thenation’s households

TheLarson plan would getrid of thecap and require those higher-paid employees to continue paying FICA throughout the entire year

Another bill, alsobipartisan, was ﬁled in the House last week thatwould createa 13-member committee to study alternatives and find “common-sense solutions.”

Social Security administrators’ estimates in the past were thrown offby the slow recovery from the GreatRecession nearly 20 years ago, which led employers to notincrease their employees’ wages as fast as beforeand caused more people to retire earlier thanhad been the case

Added to thosefactors, thetrustees also point to President Donald Trump’s economic policies as exacerbating to downward trend in the trust fund’s ﬁnances.

TheOne Big Beautiful Bill Act,signedinto law on July 4last year,lowered taxes for manyworkers andseniors, impacting the amounts collected forthe trust fund.

In addition, immigrants —even those without proper documentation— contributed to the fund. Trump’sdeportation efforts also are helping deplete the trustfund.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

Baronet, Willie La Chapelle de Martin &Castille 330 St.LandryStreetinLafayette,at11 a.m.

Obituaries

Hebert, Lovess John

Lovess John "L.J." Hebert,age 98, passed away on June 18, 2026 at Vermilion Eastridge Assisted Living in Abbeville, Louisiana. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 27, 2026 in St.Alphonsus Catholic Church -Maurice.Fr. Paul Bienvenu,Pastor of St Alphonsus Catholic Church,willbeCelebrant of theMass and willconduct thefuneral services. Intermentwill be in the Garden Mausoleum located in St.Alphonsus Cemetery with Military GravesideHonors. He was amember of theHoly CrossCatholic community.

Lovess Hebert married EllaMae (Sonnier) Hebert of Lake Arthur, LA. They hada long,loving andhappy life for 78 years. They enjoyed many of thesame outdooractivities, boating fishing, hunting,camping, RV-ing,and traveling. He lovedmusic andwas a giftedmusician, playing differentmusical instruments. As ahealth advocate he could often be foundatRed Lerille's Healthand Racquet Club early in themorningsfor many years. Lovess Hebert,a residentofLafayette, LA is survived by hiswife Ella MaeSonnier Hebert and histhree children and their spouses: Darrell and Nanette Hebert of Woodlands, TX, Lola H. and Tommy Latiolais of Abbeville LA, Byron and Ellen Hebert of Katy, TX. OneSon-In-Law Craig LandryofPerry,LA. Ten grandchildrenand spouses, andnineteen greatgrandchildren. He is also

Adule Hebert Vincent of Lake Arthur and numerous nieces andnephews. Lovess Hebert was precededindeathbyhis daughterSherry H. Landry, parents WhitneyHebert andLeginaCormier Hebert,his brotherLarris Hebert of Gueydan, hissisterVergine Hebert Trahan of Beaumont, TX. Thefamilyrequeststhat visitinghours be observed at Delhomme Funeral Home -Bertrand on Friday, June 26, 2026 from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. ARosary will be prayed at 6:30 PM on Friday eveninginthe funeralhome. Visiting hours will continueatSt. Alphonsus Catholic Church on Saturday, June 27, 2026 from 9:00 AM untilthe time of service Pallbearers will be JamesLandry, Jonathan Landry, Joshua Landry, Austin Hebert,Jacob Landry, andNathaniel Hebert

Personal condolences may be sent to thefamily of Lovess John "L.J." Hebert at: www.delhomme funeralhome.com Lovess John "L.J." Hebert andhis familywere caredfor andentrusted finalarrangementsto Delhomme Funeral Home, 1011 BertrandDrive, Lafayette, LA. CopyrightDelhomme Funeral Homes, Inc. January2026.

Goingsecondclass?

Zurich Classic’sstatusinPGA in jeopardy afternew league format revealed

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer

The Zurich Classic’sstatusas apremier PGA Tour event isinjeopardy

Starting in 2028, New Orleans’ longstanding professional golf tournament could be relegated to secondary status in anew tournament model announced Tuesday by PGA Tour ofﬁcials.

The new system will be dividedinto two tiers: achampionship series of 2324 events, featuring the Tour’spremier players that includes the four majors (the PGA, the Masters, the U.S. Open and British Open), the Players Championship and international team events (Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup); and achallenger series of 20 or so events, which would feature smaller purses and lowerproﬁle players and future stars.

The new model was amonga seriesof recommendations from the Tour’sFuture Competition Committee approved by members of the PGA Tour boards

LOUISIANASPORTSHALLOFFAME

LSUgreat Fowles aslam-dunk entry into Louisianahall

Editor’snote: This is one among 12 proﬁles of inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Classof2026. Festivities will take place from Thursday-Saturday in Natchitoches.

BY KENT LOWE Contributing writer

AllIguess thatthe LouisianaSportsWritersAssociation can say is,“we’re sorry.”

Almost always, the LSWAhas beenproudtostart the run of big Hall of Fame inductions in Natchitoches for stars of theirgames. But this time,the Women’sBasketballHall of Fame andthe Naismith Hall of Fame beat the LSWAtothe punch. Our rulesfor inductionafter retirementgot abit in the way,sowehad towaitthe requisite period of time before we could make the move. But Sylvia Fowles was on the Hall’sradar from themoment she announced her retirement in August, and it was a lightning-quick decision thatshe would be thenext women’sbasketball standout to join the Louisiana Sports HallofFame.

Hall of Famers come in all shapes andsizes. When it comes to basketball Hall of Fame types, LSU longtime associate basketball coach Bob Starkey knows one when he sees one.

“Well, Ithink when youtalkabout being aHallof Famer, you’re talking about acomplete body of work long-term,” Starkey said.“And whenyou look at what Sylvia’sdone ﬁrst on the collegiate levelhereatLSU, then you take it to the WNBA. Youtake it to her overseas basketball career and thenher Olympic career.

LSU’sSylvia Fowles dunks against UL on Nov. 21, 2007, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.At the time, Fowles wasjustthe sixth women’s college basketball playertodunk in agame.

BYKEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

Five games Tigers

can’t affordtolose

in

Kiffin’s debutseason

It goes without saying, LSU doesn’t want to lose asinglegame this fall.

Butitalsogoes without saying, some losses wouldbemore acceptable than others.

LSU didn’thire Lane Kifﬁn away from OleMiss andmakehim oneofthe highestpaid coaches in college football to drop nonconference “guarantee” games against Louisiana Tech andMcNeese State or middlingSEC opponents like Mississippi State and Kentucky

There is adegree of grace for aﬁrst-year coach who has turnedoverhis roster,whichmeansNovember defeats to the likes of Alabama or Texasprobablywon’t raise alarm bells if September andOctober go relativelywell.

That said, there are ahandful of games on the 2026 schedulethatcould excessively alterthe narrativeofKifﬁn’sdebut season. Here are the games LSU can’t afford to lose in 2026.

Clemson There are ways to talk around this one because it’sanopenerfor aremadeLSU roster that’sjust onespring andfall camp deep into learning Kifﬁn’ssystem. ButifLSU lost this game, what aﬁrestorm it could create.

Nearly$150 millionwas set aside to turnBrian Kelly loose andbring in Kifﬁn. Tens of millionsmore were poured into a transfer-infused roster.Not to mention, adebut infusedwithexpectationscomes in TigerStadium against the otherDeath Valleyprogram.

Clemson comes into thisseason with question marksaswell. Theprogram’s likely startingquarterback, Christopher Vizzina,has onecareer start underhis belt.The offensivelineprotectingthat signalcallerwillbeinexperienced in multiple spots.

It’spossible Dabo Swinney patches holes andexpertly playshis underdog card in an upsetwin.But that’svery much what it wouldbe—anupset, andquite upsetting to an LSU program thathas

There are afew reasons softball pitcher KG Favors decided to transfer fromSouth Carolina to UL. They allgoback to the native of Orange Beach,Alabama, feeling comfortable again playing softball.

“When Iwent on my visit, I completely fell in love with UL and the coaching staff and the players,” Favors said. “I was looking fora little more playing time and be able to express who Iamasa player.I felt like this coaching staff in this program could do the best formeintheir own way.” That starts withthe coachin Alyson Habetz.Duringher time withthe Crimson Tide,Habetz met Favors at youthcampsin Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

team win three state championships. As asenior,she was 22-1 with a0.77ERA, 15 shutouts and 197 strikeouts. She was ranked as thenation’s No. 18 rankedoverall prospect by Perfect Game.

Favors selected South Carolina over Kentucky outofhigh school, but the Gamecocks changed coaching staffs after hercommitment. Favors said it didn’tseem right to her to immediately leave because of loyaltytothe school and new teammates.

The transition didn’tgowell.

“I think Imet them twice, maybe three times, before Iwentin, so that waskind of hard to be adjusted to,” Favors said.

In 13 appearances as afreshman, theright-handerwas 2-0 with a4.12 ERA, giving up 24 hits, 15 walksin17innings. Shestruck out 15.

“Coach Aly’sknown me since I was little during hertime at Alabama,”Favors said. “She told me that she could see in my ﬁlm that Ijust didn’thave that conﬁdence anymore.SoIthink they’re really going to be able to helpme get back to that mentality

“Mechanically wise, it wasﬁguring out what worked and what didn’t work formebecauseI’ve always pitched the same way.I mean, it got me to where Iwas, and then having to readjust that a little bit —the things that maybe this isn’twhatfeelsthe best. So Iwas kind of just learning the higher level.”

One bigobstacletosuccess was paralysis by analysis.

Butwhat everyone at LSU will remind you about is “the dunk.”The night she became, at thattime in

“She’s been absolutely one of the best of thebestat everysinglelevel for an extended periodoftime.To me, that’swhat aHall of Famer is. It’snot abouthaving agood year or agood run. It’sabout your entire career being elite.” Hard to argue with that. At LSU,she’sremembered for alot of numberslike four straight NCAA Final Fourappearances, averaging adouble-double, winning and winning big, being athree-timeAll-American and more.

“I thinkthat’sone of thebiggest parts I’mreally excited about— building that back withthemin thefall.” During herhighschoolcareer in Alabama, Favors helped her

“In high school and travel ball, Ijustwentout thereand threw, she said. “There wasn’tall the

thatwehavenow andkind

Alex Fitzpatrick, left, and Matt Fitzpatrick hold the trophyastheycelebrate winning theZurich Classic on April 26 in Avondale.

STAFF FILEPHOTO By LIZCONDO

Jon Blau

Eckroat putts on the ninth green during the final round

in 2028, thetournament could be relegatedtosecondarystatus in anew tournament

11 a.m. Texas at Miami MLBN

2p.m. Boston at ColoradoMLBN

5:40p.m.N.y.yankees at Detroit PRIME

6p.m. ChicagoCubs at N.y.Mets MLBN

9p.m. Athletics at San Francisco MLBN

NBA DRAFT

7p.m. Second round ESPN WORLD CUP

2p.m. Switzerland vs.Canada FOX

2p.m. Bosnia-Herzegovinavs. Qatar ESPN

5p.m. Scotland vs. BrazilFOX

5p.m. Morocco vs. Haiti FS1

8p.m. Czech Republic vs. Mexico FOX

LOUISIANASPORTSHALLOFFAME

8p.m.South Africa vs.South Korea FS1 MEN’S SOCCER

7p.m.San AntonioatColorado ESPN2 SOFTBALL

7p.m.Bandits at Volts CBSSN WNBA

6:30 p.m.PhoenixatIndiana USA

9p.m.Atlanta at GoldenState USA

LeBreton earnsinduction into sports hall

‘Nostradamus’ of sportwriters known forannual predictionscolumn

Editor’snote: This is one among12 proﬁles of inductees for the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Festivities will take place from Thursday-Saturday in Natchitoches.

BY JOHN HENRY

Contributing writer

As a2026recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in sports journalism and his induction into the Louisiana Sports HallofFame, Gil LeBreton takes his place in the state’ssportslore —not as an athlete or coach, and certainly not for a double life led as “the human Ouija board.”

As the fearless forecaster of all things sports each Jan. 1, this “Nostradamus withthe nostra-mostest” oftenmade Mario Mendoza look like acontacthitter.But each year, without fail, the polished crystal ball was brought backout andeventually even “retro-ﬁttedfor thedigital transition.”

Jerry Jones hostingthe MaryKay convention at AT&T Stadium —including offering discounted Party Zone tickets to attendees —was a miss in 2010. Gil did, however,accurately predict the TexasRangers would win the AL West that season, as well as TCU’sHorned Frogs making atrip to thethe Rose Bowl where they would face, ahem,Ohio State.

“If you’re scoring along at home, this is the29th annual edition of the predictions column,” he wrote in 2011, patting himselfonthe back for afew hits the yearbefore “Sooner or later,inotherwords,I wasbound to get something right.”

No, Gil LeBreton will live in Louisiana sports posterity because of amasterful abilitytomarry exceptional prose with adeepunderstanding of sport and the human condition,and astoryteller’sgift forconnecting with readers, making them laugh, think, remember

and care.

Over the course of a50-year, award-winning sportswriting career,LeBretonhas borne witness to some of the mostsigniﬁcant moments in sportshistory in arena and stadium press boxesaround the world.

“Gilwriteswith insight and humor,shoving ﬂowery prose aside forcolumns that followed anatural rhythm, direct and unpretentious, human and authentic,” said T.R. Sullivan,a former colleagueand longtimebeat writer of the Texas Rangers. “He used hisneedlingwit andsuperb analyticalmindtotake on serious subjectsinanentertaining and informative style.”

LeBreton was one of the most versatile sportswriters of his era, and, more than all that, he wasarespected colleague.

ANew Orleans native, Jesuit and LSU journalism graduate, LeBreton built one of themost accomplished careers in American sportswriting, coveringeverythingfromneighborhood heroes to the biggest stages in the world.

Along theway,hechronicled legends ranging fromMuhammadAli andTom Landry to Nolan Ryan, Jack Nicklaus and John Wooden He earned areputation for marrying elegant prose with sharp reporting, using sports as alenstoexplore character,ambition, triumph and disappointment. His work from multiple Olympic Games garnered state and nationalhonors, andhe remains the onlyjournalist to be named Sportswriter of the Year in both Louisiana and Texas AVietnam veteran, LeBreton returned home to earn his degree before embarking on acareer that took him across the globe andinto thepress boxes of nearly everymajorsporting event imaginable. In 2024, he was inducted into the LSU Manship School Hall of Fame LeBreton reportedfrom 26 Super Bowls, 13 WorldSeries, 16 Final Fours, theWorld Cup, theMasters, the Tour de France, Wimbledon and countless other major events.

His byline appeared in the TimesPicayune,Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, Kansas City Star,Baltimore News American and, most notably,the FortWorth Star-Tele-

gram, where his columns —and, yes, hisannual fearless prognosticating —became required reading forgenerations of sports fans.

His ﬁrst Olympics was the 1976 Montreal Games.

LeBreton’sreporting from the OlympicGames won numerous state andnational awards. His stories for the Picayune on Louisiana Olympic hopefuls,including the married Armstrongs —the “world’s fastest family” —were honored as theLSWA’stop series.

He hada front row seat to the Game’sbiggest stories.

“Comaneci mania! It reached outandtouched this Olympic city during thepast weekasithas not been moved since MauriceRichard was in training skates.”

He reported on the U.S. Olympic basketball team’sredemption and recouping of itsrightful placeatthe topofthe mountain of basketball in the world.The Americans dropped Tito’s Yugoslavia undercoach Dean Smith for gold.

“Ring down that iron curtain! Break out the vodka!

“There were no controversies,unlike that 1972 ﬁnal in Munich. There were no three-secondreplays There was no postgame confusion

“Most of all, there were no Russians. TheYugoslavs haddisposed of the ‘72pretenders to the Olympic throne in asemiﬁnal victory Monday.”

The experience proved transformational,ignitingalifelongpassion for Olympic storytelling. LeBreton would go on to cover 15 more Olympic Games, chronicling someofthe most memorable moments, athletes, and issues of themodern era. His column from theopening day of the1996 Atlanta Olympics was less aboutthe Games themselves than about an unwelcome guest in attendance: former President Jimmy Carter Writing withbite, LeBreton argued that Carter had no business basking in the glow of the Centennial Olympics because of his decision to lead the U.S. boycott of the

1980 MoscowGames in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

To makehis case, he focused on Patty Dowdell, captain of the 1980 U.S. women’s Olympic volleyball team, recounting howDowdell in 1996 thecoach of TexasWoman’s University’svolleyball team in Denton —and herteammates learned on their way to amatch that their Olympic dreams had been erased by apolitical decision beyond their control.

Theboycott accomplished little againstthe Soviet Union while inflicting enormous damage on American athletes andnearly crippling the Olympicmovementitself

He noted that only the commercial success of the 1984 Los Angeles Games rescuedthe Olympics from thedamage caused by the reciprocal boycotts of 1980 and1984.

“How dare you show your face tonight, Jimmy Carter.”

LeBreton chronicled theCowboys’ dynastyyears, including victories in Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX. He also led readers through championship seasons of the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks.Hewitnessed some of the deﬁning momentsinRangers history, from the franchise’s ﬁrst WorldSeries berth in 2010 to thedevastating Game6collapse in St.Louis thefollowingyear,one of baseball’smost painful near-misses.

His were thewordsmanyCowboys fansneeded in February 1989, in the painful days following Tom Landry’sﬁring andTex Schramm’s impending departure. To much of northTexas, Landry and Schramm were morethan acoach and general manager; they were enduring ﬁxtures in the lives of generations of fans.

“The sun didcome up at Valley Ranch yesterday.But there was still an ugly stench in theair “It wasthe morningafter the Cowboys’rendition of The Saturday NightMassacre. No bullet holes. No body outlines chalkedonthe carpet “Butifyou looked hard enough, there in hisofﬁcewas TomLandry the fresh knifestill stuck in his back. And there downthe hallway was TexSchramm, still trying to mend the pieces of hisbroken heart.”

Clarkshowedhis toughnessasthe U.S. Open champion

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y.— For thousands in the gallery on the ﬁnal dayof the U.S. Open, he was amost unpopular champion

One media account notedthat he “defeated par,pressure and a hostile gallerySunday” and that he “stalked poker-faced through theheat and caustic comments of the gallery.”The local columnist wrote “except for afew strays fromhis hometown,” nobody rooted for him. That was Jack Nicklaus in 1962 at Oakmont.

NCAA panel approves neweligibility rules

TheNCAAapproveda neweligibility model for Division Iathletes on Tuesday that will allow five seasonsofcompetition over a five-year period that begins with theirfull-time enrollment or the academic year following their19th birthday, whichever occurs first.

The Division ICabinet unanimously approved the change from the longstanding tenet of college sportsthatgaveathletes ﬁve years to complete four seasons of competition with their eligibility clock starting at thetimeofenrollment, regardless of age.

Themove willall but eliminate waivers or redshirt years forextended eligibility,nolongerwill extensions be considered forathletes who are injured.

Division Iincludes more than 350 schools and some 200,000 athletes.

Sorsby has to wait until 2027 to join the NFL

BrendanSorsby will have to wait until 2027 to begin his NFLcareer

TheNFL informed the22-yearold quarterback on Tuesday that it will not hold asupplemental draft this year,and encouragedhim to focus on preparing for possible entry into the league through the regular draftnext year

Sorsby had applied forthe supplemental draft after alegal battle with the NCAA, whichhad declared himineligiblefor making thousands of bets on sporting events worth at least $90,000 during his college career The NFL hasn’theld asupplemental draft since2023 andhad no plans to do so this year before Sorsby’s petition. No player has been selected in the supplemental draftsince 2019.

Reds’ De La Cruz activated after 3weeks on injured list

CINCINNATI Elly De La Cruzwas back in the Cincinnati Reds’lineup for Tuesday night’sgame against Milwaukee after spending just over three weeks on the injured list.

The Reds announced they activated the two-time All-Star shortstop, who strained his right hamstring on May 31, and optioned outfielder Will Benson to Triple-A Louisville. De La Cruzcompleted athreegame rehab assignment at Louisville overthe weekend. He homeredand played five innings at shortstop on Friday,was 0for 3asthe designated hitter Saturday and 0for 3with two strikeouts and an error on Sunday De La Cruz was batting .280 with an .855 OPSand 12 home runs in 58 games beforehewent on the IL for the first time in his major league career

N.C. State-Virginiagame relocated backtoU.S.

Doug Ferguson

Nicklaus certainly can relate to the toughness Wyndham Clark showed Sundayat ShinnecockHills to become aU.S. Open champion for the second time. If hearing thecrowd cheer his bad shots wasn’tenough of achallenge, Clark’ssix-shot lead was nearly gone in ﬁve holes. But he showed hismoxie by not letting Sam Burns or anyone elsecatch him

“He had some stones down the stretch,” said Scottie Schefﬂer,high praise from golf’s best player But could Nicklaus relate to the “hostile gallery” and “caustic comments” Clark endured? Hostile and caustic had adifferent meaning in 1962.

Society has changed mightily over the past 64 years,and it’sgetting worse by the year.The Long Island fans —noone would refer to them as “patrons” —had no ﬁlterand no restraint. But this isn’t aLong Island problem. It’slargely an American problem everywhere butAugusta National. Clark is not the ﬁrstperson to be amajor champion hardly anyone wanted.

AP PHOTO By GEORGEWALKER IV Wyndham Clark celebrates after abirdie on the 16th hole during theU.S.Open atShinnecock Hills Golf Clubin Southampton, N.y.,on Sunday.

Nicklaus was never going to be celebratedin1962, notinan 18-hole playoff against Arnold Palmerinthe King’sbackyard at Oakmont, especially with Palmer having won the Masters that year

It feltasthough all of New York wasreadytocrown Phil Mickelson at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 until he three-puttedfrom 5feet fordouble bogey on the 17thhole. Theair cameout of theplace in a NewYork minute.Retief Goosen wasappreciated —but notadored —asthe U.S. Openchampion.

This was different. This was ugly.Itwas relentless

“Hit it in the fescue!” was nothinglike Nicklaus ever heard. Nor did Oakmont in 1962 have afan like the idiot who shouted, “Don’t choke, Wyndham!” when it was Clark’sturn to tee off on the

fourth hole. The fan was quickly approached and evicted Therousing and suddencheer on thepar-3 seventh soundedas though Clark had just hititclose. Instead, it was because hisball wentintothe bunker.

It might have been different had Clarkplayedinthe ﬁnalgroup with TomKim instead of Schefﬂer, the No. 1player in the world who had achancetogive fans something to remember forever by winning the U.S. Open on his30th birthday to complete thecareer Grand Slam.

Butthe crowd shifted quickly from being pro-Scottie to antiWyndham.

Clarknodoubt is difficult to embrace, particularly after his behavior last year when he flung a driver that made amarshal flinch at thePGA Championship, and a month later smashed alocker at Oakmont whenhemissed the cut at theU.S. Open

“New York didn’t really likeme. Iloveyou guys,” Clark said during the trophy presentation.“But Iget it. Some of it’sself-deserved.Idid some unfortunate things last year that Ireally regret, andI’ve been sorry multiple times andI’m still sorry.Sohopefully,Ican win you guys over eventually.”

His signature momentcame on the par-5 16th whenheatoned for abad tee shot into gnarly grass by makinga 30-foot birdie putt. The applause was muted,and don’tget theidea it soundedthatway because too many fanshad phonesin their hands.They didn’tlike him. Clarkplayed rightthrough it, with some level of experience. He played with popular Rickie Fowler in the ﬁnalround of hisU.S. Open victory at LosAngeles Country Club in 2023, when he held off popular Rory McIlroy by oneshot.

But no one cheered against him that day.

The Long Island gallery was at another level, and ultimately Clarktook his place among other Shinnecock Hills champions notes for their toughness—Brooks Koepka, Goosen, Corey Pavin and Raymond Floyd.

Schefﬂer has seen this act before. He played McIlroy in singles at Bethpage Black in theRyder Cup last September,when the taunts became personal and left a stain on thematches

He also got arelatively muted response in McIlroy’shome country when Schefﬂer won theBritish OpenatRoyal Portrush last summer.Therewas no heckling, certainly not any bad behavior Butitwas quiet for aworld-class performance by theNo. 1player

“The crowd was tough today Imean, New Yorkers, they are toughpeople,” Schefﬂer said Sunday. “You like seeing thefans cheer for you. Ithink sometimes it can get alittle toomuch when balls are going off greens and you start hearing cheers.That felt a bitmuchtome.

“Being in the arena is not for everybody, and Ithink it shows alot aboutWyndham, how he handled notonlythis golf coursebut I thinkthe crowd today as well and is awell-deserving champion.”

Clark took the high road in the closing ceremony,his news conference and other interviews in the hours afterhis victory. He posted on social media Monday night,“This game can be incredibly humbling. It doesn’towe you anything, and sometimes theonly thingyou can do is keep showing up andtrustthat theworkwill eventually pay off.” Keep showing up and maybe the fansmight cheer for him.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. The N.C. StateVirginia football game being relocated from Brazil back to the UnitedStates will remain as aWeek Zerocontest.

The AtlanticCoast Conference announced Tuesdaythatthe DivisionI FootballBowlSubdivision Oversight Committee had approved awaiver to keepthe game on its originally scheduled Aug. 29 date. That comes threeweeks after the league andschools announced the matchup set to take place in Brazil as the ﬁrst college football game played in South America could not be conducted in Rio de Janeiro.

The game will be played at the Cavaliers’ home ﬁeld in Charlottesville, Virginia.

N.C. State won last year’s first matchup in Raleigh.

Falcons agreeto3-year deal with tight end Pitts

ATLANTA The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to athree-year,$54 million contract with tight end Kyle Pitts Sr securing another foundationplayeronthe team’s offense through the 2028 season. The deal wasannounced on Tuesday by Pitts’ agency,Athletes First, in asocial media post. The agency said it is the largest threeyear deal for atight end in NFL history

The agreement with Pitts comes three weeks after the team signed wide receiver Drake London to a four-year,$141 million deal. Pitts, 25, was the No. 8overall pick by the Falcons in the 2021 NFL draft. He set acareer high with 88 catches for928 yards and five touchdowns last season.He ranked second among tight ends in receptions and receiving yards.

LeBreton

LSU’s French center brings rim protection, slam dunks

BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Brice Dessert is the kind of center every college team would love to have.

LSU coach Will Wade is no different, as the Tigers’ new 6-foot-11, 252-pound forward/center from France is a true paint presence on both ends.

In 26 games, Dessert averaged 8.5 points on 81.3% shooting, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 0.9 turnovers in 19.1 minutes for Anadolu Efes, a Turkish club in the Basketball Super League this season.

In 17 games in the EuroLeague, the most competitive league outside the United States, he averaged 9.0 points on 62.9% shooting, 2.5 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in 12.9 minutes.

Dessert, 23, went undrafted in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Elite finisher around the basket

Dessert’s ﬁeld-goal percentage is remarkable because he dunks as often as humanly possible.

While the French center’s leaping ability is solid rather than sensational, his 7-4 wingspan allows him to score above the rim with ease. He knows how to use his size to park himself near the hoop

Dessert is not only a dunker He has a soft enough touch to ﬁnish layups and post-ups. Keeping his scoring simple is his preference, but there were ﬂashes of self-creation with back-down moves and drives from outside 15 feet

His strong frame helps him carve out space against centers and power through mismatches His physicality also shows in fastbreaks, where his speed for 252 pounds makes him a true rim runner.

Wade will use Dessert often as a screener in pick-and-roll actions, using his size to set solid screens and skill to ﬁnish near the hoop

He has a large catch radius with his length and athleticism.

He’s good at catching lob passes, but there were times when he didn’t cleanly secure interior passes with zip. It didn’t occur routinely, but suggests his hands are

ANALYSIS

good rather than elite.

Dessert’s high efﬁciency is also tied to his seldom shooting outside of five feet, never taking more than one 3-pointer in a season since he was 16. He’s self-aware and has poor mechanics that appear on the free-throw line, shooting 53.6% in 43 games. His awkward release and energy transfer make meaningful improvement at LSU seem unlikely

Dessert’s skill level as a dribbler and passer is limited. He isn’t selﬁsh, but not a passing threat either For a play ﬁnisher, he had too many turnovers — 20 assists to 39 turnovers in 43 games.

With the clear limitations what makes his offense a boon for LSU is his impact on the offensive glass. Dessert has the physical tools and instincts to grab his team’s misses.

He can be boxed out and still come down with the ball. When Dessert doesn’t grab the ball, he can tap it to a teammate.

Those extra possessions will matter in the Southeastern Conference, where teams like Florida and Tennessee have excelled as the nation’s best teams at crashing the offensive boards.

Rim protection and versatility

The French center is imposing in the paint as a true rim protector

Dessert’s size and athleticism will deter drives at the college level. When challenged, he can rise and reject layups. His 1.3 blocks in under 20 minutes per game in the BSL is a strong mark, especially averaging only 2.2 fouls. Against higher-end EuroLeague talent, his block numbers dropped to 0.5 shots in nearly 13 minutes per game.

Dessert excels at rejecting shots when attackers come toward him. If he’s certain a layup or dunk is coming, he times his leap well. He also has a knack for chasing and blocking shots from behind due to his wingspan.

What kept him from being an elite rim protector internationally

was his average anticipatory skill. Dessert doesn’t rotate early from the side where the ball is — the weak side — to erase layups.

While he takes up space in the paint, he doesn’t have the quickest feet to afford late rotations from the weak side. His reactive nature shows in his low steals 0.3 per game in 43 contests.

His reliance on reacting also appears in pick-and-roll defense in drop coverage, a tactic where the screen defender remains closer to the paint to guard a ball handler’s drive. There were enough moments where Dessert left his feet prematurely on a ball handler’s shot fake, leading to dump-off passes to his original defensive assignment.

Dessert doesn’t have a quick second jump, making recovery difﬁcult after he bites. Despite this, his drop defense isn’t a trainwreck and could be coached up to defend the crafty guards of the Southeastern Conference.

Dessert showed a neat ability to defend outside the paint occasionally When instructed to press guards after screens hard hedge — he had positive instances of pressuring the ball without fouling and recovering to his assignment. There are also older videos showing he can switch on to guards in one-on-one situations.

Dessert could be viable in creative non-drop schemes for Wade, who has a history of using aggressive defenses.

Final verdict

Dessert was talented enough to be on NBA radars but went undrafted for a reason. While his physical frame intrigues, his defensive imperfections and poor free-throw shooting outweighed his tantalizing strengths. For LSU, however, he’s more than qualiﬁed to be a starting center who can ﬁnish plays at the hoop, do well on the offensive glass and serve as a reactive shot blocker With strong coaching from Wade and his staff, Dessert has the tools to become an imposing college center He will also have a better

PROVIDED PHOTO

LSU Eunice’s Lane Fenske was recognized as the National Junior College Division I Pitcher of the year

LSU Eunice freshman earns national honors

BY TRAVIS WEBB Contributing writer

LSU Eunice’s Lane Fenske was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Pitcher of the Year Fenske was given the same award by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

The Catholic High-New Iberia product is the third pitcher in LSUE history to earn national Pitcher of the Year honors, joining Blake Lobell (2024) and Zach Hester (2018).

He is the ﬁrst freshman in ﬁve years in NJCAA Division I to receive the prestigious honor

The award continues an impressive postseason haul for Fenske, which has included All-Region 23, ﬁrst-team All-America honors and was one of four ﬁnalists for the James J. Corbett Award for the top amateur athlete in the state of Louisiana.

“Lane quickly established himself as a leader on our team in all facets — the field, the community and the classroom,” LSUE coach Jeff Willis said. “He is another great example of our DDCS mindset, striving for excellence to become the best version of ourselves and this award is a byproduct of that relentless competitive drive.”

SCOREBOARD

Indeed, the freshman ace put together one of the best pitching seasons ever on the Cajun Prairie. Fenske tied the single season wins mark with his 15-0 record, which also ranked second most in the nation this season. The righthander led the Bengals with a 3.19 ERA while tossing four complete games.

Fenske struck out 98 batters, finishing 13th nationally and ranking 12th all-time in LSU Eunice single season history He also threw 93 innings, which ranked second in the nation. The right-hander sparkled in the postseason, sporting a 2-0 record and 3.15 ERA in three starts while recording 21 strikeouts and just seven walks. He totaled 10 strikeouts — one of two doubledigit strikeout performances during the season — in a Region 23 Tournament win over Delgado on May 9, hurled seven innings with seven punchouts in a Game 2 win over Shelton State in the South District Series, and tossed six strong innings in a no-decision against Miami Dade in LSUE’s JUCO World Series opener He is the program’s 14th ﬁrstteam NJCAA All-American in program history and the sixth pitcher to receive the honor. He is just the sixth freshman at LSU Eunice to earn ﬁrst-team honors.

(Assad 5-1) at N.Y. Mets (Manaea 1-2), 6:10 p.m., 2nd game

(Drohan 3-2) at Cincinnati (Lowder 3-4), 6:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Ohtani 7-2) at Minnesota (Prielipp 2-5), 6:40 p.m.

ZURICH

Continued from page1C

on Monday,PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Tuesday It will be builtupon “a foundation of meritocracy,” with players moving between the two series through aformalizedstructure of promotion and relegation.

The Tour has already lined up 10 of the 15 remaining regular-season championship seriesevents for 2028, therelease said.The remaining events will either be ﬁlled by existing events, with the Zurich as apossibility,ornew markets under consideration, such as Boston, Denver,New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Everychampionship series regular-season event will feature 120-player ﬁelds on average and acut with minimum purses of $20 million per event, Rolappsaidat anews conference Tuesday

“Ultimately,whenfans tuneintothe PGA Tour Championship Series, they know they will see the best playersinthe world competing head tohead,” he said.

“From Day 1, the focus of the Future Competition Committee has been to build the best version of the PGA Tour,and to do so in away that reﬂects the voice of our players and theexpectations of our fans,” Rolapp said. “The result is anew com-

FAVORS

Continued from page1C

Learning that was abig part of how Igrew

“But also on the downside of that, you’re kind of worried about it. You’re like, ‘If this isn’tright, that’snot going to work.’ So it was abig adjustment for me, learning all of that.”

Being comfortable with UL pitching coach Kyle Brady on the visit was another selling point.

“Wekind of spent basically

FOWLES

Continued from page1C

2007, just the sixth women’s player in college basketball to dunk the basketball in a game. It was asimple play,soit seemed. And with due respect to my friends in Lafayette where the Ragin’ Cajuns player may still have nightmares, Fowles came out to stealthe ball near midcourt, gathered it up, dribbled down the court and right-hand dunked it to the delight and maybe some amazement of the Maravich Center crowd.

“Wehad been begging her Iknow Ihad been begging her (todunk in agame),” said Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame teammateSeimone Augustus, who is now an LSU assistant coach. “Coach Starkey is the post coach so we were seeing it every day in practice she would have like alittle dunk. It wasn’ttoo crazy,but it was adunk. We were like why don’tyou do it agame? She’sjust like, if you know her demeanor,it’slike, ‘Do Ineed to?’ And we were like, ‘Yes, you need to.’ “ItjustsohappenedthatI was in townfrom overseas, on our Christmas breakor whenever it was, like during abreak and (Sylvia) got abreakaway.She got asteal at half courtand it was just her and the basket. We were like, she’sgoing to do it. I saw her start to gather her steps and I’m like she’sgot to do it and she did it. That was like the most amazing thing ever because there’s very few women in the college game that have done it Imean, you are talking Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker,Sylvia Fowles, Brittney Griner There’sahandful of women that have ever done that. She’sone of those women.” Patrick Wright, the radio voice of LSU women’sbasketball for over 35 years, remembers it well.

“Weall knew she was capable of dunking,” Wright said. “It happenedbecause of asmart defensive play by Sylvia. Not many girls Syl’s

petitive model grounded in meritocracy,with clearer pathways, higher stakes andmore consistency when thebestplayers competetogether.”

What thatmeans for the ZurichClassic remains to be seen. The 2028 tournament schedulewill notbe announced until early 2027.

Since championship series players will not be eligible to participate in the challenger series events, arelegation to secondarystatus for the Zurichwould mean the end of eliteplayerslike Rory McIlroy,MattFitzpatrick, XanderSchauffeleand Jon Rahm, who have competed in and won the tournament in recent years.

“Weobviously watched the Tour press conference, andthe structure going forward was in line with what we’d been told,” said Steve Worthy,the CEOof theFore!Kids Foundation, which operates theZurich Classic for the PGA Tour

“Wehaveagreat title sponsorinZurich, andwe have been in conversations exploring allour options. We are proud of the success we’ve had with our event, and we expect to match or exceed last year’s$3,600,000 in contributions tochildren’s charities. We have dedicated Fore!Kids Foundation members and volunteers who have driven those record charitable dollars, agreat fan base, and our teamcompetition includes agreat list

thewhole day together,” Favors said.“If therewere any questions that Ihad,I could askhim and he’d be completely honest.SoIthink we’re really going to build that connection throughout the offseason,soI’m notlike acomplete stranger coming into the fall.”

Also adding to the comfort levelfor Favors was Habetz’s willingness to let her enter the fall as both a pitcherand hitter.She only pitched at SouthCarolina. “I’m really excitedfor the opportunity,”she said. “I’ve always loved to hit. I

sizewere remotelycoordinated to dribblethe ball70 feet,but she had the grace of the point guard she just stole the ball from. Asshe got to the free-throw line, thethought everyone in the arena had was thesame— shemight dunk this.

“She threw it down with onehand. It was alegitimate dunk that anymen’s player wouldbeproud of.I will always rememberthe reaction of her teammates andthe crowd,and everyone knewtheyjustwitnessed something historic.”

But it wasmorethan dunking. It was scoring,rebounding, blocked shots andbeing agood teammate thatLSU folks remember

“The thingabout Sylviaand again, this is what makes her not justaHall of Fame player,but aHall of Fameperson isshe is,legitimately,seriouslyhappy forother people’ssuccess,” Starkeysaid. “Sowhenshe came here, we went to four straight Final Fours, and then, three out of four years, we wonthe SECchampionship

“It’snever beendone before or after at this school. Andthose where when those three out of four SEC championships, that’s the daysofPat Summitt(Tennessee) and Andy Landers (Georgia)and Joe Ciampi (Auburn) and GaryBlair (Texas A&M) and all these HallofFamecoaches. So it was aremarkable, remarkableperiod. But it meanta lottoher because, she was able to help herteammates garner somesuccess.”

Unfortunately,with the passage of time those NCAA Final Fourappearancesin the mid-2000s have drifted aslight bit to the back of LSUfans’ minds because of LSU’smost recent success in women’sbasketball. But thosebanners hanghighin theMaravich Center and they are just as important as anyothersthat hangthere. More important, in the rafterswiththe greatest LSU players like Abdul-Rauf, Macklin, Maravich, Pettit, O’Neal and Augustus, ﬂies the banner for Fowles. All

of champions. {span}Our recordisstrong and we are workinghard with Zurich and the PGATour to be positioned in the best place possible for our future.”{/span}

If the ZurichClassic is relegated to the secondary challenger series it would be one of the most signiﬁcant developments in the 88-year history of the event in New Orleans. The Zurich switched to atwo-man team format in 2017, markingthe first time an ofﬁcial FedEx Cup points-payingevent used a team format since the 1981 Walt Disney WorldNational Team Championship. The challenger series will featureaslateofatleast 20 events withpurses of at least $4 millionasplayers seek to earn promotions to the championship series. The tournaments will be played at traditional PGATour courses and run concurrently with the championship series events. They will feature fields of approximately 144 players, and be played across72 holeswitha 36-holecut to the top 65 and ties.

Approximately seven of the challengerseriesevents will be played during championship series off weeks, with increasedconsequence, beneﬁts and exposure.

Playersearnpromotion from the challenger series to the championship series by winning two events during the season or by ﬁnishing theseason in the top20 on the points list.

was always really good at it.

Whenever Iwasn’tgiven the opportunity,itdid suck.

“So when (Habetz) talked aboutmebeing ahitter again, it really mademe wantitmore formyself. I knew UL wasthe best option for me.”

If Favors can pull off being atwo-way performer themost likely scenario will be pitcher and designated hitter or pinch-hitter,but she did play both ﬁrst and third base before college.

“I’ll be happy to do anything to help this team and the team that I’m really ex-

of those are deserving Louisiana SportsHall of Famers.

The numbers back up all of those being in this Hall and others. Butwhat struck Starkey most was apersonality that made her aplayer he wanted tobring to LSU.

“There’s no question that having agood, athletic, fast, quick post player is enticing,” he said. “But it wasn’t until Sylvia came to our elite camp, and we got to sit down to have aconversationthat she becamesomebody that I just had to recruit, and that was because of her mindset Her personality.She was obviously gifted physically, but it was the other things that Igot to learn about during that week, that made me know thatshe had achance to be just not really good, but to be absolutely one of thegame’sbest.

“Itwas her abilitytobea great teammate,tobeunselfish. Iwas abletogauge her desire, her commitment to wanting to be at adifferent level.…Ijust knew Ireally really want to coach her.

Butthere was somelearning that had to be done.

“A funny story is very earlyon,”Starkey said.“I think it was an exhibition game. There was abattle fora rebound. Shewentup and grabbed it and, knocked the other team’srebounder down.Instead of running the floor,she leaned over and helped her up. It speaks to the type of charactershe has.

“But it’snot reallywhat Iwant from apost player when we’rebetween the lines. So we had to makeher alittle bit tougher.Wehad to make her,tobehonestwith you, alittlebit moreselﬁsh. Shewas such an unselfish kid. Youthrowthe ball in thepost and she’slooking to pass it out.Wewant her to score down there.”

And thenthe most important praise this veteran could assess.

“She was agreat teammate. Unless you’ve coached on this level, (you don’trealize)whenyourbest players areyourbest people, that’s when youhaveachance as ateam.”

Amongthe otherchanges and additions announced

Tuesday:

n Areimagined seasonending championship event that will rotate among venues featuring the top championship series players. This will include courses the Tour has never visited before;

n Anew postseason match play event;

n Adesignated regular season champion, determined by the Tour’spoints system;

n Adefined PGA Tour card retention system that rewards the top 90 ﬁnishers at aminimum on the championship series points list withcards forthe following season. Players that finish outside that number face relegation to thechallenger series;

n Alater start date to the annual Tour schedule, which will run approximately from February to August;

n Astrategicalliance with theDPWorld Tour,which will allow top playersfrom the championship series to play in alimited series of elevated international events each fall.

“Thismodel positionsthe PGATourfor thefuture,” Rolapp said. “At its core, this work was driven by asimple objective: To build the best version of the PGA Tour, something that could endure andoutlive us all. Ourfocus now shifts to ﬁnalizing the details and preparing for implementation in 2028.”

cited for playing for,” she said.

Habetzwasn’tthe only familiar face when he visited Cajun Country.She wasa travel ball teammate of UL’s Haley Hart

“Weactually played travel ball together for four years,” Favors said. “She only lives 45 minutesaway from me because she’sfromSpanish Fort.

“I’ll see herall thetime down here. We have the same hitting coach,soI’d seeher around. So that really helped me with my decision.”

BLAU

Continued from page1C

invested so much treasure andtrust in Kifﬁn.

OleMiss

Kiffinhad his exit from Oxford, Mississippi, burnedinto hismemory, including the profanities hurled at himonhis way to the plane— andthe Rebels fans who seemed determined to run him off the road before he even made it to the airport Now imaginethe aftermathifKiffin were to lose in hisreturn to OleMiss? Adefeat is certainly in the realm of possibility, becauseifany defensive mind is practiced against Kiffin’s scheme, it’sPete Golding. The Rebels also return the talented backfield Kiffinassembled, passerTrinidad Chamblissand rusher Kewan Lacy

Butfive of Chambliss’s topsix targetsfrom 2025 are gone,and Kiffin brought the seventh, WinstonWatkins, with him to LSU. Plus play-caller Charlie Weis Jr.ata cost of $2.5 million peryear.Plus defensive stars Princewill Umanmielen andT.J. Dottery Oneloss to Kiffin’sschool of sixyears wouldn’tnecessarilydoom hisLSU tenure,but adropped Magnolia Bowl wouldmakefor an unforgettable lowlight in the Tigers’ season and, perhaps, the coach’s career Whoknows the degreeof riotousness OleMiss’scelebration wouldachieve Best for LSU to notfind out.

Auburn A2010 nationaltitlewin ledbyCam Newton feels like forever agoatthis point, especially given Auburn hasn’tevenmade abowl game in three of its past four seasons. Butthe last thing LSU wants to do is provideanotherﬁrst-year coach,Alex Golesh,astatementvictory

at Jordan-Hare Stadium thatcan be played on aloop for recruits as asleeping footballgiant triestoregain momentum While recruitingrankings are far from complete in June,Auburn sitsatNo. 9nationallyinthe 2027 cycle, accordingto247Sports. LSU ranks 17th.

There is also the issue of where Auburn fallson LSU’s2026 schedule: before an Oct.31opendate, meaningKifﬁn andCo. wouldhavetostewfor two weeks before consecutive home games against SEC heavyweights Alabama andTexas.

Then LSU has to hitthe road, again, to play Tennessee.

Speakingof…

Tennessee

BuildingonKifﬁn’s encounters with hostility, he left NeylandStadium with agolf ball anda mustard bottleafter both were thrown at himduring a 2021 win there.

He’sacouple of stops removed from being the coach who left Tennessee after just one season to lead USC, but there’s bound to be some leftover animosity from Vols fans. TheTigers have had some success in Knoxville; theyhaven’t lost agame in NeylandStadium since 2001. That’s nota streak Kifﬁnwants broken on his watch.

Arkansas

LSU’sninewins over Arkansas in its past 10 meetings hasdrained some lusterfrom the “Battlefor the Golden Boot,” but it’s still ameaningful trekto Fayetteville, Arkansas. Because the rivalry is the Tigers’ last chance to make astatement, for betteror worse. If LSU achieves just enough in the previous 11 games to put itself in position for aplayoff berth, aloss to the Razorbacks could be enough to knock the Tigers off the bubble.

BY LINDA GASSENHEIMER Tribune News Service (TNS)

‘Wine triggers memories’

A Lafayette wine cellar talks Old World wines and ‘terroir’

ABY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

glass of wine contains multitudes. From pairings to tannins, there’s a world of information that goes into selecting a bottle, starting with the ﬁrst and most important question what do you like?

The staff at Philippe’s Wine Cellar in Lafayette loves to talk about what they’re into right now Managing partner Jeff Resweber is fascinated by Champagne, and his recent trip to France ﬁlled him with even more appreciation for the viticulture and traditions that go into a bottle of bubbly Miki Kobetz, the shop’s general manager, said that she’s recently been captured by the rustic charm and affordability of Italian wine.

The wine shop offers something for everybody, and these expert guides — Kobetz is a level 2 certiﬁed sommelier, and Resweber is level 1 are eager to help customers figure out where their taste buds land.

“Our philosophy is that nobody can tell you what you taste,” said Resweber

Education has been a big part of the mission at Philippe’s Wine Cellar since its founding in 1999 by Philippe Simon, a sommelier and

Education has been a big part of the

restaurateur from France who immigrated to Lafayette in the ’90s with his family Resweber was an early customer of Simon’s, and credits him with “developing and expanding” his palette.

“I didn’t know much about wine, other than I enjoyed it. I came in regularly, and it got to the point where I’d come in, and he’d say,

‘You’re buying this today Is there anything else you want?’ in a French accent you can’t turn

down,” Resweber said.

Today, Simon has transitioned to a mentorship role while Resweber and his partners have taken on the business. The shop still offers personalized guidance to customers for any occasion they’re planning, preferring one-on-one relationship building to sales trends like wine subscription boxes.

“We have customers who we know their palette so well, they

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

Miki Kobetz, left, sommelier and store manager, and Jeff Resweber, managing partner, prepare for the European Wine Jeopardy event Thursday at Philippe’s Wine Cellar.

mission at Philippe’s Wine Cellar since its founding in 1999.

GASSENHEIMER

On taking ‘How areyou?’ greeting literally

Dear Miss Manners: I’ve become lost for words greeting peopleI interact with on aregular basis —for example, neighbors and store employees.

After greeting them with asmile, Iask them, “How are you today?” I’m then metwith abarrage of things going wrong in their lives, their ﬁnancial hardships, and many details of illnesses.

to run.Your thoughts?

Gentle reader: People have also becomestupefyingly literalminded, asdemonstrated by how many people think that “How do you do?” (or “How you doin’?”) is an attempt to digfor personal information.

ing an immediate peril.

Idohave ahealthy dose of empathy by nature; however, I’m fed up with the negativity and “woe is me” attitude. It seems to be getting worse in society as awhole.

In addition, I’m shocked how self-centeredthey come off, andI don’tknow how to respond. Iwant

Miss Manners wondersif it is time to dispense with thatas a casual greeting. In the meantime, you will have to nodpolitely,say,“I’mso sorry,” and change the subject. Butshe will add, for those who choose not to understand the context in which this answer applies, that youwouldobviously not respond this way to someone close to you, or with aperson express-

TODAYINHISTORY

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday,June 24, the 175thday of 2026. There are 190 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On June 24, 1983, the space shuttle Challenger —carrying America’sﬁrst woman in space, Sally Ride —coasted to asafe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Also on this date:

In 1509, Henry VIII was crowned king of England;his wife, Catherine of Aragon,was crowned queen consort.

In 1812, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’sGrandeArmee began crossing the Niemen River,embarking on acampaign to invade Russia. (Napoleon’s forces would enter Moscow in early September,but failing to decisively defeat the Russians, would retreat with staggering losses to disease and desertion as winter set in.)

In 1939, the SoutheastAsian country of Siam changed its name to Thailand. (It reverted to Siamin1945, then became Thailand once again in 1949.)

In 1948, Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the Western allies to organize the Berlin Airlift.

In 1957, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Roth v. UnitedStates, ruled 6-3that obscene materials were not protected by the First Amendment.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon concluded asummit with the visiting leaderofthe Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev,who hailed the talks in an address on American television.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a5-4 decision, strengthened its 30-year ban on ofﬁcially sponsored worship in public schools, prohibiting prayer as apart of graduation ceremonies.

In 2015, afederal judge formally sentenced Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaevtodeath for the2013 terror attacks. (A federal appeals court later threw outthe sentence; the SupremeCourt reinstated it.)

In 2018, women in Saudi Arabiawere allowed behindthe wheel for theﬁrst time as the world’slast remaining ban on female drivers was formally lifted.

In 2021, a12-story condominiumbuilding collapsed in Surfside, Florida, killing 98 people.

In 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’sHealth Organization, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to remove constitutional protections for abortion thathad been in place since 1973’sRoe v. Wade Today’sbirthdays: Author Anita Desai is 89. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro is 86. Actor Michele Lee is 84. Actor-director Georg Stanford Brown is 83. MusicianMick Fleetwood is 79. Actor Peter Weller is 79. Golf Hall of Famer Juli Inkster is 66.

Actor Iain Glen is 65. Musician Curt Smith (Tears for Fears) is 65. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is 64.Singer Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) is 60. Actor Sherry Stringﬁeld (“ER”) is 59. Actor-producer Mindy Kaling is 47. Actor Minka Kelly is 46. Singer SolangeKnowles is 40. Soccer player Lionel Messi is 39. Actor Beanie Feldstein is 33. Actor Harris Dickinson is 30. Actor Liana Ramirez is 28.

BEST

Continued from page5C

Classic burger

n Hub City Diner, 1412 S. College Road, Lafayette

Aburger with curly fries is the perfect summer lunch,especially when the days are hot and the kids are out of school. That’s when you bring them to Hub City Diner,aplace that bustles with community all day long. Something about this season makes me hungry for nostalgia, so aclassic burger on asesame seed bun was just the ticket —well done, perfect char with all the ﬁxings and aside of curly fries. The niece and nephew helped me with my fries, which was ﬁne by me, as Hub City serves a healthy-sized burger that won’t leave you hungry (but also won’t leave you mopping up withnapkins after,apet peeve Ihave

Dear Miss Manners: Iwork in ahospital where Idoalot of ﬁling by thepatients’ last names. It is chic now to use two lastnames, such as “Jane Doe Smith” or “Jane Doe-Smith.” In those cases, is it ﬁled under DorS?

People using two lastnames do not realize theproblemsthey have created.

Gentlereader: Youwill love visiting Spain, which has been using double surnames since the16th century

While Miss Manners is ready to defend theright of people to choose their own names, the ﬁling system belongs to you (or the hospital, anyway).Ifyou are still using paper,you can pick what-

ever convention you like, even if it is not technically correct —for example, you might decide that “last name” means“anything after thelast space.” The patients themselves will never know.If you are using electronic systems, all that matters is that the first person who creates thefile asks thepatient what to put in the “last name” field.

Next customer!

Dear Miss Manners: Whenhaving guests over for dinner, Iamunable to ﬁnd agraciousway to refuse alcohol to those who will be driving. Igenerally don’tgive it as an option when asking whattheywould liketodrink, but theyoftenrequest aglass of wine nonetheless. It’snot that Iassociate with

lushes and felons, but Ipersonally would prefer not to serve any alcohol to adesignated driver

Gentle reader: The gracious —and perfectly acceptable —way is not to serve alcohol to anyone.

Miss Manners assumes that people are asking because they see it being offered to other guests, aproblem that would go away if it was nowhere in evidence. Any other solution, even one motivated by adesire to protect your guests from harm, cannot avoid also looking like an intrusion into personal autonomyand anegative judgment on character

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

Checking in on elderlyloved ones

Dear Heloise: Iread aletter about keeping track of elderly people who live alone and their pets. A friend of my mother’swas left three days after having astroke before someone found her.After this,Ibegan calling my mother daily at 8a.m. She’danswer and say,“I don’tknow anything,” and I’d say,“Idon’tknow anything.” Then, an hour later, we’d hang up after chatting. Imiss these calls. Now I’m the one living alone, and Itext my son daily that I’m OK. Ialso keep a bowl full of dry cat food for my Katie, just in case something happens. —Linda H., in Lincoln, Nebraska Linda, Iused to call homefrequently when Iwas away to make certain that my folks were OK and that they knew Iwas, too. I call my friends regularly to make

certain that everyone is safe and well. In this busy world, we should all look out forpeople who might needhelp. —Heloise

TheThanksgivingtree

with overly messy burgers)

This is one of thefriendliest mealstobehad in Lafayette, and Irecommend astop,especially if youhaven’tbeen in awhile.

—Joanna Brown, staff writer

Shrimppo-boy n Save MoreMarket,2956 NicholsonDrive, Baton Rouge

Shrimp po-boyfrom Save More Market

Oneofmyfavorite po-boys that’s under$10 in Baton Rougeisfrom Save More Market,a local gasstation andmarket chain with six locations across the city.I wenttothe one right by LSU’scampus and ordered a shrimp po-boy fully dressedwith extra mayonnaise. It was pretty affordable —$8.99 for a16-inch sandwich made on Leidenheimer bread. It’salways agood day when Igrab apo-boy for lunch.

—Maddie Scott, features reporter

themout loud to everyone while we restedafter such aheavy meal. The Thanksgiving tree was abig hit with everyone! —Connie R.,inUtica, New York

—Heloise

Contactlistfor wills

Dear Heloise: This past year,myfamily (my husband andI,aswellasour sixchildren, plus both of ourmothers) couldn’t gathertogether for Christmas. So,Idecided to have a“Thanksgiving tree.”Ibought asmall blue sprucetree, which we later planted in our yard and decorated it in afall theme. When everyone arrivedon Thanksgiving, Igavethem each apiece of paperand told them to write down what they were thankful for. ThenIfolded the papersand placed themonthe tree. Later in the evening, Iread

DearHeloise: My brotherand Iweretalking about our wills the otherday,and Iasked him to make outa “contact list” of people andphone numbers to callwhenheleaves this world. I’ve done the same thing, and I mailed acopytohim andhave a copyonmybulletin board. We live in different citiesand states, so we felt thatitwas important to notify people whenone of us dies. I’m 84, andmybrother is 81. —HenryK., in Detroit

Sendahinttoheloise@heloise com.

Jeff Resweber,managing partner,refills glasses for participants

ThursdayatPhilippe’sWine Cellar.

PHILIPPE’S

Continuedfrom page5C

can call us and ask us to put acase together for them,” Kobetz said “And basedoff what we know about their palette and what’snew that’scome in, we can build acase without them needing to be here.”

Thereare gems sprinkledaround the shop, from high-endvintages to European-importedcheeses and butter.The “Everyday Sips” section in the center of the store is Kobetz’spride,aplace where she curates excellent selections in the under-$18 range.

“This Monte Zovo fromthe Verona region is absolutely phenomenal,”she said. “It drinks like a$40 bottle that cost $18 bucks.”

At the end of the day,wine is personal. The French term“terroir” roughly translates to a “sense of place.”The concept links everysingle glass of wine to aparticular place and environment, imbuing it withthe essence of that place’sclimate, soil, topography and more.

Whether you’re attracted to freewheeling, easy-drinking California wines or the deep-rooted traditions of the French wine-growing regions,wine is oneofthoseelixirs that both roots you andexpands your perspective. “A lot of times,you’llhave sommeliers andwinenerdstalking aboutelderberry andblack currant andtobacco —all these termsthatalot of people have nevertasted,smelled or experienced. Youdon’t have to know

all that to enjoy wine,” Resweber said. Instead, Resweber says that customersdescribe what’sfamiliar to them, likeagrandfather’swood shop.

“Wine, both taste and smell, triggersmemories,” Reswebersaid. “If yougotoEurope and have a great wine, we can ﬁnd one that’s similar.And when they drink it,it brings themback.”

Philippe’sWine Cellar is located at 3809 Ambassador Caffery Parkway,Lafayette. Hoursare 10 a.m. to 6p.m. everyday of the week except Sunday.Freewine tastings are available 4:30 p.m.to 6:30 p.m. Fridays. Email JoannaBrownatjoanna. brown@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By MADDIE SCOTT

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN

Aclassic diner burger with curly fries from Hub City Diner in Lafayette

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

PHOTOSByROBIN MAy

during the European Wine Jeopardyevent

Philippe’sWineCellar is located at 3809 Ambassador CafferyParkway.

Aurelien Simon, left,and MikiKobetz, sommelier and store manager, providewine to the participants of the European Wine Jeopardyevent.

Hints from Heloise

CANCER (June 21-July 22) You'll be sensitive to what others sayand do. Understanding the motivation will playa role in how situationsunfoldand help you stretch your mind to accommodate bothyourself andthose youare dealing with.

LEO(July 23-Aug. 22) Stayontop of your responsibilities. If you fall short, criticism will follow. Workdiligently behind thescenes, fine-tuning what you cando and howyou can help and make adifference.

VIRGO (Aug.23-Sept. 22) Tuck your emotions somewhere safe. Concentrate on putting your energy and intellect into developing an infrastructure that encourages positivechange. Use your strengths to makeadifference.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Pay attention to money flow. Save for something meaningful. Apartnership will play arole in how much youaccomplish. Weigh the pros andcons, andmaintain equality in all your dealings.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Put ego aside whendealing with emotional situations, relationships or no-win discussions or situations.Listen,observeandoffersolutions that benefit everyone.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Look for additional income. Asmallhome-based businesswillleadtolearning,experience andprospectsyou neverthoughtpossible.Let your entrepreneurial talents rise and shine

CAPRICORN(Dec. 22-Jan.19) Mixed emotionscan lead to trouble. Take amoment,

read theroom and takeanintellectual approach regarding who you are, what you want and where you feel your time and energy will have thebest impact.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Putyour energy into making your space convenient andcomfortable.Set the atmosphere to suit your routineand needs to encourage productivity and inner peace.

PISCES (Feb.20-March 20) Reaching out to people whoshare your interests will lead to information that can help you expand your circle andyourability to use your skills and creative gifts to easestress or to bring in extra cash.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Trustissues will surface if someone doesn't honor their promises. Stick close to home, and don't share your feelings impetuously. Consideryour optionsand the individuals you are dealing with.

TAURUS(April20-May 20) Payattention to your inner voice and to your mental andphysical needs. You'll have the discipline to set up and stick to aroutine that promises better healthand emotional well-being.

GEMINI (May 21-June20) Put your energy into learning, improving your surroundings andtaking an energeticapproach to manufacturing positive change. Someoneyou associate with professionally may not share sufficient information. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By

Andrews McMeel Syndication

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

TODAy'SCLUE: LEQUALS N

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe AndGrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is 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.

Puzzle Answer

THe wiZardoFid

BLondie

BaBY BLueS Hi and LoiS

Bridge

BY PHILLIP ALDER

SylvesterStallone said, “Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.”

In today’s deal,success is the culminationofcontrolling the trump suit. Thisis easier to do when presented with adeal onpaper.Atthetable,itisharderbecause no oneisringing awarning bell.

South is in four hearts. West starts the defense with his three top spades.How should South continue?

North opened one club because his hand was too strong fora15-17-point no-trump. Southwas temptedsimply to raise clubs.

However, he knew that the game revolves around the majors. So he respondedone heart. West made atakeoutdouble,promising four spades and fourormore diamonds. North’s jump to gamewas an overbid given his 4-33-3 distribution, but he wanted to try for the gamebonus. If he hadbid only threehearts, South would have also had aclose decision. And note that in five clubs, North should losetwo spades and onediamond.

It looks so easy: Ruffthe third spade, draw trumps andrun theclubs for an overtrick.

Here, though, when West discards on the secondround of hearts, the contract issuddenlyunmakable.Declarerhaslost trump control.

Southshouldbehappy to loseone trumptrickinordertogetthese10:three hearts, onediamond, five clubs and the spade ruff. Declarer must concede the firstorsecond round of trumps.Then he can win East’s return, draw trumps and run the clubs. At the worst, thislinecosts an overtrick when hearts are 3-2 all along. ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Each Wuzzle is awordriddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. Forexample: 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 allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are notallowed.

toDAY’s WoRD InHIBItED: in-HIH-bih-tid: Restrained.

Average mark 25 words

Time limit 35 minutes

Canyou find 30 or morewords in INHIBITED?

YEstERDAY’s WoRD —HuMIDoRs

wuzzles

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

Women’s hockey is surging

PWHL executivesaysfast-pacedgrowthisvalidated by newinvestors

BY JOHN WAWROW AP hockey writer

Professional Women’sHockey Leagueex-

ecutive Stan Kasten said the goal all along was to begin taking on outsideinvestors once the league doubled in size,reaching 12 teams.

The onlyﬂaw in the projection was Kasten— andmosteveryoneelse— never anticipating getting there after justthree seasons.

“Wethought we’d get there in Year 10 or 12,” said Kasten, 74, whoseresume includes executive roles with teamsinmajor league baseball, the NBA and NHL. “Andherewe are after two-and-a-half years. It’s extraordinary.”

The PWHL’s fast-paced growth reﬂects surges in attendance,sales and viewership, particularly after the U.S. won gold at the Milan Cortina Games. And the upward trajectory so far belies concerns thatthe league is taking on too much,too soon

“I want to hear the case for going slower. Ican’timagine it,” Kasten said.

Though the PWHL has yet to turn aprofit, Kasten saidits expansion plan andbusiness model are validated by fan support. Andit’s reflectedinthe confidenceofthe business community,with the Detroit-based Ilitch Cos. and Toronto-based Kilmer SportsVentures coming on board as the firstoutside investors.

Outside observers agree.

“Would you tell amen’sleague to go slow if they saw areal upsideinadeveloping market? Youjust wouldn’t,” said Jane McManus, aNew York University professor at the Tisch Institute for Global Sport and author of the book “The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women’s Sports.”

“I’ve seen it ﬁrsthand,” McManus said, referring to being part of the sell-out crowd attendingaPWHLgameatMadison Square Garden in April. “You’d never tell somebody to put acap on that if it’s happening on themen’sside.”

McManus credited the PWHL for moving quickly in acoast-to-coast expansionas away to stake its claim and guard against the possibility of competing leagues in women’shockey.Another key,she said, was theleague having asingle-entity ownership model in centralizing planning decisions.

The league’sstructure is headed by found-

ers and primary ﬁnancial backers Mark and Kimbra Walter,who work together withthe PWHL’s advisory board in overseeing operations. Walter committedhundreds of millions of dollars to launch thesix-team league in June 2023 byreaching adeal with the then-Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association andbuying outthe assets of therival Premier Hockey Federation.The PWHPA featured theworld’stop players,including amajority of members of theU.S.and Canadiannational teams.

With the North American stars on board, McManus said,the foundation was in place to establish atop league anddraw international talentfrom Europe.

University of Colorado-Denver professor Sarah Fieldssaid the coming yearswill determinewhetherthe PWHL is on theright track. But she is encouraged by what she’s seen.

“Give credit to the Walters because they took abig swing. And it lookslikethey’re going to have great success,” said Fields, whose specialty is the history of women’s professional sportsteams. “If Ihad the kind of money to invest that the Walters do,I’d do thesamething. Ithink this is apretty good

bet.”

Montreal Victoireforwardand PWHL Players Association president Laura Stacey placed her faith in PWHLleadership in determining the pace of expansion.

“If they’vedone this and made it this incredibleinthree years,thenI trustthat four more(teams)isexactly what we need,” Stacey saidatthe league’sawards ceremonies in Detroit last week. “People are thriving and really want to be apart of this sport and this movement. Ithink we’re ready for it.”

With newteams in Detroit, San Jose, Las Vegasand Hamilton, Ontario, the PWHL has ambitious plans for Year 4and beyond. Discussions include hosting an All-Star game, playing an outdoor gameand adding games in Europe.

The league’saverage attendance last season of 9,304 represented a28% jump over 2024-25 and up 71% from itsﬁrst season. Merchandise salesdoubled lastyear.And theleague’sviewership on YouTube rose by 77%, with more than athird representing new viewers.

McManus projectsthe PWHLtobeinposition to one day begin selling off its franchises to private ownership with six-ﬁgure returns.

American workersare losing buying power

Wardriving up prices

BY AUGUSTASARAIVA and

MAYA PRAKASH

Bloomberg News (TNS)

Whether they work in restaurants, offices or warehouses, Americans have seen their paycheck eaten up by asurge in everyday costs recently

Inﬂation has outstrippedwage growth in key private-sector industries for twostraight months, according to datacompiled by Bloomberg. The sharp dropinbuying power for employeesinsectors ranging from

healthcare to ﬁnanceand retail waslargelythe result of asurge in energy prices driven by the Iran war,but the dynamic is likelytostick even as gasoline gets cheaper Gasprices, whichhave dropped since theU.S. andIran agreed toaninterim peace deal, are still almost$1a gallon higher on average than they were before theconflict startedat the end of February, basedon American Automobile Association data. But war-driven inﬂation in other parts of the economy,like food and transportation, hasyet to fullymaterialize. And with wagegrowth already slowing,thatmeans many

households will likely continue to tapintosavingsand take on debt to supportspending, even after inﬂation peaks.

“I don’tthink it’sgoing to be agreat year forreal disposable income growth,” saidStephen Stanley,chief U.S. economist at SantanderU.S. CapitalMarkets LLC.“And noteverybody has the luxury of being able to maintain their spending patterns withoutgettingintotrouble.”

The Federal Reserve’spreferred inﬂation measure probably accelerated in May on a monthly and annual basis.Economistsina Bloombergsurvey anticipate a3.4% increase in the personalconsumption expen-

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

ditures price index excluding energy and food, whichwould mark the fastest year-over-year pacesince October 2023.

Meanwhile, the government report set to be published Thursday will also likely show that consumers continued powering ahead, even after three months of declines in real disposableincome.

Credit cardusage hasbeen on the rise despite high interest rates, andthe saving rate is currentlyatanalmost fouryearlow.Higher-than-usual tax refunds, thankstoPresident Donald Trump’ssignature tax legislation, have provideda temporary cushion.

U.S. pressing gason10new largenuclear reactors

Trumpadministrationdoling out$17.5Binloans to build plants powering data centers

BY JENNIFER MCDERMOTT and MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

WASHINGTON— The Trump administration is providing $17.5 billion to speed the developmentof10new large nuclear reactors to meet theskyrocketing power demandfrommassive data centers.

EnergySecretary Chris Wright cited “tremendous interest” among developers of data centers that would buy the power,aswell as utilitiesand energy companies. The nuclear plantscould begin construction by 2030 and become operational in the mid-2030s,Wright and other ofﬁcials said Tuesday

“This is the start,” Wright said on acall with reporters. “We’re going to movewith the players that are ready to stand up and movequickly.Once that supply chain is up and running, do we think there will be dozens of these built going forward? I’d be very surprised if there werenot.”

Most U.S. nuclear powerplants were built between 1970 and 1990. Only twonew large reactors have been built from scratch in the United States in recent decades.

Thosetwo reactors, at Georgia PowerCo.’s Plant Vogtle, were completed years late and billions of dollars over budget. The 10 new reactors will use the samedesign, Westinghouse’sAP1000.

Wright said the Plant Vogtle project struggled because of bad planning, supply chain problems andthe COVID-19pandemic. But, he said, the reactor design is “robust and sound.”

“By building in volumeand at multiple locations, we think we will create andstand up a large supply chain and build alot of construction expertise,” Wright said. “Weexpect the timing andcostofthese plants to well outperform what wasdone on Vogtle.”

Seven utilities and energy companies signed letters of intent that identified sites, the Energy Department said. The agency plans to pick five, which would host tworeactors at each site. The federal financing would be used to purchase nuclear components with long lead times and are not construction loans. The department declined to namethe utilities involved or the states they are in, calling it premature until the selections are made. It did not give atimeline for making those selections.

President Donald Trump set agoal of quadrupling domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, and he has signed executive orders to speed development. The administration is working to advance new nuclear technologies, such as smallmodular nuclear reactors.

Dan Sumner,president andchief executive officer of Westinghouse, said industrialized nuclear power needs to be built at fleet scale, in orderfor theUnitedStatestoleadinartificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and the industries that will define the next century

Critics of building more nuclear reactors say they’re too expensive and riskier than other low-carbon energy sources.Several states restrict or ban new nuclear power plant construction.

Big Tech sees sharp drops on Wall Street

Wall Street gave up more of its recent gains Tuesday after aselloff in big technology stocksspread from Asia backtothe U.S. overworries about potentially higher interest rates by the end of the year

The S&P fell 1.4%. Thebenchmark index is coming off 11 weekly gains out of the last 12, led largely by technology stocks. The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage, which is less inﬂuencedbytech stocks, gave up an early gain and closed just 0.1% lower.The Nasdaqcomposite fell 2.2%.

Markets throughout Asia fell. South Korea’sKospi index, abig winner in the AI boom, sank 10% Stocks in Europe also fell.

The selling largely targeted companies that have seen their values surge amidthe frenzy over artiﬁcial intelligence technology. Their pricey stock values givethem more inﬂuence over the broader market’s direction. On Tuesday,more stocks gained ground within the S&P 500 than fell, but tech companies overpowered gains elsewhere Micron Technology slumped

13.2% and Nvidia fell 4.1%.Samsung Electronics slumped 12.3% in SouthKorea. SpaceX waveredinearly trading then closed 1% higher.The space explorationand artificial intelligencecompany hadasoaring market debut less than two weeksago.

The company plans to raise money through abondoffering, partly to fund AI development.

The growinglikelihoodofinterest rate hikeslater this year hashelped deﬂate the massiverun-up in AIrelated stocks in recent days as traders worry that the higherrates could hamper economic growth.

ThoseBig Tech gainshavebeen signiﬁcant, sendingmajor indexes on record-settingruns throughout 2026. Within theS&P 500, thetech sectoralone is up 25.5% just over the last three months and16.6% for the year.InAsia, South Korea’s Kospi has nearly doubled so far in 2026, even after Tuesday’s plunge Oil prices have eased amidnegotiations betweenthe U.S.and Iran to endthe war.The pricefor a barrel of U.S. crude for August delivery fell 0.9% to settle at $73.21

The Septemberdelivery pricefor a barrel of Brent crude, the interna-

tional standard, fell 0.9% to settleat $76.80. Pricesare still abovelevels of roughly $70 per barrel before the war began. All told, the S&P 500 fell 107.33 points to 7,365.46, while the Nasdaq dropped 579.56 points to 25,587.04. The Dow lost 45.87 points to close at 51,666.84.

Topauto regulator opens special probe

NEW YORK The top U.S. auto regulator openedaninvestigation Monday after aTesla using an automated driving feature slammed into aTexas home at high speed and killed a76-year-old woman standing inside The National Highway Trafﬁc Safety Administration said it’s opening aspecial investigation into the Tesla Model 3crash on Friday near Houston, asigniﬁcantprobe because the car was using technology thatElon Musk considers key to the company’sfuture

TheTesla CEO is rollingout robotaxis using automated software in severalU.S.cities thisyearand plans to invite Teslaowners to put their carsinto the ﬂeet using the

same system acrossthe country

Thedrivertoldthe Harris County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce that he wasusing thetechnology,according to apolicereport on thecrash, but it’s not clear what role, if any,itplayed in the incident.

Tesla did notrespond to arequest for comment but the head of the company’sartificial intelligence efforts suggested on socialmedia later Monday that the self-driving feature was nottoblame

“In this case, thedrivermanually overrode self-driving by pressing theaccelerator allthe way to 100% of theaccel pedalinthis residential area,” Ashok Elluswamy wrote on X, theplatform thatisnow part of Musk’srocket company,SpaceX “They reached aspeed of 73 mph during the crash,and hadthe accelerator pressed even after the crash.”

The police report noted that the driverwas notdrunk andiscooperating. It identiﬁedthe woman killed as Martha Avila

Supreme CourtOKs suit over Cuban property

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court

on Tuesday ruled that Exxon Mobil can sue Cubanstate-ownedcompanies in American courts over property on the island nation that was seized after FidelCastro took power

The 6-3 decision was the second in as manymonths in favor of U.S. owners of Cuban property that was conﬁscated by the Communist government more than 65 years ago.

The outcome in thetwo cases couldbeanadditionallever for theTrump administration to exert pressure on Cuba, which is already being squeezed by aU.S.oil embargo.

At issue was whether the 1996 law known as Helms-Burton removesthe shield from lawsuits in U.S. courts that typically cover foreign countries and state-owned businesses. The justices reversed alower-court ruling that found that the Cuban state-owned companies areimmune fromlawsuits in U.S. courts.

ExxonMobil is seeking compensation for the conﬁscation of assets owned by subsidiaries of Standard Oil, Exxon Mobil’spredecessor,including more than100 servicestations and an oil reﬁnery

THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO By JUSTIN TANG Members of the Montreal Victoire pose for aphoto withthe PWHLWalter Cupafter the team’swin against the Ottawa ChargeinOttawa on May20.